Does Ancient Muslim Wisdom Have Answers To Modern Western Problems?

Western civilization was not the only producer of wisdom. I stumbled upon some useful Islamic quotes, many of which are from Ali ibn Abi Talib, the leader of the Islamic caliphate from 656-661 AD and cousin of the Prophet.

Addiction

The slave of the lust is humiliated more than the slave of enslavement.

[…]

O slaves of desires, cut them short because he who leans on the world gets nothing out of it except the pain of hardships. O people, take charge of the training of your own souls and turn them away from the addiction to their habits. (Iman Ali)

Greed

Greed takes a person to the watering place but gets him back without letting him drink. It undertakes responsibility but does not fulfil it. Often the drinker gets choked before the quenching of his thirst. The greater the worth of a thing yearned for the greater is the grief for its loss. Desires blind the eyes of understanding. The destined share will reach him who does not approach it. (Iman Ali)

Sex differences

‘The good characteristics of women are the bad characteristics of men: pride, cowardice and stinginess. If a woman has pride she will not allow herself to be taken advantage of; if she is stingy she will guard her wealth and her spouse’s wealth; and if she is cowardly she will be cautious of everything that confronts her.’ (Iman Ali)

Obeying

Obeying women is the ultimate ignorance.

[…]

Obeying desire corrupts the mind. (Iman Ali)

Self-control

It is the duty of a king to manage his own self before his army. (Iman Ali)

Sexual pleasure

Beware of too much passion for women and being seduced by the sweet temptations of this world, for passion for women is trying and being seduced by worldly temptations is humiliating. (Iman Ali)

A good life

Three things spoil one’s lifestyle an oppressive ruler, a bad neighbour, and a loathsome wife. (Iman Ali)

Five essentials of life

“There are five things which if one were to lose just one of them it would render his life incomplete, his intellect short-lived, and his heart preoccupied. The first of these is health of the body; the second is security; the third is ample sustenance; the fourth is a compatible companion.”

[The narrator says], “What is a compatible companion?”

“The virtuous wife, the virtuous son and the virtuous friend. And the fifth one, which sums up these four things, is mild-temperedness.” (Imam al-Sadiq)

Marriage

There is no institution in Islam more beloved and dearer to Allah than marriage. (The Prophet)

Virgins

‘The archangel Gabriel descended to the Prophet (SAWA) and told him, ‘O Muhammad, verily your Lord extends salutations on you and says, ‘Verify the virgins from among your women are as fruits on a tree, which when they ripen must be plucked otherwise the sun rots them and the wind alters them. So when young women reach marriageable age, they have no other recourse apart from husbands, otherwise they will not be safe from corruption.’ (Iman al-Rida)

A suitable wife

He who marries a woman solely for her beauty will not find anything he likes in her, he who marries her for her wealth will be deprived of it as soon as he marries her, so look to marry women of faith.

[…]

The beauty of a woman’s faith must be given priority over the beauty of her face. (The Prophet)

An evil woman

‘Beware of the verdure growing in manure.’ When asked what verdure growing in manure was, he replied, ‘It is the beautiful woman that comes from an evil environment.’ (The Prophet)

Happy husband

Woe unto the woman who angers her husband, and blessed is the woman whose husband is pleased with her.

[…]

If I was in a position to command anyone to prostrate in front of anyone else, I would command the woman to prostrate in front of her husband. (The Prophet)

Husband’s duty

The right of a woman on her husband is that he feeds her, clothes her, and does not cause her to lose face [by insulting her or chiding her].

[…]

Verily the man who lifts a morsel of food to his wife’s mouth is well rewarded (The Prophet)

A woman’s jihad

The sacred war (jihad) of a woman is to be of excellent service to her husband. (Iman al-Kazim)

Marital mistreatment

If a man has a wife who mistreats him, Allah does not accept her daily prayer, nor any other good deed she performs, even if she was to fast all her life, until and unless she relieves him and pleases him…and the husband will bear the same burden and punishment if he mistreats or oppresses his wife. (The Prophet)

Cursed woman

Cursed! Cursed indeed is the woman who troubles and distresses her husband; and blessed! Blessed indeed is the woman who honours her husband, does not trouble him and obeys him in all matters. (Iman al-Sadiq)

Cursed man

Every man who is controlled by his wife is indeed cursed. (Iman Ali)

Nobility

Habituate yourself to performing noble deeds and tolerate the burdens of losses, and your self will be noble. (Iman Ali)

Knowledge

O Kumail, no doubt these hearts (i.e. minds) are containers, and the best of them are those who retain most. Remember from me what I say; people are of three categories: the learned men (of piety), the students on the path of salvation, and (the third one) the riffraff of the society, following every croak of the crows, bending as the wind blows; never benefiting from the light of knowledge, nor finding a refuge with a strong supporter.

[…]

O Kumail, dividend from wealth disappears with its loss, O Kumail, the hoarders of wealth have died, while the learned men exist for ever; their bodies have disappeared but their teachings and wisdom are ingrained in the hearts. (Iman Ali)

Ownership

Asceticism (Zuhd) is not that you should not own anything, but that nothing should own you. (Iman Ali)

Learning

It is incumbent upon the knowledgeable man to act upon what he knows, and then to seek to learn that which he does not know. (Iman Ali)

While many of us here do not agree with the sometimes violent spread of Islam to European lands, their views on the sexes and marriage fully account for the true nature of women that we’re all too aware of.

Islamists understand that a woman can become feral if not constrained by a strong patriarch in the home. When a culture fails to incorporate this understanding, the result is what we have in the modern West, of women who trade having a healthy family to become degenerates and sterile freakshows. Islam is not without its problems, but if their higher birth rates are of any indication, their gender strategies should be duplicated to some degree in the West.

Read Next: Women Must Have Their Behavior And Decisions Controlled By Men