Author name:
نداء كريم وهاب
Supervisor name:
احسان عمر محمد سعيد
Abstract:
Praise to Allah, Lord of Worlds, and God blessings and peace be upon the best creature on earth; Prophet Mohammed, the last of prophets, and on his family and companions and whoever followed their approach till the Day of Judgment. Islamic asceticism is one of the important intellectual topics that has seen the light during Fajir al Islam and clearly continued in the beginning of islam with the emergence of many irrelevant concepts and rituals, including Monasticism, Isolationism, and superficial asceticism which is all about deceptive appearances to gain worldly benefits and appraisal that would satisfy the sick self. In order to get a clear idea about this , and recognize the characters of a true ascetic, and to reach the real meaning of asceticism , we have to choose a character that is well known for asceticism and peerless worship in its time , without being affected by any negative effects prevailing at that time , but remained maintaining the true Islamic originality and the pure image of prophetic asceticism to the successive generations to be a standard for the following images of asceticism and to show constants and variables.Depending on the above, I chose Imam Ali bin Al - Hussain Zain Al - Abideen - peace be upon him - being the pure stream of asceticism. Thus, the subject of my thesis was " asceticism of Imam Ali bin Al - Husein - peace be upon them - : an intellectual study ". It is a valuable subject deserves search and dive deeply to know what's asceticism to this ascetic worshiper imam and the reality of asceticism as well as the compatibility between life and asceticism, and could the ascetic person live a normal life , practice daily actions without being one of those interested in worldly benefits. The research results included : - Asceticism is an important and essential matter in Islam, which stems from the heart of Islam, with religious direct and indirect factors assisted in its emergence. - Asceticism has been mentioned in Holy Quran only once, in Surah Yousif, in which one verse indicated to the linguistic meaning of this word which is ( to disdain something and leave it ) , and didn’t reflect the idiomatic and ethical meaning of this word. - There are many verses in Holy Quran indirectly indicates asceticism. We can notice that from the many verses urging to leave worldly desires and not to rush on earthly comforts and pursuing the life after. - The first ascetic in Islam is the prophet Mohamed - peace and prayer be upon him - and his cousin imam Ali bin Abi Talib - peace be upon him - after him. - The linguistic meaning of asceticism is (to reduce and let go), while it has many idiomatic meanings like, to renounce earthly life, not to rush on it and to satisfy with little of it. - There are degrees of asceticism; the highest is not to love anyone but Allah, so that everything would be done for Allah. - The standard on which the level and honesty of asceticism is measured is the prophetic and Ahl Al - Bayt asceticism. - The ascetic life of imam Al - Sajjad - peace be upon him - simulates his grandfather imam Ali bin Abi Tabil - peace be upon him - life, being the pure mirror that reflected the prophetic asceticism. - The most prominent asceticism examples of imam Zain Al - Abideen is worship profusion, intense fear of Allah, trusting Allah, never surrender to adversities and misfortunes, and consistent thanks and appraisal to Allah for everything. - Imam Zain Al - Abideen practiced asceticism in all aspects of life, without isolation from people and what surrounds him. On the contrary , he hurried towards work and solving social problems of people, such as helping those in need, doing charity to people, helping the poor and repay the debts of those unable to, etc. - True asceticism is not only in appearances. It is a psychological condition comes from the inside of a human being that would control his appearance and attitude. - The age in which the imam grew up was very critical time to Muslims in general, due to the political disturbances, incitements and revolutions against injustice and intolerance, and manipulating Muslims fortunes. - The ascetic life of imam Al - Sajjad was rare and peerless and never similar to anyone. He prayed a thousand Raka'ah a day, in addition to many fasting days and pilgrimage. - Imam Zain Al - Abideen performed a lot of acts of worship. He prayed a lot, fasted and did pilgrimage a lot, did a lot of charity, and never refused anyone's request as long as he could do it. - One of the most prominent characters of imam was forgiving offenders despite he could punish them, but he did the opposite with them by giving them money they needed or helping them , so that they would acknowledge his favor and good manners and would change from haters to loving. - Imam Al - Sajjad - peace be upon him - has many great characters , such as : knowledge , piety , devoutness , tolerance , patience , bravery , honest , and many others. - Imam Al - Sajjad - peace be upon him - left precious and priceless fortune of prayers and a full document of maintaining human rights and describing his duties.In conclusion, we emphasize the fact that Islam is the religion of moderation, and there is nothing in it indicating to Monasticism and isolation from life and society. Islam rejects harsh practices of previous religions, it calls upon work and perseverance and pursuing development and reconstruction of earth, which is all done in love of Allah and to gain His satisfaction, not for the sake of earthly benefits. Asceticism is related to Man's behaviors for its stems from the inside, and not a mere apparent expression. It frees the heart from everything but Allah.
