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depths of their superstition, imagine that any individual
who believes in God and His signs, and in the Prophets
and Divine Revelations and laws, and is a devout
and God-fearing person, must of necessity remain idle
and spend his days in sloth, so as to be considered in
the sight of God as one who has forsaken the world
and its vanities, set his heart on the life to come, and
isolated himself from human beings in order to draw
nearer to God. Since this theme will be developed elsewhere
in the present text, We shall leave it for the
moment.
Other attributes of perfection are to fear God, to love
God by loving His servants, to exercise mildness and
forbearance and calm, to be sincere, amenable, clement
and compassionate; to have resolution and courage,
trustworthiness and energy, to strive and struggle, to be
generous, loyal, without malice, to have zeal and a
sense of honor, to be high-minded and magnanimous,
and to have regard for the rights of others. Whoever is
lacking in these excellent human qualities is defective.
If We were to explain the inner meanings of each one
of these attributes, "the poem would take up seventy
maunds (22a) of paper."
two-thirds
22a. A measure of weight, in Tihrán equivalent to six and pounds.
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