Salwat al-Ahzan lil-Ijtinab an Mujalasat al-Ahdath wa al-Niswan
- Author died
- 1168 AH
- Editions
- Salwat al-Ahzan lil-Ijtinab an Mujalasat al-Ahdath wa al-Niswan
Salwat al-Ahzan lil-Ijtinab ‘an Mujalasat al-Ahdath wa-l-Niswan (The Consolation of Sorrows on Avoiding Keeping Company with Youths and Women) is an Islamic ethical and legal treatise written by the Egyptian scholar Muhammad ibn Humayd al-Hatim al-Mashtuli (d. after 1168 AH / 1754 CE), focusing on the prohibition of gazing at, secluding oneself with, and keeping company with beardless youths and non-mahram women, alongside moral counsel on guarding the limbs and repentance.
Purpose and Method
The work is framed as an instructional homily and moral warning (waʿẓ wa-indhār) aimed at steering believers away from physical and spiritual temptations. Al-Mashtuli notes that because the treatise belongs to the genre of preaching and admonition rather than pure legal instruction, it draws upon rulings, proofs, and opinions across all four Sunni schools of jurisprudence rather than restricting itself to his own Shafi'i school.
Throughout the text, the author combines Quranic verses, prophetic hadiths, sayings of the early generations (al-salaf), and citations from prominent classical scholars and Sufis, including al-Qushayri, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Ibn al-Jawzi, Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi, Taqi al-Din al-Hisni, Ibn al-Hajj, Ibn al-Qayyim, and Abd al-Aziz al-Dirini.
Structure and Content
The treatise opens with an exposition on the categories of monotheism (tawhid) and divine guidance (hidaya), identifying three internal lights bestowed upon the servant: the light of knowledge (maʿrifa), the light of love (mahabba), and the light of intellect (ʿaql). The rest of the book is arranged into thematic sections (fusul):
- Guarding the Senses and Limbs: The author treats the eye as the primary sensory organ leading thoughts to the heart. Drawing on Ibn al-Qayyim, he details the four gates of sin—glances (lahazat), fleeting thoughts (khatarat), utterances (lafzat), and footsteps (khutuwat)—and outlines the ethical obligations for guarding the seven bodily organs: the eye, ear, tongue, hand, stomach, private parts, and feet.
- Rules on Gazing and Modesty: The book enumerates the legal categories regarding looking at women and mahrams, specifying the limited circumstances where looking is permissible (such as marriage proposals, testimony, medical examination, and commercial transactions). It also treats the legal status of adolescents (murahiq), eunuchs, hermaphrodites (khuntha mushkil), and decorum in public bathhouses (hammam).
- Critique of Pseudo-Sufi Practices: Al-Mashtuli classifies those claiming Sufism who associate with beardless youths (al-ahdath or al-murdan) into seven categories, refuting theological claims of incarnationism (hulul), aesthetic contemplation (i'tibar) of human beauty, or treating such companionship as spiritual exercise.
- Forbidden Diversions and Social Laxity: The text addresses the prohibition of illicit romantic infatuation (ishq al-suwar), listening to musical instruments (such as the lute, pipe, and drums), and games of chance. It criticizes widespread domestic negligence where adolescent boys, neighbors, students, craftsmen, or farmhands are permitted unrestricted access to female members of households.
- Companionship and Social Responsibility: The author stresses seeking righteous company, avoiding the company of oppressors and innovators, and fulfilling the communal obligation of enjoining good and forbidding evil.
- Remedies and Repentance: The book lists ten spiritual benefits of lowering the gaze and concludes with an extensive section (khatima) on sincere repentance (al-tawba al-nasuh), its conditions, its ten spiritual stations, and the virtues of seeking forgiveness (istighfar).
Legal Responsa
The treatise incorporates a series of formal queries and legal rulings (fatawa) issued by contemporary and earlier jurists regarding aberrant sects and individuals who condoned fondling or secluding themselves with beardless youths, dancing and clapping in mosques, or isolating themselves from mainstream Muslims. The included responses feature verdicts by scholars such as Shams al-Din ibn al-Imam, Sa'd al-Din al-Dayri al-Hanafi, Shihab al-Din al-Sarakhsi al-Shafi'i, Shams al-Din ibn Humayd, and Ala' al-Din al-Qatni, all declaring such practices and the belief in their permissibility to be grave transgressions and heresy requiring legal deterrence.
Answer updated