Dealing with Lust and Greed

 Dealing with Lust and Greed according to Islam,
*[A5] Paperback - 147 pages,
by Sheikh Abd al-Hamid Kishk.
English transl. by Aisha Bewley.


Description : Extract from the Preface :

'O' Allah, bless our Master, our Beloved Prophet, Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah, Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam, the balm and cure of our hearts, the healing and well-being of our bodies, and the light and illumination of our eyes, the noblest of creatures and the Master of the Messengers who was Sent as a Mercy to all human beings to bring them out of the constriction of this world into the expansion of the Next World and out of the darkness of their lower appetites into the light of guidance and the Clear Truth.


I have written this book in response to the numerous questions posed to me by young Muslims in the East and the West concerning the struggle taking place between their lower selves, which pursue their desires and appetites, and their souls, which yearn for purity and perfection and to follow the Path of Truth. Their struggle is between human nature, which is predisposed to the love of the lower appetites, and the Islamic Way which they freely choose and desire to follow as their deen.


According to the teachings of Al-Islam, the desires and appetites play a vital part in the makeup of every human being; they cannot be ignored. The children of Adam, alayhi as-Salaam, unlike the angels, face the challenge in this life of mastering these forces within us. If we fail to do so, then we become the servants of our appetites and thus fall below the level of the animal kingdom._{---Sheikh Abd al-Hamid Kishk}.






Table of Contents :


---Preface, 1.

Chapter [1].
---The definition of the appetites, 5
---The appetites - the gateway to the Fire, 6
---The different categories of appetites, 10
--1: Love of women, 11
--2: Love of children, 12
--3: Love of gold and silver, 16
--4: Love of horses, 17
--5: Love of livestock, 18
--6: Love of farmland, 18.

Chapter [2].
---The remedy for Excessive Love of Women, 21
---The path of safeguarding the private parts, 25
--1: Lowering the eyes, 25
--2: The prohibition of all that leads to temptation, 26
--3: Marriage, 29
--4: Treating the sexual organs through the stomach, 34
--5: How to enter people's homes, 38
--6: The prohibition against pursuing desires, 40
--7: The use of the intellect against appetites, 42
--8: Fear of Allah, 45
---The penalty for not safeguarding the private parts, 47.

Chapter [3].
---The remedy for Excessive Love of Children, 53
---The importance of love of children, 53
---Mercy to children is a gift from Allah, 55
---The Islamic method of bringing up children, 58
---Children are a trust and a responsibility, 58
---The legal obligation of children's maintenance, 60
---Impartiality between children, 63
---Concern for daughters, 64
---Encouragement to discipline children, 67
---Other educational principles, 68
---The Prophets and their sons, 71
---Islam's method of treatment, 79.

Chapter [4].
---The Islamic remedy for Love of Wealth, 85
---The principles of the Islamic remedy, 88
---Exercising caution, 94
---The necessity of earning from lawful sources, 99
---The prohibition of usury, 102
---The prohibition of hoarding, 107
---The prohibition of cheating, 112
---The prohibition against tampering with weights, 115
---The prohibition against making false oaths, 117
---The prohibition of theft and misappropriation, 118
---Debts and debtors, 121
---The obligation of zakat and sadaqa, 127.

Chapter [5].
---How past righteous men (the Awliya-Allah) dealt with appetites, 135.

Conclusion
---Jihad against the Lower Self, 140.

About the Author : The Sheikh was born in 1933 in Shibrakheet, a small village near Alexandria, Egypt in a very poor family. His father passed away before Abdul Hamid reached schooling age. He joined one of the schools of al-Azhar University and by the age of 8 he had memorised the Qur'an. It was at this time that he was inflicted by an illness which took his sight. However, rather than demoralise him, the loss of his sight encouraged him to learn more and persevere further.

He graduated as a scholar from the faculty of Usul al Din in al-Azhar and was appointed as an Imam, giving kutbas (sermons) all over Egypt. Around 1964 he took up the mimbar of 'Ain al-Hayat mosque in Cairo as his platform and started to speak vociferously about the social conditions in Egypt and the suppression of the Islamic movement.

More Self-Development.

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*Dimensions : 21.6 x 14cm.