Chastity

Priority: b, Quality: b
From wikishia

Chastity (Arabic: العفّة, romanized: ʿIffat) is among moral virtues meaning chastity. It is a characteristic which protects the person from committing forbidden actions. In ethics, chastity is among superior moral virtues (wisdom, justice, courage and chastity) and has been defined as a state between avarice and sloth. It is mentioned in the Qur'an two times about financial affairs and two times about sexual affairs. In hadiths, observing chastity is introduced as the basis of every good and the criterion for being Shi'a.

Chastity in sexual issues, chastity in speech, financial and economic chastity and chastity in eating have been mentioned among different types of chastity. Different fruits have been mentioned for it including reinforcing the family, psychological calmness of the society and forgiveness of sins.

Meaning

Chastity is among moral virtues[1]. It is a state of the soul which protects the person from domination of desires[2] and committing forbidden actions especially forbidden desires[3]. The word chastity ('iffat) has also been used for women's abstinence when encountering and associating with non-mahram men and protecting their honor[4]. In a general sense, 'Iffat (chastity) has been used for keeping away from anything which is not permissible[5].

As one of the superior moral virtues (wisdom, justice, bravery and chastity) to the scholars of ethics, chastity is a spiritual disposition which makes the human's faculty of desire obedient to intellect and limits its influences to enjoining and forbidding the intellect. The virtue of chastity is considered the middle point between avarice meaning indulgence of human being in desires and sloth meaning avoiding legitimate worldly desires needed by the body[6].

Importance and Position

Observing chastity has been emphasized in different verses of Qur'an and hadiths. The word 'iffat is mentioned in the Qur'an two times about financial affairs and two times regarding the faculty of desire.

  • In Qur'an 2:273, God considered charities special to the needy who are subdued because of God but look wealthy due to their great restraint.
  • Verse 6 of Qur'an 4 uses the word "fal-yasta'fif" (let him be abstemious) to address those who are wealthy and trusted with the properties of orphans are prohibited from taking wages from the property of orphans.
  • In Qur'an 24:33, God advises those who cannot marry due to financial problems to observe chastity so that He makes them needless. Verse 60 of the same sura considers elderly women who have passed the age of marriage allowed to disregard hijab, but it advises them to observe chastity.
  • In hadiths, observing chastity is introduced as the basis of every good[7] and based on some reports, being a better Shi'a is considered proportionate to how much a person observes chastity[8]. In some hadiths, a person who observes chastity has a higher level than a martyr and is likened to an angel among God's angels[9]. In hadiths, chastity is mentioned the best act of worship[10], a sign of believers[11] and a soldier of intellect[12]. Also, it is mentioned that chastity was among the requests of the Prophet (s) from God[13].

Types

In verses and hadiths, different types are mentioned for chastity, including: chastity in sexual issues, financial and economic chastity, chastity in covering, chastity in speech and writing, chastity about eating and chastity in looking[14].

  • Chastity in sexual issues: controlling that part of the self which commands to evil in order to avoid falling in sexual deviations is introduced among the most important types of chastity. About those who cannot marry because they cannot afford providing mahr and alimony for the wife, the Qur'an has advised them to observe chastity until God enriches them out of His grace and they will be able to marry[15]. Also, in order to maintain sexual chastity, some solutions are mentioned in the verses including helping the poor in marriage[16] and avoid spreading sexual stimuli.[17]
  • Chastity in covering: covering the body from the eyes of non-mahram people[18] and also hiding private parts[19] is among religious obligations and Qur'anic orders through which human's honor and dignity are protected and human beings will be safe from the harassments of others.
  • Chastity in speech: speaking nicely with others,[22] speaking firmly and based on the truth[23] and avoiding insult is mentioned as chastity in speech.[24]

Fruits

Different fruits are mentioned for chastity including reinforcing the family[25], psychological calmness of the society and the people[26], protection of people's honor[27], leniency[28] and forgiveness of sins[29].

Notes

  1. ↑ Narāqī, Jāmiʿ al-saʿādāt, vol. 1, p. 85.
  2. ↑ Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān, under the word 'aff-a.
  3. ↑ Dehkhodā, Lughatnāma, under the word 'iffat.
  4. ↑ Anwarī, Farhang-i buzurg-i sukhan, under the word 'iffat.
  5. ↑ Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, under the word 'iffat.
  6. ↑ Narāqī, Jāmiʿ al-saʿādāt, vol. 1, pp. 94, 108-109.
  7. ↑ Laythī al-Wasīṭī, ʿUyūn al-ḥikam wa l-mawāʿiz, p. 45.
  8. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Khiṣāl, vol. 1, p. 296.
  9. ↑ Sayyid Raḍī, Nahj al-balāgha, p. 559, hikmat no. 474.
  10. ↑ Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 2, p. 79.
  11. ↑ Sayyid Raḍī, Nahj al-balāgha, p. 304, al-Muttaqin Sermon.
  12. ↑ Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 1, p. 21.
  13. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 87, p. 166.
  14. ↑ Qur'an 23:30-31.
  15. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Mīzān, vol. 15, p. 113.
  16. ↑ Qur'an 24: 32.
  17. ↑ Qur'an 33: 32 and Qur'an 28: 25.
  18. ↑ Qur'an 33: 59.
  19. ↑ Qur'an 23: 30-31.
  20. ↑ Qur'an 2: 273.
  21. ↑ Ibn Shuʿba al-Ḥarrānī, Ṭuḥaf al-ʿuqūl, p. 90.
  22. ↑ Qur'an 2: 83 and Qur'an 22: 24.
  23. ↑ Qur'an 33: 70; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 16, p. 523.
  24. ↑ Qur'an 6: 108; Sayyid Raḍī, Nahj al-balāgha, p. 323; Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 2, p. 360.
  25. ↑ Āmidī, Ghurar al-ḥikam wa durar al-kalim, p.110; Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 5, p. 554.
  26. ↑ Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 5, p. 554.
  27. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 254.
  28. ↑ Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 5, p. 554.
  29. ↑ Āmidī, Ghurar al-ḥikam wa durar al-kalim, p. 625.

References

  • Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad b. Mukarram. Lisān al-ʿArab. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1414 AH.
  • Ibn Shuʿba al-Ḥarrānī, Ḥasan b. ʿAlī. Ṭuḥaf al-ʿuqūl. Edited by Ali Akbar Ghaffari. Qom: Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1404 AH.
  • Anwarī, Ḥasan. Farhang-i buzurg-i sukhan. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Sukhan, 1390 Sh.
  • Āmidī, Abū l-Fatḥ ʿAbd al-Wāhid b. Muḥammad al-. Ghurar al-ḥikam wa durar al-kalim. Edited by Sayyid Mahdi Raja'i. Qom: Dar al-Kitab al-Islami, 1410 AH.
  • Dehkhodā, ʿAlī Akbar. Lughatnāma. Tehran: Dānishgāh-i Tehrān, 1377 Sh.
  • Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad al-. Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān. Damascus: Dār al-ʿIlm, 1412 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Amālī. Tehran: Kitābchī, 1376 Sh.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Khiṣāl. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. Qom: Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn-i Ḥawza-yi ʿIlmiyya, 1362 Sh.
  • Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1390 AH.
  • Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-. Al-Kāfī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1407 AH.
  • Laythī al-Wasīṭī, ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-. ʿUyūn al-ḥikam wa l-mawāʿiz. Edited by Husayn Hasani Birjandi. Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1376 Sh.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār. Second edition. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1403 AH.
  • Narāqī, Mahdī b. Abī Dhar. Jāmiʿ al-saʿādāt. Edited by Muḥammad Kalāntar. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1967.
  • Sayyid Raḍī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Nahj al-balāgha. Edited by Ṣubḥī Ṣaliḥ. Qom: Hijrat, 1414 AH.
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