'Obeyd-e Zakani The Ethics of the Aristocrats, translated by Hasan Javadi (Chapter Three)

 

Chapter Three

On Chastity

The Abrogated Practice

 

I have read in the biographies of the great men of the past that they regarded chastity as one of the four virtues and defined it as "Impeccability." Chaste was a person who kept his eyes from seeing the unlawful, his ears from hearing gossip, his hands from seizing the property of others, his tongue from uttering unbecoming words, and his soul from carrying out evil deeds. Such a person was respected and endeared, as the poet has said:

One who is virtuous, honest of hand and of the utmost sincerity

Will stand high amongst the people like a cypress tree.

This point is exemplified by the following story: It has been related that a wise man, having heard his son criticizing someone, said:"O my son, why do you allow a fault upon your tongue, which you do not approve of on the body of another person?'" A man was complaining of another man and was vilifying him before the Leader of the Faithful, Hasan ibn 'Ali. The Commander of the Faithful said to his son: "Keep your ear away from his speech, since what is most wicked in his vessel may pour into yours."2 When Mansur al-Hallaj was being crucified, he said: "When I was a boy, I was playing along a street and heard the voice of a woman from a roof top. In order to see her I wantonly turned and looked up at her. Now looking down from the cross is a punishment for that looking up. "

 

The Adopted Practice

 

 

Our masters say that the ancients have made a grave mistake on the subject and have wasted their precious lives in ignorance and error. Whoever follows this path can never enjoy his life. The text of the Revealed Book reads: "Know that the present life is but a sport and diversion, an adornment and a cause for boasting among you, and a rivalry in wealth and children."3 They have interpreted this as meaning that it is impossible to enjoy life without playing and indulging in vices and forbidden pleasures. Likewise it is not feasible to amass a fortune without hurting and tyrannizing people, and gossiping or lying about them. Whoever is virtuous inevitably will be deprived of all these benefits and cannot be counted amongst the living, as his life should be considered wasted. He must be held responsible according to this verse of the Koran, which says: "What, did you think that We created you in vain, and that you would not return to Us?"4 What an insanity if a man be alone with a moonlike beauty, and on the grounds of chastity refuse her soul-reviving embrace, and forever regret the occasion. It is quite possible that such an opportunity might never occur again up to the end of his days, and his life-long regret might cause his death, while he says: "Missing an opportunity brings sorrow!" A person once described as a pious, virtuous, and self-controlled man would now be called a donkey's ass, frigid and a complete failure. Our teachers argue that the eyes, tongue and other members of the body are made to attract benefit and defy loss. Thus, if one deprives a member of the function for which it has been created, one has wasted it. Since it is not permissible to waste the members of one's own body, one must watch whatever pleases one's eyes, hear whatever delights one's ears, and utter whatever conforms with one's interest such as vilifying, molesting, gossiping, backbiting, swearing balatanly, and giving false testimony. If as a result the house of another person is ruined or he otherwise suffers, one should hold one's thought above such pettiness. Do and say whatever you please, and sleep with whomever you please without any scruple, so that your life may not be burdensome.

 

As much as possible seek to find

A sweetheart—graceful, playful, refined.

When vou have found her, waste no time.

Love her, leave her, then make another thine.

 

It is said if a master or a friend would have a claim for enjoyment on a certain person, he should accept it without hesitation and without making any excuses. As the saying goes, "Opportunity passes as the passage of clouds."

Let not today's affair until tomorrow go;

Of what will come tomorrow how can you ever know?

 

One has to bear in mind that "forbidding is a heresy.".

 

+ [The rest of this chapter which mainly consists of a parody of a passage of the Shah-nama, describing a homosexual contest between Rustam and Human, was not translated because of its language.]