Mukhalata
Definition
Mukhalata — mixing and engaging with society — is the alternative to uzla, and al-Ghazali presents it as both a risk and an opportunity. The risk: exposure to the moral failings, petty ambitions, and worldly values of society inevitably exerts a gravitational pull on the heart that has not been sufficiently strengthened by worship and character. The opportunity: the practice of patience, generosity, forgiveness, justice, and commanding good and forbidding evil all require social engagement. The person who achieves the virtues of mukhalata — maintaining their character and faith while engaged in the full complexity of human community — has reached a higher station than the person who achieved the same character in the easier conditions of withdrawal.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
1 book in the library
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