Shahwa
Definition
Shahwa is the Arabic term for appetite or desire — the natural human pull toward pleasurable sensations, of which food and sexual gratification are the most powerful and the most foundational. Al-Ghazali insists that shahwa is not inherently evil: Allah created it as the mechanism through which human beings are motivated to eat (sustaining life) and to seek intimate partnership (sustaining the species and the family). The problem is not shahwa but shahwa ungoverned — appetite that has broken free of the moral and spiritual framework that gives it its proper place and proper expression.
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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