"Sometimes you may find a man skillful in his trade, perfect in sagacity and in the use of arguments, but when he comes to religion he is found obstinate, so does he follow in the old groove. Piety is implanted into human nature; it is deemed a sure refuge. To the growing child, that which falls from his mother's lips is a lesson that abides with him all his life. Monks in their cloisters and devotees in their mosques accept their creed just as a story is handed down from him who tells it, without distinguishing between a true interpreter and a false. If one of these had found his kin among the Magians, or among the Sabians, he would have become nearly or quite like them."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Risalat al-Ghufran (The Epistle of Forgiveness)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Al-Ma'arri
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Al-Ma'arri
Abu al-'Ala Al-Ma'arri (26 December 973 – 9 May 1057) was an Arab philosopher, poet, and writer from Ma'arrat al-Numan (then part of the Abbasid Caliphate, today part of Syria).
22 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Al-Ma'arri →
Related Quotes
"Some worse people than I have entered Paradise! But it is not everybody’s fortune to be granted forgiveness, it is li…"
"Whenever I reflect, my reflecting upon what I suffer only rouses me to blame him that begot me. And I gave peace to m…"
"We laugh, but inept is our laughter; We should weep and weep sore, Who are shattered like glass, and thereafter Re-mo…"
"Methink I am thrice-imprisoned—ask not me Of news that need no telling— By loss of sight, confinement in my house, An…"
"The holy fights by Moslem heroes fought, The saintly works by Christian hermits wrought And those of Jewry or of Sabi…"
"They know me well. How could they conceal a resplendent sun?"
"And I, albeit I come in Time's late hour, Achieve what lay not in the ancients' power."
"Fear of death pushed Seven Sleepers into a cave, Made Noah and his son build a ship; Nor did Moses and Adam think it …"
"ولو أنّي حُبِيتُ الخُلْدَ فَرْداً لمَا أحبَبْتُ بالخُلْدِ انفِرادا فلا هَطَلَتْ عَلَيّ ولا بأرْضي سَحائبُ ليسَ تنْتَظ…"
"Men of acute mind call me an ascetic, but they are wrong in their diagnosis. Although I disciplined my desires, I onl…"