—I say, “He is the most cowardly of men.” ‘Amr answered:

I am a lion whenever an opening falls to me,
but if no opening comes, I turn craven.

Protective jealousy (ghayra) likewise has its proper limit: when it exceeds that limit it degenerates into accusation and ill-thinking toward the innocent, whereas if it falls short it becomes careless indifference and the first signs of cuckoldry.

Humility has a limit: when it goes beyond that, it is abasement and self-contempt; when it falls short, it veers into arrogance and vainglory.

So too with dignified self-respect (‘izz): when it exceeds its boundary it turns into haughtiness and a blameworthy disposition, and when it is deficient it slips into humiliation and disgrace.

The regulating principle in all of this is justice—that is, taking the middle course set between the two extremes of excess and negligence. Upon this middle path rest the interests of both this world and the Hereafter, and even the welfare of the body itself exists only through it. Whenever one of the bodily humors departs from equilibrium, whether by excess or deficiency, health and strength are lost in proportion to that imbalance. The same applies to natural acts such as sleeping and staying awake, eating and drinking, sexual relations, movement and exercise, seclusion and socializing, and the like: when they remain midway between the two censured extremes they are balanced; when they incline toward either side they become defective and produce further defects.

Hence one of the noblest and most beneficial branches of knowledge is the science of limits—above all, the limits set by the revealed law in its commands and prohibitions. The most learned of people are those best acquainted with those limits, so that nothing foreign is admitted into them and nothing that properly belongs within them is cast out.