to avoid forbidden and doubtful matters and to forgo indulgence in permissible pleasures. Thus, every ascetic is scrupulous, but not every scrupulous person is an ascetic; scrupulousness is therefore broader in scope than asceticism.
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Asceticism concerning this world is the opposite of desiring it. Desiring it means regarding it as something great, eagerly pursuing it, and inclining toward it. Since asceticism is the opposite of such desire, it means regarding this world as insignificant and of little worth, prompting one to relinquish its excesses and take only what sustains one as an aid to obeying Allah, mighty and majestic, in this life. The ascetic relinquishes nothing of it except for Allah’s sake, and takes nothing from it except for Allah’s sake and as an aid to obeying Him. He does not abandon it altogether because it has become insignificant and of little worth to him, thereby disobeying Allah by forgoing something he is commanded to take, or neglecting his own interests by forgoing something he is encouraged to take. Rather, because it has become insignificant and of little worth to him, he follows Allah’s commands in His Book and what He has encouraged through His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He takes from it whatever helps him draw near to Allah, and renounces some of what he is permitted to take, seeking thereby to draw near to his Lord. This is asceticism according to a number of scholars and ascetics, such as al-Hārith ibn Asad al-Muhāsibī and others.
Sufyān al-Thawrī and others among them said that it means not counting on a long life. This is not correct, for not counting on a long life is not asceticism itself, but rather an aid to it: whoever does not count on living long and anticipates the coming of death renounces this world and does not desire it.
Al-Awzāʿī and others among them said that it means aversion to praise. Yet aversion to praise is only part of asceticism, not its entirety, for asceticism concerns praise as well as the other pleasures of this world. Allah, mighty and majestic, says:
“Beautified for people is the love of that which they desire—women, sons, heaped-up treasures of gold and silver, fine branded horses, livestock, and cultivated land” [Āl ʿImrān: 14]—to the end of the verse. However,