a servant extinguished the burning ember of anger and desire with anything as effective as ablution and prayer. These passions are a fire: ablution extinguishes it, while prayer, when performed with humble attentiveness and devotion to Allah, removes all its effects. Experience alone makes further proof of this unnecessary.

The tenth means of protection is curbing excess in looking, speaking, eating, and mixing with people. It is through these four avenues that Satan gains power over the son of Adam and achieves his aims against him. Excessive looking leads to admiration, impresses the image of what is seen upon the heart, and brings preoccupation with it and thoughts of how to attain it.

Temptation thus begins with excessive looking, as reported in the Musnad from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):

“A glance is a poisoned arrow from the arrows of Satan. Whoever lowers his gaze for Allah’s sake, Allah grants him a sweetness that he finds in his heart until the day he meets Him.”

Or words to that effect.

Great calamities all arise from excessive looking. How many a glance has brought not one regret, but many! As the poet said:

All calamities begin with a glance,
And most fires spring from sparks thought small.
How many a glance has slain the gazer’s heart,
Like arrows—with neither bow nor string!

Another poet said:

Whenever you send your gaze scouting for your heart,
The sights you see will weary you.
You see what you can neither wholly attain
Nor bear to forgo even in part.

Al-Mutanabbī said:

It was my own gaze that brought death upon me;
Whom can I call to account, when the slain is the slayer?

Among my own verses are these:

You who strive to shoot the arrows of your gaze,
You are slain by what you shoot—so do not strike!
And you who send your gaze in search of healing,
Beware of it: it returns with affection.