Eighth: Solitude (al-Khalwa)

It is being separated from the people and preoccupations. It is one of the things that help one to resist Satan and fight the soul that commands the one with evil. You will not gain from treating, dealing and speaking with people anything but sins. In our time, now, solitude is required because the purpose of satisfying your Lord cannot be completed except by it.

I want you to know that people are divided into grades according to their ability to do it. The ones who can keep the complete solitude are very few. But the slave should never prevent himself from taking a portion from it. If it was too difficult to be completed, then the little from it is better than nothing, even if he only managed to get an hour.

What we have mentioned is for one who has collected from the religious sciences that which one needs in one’s religion. But in case he was ignorant, then his need to mingle with people to learn about his religion is more important than his need for solitude.