suited to their temperament, drink, sexual union, riding, clothing, listening, and sensible sensory bliss. He must likewise give them the rights the Real has appointed for them in this.
How can someone in this state rightly renounce any existent thing, when God created them only for him? He nevertheless needs knowledge of what is his and what belongs to another, lest he say that everything is his. Of beautiful faces he looks only upon what he knows is his; from what he knows belongs to another he restrains his gaze and lowers it, for what belongs to another is forbidden him.
(Scrupulousness, Renunciation, and Observing Priority)
This is his share of scrupulousness and avoidance. Renunciation concerns priority, unlike scrupulousness and abstention in general. As for priority, he looks at the domain and acts as it requires. The Real has specified its requirement through what He made known upon the Lawgiver’s tongue.
They are called renunciants by way of adopting priority when they do so. They could partake of this in worldly life, yet did not, because God gave them a choice: He neither obliged nor recommended it, neither forbade nor disapproved of it. Know this.
(What Is Left to Choice and What Obstructs the Station)
He then considers what has been left to choice. His partaking of it must either stand between him and the higher station preferred for him[51] or not stand between them. If it stands between him and that station, it becomes necessary for him,
Notes
[51]
(The previous copy read إلا على; it was corrected to الأعلى, ‘the higher,’ by comparison with the new edition, volume 10, page 461.)
