The negligent, beasts, and carnivores

[2] The intention is to say that the cause of all mischief and evil is the passion to satisfy bodily needs and the passion to subdue. If a human being is subjugated by the passion to satisfy bodily needs and considers filling the stomach as his aim there will be no difference between him and a beast, because a beast too has no aim except to fill its belly. But if he is over-powered by the passion to subdue others and takes to killing and devastation there will be no difference between him and a carnivorous beast, because the latter’s aim is also tearing and devouring. If both the passions are at work in him then he is like a woman, because in a woman both these passions act side by side and because of this she is extremely eager of adornment and is active in fanning mischief and disturbance. However, a true believer will never agree to adopt these habits as his mode of behaviour, rather he keeps his passions suppressed so that he neither allows pride and vanity to approach near him nor does he fan mischief or disturbance for fear of Allāh. Ibn Abi’l-Ḥadid has written that Amīr al-mu’minīn delivered this sermon at the time of marching towards Baṣrah, and since the trouble of Baṣrah was the result of a woman’s instigation, Amīr al-mu’minīn has, after mentioning beasts and carnivore, held a woman also to possess such qualities. Thus the battle of Baṣrah was the result of these qualities, whereby thousands of persons were involved in death and destruction.