انوار معرفت

"Modesty" is a prominent moral virtue in Judaism and Islam. Khwaja Abdullah Ansari (396-481 AH), the Muslim mystic, and Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda, his contemporary Jewish mystic, have considered it in chapters on spiritual journey in their books "Manazel al-Saerin" and "Al-Hidaya al-Farid al-Qulub" respectively. Using library studies and descriptive-analytical method, the research findings show that, despite similarities in the definition of "modesty", these two mystics differ in the its place, description and classification. Khwaja has placed "modesty" in the thirty-eighth place of the one hundred spiritual abodes towards monotheism, while Ibn Pakuda has mentioned it in the sixth chapter of the ten chapters on divine love. In his brief statement, Khwaja, who based his soluk (spiritual journey) on books and narrations, divided modesty into three levels according to the levels of seekers: public, special and super-special, which, in the first step, is accompanied by modesty towards Sharia and devotion to the rules of religion. In an extended statement influenced by Islamic sources, Ibn Pakuda emphasizes on the use of three sources of reason, the Quran and the Sunna. He argues that Shari'a-based knowledge is not sufficient for those with discernment and general modesty is somehow a sign of the weakness of the soul.