As Hasan (Hasan al-Basri) said: Good character (ḥusn al-khuluq) is gentleness of face, generosity, and refraining from causing harm.
(Abu Bakr) al-Wāsiṭī said: Good character is, due to the intensity of maʿrifatullāh (maʿrifa, experiential knowledge of God), not showing enmity and not being subject to enmity oneself.
Shah (Shujaʿ) Kirmānī said: Refraining from causing harm is to endure hardship. Another said: Good character is to be close to people in their ḥāl (spiritual state), yet to remain a stranger among them. Al-Wāsiṭī also said: Good character is to fulfill obligations even in times of hardship and distress.
Abu ʿUthmān (al-Ḥīrī) said: It is to be content (riḍā) with Allah the Exalted.
When Sahl al-Tustarī was asked what good character is, he replied: The lowest degree of good character is to endure hardships, to renounce rewards, to have mercy on the oppressor, to seek forgiveness (istighfār) for him, and to show compassion towards him. On another occasion, he said: Not accusing (ithām) the Real (al-Ḥaqq) regarding provision, trusting Him, adhering to loyalty in what He has guaranteed, obeying Him in all matters between oneself and Him and between oneself and others, and never rebelling against Him.
ʿAlī (may Allah ennoble his face) said: Good character is found in three qualities: avoiding the unlawful, seeking the lawful, and treating the people (ahl al-ḥalq) well.
Ḥusayn Mansūr (al-Ḥallāj) said: After contemplating the Real (al-Ḥaqq), the harm from people should have no effect on you.
Abu Saʿīd al-Ḥarrāz said: Good character is to have no zeal for anything other than Allah the Exalted.
There are many such definitions. However, these describe not the essence of good character, but its results. Moreover, none of these definitions encompasses all its results. Rather than quoting various statements, it is better to lift the veil from the ḥaqīqa (inner reality). According to us, khuluq and khalq are two terms used together. Khuluq and khalq (creation), that is, the inner and the outer, together make a person beautiful. Khalq refers to the outward; khuluq to the inward form. A human being consists of a body perceived by the eye and a ruh (spirit) perceived by basīra (inner sight). Each of these two elements has its own good or bad state and form. The value of the spirit perceived by basīra is higher than that of the body perceived by the eye. (Iḥyāʾ, III, 65)
Khuluq (character) is not merely action. Sometimes a person whose character is generosity may not give, either due to lack of wealth or some obstacle. Sometimes a person whose character is miserliness may give, either out of ostentation or some other reason. Khuluq is also not merely potential (quwwa, latent power). For potential is equally related to both giving and not giving. Every human, by fitra (innate nature), is created capable of both giving and withholding. Such a state does not necessitate either miserliness or generosity as character. Khuluq is also not merely knowledge. Knowledge, in one aspect, relates to both good and bad.
Khuluq, in essence, expresses a state for which the nafs (lower self) is prepared. For giving and withholding arise from this state. Thus, khuluq is the state of the nafs and its inward form. Just as the beauty of the outward form is not complete with only the nose, mouth, and cheeks unless the two eyes are also beautiful, so too the beauty of the outward is only complete when the whole is beautiful. The same applies to the beauty of the inward.
For the perfection of good character, the four inward principles must all be beautiful as a whole. If these four principles are balanced in a person, good character arises. These four principles are: knowledge, anger, shahwa (desire), and the forces of justice between these three. (Iḥyāʾ, III, 66)
There are four principles of character: wisdom, courage, chastity, and justice. By wisdom, we mean a faculty of the nafs that distinguishes right from wrong in all voluntary actions. By justice, we mean a faculty of the nafs that governs the forces of anger and desire, directing them according to what wisdom requires. It moves or restrains them as wisdom dictates. By courage, we mean the force of anger being subject to reason in its movement or restraint. By chastity, we mean the force of desire being disciplined according to reason and sharia (the sacred law). (Iḥyāʾ, III, 66)
From the khuluq of courage arise praiseworthy traits such as generosity, helpfulness, bravery, humility, endurance, forbearance, sabr (patient endurance), overcoming anger, dignity, and love. Its ifrāṭ (excess) is recklessness (being excessively angry, becoming angry at every little thing). From it arise self-admiration, arrogance, anger, and pride. From its tafrīṭ (deficiency) arise baseness, humiliation, anxiety, vulgarity, dishonor, and abandoning the obligation of reaching the Real (al-Ḥaqq).
From the khuluq of chastity arise generosity, modesty, sabr, tolerance, contentment, warāʿ (scrupulousness), gentleness, helpfulness, refinement, and little greed. If it inclines to ifrāṭ or tafrīṭ, traits such as greed, avarice, shamelessness, evil, prodigality, miserliness, ostentation, dishonoring, absurdity, flattery, envy, noise, submitting to the rich, and despising the poor arise. (Iḥyāʾ, III, 67)
Khuluq is an inward ḥāl (spiritual state), while khalq is an outward form. It is not possible to change the outward form of creation. For example, the short cannot make themselves tall, nor the tall make themselves short, nor can the ugly make themselves beautiful. The same applies to inward evil. (Iḥyāʾ, III, 68)
Khalq al-jamīl (beautiful character) means the balanced character between ifrāṭ (excess) and tafrīṭ (deficiency).
Good character is related to the strength of the intellect and the perfection of wisdom, as well as the moderation of the forces of anger and desire. Its obedience to the intellect means obedience to sharia as well. This moderation helps bring forth both aspects.
The first aspect is this: By divine generosity and the innate nature of creation, the intellect created perfect in good character is endowed with the capacity to overcome desire and anger with natural kamāl (perfection). Desire and anger are created in a moderate state, obedient to intellect and sharia, so that their possessor becomes learned without instruction and disciplined without training. Just like ʿĪsā (Jesus) son of Mary (al-ʿImrān 3:45) and Yaḥyā (John) son of Zakariyyā (Maryam 19:7) and other prophets. It is not unlikely that what is attained through effort and striving may also be present in nature and fitra. Many children are created truthful, generous, and energetic by nature, while others are created with the opposite disposition. This aspect helps us understand the habits and human relations of those who are characterized by this character.
The second aspect is this: This character is acquired through mujāhada (spiritual struggle) and riyāḍa (ascetic discipline). By this, I mean imposing upon the nafs the actions that will lead it to the desired character. For example, the way for one who seeks the character of generosity for his nafs is to engage in the actions of a generous person, which is to give away wealth. One continues to demand this from the nafs, to force it in this matter, and to strive with it until this behavior becomes easy and a part of one's nature. As a result of this struggle, the person becomes generous. For one who is dominated by arrogance and wishes his nafs to acquire the character of humility, the way is to force the nafs for a long time to perform the actions of humble people. One struggles with the nafs in this matter and forces it so that humility becomes a part of one's character and nature that can be easily practiced. (Iḥyāʾ, III, 71-72)
Khuluq (character) is of three kinds: that of the common people (ʿawām), the elect (khawāṣṣ), and the elect of the elect (akhāṣṣ al-khawāṣṣ). The character of the common person is that of the God-conscious Muslim (muttaqī). Such a Muslim adheres to the sharia and does not depart from it, acting upon the verse: "And whatever the Messenger has given you—take; and what he has forbidden you—refrain from." (al-Hashr 59:7). When these are fulfilled properly and practiced inwardly and outwardly, one attains a qalb (heart) illuminated by basīra (inner sight) and thus joins the class of the elect. When something is attained by the hand of sharia, the heart becomes independent and seeks the inspiration (ilhām) of the Real (al-Ḥaqq), for the inspiration of the Real encompasses all things.
The elect (khawāṣṣ) take the outward command. This is like a person of modest means having goods in his shop. Then he turns to seek illumination by the light of his heart. He considers what he possesses in this regard. This is after removing the world (dunyā) and its people from his heart, and after completing the practice of sharia with the strength of iman (faith) and tawhid (the oneness of God). Thus, he crosses seas, traverses distances, and reaches the morning. The light of iman from his Lord comes to him, the light of nearness, the light of action, patience, love, and tranquility reach him. All these results occur after practicing the sharia and by the blessing of following it.
Those who are abdal (substitutes) are the elect of the elect (akhāṣṣ al-khawāṣṣ). They seek fatwa from the sharia, then observe the command, action, movement, and inspiration of Allah. To be beyond these three types is to be destroyed within destruction, sick within sickness, and to fall into forbiddenness within forbiddenness. (Fath, 30-31)
When Sahl ʿAbdullah (al-Tustarī) was asked what good character is, he replied: Its lowest degree is to endure hardships, to renounce rewards, to have mercy on the oppressor, and to pray (dua) for him. This character is that of the Sufis (mutasawwifa). Those who say this but do not act like them do not possess their character. They increase in greed, show ostentation in bad manners, indulge in ecstatic utterances when separated from the Real, and seek pleasure in blameworthy acts.