Whoever is not formed by divine etiquette will be unable to discipline and reform their own soul—and will be even less able to discipline and reform the souls of others.
Everyone is charged with enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong. One who enjoins what is right should be committed to it. At a more basic level, even if they do not practise what they preach, they should at least intend, through their call to what is right, to guide themselves as well: (و أمر بالمعروف تکن من أهله = Enjoin what is right, and you will become one of its people.) On the other hand, anyone who encounters a call to truth and what is right should attend only to the truth and not to the person claiming to uphold it. Everyone must learn to recognise the truth and distinguish it from its bearer or claimant, and should take wisdom wherever it is found—even from people of hypocrisy.
قال رسول الله صلی الله علیه و آله و سم: الله أدبنی
الإختصاص، النص، ص: 187
The Messenger of God said: “God taught me good manners.”
قال رسول الله ص أدبنی ربی بمکارم الأخلاق
إرشاد القلوب إلى الصواب (للدیلمی)، ج1، ص: 160
The Messenger of God said: “My Lord taught me good manners through the noblest virtues.”
یا کمیل إن رسول الله ص أدبه الله و هو ع أدبنی و أنا أؤدب المؤمنین و أورث الآداب المکرمین...
تحف العقول، النص، ص: 171
Imam Ali, peace be upon him, said to Kumayl: “God taught the Messenger of God good manners; he taught me, and I teach the believers and bequeath good manners to the noble…”
من لم یصلح على أدب الله لم یصلح على أدب نفسه
تصنیف غرر الحکم و درر الکلم، ص: 248
Whoever is not reformed through God’s discipline will not be reformed through disciplining their own soul.