Therapeutic Ethics in Imam Ali’s (pbuh) School of Thought

Just as the human body needs to be kept healthy and in inflicted bu diseases, human soul also needs attentionwhen the body suffers from mental and moral diseases. In Imam Ali's point of view, preventing diseases is important for physical health, but more important than physical illness is the spiritual illness that travels painlessly and quietly. The purpose of this study is to investigate the therapeutic ethics of Imam Ali's statements based on Nahj al-Balagha.

This study is analytical/library-based and analyzes the key words like moral maladies, physical maladies, and spiritual maladies in Imam Ali's statements in Nahj al-Balagha, interpretations of Nahj al-Balagha, and narrative books related to Imam's words, like Tuhaf al-Uqul, Exalted aphorisms and Pearls of Speech, Uyoun Al-Hakam and Al-Mavaez. The authors have not reported any conflicts of interest.

The findings indicate that in Imam Ali's point of view, along with physical illnesses, moral and spiritual illnesses also make man ill and that this type of disease is even worse than physical illness; ethical models, the sense of the presence of the Righteous in life, and the use of divine revelations, revive the patient's sense of hope and optimism.

By examining Imam Ali's words in Nahj al-Balagha and other related narrative books, it found that human is a creature with both a material and immaterial nature and his perfection depends on spiritual development and acquisition of moral virtues. It was also found that in addition to physical illnesses, moral illnesses can also be treated and that Imam has been paying more attention to the moral dimension than the physical dimension, and most of his statements have been in line with the treatment of illnesses related to human's moral dimension.