Concept
Hasan ibn Ali's Doctrine of Guarding the Inner (Hifz al-Sara'ir) and the Outer (Hifz al-Izhar)
In Hujwiri's Kashf al-Mahjub, the entry on Imam Hasan ibn Ali preserves his parting counsel: 'guard your innermost secrets, for God is aware of the conscience' (حفظ السرائر). Hujwiri reads this as a twofold duty of the seeker.
- Guarding the inner (hifz al-sara'ir): keeping the heart free of attention to all that is other-than-God (al-aghyar).
- Guarding the outer (hifz al-izhar): keeping outward conduct free of disobedience to the Almighty (al-Jabbar).
The servant is answerable for the hidden as much as for the manifest, because God is equally aware of both.
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Updated 2026-07-20
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Humanities
Literature
Persian Literature Prerequisite Course