Human [Insan] is derived from fellowship [Uns]. So, to investigate the nature between the two is a natural and compulsory endeavour. Al-Tusi found that the perfection and completion of a man lies with individuals of his species. Iqbal refers to this “O Preacher, perfection of abandonment attains the goal? As you have abandoned the world, abandon the hereafter too”. Al-Tusi emphasised it to such an extent that no vice in matters temporal and spiritual is more reprehensible that idleness.
No individual can reach perfection alone. Perhaps this is why eminence is given for communal prayer over prayer in isolation. For the local community, they are brought together for the daily prayers. For those whom it is difficult to do this, it would be unfitting to deprive them of this virtue, and so once in the week, the entire community is accommodated in the Jamia Masjid. Perhaps though, there were some townsmen who would have to abandon their duties to join the city men. For them, a devotion was prescribed twice a year for the entire community in amplitudes of space. Proceeding one stage further, all inhabitants of the world are under the obligation to combine together once in a lifetime, in one location.
Love is divided into two: natural and voluntary. Example of natural is Mother for her child. Love is preferred over justice (which is the most perfect of human virtues) since Justice requires artificial union, whereas love requires natural union. The true nature of love is the quest for union with that thing with which the seeker conceives its perfection to be united. Perhaps, this is what Bedam Shah Warsi alludes to saying “look at my face, whose reflection am I? I am the appearance of my beloved, I am lost in my beloved” [Dekh le Shakl meri kis ka a’ina hoon mein, yaar ki shakl hoon aur yaar mein fana hoon mein]. He adds “someone go find out the whereabouts of my identity, the whereabouts of my identity is in itself unknowable” [not a literal translation of - pata lagaey koyi kya meri patey ka pata, meri patey ka pata hai ke la pata hoon mein]. The lover’s identity no longer remains, since the love of his beloved has become his identity. Perhaps, it is for this reason that Imam Hussain gladly sacrificed his neck and his pure family at Karbala. And so, every lover should gladly embrace the noose for the sake of his beloved - infact dance to the noose. It was for this reason that Makhdoom Jahangir Ashraf renounced the throne of Simnan. What is wealth, life, comfortability etc, without the beloved? There is nothing without the beloved.
Man does not experience any pleasure that is pure and free from pain since the pleasure which is agreeable to one nature is different from the pleasure of its opposite. And so, if one adopts x, y is opposite to x, then y causes him pain. When these forces pull you in different directions, they produce many pains within, since it is not possible to rejoice and be grieved at the same time. So, give your heart to one thing.
Men seek three things: pleasure, profit and good. Friendship of young men is quest of pleasure - thus constantly making new friends and separating. Friendship of old men, and those of similar natures, are based upon the quest of profit. Finding common advantages, the friendship emerges. As soon as the profit vanishes, the friendship vanishes. For that friendship based upon good, good is something constant, unchanging and is preserved from change and decline. Real enjoyment and divine pleasures are rare, whilst animal pleasures and bestial enjoyments are numerous. And so, these friends of good are rare. A sincere friend is defined as another person who is yourself, but other than you. This transcends any borders or superficial differences.
Refer to: The Nasirean Ethics by Al-Tusi and Tahdhib al-Akhlaq (refinement of character) by Ibn Miskawayh