The Soul and the World

🌼🔆🌼The Dajjāl of the Soul and the World🌼🔆🌼
🔹Weekly sessions on the commentary and interpretation of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya
📅 Date: 1404/05/09 – 6 Ṣafar 1447
✨ Session: Meshkat-e Noor
🎤 Speaker: Master Ali Saei
📝 Some of the topics discussed in the session:

A supplication to reform one’s character and bring one’s virtues to completion 🌟

اللَّهُمَّ لَا تَدَعْ خَصْلَةً تُعَابُ مِنِّی إِلَّا أَصْلَحْتَهَا، وَ لَا عَائِبَةً أُوَنَّبُ بِهَا إِلَّا حَسَّنْتَهَا، وَ لَا أُکرُومَةً فِی نَاقِصَةً إِلَّا أَتْمَمْتَهَا.
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَی مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ

My God and Lord, leave no trait in me that brings me shame and reproach without setting it right.
In other words, the prayer we always make:
اللهم لا تَکلْنی إلی نَفسی تَرفَةَ عَینٍ أبداً — Leave me not to myself, even for a moment.

My God, leave no fault in me to persist unchanged; set it right.
Or, my God, leave no flaw in my conduct or character that invites blame and reproach without transforming it into something praiseworthy and good—turn my faults into adornments.

And, my God, leave no virtue or noble quality in me unfinished; perfect it and bring it to completion.

My God, love for Husayn beats in my heart; my God, bring that love to its fullness.
My God, bring the little knowledge I have to perfection.
My God, complete my devotion and obedience, meagre as they are; bring them to their end.
My God, bring the worship that has begun in me to its fullest end.

Sending blessings: opening the gates to divine attention ✨

Our Imam al-Sajjād teaches us that, amid every need, we must hold fast to the firm rope of God
and seek refuge in it, so that our prayer may be answered at the threshold of the Divine.

When we send blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, the gates of the Most High Lord’s attention open before us.

Our circumstances change by God’s hand 🕊
My God, change me…

• My God, transform me. How?
• Turn the hostility of my enemies into affection.
• Turn the resentment of the oppressors into friendship.
• Turn the good people’s suspicion into trust.
• Or: Turn my own suspicion of the righteous into trust.
• Or: Turn the righteous people’s suspicion of me into goodwill and a favourable opinion.
• Turn the hostility of those close to me into sincere friendship.
• Turn my relatives’ disobedience into pure affection.
• Turn my loved ones’ abandonment into support and help.
• Those who left me—my God, turn their abandonment into support.
• Turn the hypocritical, self-serving affection of those close to me,
  the affection they show me only out of necessity,

into genuine love…
The Abraha of my sacred precinct,
the Dajjāl of my soul,

attacks the sanctuary of my heart…

What is my role amid the fires of the end times? 🔥💧
Those outward Dajjāls,
with all their factions,
attack God’s religion…
Those treacherous ones of the end times,
with all their might,

set fire to the sanctuary of God’s religion.
What is my role?
Am I, in the midst of this fire,
pouring water on it?

To the best of my ability?
Am I using every last ounce of my strength to put out this fire?
Is my effort genuine?

Or is it just an inward claim?…

Turning Vices into Virtues: The Secret of Sajjadi Formation 💎

O God, transform the deceitful way schemers treat others into nobility in their dealings.
O God, turn the bitterness of fearing oppressors into the sweetness of security.

What an Imam Sajjad we have!
What prayers he has given us,
what secrets have come down to us from him…

He teaches us how to reform the soul, society and the world.
This is the secret of the Sahifa Sajjadiyya: it reveals to us how to

• reform our souls,
• set our societies in order,
• and make our world flourish.

We must work for reform; we must root out vices.
Not merely root them out, but transform those very vices into virtues.

Imam Sajjad, peace be upon him, teaches us:

Turn base metal into diamonds.
Turn coal not into ashes, but into jewels!

This is Sajjad of the House of Muhammad…

So we must remedy our shortcomings**
and turn those very shortcomings into **virtues.
We must perfect our virtues, bringing them to their fullest and most complete expression.

We must reach the heights of virtue, beauty and nobility.

Imam Sajjad teaches us:

Turn pain into healing,
suffering into mercy,
shortcoming into adornment,
and fault into honour.

What a wise and worthy trade he has taught us!
Turn hostility into love,
envy into affection,
suspicion into trust,
enmity into friendship,
disobedience into goodness,
hypocritical affection into genuine love,
fear into security…
Let us transform them, so that our souls, our societies and our world may flourish.

When the soil is pure… whatever falls into it becomes a flower 🌱

We must cleanse ourselves of every personal and social failing
and adorn ourselves with the fullest perfection and divine virtues.

Yes, when the soil is pure, refined**,
whatever is placed in it
becomes **a beautiful flower, a beautiful colour, a fragrance that delights the heart.

Fertile, receptive, pure soil**
absorbs light, water, nourishment…

Thenwhatever enters it—even a rattlesnake, even **a wild beast—
is transformed into beauty.

Whatever traits a person may have,
if they turn their heart towards God, with the intention of repentance, return to Him and sincerity,
they will transform their soul into a garden of beauty.

They will turn the fire within into a garden**, for they know:

**God transforms evil deeds.

He is the One who turns sins into good deeds,
raises good deeds to higher ranks,
and raises those ranks to splendid chambers and exalted stations**,
and the exalted stations… God alone knows where.

He is **the Transformer… our God.

Do we still not know ourselves? 🔍

It is time to take stock…
When will we come to know ourselves?
When will we recognise our pain**?
And when will we **seek its cure?

Let me take stock of myself before every step.
The road I have travelled…
Let me look back.
Which roads have I taken?
Which way am I headed?
Am I falling from the summit down the slope?
Or am I taking flight?
Am I bound for Karbala?

How is the Husayn of last year different from the Husayn of this year for me?
Have I managed to lift the veil from the countenance of the Face of God?
Have I received more light from His Eminence?

Am I the loser—or the envied? Has this been a profitable trade or a ruinous one? 📈

If my Imam Husayn is the same Imam Husayn he was before,
then I am the loser…

If I have fallen back, I say softly: *I am accursed. But if I see that the radiance of Husayn and my love for him are growing in my heart,*
then I am **among the envied…

I have made a handsome profit in the trade of Husayn.

What is my knowledge of God like?
Is it still what it was before?

Have the noble virtues** grown within me?
Or have the vices of my soul multiplied?

What am I doing in this world?
What do I do?
Why have I come here?
What masterpiece have I created in this world?

What will be the final thesis of my life? 📜

Do I know that I must leave the most beautiful work of servitude to God in this world?
Then why have I come here?
What will be the final thesis of my life?
In the end, will my fate be light or darkness?

What should I do?
Have I come to know myself?
Have I written down what I need?

Let us write down our misfortunes…
Let us review them, so that we can set about putting them right.

Let us take stock of our appetites:
Which way do my desires incline?
Do I know that one day I will leave this world?
By God, I know I will die…
but I am not certain of it.

If I were certain, I would prepare to depart—but I have not.
So I am heedless.

The Abraha within, the Antichrist of the lower self 🔥

Today, as it becomes tomorrow,
is proof that I am departing…
It is my preacher…
It cries out at me: You will depart!

I am trapped by the Abraha within my soul…
The Abraha of my lower self, the Antichrist within me, stands in the way of my understanding.
The Abraha and Antichrist outside me are one thing…
but this inner Abraha and Antichrist ruin my heart,
lay it waste.

Was this heart not once God’s sanctuary?
Who turned it into a ruin?
My lower self…

Have I played any part in driving Satan out? 🔥

Have I managed to drive Satan out of my own soul,
so that I might play a part in driving him out of the world around me?
Have I helped to purge what is vile?

How much have I cultivated my soul and this world?
Or have I laid them waste?

Have I tried to open gates to the heavenly realm?
If I have not tried, then I have left the gates of Satan open.

How much have I done to strengthen society and the world?
How much have I striven to kindle the light of divine unity?

Have I increased the radiance of reason,
so that the lamp of divine unity might shine more brightly?

Or am I myself a scourge upon God’s religion?

If I had made the effort,
if I had exerted all my strength,
God Himself would have quenched that mighty fire of Abraham’s and Nimrod’s people:

کُونی بَرداً و سَلاماً علی إبراهیم…

But I have not cast even a butterfly’s share of water upon the flames.
I did not understand that I had to hold fast to the rope of God.

Satan’s false whisperings and counterfeit reform ⚠️

What are we to do?
We have reached this dangerous stage…
We are caught up in immense delusions.

Lies have become truth for us…
We are trapped in corruption dressed up as reform.

Did God not say:

«… وَلَٰكِن لَّا يَشْعُرُونَ»

What have we done?
Our world is deeply ensnared in the delusion of corruption.
Without God’s permission, reform is impossible.

Reform begins within 🧭

We must first begin reform within ourselves**,
and then cleanse society and the world of **corruption.

We must respect God’s laws
and look wisely upon the order of the world.

Every reflection on the world’s order
brings order to our inner selves.

Separating God from science and society
has become a scourge upon society and the world.

God’s sovereignty over the soul: the beginning of reforming the world 🌍

The greatest coup by the tyrants of this age has been directed against God’s sovereignty in the world.
The most ignorant course is to resist God’s sovereignty.

If I can
establish and accept God’s sovereignty over my own soul,
then I will have taken a step toward reforming the world and upholding divine sovereignty.

God will one day bring His light to completion.
But how far have I come in offering my servitude?

The human being: the universe’s great computer 💡

I must prove my devotion.
Every change that takes place within me
affects the universe.

I change,
and the universe changes too.

The human being is the lamp of the greater universe.
If a person changes within,
they act like a supercomputer that reforms the entire universe.

If I remember my God sincerely**,
it is **as though all existence remembers God.

If, with that same sincerity,
that same majesty,
I visit Sayyid al-Shuhada (AS),
it is as though all existence has gone to visit him.

If, in this same state of heart,
I perform the pilgrimage to the Sacred House of God,
it is as though the whole world is performing the Hajj.

How awareness affects all existence 🌐

Each person’s awareness affects the whole world.
The human being plays a fundamental role in this universe.

They are like a guardian over all existence.
Every physical act** has a **metaphysical effect,
and every metaphysical movement brings about a transformation beyond the metaphysical.

In the end times, lies have been crowned 🕳

Let us take care of our souls and our world.
These are the end times.
In this age, truth has been overthrown.
Lies have taken truth’s place.

We must:

• marginalize liars**;
• expose falsehood;
• **unmask the hidden nature of lies.

Accepting lies: the banner of enmity toward God 🚩

The age of the Imam of the Time is an age in which lies are affirmed.
Whoever knowingly affirms a lie
has raised the banner of war against God
and taken Satan by the hand in friendship.

Lies disrupt the order of the world.
In this age, truth has been led to the gallows.
Iblis has hanged the truth…
He wants to silence its very breath.

Shirk: the greatest lie of the end times 🕳

Denial of the truth has stirred up a storm
and brought about the ascendancy of baseness and corruption.

Let us beware of the greatest lie of the end times: shirk.

May we never accept shirk clothed in philosophical propositions or
beliefs that appear beyond question.

The greatest lie is associating partners with God.
And the greatest denial is the assault on God’s messengers and friends.

Disempowerment and humiliation: tools of the powerful 🧠

Among the special tactics used to entrench lies**
**is humiliation.

«فاستَخَفَّ قومَهُ فأطاعوهُ»

He humbled his people, and they obeyed him.
Those who fell prey to Pharaoh’s humiliation
are the transgressors whom God condemns.

Self-contempt: modern humiliation in our age 📉

Ours is an age of humiliation—of a person’s dignity, finances, social standing and spirit.
It has reached such a pitch that people demean themselves and succumb to self-contempt.

• A person without discernment, enslaved to desire,
• easily falls prey to this humiliation.
• They feel inferior…
• And someone keeps them afraid.

The techniques of domination used to humiliate people 🎭

Those who practise humiliation have their tools:

• intimidation
• repeated suggestion
• media saturation

They repeat it so often
that their audience accepts its own degradation.

In the poisoned worlds of social media and everyday life,
people become trapped in this wretched humiliation.

Humiliation is not colonialism; it is zombification ⚰️

Along with humiliation come
the glorification of evil,
submission to vice,
and blind obedience.

Until, at last, a person

• forgets themselves**,
• takes transgressors as role models,
• and tramples their self-respect underfoot.

This humiliation is not colonialism;
it is worse than zombification.

And our age has fallen into its grip.
It is a distinctive mechanism of domination in our time,
one that has taken hold of the online world…

The way out of humiliation: proclaiming God’s oneness 📣

What is the way?
The way is to cry out:

“My God, You alone are sufficient! اَلَیسَ اللهُ بِکافٍ عَبدَه?”

Did our God not counsel us?
Is God not enough for His servant?

How, then, does a person forget that God is enough?

Those Pharaohs, those devils frighten you…
“وَیُخَوِّفُونَکَ بِالَّذِینَ مِن دُونِهِ” —
They frighten you with others, with those besides Him…

I should fear only my God,
but I fear more than Him alone!

I fear poverty,
the gaze of others,
their indifference,
everything besides Him…

The secret of our humiliation: fearing other than God ⚖️

If I feared God alone,
everything would fear me.
The devils would flee from me.

So what is the secret behind vice and degradation gaining ground?
It is this reliance on other than God**,
this **fear of other than God
that has brought us to degradation and destroyed us.

So let us be afraid!
Let us flee!
From this great lie,
this baseness,
this humiliation,
this disgrace…

Lies: the lifeblood of base creatures 🕳

Let us understand:
the life of base creatures depends on lies.

Take lies away from them,
and they die.

This is the reason they prevail:
our trust in their falsehoods and lies.

Let us understand:
whisperings, beguilements and embellishments are the most advanced weapons of falsehood.
They make lies seem more beautiful than truth.

Hunters of belief; poachers of our faith 🪤

A lie
is a very powerful tool.
And the gullible person
is receptive to just such lies.

Let us beware of hunters of belief!
These hunters
are bent on stealing our faith from every direction:

• Tawhid
• Reason
• Prophethood
• Imamate
• Resurrection

Once they have taken these,
we will have nothing left to lose…

Social media: a minefield of beliefs and emotions ⚠️

Let us beware of those who rob our eyes, ears, minds and hearts.
These virtual spaces are hubs for stealing everything we have.

They prey on us at every moment.
Our world today is caught in the grasp of hunters of our senses, affections and appetites.

We have lost our appetite and our innate nature.
We have become lost and bewildered.

These lies have led us to the table of the soul’s deceits.
The devils are charged with all that is vile, and are constantly at work strengthening it.

A sign of downfall: finding peace in filth 🕯

Let us pay attention to our own state!
Let us not sit at the devils’ table.

Filth is the refuge of base creatures.

Anyone who finds peace in the poisoned world of social media
has destroyed their own purity.

These people will never be at peace unless they do evil.
For wickedness has become their source of comfort.

Being possessed by Satan is a lose-lose situation ❌

Base people,
if they do not produce wickedness,
are punished by their satanic rulers.

Why?
Because they have accepted Satan’s authority.
And because they have done so,
if they do not commit evil, they are punished;
if they do, they are corrupted and become wicked.

A lose-lose situation.

Salvation: devotion to God and turning back to Him 🌧

What is the way to salvation?

Repentance, devotion, turning back…
Returning to God.

Let us free ourselves from corruption of the ears, the eyes, the senses and the heart.

A world in its death throes ⚰️

We are inside a world that is on its deathbed.

When the queen leaves the hive,
the hive dies.
Instead of honey,
it becomes a place for mice to leave their droppings.

Such is our world…

It has driven away its Imam,
sent him into exile,
left him wandering…

Without its queen, the world is tasteless.
It has no peace.
It has no joy.

When there is no queen, no honey is made 🐝

A world without God’s proof
will know neither beauty, joy, sweetness, knowledge nor a wholesome life.

Without a queen,
the honeybees, too, die.

No flower will ever bloom again.
There will be no more sweet fruit.