The Contest of Fire and Earth

📖 Weekly Session on the Commentary and Exegesis of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya (Supplication 20)
📅 Date: 1403/10/06 – 24 Jumada al-Thani 1446
✨ Session: Meshkat-e Noor
🎤 Speaker: Master Ali Saei
Some of the topics discussed in the session:

🌼 Asking for a long life in the service of God
O God, grant me a long life, so that I may spend it in Your service. How long is my life?

🌼 Asking where life begins and ends
Where did my life begin? Where has it reached, and where will it go? By God, I am not of this world—not even of the Realm of Particles. I am the most ancient element in all existence, the oldest being in this world. Where did I begin? In pre-eternity? Where am I going? Toward eternity? Where do I stand in this earthly world?

🌼 The earthly world and its connection to pre-eternity
This earthly world is but a strand in the vast expanse of pre-eternity. My life, O God—when did You begin it? You did not begin it in time; You began it beyond time, when time had not yet been born. I began, and have arrived in this earthly world. I want to bring my life to an end. If I squander these eighty years, I will have squandered pre-eternity. I do not realize it; I imagine I am losing these eighty years, when in fact I have lost both that pre-eternity and the eternity toward which I am heading. I must see myself in my entirety.

🌼 Self-knowledge and the full-length mirror
Our Master said: You are not a small body; the greater universe lies within you. I must look upon myself anew, so that I may see who I am. What full-length mirror exists in which I can behold myself? That greatest mirror is the Baqiyyat Allah al-A‘zam. Until I behold Him and look into Him, I will know nothing of myself. Until I see Him, I will not attain self-knowledge. When I look upon Him with my whole being, I will see Him. That perfect mirror will reflect me back to myself. He alone can bring me back to myself.

🌼 Existential reassessment and self-examination
I must look within myself—a gaze suited to the end times. Time is to come to an end, and this universe is to embark on a new course. So I must take a full measure of myself: reassess myself completely and make a thorough examination of my being. I must take account of myself: examine my intellect and my many spirits—the spirit of faith, the spirit of strength, the spirit of the body, and the spirit of desire. Have I received any share of the Spirit of God’s Command? Do the fluctuations of the Holy Spirit affect me? I must examine my reason and assess the forces of reason, so I can learn the extent of my resources: have I lost everything? Am I bankrupt? Or is anything still left to me?

🌼 Taking stock of what I have and lack
I must count what I have, and consider what I lack but ought to possess, then strive toward it. This paltry earthly lifespan will be multiplied across the whole span of my life before this world.

🌼 A life in deficit and turning inward
Perhaps my life will fall into deficit, leaving me in debt. What if my life is reduced to zero? If it turns negative, my lot will be darker than dark. When will I look within myself? When will I put out the fire inside me? I am on fire and do not know it. I make no effort to quench it; I simply watch myself turn to ashes. The monsters within me devour me, and I pay them no heed. The venomous creatures and beasts tear me apart and bite me. The monsters of idolatry corrupt me from within, while I remain preoccupied with my pride. I am enamoured of myself; lost in a fantasy, I imagine I am journeying through the Realm of Divine Majesty, while within me my Creator has placed a power beyond the nuclear, and I have silenced it.

🌼 The powers of servitude and the fall
When will those nuclear powers of servitude be released, so that I may taste the true sweetness of servitude? I do not know. I have destroyed the angels within me and nurtured and fattened the devils. I have let them ride upon me, and I cannot make them dismount. I suffer from all manner of afflictions and am falling, yet I do not realize it. My Lord told me to beware of Satan, my enemy, but I have accepted his authority and become obedient to him.

🌼 Satan and the danger of befriending him
He calls us in order to drive us toward the blazing fire, to drag us down into the depths of Saqar and Sa‘ir. He will not be extinguished; his hatred will not subside. Yet instead of choosing to be his enemy, I have accepted his friendship. When will I worship my Creator? I wish for a long life, but what will I do with it? Spend it in sin? Worship myself? Worship others? Worship ugliness? What, then, should I do? I want a long life—what for? To break through the roof of love? I have put God’s worship on hold.

🌼 God’s Presence and Our Absence from Him
The Imam Mahdi is not in occultation; I am absent from him. The very innate nature within me is a sign of his divine authority. When my innate nature awakens, my Imam—the Proof of God—is always present within me. The Qur’an, too, is not in occultation; I am the one absent from the Qur’an. Both God’s vicegerent and His Book are hidden from me because I have distanced myself from them. When will I awaken? When will I seek out the Imam of my time? If he is present, will I go to him? Are his words not there? Are his treasuries not open? Yet I do not turn to his treasuries. This very Ṣaḥīfa Sajjadiyya is a trust handed down to us from him. Is it not the Speaking Qur’an? Then why do I not turn to the Qur’an? I have put aside God’s Proof, God’s Book, and the worship of God.

🌼 The Need to Revive the Way of Servitude
When will I revive the vast system of worship and servitude, so that I may attain sublime experiences? Until I know the Imam of my time, I will remain self-worshipping. God’s Proof is the key that leads me from worshipping myself and others to worshipping God. But I follow my own desires, and so I have become a worshipper of them. Whatever I like, I make my guide—without even realizing it.

🌼 Worshipping Desire and the Obstacles to Guidance
Have you ever seen someone take their desires as their god? Could you act as their advocate and defend them? You could not. Even if the Messenger of God came, the one who worships desire would carry on doing so. If the Imam of the time appeared, as long as I worship my desires, I would not seek him out. My own lower self would become my object of worship. I must pass through that gate and turn toward the qibla before I can claim that I wish to worship my God. Until I turn toward the qibla and find my Imam, I will remain self-worshipping. When I find my Imam, I will have reached my God, for the Imam is God’s path, His straight way, and the qibla that faces Him.

🌼 What Do I Want More Life For?
Am I asking God for more life so I can worship my own desires?

🌼 The Misguidance That Comes from Worshipping Desire
God misguides the one who worships desire, in accordance with their knowledge. In other words, they are no longer receptive to guidance; they thwart and destroy it. If all the prophets came to them, they would kill them all. If their heart were filled with angels, they would kill them all at once. They show no mercy to God’s proofs. So God seals their hearing, and their heart as well, for their sight is empty of God’s light—and thus they will be blind.

🌼 The Consequences of a Heart and Ears Led Astray
An ear that does not become familiar with the word of God would be better off deaf. A heart that is not softened by love of God would be better off as hard stone—or harder still. What can we do to avoid becoming among those whose hearts are sealed? We must guard against our own desires.

🌼 The Character of the People of the End Times
This is what the people of the end times are like: all their effort and aspiration is devoted to this world. Not only are their aspirations worldly; they seclude themselves in the world. Not only do they dwell in the world; they put their trust in it, too. They have clutched the world so tightly that they will not let it go. Their stomachs are their gods, and their womenfolk their prayer niches.

🌼 Lost Dignity and the Worship of Desire
Their measure of worth is dirhams and dinars, gold and silver, money, dollars. They are prisoners of their appetites, and all their ambition is bound up in satisfying them. They are the worst of the worst, the vilest of the vile. We must look within ourselves, lest we become worshippers of desire. Let us turn to gnosis and the spiritual journey—but if we lose sight of the destination and the path, and seek anything other than the Two Weighty Trusts, we will once again become worshippers of desire. If we seek a path to take flight apart from the Qur’an and the Prophet’s Household, our search will lead us to our own desires. I will journey within myself, imagining that I am in the heavenly realm. Even if I attain sublime unveilings, travel vast distances in an instant, or heal the sick through my own inner power, if I stray from the true path, I am still worshipping desire. In the end, I will reach the point where, like Bal‘am Bā‘ūrā, I am cast down from the heights.

🌼 The Example of Bal‘am Bā‘ūrā
What little we had given him could have raised him up and brought him to the heights. But he clung to the earth, fixed his gaze on people’s attention, and sought their praise. He became attached to the world and enslaved to his desires, and his fate was like that of a dog.

🌼 A Warning Against Vanity and the Worship of Desire
So even if a person brings the dead back to life, they must not become conceited. If they journey through the heavenly realm and become enamoured of themselves, their fate will be like that of a dog. Even if they behold the beauty of the houris or attain Solomon’s kingdom, if they boast of themselves, they are still like a dog. Even if they travel vast distances in an instant—or soar higher still, through the highest heavenly realm—if they follow their lower self, they are still like a dog.

🌼 The Way to Freedom from Self-Indulgence
Hold your soul firmly and train it in patience, alongside those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, seeking only His pleasure. Do not turn your eyes away in pursuit of the adornments of this worldly life. Do not obey those whose hearts We have made heedless of God’s remembrance—those who were not worthy of remembering Us. We took Our remembrance from them, and they followed their own desires until they went to excess. Do not escape self-worship only to fall into worshipping the desires of others. I have freed myself from my own desires, yet I worship the desires of others—and one is worse than the next.

🌼 Self-Indulgence and the Ruin of Faith
Do not let anyone who does not believe in the Resurrection turn you away from that Hour. He follows his own desires and is doomed. May I never befriend those who deny the Hereafter, for they will draw me into the same affliction. This is God’s message: those who deny the Resurrection and are absorbed in worldly life will lead us to disbelief.

🌼 Asking for a Life Spent in Worship
O God, grant me a life that I may spend in obedience to You. O God, do not let this life become a pasture for Satan. If I reach a point where Satan covets me and finds nourishment in me, I swear by Your divinity: take my soul, so that I may not help Satan grow stronger. Do not let me strengthen him and increase corruption in this world. O God, help me make Satan regret his mischief. A person must make Satan regret it. Satan has reached the extreme of old age and decrepitude. Do not let me make him young again with my blood, flesh, and thoughts.

🌼 Our Share in Weakening Satan
Those who came before us have passed away, each doing their part to weaken him. O God, what is my share? Have I taken his breath away, or given him new life? He was dead, but I have brought him back to life. The devotions of His Eminence the Mahdi bring Satan to the point of death, but through my deeds I revive him. If it were not for me, Satan’s work would be finished. One breath from the Imam of the Age, or one remembrance of God from him, would send Satan away.

🌼 Satan’s Paradise or the Angels’ Paradise?
O God, instead of becoming Satan’s hell, I have become his paradise. Through reason and worship, I should become a paradise for the angels—a garden bearing fruit for them. But I have become a wasteland to them. I have filled my inner being with so many vices that Satan does not know where to begin feasting.

🌼 Seeking Refuge from Satan
I take refuge in Imam Sajjad and turn to God’s court, seeking protection. O God, shelter me and my children from Satan, the accursed. You created us, commanded us, and forbade us. You made us long for the reward of doing what You commanded us to do, and filled us with fear of its punishment.

🌼 Satan’s Power over Humanity
O God, You set an enemy against us who deceives us. You gave Satan power over us, though we have no such power over him. Why? I will explain.

🌼 Satan’s Presence Within Us
O God, You made Satan dwell in our breasts and flow through our blood vessels. When we are heedless, he is not; when we forget, he does not. He makes it seem as though we are safe from Your punishment. He frightens us effectively with everything besides You, yet we do not fear You Yourself.

🌼 Why Satan Has Power over Us
Why has God given Satan power over us, when He has not given us power over him? Because the human being is a champion among champions. Satan’s power is a minor advantage. It is the human being who, by accepting Satan’s authority, allows him this power.

🌼 Humanity’s Role in Satan’s Power
We are the ones who invite Satan to approach us. Satan is so weak that he cannot overpower a human being. He resorts to the weapon of domination when a person forgets God. When a person is heedless of God, Satan gains the upper hand. Yet even if Satan did not exist, the human being would still face a trial. We must undergo this trial and prevail in order to claim that we are God’s true servants.

🌼 The Commander of the Faithful Rebukes Mu‘awiya
The Commander of the Faithful, the Master of the Godwary, says in reproaching Mu‘awiya:
O Mu‘awiya, you are given over to luxury. The sweetness of wealth, riches, and God’s blessings has so overwhelmed you that you have become conceited and lost to yourself. You have become one of the privileged. Satan has taken from you what he was meant to take. You have become Satan’s outpost and refuge. Satan courses through your veins and blood, and you have become his highway and his lifeblood. You have become Satan’s blood: he flows through you and feeds on you, spreading corruption throughout the world.

🌼 Adam’s Request to God
Adam asks God:
“O God, You gave Satan dominion over us and made him flow through our blood. So show us a kindness against this dominion of Satan.”
The Lord said: “O Adam, if one of your descendants intends a sin, his resolve toward the sin is not written against him. If after the intention he commits the sin, I write only one evil deed for him. But if one of your descendants intends a good deed, even if he does not perform it, a good deed is written for him. And if he performs that good deed, it will be written tenfold.”
He asked again: “O God, add yet more.”

🌼 Divine Repentance and Forgiveness
The Lord said:
“Whoever among them does an ugly deed and then seeks forgiveness, I will forgive him.”
He was not yet satisfied and asked: “O God, add yet more.”
The Lord said:
“I have appointed repentance for him.”
Forgiveness is different from repentance. A person may be forgiven, yet perhaps he is not taken as a friend. But repentance means that after forgiveness, I take him as a friend and fall in love with him.

🌼 God’s Expansion of Repentance
The Lord said: “I will so spread and expand repentance for them that they will have opportunity until their soul reaches their throat.”

🌼 Adam’s Regret for Not Asking More
Adam said: “I am satisfied.” Would that he had not said “It is enough for me” and had asked for more; then our Lord would have expanded His gifts yet further.

🌼 A Race Across All Dimensions of Existence
There is a race between man and himself, between man and other men, between man and inanimate things. Strange, yet it is the very truth: a race between man and plants, between man and animals, nature and the stars. A special race between man and the jinn. A race between fire and earth: which is better?
Whoever’s degrees of piety rise higher is better. Man must disappoint Satan and cast him out of his life. Whoever can preserve the light of God within himself—man has such power that he can overcome Satan with his eyes closed. God has granted this man such ability that even with closed eyes he can destroy Satan. The very fact that God has opened Satan’s eye to man and closed man’s eye to him is a sign of Satan’s abasement. The Lord says: “I have servants who will make you lament with their eyes closed.”

🌼 Instilling Despair in Satan
We must make Satan despair of us, not become a sea for Satan and let him swim through our blood and take our life. We must make ourselves unsafe for Satan. If he dares to intrude, we must drown him—not hand him the means of hunting within ourselves.
At every moment we must cause Satan trouble and give him a lesson so instructive that he will never forget it.