The Fall of Servitude

🌼🔆🌼A Lifetime’s Worth of Spending🌼🔆🌼

🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹

🔅🌹 “The Motive for Worship”  “The Devil’s Joint-Stock Company”  “Beyond Love” “Commentary on Supplication 20 of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya”  “Session 236” and … An outline with supplementary notes       1403.09.29    Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903)  🌹🔅

🔅🌼O God, make my life an offering to You🌼🔅

🌸🔆☘️وَ عَمِّرْنِي مَا كَانَ عُمُرِي بِذْلَةً فِي طَاعَتِكَ، فَإِذَا كَانَ عُمُرِي مَرْتَعاً لِلشَّيْطَانِ فَاقْبِضْنِي إِلَيْكَ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَسْبِقَ مَقْتُكَ إِلَيَّ، أَوْ يَسْتَحْكِمَ غَضَبُكَ عَلَي‏ ☘️ 🔆 🌸

🔅🌼Supplication is the spirit of worship and devotion to God🌼🔅

🌹Whoever neglects supplication and intimate communion with God fails to attain the ranks of worship and devotion to Him.

🔅🌼Reflection is the impetus for worship🌼🔅

🌹The spirit of devotion to God is kindled through reflection.

🌷🔆 وَ لَا عِبَادَةَ كَالتَّفَكُّر[1]

🔆Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him: No act of worship is like reflection.

🌹Reflection is a sign that worship and devotion are alive and flourishing.

🔅🌼Worship with the insight of a jurist🌼🔅

🌷🔆وَ لَا عِبَادَةَ إِلَّا بِالتَّفَقُّه‏[2]

🔆Imam al-Sajjad, peace be upon him, said: No act of worship is like deep understanding of religion.

🌹Deep understanding means putting the powers of reason and thought in the service of devotion to God. One’s entire being is devoted to God’s worship.

🔅🌼Informed supplication reveals the light of devotion to God🌼🔅

🌷🔆 وَ قَالَ ص‏ الدُّعَاءُ مُخُ‏ الْعِبَادَةِ وَ لَا يَهْلِكُ مَعَ الدُّعَاءِ [أَحَدٌ][3]

🔆The Prophet of Islam, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said: Supplication is the heart of worship, and no one is ever ruined by supplication.

🌹The heart is the understanding brought to bear in the path of worship and devotion. Supplication gives worship and devotion to God a distinctive order and discipline.

🔅🌼Never forget supplication in any circumstance🌼🔅

🌷🔆 وَ قَالَ ص‏ مَنْ سَرَّهُ أَنْ يَسْتَجِيبَ اللَّهُ سُبْحَانَهُ لَهُ فِي الشَّدَائِدِ وَ الْكُرَبِ فَلْيُكْثِرِ الدُّعَاءَ عِنْدَ الرَّخَاءِ[4]

🔆The Prophet of Islam, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said: Whoever wants God, the Most Exalted, to answer their supplications in times of hardship and distress should supplicate more often in times of ease.

🔅🌼Worship God in the best way possible🌼🔅

🌷🔆 وَ قَالَ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ أَفْضَلُ الصَّلَاةِ أَفْضَلُ عِبَادَةِ أُمَّتِي بَعْدَ قِرَاءَةِ الْقُرْآنِ الدُّعَاءُ ثُمَّ قَرَأَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ص‏ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبادَتِي سَيَدْخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ داخِرِينَ‏ أَ لَا تَرَى أَنَّ الدُّعَاءَ هُوَ الْعِبَادَة[5]

🔆The Prophet of Islam, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said: The best act of worship for my community, after reciting the Qur’an, is supplication. Then the Messenger of God recited this verse: “Your Lord has said, ‘Call upon Me, and I will answer you.’ Surely those who disdain to worship Me will enter Hell, utterly humiliated!” Do you not know that supplication itself is worship?

🔅🌼All the supplications of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya are kindred🌼🔅

🌹There is a remarkable connection between the supplications of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya. They are linked like the parts and limbs of a body, each related to the others within a particular order. It is therefore best to recite the entire Ṣaḥīfa regularly: it is a complete nourishment for love, a vitamin for ecstatic longing.

🌹The Ṣaḥīfa Sajjādiyya is Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn’s mighty, all-embracing armour.

🌹Every prayer in the Ṣaḥīfa Sajjādiyya is like a vessel voyaging through the celestial realms; every intimate supplication in it is a cup of love and a cup of God’s purest wine.

🌹Swim in the ocean of the Ṣaḥīfa Sajjādiyya; dive deep; become a fish, and experience the life of the Sajjādiyya.

🌹The Ṣaḥīfa Sajjādiyya is a treasury of worship and servitude.

🌹The Ṣaḥīfa Sajjādiyya is a vast divine field, a pasture for the angels, a garden and rose garden of God’s chosen ones, a paradise for the divine prophets, a place of slaughter for devils, a hell for Iblīs, and a sanctuary for worship and servitude.

🌹The Ṣaḥīfa Sajjādiyya is the seven cities of love—or, indeed, the whole city of love.

🌹Can you embody the role of Imam Sajjād, peace be upon him, in the love of servitude? If the Messenger of God is our exemplar, then his descendants, too, are gateways to that same great city of divine love.

🌻🔆Al-Aḥzāb: 21   لَقَدْ كانَ لَكُمْ في‏ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِمَنْ كانَ يَرْجُوا اللَّهَ وَ الْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَ ذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثيراً

🔆Surely, in the Messenger of God you have an excellent example to follow—for those who hope in God and the Last Day and remember God often.

🌷🔆 «تخلّقوا باخلاق اللَّه»[6]

🔆 Adorn yourselves with the qualities of God.

🌹The qualities of God are like the names of God: make yourselves resemble God’s chosen ones; become like those beloved of God.

🌹With those beloved of God, experience the spirit of worship and servitude.

🔅🌼 Love is the wing that carries you beyond love.🌼🔅

🌹Worship God with love.

🌹Give your love wholly and completely to the One you worship.

🌷🔆قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ص‏ أَفْضَلُ النَّاسِ مَنْ‏ عَشِقَ‏ الْعِبَادَةَ فَعَانَقَهَا وَ أَحَبَّهَا بِقَلْبِهِ وَ بَاشَرَهَا بِجَسَدِهِ وَ تَفَرَّغَ لَهَا فَهُوَ لَا يُبَالِي عَلَى مَا أَصْبَحَ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا عَلَى عُسْرٍ أَمْ عَلَى يُسْرٍ.[7]

🔆The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said: “The best of people is one who falls in love with worship, embraces it, loves it wholeheartedly, mingles with it in body, and devotes himself to it. Such a person need not mind whether life in this world is hard or easy.”

🌹Embrace worship with your soul, heart, and body.

🌹Set yourself apart for worship; free and release yourself for worship. Escape every bondage, and enter into servitude to God.

🌹Hardship and ease alike are part of the substance of worship and servitude.

🌷🔆 (1) اللَّهُمَّ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ عَلَى مَا لَمْ أَزَلْ أَتَصَرَّفُ فِيهِ مِنْ سَلَامَةِ بَدَنِي، وَ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ عَلَى مَا أَحْدَثْتَ بِي مِنْ عِلَّةٍ فِي جَسَدِي (2) فَمَا أَدْرِي، يَا إِلَهِي، أَيُّ الْحَالَيْنِ أَحَقُّ بِالشُّكْرِ لَكَ، وَ أَيُّ الْوَقْتَيْنِ أَوْلَى بِالْحَمْدِ لَكَ (3) أَ وَقْتُ الصِّحَّةِ الَّتِي هَنَّأْتَنِي فِيهَا طَيِّبَاتِ رِزْقِكَ، وَ نَشَّطْتَنِي بِهَا لِابْتِغَاءِ مَرْضَاتِكَ وَ فَضْلِكَ، وَ قَوَّيْتَنِي مَعَهَا عَلَى مَا وَفَّقْتَنِي لَهُ مِنْ طَاعَتِكَ (4) أَمْ وَقْتُ الْعِلَّةِ الَّتِي مَحَّصْتَنِي بِهَا، وَ النِّعَمِ الَّتِي أَتْحَفْتَنِي بِهَا، تَخْفِيفاً لِمَا ثَقُلَ بِهِ عَلَيَّ ظَهْرِي مِنَ الْخَطِيئَاتِ، وَ تَطْهِيراً لِمَا انْغَمَسْتُ فِيهِ مِنَ السَّيِّئَاتِ، وَ تَنْبِيهاً لِتَنَاوُلِ التَّوْبَةِ، وَ تَذْكِيراً لِمَحْوِ الْحَوْبَةِ بِقَدِيمِ النِّعْمَةِ[8]

🌷🔆 Praise be to You, O God, for the health of my body in which I always lived (before this), and praise be to You for the illness You have now brought upon my body. So I do not know, O my God, which of these two states (health and illness) is more worthy of Your thanks, and which of these two times is more deserving of Your praise. Is it the time of health, in which You made Your pure provisions pleasant for me, and gave me joy in seeking Your good pleasure and beneficence, and through it granted me success in obeying You, and made me capable? Or the time of illness, in which You delivered me (from sins), and the time of blessings (pains) which You sent to me as a gift, so that it might lighten the sins that had weighed down my back, and purify me from the afflictions into which I had fallen, and be a reminder to learn repentance and to erase sins through the former blessing (health)?[9]

🔅🌼 The Blessed and the Unblessed Field 🌼🔅

🌹 Let God complete His art in your stature. O human being, you are the tablet of God.

🌹 The human being is God’s cultivated field; if he does not watch over himself, he turns into the field of Satan — he becomes Satan’s kitchen, his birthing place, his grooming salon, his base and his sickbed.

🌹 Satanic farming in the soil of the human being yields only meanness, filth, impurity and defilement.

🌻🔆 Al-Ma’idah: 90 أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَ الْمَيْسِرُ وَ الْأَنْصابُ وَ الْأَزْلامُ رِجْسٌ مِنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطانِ فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ

🔆 O you who have believed! Wine and gambling and idols and divining arrows are defilement, from the work of Satan; so avoid them, that you may succeed!

🌹 Let not Satan grow and multiply himself within the human being.

🌻🔆 Al-Jinn: 6 وَ أَنَّهُ كانَ رِجالٌ مِنَ الْإِنْسِ يَعُوذُونَ بِرِجالٍ مِنَ الْجِنِّ فَزادُوهُمْ رَهَقاً

🔆 And that men from among mankind used to seek refuge with men from among the jinn, and they increased them in error and transgression.

🔅🌼 The Satanic Corporation 🌼🔅

🌹 Woe to those who are the Satanic Corporation — who make him a partner even in the seed, in food, in worship.

🌻🔆 Al-Isra’: 64 وَ اسْتَفْزِزْ مَنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ مِنْهُمْ بِصَوْتِكَ وَ أَجْلِبْ عَلَيْهِمْ بِخَيْلِكَ وَ رَجِلِكَ وَ شارِكْهُمْ فِي الْأَمْوالِ وَ الْأَوْلادِ وَ عِدْهُمْ وَ ما يَعِدُهُمُ الشَّيْطانُ إِلاَّ غُرُوراً

🔆 And incite whichever of them you can with your voice! And muster against them your cavalry and your infantry! And share with them in wealth and children! And promise them! Satan promises them nothing but deception and lies.

🌹 If the human being does not watch over himself, he passes through Satan’s pasture and lets Satan into his partnership; he even drives Satan to steal from his honour. One must beware of this traitor to honour and dignity — with every unchastity, shamelessness and laxity in worship, the door of betrayal is opened.

🔅🌼 Satanic Fruits 🌼🔅

🌻🔆وَلَوْلَا نِعْمَةُ رَبِّي لَكُنْتُ مِنَ الْمُحْضَرِينَ ﴿۵۷﴾ صافات

🔆 And were it not for the mercy of my Lord, I would surely have been among those brought forth.

🌻🔆 أَفَمَا نَحْنُ بِمَيِّتِينَ ﴿۵۸﴾

🔆 Is it that we are not to die again

🌻🔆 إِلَّا مَوْتَتَنَا الْأُولَى وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمُعَذَّبِينَ ﴿۵۹﴾

🔆 except our first death, and that we shall never be punished

🌻🔆 إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ ﴿۶۰﴾

🔆 Indeed, this is the great attainment.

🌻🔆إِنَّا جَعَلْنَاهَا فِتْنَةً لِلظَّالِمِينَ ﴿۶۳﴾

🔆 Indeed, We have made it a trial and a punishment for the wrongdoers.

🌻🔆 إِنَّهَا شَجَرَةٌ تَخْرُجُ فِي أَصْلِ الْجَحِيمِ ﴿۶۴﴾

🔆It is a tree that grows from the depths of the blazing Fire

🌻🔆 طَلْعُهَا كَأَنَّهُ رُءُوسُ الشَّيَاطِينِ ﴿۶۵﴾

🔆Its fruit is as though it were the heads of devils

🌻🔆 فَإِنَّهُمْ لَآكِلُونَ مِنْهَا فَمَالِئُونَ مِنْهَا الْبُطُونَ ﴿۶۶﴾

🔆Then they will surely eat from it, filling their bellies with it

🌻🔆 ثُمَّ إِنَّ لَهُمْ عَلَيْهَا لَشَوْبًا مِنْ حَمِيمٍ ﴿۶۷﴾

🔆Then on top of it they will have a draught of scalding water

🌻🔆 ثُمَّ إِنَّ مَرْجِعَهُمْ لَإِلَى الْجَحِيمِ ﴿۶۸﴾

🔆After that, their return will surely be to Hell

🌷🔆عَنْ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ ع قَالَ: إِذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ قَبْضَ‏ الْكَافِرِ قَالَ‏ يَا مَلَكَ‏ الْمَوْتِ‏ انْطَلِقْ أَنْتَ وَ أَعْوَانُكَ إِلَى عَدُوِّي … ً فَيَهْوِي سَبْعِينَ أَلْفَ عَامٍ حَتَّى يَنْتَهِيَ إِلَى شَجَرَةِ الزَّقُّومِ شَجَرَةٍ تَخْرُجُ فِي أَصْلِ الْجَحِيمِ طَلْعُها كَأَنَّهُ رُؤُسُ الشَّياطِينِ عَلَيْهَا سَبْعُونَ أَلْفَ غُصْنٍ مِنْ نَارٍ فِي كُلِّ غُصْنٍ سَبْعُونَ أَلْفَ ثَمَرَةٍ مِنْ نَارٍ كُلُّ ثَمَرَةٍ  كَأَنَّهَا رَأْسُ الشَّيْطَانِ قُبْحاً وَ نَتْناً تَنْشَبُ عَلَى صَخْرَةٍ مُمَلَّسَةٍ سَوْخَاءَ كَأَنَّهَا مِرْآةٌ ذَلِقَةٌ مَا بَيْنَ أَصْلِ الصَّخْرَةِ إِلَى الصَّخْرَةِ سَبْعُونَ أَلْفَ عَامٍ أَغْصَانُهَا يَشْرَبُ مِنْ نَارٍ وَ ثِمَارُهَا نَارٌ وَ فَرْعُهَا نَارٌ فَيُقَالُ لَهُ يَا شَقِيُّ اصْعَدْ فَكُلَّمَا صَعِدَ زَلِقَ وَ كُلَّمَا زَلِقَ صَعِدَ فَلَا يَزَالُ كَذَلِكَ سَبْعِينَ أَلْفَ عَامٍ فِي الْعَذَابِ وَ إِذَا أَكَلَ مِنْهَا ثَمَرَةً يَجِدُهَا أَمَرَّ مِنَ الصَّبِرِ وَ أَنْتَنَ مِنَ الْجِيَفِ وَ أَشَدَّ مِنَ الْحَدِيدِ فَإِذَا وَاقَعَتْ بَطْنَهُ غَلَتْ فِي بَطْنِهِ كَغَلْيِ الْحَمِيم‏[10]

🌷🔆Imam al-Baqir: When God, Exalted is He, wishes to take the soul of an unbeliever, He says, “O Angel of Death, go with your companions to My enemy …” [A blow is struck to his head, and by that blow he falls for seventy thousand years] until he reaches the tree of Zaqqum, which grows from the depths of Hell. Its blossom is like the heads of devils. It has seventy thousand branches of fire, and each branch bears seventy thousand fiery fruits. Each fruit is as hideous as a devil’s head and reeks of decay. He slips across a rock as smooth as a mirror, and the distance between any two rocks is seventy thousand years. Its branches feed on fire, its fruit is fire, and everything about it is fire. He is told, “Wretched one, climb up!” But whenever he tries to climb, he slips. This continues for seventy thousand years.

🌹If those who resemble Satan knew what they were bringing upon themselves—if their eyes were opened, if they understood, if they knew what sinful fare contains—they would flee from it. The degradation of every base creature is the result of its descent towards the lowest depths and the tree of Zaqqum.

🌹Satanic fare

🌹The pleasure of sin will one day reveal itself;

🌹Satanic pleasures are pleasures made alluring and embellished. They offer a false delight; their poison lies hidden beneath those allurements and embellishments, and one day its effects will become clear;

🌻🔆Muhammad: 25   إِنَّ الَّذينَ ارْتَدُّوا عَلى‏ أَدْبارِهِمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ ما تَبَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الْهُدَى الشَّيْطانُ سَوَّلَ لَهُمْ وَ أَمْلى‏ لَهُمْ

🔆Those who turned their backs on the truth after guidance had become clear to them—Satan made their evil deeds seem fair to them and beguiled them with false hopes!

🌹A satanic palate stirs up the craving for sin

🌹One day, the abscess of sinful pleasures will burst.

Repentance: 49   وَ مِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَقُولُ ائْذَنْ لي‏ وَ لا تَفْتِنِّي أَلا فِي الْفِتْنَةِ سَقَطُوا وَ إِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَمُحيطَةٌ بِالْكافِرينَ 🌻🔆

🔆Some of them say, “Grant us leave [to stay behind and not join the campaign], and do not expose us to temptation!” Yet they have already fallen into sin, and Hell indeed encompasses the unbelievers

🌻🔆Al-‘Ankabut 29:54   يَسْتَعْجِلُونَكَ بِالْعَذابِ وَ إِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَمُحيطَةٌ بِالْكافِرينَ

🔆They impatiently demand that you bring on the punishment, while Hell already encompasses the unbelievers!

🌷🔆 فَهُمْ وَ الْجَنَّةُ كَمَنْ قَدْ رَآهَا فَهُمْ فِيهَا مُنَعَّمُونَ وَ هُمْ‏ وَ النَّارُ كَمَنْ قَدْ رَآهَا فَهُمْ فِيهَا مُعَذَّبُون‏[11]

🔆The relationship between Paradise and the God-fearing is like that of someone who has seen it and been blessed by its delights; their relationship with Hell is like that of someone who has seen it and been punished there.

🌹We can surmise that every act of disobedience entails a fall, and brings with it a deep poisoning from the food of Zaqqūm.

🌹While the door of repentance is still open, we must hasten to enter.

🌼Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903)🌼

🔅🌼 A student’s perspective on the discussion of “the fall from servitude”🌼🔅

🔹 The fall from servitude

📖 Weekly session on the commentary and interpretation of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya (Supplication 20)

📅 Date: 1403/09/29 – 17 Jumada al-Thani 1446

✨ Session: Meshkat-e Noor

🎤 Speaker: Master Ali Saei

Some of the topics discussed in the session:

🌼 Intimate prayer to God 

O God, if You do not spend me in the cause of Your love, I will be spent in the cause of Satan. If You do not make me a field of Your own, I will become Satan’s pasture. Take my hand, take my heart, take my spirit and soul into Your care. Tame me and make me Your captive, so that I am never separated from You, even for a moment. 

🌼 Devoting oneself to God 

O God, my soul and my lifetime are Yours to use. I am Your creation; spend me in Your cause. 

🌼 A prayer for servitude 

Make me wholly Yours. Choose me for worship and service to You. Otherwise, I will worship myself and serve Satan. 

🌼 The value of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya 

O God, do not take al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya away from me. Take my life, but do not take al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya from me. Do not deprive me of this pure drink, even for a moment. Awaken my thirst for this sacred book, so that I may drink cup after cup of love, moment by moment. Take hold of my thoughts and reason, so that I may worship and serve You thoughtfully and with understanding. 

🌼 Reflection and worship 

No act of worship is like reflection. I must make my whole being nothing but worship and service to You, so that I may become a rational soul. How should I worship You? I must be not merely rational, but become reason itself, so that I may be wholly Your servant. 

🌼 Worship through reflection 

It is impossible to worship God without deep understanding. Worship is impossible without such understanding—understanding of religion, creation, and servitude to God. O God, grant me success in attaining the station of servitude. Worship without reflection is worship with the worship taken out of it. O God, let me never worship myself without realizing it, or try to worship You in ignorance; in that ignorance, I would be worshipping myself and Satan. O God, make me the bride of this mine of worship. This blessed book of yours is a mine of supplication, a mine of the innermost secrets. 

🌼 The essence of worship 

The essence of worship is supplication: that I understand and know how to call upon my God with deep understanding. This calling is the very essence of worship and servitude. Every act and deed is meant to bring me to this station, where I pray to You with my whole spirit and soul, and with all my longing. If I do not attain it, I will perish and be lost. 

🌼 Perishing in heedlessness 

It is impossible for anyone to perish through supplication. When I failed to call upon God, I became prey to Iblis. I became prey to my own self. No bird is caught except through forgetting God: His remembrance leaves its heart, and it is caught. How could someone who remembers God be captured by another? 

🌼 The value of the blessed Sahifa 

This blessed scripture, this scripture of worship and devotion, opens the paths of love and the way to love God. Every passage is a great road leading to the love of God, to His mysteries, His unseen realm, and His wonders and treasures. 

🌼 The Scripture: A Vessel of Love 

Each prayer is a vessel that carries us aboard and draws us into the Kingdom of Heaven. It is our vessel for voyaging through the heavenly realm and the realm of divine power; our vessel for traversing the realm of the divine. It is God’s pure drink, which we can drink deeply of at any moment. 

🌼 The Best Form of Worship 

If we seek the finest form of worship, its great wellspring and home is this very Ṣaḥīfa Sajjadiyya. The Prophet says, “The best worship of my community, after reciting the Quran, is supplication.” Can we think of any supplication more beautiful than those in the Ṣaḥīfa? 

🌼 Playing the Lover’s Part in the Ṣaḥīfa 

The Ṣaḥīfa Sajjadiyya is the finest place to play the part of a lover. How can I embody the Imam’s role in the Ṣaḥīfa and pray and beseech God as he does? If I cannot, I have failed.

🌼 Adorning Ourselves with God’s Qualities 

We must take on the qualities of God; we must become adorned with them. This means we must be like God’s saints. God’s qualities are like His names. If I do not attain that lofty station, it means I have not walked the path of devotion to God. Through the Ṣaḥīfa Sajjadiyya, I must experience the spirit of worship and devotion. 

In truth, the great workings of worship bring a person to life and recreate the human innate nature. By God, if I enter this ocean of the Ṣaḥīfa Sajjadiyya thoughtfully and let myself be borne along, if I dive like a fish in this sea, I will experience the true life of devotion to God and discover the state of loving communion with Him. 

In the Ṣaḥīfa Sajjadiyya, each prayer flows into the next. 

🌼 The Human Fall and the Consequences of Sin 

The Godfearing can see it; the people of Paradise see the Fire. They experience its torment in this very world, though it is cool and peaceful for them, and still they grasp its intensity. Those who sin are in a state of falling. They commit sins and fall. 

By God, that mouse which feeds on filth is the result of a fall. It was once a pure creature, but sin corrupted it, reducing it to such vileness and foulness. It has been falling for seventy thousand years to reach this state. It does not know, but it has certainly fallen. The cockroach, too, has surely been falling for several thousand years. 

Why have creatures that feed on filth become like this? They have reached the Tree of Zaqqum. Anyone who takes pleasure in sin is more vile than these base, foul creatures.

🌼 Time and Beyond Time in the Fall 

The human being exists within the beyond-time and falls. By God, on the Night of the Ascension, when God’s Messenger visited Paradise and Hell, he had passed beyond time. From that realm beyond time, he saw our present state as it is today. 

A blow is struck, and its consequences last seventy thousand years. Our Lord does not wait; whether it is seventy thousand years or more makes no difference to our Lord. One falls for seventy thousand years before reaching the Tree of Zaqqum, which grows at the bottom of Hell and bears blossoms like the heads of devils. 

It has seventy thousand fiery branches, and each branch bears seventy thousand fruits. It is set between two rocks, and the distance between them is seventy thousand years. What is the mystery of these seventy thousand years? I do not know. One eats from it—one must eat. Then, after eating, one must gulp down scalding ḥamīm water. 

It moves and slips between the two rocks, and this takes seventy thousand years. What mystery is this? O God, how did the human being come to such a pass? 

🌼 The Need for Self-Examination 

We must reconsider our principles and their practical implications. At every moment, we need to review ourselves and look within. We must put ourselves on trial, reproach ourselves, and take account of ourselves. We must shout at ourselves, demand answers, seize ourselves by the collar, tear open our collars—and rend the collar of the lower self. 

🌼 The Devil’s Field 

How often Satan sows in the soil of our being, bringing forth the fruits of baseness, corruption, abomination and impurity! 

🌼 A Divine Warning about Satan’s Deeds 

O you who believe, know with certainty that wine, idols and divining arrows are abominations, the work of Satan. They are the foul fruits of Satan’s work, so keep away from them, that you may prosper. 

🌼 Making Satan a Partner 

O human being, take care not to make Satan a shareholder in yourself, granting him a share within you. Woe to those who make Satan a shareholder in their very being! Woe to those who make him a partner in their food and sustenance—and, God forbid, even in their own seed. 

🌼 Giving Satan Leave to Intervene 

Let us beware lest our hearts be sealed and God leave us to ourselves; for then Satan is given leave to intervene. He stirs people with his voice, drives them onward, and joins them with his cavalry and infantry. He shares in their wealth and their children. Yet Satan’s promises are nothing but deception and lies. 

If a person does not guard against this, he will not only become Satan’s pasture; he will make Satan a partner in his wealth, his family’s honour and his life. God forbid! Do we not see? We must beware of this betrayer of honour and dignity. Those without chastity are the ones who make Satan a partner in their family’s honour and invite him to themselves. 

🌼 Seeking Refuge with Satan 

Not only that: they flock to Satan, the devils and the jinn, seeking their help and refuge and making them their fortress. Their fruits become the tree of Zaqqum. 

🌼 A Change of State and Sustenance 

When a person changes his inner state and disposition, his sustenance changes too. He flees from all that is pure, and abomination and impurity become his food. He eats from the tree of Zaqqum. 

🌼 The Food of the People of Hell 

The tree of Zaqqum grows in the depths of Hell, and its blossoms are like the heads of devils. Those who persist in sin eat from it, filling their bellies. After eating, they must gulp down a scalding mixture of boiling water. Then, after this first reception, they plunge into the depths of Hell. 

Those who are satanic in character have satanic fare. Those who take pleasure in sin will one day taste that pleasure for what it truly is. At first, that pleasure was only a false veil that urged them to consume sin; but one day its effects will break out from within them. 

🌼 Satanic Pleasures 

Satanic pleasures are pleasures made to seem alluring—the beautification of what is ugly. The fare of sinners is thus made alluring, for its outward guise entices people. But when the boil of satanic pleasure bursts, they will understand what a terrible calamity has befallen them. 

🌼 Delusion and Empty Hopes 

For those who turn away after being guided, Satan makes sin seem alluring and draws them toward empty hopes. The sinner is falling—a fall that lasts not for a moment, but for eternity. He sins for an instant; if the true nature of that instant were revealed, he would see that it brings thousands of years of torment. 

🌼 The Taking of Sinners’ Souls 

When God wills to take the soul of a disbeliever, He says to the Angel of Death, “O Angel of Death, go forth with your companions against My enemy.” The Angel of Death strikes God’s enemy so hard that his fall begins. The fall lasts seventy thousand years, and at last he reaches the tree of Zaqqum.

🌼 The Fall of Sinners 

Every sinner, at every moment of sin, undergoes such a fall—a fall lasting seventy thousand years. Hell encompasses the disbelievers. They are surrounded by Hell, yet cannot see it in this world. Time keeps them from understanding. But the people of God-consciousness can see: they see the fire and the people of Hell within it. 

🌼 The Sahifa Sajjadiyya as a Unified Whole 

The Imam speaks with such delicacy and precision, and has fashioned the Ṣaḥīfa like a master tailor, that no finer garment could be made for worship and servitude to God. Each supplication in it is like one part of the human body, joined to the others. The entire Ṣaḥīfa is a single body, its prayers like limbs and organs connected to one another in a precise and ordered way. 

🌼 Nourishment for Love and Devotion 

If we recite this Ṣaḥīfa regularly, it is as though we have experienced complete servitude to God. The Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya is wholesome nourishment for love, a vitamin for ardent devotion and service to God. Truly, it is Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn’s Jawshan Kabīr. 

🌼 God’s Field and the Slaughterhouse of Devils 

The Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya is God’s vast field, the garden and flowerbed of His saints, the paradise of the great prophets, and the slaughterhouse of devils. If we wish to fight the devils and expose and frustrate them, we must enter the heart of the Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya. This book is hell for Iblīs and a sanctuary for worship and service to God. 

🌼 A Place to Fall in Love 

The Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya is a place to fall in love: a place where one worships God with love. We must worship God with our whole being, in sincere devotion, giving Him the fullness of our love. God knows how to cherish His servants. All we need do is turn to Him sincerely, and He will teach us loving devotion. 

🌼 Love of Worship 

The Messenger of the Chosen One says: The most virtuous people are those who love worship. They embrace worship and cleave to it, until their very being is inseparable from it. A person should become so steeped in worship as to be not merely a servant, but servitude itself. 

🌼 Making Worship Beloved 

We must make worship dear to our hearts. A person’s relationship with the One they worship must go beyond love. Worship must be felt in the body: molecule by molecule, atom by atom, particle by particle, every part of one’s being must experience and engage in worship, until one can say, “I have become God’s servant.” 

🌼 Making Time for Worship 

A person must set themselves free for worship and detach from everything else. Only through complete seclusion and freedom from all that is other than God can one attain the station of servitude. We must free ourselves from enslavement to everything but God, so that we may become bound to Allah. 

🌼 Worship in Hardship and Ease 

If this happens, and a person makes themselves free for worship, then hardship and ease in life will no longer make any difference to them. Both are means of serving God. Whether life passes in hardship or in ease, both come from God and must be accepted. 

🌼 The Fifteenth Supplication of the Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya 

The fifteenth supplication of the Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya is like a cup of pure wine. O God, all praise belongs to You. I praise You for the constant blessing of a healthy body, and I praise You again for making me ill. Whatever comes from You is good for me, whether health or sickness. 

O God, I do not know when I should give You greater thanks: when I am well and You provide me with wholesome sustenance, or when I am ill and You free me from darkness. You called to me, but I did not answer; You brought me to my senses so that I might know You are the most merciful of the merciful. 

🌼 God’s Field or the Devil’s? 

We must become God’s field, or our lives will be wasted. A person who is not God’s cultivated land becomes the devil’s pasture. We must take care not to become the devil’s kitchen, dressing room, or infirmary. The human being is God’s field, and God brings His artistry to completion on this Preserved Tablet—if the human being is worthy. 

🌼 Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141 (903) 🌼

[1] Al-Maḥāsin, vol. 1, p. 17Barqī, Islamic Publications Institute, Qom, second edition, 1371 AH. 

[2] Al-Kāfī (Islamic edition), vol. 8, p. 234Kulaynī, Islamic Publications Institute, Tehran, fourth edition, 1407 AH. 

[3] Al-Daʿawāt (by al-Rāwandī) / Salwat al-Ḥazīn; text; p. 18  Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rāwandī, Imam Mahdi Seminary Publications (may God hasten his noble advent) — Qom, first edition, 1407 AH.

[4] Al-Daʿawāt (by al-Rāwandī) / Salwat al-Ḥazīn; text; p. 19  Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rāwandī, Imam Mahdi Seminary Publications (may God hasten his noble advent) — Qom, first edition, 1407 AH.

[5] Al-Daʿawāt (by al-Rāwandī) / Salwat al-Ḥazīn; text; p. 19  Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rāwandī, Imam Mahdi Seminary Publications (may God hasten his noble advent) — Qom, first edition, 1407 AH.

[6] Commentary on Miṣbāḥ al-Sharīʿa / translated by ʿAbd al-Razzāq Gīlānī; p. 73  Shahīd al-Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn ibn ʿAlī; Gīlānī, Payām-e Ḥaqq — Tehran, first edition, 1377 SH.

[7] Al-Kāfī (Islamic edition); vol. 2; p. 83  Al-Kulaynī, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya — Tehran, fourth edition, 1407 AH.

[8]An excerpt from Supplication 15 of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya

[9]Al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya / translated and commented on by Fayḍ al-Islām, p. 110

[10]Biḥār al-Anwār (Beirut edition); vol. 8; p. 317  al-Majlisī, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī — Beirut, second edition, 1403 AH.

[11] Nahj al-Balāgha (Ṣubḥī Ṣāliḥ edition); p. 303  al-Sharīf al-Raḍī, Hijrat — Qom, first edition, 1414 AH.