Baqir: His Share Belongs Entirely to God

🔹 The Birth of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (peace be upon him)
📖 Weekly Session on the Commentary and Interpretation of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya (Supplication 20)
📅 Date: 1403/10/13 – 1 Rajab 1446
✨ Session: Meshkat-e Noor
🎤 Speaker: Master Ali Saei
Some of the topics discussed in the session:

🌸 Congratulations and felicitations to the celestial beings

O God, let us know al-Baqir: the one who lays open the knowledge of Your Prophet; this master of masters, this radiant, luminous, fragrant, and true light. Let us know him as befits the station of the master who lays open knowledge and prophethood. O God, by Your divinity, let us know him, so that our spirits may be polished. In stature and as God’s proof, Imam al-Baqir is the beautiful, most expansive light in the world. The light most fully opened and most brilliantly blossoming: when it unfolds to its perfection, the beauty of Imam al-Baqir of the Household of Muhammad appears.

🌿 The Ever-Burning Lamp

The lamp that forever burns with the radiance of this perfumed breeze of existence, this divinely bestowed, joy-bringing fragrance, is al-Baqir. This is truth and reality, forever raised aloft. Al-Baqir is truth and reality raised aloft. Imam al-Baqir is the banner of knowledge, and gives voice to understanding. How so? O God, let me unveil the secret of this phrase: al-Baqir gives voice to understanding. What a remarkable description of the station of al-Baqir! It means that without al-Baqir, understanding could not speak. Understanding was mute; understanding was voiceless.

🍂 A Secret Within

There would be no understanding, no act of knowing. I who understand, and everyone who understands, carry a secret within; a Baqiri secret in the soul. By God, if this secret were absent—if al-Baqir were not within one’s depths and innate nature—there would be no understanding of the world at all. And even if there were some understanding, it would have no manifestation or expression: it would be mute, unseen, voiceless. So al-Baqir speaks through every act of understanding we have. When we understand, it means that al-Baqir within our soul gives voice to understanding. Without al-Baqir, understanding departs from this world of existence. It is al-Baqir who is the banner of knowledge. Without al-Baqir, knowledge has no radiance, no manifestation. Al-Baqir is the supreme emblem of knowledge.

🌳 Al-Baqir and Understanding

Al-Baqir is the resounding voice of thought, the one who brings wisdom to life. Without al-Baqir, we would know nothing of reason. What is understanding? Is it the faculty of analysis, evaluation, and drawing conclusions? Understanding is the faculty that enables us to make use of knowledge. Without understanding, knowledge will not be ordered within our souls, nor will it culminate in wisdom. Understanding is the highest governance of knowledge within us. When knowledge is governed in the best possible way, that is understanding. Without understanding, knowledge is lost and has no meaning. Only understanding makes knowledge pleasant to our taste and gives it meaning.

🌾 The Soul of Understanding and al-Baqir of the Household of Muhammad

The secret of our ability to understand lies in al-Baqir of the Household of Muhammad.

🌺 Who Is al-Baqir?

He is the son of Ali ibn al-Husayn, the son of al-Sajjad. Al-Sajjad was the son of al-Husayn, and al-Husayn was the son of Ali.

🌷 The Knowledge of the Messengers

How can I speak of al-Baqir’s secret? Who is al-Baqir? Al-Baqir is the knowledge of the messengers.

🌼 Al-Baqir, the Knowledge of the Prophets

Al-Baqir is the knowledge of the prophets. He lays open the knowledge of God’s messengers. He parts it open, ploughs it, and brings forth its fruits and beauties, making them manifest. What does al-Baqir do within the depths of this world? I do not know! What is happening within my soul, within my depths? By God, I neither know nor understand. There are events, manifestations, expressions, and mysteries within my being, within my soul; I carry an inner Baqiri secret. Al-Baqir is at work in the soul of my world. He opens what must be opened. He finds hearts ready to receive. He opens up and turns over both ordinary hearts and those of the elect. Al-Baqir is living and everlasting, always acting by God’s command.

🌿 The Greatest Secret of God

He carries out God’s mission. By God, this al-Baqir is the greatest secret of God. He is still God’s proof, and will remain so—forever. He lays open knowledge and is also the university of the prophets.

🌸 One Who Makes the Paths Clear

This master, this Baqir, is the one who makes the paths clear. He brings them into the light and illumines them. Without Baqir, the paths would be blind and dark, hidden from view. It is Baqir who shows us the way. Without him, even the sun would lose its way across the sky. This is no mere courtesy: this is what “the one who makes the paths clear” means.

🍂 The Great Foundation of Creation

Without Baqir, the electron would lose its way as it circled the nucleus. There would be no elements in this universe, no foundation at all. God has joined the great foundation of His creation to its mysteries, one end of which is Baqir. Such is God’s wisdom and will; this is what He has ordained. What would become of us without him? Baqir is the knowledge of the messengers, the light that guides the way. God purifies the world so that the companions of purity may remain, and pure lineages may become ready for Baqir’s light to dawn within them. If the world were not pure, there would be no trace of Baqir on this earthly sphere.

🌾 The Beautiful Light of Baqir

The Creator purified this world so that the beautiful light of His Baqir might shine forth and envelop it. He is the best of all, penetrating pure lineages and sailing in the vessel of the spirit.

🌷 The Son of Fatima

This is Baqir, the son of radiant Fatima: that Fatima, that pure light, the ever-shining white light of God. Baqir is the son of a Fatima who is forever living, young, pure, and wholly beautiful.

🌳 The Remnant of God

How can we describe Baqir? Who is he? Baqir is the Remnant of God. Who is there to praise Baqir? This master, the most wronged of the wronged in his time, is God’s remnant in this earthly realm. He was and is the Remnant of God in his age, in relation to God. We have the Remnant of God. Every one of God’s proofs is the Remnant of God. Imam Muhammad Baqir is the Baqiri Remnant of God, in relation to God.

🌸 The Meaning of the Remnant of God

What does “the Remnant of God” mean? The one God has left on earth. What does that mean? God’s keepsake: the one who has reserved himself for God alone. Whoever keeps himself for God alone becomes the Remnant of God. The one left alone for God on earth becomes the Remnant of God: a being whose entire existence belongs to God. He has kept nothing of himself for anyone but God. He belongs wholly to God. This is Baqir.

🌿 The Steadfastness of God’s Religion

He is the dignity of the age, the honour of all time, its greatness and majesty. Without Baqir, the age would have no honour. Who is Baqir? The son of Muhammad, the son of Khadija, the son of Ali and Fatima. This Baqir is the beacon of God’s enduring religion. He is the very steadfastness of God’s religion: God’s religion remains firmly founded, utterly secure because Baqir is in this world. Its banner and lamp stand ever firm. He is the highest radiance of God’s religion, its summit and blazing tower, its loftiest dome.

🌾 Baqir and the Manifestation of Truth

The Imam of our time is the Remnant of God present among us. On the day of his appearance, by right, he will wear twelve crowns. He will bear twelve brilliant flashes of light, twelve lofty towers. May we not fail to visit all his towers.

🌸 Proof and Knowledge

May our eyes be illumined by the crowns of God’s Proof. Each of the revered Proofs is a crown of God’s final Proof. How often shall we visit the Imam of our time? If we seek to behold him fully, we must know each of our Imams and connect ourselves to the Proofs, so that we may receive the final grace of God’s Proof in its entirety. Without knowledge of the Proof, everything in this world is blind. Knowledge, too, is blind without the Proof. Knowledge and learning without the Proof bring nothing but loss.

🌿 The Rain of Merciful and Compassionate Knowledge

Knowledge in this world is both all-embracing in mercy and intimate in compassion: it rains down both generally and particularly. Like rain, its all-embracing knowledge falls upon everyone, while its intimate knowledge descends upon chosen individuals. Upon whose souls do these particular mysteries rain down? God’s special program is circulating on earth.

🍂 The Sciences of Ali and Fatima

There are sciences of Ali and Fatima. Whoever comes to know them will gain access to His special knowledge. Special knowledge is not given away for nothing. Even that general share is withdrawn if it is met with ingratitude.

🌺 The Scroll of Knowledge

Whoever sits with the Ṣaḥīfa Sajjadiyya nourishes the intellect. By God, one day the light they have seen will dazzle the world. There are sciences of the Baqirian, Ja‘farian, Kazimian, Rizvian, Hadiyan, Askarian, and Baqiyyatullahan traditions.

🌾 Mines and Treasuries of Knowledge

If we seek knowledge, its mines and treasuries are the Proofs of God. We must know them. These exceptional people are being nourished on earth, dwelling in this world, and one day they will leave it. Their capacities and wonders will be revealed.

🌳 Connection with God’s Proof

Let us hold fast to this Proof, so that our souls may take on their own distinctive adornment. By God, connecting with God’s Proof is easy—easier than connecting with ourselves. For it is through that very Proof that God brings us to ourselves. Had His Proof not been, we would not have known ourselves.

🌼 The Imam’s Rain of Mercy

The Imam is a cloud laden with rain; his rain never ceases. The Imam is sustenance. Whatever we long for is gathered in the Imam’s soul. Imam Baqir is God’s fifth vision—the highest and greatest vision of God. Our Imam Baqir, too, holds the whole universe within his soul.

🌸 Baqir and the Soul of the World

Imam Baqir is water and bread; water and life. Through him, a special power reaches our souls. When Baqirian life blossoms, our very being takes on the sublime vision of the Baqirian.

🌿 The Blossoming of Our Primal Nature

What must we do for the one who splits open knowledge to open our hearts as well—to unfold, blossom and nurture the primal nature within us? What must we do to join the sphere of his authority? This immense instrument that unlocks the primal nature, this supreme key to it, introduces Baqir to us in our hearts.

🍂 Divine Oneness and the Primal Nature

Let us ask our God to make knowledge of Him part of the very fabric of our souls. Let us sharpen our primal nature. Let us transform an innate sense of divine oneness into a reasoned and interpretive understanding of it. Let us nurture our primal nature and bring its wonders to light. Let us let its light shine forth. All our thoughts and intentions must take on the hue of divine oneness.

🌺 The Baqirian Garden

Let us visit the Baqirian garden and drain his pure cup, until we are intoxicated by his incomparable words.

🌸 The Words of Imam Baqir

If I do not understand the Imam’s words, I must read them thousands of times. The Imam gives speech to the mute. In the presence of the speaking Imam, let us read his utterance: “ان الفهم نطق”; we will come to understand it and grasp it with our whole being.»

🌿 The Delight of Baqirian Speech

What delight there is in Baqirian speech! Though I do not understand it, I can feel its delight.

🍂 Divine Oneness Flowing Through the Soul

He made His oneness flow through His creation. I need not strive to attain divine oneness; I must feel it, flowing through my soul like water. How does a thirsty person know the taste of water? When thirstily drinking pure water, they experience it with their whole being; they understand the language of water because it flows through every particle of their being. Divine oneness is just the same. God has made it flow through our being.

🌺 Creational and Prescribed Worship

All things worship Him. Even the unbeliever worships Him, though they may not know it. If we look at things from the perspective of creation, they worship Him in accordance with the revealed law as well, though they do not know it. They cannot flee from worshipping Him; it is impossible. All are bound for God. It is impossible not to journey toward Him or not to choose Him. He is the Self-Sufficient One: that is, all turn toward Him and intend only Him.

🌾 The Lord’s Transcendence

Our Lord is beyond anything we might desire to attain.

🌳 The All-Encompassing Reach of Divine Knowledge

Our Lord’s knowledge embraces all things. He holds them close and encompasses them. God is transcendent. In speaking of divine oneness, each person expresses their love and feeling from the cup of Baqirian wine, yet no one can claim to offer an interpretation of his words.

🌼 The Hymn of Divine Oneness

God is exalted in His oneness; He is alone in His unity. He has made His oneness flow through His creation. He is One, the Self-Sufficient, the Most Holy, the Unique. Everything worships Him; everything lies within the grasp of His knowledge. In His oneness, He is singular and unique. His beauty bears witness to divine beauty, His majesty to divine majesty. How can we describe our Lord? Let us simply sing His praises and delight in them.

🍂 The Divine Attributes

Our Lord has no limits by which He might be described through comparison. Those who seek to describe Him are helpless before the true nature of His attributes—how much more so before His exalted Essence. No limit can be set to His attributes or divinity, for no account of how He is can reach their utmost.

🌸 Oneness and Unity

His oneness is unique; His uniqueness is rooted in His oneness. He is without equal in His unity. No one can worthily define or praise Him. He alone can extol and praise Himself.

🌿 Faith and the Taste of Divine Oneness

We believe in His oneness so deeply that it has made us human and brought us to this station. We need only awaken. It is He who has firmly rooted the affirmation of His oneness in our souls. We need only taste it and understand it.