Beyond Good Character

🌼🔆🌼 “Ethics Beyond Reason”   “Noble Virtues” 🌼🔆🌼

🔅🌹 “Imperfect in Character”   “The Celestial Archetype of the Human Being”   An abstract with an addendum: “Ethics in Motion” “Commentary on Supplication 20 of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya”   “Session 220” and more …         1402.10.21     Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903) 🌹🔅

🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹

🔅🌼Imperfect in Character 🌼🔅

🌹O God, accept me as Your servant; hold back my feet when they would flee, and bind me fast to the bonds of servitude to You.

🌹O God, bring both my form and my character to perfection.

🌹O God, complete and perfect the members and faculties of my character, so that I may become worthy of worshipping You.

🌹Among our duties as servants is to perfect every aspect of our inner world. Let both our character and our outward form be beautiful: to be imperfect in either form or character is a loss for the human being.

🌹The absence of the spirit of faith reveals a flaw in our inner world.

🌹The absence of reason reveals a lack in the beauty and noble qualities of the soul.

🌹A person deficient in reason is a human being stripped of humanity: an animal in human form. Let us look upon our true, inward selves.

🌹The farther a person falls from the ranks of noble virtues, the closer they come to animality—and may even descend beyond it.

🌹To fall below the bounds of humanity is to plunge into the depths of animality and the lowest of the low.

🌹A person devoid of noble virtues is on a course of decline, sinking into the depths of vileness.

🌹The departure of reason is tantamount to the loss of humanity, a fall to the level of brute beasts—and lower still.

🌹Let us attend to both our outward form and our inner character.

🌹Each passing moment reveals a new face in relation to the moment before.

🔅🌼Human Archetypes 🌼🔅

🌹Every being has a celestial archetype,

🌸🔆رَوَى جَعْفَرُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنْ جَدِّهِ ع أَنَّهُ قَالَ: فِي الْعَرْشِ‏ تِمْثَالُ‏ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْبَرِّ وَ الْبَحْرِ  قَالَ وَ هَذَا تَأْوِيلُ قَوْلِهِ‏ وَ إِنْ مِنْ شَيْ‏ءٍ إِلَّا عِنْدَنا خَزائِنُهُ‏ [1]

🌸🔆Imam al-Ṣādiq (peace be upon him), through his father, relates from his revered grandfather, Imam al-Sajjād (peace be upon him), who said: “In the Divine Throne there is an archetype of everything God has created on land and sea; and this is the meaning of God’s words [in which He says]: وَ إِن مِّن شَیْءٍ إِلاَّ عِندَنَا خَزَائِنُهُ.

🌹Every thought, intention, and deed of ours has a celestial and supercelestial archetype. At every moment, we echo anew in the Throne and beyond it.

🌹God’s Throne is a gallery displaying the outward and inward realities of every created being.

🌹When character changes, a person’s outward form changes accordingly.

🌹At the beginning of creation, all were in absolute beauty; then they were changed by choosing what was best or worst. By choosing what is best, the human being should pass beyond the threshold of light and reach the summit of radiance. But by choosing what is worst, the human being falls from the realm of light into darkness.

🔅🌼When character is forgotten, beauty vanishes 🌼🔅

🌹A person must pay more attention to their inner character than to their outward form. If they perfect every element of their character,

they will attain the summit of beauty and perfection in servitude to God.

🌹Noble virtues must take root in the very soul of a person, not accompany them as something temporary and borrowed; otherwise, they remain vulnerable to decline and downfall at every moment.

🌹Noble virtues must become so deeply woven into a person’s soul that they can never be separated from it.

🌹A person’s character, too, must undergo change, growth, and flourishing.

🌹A human being who has attained perfection is perfect in both character and form.

🌹The loss of any bodily organ makes a person physically incomplete. Likewise, lacking any of the noble virtues makes a person deficient in character and in humanity. If a person’s inner faculties are deficient, their very being is diminished.

🌹The more deficient a person’s character, the closer they come to the station of the lowest animals.

🔅🌼 A stone surpasses a human being in character 🌼🔅

🌹Inanimate things and plants, too, have their own particular qualities of character, as do the different kinds, species, and classes of animals.

🌹The stone from whose heart water gushes forth, the stone from whose heart a spring flows, and the stone that falls down in awe of its Lord—all possess qualities of character that are distinctive and exalted. They may well be superior to human beings. So too, the mountain that humbles itself before the majesty of the Qur’an has attained its own particular spiritual rank.

🌹It may be that in the realm of character, inanimate things and plants surpass human beings.

🌻🔆Al-Baqarah: 74   ثُمَّ قَسَتْ قُلُوبُكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذلِكَ فَهِيَ كَالْحِجارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً وَ إِنَّ مِنَ الْحِجارَةِ لَما يَتَفَجَّرُ مِنْهُ الْأَنْهارُ وَ إِنَّ مِنْها لَما يَشَّقَّقُ فَيَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ الْماءُ وَ إِنَّ مِنْها لَما يَهْبِطُ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ وَ مَا اللَّهُ بِغافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ

🔆Then your hearts hardened after that, becoming like stones, or even harder. For among stones are some from which rivers gush forth; others split open and water flows from them; and others fall down in fear of God. God is not unaware of what you do.

🌹In the realm of their own character, inanimate things attain distinction through noble qualities—as do precious stones such as agate, turquoise, ruby, and diamond, in contrast to coal, dust, and inferior stones.

🌹Precious stones have passed through particular stations of grace and nobility to attain these lofty ranks.

🌹The qualities of character governed by reason belong among the forces of reason. Through these qualities, a person must venture beyond the bounds of reason.

🔅🌼 If moral growth stops, it dies 🌼🔅

🌹If a person does not attain qualities of character beyond reason, they are at a loss. For if one’s two days are equal, that is clear evidence of loss.

🌸🔆 عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع أَنَّهُ قَالَ: مَنِ اسْتَوَى يَوْمَاهُ فَهُوَ مَغْبُونٌ‏ وَ مَنْ كَانَ آخِرُ يَوْمَيْهِ خَيْرَهُمَا فَهُوَ مَغْبُوطٌ وَ مَنْ كَانَ آخِرُ يَوْمَيْهِ شَرَّهُمَا فَهُوَ مَلْعُونٌ وَ مَنْ لَمْ يَرَ الزِّيَادَةَ فِي نَفْسِهِ فَهُوَ إِلَى النُّقْصَانِ وَ مَنْ كَانَ إِلَى النُّقْصَانِ فَالْمَوْتُ خَيْرٌ لَهُ مِنَ الْحَيَاةِ.[2]

🌸🔆 Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, said: Whoever’s two days are equal in good deeds is at a loss. Whoever’s second day is better than the first is someone whom all should aspire to be like and envy. Whoever’s second day is worse than the first has turned away from God’s goodness and mercy.

And whoever sees no prospect of becoming better is in decline; and for one who is in decline, death is better than life.[3]

🌸🔆قَالَ قَالَ الصَّادِقُ ع‏ مَنِ اسْتَوَى‏ يَوْمَاهُ‏ فَهُوَ مَغْبُونٌ وَ مَنْ كَانَ آخِرُ يَوْمَيْهِ شَرَّهُمَا فَهُوَ مَلْعُونٌ وَ مَنْ لَمْ يَعْرِفِ الزِّيَادَةَ فِي نَفْسِهِ كَانَ إِلَى النُّقْصَانِ أَقْرَبَ وَ مَنْ كَانَ إِلَى النُّقْصَانِ أَقْرَبَ فَالْمَوْتُ خَيْرٌ لَهُ مِنَ الْحَيَاةِ.[4]

🌸🔆زَيْدٌ قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ يَقُولُ: مَلْعُونٌ مَغْبُونٌ مَنْ غَبَنَهُ عُمُرُهُ يَوْمٌ بَعْدَ يَوْمٍ‏ ، وَ مَغْبُوطٌ مَحْسُودٌ مَنْ كَانَ يَوْمُهُ الَّذِي هُوَ فِيهِ خَيْراً مِنْ أَمْسِهِ الَّذِي ارْتَحَلَ عَنْهُ.[5]

🔅🌼A person must always be soaring upward 🌼🔅

🌹If a person’s two days are the same, they are at a loss. If their later day is worse than the one before, they are accursed; if it is better, they are to be envied.

🌹Through leaps of spiritual ascent, a person must travel the path of benefit and progress in servitude to God. Even being content with a merely spiritual level is a sign of failure. By rising beyond the spiritual realm, a person proves that they are truly God’s servant. One dimension of worship and servitude is to rise through the ranks of servanthood.

🌻🔆The All-Merciful (55:29)   يَسْئَلُهُ مَنْ فِي السَّماواتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ في‏ شَأْنٍ

🔆All who are in the heavens and the earth beseech Him; every day He is engaged in a new affair!

🌸🔆عَنْ أَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ وَ فِيهَا: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي لَا يَمُوتُ وَ لَا تَنْقَضِي عَجَائِبُهُ، لِأَنَّهُ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ مِنْ أَحْدَاثٍ بَدِيعٍ لَمْ يَكُنْ.^[6]

🌸🔆The Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him: “Praise belongs to God, who does not die and whose wonders never cease, for every day He is engaged in a new affair, bringing forth what has never existed before.”

🌹A person who ascends and rises proves that they are the servant of God, who is ever engaged in a new affair.

🌹Perhaps a person is imprisoned in the moment just past, or has already begun to fall and decline.

🌹If a person does not rise to new heights, they will imagine that everything is fixed; if they decline, they will imagine that all existence is heading toward ruin, for they interpret the world through the ruin of their own being.

🌹The All-Knowing, All-Wise Creator brings forth something new and wondrous at every moment. A servant of such a Creator should, at every moment, enter new realms of being and attain fresh graces.

🔅🌼A person’s tree of virtue must reach beyond the heavens 🌼🔅

🌹Let us bring our tree of virtue to full fruition.

🌹By mastering and managing anger and desire, alongside the noblest qualities of character, a person ascends to higher perfections.

🌹A day will come when a person is born into the highest spiritual realm.

🌹A person is formed through many intricate layers. At the very depths of their being lies the self, and one day the sum of their entire life will emerge in a single form of creation and character. May the call be heard: «فتبارک الله احسن الخالقین».

🌹At every moment, a person takes on a new face. May the soul never become fused with vices, lest they become a blight upon it. May it instead be adorned with beauty, and may its adornment rise to ever-greater heights.

🔅🌼Beauty is the companion of noble character 🌼🔅

🌹A person is shaped either by noble qualities or by vices. They may appear with exquisite taste, fragrance, colour, and the most beautiful countenance and aspect—or with the foulest taste, the most putrid smell, the ugliest colour and face, and the most repulsive appearance.

🌹Character is defined as lying beneath reason, as a domain governed by reason, or as extending beyond reason.

🌹Let us give our tree of virtue our full attention and bring all its branches, leaves, and fruits to maturity.

🌹One day we will be born into the highest spiritual realm; the seed of our being will open, and our true, ultimate face will be revealed. One day we will show ourselves in the intermediate realm.

🌹How beautiful it would be to refine and purify ourselves so completely that our being is free of every vice, and our beauty continually increases.

🌹Let us seek mirrors that reveal the soul, and keep a close watch on ourselves.

🌹A person is shaped by their intentions, character, and actions.

🌹A day will come when the beautiful will wish they had been ugly, and the educated, and those with credentials and positions, will wish they had been uneducated.

🔅🌼Outer form is the garment of inner character 🌼🔅

🌹The relation of outer form to inner character is like that of shadow to light, and of coal to diamond.

🌹If our concern for outward appearance outweighs our concern for character, it signals a weakness of spirit and soul, a heart fallen asleep, the death of reason, and the loss of our higher spiritual nature.

🌹Let us tend the tree of noble character with water and light, attend to its roots and branches, and help its leaves, blossoms and fruits reach their full growth.

🌹A person’s face, outward bearing and character should all be moving forward and growing.

🌹Through reason and noble virtues, a person rises; through ignorance, a person declines.

🔅🌼 The self-admiring person is the slayer of their own virtues 🌼🔅

🌸🔆وَ لَا تُفْسِدْ عِبَادَتِي بِالْعُجْبِ,

🌸🔆O God, do not let self-admiration ruin my worship.

🌹That is: O God, do not leave me to myself; do not abandon me to my vanity.

🌹If vanity gains dominion over a person’s soul, it sets their acts of worship ablaze.

🌹The self-admiring person turns against themselves: they destroy themselves, burn through their wealth and bring about their own ruin.

🌹عُجب، عَجب و عَجیب

🌹If  vanity becomes entwined with lust and anger, every virtue is driven from a person’s inner world.

🌹When self-admiration is mingled with lust, it leads a person to the self-admiration of a swine. When mingled with anger, it drives them to savagery and cruelty.

🌹When self-admiration is mingled with envy, it turns a person into a fire that consumes both themselves and others.

🌹Shirk is the heavy penalty for self-admiration.

🌹The self-admiring person has risen up against themselves; whoever falls into self-admiration becomes imprisoned within themselves. Self-admiration is the seedbed of foolishness, and vanity exacts a steep price. It leads a person into shirk and stands in the way of self-knowledge.

From the very first moment of self-admiration, a person finds themselves in the company of fire.

🌹With vanity, the downward journey of servitude begins.

🌸🔆وَ الْعُجْبُ‏ نَبَاتٌ‏ حَبُّهُ الْكُفْرُ وَ أَرْضُهُ النِّفَاقُ وَ مَاؤُهُ الْبَغْيُ وَ أَغْصَانُهُ الْجَهْلُ وَ وَرَقُهُ الضَّلَالُ وَ ثَمَرَتُهُ اللَّعْنَةُ وَ الْخُلُودُ فِي النَّارِ فَمَنِ اخْتَارَ الْعُجْبَ فَقَدْ بَذَرَ الْكُفْرَ وَ زَرَعَ النِّفَاقَ فَلَا بُدَّ مِنْ أَنْ يُثْمِرَ وَ يَصِيرَ إِلَى النَّار[7]

🌸🔆Self-admiration is a plant whose seed is unbelief, whose soil is hypocrisy, whose water is injustice, whose branches are ignorance, whose leaves are error, and whose fruit is damnation and everlasting residence in the Fire. Whoever takes on the trait of vanity has certainly sown the seed of unbelief; and by cultivating hypocrisy, can only reap affliction and fire.

🔅🌼 Make me a flowing river 🌼🔅

🌸🔆وَ أَجْرِ لِلنَّاسِ عَلَى يَدِيَ الْخَيْرَ وَ لَا تَمْحَقْهُ بِالْمَنِّ

🌸🔆O God, make my hands a stream of Your goodness, and do not let me undo it by reminding others of my generosity.

🌹O God, do not let go of my hands or my heart. Keep my intention and my actions in Your grasp; do not leave me to myself.

🌹Do not let go of God’s hand, or you will fall into error.

🌻🔆Al-Fath: 10   إِنَّ الَّذينَ يُبايِعُونَكَ إِنَّما يُبايِعُونَ اللَّهَ يَدُ اللَّهِ فَوْقَ أَيْديهِمْ فَمَنْ نَكَثَ فَإِنَّما يَنْكُثُ عَلى‏ نَفْسِهِ وَ مَنْ أَوْفى‏ بِما عاهَدَ عَلَيْهُ اللَّهَ فَسَيُؤْتيهِ أَجْراً عَظيماً

🔆Those who pledge allegiance to you are pledging allegiance to God alone; God’s hand is above their hands. So whoever breaks the pledge does so only to their own detriment, while whoever fulfils the covenant they made with God will soon receive a great reward.

🌹O God, Your hand is always above our hands. O God, so long as I do not let go of Your hand, You will not abandon me.

O God, the blessing is Yours, and I am indebted to You for it. If I were to claim credit, I would be imagining that I possessed a blessing of Yours—a grave presumption.

🌹The ability to serve God’s creation is an immeasurable blessing from God, one that calls for gratitude and thanks.

🌹O God, You are the Bestower; Your favour upon all the worlds is the abundance of Your blessings and bounties, Your love and Your mercy.

🌹O God, make me a hand of God; make me a servant of generosity, and a servant of Your nobility.

🌹A human being should become God’s garden and flower-filled meadow, a place of peace and repose, a university, a harvest of goodness.

🌹A human being should become a spread laid with the abundant material and spiritual blessings of God, the Bestower.

🌹A human being should become sustenance and nourishment both for the material world and for the highest celestial realm. A human being should become the breath of the soul of the world.

🌹O God, make me a source of good for Your friend, the source of goodness.

🌹A human being should be a table of hospitality for the Generous Lord, welcoming God’s servants with material and spiritual provisions, and sweetening their hearts with the nourishment of glorification, magnification, praise and the affirmation of divine unity.

🌹A human being welcomes God’s creation only through God’s grace.

🌹A human being should welcome the whole of creation—from inanimate things and plants to the angels of the celestial realm—and nourish all the worlds with love and transcendent remembrance.

🌹With a heart emptied of afflictions and adorned with, and filled by, noble virtues, a human being becomes a place of divine hospitality.

🔅🌼 Soaring Beyond Ethics 🌼🔅

🌸🔆وَ هَبْ لِي مَعَالِيَ الْأَخْلَاقِ,

🌸🔆O God, grant me the heights of ethics.

🌹O God, if I do not attain those heights of ethics and become adorned with the highest forms of beauty, I will fail in my servitude to You. I must adorn myself with the highest forms of beauty and be granted the grace to meet You. I must clothe myself in Your beauties, conquer the peaks of noble virtue, adorn myself with beautiful qualities, make adornment itself more beautiful, and bring beauty to beauty, so that I may claim to be Your true servant.

🌹The summit of ethics is the bridal chamber of renowned lovers.

🌹The heights of noble character are ethics that reach beyond the domain of reason.

🌹The Perfect Human possesses both the highest forms of outward beauty and the highest forms of character; these are the essential ingredients of the heights of beauty and the heights of pleasure. With this distinction, new forms of creation take shape, and new relationships and feelings emerge.

🔅🌼 The Crispy Bottom of the Pot — 1402.10.21 🌼🔅

🔅🌼 The Alms of the Friends of God 🌼🔅

🌹Did the Prophet’s purified family also pay zakat?

🌹Their station is too exalted for them to pay zakat, for they are the very reality of zakat: that is, they are the essence of divine generosity.

🌸🔆 عَنْ دَاوُدَ بْنِ كَثِيرٍ قَالَ‏ قُلْتُ لِأَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع أَنْتُمُ الصَّلَاةُ فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ وَ أَنْتُمُ الزَّكَاةُ وَ أَنْتُمُ الصِّيَامُ وَ أَنْتُمُ الْحَجُّ فَقَالَ يَا دَاوُدُ نَحْنُ الصَّلَاةُ فِي‏ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ وَ نَحْنُ‏ الزَّكَاةُ وَ نَحْنُ الصِّيَامُ وَ نَحْنُ الْحَجُّ وَ نَحْنُ الشَّهْرُ الْحَرَامُ وَ نَحْنُ الْبَلَدُ الْحَرَامُ وَ نَحْنُ كَعْبَةُ اللَّهِ وَ نَحْنُ قِبْلَةُ اللَّهِ وَ نَحْنُ وَجْهُ اللَّهِ قَالَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى‏  فَأَيْنَما تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللَّه‏[8]

🌹When the sun shines, its radiance is the very zakat that spreads throughout the world. Likewise, if we understand that the Infallible Ones, peace be upon them, are the very reality of God’s blessing and the very reality of divine knowledge…

🔅🌼 The Human Being Is Always Changing and Bringing About Change 🌼🔅

🌹At every moment, a person’s past will have either a positive or a negative effect on the moment that follows.

🌹As the universe expands, a human being’s body and soul change as well. In a single human cell, one can behold an image of the entire universe.

🌹Were it not for the appointed term of human life, the veils would be lifted, and at every moment a new face would be revealed—one in keeping with a person’s intentions and deeds.

🌹A person’s outward appearance is shaped by what lies within.

🔅🌼The appointed term is a veil 🌼🔅

🌹God’s being the Concealer of faults prevents people’s inner realities from appearing in their outward forms; the appointed term is God’s great veil over His creation.

🌹A person’s reality and soul change through noble and base qualities.

🌹Following the desires of the lower self, a person sinks to the lowest station; through noble qualities, the soul rises to the station of perfect peace.

🌹A person’s reality is changed and established by each quality: through envy, the soul takes on an envious identity.

🔅🌼Each day, He brings something new into being 🌼🔅

🌸🔆عَنْ أَبِي إِسْحَاقَ السَّبِيعِيِّ عَنِ الْحَارِثِ الْأَعْوَرِ قَالَ: خَطَبَ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ع خُطْبَةً بَعْدَ الْعَصْرِ فَعَجِبَ النَّاسُ مِنْ حُسْنِ صِفَتِهِ وَ مَا ذَكَرَهُ مِنْ تَعْظِيمِ اللَّهِ جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ قَالَ أَبُو إِسْحَاقَ فَقُلْتُ لِلْحَارِثِ أَ وَ مَا حَفِظْتَهَا قَالَ قَدْ كَتَبْتُهَا فَأَمْلَاهَا عَلَيْنَا مِنْ كِتَابِهِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ‏ الَّذِي‏ لَا يَمُوتُ‏ وَ لَا تَنْقَضِي‏ عَجَائِبُهُ لِأَنَّهُ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ فِي شَأْنٍ مِنْ إِحْدَاثِ بَدِيعٍ لَمْ يَكُنِ الَّذِي‏ لَمْ يَلِدْ فَيَكُونَ فِي الْعِزِّ مُشَارَكاً وَ لَمْ يُولَدْ فَيَكُونَ مَوْرُوثاً هَالِكاً وَ لَمْ تَقَعْ عَلَيْهِ الْأَوْهَامُ فَتُقَدِّرَهُ شَبَحاً مَاثِلًا وَ لَمْ تُدْرِكْهُ الْأَبْصَارُ فَيَكُونَ بَعْدَ انْتِقَالِهَا حَائِلًا  الَّذِي لَيْسَتْ فِي أَوَّلِيَّتِهِ نِهَايَةٌ وَ لَا لآِخِرِيَّتِهِ حَدٌّ وَ لَا غَايَةٌ الَّذِي لَمْ يَسْبِقْهُ وَقْتٌ وَ لَمْ يَتَقَدَّمْهُ زَمَانٌ وَ لَا يَتَعَاوَرُهُ زِيَادَةٌ وَ لَا نُقْصَانٌ وَ لَا يُوصَفُ بِأَيْنٍ وَ لَا بِمَ‏  وَ لَا مَكَانٍ الَّذِي بَطَنَ مِنْ خَفِيَّاتِ الْأُمُورِ وَ ظَهَرَ فِي الْعُقُولِ بِمَا يُرَى فِي خَلْقِهِ مِنْ عَلَامَاتِ التَّدْبِيرِ الَّذِي سُئِلَتِ الْأَنْبِيَاءُ عَنْهُ فَلَمْ تَصِفْهُ بِحَدٍّ وَ لَا بِبَعْضٍ بَلْ وَصَفَتْهُ بِفِعَالِهِ وَ دَلَّتْ عَلَيْهِ بِآيَاتِهِ لَا تَسْتَطِيعُ عُقُولُ الْمُتَفَكِّرِينَ جَحْدَهُ لِأَنَّ مَنْ كَانَتِ السَّمَاوَاتُ وَ الْأَرْضُ فِطْرَتَهُ وَ مَا فِيهِنَّ وَ مَا بَيْنَهُنَّ وَ هُوَ الصَّانِعُ لَهُنَّ فَلَا مَدْفَعَ لِقُدْرَتِهِ الَّذِي نَأَى مِنَ الْخَلْقِ فَلَا شَيْ‏ءَ كَمِثْلِهِ الَّذِي خَلَقَ خَلْقَهُ لِعِبَادَتِهِ وَ أَقْدَرَهُمْ عَلَى طَاعَتِهِ بِمَا جَعَلَ فِيهِمْ وَ قَطَعَ عُذْرَهُمْ بِالْحُجَجِ فَعَنْ بَيِّنَةٍ هَلَكَ مَنْ هَلَكَ وَ بِمَنِّهِ نَجَا مَنْ نَجَا وَ لِلَّهِ الْفَضْلُ مُبْدِئاً وَ مُعِيداً ثُمَّ إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَ لَهُ الْحَمْدُ افْتَتَحَ الْحَمْدَ لِنَفْسِهِ وَ خَتَمَ أَمْرَ الدُّنْيَا وَ مَحَلَّ الْآخِرَةِ بِالْحَمْدِ لِنَفْسِهِ فَقَالَ وَ قَضَى‏ بَيْنَهُمْ‏ بِالْحَقِ‏ وَ قِيلَ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعالَمِين‏[9]

🌸🔆Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Praise belongs to God, who does not die and whose wonders never cease, for each day He is at work, bringing into being something new that did not exist before … His beginning has no end, and His end has no limit or terminus. He is the One before whom there was no time, and whom no time preceded … He is the Beginning before all things, with nothing before Him, and the End after all things, with nothing after Him … With the utmost perfection, He fashioned whatever He willed to create, from no prior model, without toil or weariness in creating anything He made. He brought into being whatever He willed, and created whomever He willed, from among jinn and humankind, so that through them His lordship and sustaining care might be known …

🌸🔆وَ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ‏ فِي قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى‏ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ‏ قَالَ إِنَّ مِمَّا خَلَقَ‏ اللَّهُ‏ لَوْحاً مَحْفُوظاً مِنْ دُرَّةٍ بَيْضَاءَ دَفَّتَاهُ مِنْ يَاقُوتَةٍ حَمْرَاءَ قَلَمُهُ نُورٌ وَ كِتَابُهُ نُورٌ وَ عَرْضُهُ مَا بَيْنَ السَّمَاءِ وَ الْأَرْضِ يَنْظُرُ فِيهِ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ ثَلَاثَمِائَةٍ وَ سِتِّينَ نَظْرَةً يَخْلُقُ فِي كُلِّ نَظْرَةٍ وَ يَرْزُقُ وَ يُحْيِي وَ يُمِيتُ وَ يُعِزُّ وَ يُذِلُّ وَ يَفُكُ‏ وَ يَفْعَلُ مَا يَشَاءُ فَذَلِكَ قَوْلُهُ‏ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْن‏[10]

🌸🔆Ibn ʿAbbās (may God have mercy on him)—On the interpretation of the verse, Ibn ʿAbbās کُلَّ یَوْمٍ هُوَ فِی شَأْنٍ said: “Among the things God has created is a tablet made of a single white pearl, with two covers of red ruby. Its pen is light, its writing is light, and its breadth is equal to the distance between heaven and earth. Every day He looks upon it three hundred and sixty times. With each look, He creates, provides sustenance, causes death and gives life, exalts and abases, sets free, and does whatever He wills. This is the meaning of His saying کُلَّ یَوْمٍ هُوَ فِی شَأْنٍ.”

🔅🌼 Narcissism is selling oneself short 🌼🔅

🌹Vanity and a few dirhams

يوسف : 20   وَ شَرَوْهُ بِثَمَنٍ بَخْسٍ دَراهِمَ مَعْدُودَةٍ وَ كانُوا فيهِ مِنَ الزَّاهِدينَ

They sold him for a paltry price—just a few dirhams—and had little desire for him.

🌸🔆عَنِ الرِّضَا عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ‏ فِي قَوْلِ اللَّهِ: وَ شَرَوْهُ بِثَمَنٍ بَخْسٍ دَراهِمَ مَعْدُودَةٍ قَالَ: كَانَتْ عِشْرِينَ دِرْهَماً، وَ الْبَخْسُ النَّقْصُ وَ هِيَ قِيمَةُ كَلْبِ الصَّيْدِ إِذَا قُتِلَ كَانَ قِيمَتُهُ عِشْرِينَ دِرْهَماً.^[11]

🌸🔆It is narrated from Imam al-Riḍā (peace be upon him), in his interpretation of the verse: وَ شَرَوْهُ بِثَمَنٍ بَخْسٍ دَرَاهِمَ مَعْدُودَةٍ. He said: “The price for which Joseph (peace be upon him) was sold was twenty dirhams. *Bakhs* means a shortfall or deficiency. The value of a hunting dog, if killed, was twenty dirhams.”

🌸🔆Al-Ṣādiq (peace be upon him)— قَدْ کَانَ یُوسُفُ بَیْنَ أَبَوَیْهِ مُکَرَّماً ثُمَ صَارَ عَبْداً حَتَّی بِیعَ بِأَخَسِّ وَ أَوْکَسِ الثَّمَنِ ثُمَّ لَمْ یَمْنَعِ اللَّهُ أَنْ بَلَغَ بِهِ حَتَّی صَارَ مَلِکا.

🌸🔆Imam al-Ṣādiq (peace be upon him)—Joseph (peace be upon him) was cherished and honoured by his father and mother until he was taken into slavery and sold for the lowest possible price. Yet God Most High did not withhold from him the destiny of becoming a king.

🌹Pride in one’s siblings is arrogance and vanity

🌹When a human being is fully activated, the whole universe and all its knowledge become manifest through him.

🌹At every moment, all the events of existence are stored in the heart and soul of the human being.

🌹The human being is a repository of knowledge and stored things.

🌼Ali Saʿi (ʿAbdullah Mishkat) 110.141(903)🌼

[1] بحار الأنوار (ط – بيروت) ؛ ج‏55 ؛ ص34  Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Muḥammad Taqī, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī—Beirut, second edition, 1403 AH.

[2] معاني الأخبار ؛ النص ؛ ص342  Ibn Bābawayh, Islamic Publications Office affiliated with the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom—Qom, first edition, 1403 AH.

[3] معاني الأخبار / ترجمه محمدى ؛ ج‏2 ؛ ص302 Ibn Bābawayh, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī—Muḥammadī Shāhrūdī, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya—Tehran, second edition, 1377 SH.

[4] الأمالي( للصدوق) ؛ النص ؛ ص668  Ibn Bābawayh, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, Ketābchi—Tehran, sixth edition, 1376 SH.

[5] الأصول الستة عشر (ط – دار الحديث) ؛ ؛ ص126  A group of scholars, Dār al-Ḥadīth Cultural Institute—Iran, Qom, first edition, 1423 AH / 1381 SH.

[6] تفسير نور الثقلين    vol. 5    193  Ḥuwayzī, ʿAbd ʿAlī ibn Jumʿa, Ismāʿīliyān—Iran, Qom, fourth edition, 1415 AH.

[7] مصباح الشريعة ؛ ؛ ص81  Attributed to Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, peace be upon him, Aʿlamī—Beirut, first edition, 1400 AH.

[8] Interpretation of the Apparent Verses on the Virtues of the Pure Household; vol. 1, p. 21  Astarabadi, Ali, Islamic Publishing Institute—Iran, Qom, first edition, 1409 AH.

[9] Al-Kafi (Islamic edition); vol. 1, p. 141  Kulayni, Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyya—Tehran, fourth edition, 1407 AH.

[10] Bihar al-Anwar (Beirut edition); vol. 54, p. 374  Majlisi, Muhammad Baqir ibn Muhammad Taqi, Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi—Beirut, second edition, 1403 AH.

[11] Tafsir Nur al-Thaqalayn    vol. 2    418  Huwayzi, Abd Ali ibn Jum’a, Tafsir Nur al-Thaqalayn, 5 vols., Ismailian—Iran, Qom, 4th edition, 1415 AH.