Certainty in God’s Laws: A Sign of Salvation

بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم

Session dated: 99.9.27

Master Ali Saei

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَی مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِهِ، وَ بَلِّغْ بِإِیمَانِی أَکْمَلَ الْإِیمَانِ, وَ اجْعَلْ یَقِینِی أَفْضَلَ الْیَقِینِ ، وَ انْتَهِ بِنِیَّتِی إِلَی أَحْسَنِ النِّیَّاتِ، وَ بِعَمَلِی إِلَی أَحْسَنِ الْأَعْمَالِ

O my God and Lord, make my certainty the finest certainty.

We come into this world without understanding where we have come from, why we have come, or where we are going. If we leave without attaining the finest certainty, then without doubt we have lost in this world and forfeited our worldly life. It is as though we came here in vain, having come for nothing but desire; and now, after eating and sleeping, the time of death has arrived—the time of manifest loss. When will we understand that we are among the people of certainty? When will we look upon the pillars of our being and see them rise up? When will we understand that we must take flight on four wings toward the heights of servitude to God? When will we heed the warning signs of tribulation? When will our inner intelligence, the intelligence of reason, awaken within us? With the insight of reason, we will look upon the world of existence; then, on the blistered wing of wisdom, we will make our way, absorbing the earth and the heavens and their signs. We will take up God’s signs as a path toward beholding Him. When will we hear the admonition that teaches us through examples, so that a third wing may grow within us and carry us into flight, bringing us to the fourth pillar and to the way of the earliest generations? May we absorb the whole mind of the world, so that we may be drawn into servitude to God. When will we test our certainty, to know whether it has reached its zenith? When will we understand that if we turn to the heart and look upon the world of existence—if we recognize each part of the universe and God’s creations as His signs and verses—and if those very verses cause God’s love to blaze and surge within us, then we can feel that we are on the path of certainty.

و من احسن من الله حکما.

How highly do we regard God’s judgments? Do we consider His judgments the most beautiful and best of all? Do we obey God’s commands and kiss His judgment? Is this our state of mind, or are we inclined to object, asking, “Why? Why?” Why was such-and-such a law established in the world? We are not concerned here with those who pass judgment in defiance of God’s judgments and violate them. Anyone who regards God’s judgment as the finest and submits to it completely will be content with it, whether it works in their favor or against them. In every circumstance, they love God’s judgment and submit to it. Who has this disposition? Only the person of certainty. The Exalted Lord has ordained that someone may suffer financial hardship, loss of life, or calamity, and that all manner of trials may befall them. If that person responds with love, gratitude, and praise of God, flowing from their heart, soul, and tongue, it is a sign that they have attained certainty. If they ask, “Why?” then they are afflicted by doubt and misgiving. In whom do they doubt? In Allah—in the Best of Judges.

And who is better than Allah in judgment for a people of firm faith?

 This means that only those who are people of certainty kiss God’s judgments, knowing them to be the finest of all, and submit to them. They are the ones who have certainty in Our signs. Another sign of the people of certainty is that they do not let themselves be belittled among worldly people. People of faith are constantly reproached in this world and continually treated with contempt. Worldly people try to break them; they rise up against them, make jokes at their expense, insult them in every way, and regard them as foolish and mad. This is what the people of certainty face among worldly people. People of faith may endure this, but someone who stumbles, who is weak, who compromises their convictions and tries to be a little like worldly people, has attained faith only to start sliding back toward doubt. Who stands firm and does not stumble or let themselves be diminished? Who holds themselves accountable before Allah and refuses to be broken among worldly people? Only the person of certainty.

فَاصْبِرْ إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ  وَلَا يَسْتَخِفَّنَّكَ الَّذِينَ لَا يُوقِنُونَ

 Be patient. Surely Allah’s promise is true. Do not let someone who has not attained certainty belittle you. Those who doubt constantly try to break the people of piety, but they themselves will be destroyed. They will fall to the lowest of the low.

وَفِي خَلْقِكُمْ وَمَا يَبُثُّ مِنْ دَابَّةٍ آيَاتٌ لِقَوْمٍ يُوقِنُونَ

We want to test our certainty. How do we look at the world? Is this world not God’s book? How do we read this book of God—page by page, line by line, sentence by sentence, word by word, letter by letter? Do we have the capacity to study it? “And in your own creation…” We will look at our own making and creation. How can we examine it closely? How should we look? We must look. “And the creatures He has scattered abroad”—the beings in motion throughout the arena of creation. “Signs for a people who are certain”: these are signs for those who possess certainty. When people of certainty look at the creatures on earth, they study them; they receive the knowledge Allah has inscribed in the very being of each creature. They study the divine messages within every single being. Whether we look at an ant, a termite, a mosquito, or any other creature in motion—even an electron in motion, or protons—we must first know that these are signs of God. What does a sign do? It leads us on a journey toward God. A sign is a marker, a signpost; it strengthens our speed and discernment on the journey of spiritual wayfaring toward Allah. In other words, it continually brings us to life through remembrance of Allah. We gain momentum and move forward. That is the role of God’s signs: we walk by them and understand the divine wisdom within each being. We realize that every single being bears witness to God; Allah reveals their true nature to us and shows them to us.

Whether something is beautiful or repulsive, let us look at the world with beauty. Let us look with beauty at the people of the world and at the creatures in motion. Let us look at every being and animal, and at livestock; then let us look at every single human being. We see that some people are human in the fullest sense—they are complete human beings, the noblest of creation. But most are only human in appearance. They resemble animals more than they resemble human beings.

الصُّورَةُ صُورَةُ إِنْسَانٍ وَ الْقَلْبُ قَلْبُ حَیَوَانٍ، لَا یَعْرِفُ بَابَ الْهُدَی فَیَتَّبِعَهُ وَ لَا بَابَ الْعَمَی فَیَصُدَّ عَنْهُ، وَ ذَلِکَ مَیِّتُ الْأَحْیَاءِ

Only their outward form is human; their heart and soul are animal. Which animal do they resemble? Those who possess certainty uncover this. The outward form is a veil; they perceive what lies beyond it. They behold the form of the heart. The people of this world cannot hide from those who possess certainty behind the mask of their faces. They see which predatory, vicious animal a person is, and which one they most resemble.

Their outward form is human, but they did not recognize the gate of guidance so as to follow it. They have not recognized the gate of guidance. They have not recognized Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad. They have not recognized the Mahdi, God’s proof, so as to follow him. Nor have they recognized the gate of misguidance and blindness so as to keep away from it. They know neither the gate of guidance nor the gate of safety. They have opened the gate of blindness and walk on; they travel through the valley of blindness, with their backs turned on the path of guidance! What kind of people are they? They are the dead among the living, the living dead.

When we look at the people of this world, we see clearly that “the world is carrion.” The world is carrion, a corpse. “Whoever desires it”—that is, whoever comes to love this world, for love of the world is the root of every sin—whoever desires this world must be content to become like the dogs: to share their ways and their colors, to mingle and mix with them.

So how should we look at the world? We must know that this world is dead flesh. We must mount it: this world is a donkey, and we must ride it and move forward. We must bridle this world; we must lead it, not—far be it from those gathered here—become the world’s donkey. When the world rides a person, that person’s outward form alone is human, while the heart is an animal’s heart! Those who possess certainty extract the world’s true worth; they put it to work as a path to the Hereafter. They make it a field for the Hereafter, a field for the pleasure of Allah.

Take from your bodies and be generous to your souls.

Take from your bodies and give to your souls. We must put this body—our entire being—at the service of worshipping God. We must spend our bodies for our souls, and our souls for the One we worship. We must devote our whole being to Allah. If this is how we live, we become human in the true sense of the word; we have attained certainty. Otherwise, woe to us. The face is human, but the heart is the heart of an animal.

Those who have certainty turn everything to the service of seeking Allah’s good pleasure. When they are happy, they direct their happiness toward what pleases God. Whether they face misfortune or blessing, hardship or ease, anguish or relief, whatever their circumstances—whether things open up for them or they fall into poverty—they turn each one into a vessel carrying them toward Allah’s good pleasure. Their journey toward God grows ever swifter.

Those who are caught in doubt, by contrast, are no different whether they enjoy prosperity or live in poverty: in either state, they are falling toward the lowest depths, their bond of servitude fraying. Whether happiness comes or hardship, they lose either way. They have no wings with which to fly; they move earthward, beneath the earth, toward the lowest of the low, face down. God’s blessings become worse for them than His trials. They lose in either state.

But those who have certainty are always travelling upward, ascending. They are constantly reflecting and reasoning about God’s signs; they take in the signs spread across the earth, seeking to reach the heavenly signs and the signs of the heavens, to the Throne of God. Why? To draw nearer to Allah. «وَفِي الْأَرْضِ آيَاتٌ لِلْمُوقِنِينَ وَفِي أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَفَلَا تُبْصِرُونَ؟» Until we attain certainty, we will not grasp the signs on earth. When will our eyes be opened? We will not understand that God’s signs, which are the Face of God, are points of orientation for us, directing us toward Him.

Once we attain certainty, the earth will become a garden of paradise for us, because we are immersed in God’s signs. Every signpost, every verse among God’s signs, will bring us closer to Allah, whatever it may be. And within yourselves: every feeling and state we recognize in our souls, every feeling there is, is a sign. Every feeling—happiness, pleasure, restlessness, love, affection, whatever we find within ourselves—is a sign pointing toward God. It is as though all those senses and everything that exists are God’s words. Allah calls us to Himself through that very feeling and state. By God, this is how it is. Whatever state we find ourselves in, whatever occurs to us in our minds and takes shape in our actions—all of it, by God, is a sign of God, calling us to turn toward Him.

If we turn our attention to a sign but forget the One who owns it, we lose; we have lost. When a sign appears, it must be left behind as we turn toward God. Every kind of relationship in this universe, every connection between its particles, every relationship between the one who perceives and what is perceived—all of them, in every direction and on both sides, are signs. In all our relationships, we must turn our attention to God. This is what it means to attain certainty: the signs on the horizons, the signs within ourselves.

We look at the universe and its creatures, and we see God’s signs. We receive God’s message; we receive God’s word.

وما من دابةٍ في الأرض ولا في السماءِ إلا على الله رزقها

There is no creature on earth whose provision is not in God’s hands.

Go and look: none of the creatures on earth needs to wage war. Yet people rise up against one another to get more bread and water, or worry about the worldly people’s bread and water. This is international doubt, reigning in the heart and soul of the earth. It is a sign of doubt within the earth’s very being. The people of the earth have become anxious about their sustenance and food. Do we have certainty in God’s signs? In the end, what if the population grows so much that the earth becomes full? What are we to do? Control the population.

If we are certain of Allah, if I am certain of God’s signs, then my anxiety comes from my ignorance and arrogance. Allah says, “I am the guarantor of provision.” If I worry about the provision of God’s creatures, then I am trapped in compounded ignorance. What will happen tomorrow? World wars will break out; biological wars will break out; extraordinary events will occur. Because someone wants to claim a greater share of this world, a whole segment of the world’s people must be sacrificed so that others can enjoy greater abundance.

How many creatures cannot store up provisions and do not know how to earn a living, how to plant orchards and gardens so they can find sustenance! Allah says, «الله یرزقها». Allah provides for those very creatures who are helpless. And you, too, who are able to store things up—Allah is the One who provides for you. Know that «وهو السميع العليم». Who is certain that Allah hears? Who is certain that Allah knows? Do I truly believe that Allah hears, that Allah knows? If I know that He provides, why have I become so wretched and caught up in worldly life? Why do I flee from serving God and take refuge in serving Satan and the world? Then I do not believe that Allah hears. I do not believe that Allah knows.

و لا تقتلوا اولادکم خشیةً املاق نحن نرزقکم و ایاهم

He kills his child because he fears he cannot provide for them. But God says: “I provide for them, and I provide for you.” He fears his provision will diminish. What does he do? He kills his own child.

Someone who resorts to immorality to earn a living is more wretched than one who kills his child. He secretly instigates mysterious international massacres to reduce the population. He disregards his chastity, modesty and noble character because he imagines they stand in the way of worldly blessings and provision.

Even the lion attacks the gazelle, driven entirely by anxiety. Why does the lion become a predator? Because he worries about his provision. He does not know any better!

Such is the state of worldly people. By God, a human being ought to have had praise as his food and glorification as his drink. How has he fallen so low that he needs onions, lentils, legumes and animal flesh? Where has he strayed, and what has he objected to?

وَإِذْ قُلْتُمْ يَا مُوسَى لَنْ نَصْبِرَ عَلَى طَعَامٍ وَاحِدٍ فَادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُخْرِجْ لَنَا مِمَّا تُنْبِتُ الْأَرْضُ مِنْ بَقْلِهَا وَقِثَّائِهَا وَفُومِهَا وَعَدَسِهَا وَبَصَلِهَا  قَالَ أَتَسْتَبْدِلُونَ الَّذِي هُوَ أَدْنَى بِالَّذِي هُوَ خَيْرٌ  اهْبِطُوا مِصْرًا فَإِنَّ لَكُمْ مَا سَأَلْتُمْ  وَضُرِبَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الذِّلَّةُ وَالْمَسْكَنَةُ وَبَاءُوا بِغَضَبٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ  ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يَكْفُرُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَيَقْتُلُونَ النَّبِيِّينَ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ ذَلِكَ بِمَا عَصَوْا وَكَانُوا يَعْتَدُونَ

اللهم عجل لولیک الفرج