Damned Desires

🌼🔆🌼The Danger of Interpreting Truths as Wishful Thinking🌼🔆🌼

🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹

🔅🌹 “The Relationship Between Tamannī and Rawʿ”  “The Pitfall of Base Desires”  “The Mystery of What Is with God” “Interpreting Truths as Wishful Thinking”  “Continuation of the Commentary on Supplication 20, Passage 13” and more … Abstract, with an addendum       1405.02.24    Ali Saei (Abdollah Meshkat) 110.141(903)  🌹🔅

✳️✅ ❇️ 🔆✨💫🔆 🌸☘️🌷🌹🌻 🌼 🕋 🌙  🤲 🌙 🕌 📖 🍃🪴

✅

🌷🔆اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْ مَا يُلْقِي الشَّيْطَانُ فِي رُوعِي🔆🌷

☘️🔆مِنَ التَّمَنِّي وَ التَّظَنِّي وَ الْحَسَدِ🔆☘️

🤲 🔆ذِكْراً لِعَظَمَتِكَ، وَ تَفَكُّراً فِي قُدْرَتِكَ، وَ تَدْبِيراً عَلَى عَدُوِّك🔆‏ 🤲

✳️Addendum: The Existential Purpose of Satan and the Human Strategy in the Struggle for Rawʿ

💫🔆Introduction: A Battlefield as Vast as Existence

Satan is not merely a mythical enemy; he is a philosophical question and an ontological reality. His existence deepens the mystery of creation.

💫🔆Part One: Dissecting the Concept of “Rawʿ”—the Command Center of Being

In this struggle, “rawʿ” is the key term. It extends beyond the emotional “heart” and the reasoning “intellect.”

Rawʿ is the seat of the “true self”: the place where a person’s identity, will, foundational beliefs, and ultimate orientation take shape. All thoughts and actions arise from this center.

Rawʿ is where the self, intellect, and spirit converge. The self gives rise to desire there, the intellect judges, and the spirit inspires. The struggle is for control of this triad.

To capture rawʿ is to distort the core of one’s identity. A person no longer commits a sin as a “wrong”; instead, they accept it as “right” or as a “legitimate pleasure.” This is how Satan triumphs—not by force, but by quietly altering the cognitive software.

Addendum: In mystical terms, rawʿ is the same as the “sound heart.” Once it is captured, the heart becomes diseased, and nothing but the light of revelation can heal it.

💫🔆Part Two: Satan’s Three-Pronged Arrow—A Modern Psychological Analysis

Tamannī (sickly desires), tazannī (destructive suspicions), and envy are Satan’s strategic, highly destructive weapons. These three are like software viruses of the soul.

Tamannī (false desire) targets the brain’s reward system. By creating an “artificial lack” in the mind, it traps a person in an endless cycle of trying to satisfy desires that never bring fulfillment but only intensify the hunger. Its chief instruments today are consumerist media and social networks built around comparison.

Tazannī (irrational suspicions) targets human relationships. By undermining trust—the foundation of every human and divine relationship—it plunges a person into spiritual isolation and doubt about everything, even God’s grace. This weapon eats away at individuals and societies from within.

Envy destroys the inner system of valuation. It deprives a person of gratitude and makes others’ success seem like a threat rather than an inspiration. It destroys innate joy and psychological security, becoming a fire that consumes both the self and society.

The key point is that these three reinforce one another and form a poisonous network.

💫🔆Part Three: A Threefold Strategy for Defense and Victory—Remembrance, Reflection, and Deliberation

In the face of these attacks, Imam Sajjad’s (AS) solution is an intelligent, dynamic system of defense:

Reflection (understanding the weapon and the battlefield): This is the intelligence-gathering stage. A person must:

Understand the mechanisms of the self and Satan (self-knowledge).

Identify their own strengths and weaknesses in the face of each of the three arrows.

Reflect on God’s infinite power, lest you underestimate the treasure you stand to gain. This reflection is the fuel that drives you forward.

Remembrance (building an energetic shield and shifting your frequency): Remembrance is more than repeating words. It means shifting your focus from creation to the Creator. When remembrance of God’s greatness takes hold in the heart:

Desire fades before the greatness of His self-sufficiency.

Suspicion becomes meaningless in the face of His all-encompassing knowledge and wisdom.

Envy vanishes in the light of contentment with His decree.

Remembrance clears the inner space of negative waves and prepares it to receive what is positive.

Planning (the operational plan and counterattack): This is the stage of practical action. Guided by reflection and sheltered by remembrance, a person must devise a plan. For example:

When tempted by an unnecessary purchase, they plan to give the money they would have spent in charity. (Turning greed into generosity)

When suspicious of a friend, they plan to start a warm, affectionate conversation with them. (Turning mistrust into connection)

When envious of someone else’s success, they plan to pray for that person. (Turning envy into love)

This is “redirecting the energy toward a higher good.” The negative energy of temptation becomes fuel for good action.

💫🔆Part Four: Manifestations in the Digital Age: Mastering the Heart in the Modern World

The Devil’s tools have become more sophisticated today:

Desire is amplified by algorithms that constantly promote “not having enough” and “better consumption.”

Suspicion reaches its peak amid the anonymity of the internet and the spread of fake news.

Envy is fed by the polished, alluring lives displayed on social media.

The threefold strategy in this setting means:

Reflection: Understanding persuasive techniques and how media are designed.

Remembrance: Maintaining presence of heart while using technology and making the most of the precious time we have.

Planning: Setting limits and using technology with purpose, giving up aimless scrolling, and turning social media into a place for spreading good.

💫🔆Part Five: From Personal Struggle to Transforming the World—The Mission of the Crowned Human Being

This struggle is not merely about saving oneself. A person who has found liberation is charged with helping to transform the world. Just as pure soil turns carrion into flowers, a purified person—shaped by remembrance, reflection, and planning—can:

Transform envy in the workplace into healthy competition.

Turn suspicion within the family into trust.

Guide society away from consumerism and toward contentment and generosity.

This is “turning fire into a garden” on a large scale. In his whispered prayers, Imam Sajjad (AS) does more than pray: he offers a model for faith-based social transformation.

💫Conclusion: Soldier or Gardener?

Ultimately, this text portrays a person not simply as a soldier locked in perpetual battle, but as a wise gardener. A gardener who:

Has knowledge (of the soil, pests, and plants = reflection).

Is committed and loving (toward the garden and its true Gardener = remembrance).

Has practical skills (pruning, watering, and pest control = planning).

The pest (Satan) is always present, but a skilled gardener makes not only the field of their own being, but also everything around them, flourish and bear fruit. To master one’s will is to fail at this gardening. Victory is not a single event; it is an ongoing process of knowing, loving, and acting, made possible in the light of the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt (AS).

“اللهم اجعل ما یلقی الشیطان…” This supplication is not a request for a miracle; it is a request for more advanced software for the mind and heart, so that in the testing ground of life, whatever the enemy casts before us may not only be rendered harmless, but turned into materials for building the palace of servitude to God.

❇️“Mastering the Will Beyond Sorcery—Seizing the Devil’s Power”

Taking the struggle against Satan beyond outward actions and into the depths of “controlling the command centre of one’s being” (ruʿ)

An epistemological and psychological challenge

Effectively combining the triad of “remembrance, reflection, and deliberation”:

as a practical model for resistance

Offering an active, offensive outlook:

This approach transforms a person from a passive victim into an “intelligent warrior” and one who “seizes the enemy’s power.”

A wise connection between different spheres: linking the personal (purifying the soul) and the social (purifying the world), the spiritual (supplication) and the practical (deliberation), as well as religious teachings (verses and hadith) with an analysis of the condition of humanity today

A more precise connection with “people today”: the question, “Is this not the state of people today?”

Modern mechanisms for capturing the “ruʿ” (for example, through social media, consumerist systems, and tools that weaken the will)

A precise dissection of the mechanisms of influence

An elevated strategic model—remembrance, reflection, and deliberation—for resisting them

A philosophical and mystical perspective on the struggle against the lower self, offering an active and hopeful solution

❇️A further supplement to the discussion of “wishful thinking”

🌷🔆اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْ مَا يُلْقِي الشَّيْطَانُ فِي رُوعِي🔆🌷

☘️🔆مِنَ التَّمَنِّي وَ التَّظَنِّي وَ الْحَسَدِ🔆☘️

❇️Wishful thinking: the sovereign of the faculty of perception and feeling (ruʿ)

The desires of the lower self are simply the pursuit of vain wishes (amānī)!

The desires of the lower self are its base cravings: the things a person wishes for in opposition to God’s will and decree!

❇️The people of vain wishes (traits of those given over to blameworthy wishful thinking):

Their innate nature lies dormant!

They are shallow and superficial!

They lack discernment and the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood!

They cannot distinguish the revealed Book from the one who denies it!

They are gullible!

They are captive to their lower desires!

They are ruled by ignorance!

They do not strive in the pursuit of knowledge and guidance. For had they sincerely sought the truth, Allah Most High would have guided them to it.

✨🔆العنكبوت : 69   وَ الَّذينَ جاهَدُوا فينا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنا وَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنينَ

🔆And those who strive in Our cause with sincere intent—we will surely guide them to Our ways. And Allah is with those who do good.

Those given over to vain wishes will go along with religion only so long as they do not see it as an obstacle to their desires and the whims of the lower self!

Blameworthy desires of the lower self are among the best tools available to opportunists in society and politics for hunting, colonising, and stupefying people of this kind!

The foxes of our age sometimes present religion as accommodating and indulgent toward people’s base desires and vain wishes, in order to impose their own false beliefs on the religiously observant and bring them over to their cause.

Those given over to vain wishes follow their own scholars despite knowing that they are corrupt, because they find that their opinions accord with their own base desires!

❇️Self-serving desires

💫 We must not measure truths and beliefs by our own appetites!

💫 Accepting rulings, laws and truths only when they accord with one’s carnal inclinations is precisely what is meant by “amānī” (self-indulgent wishes), and it leads to degradation.

💫 Desires arising from the cravings and appetites of the lower self, and from satanic promptings, are those accursed, dark yearnings that open the heart’s door to Satan and enslave a person’s faculty of perception and feeling to him!

💫 A self-serving view of family, society and religion is one form of carnal desire: it severs our connection to truth and causes hardship for others.

❇️Degrees of desire

💫 To escape this self-abasement and spiritual death, one must be immersed in God’s majesty. Whoever is preoccupied with themselves, their own desires and their petty wishes will be deprived of being absorbed in the divine majesty!

💫 Blameworthy desire is desire for this world; praiseworthy desire is desire for the Hereafter; and the unsurpassed desire is for what pleases God!

❇️Longing to meet God

The test that distinguishes sacred longing from profane longing is the desire for death!

💫🔆وَ لَوْ لَا الْأَجَلُ الَّذِي كَتَبَ اللَّهُ [لَهُمْ‏] عَلَيْهِمْ لَمْ‏ تَسْتَقِرَّ أَرْوَاحُهُمْ فِي أَجْسَادِهِمْ طَرْفَةَ عَيْنٍ شَوْقاً إِلَى الثَّوَابِ وَ خَوْفاً مِنَ الْعِقَاب‏[1]

💫🔆 Had God not set for them the appointed term He had decreed, their souls, out of longing for reward and fear of punishment, would not have remained in their bodies even for the blink of an eye.

💫 Broadly speaking, desires fall into three categories: longing for God, longing for the Hereafter, and longing for this world!

💫 Those whose desire is God long to meet Him. They regard the abode of the Hereafter as the finest meeting place for لقاء‌الله, and yearn for it with all their hearts!

💫 Those whose desires are ruled by their carnal inclinations cannot long for لقاء الله! They are terrified of death, whereas those who aspire to higher things see death as the gateway to لقاء الله!

✨🔆البقرة : 94   قُلْ إِنْ كانَتْ لَكُمُ الدَّارُ الْآخِرَةُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ خالِصَةً مِنْ دُونِ النَّاسِ فَتَمَنَّوُا الْمَوْتَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صادِقينَ

🔆Say: “If the abode of the Hereafter with God is exclusively yours, as you claim, and not for anyone else, then wish for death, if you are truthful.”

✨🔆البقرة : 95   وَ لَنْ يَتَمَنَّوْهُ أَبَداً بِما قَدَّمَتْ أَيْديهِمْ وَ اللَّهُ عَليمٌ بِالظَّالِمينَ

🔆But they will never wish for death, because of the evil deeds they have sent ahead. And God knows the wrongdoers well.

✨🔆الجمعة : 6   قُلْ يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ هادُوا إِنْ زَعَمْتُمْ أَنَّكُمْ أَوْلِياءُ لِلَّهِ مِنْ دُونِ النَّاسِ فَتَمَنَّوُا الْمَوْتَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صادِقينَ

🔆Say: “O you who are Jews! If you claim that you alone, and no one else, are God’s friends, then wish for death, if you are truthful”—so that you may meet the One you love.

✨🔆 الجمعة : 7   وَ لا يَتَمَنَّوْنَهُ أَبَداً بِما قَدَّمَتْ أَيْديهِمْ وَ اللَّهُ عَليمٌ بِالظَّالِمينَ

🔆But they will never wish for death, because of the deeds they have sent ahead. And God knows the wrongdoers well!

❇️Interpreting truths through wishful thinking

💫 Those held captive by this world interpret truths through their own amānī. They even interpret the revealed scriptures through their own wishes—which is the worst kind of interpretation based on personal opinion. In reality, they worship their own wishes and carnal desires!

💫 If we pour truths into the mould of wishful thinking, nothing of the truth remains: falsehood takes the place of truth!

💫 An interpretation based on wishful thinking is a form of following one’s desires!

✨🔆 Al-Furqan: 43   أَ رَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلهَهُ هَواهُ أَ فَأَنْتَ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِ وَكيلاً

🔆 Have you seen the one who takes his own desires as his god—bringing the God affirmed by reason, human nature and the nations down, in practice, to fit his own whims? Will you then take charge of him, guiding him or saving him from the punishment of the Hereafter?!

💫 Wishful thinking (amānī) in the choice of religious and social leaders has shifted social systems towards degradation, baseness, darkness, oppression and injustice! For people will choose leaders who fulfil their carnal desires, rather than those who secure their eternal felicity!

💫 Wishful thinking is the stuff of the many different Saqifahs and the positions adopted there.

❇️Wishful thinking is the spell cast by sorcerers

💫 False mysticisms and satanic parties use this tool—wishful thinking—to deceive and attract their audiences. They either deny divine religion or portray it as pliant and adaptable to their carnal demands!

💫 When someone imagines that they can both enter Paradise and indulge their worldly carnal desires to the extent they wish, they are drawn to deviant, opportunistic schools of thought!

❇️Wishful thinking (carnal desires) is a narcotic for the conscience

💫 Interpreting the Lord’s boundless mercy according to personal preference and carnal desire serves to silence the conscience and smooth the way for sin and disobedience!

💫🔆وَ أَيْقَنْتُ أَنَّكَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ فِي مَوْضِعِ الْعَفْوِ وَ الرَّحْمَةِ وَ أَشَدُّ الْمُعَاقِبِينَ فِي‏ مَوْضِعِ‏ النَّكَالِ‏ وَ النَّقِمَةِ وَ أَعْظَمُ الْمُتَجَبِّرِينَ فِي مَوْضِعِ الْكِبْرِيَاءِ وَ الْعَظَمَة[2]

🔆 (O God,) I am certain that, where forgiveness and mercy are concerned, You are the most merciful of the merciful; where punishment and vengeance are concerned, You are the most severe of those who punish; and in greatness and majesty, You are the greatest of the great [and the proud in the true sense of the word].

💫🔆يَا مَنْ هُوَ فِي عَهْدِهِ وَفِيٌّ يَا مَنْ هُوَ فِي وَفَائِهِ قَوِيٌّ يَا مَنْ هُوَ فِي قُوَّتِهِ عَلِيٌّ يَا مَنْ هُوَ فِي عُلُوِّهِ قَرِيبٌ يَا مَنْ هُوَ فِي قُرْبِهِ لَطِيفٌ يَا مَنْ هُوَ فِي‏ لُطْفِهِ‏ شَرِيفٌ يَا مَنْ هُوَ فِي شَرَفِهِ عَزِيزٌ يَا مَنْ هُوَ فِي عِزِّهِ عَظِيمٌ يَا مَنْ هُوَ فِي عَظَمَتِهِ مَجِيدٌ يَا مَنْ هُوَ فِي مَجْدِهِ حَمِيد[3]

🔆 O You who are trustworthy and true to Your covenant; O You who are mighty in Your faithfulness; O You whose power is supreme and exalted; O You who are near in Your loftiness; O You whose nearness is gracious and subtle; O You who are noble and generous in Your grace; O You who are honoured and precious in Your nobility; O You who are immense and great in Your might; O You who are glorious and worthy of praise in Your greatness; O You who are praiseworthy in Your majesty.

❇️The world is not an absurd dream of our own imagining!

Accursed wishful thinking leads to misreading divine graces, such as God’s all-embracing mercy and the gift of intercession!

Those devoted to wishful thinking use God’s friends as an excuse for committing their own forbidden acts!

“Wishful thinking” is one of the chief means of justifying sin and silencing the reproachful soul!

✨🔆 Al-Qiyamah: 2   وَ لا أُقْسِمُ بِالنَّفْسِ اللَّوَّامَةِ

🔆 And I swear by the self-reproaching soul.

“Wishful thinking” is an ignorant consolation meant to silence the conscience!

“Wishful thinking” is a way to be deceived and evade responsibility!

“Wishful thinking” is a narcotic for the higher faculties and a destroyer of the spirit’s immune system!

❇️Wishful thinking is the fuel of conjecture

Wishes are the seed and soil of conjecture; they nourish the tree of speculation until it grows strong, preparing the ground for an evil tree!

❇️Interpretation driven by personal opinion and wishful thinking

💫Beliefs fashioned to suit our wishes yield not certainties but conjectures. Wishes alone will never bring a person to pure gold.

💫When people interpret and analyse truths according to their wishes, they take the side of their own desires. In other words, their central processor is their lower self, not their intuitive intellect.

💫Interpreting the heavenly scriptures and the words of God’s friends according to one’s appetites and wishes is the very basis of distorting God’s religion.

💫Interpreting the Qur’an and hadith through the intellectual premises of particular philosophical groups and their personal beliefs is a clear example of dangerous, quasi-scientific and quasi-rational wishful thinking. The wishful imaginings of philosophers undermine the beliefs of communities devoted to religious and divine commandments!

💫Wishful imaginings, through deceptive suggestions coupled with blind imitation, lead to manifest misguidance—that is, following the lower self and Satan.

💫The lower self and Satan present their suggestions in the guise of vile, base wishes.

💫By making forbidden acts seem sweet, the lower self harnesses a person’s energy and abilities. Vile wishes are the deceptive veil that conceals the bitterness of wrongdoing.

💫Many religious distortions have their roots in wishful imaginings.

💫Blind imitation includes following the intellectual premises of pseudo-science and pseudo-philosophy.

💫Analysing truths according to the lower self’s desires and appetites is what leads to the distortion of divine religions.

💫The cause of the Saqifah coup was the ascendancy of intellectual premises rooted in wishes and conjecture.

💫Wishful imaginings pose an acute danger in both religious and political spheres.

💫Global policies shaped not by truth, reason and thought but by wishful imaginings are extremely dangerous! They distort the world and block the path of rational development.

❇️The unlettered, wishful imaginings, and the philosophy of deviation

✨🔆 البقرة : 78 وَ مِنْهُمْ أُمِّيُّونَ لا يَعْلَمُونَ الْكِتابَ إِلاَّ أَمانِيَّ وَ إِنْ هُمْ إِلاَّ يَظُنُّونَ

🔆 And among them are unlettered people who know nothing of the Scripture except fanciful notions and wishes; they do nothing but speculate about its rulings.

💫When ignorance and the desires of the lower self come together, the way is open to every kind of deviation!

❇️Wishful imaginings are among Satan’s most effective tools

💫Satan plants his wishes in people’s minds in order to bring humanity into bondage.

💫The conjectures that hold Satan’s captives are founded on Satanic wishes!

✨🔆 النساء : 119 وَ لَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَ لَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ وَ لَآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ آذانَ الْأَنْعامِ وَ لَآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ وَ مَنْ يَتَّخِذِ الشَّيْطانَ وَلِيًّا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ فَقَدْ خَسِرَ خُسْراناً مُبيناً

🔆 I will surely lead them astray, stir in them false hopes, and command them to slit the ears of cattle and to alter God’s pure creation—defiling the natural disposition for monotheism with idolatry! Whoever takes Satan as a protector instead of God has clearly suffered a great loss.

❇️How do false leaders exploit wishful imaginings?

💫🔆قَالَ الْإِمَامُ الْعَسْكَرِيُّ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ): «قَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ: يَا مُحَمَّدُ، وَ مِنْ هَؤُلَاءِ الْيَهُودِ أُمِّيُّونَ‏ لَا يَقْرَءُونَ الْكِتَابَ وَ لَا يَكْتُبُونَ، فَالْأُمِّيُّ مَنْسُوبٌ إِلَى أُمِّهِ، أَيْ هُوَ كَمَا خَرَجَ مِنْ بَطْنِ أُمِّهِ لَا يَقْرَأُ وَ لَا يَكْتُبُ‏ لا يَعْلَمُونَ الْكِتابَ‏ الْمُنْزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ وَ لَا الْمُكَذَّبَ بِهِ، وَ لَا يُمَيِّزُونَ بَيْنَهُمَا إِلَّا أَمانِيَ‏ أَيْ إِلَّا أَنْ يُقْرَأَ عَلَيْهِمْ، وَ يُقَالُ لَهُمْ:

إِنَّ هَذَا كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَ كَلَامُهُ، وَ لَا يَعْرِفُونَ إِنْ قُرِئَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ خِلَافُ مَا فِيهِ‏ وَ إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ‏ أَيْ مَا يَقُولُ لَهُمْ رُؤَسَاؤُهُمْ مِنْ تَكْذِيبِ مُحَمَّدٍ فِي نُبُوَّتِهِ، وَ إِمَامَةِ عَلِيٍّ سَيِّدِ عِتْرَتِهِ، وَ هُمْ يُقَلِّدُونَهُمْ مَعَ أَنَّهُ مُحَرَّمٌ عَلَيْهِمْ تَقْلِيدُهُمْ».

قَالَ: «فَقَالَ رَجُلٌ لِلصَّادِقِ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ): فَإِذَا كَانَ هَؤُلَاءِ الْقَوْمُ‏ لَا يَعْرِفُونَ الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا بِمَا يَسْمَعُونَهُ مِنْ عُلَمَائِهِمْ لَا سَبِيلَ لَهُمْ إِلَى غَيْرِهِ، فَكَيْفَ ذَمَّهُمْ بِتَقْلِيدِهِمْ وَ الْقَبُولِ مِنْ عُلَمَائِهِمْ؟ وَ هَلْ عَوَامُّ الْيَهُودِ إِلَّا كَعَوَامِّنَا يُقَلِّدُونَ عُلَمَاءَهُمْ، فَإِنْ لَمْ يَجُزْ لِأُولَئِكَ الْقَبُولُ مِنْ عُلَمَائِهِمْ، لَمْ يَجُزْ لِعَوَامِّنَا الْقَبُولُ مِنْ عُلَمَائِهِمْ?

فَقَالَ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ): بَيْنَ عَوَامِّنَا وَ عُلَمَائِنَا وَ بَيْنَ عَوَامِّ الْيَهُودِ وَ عُلَمَائِهِمْ فَرْقٌ مِنْ جِهَةٍ، وَ تَسْوِيَةٌ مِنْ جِهَةٍ، أَمَّا مِنْ حَيْثُ إِنَّهُمْ اسْتَوَوْا، فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ ذَمَّ عَوَامَّنَا بِتَقْلِيدِهِمْ‏ عُلَمَاءَهُمْ، كَمَا قَدْ ذَمَّ عَوَامَّهُمْ، وَ أَمَّا مِنْ حَيْثُ إِنَّهُمُ افْتَرَقُوا فَلَا.

قَالَ: بَيِّنْ لِي ذَلِكَ، يَا ابْنَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ.

قَالَ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ): إِنَّ عَوَامَّ الْيَهُودِ كَانُوا قَدْ عَرَفُوا عُلَمَاءَهُمْ بِالْكَذِبِ الصُّرَاحِ، وَ بِأَكْلِ الْحَرَامِ وَ الرِّشَا، وَ بِتَغْيِيرِ الْأَحْكَامِ عَنْ وَاجِبِهَا بِالشَّفَاعَاتِ وَ الْعِنَايَاتِ وَ الْمُصَانَعَاتِ، وَ عَرَفُوهُمْ بِالتَّعَصُّبِ الشَّدِيدِ الَّذِي يُفَارِقُونَ بِهِ أَدْيَانَهُمْ، وَ أَنَّهُمْ إِذَا تَعَصَّبُوا أَزَالُوا حُقُوقَ مَنْ تَعَصَّبُوا عَلَيْهِ، وَ أَعْطَوْا مَا لَا يَسْتَحِقُّهُ مَنْ تَعَصَّبُوا لَهُ مِنْ أَمْوَالِ غَيْرِهِمْ، وَ ظَلَمُوهُمْ‏ مِنْ أَجْلِهِمْ، وَ عَرَفُوهُمْ بِأَنَّهُمْ يُقَارِفُونَ الْمُحَرَّمَاتِ، وَ اضْطُرُّوا بِمَعَارِفِ قُلُوبِهِمْ إِلَى أَنَّ مَنْ فَعَلَ مَا يَفْعَلُونَهُ فَهُوَ فَاسِقٌ، لَا يَجُوزُ أَنْ يُصَدَّقَ عَلَى اللَّهِ تَعَالَى، وَ لَا عَلَى الْوَسَائِطِ بَيْنَ الْخَلْقِ وَ بَيْنَ اللَّهِ، فَلِذَلِكَ ذَمَّهُمْ لِمَا قَلَّدُوا مَنْ قَدْ عَرَفُوا، وَ مَنْ قَدْ عَلِمُوا أَنَّهُ لَا يَجُوزُ قَبُولُ خَبَرِهِ، وَ لَا تَصْدِيقُهُ فِي حِكَايَتِهِ، وَ لَا الْعَمَلُ بِمَا يُؤَدِّيهِ‏ إِلَيْهِمْ عَمَّنْ لَمْ يُشَاهِدُوهُ‏، وَ وَجَبَ عَلَيْهِمُ النَّظَرُ بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ فِي أَمْرِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ) إِذْ كَانَتْ دَلَائِلُهُ أَوْضَحَ مِنْ أَنْ تَخْفَى، وَ أَشْهَرَ مِنْ أَنْ لَا تَظْهَرَ لَهُمْ.

وَ كَذَلِكَ عَوَامُّ أُمَّتِنَا، إِذَا عَرَفُوا مِنْ فُقَهَائِهِمُ الْفِسْقَ الظَّاهِرَ، وَ الْعَصَبِيَّةَ الشَّدِيدَةَ، وَ التَّكَالُبَ عَلَى حُطَامِ الدُّنْيَا وَ حَرَامِهَا، وَ إِهْلَاكَ مَنْ يَتَعَصَّبُونَ عَلَيْهِ، وَ إِنْ كَانَ لِإِصْلَاحِ أَمْرِهِ مُسْتَحِقّاً، وَ بِالتَّرَفْرُفِ‏ بِالْبِرِّ وَ الْإِحْسَانِ عَلَى مَنْ تَعَصَّبُوا لَهُ، وَ إِنْ كَانَ لِلْإِذْلَالِ وَ الْإِهَانَةِ مُسْتَحِقّاً، فَمَنْ قَلَّدَ مِنْ عَوَامِّنَا مِثْلَ هَؤُلَاءِ الْفُقَهَاءِ فَهُمْ مِثْلُ الْيَهُودِ الَّذِينَ ذَمَّهُمُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى بِالتَّقْلِيدِ لِفَسَقَةِ فُقَهَائِهِمْ.

فَأَمَّا مَنْ كَانَ مِنَ الْفُقَهَاءِ صَائِناً لِنَفْسِهِ، حَافِظاً لِدِينِهِ، مُخَالِفاً لِهَوَاهُ‏، مُطِيعاً لِأَمْرِ مَوْلَاهُ فَلِلْعَوَامِّ أَنْ يُقَلِّدُوهُ، وَ ذَلِكَ لَا يَكُونُ إِلَّا فِي بَعْضِ فُقَهَاءِ الشِّيعَةِ لَا جَمِيعِهِمْ، فَإِنَّهُ مَنْ رَكِبَ مِنَ الْقَبَائِحِ وَ الْفَوَاحِشِ مَرَاكِبَ فَسَقَةِ فُقَهَاءِ الْعَامَّةِ فَلَا تَقْبَلُوا مِنْهُمْ عَنَّا شَيْئاً، وَ لَا كَرَامَةَ لَهُمْ، وَ إِنَّمَا كَثُرَ التَّخْلِيطُ فِيمَا يُتَحَمَّلُ عَنَّا أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ لِذَلِكَ، لِأَنَّ الْفَسَقَةَ يَتَحَمَّلُونَ عَنَّا فَيُحَرِّفُونَهُ بِأَسْرِهِ لِجَهْلِهِمْ‏، وَ يَضَعُونَ الْأَشْيَاءَ عَلَى غَيْرِ وَجْهِهَا لِقِلَّةِ مَعْرِفَتِهِمْ، وَ آخَرِينَ يَتَعَمَّدُونَ الْكَذِبَ عَلَيْنَا لِيَجُرُّوا مِنْ عَرَضِ الدُّنْيَا مَا هُوَ زَادُهُمْ إِلَى نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ.

وَ مِنْهُمْ قَوْمٌ نُصَّابٌ لَا يَقْدِرُونَ عَلَى الْقَدْحِ فِينَا، يَتَعَلَّمُونَ بَعْضَ عُلُومِنَا الصَّحِيحَةِ فَيَتَوَجَّهُونَ بِهِ عِنْدَ شِيعَتِنَا، وَ يَنْتَقِصُونَ بِنَا عِنْدَ نُصَّابِنَا، ثُمَّ يُضِيفُونَ إِلَيْهِ أَضْعَافَهُ وَ أَضْعَافَ أَضْعَافِهِ مِنَ الْأَكَاذِيبِ عَلَيْنَا الَّتِي نَحْنُ بِرَاءٌ مِنْهَا، فَيَتَقَبَّلُهُ الْمُسْلِمُونَ الْمُسْتَسْلِمُونَ مِنْ شِيعَتِنَا عَلَى أَنَّهُ مِنْ عُلُومِنَا فَضَلُّوا وَ أَضَلُّوا، وَ هُمْ أَضَرُّ عَلَى ضُعَفَاءِ شِيعَتِنَا مِنْ‏ جَيْشِ يَزِيدَ- عَلَيْهِ اللَّعْنَةُ وَ الْعَذَابُ- عَلَى الْحُسَيْنِ بْنِ عَلِيٍّ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) وَ أَصْحَابِهِ، فَإِنَّهُمْ يَسْلُبُونَهُمُ الْأَرْوَاحَ وَ الْأَمْوَالَ، وَ لِلْمَسْلُوبِينَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَفْضَلُ الْأَحْوَالِ لَمَّا لَحِقَهُمْ مِنْ أَعْدَائِهِمْ.

وَ هَؤُلَاءِ عُلَمَاءُ السَّوْءِ النَّاصِبُونَ الْمُشَبِّهُونَ بِأَنَّهُمْ لَنَا مُوَالُونَ، وَ لِأَعْدَائِنَا مُعَادُونَ، يُدْخِلُونَ الشَّكَّ وَ الشُّبْهَةَ عَلَى ضُعَفَاءِ شِيعَتِنَا، فَيُضِلُّونَهُمْ وَ يَمْنَعُونَهُمْ عَنْ قَصْدِ الْحَقِّ الْمُصِيبِ، لَا جَرَمَ أَنَّ مَنْ عَلِمَ اللَّهُ مِنْ قَلْبِهِ مِنْ هَؤُلَاءِ الْعَوَامِّ أَنَّهُ لَا يُرِيدُ إِلَّا صِيَانَةَ دِينِهِ وَ تَعْظِيمِهِ وَلِيَّهُ، لَمْ يَتْرُكْهُ فِي يَدِ هَذَا الْمُلَبِّسِ الْكَافِرِ، وَ لَكِنَّهُ يُقَيِّضُ لَهُ مُؤْمِناً يَقِفُ بِهِ عَلَى الصَّوَابِ، ثُمَّ يُوَفِّقُهُ اللَّهُ لِلْقَبُولِ مِنْهُ، فَيَجْمَعُ لَهُ بِذَلِكَ خَيْرَ الدُّنْيَا وَ الْآخِرَةِ، وَ يَجْمَعُ عَلَى مَنْ أَضَلَّهُ لَعْنَ الدُّنْيَا وَ عَذَابَ الْآخِرَةِ».

ثُمَّ قَالَ: «قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ): شِرَارُ عُلَمَاءِ أُمَّتِنَا الْمُضِلُّونَ عَنَّا، الْقَاطِعُونَ لِلطُّرُقِ إِلَيْنَا، الْمُسَمُّونَ أَضْدَادَنَا بِأَسْمَائِنَا، الْمُلَقِّبُونَ بِأَلْقَابِنَا، يُصَلُّونَ عَلَيْهِمْ وَ هُمْ لِلَّعْنِ مُسْتَحِقُّونَ، وَ يَلْعَنُونَنَا وَ نَحْنُ بِكَرَامَاتِ اللَّهِ مَغْمُورُونَ، وَ بِصَلَوَاتِ اللَّهِ وَ صَلَوَاتِ مَلَائِكَتِهِ الْمُقَرَّبِينَ عَلَيْنَا، عَنْ صَلَوَاتِهِمْ عَلَيْنَا مُسْتَغْنُونَ».

ثُمَّ قَالَ: «قِيلَ لِأَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ): مَنْ خَيْرُ الْخَلْقِ بَعْدَ أَئِمَّةِ الْهُدَى وَ مَصَابِيحِ الدُّجَى؟ قَالَ: الْعُلَمَاءُ إِذَا صَلَحُوا.

قِيلَ: فَمَنْ شِرَارُ خَلْقِ اللَّهِ بَعْدَ إِبْلِيسَ وَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَ نُمْرُودَ، وَ بَعْدَ الْمُتَسَمِّينَ بِأَسْمَائِكُمْ، وَ الْمُتَلَقِّبِينَ بِأَلْقَابِكُمْ، وَ الْآخِذِينَ لِأَمْكِنَتِكُمْ، وَ الْمُتَأَمِّرِينَ فِي مَمَالِكِكُمْ؟ قَالَ: الْعُلَمَاءُ إِذَا فَسَدُوا، وَ إِنَّهُمُ الْمُظْهِرُونَ لِلْأَبَاطِيلِ، الْكَاتِمُونَ لِلْحَقَائِقِ، وَ فِيهِمْ قَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ: أُولئِكَ يَلْعَنُهُمُ اللَّهُ وَ يَلْعَنُهُمُ اللَّاعِنُونَ* إِلَّا الَّذِينَ تابُوا الْآيَةَ».^[4]

ثُمَّ قَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ: فَوَيْلٌ لِلَّذِينَ يَكْتُبُونَ الْكِتابَ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ ثُمَّ يَقُولُونَ هذا مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ لِيَشْتَرُوا بِهِ ثَمَناً قَلِيلًا.

قَالَ الْإِمَامُ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ): «قَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ [هَذَا] لِقَوْمٍ مِنْ هَؤُلَاءِ الْيَهُودِ كَتَبُوا صِفَةً زَعَمُوا أَنَّهَا صِفَةُ النَّبِيِّ (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ)، وَ هِيَ خِلَافُ صِفَتِهِ، وَ قَالُوا لِلْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنْهُمْ: هَذِهِ صِفَةُ النَّبِيِّ الْمَبْعُوثَ فِي آخِرِ الزَّمَانِ: أَنَّهُ طَوِيلٌ، عَظِيمُ الْبَدَنِ وَ الْبَطْنِ، أَصْهَبُ الشَّعْرِ، وَ مُحَمَّدٌ خِلَافُهُ، وَ هُوَ يَجِي‏ءُ بَعْدَ هَذَا الزَّمَانِ بِخَمْسِمِائَةِ سَنَةٍ. وَ إِنَّمَا أَرَادُوا بِذَلِكَ لِتَبْقَى لَهُمْ عَلَى ضُعَفَائِهِمْ رِئَاسَتُهُمْ، وَ تَدُومَ لَهُمْ مِنْهُمْ إِصَابَتُهُمْ، وَ يَكُفُّوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ مَئُونَةَ خِدْمَةِ مُحَمَّدٍ (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ) وَ خِدْمَةِ عَلِيٍّ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) وَ أَهْلِ خَاصَّتِهِ. فَقَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ: فَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا كَتَبَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ مِنْ هَذِهِ الصِّفَاتِ الْمُحَرَّفَاتِ الْمُخَالِفَاتِ لِصِفَةِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ عَلِيٍّ (عَلَيْهِمَا السَّلَامُ)، الشِّدَّةُ لَهُمْ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ فِي أَشَقِّ  بِقَاعِ جَهَنَّمَ وَ وَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِنَ الشِّدَّةِ فِي الْعَذَابِ ثَانِيَةً، مُضَافَةً إِلَى الْأُولَى مِمَّا يَكْسِبُونَ مِنَ الْأَمْوَالِ الَّتِي يَأْخُذُونَهَا إِذَا أَثْبَتُوا عَوَامَّهُمْ عَلَى الْكُفْرِ بِمُحَمَّدٍ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ)، وَ الْجَحْدِ بِوَصِيَّةِ أَخِيهِ عَلِيٍّ وَلِيِّ اللَّهِ».

🔆Imam al-Hasan al-Askari, peace be upon him, said: God, the Mighty and Exalted, said: “O Muhammad, among these Jews are people without learning, who neither read nor write the Book.” “Unlettered” derives from “mother”: that is, just as they emerged from their mother’s womb, they know neither reading nor writing. “They know neither the Book sent down from Heaven nor the book that has been falsified,” and they cannot distinguish between the two, “except for wishes”—that is, they know only what is read to them and what they are told: “This is the Book of God and His word.” If they are read something that contradicts what is in the Book, they cannot tell the difference. “And they do nothing but suppose”—that is, they know only what their leaders tell them: that Muhammad’s claim to prophethood and Ali’s claim to be the imamate—the master of his family—are false. They follow those leaders, even though it is forbidden for them to do so.

The narrator relates: A man said to Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, “These people know the Book only through what they hear from their scholars, and have no other way of learning it. How, then, has God reproached them for following and accepting the teachings of their scholars? Are the common people among the Jews any different from our common people, who follow their scholars? If it was not permissible for the common people among the Jews to accept the teachings of their scholars, is it likewise impermissible for our common people to accept the teachings of theirs?”

The Imam, peace be upon him, replied: “In one respect, there is a difference between our common people and our scholars, and between the common people among the Jews and their scholars; in another respect, they are alike. In the respect in which they are alike, God has reproached our common people, just as He reproached theirs, for following their scholars. But in the respect in which they differ, the two cases are not the same.”

The man said: “O son of the Messenger of God, explain this to me.”

The Imam, peace be upon him, replied: “The common people among the Jews knew that their scholars openly lied, consumed what was unlawful, took bribes, and changed God’s rulings from what was obligatory by means of intercession, favors, and compromise. They knew, too, of the scholars’ fierce partisanship, through which they strayed from their religion. In their partisanship, they deprived those they opposed of their rights, gave to those they favored a share of other people’s property to which they were not entitled, and wronged others on their behalf. They also knew that these scholars committed forbidden acts. Their own hearts told them that anyone who acted in this way was corrupt, and unworthy of being trusted with respect to God Most High or to those who mediate between God and His creation. God reproached them, then, because they followed people whom they knew to be unworthy of trust; they knew that it was not permissible to accept what those people reported, or to believe them when they spoke of those absent, or to act on what they conveyed to them. They were duty-bound to consider the matter of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, for his proofs were too clear to be hidden and too widely known to escape their notice.”

Likewise, if the ordinary members of our community recognise their jurists by their flagrant sinfulness, intense partisanship, greed for the paltry and unlawful gains of this world, their eagerness to ruin anyone they oppose—even when that person deserves support and reform—and their indulgence and kindness towards anyone they favour—even when that person deserves scorn and humiliation—then any ordinary person among us who follows such jurists is like the Jews whom God Most High condemned for following their corrupt jurists.

As for those jurists who guard themselves, safeguard the faith, resist their own desires, and obey the command of their Master, the common people are obliged to follow them. Yet such jurists are found only among some of the Shi‘i scholars, not all of them. Anyone who follows in the footsteps of the wickedness and depravity of the corrupt jurists of the common people—accept nothing from them on our behalf, and grant them no honour. Indeed, much of the confusion surrounding what is related from us, the Ahl al-Bayt, arises because the wicked narrate from us and, through ignorance, distort it all and misrepresent things because their knowledge is scant. Others deliberately lie about us to gain some paltry worldly profit, which will be their provision on the way to the Fire of Hell.

Among them are a group of enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt who, unable to find fault with us, learn some of our sound teachings so that they may gain standing among our Shi‘a and bring us into disrepute among our enemies. Then they attribute to us many times over—and many times over again—lies of which we are innocent. Our Shi‘a, who submit to God, mistake these lies for our teachings and accept them. Thus they go astray and lead others astray. These people are more harmful to our vulnerable Shi‘a than Yazid’s army—may God’s curse and punishment be upon him—was to al-Husayn ibn ‘Ali, peace be upon him, and his companions. For Yazid’s army took lives and property, while those who were stripped of these things are in the best of states with God, because of what they suffered at the hands of their enemies.

These are the wicked scholars, enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt, who present themselves as our friends and the enemies of our foes. They sow doubt and confusion among our vulnerable Shi‘a, leading them astray and keeping them from finding the way to truth. Yet God will not leave one of these ordinary people—whose heart He knows seeks nothing but to safeguard the faith and honour His friend—to the mercy of this unbelieving purveyor of doubts. Rather, He will send a believer to guide that person aright. Then God will grant them success in accepting the believer’s guidance, and so gather for them the good of this world and the next, while decreeing the curse of this world and the punishment of the Hereafter for the one who led them astray.

Then he said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and his family, said, “The worst scholars of our community are those who lead people away from us and bar them from our paths; who call our enemies by our names and address them by our titles. They invoke blessings upon them, though they deserve to be cursed, and curse us, though we are immersed in God’s gifts of honour and have no need of their blessings upon us, for God and His nearest angels bless us.”

Then he said: The Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him, was asked, “Who are the best of people after the Imams of guidance and the beacons in darkness?” He replied, “The scholars, when they are righteous.” He was asked, “Then who are the worst of God’s creatures, after Iblis, Pharaoh and Nimrod, and after those who take your names and titles, usurp your station, and rule over your domains?” He replied, “The scholars, when they are corrupt. They are the ones who make falsehoods manifest and conceal the truths. Of them, God, Mighty and Exalted, has said: ‘Those are they whom God curses, and those who curse also curse them, except those who repent…’”

Then God, Mighty and Exalted, said: “So woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, then say, ‘This is from God,’ in order to gain a paltry price by it.”

The Imam, peace be upon him, said: God, Mighty and Exalted, revealed this verse concerning a group of Jews who wrote down a description and claimed it was the description of the Prophet, may God bless him and his family, though it was the opposite of his true description. They told their vulnerable followers, “This is the description of a prophet who will be sent at the end of time: he will be tall, stout, pot-bellied, and blond with reddish hair.” Yet Muhammad was the opposite of this, and would not come for another five hundred years. They intended in this way to preserve their authority over their followers, to continue exploiting them for their own benefit, and to spare themselves the trouble of serving Muhammad, may God bless him and his family, and serving ‘Ali, peace be upon him, and his chosen Household.

So God, Mighty and Exalted, said: “So woe to them for what their hands have written”—those distorted descriptions that contradict the descriptions of Muhammad and ‘Ali, peace be upon them both. A grievous punishment awaits them in the deepest reaches of Hell. “And woe to them” is repeated to point to another punishment, over and above the first, because of the wealth they acquire when they keep their common folk steadfast in their disbelief in Muhammad, the Messenger of God, may God bless him and his family, and their rejection of the authority entrusted to his brother ‘Ali, the friend of God.

❇️ Wishful thinking does not alter the truth

✨🔆 النساء : 123   لَيْسَ بِأَمانِيِّكُمْ وَ لا أَمانِيِّ أَهْلِ الْكِتابِ مَنْ يَعْمَلْ سُوءاً يُجْزَ بِهِ وَ لا يَجِدْ لَهُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ وَلِيًّا وَ لا نَصيراً

🔆It is not by your wishes, nor by the wishes of the People of the Book. Whoever does evil will be requited for it, and will find no protector or helper apart from God.

❇️Ego-driven and satanic desires obstruct divine aspirations

Desires are either connected or disconnected. Worldly desires are a disconnected gateway to Satan, situated at the heart of the fortress of the human soul.

Desires are the way a person’s longings, yearnings, appetites, interests, affections and loves manifest themselves!

❇️A person’s true worth is revealed by what they desire!

💫🔆وَ قَالَ ع‏ قِيمَةُ كُلِّ امْرِئٍ مَا يُحْسِنُه‏[5]

🔆The worth of each person lies in what they regard as good.

💫Captives of vile desires resist the divine will and the will of the All-Merciful, cultivating wishes and fantasies of their own in opposition to it! In truth, they diminish themselves and turn away from the purpose for which they were created!

❇️Worship of God is incompatible with worship of the self

💫Captives of vain hopes are slaves to their own egos!

✨🔆الفرقان : 43   أَ رَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلهَهُ هَواهُ أَ فَأَنْتَ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِ وَكيلاً

🔆Have you seen the one who has taken his own desire as his god? Can you guide him—or stand up for him?

✨🔆الجاثية : 23   أَ فَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلهَهُ هَواهُ وَ أَضَلَّهُ اللَّهُ عَلى‏ عِلْمٍ وَ خَتَمَ عَلى‏ سَمْعِهِ وَ قَلْبِهِ وَ جَعَلَ عَلى‏ بَصَرِهِ غِشاوَةً فَمَنْ يَهْديهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ اللَّهِ أَ فَلا تَذَكَّرُونَ

🔆Have you seen the one who has taken his own desire as his god, whom God has led astray knowingly, sealing his hearing and his heart and placing a veil over his eyes? Who, then, can guide him apart from God? Will you not take heed?

Those who are devoted to their desires love themselves—or, more precisely, they love their own egos in their debased, fallen state, at the lowest of the low.

❇️Interpretation by personal opinion and interpretation driven by vain hopes

A person’s vain hopes keep them at their own level.

The distance from the outward meaning of the Qur’an to its inner meaning is as great as that between the earth and the seven heavens—or greater still.

The outward meaning of the Qur’an is a gateway to its seven inner depths; a person’s vain hopes keep them standing at that very gate.

The Qur’an’s Arabic expressions are a path to the Mother of the Book in God’s presence and to the station of “the All-Exalted, the All-Wise.”

The Qur’an is a mystery that leads the intellect on a journey towards transcendence and mastery.

We must pass beyond the boundary of its words to reach its allusions and subtleties, and go further still, until we attain the realities.

We must journey from the outward to the inward meaning of the Qur’an, and from the outward to the inward reality of the Prophet’s household!

The Qur’an’s words are a vessel that carries us towards its realities, towards God’s presence, to the shore of the Mother of the Book, so that we may grasp the meaning of “the All-Exalted, the All-Wise.”

From exegesis to deeper interpretation, from the silent Qur’an to the speaking Qur’an

🔆💫 فَعَلَيْكُمْ بِالْقُرْآنِ فَإِنَّهُ شَافِعٌ مُشَفَّعٌ وَ مَاحِلٌ مُصَدَّقٌ‏  وَ مَنْ جَعَلَهُ أَمَامَهُ قَادَهُ إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ وَ مَنْ جَعَلَهُ خَلْفَهُ سَاقَهُ إِلَى النَّارِ وَ هُوَ الدَّلِيلُ يَدُلُّ عَلَى خَيْرِ سَبِيلٍ وَ هُوَ كِتَابٌ فِيهِ تَفْصِيلٌ وَ بَيَانٌ وَ تَحْصِيلٌ وَ هُوَ الْفَصْلُ لَيْسَ بِالْهَزْلِ وَ لَهُ ظَهْرٌ وَ بَطْنٌ فَظَاهِرُهُ حُكْمٌ‏ وَ بَاطِنُهُ‏ عِلْمٌ ظَاهِرُهُ أَنِيقٌ وَ بَاطِنُهُ عَمِيقٌ لَهُ نُجُومٌ وَ عَلَى نُجُومِهِ نُجُومٌ‏  لَا تُحْصَى عَجَائِبُهُ وَ لَا تُبْلَى غَرَائِبُهُ فِيهِ مَصَابِيحُ الْهُدَى وَ مَنَارُ الْحِكْمَةِ وَ دَلِيلٌ عَلَى الْمَعْرِفَةِ لِمَنْ عَرَفَ الصِّفَةَ فَلْيَجْلُ جَالٍ بَصَرَهُ وَ لْيُبْلِغِ الصِّفَةَ نَظَرَهُ يَنْجُ مِنْ عَطَبٍ‏ وَ يَتَخَلَّصْ مِنْ نَشَبٍ‏ فَإِنَّ التَّفَكُّرَ حَيَاةُ قَلْبِ الْبَصِيرِ كَمَا يَمْشِي الْمُسْتَنِيرُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ بِالنُّورِ فَعَلَيْكُمْ بِحُسْنِ التَّخَلُّصِ وَ قِلَّةِ التَّرَبُّصِ‏.[6]

💫🔆 So hold fast to the Qur’an, for it is an intercessor whose intercession is accepted, and a purifier from sins whose purity is affirmed. Whoever places it before him, it will guide him to Paradise; whoever casts it behind him—forsaking obedience to it—it will drive him toward the Fire.

It is a proof that guides to the best path, and a Book in which there is elucidation, explanation, and the means to attain its benefits.

It distinguishes truth from falsehood; it is no idle plaything. It has an outward and an inward: its outward is judgment, and its inward is knowledge. Its surface is beautiful and adorned, and its depths are profound.

It has stars, and above those stars, other stars.

Its wonders cannot be counted, and its rare treasures never wear out. Within it are lamps of guidance and beacons of wisdom, and guidance for whoever comes to know its qualities and its true nature.

Let the one who sees sharpen the sight of his discerning eye, and let his gaze reach every detail and depth of the Qur’an’s qualities, so that he may be saved from ruin and delivered from hardship and distress.

For reflection and contemplation are the life of the seeing heart, just as a clear-sighted person walks through darkness by the light.

So strive to be delivered from sins in the best way, and beware of delay and fruitless waiting.

✨🔆 الزخرف : 3   إِنَّا جَعَلْناهُ قُرْآناً عَرَبِيًّا لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ

🔆 We have made it a lucid Arabic Qur’an, so that you may understand!

✨🔆 الزخرف : 4   وَ إِنَّهُ في‏ أُمِّ الْكِتابِ لَدَيْنا لَعَلِيٌّ حَكيمٌ

🔆 And it is exalted and firmly established with Us in the Mother of the Book!

💫Through the Arabic expressions of the Qur’an, one must take flight to the threshold of its allusions, from there to the threshold of its subtleties, and from there to the threshold of its realities—until reaching the Qur’an in the Mother of the Book, in the presence of God, and becoming established with the Most High, the All-Wise!

✨🔆 «بَلْ هُوَ قُرْآنٌ مَجِيدٌ فِي لَوْحٍ مَحْفُوظٍ»

💫🔆فِي تَهْذِيبِ الْأَحْكَامِ فِي الدُّعَاءِ الْمَنْقُولِ بَعْدَ صَلَاةِ يَوْمِ الْغَدِيرِ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ‏ رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا وَ اتَّبَعْنَا مَوْلَانَا وَ وَلِيَّنَا وَ هَادِيَنَا وَ دَاعِيَنَا وَ دَاعِيَ الْأَنَامِ وَ صِرَاطَكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ السَّوِيَّ وَ حُجَّتَكَ وَ سَبِيلَكَ الدَّاعِيَ إِلَيْكَ عَلَى بَصِيرَةٍ هُوَ وَ مَنِ اتَّبَعَهُ‏ سُبْحانَ اللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ‏ بِوَلَايَتِهِ وَ بِمَا يُلْحِدُونَ بِاتِّخَاذِ الْوَلَائِجِ دُونَهُ، فَأَشْهَدُ يَا إِلَهِي أَنَّهُ الْإِمَامُ الْهَادِي الْمُرْشِدُ الرَّشِيدُ عَلِيٌّ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ الَّذِي ذَكَرْتَهُ فِي كِتَابِكَ، فَقُلْتَ‏: وَ إِنَّهُ فِي أُمِّ الْكِتابِ لَدَيْنا لَعَلِيٌّ حَكِيمٌ‏ لَا أُشْرِكُهُ إِمَاماً وَ لَا أَتَّخِذُ مِنْ دُونِهِ وَلِيجَةً.^[7]

💫🔆 In the book *Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām*, in the chapter on the supplication narrated from Imam al-Sadiq (AS) to be recited after the prayer on the day of Ghadir:

“O God! We have believed and followed our master, our guardian, our guide, and our caller—the one who calls all creatures—and have set out upon Your straight and upright path, Your proof, the path that calls us to You and rests upon a firm foundation: that path and its followers.”

Glory be to You, O God, above those who associate partners with You in Your authority, and above those who stray by taking guardians other than Him.

I therefore bear witness, O God, that the guiding, rightly guiding, exalted and truthful Imam is Ali, Commander of the Faithful—the one whose name You have mentioned in Your Book, saying: “And indeed he is, in the Mother of the Book with Us, Ali, Wise.”

I associate no one with him as Imam, and choose no guardian for myself apart from him.

💫🔆عَنْ حَمَّادِ بْنِ عِيسَى عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ فِي قَوْلِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ: «اهْدِنَا الصِّراطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ» قَالَ: هُوَ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَ مَعْرِفَتُهُ، وَ الدَّلِيلُ عَلَى أَنَّهُ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ قَوْلُهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ: «وَ إِنَّهُ فِي أُمِّ الْكِتابِ لَدَيْنا لَعَلِيٌّ حَكِيمٌ» وَ هُوَ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (ع) فِي أُمِّ الْكِتَابِ فِي قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى: «اهْدِنَا الصِّراطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ”^[8]

🔆It is narrated from Hammad ibn Isa that he asked Imam al-Sadiq (AS) about God’s words, Mighty and Glorious: “اهْدِنَا الصِّراطَ الْمُسْتَقِیمَ” (Guide us to the straight path).

He replied: “This [straight path] is the Commander of the Faithful (AS) and knowledge of him.

The proof that [the straight path] is the Commander of the Faithful is God’s words, Mighty and Glorious: ‘And indeed he is, in the Mother of the Book with Us, Ali, Wise.’

This [Ali (AS)] is the Commander of the Faithful, who is meant by [the verse] ‘اهْدِنَا الصِّراطَ الْمُسْتَقِیمَ’ in the Mother of the Book.”

💫🔆Tafsir al-Burhan, vol. 4, p. 135: It is narrated from Imam al-Sadiq (AS) that someone asked him what was meant by “إِنَّهُ فِي أُمِّ الْكِتابِ لَدَيْنا لَعَلِيٌّ حَكِيمٌ”. He replied: “The Commander of the Faithful (AS) is meant.”

In the Quran, Surah al-Hamd, or al-Fatiha, is known as the Mother of the Book. Consider the following narration:

Tafsir al-Burhan, vol. 4, p. 134: It is narrated from Imam al-Sadiq (AS) that, regarding “الصِّراطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ”, he said: “The straight path is the Commander of the Faithful—may God’s blessings and peace be upon him—and knowledge of him. The proof that the Commander of the Faithful is meant by the straight path is this verse: ‘وَ إِنَّهُ فِي أُمِّ الْكِتابِ لَدَيْنا لَعَلِيٌّ حَكِيمٌ’.”^[9]

❇️The Ultimate Hope

“انت املی”

Do not relinquish your ultimate hope!

💫🔆اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ ثِقَتِي حِينَ يَسُوءُ ظَنِّي بِأَعْمَالِي وَ أَنْتَ‏ أَمَلِي‏ عِنْدَ انْقِطَاعِ الْحِيَلِ مِنِّي وَ أَنْتَ رَجَائِي عِنْدَ تَضَايُقِ حُلُولِ الْبَلَاءِ عَلَيَّ وَ أَنْتَ عُدَّتِي فِي كُلِّ شَدِيدَةٍ نَزَلَتْ بِي وَ فِي كُلِّ مُصِيبَةٍ دَخَلَتْ عَلَيَّ وَ فِي كُلِّ كُلْفَةٍ صَارَتْ عَلَيَّ وَ أَنْتَ مَوْضِعُ كُلِّ شَكْوَى وَ مُفَرِّجُ كُلِّ بَلْوَى أَنْتَ لِكُلِّ عَظِيمَةٍ تُرْجَى وَ لِكُلِّ شَدِيدَةٍ تُدْعَى إِلَيْكَ الْمُشْتَكَى وَ أَنْتَ الْمُرْتَجَى لِلْآخِرَةِ وَ الْأُولَى اللَّهُمَّ مَا أَكْبَرَ هَمِّي إِنْ لَمْ تُفَرِّجْهُ وَ أَطْوَلَ حُزْنِي إِنْ لَمْ تُخَلِّصْنِي وَ أَعْسَرَ [وَ أَعَزَّ] حَسَنَاتِي إِنْ لَمْ تُيَسِّرْهَا [تُوَفِّقْنِي‏] وَ أَخَفَّ مِيزَانِي إِنْ لَمْ تُثَقِّلْهُ وَ أَزَلَّ لِسَانِي إِنْ لَمْ تُثَبِّتْهُ وَ أَوْضَعَ جَدِّي إِنْ لَمْ تُقِلْ عَثْرَتِي أَنَا صَاحِبُ الذَّنْبِ الْكَبِيرِ [الْكَثِيرِ] وَ الْجُرْمِ الْعَظِيمِ أَنَا الَّذِي بَلَغَتْ بِي سَوْأَتِي وَ كُشِفَ [كشف‏] قِنَاعِي وَ لَمْ يَكُنْ بَيْنِي وَ بَيْنَكَ حِجَابٌ يُوَارِينِي مِنْكَ فَلَوْ عَاقَبْتَنِي عَلَى قَدْرِ جُرْمِي لَمَا فَرَّجْتَ عَنِّي طَرْفَةَ عَيْنٍ أَبَداً اللَّهُمَّ أَنَا الذَّلِيلُ الَّذِي أَعْزَزْتَ وَ أَنَا الضَّعِيفُ الَّذِي قَوَّيْتَ وَ أَنَا الْمُقِرُّ الَّذِي سَتَرْتَ فَمَا شَكَرْتُ نِعْمَتَكَ وَ لَا أَدَّيْتُ حَقَّكَ وَ لَا تَرَكْتُ مَعْصِيَتَكَ يَا كَاشِفَ كَرْبِ أَيُّوبَ وَ سَامِعَ صَوْتِ يُونُسَ الْمَكْرُوبِ وَ فَالِقَ الْبَحْرِ لِبَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَ مُنْجِيَ‏ مُوسى‏ وَ مَنْ مَعَهُ أَجْمَعِينَ‏ أَسْأَلُكَ أَنْ تُصَلِّيَ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ أَنْ تَجْعَلَ لِي مِنْ أَمْرِي فَرَجاً وَ مَخْرَجاً وَ يُسْراً بِرَحْمَتِكَ يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِين‏[10]

💫🔆 O God, You are my hope and reassurance when I think ill of my own deeds; You are my hope when all my plans and remedies fail me; You are my source of hope when the hardships and trials close in on me. You are my strength in every difficulty that befalls me, every affliction that enters my life, and every duty laid upon my shoulders. You are the refuge for every complaint and the one who dispels every affliction.

You are the one to whom I turn in every grave and weighty matter, the one whose help I seek in every hardship and difficulty, the one to whom the aggrieved bring their complaints and find relief. You are my hope in this world and the next.

O God, how great my grief and sorrow would be if You did not relieve them, and how long my sadness would last if You did not save me. How difficult it would be to do good if You did not make it easy for me [or grant me the ability to do it]; how light the scales of my deeds would be if You did not make them heavy [with further good deeds]; how unsteady my tongue [in bearing witness to Your oneness and calling for help] if You did not make it firm; and how low and diminished my standing and honor would be if You did not make up for my missteps.

I am one who bears grave [or abundant] sins and great offenses. My wrongs have grown so many that my veil has been exposed, and there is no veil between You and me to conceal me from You.

So if You were to punish me according to the measure of my offenses, the hardship of my plight would not lessen—not even for the blink of an eye, ever.

O God, I am the lowliest, yet You have honored me; I am the weakest, yet You have strengthened me. I confess [my sins], yet You have concealed them [and covered my faults]. But I have not given thanks for Your blessings, fulfilled what is due to You, or ceased from disobeying You.

O Reliever of Job’s sorrow, Hearer of the voice of Jonah in his grief, Divider of the sea for the Children of Israel, and Savior of Moses and all who were with him: I ask You to bless Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, and, through Your mercy, to grant my affair relief, a way out, and ease, O Most Merciful of the merciful.

✅Appendix

❇️ 🔆 A look at the root meaning of tamannī (umniyya—amānī)—the word “manā”

☘️ From the book *al-Taḥqīq fī Kalimāt al-Qurʾān al-Karīm* by Ḥasan Muṣṭafawī

Minā: The root has one sound basic meaning: to determine something and to bring the decree concerning it to pass. Hence the expression “the determiner determined it for him”—that is, the one who determines set it in his measure. A human being’s fluid منّى، أىّ يقدّر is what he is created from. Al-maniyya means death; لأنّها مقدّرة على كلّ. و تمنّى al-insān: a hope that one determines for oneself. Al-umniyya is a noun formed from the same root. Minā, near Mecca: some have said it was given this name because it was decreed that a sacrifice should be made there. Also belonging to this semantic range is al-manā, the unit used for weighing, since it is a measure on which one acts. The expression “he recited the book” is also related: recitation involves measuring. Another related usage is mānā yumānī mumānātan, “to vie with someone,” since one measures one’s own action against another’s, seeking to match it.

Al-Miṣbāḥ: Al-manā is the unit used to measure ghee and other things. Its dual is manwān and its plural amnāʾ; in the Tamīm dialect it is pronounced mann, with the dual mannān and plural amnān. Minā:

the name of a place in Mecca. It is generally treated as masculine and takes tanwīn; when treated as feminine, it does not. Manā Allāhu al-shayʾ, from the pattern ramā: God determined the thing. The noun is al-manā. A man amnā means he went to Minā. “I wished for such-and-such” is said to derive from al-manā, meaning measure, because the person who wishes for it determines that it will come to pass. The noun is al-maniyya or al-umniyya; the plural of the first is munan, and of the second amānī. Al-maniy is well known. A man amnā imnāʾan means he emitted semen; manā yamnī, from the pattern ramā, is another form. Al-maniyy is on the pattern faʿīl; its shortened form is also used, and is declined like a defective noun. A man istamnā means he deliberately brought about the emission of semen by means other than intercourse.

Al-Tahdhīb, 15/529: Al-manā, with a short final vowel, is the unit used for weighing. Al-manā, with a yāʾ, means

measure. “God has decreed for you what يسرّك، أى قدّر. أبو العبّاس: التمنّى”: the mind’s imagining of what may or may not come to pass. “I wished for something”: I determined it and desired that it should come to me.

The conclusion

is that the root’s single basic meaning is to desire something’s coming to pass while envisioning it. The meaning of determination

Al-Taḥqīq fī Kalimāt al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, vol. 11, p. 186

is figurative in its unrestricted sense and does not belong among the root’s direct instances.

As for manā, it was noted under mann that both mann and manā derive from the Hebrew and Syriac word manyā.

It is also possible that the root’s sense of cutting derives from Hebrew.

As for al-maniyy, meaning a man’s fluid, it reflects the sense of desire. In this sense, one says amnā al-rajul imnāʾan—that is, he made himself subject to desire.

. أَ فَرَأَيْتُمْ ما تُمْنُونَ أَ أَنْتُمْ تَخْلُقُونَهُ أَمْ نَحْنُ الْخالِقُونَ‏—56/59. وَ أَنَّهُ خَلَقَ الزَّوْجَيْنِ الذَّكَرَ وَ الْأُنْثى‏ مِنْ نُطْفَةٍ إِذا تُمْنى‏—53/47. أَ لَمْ يَكُ نُطْفَةً مِنْ مَنِيٍّ يُمْنى‏ ثُمَّ كانَ عَلَقَةً—75/38. Describing it as emission indicates that the man’s intention was not to beget a child: the true nature of emission is inward desire, such that without the experience of desire and sexual longing,

emission would not occur.

This is among the wonders of creation اللّه عزّ و جلّ: the human being is created from the fluid that is released through emission, which is an expression of desire.

Let the human being reflect: the beginning of his creation and formation is that very fluid which is emitted, and desire is woven into his constitution. He ought to make use of it in seeking happiness, perfection, and the stages of spiritual life.

It is thus clear that, when it is produced, semen has no substance apart from desire, and that determination has no part in التكوّن حتّى يعلّل it.

And أمّا المنيّة كالرميّةmeans that which is characterised by desire and determination. Death is one of the stages along the human being’s journey, decreed by the All-Merciful and desired by the person who travels toward God and His encounter. Through it, one is released from the confines of the material world and from perishing. God Most High says:

. إِنْ زَعَمْتُمْ أَنَّكُمْ أَوْلِياءُ لِلَّهِ مِنْ دُونِ النَّاسِ فَتَمَنَّوُا الْمَوْتَ‏—62/6

Al-Taḥqīq fī Kalimāt al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, vol. 11, p. 187

. وَ لَقَدْ كُنْتُمْ تَمَنَّوْنَ الْمَوْتَ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَلْقَوْهُ‏—3/143. مَنْ كانَ يَرْجُوا لِقاءَ اللَّهِ فَإِنَّ أَجَلَ اللَّهِ لَآتٍ‏—29/5. As for al-umniyya, its original form is umnūwa, like al-uḍḥūka, al-uḥdūtha and al-uḍḥiyya. The added letters intensify the meaning and emphasise it; its plural is al-amānī. It denotes something that fully embodies wishing, laughter, or coming into being.

. وَ ما أَرْسَلْنا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ مِنْ رَسُولٍ وَ لا نَبِيٍّ إِلَّا إِذا تَمَنَّى أَلْقَى الشَّيْطانُ فِي أُمْنِيَّتِهِ‏— 22/52: That is, when a person makes a choice, forms an estimate, and longs for something he desires, while heedless of pure and perfect sincerity and guided by the demands of bodily, worldly life, Satan finds him receptive to whisperings. He then casts into the object of that desire something that disrupts a purely divine plan. وَ إِمَّا يَنْزَغَنَّكَ مِنَ الشَّيْطانِ نَزْغٌ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللَّهِ إِنَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ‏— 7/200. لَنْ يَدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ إِلَّا مَنْ كانَ هُوداً أَوْ نَصارى‏ تِلْكَ أَمانِيُّهُمْ‏— 2/111. وَ لكِنَّكُمْ فَتَنْتُمْ أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَ تَرَبَّصْتُمْ وَ ارْتَبْتُمْ وَ غَرَّتْكُمُ الْأَمانِيُ‏— 57/14. لَيْسَ بِأَمانِيِّكُمْ وَ لا أَمانِيِّ أَهْلِ الْكِتابِ مَنْ يَعْمَلْ سُوءاً يُجْزَ بِهِ‏— 4/123 فالأمانىّ: كلّ ما يتمنّى A person’s desires, judgments, and hopes vary according to each individual’s circumstances, thoughts, and deeds. Thus, everyone among the People of the Book hopes to be among the people of Paradise and to enjoy its blessings in this world and the next, heedless of the fact that justice requires that people be recompensed for their evil deeds, whoever they may be. This does not accord الحقّ أمانيّهم النفسانيّة.

The pronoun in ليس does not refer back to the promise الحقّ في- وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقًّا*.

It is clear that hope, in this sense, stems from the self’s demands, driven by its inclinations and circumstances; it is what draws a person away from what the All-Merciful calls him to. In this

Al-Taḥqīq fī Kalimāt al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, vol. 11, p. 188

light, God Most High says:

. وَ لَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَ لَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ وَ لَآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَ‏ …. يَعِدُهُمْ وَ يُمَنِّيهِمْ وَ ما يَعِدُهُمُ الشَّيْطانُ إِلَّا غُرُوراً— 4/119: Thus, false hopes arise after misguidance. So long as a person turns toward the truth and toward what the All-Merciful calls him to, he will not hope for anything else.

It is said: «منّيته» means “I made him a person of hope,” so he hoped.

Hope is at odds with contentment, submission, and entrusting oneself to اللَّه عزّ و جلّ. When a believer finds himself entertaining such hopes, he must seek refuge in God from Satan.

As for Manāt, the word was used in العبريّة و السريانيّة و الآراميّة as in Farhang-e Taṭbīqī, for the name of an idol or a deity of destiny.

Abū al-Mundhir says in Kitāb al-Aṣnām, p. 13: “Manāt was the oldest of all the idols. The Arabs used to call themselves ʿAbd Manāt. It stood on the coast at Qudayd, between Medina and Mecca. All the Arabs held it in great reverence and sacrificed animals around it. The Aws and Khazraj, along with those who lived in Medina, Mecca, and the surrounding areas, revered it, sacrificed to it, and made offerings to it.”

. أَ فَرَأَيْتُمُ اللَّاتَ وَ الْعُزَّى وَ مَناةَ الثَّالِثَةَ الْأُخْرى‏— 53/21: Perhaps the word derives from the root m-n-w and m-n-y, which in Hebrew and Syriac means “to cut.” Perhaps the idol was cut from stone into a particular shape.[11]

✅🔆Etymology of the word «مَنَی»

Manī:

The common and authentic root of this word denotes “determining something” and “carrying out divine decree and destiny.” The following expressions derive from this root:

They said: «مَنَی لَهُ المَنی» (“He determined it for him”), meaning that he decreed it.

«ماءُ الإنسانِ مِنًی» (“a human being’s fluid, manī”): that is, the substance from which a person’s creation and destiny are determined.

«المِیتَةُ» (“death”) is so named because it is decreed and inevitable for all human beings.

A person «تَمَنَّی» when he entertains a hope that he considers ordained and possible.

«الأَمَلُ» or «الأُمنية» (“hope” or “wish”) is a passive participle or verbal noun from the same root.

Minā (a place in Mecca) is said by some to have been so named because it was a place where destinies were determined and sacrifices offered.

«المِنا» (“a weight”): something used for weighing, since it is used to determine a measure.

When we say «تَمَنَّی الکِتابَ» (“he hoped for the book” / “he read the book”), this meaning too derives from the same root, because reading a book is a kind of “determining” and measuring out its meanings.

Hence the expression «مانی یَمانی مُماناةً» (he fought or competed with another): this, too, belongs to the category of “measuring,” since a person measures his own actions against another’s and seeks to equal him.

Mِنا (a unit of weight):

Something used to measure oil and other substances. Its dual is «مَنَوَان» and its plural «أَمْناء». Among the Banū Tamīm, «مَنَّ» (with a doubled nūn) means “to measure”; its plural is «أَمْنان» and its dual «مَنّان».

Minā: the name of a place in Mecca. It is generally used as a masculine noun and takes inflection; when treated as feminine, it is indeclinable.

«مَنَ اللَّهُ الشَّیْءَ» (God decreed something) follows the pattern of رَمَی. Its noun is «المِنا».

«أَمَنَ الرَّجُلُ»: that is, the man went to Minā.

«تَمَنَّیْتُ کَذَا» (I wished for such-and-such): this is said to derive from «المِنا» (a unit of weight or measure), because the person who wishes for something determines that it should come to pass. Its nouns are «المِیتَةُ» (death or destiny) and «الأُمنية» (a wish). The plural of «المِیتَة» is «مِنًی», and the plural of «الأُمنية» is «أَمَانِیّ».

«المَنَیّ» (semen): well known.

«أَمَنَ الرَّجُلُ إِمْنَاءً»: that is, he ejaculated (or died).

«مَنَ یَمَنَ مَناً» (following the pattern of رَمَی): this is a dialectal form. «المَنَیّ», with the pattern فَعيل, is the standard form; its shortened form (مَنَی, without the final yāʾ) is a dialectal variant declined like a defective noun.

«اسْتَمَنَ الرَّجُلُ»: that is, the man aroused himself to ejaculate without sexual intercourse.

In the book al-Tahdhīb, it says:

«المِنا» (with a fatḥa on the nūn and ending in alif maqṣūra): a weight used for weighing.

«المَنَیّ» (with a yāʾ): means “measure.” It is also said: «مَنَ اللَّهُ لَکَ ما یَسُرُّکَ» (May God decree for you what pleases you), meaning, “may He ordain it.”

Abu al-ʿAbbās says: “التَمَنُّی” means the heart’s speaking to itself about something that exists or might exist. “تَمَنَّيْتُ الشَّيْءَ” means “I determined it and wished to obtain it.”

On closer examination, the single root meaning of this word family is “تَشَهّی”—intense desire for something to come about, accompanied by “determining” it. “Determination” in the absolute sense is a figurative meaning, not one of the root’s primary senses.

As for “مِنا”:

It was explained earlier, under the entry “منّ”, that “منّ” and “مِنا” derive from the Hebrew and Syriac root “مَنيا”. It is quite possible that the sense of “cutting off” in this root also comes from Hebrew.

As for “المَنَیّ”, meaning ماء الرجل (seminal fluid):

The emergence of the sense “تَشَهّی” in this word is evident. It is for this reason that the expression “أَمَنَ الرَّجُلُ إِمْنَاءً” is used, meaning that he made himself sexually desirous.

God Most High says in the Qur’an:

“أَفَرَأَیْتُمْ ما تُمْنُونَ أَ أَنْتُمْ تَخْلُقُونَهُ أَمْ نَحْنُ الْخالِقُونَHave you considered the semen you emit? Did you create it, or are We its Creator?” [Surah al-Wāqiʿah, verse 59]

“وَ أَنْتَ خَلَقَ الزَّوْجَیْنِ الذَّکَرَ وَ الْأُنْثى‏ مِنْ نُطْفَةٍ إِذا تُمْنیAnd He created the two mates, male and female, from a drop of semen when it is emitted.” [Surah al-Najm, verse 47]

“أَلَمْ یَکْ نُطْفَةً مِنْ مَنٍ یُمْنِی‏ ثُمَّ کانَ عَلَقَةًWas he not a drop of semen emitted, then became a clinging clot?” [Surah al-Qiyāmah, verse 38]

The description “إِمْناؤ” (emission of semen/arousal):

This suggests that the man was not thinking about creating a child; rather, the essence of “إِمْناؤ” is “the desire of the self,” such that without this desire and lust, semen would not be emitted.

This is one aspect of the greatness of God’s creation: He created the human being from semen that comes forth through arousal (desire).

A person should take heed that the source of his creation and formation is the very drop of semen emitted through sexual desire, and that desire is woven into his creation. He must therefore make use of this innate disposition to seek happiness, perfection and spiritual progress.

It is now clear that, in its coming into being, «المَنَیّ» is sustained by nothing other than desire, and that this process of formation bears no trace of «تقدیر» (in the sense of a divine decree independent of the will) that could be invoked to explain it.

As for «المِیتَةُ» (death), it is like «الرَّمیَ» (throwing):

it denotes something qualified by desire and decree. Death is one of the stages in a person’s journey, decreed by God, and something desired by the wayfarer journeying towards God and the meeting with Him, for through death one is released from the confines of the material world and its transience.

God says:

«إِنْ زَعَمْتُمْ أَنَّکُمْ أَوْلِیاءُ لِلَّهِ مِنْ دُونِ النَّاسِ فَتَمَنَّوُا الْمَوْتَ» (If you claim, apart from other people, to be God’s friends, then wish for death.) [Sūrat al-Jumuʿah, verse 6]

«وَ لَقَدْ کُنْتُمْ تَمَنَّوْنَ الْمَوْتَ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَلْقَوْهُ» (You had wished for death before you encountered it.) [Sūrat Āl ʿImrān, verse 143]

«مَنْ کانَ یَرْجُوا لِقاءَ اللَّهِ فَإِنَّ أَجَلَ اللَّهِ لَآتٍ» (Whoever hopes to meet God should know that God’s appointed time will surely come.) [Sūrat al-ʿAnkabūt, verse 5]

As for «الأُمنية» (hope and longing):

Its root is «أُمْنویَه», like «اِضْحَوکَه» (smile), «اِحْدُوثَه» (event) and «اِضْحِیَّة» (sacrifice). The added «واو» conveys an intensification of meaning. Its plural is «أَمَانِیّ».

It means something that fully embodies longing, laughter or an event.

God says:

«وَ ما أَرْسَلْنا مِنْ قَبْلِکَ مِنْ رَسُولٍ وَ لا نَبِیٍّ إِلَّا إِذا تَمَنَّى أَلْقَى الشَّیْطانُ فی أُمْنِیَّتِهِ» (We never sent a messenger or prophet before you without Satan casting something into his longing whenever he longed [for a verse to be revealed or for something to be said].) [Sūrat al-Ḥajj, verse 52]

That is: whenever he desired and aspired to something that appealed to his carnal appetite, while heedless of pure sincerity (in keeping with the demands of material and bodily life), Satan would find an opening for whispering and cast something into the object of his desire that would disrupt the pure divine plan.

«وَ إِنْ یَنْزَغَنَّکَ مِنَ الشَّیْطانِ نَزْغٌ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللَّهِ إِنَّهُ سَمِیعٌ عَلِیمٌ» (If a prompting from Satan should come to you, seek refuge in God.) [Sūrat al-Aʿrāf, verse 200]

«لَنْ یَدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ إِلَّا مَنْ کانَ هُوداً أَوْ نَصاری‏ تِلْکَ أَمَانِیُّهُمْ» (None shall enter Paradise except a Jew or a Christian; these are their wishful fancies.) [Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 111]

«وَ لَکِنْکُمْ فَتَنْتُمْ أَنْفُسَکُمْ وَ تَرَبَّثْتُمْ وَ ارْتَبْتُمْ وَ غَرَّتْکُمُ الْأَمَانِی» (But you gave yourselves over to the Fire, waited, doubted, and were deceived by your wishful fancies.) [Sūrat al-Ḥadīd, verse 14]

«لَیْسَ بِأَمَانِیِّکُمْ وَ لا أَمَانِیِّ أَهْلِ الْکِتابِ مَنْ یَعْمَلْ سُوءًا یُجْزَ بِهِ» (It is not according to your wishes, nor those of the People of the Book: whoever does evil will be requited for it.) [Sūrat al-Nisāʾ, verse 123]

Thus «الأمانیّ» (wishful fancies)

are whatever a person longs for through desire and estimation (hope and conjecture). What each person longs for varies according to their circumstances, thoughts and deeds.

Each of the People of the Book wishes to belong among the people of Paradise and to enjoy blessings in this world and the next. Yet they are heedless of the fact that justice demands that each person be recompensed for their evil deeds, and that their carnal wishes are at odds with the truth.

The pronoun in the phrase «لَیْسَ بِ…» therefore refers to the true promise in the verse «وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقًّا».

It is clear that «تمنّا» refers to the soul’s demands, arising from its desires and inclinations; this is what leads a person away from God’s (the All-Merciful’s) call.

This is what God is referring to when He says:

“وَ لَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَ لَأُمَنِّیَنَّهُمْ وَ لَأَمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَیُبَتِّکُنَّ…» (و قطعاً I will lead them astray and fill them with false hopes, and I will command them to cut off their animals’ ears…” [Sūrat al-Nisāʾ, 4:119]

“یَعِدُهُمْ وَ یُمَنِّیهِمْ وَ ما یَعِدُهُمُ الشَّیْطانُ إِلَّا غُرُوراً” (He makes them promises and fills them with hopes, but Satan promises them nothing but delusion.)

Thus, “wishful thinking” comes after “deviation.” So long as a person turns toward the Truth and the calls of the All-Merciful, wishing for what is other than the Truth cannot take hold of them.

It is said, “mannaytuhu,” meaning “I made him wish,” and so he began to wish.

Wishful thinking is incompatible with contentment, entrusting oneself to God, and submitting one’s affairs to God Most High.

Whenever a believer falls into wishful thinking—an aspiration that is religiously unattainable, or a false hope—they must seek refuge in God from Satan.

As for “Manāt”:

This word is used in Hebrew, Syriac, and Aramaic (as noted in the comparative lexicon) to refer to the name of an idol or a goddess of fate.

Abū al-Mundhir writes in his book *al-Aṣnām* (p. 13):

“The oldest of all idols was Manāt. The Arabs would call someone ‘ʿAbd Manāt.’ This idol was set up on the seashore, in a place called Qudayd, between Medina and Mecca. All the Arabs venerated it and offered sacrifices beside it. The tribes of Aws and Khazraj, as well as the people of Medina, Mecca, and the surrounding areas, venerated it, offered sacrifices to it, and sent it gifts.”

God says:

“أَفَرَأَیْتُمُ اللاَّتَ وَ الْعُزَّى وَ مَناتَ الثَّالِثَةَ الْأُخْرَى” (Have you considered al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā, and Manāt, the third?) [Sūrat al-Najm, 53:21]

Perhaps this word derives from the roots “manaw” and “manā,” which mean “to cut off” in Hebrew and Syriac. The idol may have been carved from a particular kind of stone.

❇️A semantic summary of the words “manī,” “amāniyyāt,” “umniyyah,” and “tamannī”

💫1. A common root and its core meaning: “manī”

The word “manī” has one sound, unified root encompassing two key, interrelated meanings:

Decree and determination: measuring something, determining its fate, and making it inevitable.

Desire: an intense, inward longing for that thing to come to pass.

Thus, the original meaning of “manī” is “desiring something to come to pass while deeming it possible.”

Instances of “manī” in the Qur’an and in language:

Manī (semen): a fluid emitted through desire (sexual appetite). Here, “determination” does not mean a divine decree independent of human will; rather, it points to the fact that the very starting point of human creation is desire, which must be guided toward spiritual felicity and perfection.

Maytah (death): death is known as “maniyyah” because it is decreed and inevitable for everyone. For one who travels the path to God, death is also an object of longing—the desire to meet God.

Minā (a place): Mecca or Minā is so named because it is a place of divine determination and sacrifice.

Manā (a weight, or kilo): a measure used to determine and measure weight.

Munā (contending): matching oneself against another, setting one’s own action against the other’s.

💫2. Umniyyah: a personal wish or hope

The word “umniyyah” (plural: “amānī”) is a noun that conveys intensity or emphasis, as “iḍḥūkah” does for laughter.

Definition: anything a person wishes for through inward desire and an imagined sense that it will come to pass.

Characteristic: These wishes take shape according to a person’s circumstances, thoughts, and actions, and do not necessarily accord with external reality or divine justice.

💫3. أَمَانِیّ (Amanīy): Carnal and Misguided Wishes

“Amāniyyāt” is the plural of “umniyya” and carries a particular meaning in religious and exegetical texts:

Definition: Wishes shaped by the ego’s desires, neglect of sincerity, and worldly, material concerns.

How Satan gains influence: Satan comes into play when a person falls into “tamannī” (a carnal wish). When someone is oblivious to the purity of God’s plan and seeks only to satisfy worldly desires, Satan casts insinuations “into their wishes” (وَ إِنْ یَنْزَغَنَّكَ مِنَ الشَّیْطانِ نَزْغٌ…).

The danger of amāniyyāt:

Misguidance: The Qur’an says, “وَ غَرَّتْکُمُ الْأَمَانِی” (Your wishes deceived you).

Conflict with justice: The Qur’an stresses that salvation does not depend on wishful thinking—for example, the belief that only Jews or Christians will enter Paradise—but on deeds: “لَیْسَ بِأَمَانِیِّکُمْ وَ لَا أَمَانِیِّ أَهْلِ الْكِتابِ…” (al-Nisāʾ: 123).

Incompatible with submission: “Tamannī” (a personal wish contrary to God’s will) conflicts with contentment, surrender, and entrusting oneself to God.

💫4. تَمَنّی (Tamannī): The Process of Wishing

“Tamannī” is a verbal noun meaning “the heart talking to itself” about something that is or might be, coupled with a strong desire to attain it.

A subtle point: So long as a person is moving toward the truth and responding to divine calls, false wishes do not arise within them. But once they have fallen into misguidance or heedlessness, Satan draws them into “tamannī” and false promises, to lead them away from the path of truth.

Practical conclusion: If a wish (tamannī) arises in someone that runs counter to God’s pleasure, they should immediately seek refuge in God (istiʿādha), lest Satan make them captive to false hopes.

💫5. مَنات (Manāt): The Goddess of Fate and an Idol

The word “Manāt” shares a root with “manī,” but here it means “goddess of fate” or “idol of fate.”

Background: Manāt was one of the oldest Arab idols, symbolising divine decree, destiny, and fate.

Semantic connection: The idol was probably named after the idea of “cutting off” (in Hebrew and Syriac) or “determining.” Worship of Manāt was a form of idolatry intended to control or deceive fate through particular rituals.

✨ Final Summary and How These Words Relate

Word	Root	Central meaning	Meaning in a religious/mystical context
Manī	M-N-Y	Determination + desire	The fundamental idea of determining destiny or an intense desire for something to come about (such as a drop of semen or death).
Tamannī	Verbal noun	Intense wishing	The process of desiring something with carnal longing; if it runs counter to the truth, it becomes a tool of Satan.
Umniyya	Noun	Wish / hope	The mental content of a wish: anything the ego considers attainable.
أَمَانِیّ	Plural	Carnal wishes	A misleading embellishment: wishes shaped by the ego’s desires and heedlessness, without regard for divine justice, which deceive a person.
Manāt	Derivative	Goddess of fate	An idol associated with destiny; a symbol of worshipping supernatural powers in order to control one’s fate (idolatry).

✨ The text’s central message:

A person should take care that their “tamannī” and “amāniyyāt” do not become captive to “carnal desire” and the “whims of the heart.” The way to salvation is to transform worldly wishes (false amāniyyāt) into divine aspirations (longing to meet God), and to replace “one’s own imagined destiny” with “divine destiny.” By instilling “amāniyyāt” (vain, carnal wishes), Satan leads people away from God’s “true decree.”

✨💫

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

❇️A Qur’anic and Psychological Reading of “Rūʿ,” “Wishful Thinking,” and the Mechanisms of Satanic Influence

An Ontological and Epistemological Analysis of “Vile Wishful Thinking” and Defensive Strategies in the Battle for the “Rūʿ”

Drawing on the teachings of the Noble Qur’an and the narrations of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them)

✨Abstract

This study examines the phenomenon of “wishful thinking” (self-indulgent desires) as one of Satan’s strategic tools for taking control of the human being’s centre of perception and feeling: the “rūʿ.” Through a lexical study of the root “many” and the concept of “amāniyyāt,” it shows how judging by the dictates of the lower self leads to “interpreting according to personal opinion” and ultimately to worship of one’s own desires. It then explains the threefold strategy of “remembrance, reflection, and deliberation” as a way to resist these threats, and distinguishes between “worldly desires” (debased) and the “longing to meet God” (sacred).

💫1. Introduction: What Is the “Rūʿ,” and Where Is the Existential Battlefield?

In Islamic thought, Satan is not merely a mythical being but an ontological reality and an active force in the mystery of creation. The focal point of this battle is the “rūʿ.”

A philosophical definition of the rūʿ: The rūʿ is more than the emotional “heart” or the reasoning “intellect.” It is the command centre of human existence, where the self, intellect, and spirit converge, and where human identity and ultimate orientation take shape.

The mechanism of capture: Satan prevails when the rūʿ’s cognitive software is altered—when sin is redefined not as “error,” but as “truth” or “legitimate pleasure.” This process distorts the very core of a person’s identity.

💫2. Examining the Concepts: The Roots of “Many” and “Amāniyyāt”

2.1. Lexical Etymology

According to lexical analyses (such as al-Taḥqīq fī Kalimāt al-Qurʾān by Mostafavi), the root مشترک in the word “many” denotes “determination” and “desire for something to come about”:

Manī (sperm): a symbol of creation’s determination through desire.

Mīyata (death): the inevitable determination of one’s fate.

Tamannī: hope and desire accompanied by the mental envisioning of fulfilment.

Amāniyyāt: the plural of umniyya; wishes formed on the basis of the self’s desires, without regard for external reality.

2.2. Defining “Vile Wishful Thinking”

Vile wishful thinking consists of “base, self-serving desires” that conflict with the “divine will” (the true determination). These wishes are spiritual software viruses that target the deeper systems of human existence:

Wishful thinking (false desire): creating an “artificial sense of lack” in the mind and trapping people in an endless cycle of consumption, especially in the media age.

Suspicion (destructive assumptions): undermining the foundations of trust and fostering isolation. This weapon makes a person distrustful of God’s grace and of other people.

Envy: destroying one’s inner system of values and turning others’ success into a threat to one’s own psychological security.

Key point: These three form a poisonous network. Wishful thinking sows suspicion, and both lead to envy.

💫3. Diagnosing the Harm: Interpreting Truths Through the Lens of Wishful Thinking (Worship of Desire)

The most dangerous form of wishful thinking is “interpreting through one’s wishes.” This occurs when a person filters religious, social, and even ontological truths through the lens of personal desire.

Worship of desire: God says in the Noble Qur’an:

«أَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلَهَهُ هَوَاهُ» (al-Furqān: 43)

“Have you seen the one who takes his own desire as his god?”

This verse shows that when “wishful thinking” takes the place of “truth,” a person becomes a worshipper of the self.

The distortion of religion by corrupt scholars: In a detailed narration, Imam al-Askari (peace be upon him) explains the difference between “sound emulation” and “following one’s desires.” Those whose outward conduct is corrupt, but whose corruption is unknown to the people, are not condemned. But those whose corruption and pursuit of their own desires are known to the people, and whom people nevertheless imitate, are like the condemned Jews in the Quran who interpreted the Book according to their own desires.

The consequences of interpreting scripture through wishful thinking:

Social systems shift towards degradation and tyranny.

Leaders are chosen to satisfy people’s desires, rather than to secure their well-being.

Religion becomes a tool for justifying sins—a narcotic for the conscience.

💫4. Defensive strategies: the threefold practice of remembrance, reflection and wise action

In the whispered prayers of the Ṣaḥīfa Sajjādiyya, Imam al-Sajjad (peace be upon him) offers a dynamic model for confronting these threats:

4.1. Reflection (knowing the terrain and the weapons)

Self-knowledge: understanding how the self works and where it is vulnerable to wishful thinking, suspicion and envy.

Contemplating God’s power: to guard against heedlessness and taking God’s blessings for granted.

4.2. Remembrance (shifting the inner frequency)

Remembrance is not merely the repetition of words; it shifts the centre of attention from creation to the Creator.

When “God’s majesty” fills the heart, wishful thinking loses its allure before His self-sufficiency.

When we reflect on “God’s knowledge and all-encompassing awareness,” suspicion loses its meaning.

When we find contentment with God’s decree, envy disappears.

4.3. Wise action (practical steps and redirecting impulses towards higher ends)

Turning the negative energy of temptation into fuel for good deeds:

When tempted by an unnecessary purchase: give and give in charity (turning greed into generosity).

When suspicious of others: begin an open, kind conversation and clear things up (turning mistrust into trust).

When envious: pray for that person’s success (turning envy into love).

💫5. Distinguishing between kinds of desire: from worldly to divine

To escape self-abasement, we must understand the different degrees of desire:

Worldly desires (blameworthy): wishes grounded in the lower self, opening a direct gateway to Satan.

Desires of the Hereafter (praiseworthy): longing for Paradise and salvation.

Divine desires (peerless and sacred): longing for “meeting with God” and for God’s pleasure.

A test of true faith: longing for death

The Noble Quran presents death as a measure of sincerity in claiming to love God:

«قُلْ إِنْ كَانَ لَكُمُ الدَّارُ الْآخِرَةُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ خَالِصَةً مِنْ دُونِ النَّاسِ فَتَمَنَّوُا الْمَوْتَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ» (Al-Baqara: 94)

Those whose desires are directed towards God see death as the threshold of meeting the Beloved, while those captive to worldly desires dread death, imagining it to be the end of fleeting pleasures.

💫6. Conclusion: from passive soldier to wise gardener

This text ultimately presents the human being as active and creative. In the face of Satan, a person is not a passive soldier but a wise gardener who:

Understands (reflection): knows the soil, pests and plants of their own being.

Is devoted and loving (remembrance): is committed to the garden and its true Gardener (God).

Has practical skill (wise action): by pruning desires and watering good deeds, makes the garden of the self and society flourish.

“اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْ مَا يُلْقِي الشَّيْطَانُ فِي رُوعِي…” This supplication is not a request for a magical miracle, but for a more advanced “operating system” for the mind and heart—one that renders everything the enemy casts into them (wishful desires and delusions) not merely ineffective, but useful material for building the palace of servitude to God.

Appendix: A precise etymology of the word «مَنَی»

(Based on *Al-Taḥqīq fī Kalimāt al-Qurʾān al-Karīm*)

A single root meaning: “to determine” and “to desire that something come to pass.”

Instances:

مَنَی (semen): the emission of seminal fluid arising from desire.

مِیتَة (death): the decreed certainty of one’s fate.

أُمْنِیَة (wish): a desire accompanied by the mind’s imagining that it will come to pass.

تَمَنَّی: the heart speaking to itself about something that is, or might be.

Linguistic conclusion: “wishful thinking” is blameworthy when it conflicts with contentment and entrusting one’s affairs to God, and is shaped by the heedless self, far from sincerity. Satan, too, leads people astray from the path of truth by instilling “promising wishes”—false promises.

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