Escaping the Dungeon of Envy

🌼The Secret of Affection 🌼

🌼Affection, the Key to Love🌼

🌸🔆🌿   “Envy”  “The Secret of Knowledge” “The Hidden Mysteries of Creation”

🔅🌹 A Summary with Supplementary Notes: “Envy,” “The Secret of Knowledge,” “The Hidden Mysteries of Creation,” “The Mysteries of Time and Place”  “ ”        1402.04.01   Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat 110.141(903)  🌹🔅

🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹

🌻🔆🌱O God, take the soul of envy from us🌱🔆🌻

🌸The arrows and volleys of envy are fired at the believer at every moment. The believer must constantly keep himself under Allah’s protection.

☘️Let us take stock: am I, who disavow envy, truly free of it myself?!

🌸Let us pay attention to the signs of envy in our souls, lest its kindling catch fire and reduce our souls and faith to ashes!

☘️Envy lies buried in every heart; let us not exhume it.

🌸In some souls envy is active; in others it lies frozen and dormant. Let us not warm it, kindle it, or wake it from sleep. Let us weaken and wither it until it can no longer stand.

☘️Let us seek refuge in God from envy’s harm until the moment of our departure from this world.

🌸Perhaps the viper of envy has gone into hibernation. Let us not wake it. If we do not take the life of envy, we ourselves will be its first prey.

☘️Faith is the cold that freezes the venomous, predatory serpents of the heart.

🌸Backbiting is one of envy’s clearest signs and one of the fuels that feeds its flames. Let us avoid backbiting, so envy does not take root.

🌸Backbiting is the banner of envy.

☘️Speaking ill of others—and willingly listening to such talk—is a warning sign of envy.

🌸Admiration of another’s blessings is part and parcel of the believer’s soul; envy is part and parcel of the hypocrite’s.

☘️The battle among the envious is the worst kind of fighting, and it claims many victims.

🌸Keeping blessings that need not be displayed private is a safeguard against other people’s envy.

☘️The Shi‘a are envied by the whole world. The greatest envy in the world is directed against the Imam of the Shi‘a.

🌸Let us take care not to be caught in the whirlpool of envy, nor drowned in the whirlpool of the envious.

🔅🌹 وَ قَالَ ص‏ اسْتَعِينُوا عَلَى أُمُورِكُمْ‏ بِالْكِتْمَانِ‏ فَإِنَّ كُلَّ ذِي نِعْمَةٍ مَحْسُودٌ.[1]

🔅🌹 قَالَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ ع‏ إِنَّ الرَّجُلَ لَيَأْتِي بِأَيِّ بَادِرَةٍ فَيَكْفُرُ وَ إِنَّ الْحَسَدَ لَيَأْكُلُ الْإِيمَانَ كَمَا تَأْكُلُ‏ النَّارُ الْحَطَبَ.[2]

🔅🌹 عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع قَالَ: إِنَّ الْمُؤْمِنَ‏ يَغْبِطُ  وَ لَا يَحْسُدُ وَ الْمُنَافِقُ يَحْسُدُ وَ لَا يَغْبِطُ.[3]

🔅🌹 وَ الْغِيبَةُ تَأْكُلُ الْحَسَنَاتِ كَمَا تَأْكُلُ النَّارُ الْحَطَبَ

🌸“استر ذهبک و ذهابک و مذهبک” This saying is not found in the hadith sources!

☘️Envy can arise both within and between religious traditions, and each has its own particular character.

🌸Particular envy directed at someone even more specific is among the most harmful kinds. One should avoid needlessly displaying one’s knowledge, beliefs, convictions, virtues and merits.

☘️If a believer envies another believer, he burns up his own faith.

🌸Among unwise people of learning, envy can reach an astonishing pitch.

🌸Presenting oneself as helpless makes one helpless. Whatever one’s circumstances, let gratitude to God be on one’s tongue—whether in times of abundant profit or when business is slow.

☘️There is no need to feign poverty in order to conceal one’s wealth; gratitude is a mark of beautiful servitude.

🌸Envying the envious is forbidden too. To envy the envious and the hypocrites is like attacking people of a satanic nature with Satan’s own weapons and sticks. Such conduct is itself satanic; falsehood must be vanquished with the staff of truth. Darkness cannot overcome darkness; it needs light.

☘️Seeking Satan’s help against Satan is pleasing to Satan himself, and is a form of satanic conduct.

🌸It is commendable to show one’s blessings with the wisdom of a jurist.

☘️Displaying one’s knowledge without good reason is pure ostentation.

☘️There must be a good reason to display one’s knowledge and virtue.

🌸There must be a genuine need to display one’s knowledge, faith, and religious practice.

☘️Avoiding self-display, keeping secrets, and not revealing them are among the chief keys to peace and well-being.

🌸Everything believers do, from walking to studying, learning, and practising their faith, can become a target of envy.

☘️One should avoid whatever burdens the angels and weakens their support: the fields of heedlessness and disliked acts, and the heart’s indolence, are among these.

🌸The arrow of envy strikes when a person leaves the fortress of God or steps beyond the shield of faith, attentiveness, and remembrance.

☘️The pleasant scent of wild rue delights the angels and draws them near, while driving the devils away.

🌸A nominal believer is not the same as a true believer. A true believer is not envious.

☘️Envy, in its own right, is a superpower of wickedness.

Envy is the mortar of Satan.

🌸Satan became Satan through envy.

☘️Envy is Satan’s guide.

🌸Wishing for blessings to be taken away is a sign of the envious; wishing that believers’ blessings endure is a defining mark of faith.

☘️It is permissible to wish for blessings to be taken away from someone who is not a believer—and even from a believer—if discernment and the common good require it, or if there is fear of deviation and apostasy.

🌻🔆🌱Fill the vessel of servitude with knowledge🌱🔆🌻

🌸Knowledge gathered with sincerity will one day be put to use, and its inner realities will come to light. Like seeds scattered in the earth, it will in time reach its growth and fullness. Thus, patience and perseverance in gatherings devoted to the Two Weighty Things are a sowing that will yield an everlasting harvest.

☘️It is the hardware of knowledge that runs the software of the sciences; even from a speck of dust, it can draw out the knowledge of the entire world.

🌸The Two Weighty Things are the great divine hardware; whoever connects to this mighty apparatus becomes an unveiler of the world’s knowledge.

🌻🔆🌱Affection is the beautiful bud of love🌱🔆🌻

☘️Affection from God to the servant, from the servant to God, and between people and the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them), as well as its reciprocal form, each has its own proper measure.

🌸The affection of a drop for the sea is not the same as that of the sea for the drop; each expresses affection according to its capacity and ability.

☘️Allah is the All-Loving, though He has no need of the one He loves.

🌸When Allah, the Self-Sufficient, asks for a goodly loan, it is an expression of His generosity toward the poor and the riches of His grace.

☘️Affection is the very nectar and honey of love.

🌸Affection offered by one of lower rank to one of higher rank is proved by spending one’s capacity; affection from the higher to the lower flows from His boundless grace.

☘️The words بنفسی انت are one way of expressing affection: one’s life is offered in sacrifice for the beloved.

🌸Affection is, in essence, a way of expressing and demonstrating love, even when it brings no benefit to the one of higher rank.

☘️A gift from one of lower rank to one of higher rank is like a green leaf offered by the gardener to the Lord of the Garden.

🌸Devoted love, compared with love, is like a rough diamond beside a cut and polished one.

☘️Devoted love comes to light only through knowledge; knowledge is its necessary condition.

🌸The extremists are not people of devoted love. Rather, they merely make a foolish show of love, and are loathed by the revered ones.

🌻🔆🌱The unfolding of knowledge never pauses, even for a moment🌱🔆🌻

☘️The blessed hand of the Imam of our Age (peace be upon him), resting upon the heads of humanity, will raise their intellects. Yet the wider one’s capacity for reason, the greater the burden of intellect one will bear.

🌸Let us make the heart a wellspring of wisdom, so that, by His permission, a fountain of wisdom may gush forth from it. Let us sow the seeds, and in time the sower himself will cultivate them. Let us scatter the seeds of Qur’anic verses and narrations in our hearts; one day, they will become a vast field of cultivation.

☘️Anyone who seeks knowledge and the wisdom of mysteries must devote even the little they have to that pursuit.

🌸The seeds of knowledge will bear fruit in their season; the software of knowledge will be launched in its time.

☘️Each moment in time and space differs from every other. Every moment is a new creation.

🌸To think that all moments are alike, or to see them as such, reveals the weakness of our understanding and knowledge. Every moment is utterly new; nothing in the world grows old. What has passed us by is a great loss.

☘️To think that all moments are alike reveals a mind deceived, and betrays how little we know and how deeply ignorance prevails.

🌸Ignorance deceives us and imprisons us in our own past.

☘️God is «کل یوم هو فی شان». The freshness of every moment is the highest sign of divine wisdom and majesty; failing to grasp this truth shows that ignorance has overcome the human heart.

🌸Every sunrise and sunset, wherever the sun rises or sets, is fresh: a new book, a new message, a newly revealed sign.

☘️Every scene, in every moment, is a different book, containing fresh knowledge.

🌸The branches and leaves of trees form a vast orchestra of divine music, with new voices, melodies, and rhythms.

☘️The harmony between the rustling leaves and the birdsong reveals the art hidden in the birds’ hearts. Their singing is music performed live by the Divine.

🌸On earth, human beings are devoid of artistry; indeed, the world’s most anti-artistic phenomena have come from them.

☘️Among them are the most grating sounds and polluting, dangerous industries. Human industry diminishes the beauty of creation, like dust that must be wiped away.

🌸Human inventions add to nature’s toil and suffering. They do not enhance nature’s beauty; rather, they veil the world’s beauty.

🌻🔆🌱The one who witnesses time’s birth and is older than time🌱🔆🌻

☘️By divine grace, the revered Household of the Prophet (peace be upon them) have transcended time and the ages. Whoever connects with the vast institution of the Household—a mighty institution of God—becomes a traveller through the ages and across eras.

🌸The peerless Creator has woven time into space; He is the One who joins and separates all things. He grants whomever He wills the power to rule over time and space.

☘️Time and space are each independent beings, alive and conscious.

🌸Time and space are the unfolding and cleaving apart of a single reality.

☘️The single point of zero existence is accompanied by levels and degrees in its manifestation.

🌸The singularity of time and space is the secret—and proof—of what lies beyond time and space.

☘️The edge of existence is the boundary of what lies beyond time, beyond space, and beyond existence itself.

🌸What lies before and beyond the edge of existence is a mystery above all mysteries.

☘️The edge of space and the edge of time are the threshold and key to the realm beyond mysteries.

🌸The edge of existence is meaningless and incomprehensible to human beings.

☘️Human beings cannot analyse time and space, let alone what lies beyond them.

🌸The scholarly exploration of the sciences available to us leads us toward the unseen sciences.

☘️Our duty is simply to put our God-given capacities to use.

🌸By beating our wings and flying as far as our souls can carry us, we enable them to spread through divine grace.

☘️Fulfilling the rights of past blessings leads to the gift of future success.

🌸The essays “What Is Reality?” and “The Height of Disconnection” are examples of a field sown with mysteries.

🌻🔆🌱Depictions of reality are a ladder leading to reality itself🌱🔆🌻

☘️A depiction of reality is not reality itself.

🌸The seven layers of the earth and the seven layers of heaven each have their own distinctive qualities. The earth, with its earthly dimensions, and the heavens, with their transcendent dimensions, are distinct from one another; the higher levels are the reality underlying the lower ones.

☘️The ascending and descending degrees of the world are its advances and retreats.

🌸Which world do we inhabit? Which world is real, and which is merely an appearance? It seems that whichever world we inhabit, we take the one beyond it to be unreal. How they relate, and how we might comprehend that relation, is among the mysteries of existence. The knowledge hidden within our souls must be set free for reality to become manifest.

☘️The distance between worlds is not temporal: it is a moment, a break—as though a cut were made without any interval of time or space.

🌸What we imagine to be long-lasting belongs to the realm of time. In dimensions beyond time, this temporal extension has no external existence.

☘️Continuity across the world’s discontinuities is conceivable.

🌻🔆🌱Do you know where you are asleep, and where you awaken?🌱🔆🌻

☘️Sleep and repose are connected to the stages of sleep, brain waves, and the soul’s freedom, flight, and rest.

🌸The release of the human soul is the secret of human ease and tranquility: the bird of the soul draws near to its true nest and finds rest there. If this severance occurs, even for a moment, the human soul draws closer to its own timeless world.

☘️The soul’s freedom from the body’s constraints, together with the body’s restoration and the regulation of its organs and limbs, is among the distinctive features of restful sleep.

🌸Like food, sleep can be had in too little or too great a measure.

🌻🔆🌱O God, there is a secret within my heart that guides me🌱🔆🌻

☘️Within the soul of every living being is a particular center of servitude, which, by God’s permission, is occupied with directing the affairs of body and soul.

🌸The flocking flight of birds—the order and coordination of their formation, and the beauty of their movements—points to the guidance of the flock by a distinctive force and leadership, endowed with an intelligence beyond what thought can imagine. The Creator of existence has planted an intelligent system beyond their bodies and souls, guiding them all toward perfect cohesion and beauty. The collective flight of birds resembles a kind of moving ensemble music.
☘️The way the particles of our bodies are arranged and connected, and work together, resembles the flock of birds: they too are governed by that same central intelligence and transcendent leadership. Without it, the body would fall apart; the whole structure would disintegrate.

🌸The mystery of how the body’s needed substances are carried to their proper places and centers is clear evidence of a central intelligence, independent of the bodily system.

☘️Without that ordering force, the body would fall apart; no cell could endure beside another.

🌸Within the soul of every atom, a mysterious intelligence and a wise guide are at work. Without them, the atom would fall apart.

☘️The Lord, the Causer of Causes, has planted causes and systems within the soul of every phenomenon; their existence and endurance are governed by them. Every phenomenon can communicate and cooperate with these systems of transcendent intelligence.

🌻🔆🌱No! I do not think I am a small speck!🌱🔆🌻

🌸It is not unlikely that, in addition to biological offspring, human beings may also have countless non-biological offspring.

☘️Whatever comes into being and is produced in a human being is intended for a particular purpose; nothing is without purpose—not even reproductive and non-reproductive cells.

🌸It is not unlikely that human reproduction—both sexual and asexual—extends beyond the boundaries of humanity.

☘️Every contact, connection, or interaction between a human being, any part of them, and any phenomenon in the universe, in whatever form, carries its own effects and repercussions, both material and immaterial. Every being brings its own particular effect and manifestations.

🌸A human being is like a vast field; the whole universe, too, is a field extending beyond all borders.

☘️The particles of a human being’s existence extend from the human womb to the womb of the universe, and onward to the womb of the universe’s particles.

🌸Perhaps at every moment, a human being is accompanied by billions of births.

🌸Every particle in this world has its own resurrection. At every moment, this world is a minor resurrection of the moments that came before it, culminating in the Great Resurrection.

☘️The kind of judgment to which created beings are subject is commensurate with their capacities and the freedom of choice their existence affords them.

🌸The next form each individual takes is determined by the way they acted in their previous forms.

☘️The barzakh forms of beautiful beings who are abusive and obscene are the most striking to behold in the intensity of their ugliness.

🌸This world is a minor resurrection, and the Great Resurrection of the universe is the final outcome of deeds.

🌻🔆🌱 ٌ اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْ مَحْيَايَ‏ مَحْيَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ مَمَاتِي مَمَاتَ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّد🌱🔆🌻

☘️If the life of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad within us dies, our worship dies with it. But if we die while living by the life of Muhammad, our death will be more beautiful than our life.

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

[1] Tuhaf al-‘Uqul; text; p. 48 Qom Seminary Teachers’ Association, second edition, 1404/1363 AH.

[2] Al-Kafi (Islamic edition), vol. 2, p. 306 Fourth edition, 1407 AH.

[3] Al-Kafi (Islamic edition), vol. 2, p. 307 Fourth edition, 1407 AH.