notifications_active Weekly Meshkat-e Noor Session: Thursdays at 20:30 at Haj Reza Mosque
A question from one of our friends on the channel
Hello, good evening, and forgive me, Master. I’ve always wanted to live for God and in His way,
to pray, to be sincere and a good person, but I can’t live up to what I say.
I feel weighed down by my own weakness,
َّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ
To live for God with sincerity, we must experience the sweetness of worship through knowledge and purity of heart. Turning away from attachment to this world and its pleasures brings us closer to tasting spiritual delights. One who truly yearns devotes all their efforts to reaching the Beloved and lets everything but Him slip from mind.
Whoever tastes something grows fond of it, and devotes their days and nights to it. The taste of worship can be experienced only through knowledge and sincerity of heart; when knowledge is joined with sincerity, the wonder of longing is born.
So we must set out on the path of knowledge, then awaken the heart’s capacity to taste through sincerity. One short way is to turn away from love of the world. The more we distance ourselves from its distractions and amusements, the closer we come to tasting spiritual delights.
قَالَ الصَّادِقُ ع الْمُشْتَاقُ لَا يَشْتَهِي طَعَاماً وَ لَا يَلْتَذُّ شَرَاباً وَ لَا يَسْتَطِيبُ رُقَاداً وَ لَا يَأْنَسُ حَمِيماً وَ لَا يَأْوِي دَاراً وَ لَا يَسْكُنُ عُمْرَاناً وَ لَا يَلْبَسُ ثِيَاباً لَيِّنَةً وَ لَا يَقِرُّ قَرَاراً وَ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ لَيْلًا وَ نَهَاراً رَاجِياً بِأَنْ يَصِلَ إِلَى مَا يَشْتَاقُ إِلَيْهِ وَ يُنَاجِيَهُ بِلِسَانِ الشَّوْقِ مُعَبِّراً عَمَّا فِي سَرِيرَتِهِ كَمَا أَخْبَرَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْ مُوسَى ع فِي مِيعَادِ رَبِّهِ وَ عَجِلْتُ إِلَيْكَ رَبِّ لِتَرْضى وَ فَسَّرَ النَّبِيُّ ص عَنْ حَالِهِ أَنَّهُ مَا أَكَلَ وَ لَا شَرِبَ وَ لَا نَامَ وَ لَا اشْتَهَى شَيْئاً مِنْ ذَلِكَ فِي ذَهَابِهِ وَ مَجِيئِهِ أَرْبَعِينَ يَوْماً شَوْقاً إِلَى رَبِّهِ فَإِذَا دَخَلْتَ مَيْدَانَ الشَّوْقِ فَكَبِّرْ عَلَى نَفْسِكَ وَ مُرَادِكَ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا وَ دَعْ جَمِيعَ الْمَأْلُوفَاتِ وَ اصْرِفْهُ عَنْ سِوَى مَعْشُوقِكَ وَ لَبِّ بَيْنَ حَيَاتِكَ وَ مَوْتِكَ لَبَّيْكَ اللَّهُمَّ لَبَّيْكَ أَعْظَمَ اللَّهُ أَجْرَكَ وَ مَثَلُ الْمُشْتَاقِ مَثَلُ الْغَرِيقِ لَيْسَ لَهُ هِمَّةٌ إِلَّا خَلَاصُهُ وَ قَدْ نَسِيَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ دُونَه
*Miṣbāḥ al-Sharīʿa*, p. 196
Imam al-Ṣādiq (AS) said:
“One who longs [to meet God]
- has no appetite for food;
- takes no pleasure in drink;
- finds no comfort in sleep;
- feels no companionship with a friend;
- seeks no shelter in a home;*
- does not settle in prosperous places;
- wears no soft clothing;
- and finds no rest anywhere.
Day and night, such a person worships God, hoping to attain what they long for, and confides in Him in the language of longing, expressing what lies within their heart.
This is how God described Moses (AS) when he went to meet his Lord:
«...وَ عَجِلْتُ إِلَيْكَ رَبِّ لِتَرْضَىٰ» (Ṭā Hā: 84)
(“I hastened to You, my Lord, so that You might be pleased!”)
And the Prophet (PBUH), explaining Moses’s state, said:
“During the forty days of his journey, so intense was his longing for his Lord that he neither ate nor drank nor slept, nor did he desire any of these things!”
Then, when you enter the “field of longing”:
Humble yourself and your worldly desires,
cast off every habit,
let nothing divert your attention from your Beloved,
and cry out between life and death:
“لَبَّيْكَ اللَّهُمَّ لَبَّيْكَ!”
(“At Your command, my Lord! Here I am!”)
May God grant you a great reward!
The one who longs is like a drowning man
*whose only concern is to be saved,*
*and who has forgotten everything but [the Beloved]!*