Written transcript of the lecture
The Meshkat-e Noor teachings series🌼🔆🌼Ramadan Hasaniyya🌼🔆🌼
🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹
🔅🌹 “A Beautiful Definition of Reason” “The Hasaniyya of the Miqat” “The Hasani Soul” “The Hasani World” “ ” and so on: An Abstract with Supplement 1403.01.06 Ali Saʿi (ʿAbdullah Mishkat) 110.141(903) 🌹🔅
🌷The words of the Hasani tradition conceal a world of profound meanings.
🌷“Reason, prudence, nobility, avarice, recklessness and ignorance” in the Hasani tradition
🔅🌼 يَا بُنَيَّ مَا الْعَقْلُ 🌼🔅
🌸🌷 عَنْ أَبِيهِ شُرَيْحٍ قَالَ: سَأَلَ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ع عَنِ ابْنِهِ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ عَلِيٍّ ع فَقَالَ يَا بُنَيَّ مَا الْعَقْلُ قَالَ حِفْظُ قَلْبِكَ مَا اسْتَوْدَعْتَهُ قَالَ فَمَا الْحَزْمُ قَالَ أَنْ تَنْتَظِرَ فُرْصَتَكَ وَ تُعَاجِلَ مَا أَمْكَنَكَ قَالَ فَمَا الْمَجْدُ قَالَ حَمْلُ الْمَغَارِمِ وَ ابْتِنَاءُ الْمَكَارِمِ قَالَ فَمَا السَّمَاحَةُ قَالَ إِجَابَةُ السَّائِلِ وَ بَذْلُ النَّائِلِ قَالَ فَمَا الشُّحُّ قَالَ أَنْ تَرَى الْقَلِيلَ سَرَفاً وَ مَا أَنْفَقْتَ تَلَفاً قَالَ فَمَا الرِّقَّةُ قَالَ طَلَبُ الْيَسِيرِ وَ مَنْعُ الْحَقِيرِ قَالَ فَمَا الْكُلْفَةُ قَالَ التَّمَسُّكُ بِمَنْ لَا يُؤْمِنُكَ وَ النَّظَرُ فِيمَا لَا يَعْنِيكَ قَالَ فَمَا الْجَهْلُ قَالَ سُرْعَةُ الْوُثُوبِ عَلَى الْفُرْصَةِ قَبْلَ الِاسْتِمْكَانِ مِنْهَا وَ الِامْتِنَاعُ عَنِ الْجَوَابِ وَ نِعْمَ الْعَوْنُ الصَّمْتُ فِي مَوَاطِنَ كَثِيرَةٍ وَ إِنْ كُنْتَ فَصِيحاً ثُمَّ أَقْبَلَ عَلَى الْحُسَيْنِ ابْنِهِ ع فَقَالَ لَهُ يَا بُنَيَّ مَا السُّؤْدُدُ قَالَ اصْطِنَاعُ الْعَشِيرَةِ وَ احْتِمَالُ الْجَرِيرَةِ قَالَ فَمَا الْغِنَى قَالَ قِلَّةُ أَمَانِيِّكَ وَ الرِّضَا بِمَا يَكْفِيكَ قَالَ فَمَا الْفَقْرُ قَالَ الطَّمَعُ وَ شِدَّةُ الْقُنُوطِ قَالَ فَمَا اللُّؤْمُ قَالَ إِحْرَازُ الْمَرْءِ نَفْسَهُ وَ إِسْلَامُهُ عِرْسَهُ قَالَ فَمَا الْخُرْقُ قَالَ مُعَادَاتُكَ أَمِيرَكَ وَ مَنْ يَقْدِرُ عَلَى ضُرِّكَ وَ نَفْعِكَ ثُمَّ الْتَفَتَ إِلَى الْحَارِثِ الْأَعْوَرِ فَقَالَ يَا حَارِثُ عَلِّمُوا هَذِهِ الْحِكَمَ أَوْلَادَكُمْ فَإِنَّهَا زِيَادَةٌ فِي الْعَقْلِ وَ الْحَزْمِ وَ الرَّأْيِ.[1]
🌸🌷Shurayh ibn Haniʾ relates: The Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him, asked his son Hasan ibn Ali, peace be upon them both: “My son, what is reason?” He replied: “It is for your heart to safeguard what has been entrusted to it.”
He asked: “What is prudence—alertness and foresight?” He replied: “It is to wait for the right opportunity, then act swiftly when the means are in place.”
“What is nobility?” He replied: “Forgiving others and bearing with their mistakes, and building one’s life on the foundation of noble character.”
He asked: “What are generosity and magnanimity?” He replied: “Meeting the needs of those who ask, and giving of what you have earned.”
He asked: “What is miserliness?” He replied: “To consider a little as much, and to regard as wasted what you have given in God’s cause.”.
He asked: “What is ‘riqqah’—baseness and servility?” (In one recension of *Bihar al-Anwar* it reads “diqqah”; in *Tuhaf al-ʿUqul*, “al-daniyyah.”) He replied: “Narrow-mindedness, asking for little, and begrudging even a small amount.”.
He asked: “What is bringing hardship and misfortune upon oneself?” He replied: “Relying on someone who cannot keep you safe, and prying into what will do you no good.”.
He asked: “What is ignorance?” He replied: “Leaping onto a mount before you have mastered it, and refusing to answer. How excellent a help silence can be on many occasions, even when you have a ready tongue.”.
Then the Commander of the Faithful, God’s blessings be upon him, turned to his son Husayn, peace be upon him, and asked: “My son, what is lordliness?” He replied: “Doing good to one’s kin, and assuming responsibility for, and paying, their blood-wite for crimes and injuries.”.
He was asked, “What is wealth?” He replied, “To have few desires and be content with what suffices you.” He was asked, “What is poverty?” He said, “To covet everything and to fall into utter despair”.
He was asked, “What is blameworthiness?” He replied, “For a man to keep himself out of danger while putting his family at risk!”
He was asked, “What is recklessness?” He said, “To quarrel and make enemies of your leader, or of someone who can bring you benefit or harm”.
Then he turned to al-Harith al-A‘war and said to him, “O Harith! Teach these words of wisdom to your children, for they will increase their intelligence, prudence, and sound judgment”.
🔅🌼 An Explanation of Intellect 🌼🔅
🌸🔆 عَنْ بَعْضِ أَصْحَابِنَا رَفَعَهُ إِلَى أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع قَالَ: قُلْتُ لَهُ مَا الْعَقْلُ قَالَ مَا عُبِدَ بِهِ الرَّحْمَنُ وَ اكْتُسِبَ بِهِ الْجِنَانُ قَالَ قُلْتُ فَالَّذِي كَانَ فِي مُعَاوِيَةَ فَقَالَ تِلْكَ النَّكْرَاءُ «!» تِلْكَ الشَّيْطَنَةُ وَ هِيَ شَبِيهَةٌ بِالْعَقْلِ وَ لَيْسَتْ بِالْعَقْلِ.[2]
🔆Someone says: “I asked Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, about the intellect. He replied, ‘It is that by which the All-Merciful God is worshipped and Paradise is attained.’ The narrator says: I asked, ‘Then what was it that Mu‘awiya possessed?’ He replied, ‘That was guile, that was cunning. It resembles the intellect, but it is not the intellect.’”
🌻🔆Al-Ahzab: 72 إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمانَةَ عَلَى السَّماواتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ وَ الْجِبالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَنْ يَحْمِلْنَها وَ أَشْفَقْنَ مِنْها وَ حَمَلَهَا الْإِنْسانُ إِنَّهُ كانَ ظَلُوماً جَهُولاً
🔆We offered the Trust (the charge, responsibility, and divine guardianship) to the heavens, the earth, and the mountains, but they refused to bear it and were afraid of it; yet the human being took it upon himself. He was indeed deeply unjust and ignorant (for he failed to appreciate the greatness of this station and wronged himself)!
🌷Imam Hasan, peace be upon him, gave a remarkable account of the meaning of intellect: حِفْظُ قَلْبِكَ مَا اسْتَوْدَعْتَهُ
🌷In truth, intellect is that which preserves the divine Trusts!
🌷The Trust is the Qur’an and the Prophet’s Household: Ali, Fatima, Hasan, Husayn, the descendants of Husayn, and the Imam of our time, peace be upon them.
🌷The Trust is the covenant and pledge made with God.
🌷Imamate is love for the Two Weighty Things, accepting and embracing divine guardianship and obedience. The Trust means our innate nature, servitude, and the rights and duties of worship.
🌻🔆Al-Hujurat: 7 وَ اعْلَمُوا أَنَّ فيكُمْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ لَوْ يُطيعُكُمْ في كَثيرٍ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ لَعَنِتُّمْ وَ لكِنَّ اللَّهَ حَبَّبَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْإيمانَ وَ زَيَّنَهُ في قُلُوبِكُمْ وَ كَرَّهَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْكُفْرَ وَ الْفُسُوقَ وَ الْعِصْيانَ أُولئِكَ هُمُ الرَّاشِدُونَ
🔆Know that the Messenger of God is among you. Were he to obey you in many matters, you would surely suffer hardship. But God has made faith dear to you and adorned it in your hearts, and has made disbelief, defiance, and sin hateful to you. Those who possess these qualities are rightly guided!
🔅🌼 An Explanation of Prudence 🌼🔅
🌷 الْحَزْمُ … أَنْ تَنْتَظِرَ فُرْصَتَكَ وَ تُعَاجِلَ مَا أَمْكَنَكَ
Prudence has been defined as caution, foresight, good judgment, awareness, far-sightedness, careful planning, consideration, and vigilance.
🌷 Prudence means doing everything with the utmost care and at the right time: making the most of a golden opportunity that is lawful.
🌷 It means waiting patiently for the right conditions to arise, then acting promptly when the moment is right—and not letting an opportunity go to waste. Such as praying at the earliest time, planting, tending and harvesting in their proper seasons, seeking knowledge at the right time, and making the most of the golden opportunity of youth. Surely, every stage of life has its own particular duties.
🌷 When the time comes for self-sacrifice, martyrdom and jihad, one must act without delay. عاشورا تکرار نمیشود.
🌷 Awaiting the dawn of the ظهور and hastening to act when it comes.
🔅🌼 Commentary on Majd 🌼🔅
🌷 Majd carries meanings such as dignity, grandeur, greatness, endurance, pain, repair, reform, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and the time for giving.
🌸🔆 الْمَجْدُ … حَمْلُ الْمَغَارِمِ وَ ابْتِنَاءُ الْمَكَارِمِ
🌷 Majd means bearing losses, making good what has been lost, and striving to attain noble virtues.
🔅🌼 Commentary on Shuhh 🌼🔅
🌷 Shuhh means miserliness, stinginess and narrow-mindedness.
🌷 To regard what is lasting as perishable, and what is perishable as lasting.
🌸🔆 الشُّحُّ … أَنْ تَرَى الْقَلِيلَ سَرَفاً وَ مَا أَنْفَقْتَ تَلَفاً
🌷 Miserliness is to think little is much, and to imagine that whatever you have spent is wasted.
🔅🌼 Commentary on Takalluf 🌼🔅
🌸🔆 الْكُلْفَةُ … التَّمَسُّكُ بِمَنْ لَا يُؤْمِنُكَ وَ النَّظَرُ فِيمَا لَا يَعْنِيكَ
🌷 Takalluf means burdening yourself with matters that are not required of you: clinging to someone who cannot bring you peace or security, and attending to things that are of no benefit to you.
🔅🌼 Commentary on Ignorance 🌼🔅
🌸🔆 الْجَهْلُ … سُرْعَةُ الْوُثُوبِ عَلَى الْفُرْصَةِ قَبْلَ الِاسْتِمْكَانِ مِنْهَا وَ الِامْتِنَاعُ عَنِ الْجَوَابِ وَ نِعْمَ الْعَوْنُ الصَّمْتُ فِي مَوَاطِنَ كَثِيرَةٍ وَ إِنْ كُنْتَ فَصِيحاً ث
🌷 Ignorance is rushing to seize an (unlawful) opportunity before the means to do so are in place, and withholding an answer when you ought to respond. Silence is helpful on many occasions, even for an eloquent person. (The ignorant speak when they ought to be silent.)
🌷 It is rushing to seize an opportunity before it is within reach, seeking a rank one does not deserve, and taking an unlawful opportunity to use as a means of satisfying one’s selfish desires.
🔅🌼 Hasan, the Lamp 🌼🔅
🌷 Imam Hasan, peace be upon him, is the lamp of the Verse of Light.
🌸🔆 قَالَ قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع فِي قَوْلِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى- اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّماواتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكاةٍ فَاطِمَةُ ع فِيها مِصْباحٌ الْحَسَنُ- الْمِصْباحُ فِي زُجاجَةٍ الْحُسَيْن[3]
🔅🌼 The Hasanid Banquet of the Generous Provider 🌼🔅
🌷 God, the Mighty and Bountiful, welcomes His servants to a feast through His proofs.
🌷 The twelve divine banquets, each distinct and set apart, have their own special flavors and incomparable salt and honey.
🌷 Nutrition means that nourishing substances become incorporated into the different parts of a person’s being.
🌷 The concept of pleasure is a particular understanding of the essence of knowledge and wisdom.
🌷 The concept of beauty is a particular interpretation of knowledge and wisdom.
🌸🔆 الَّذِينَ بَدَّلُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ كُفْراً وَ أَحَلُّوا قَوْمَهُمْ دارَ الْبَوارِ» ثُمَّ قَالَ نَحْنُ وَ اللَّهِ نِعْمَةُ اللَّهِ الَّتِي أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ بِهَا عَلَى عِبَادِهِ وَ بِنَا فَازَ مَنْ فَاز[4]
🔆 Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him): الَّذِینَ بَدَّلُوا نِعْمَتَ اللهِ کُفْراً وَ أَحَلُّوا قَوْمَهُمْ دارَ الْبَوارِ; By God! We are that blessing of God which He bestowed upon His servants. Whoever has attained salvation has attained it by following us.
🌸🔆 قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَلَقَنَا فَأَحْسَنَ خَلْقَنَا وَ صَوَّرَنَا فَأَحْسَنَ صُوَرَنَا وَ جَعَلَنَا عَيْنَهُ فِي عِبَادِهِ وَ لِسَانَهُ النَّاطِقَ فِي خَلْقِهِ وَ يَدَهُ الْمَبْسُوطَةَ عَلَى عِبَادِهِ بِالرَّأْفَةِ وَ الرَّحْمَةِ وَ وَجْهَهُ الَّذِي يُؤْتَى مِنْهُ وَ بَابَهُ الَّذِي يَدُلُّ عَلَيْهِ وَ خُزَّانَهُ فِي سَمَائِهِ وَ أَرْضِهِ بِنَا أَثْمَرَتِ الْأَشْجَارُ وَ أَيْنَعَتِ الثِّمَارُ وَ جَرَتِ الْأَنْهَارُ وَ بِنَا يَنْزِلُ غَيْثُ السَّمَاءِ وَ يَنْبُتُ عُشْبُ الْأَرْضِ وَ بِعِبَادَتِنَا عُبِدَ اللَّهُ وَ لَوْ لَا نَحْنُ مَا عُبِدَ اللَّهُ.[5]
🔆 Imam al-Sadiq said: God created us and perfected our creation; He fashioned us and fashioned us beautifully. He made us His seeing eye among His servants and a speaking tongue among His creatures. He made us a hand of kindness and mercy, extended over His servants, and made us His countenance, toward which they turn from that side. He made us a gate that points to Him, and entrusted us with the treasures between His heaven and earth. Through the blessing of our existence, trees bear fruit, fruits ripen, and rivers flow; through our blessing, rain falls from the sky and plants spring from the earth. Through our worship, God was worshipped—and were it not for us, God would not have been worshipped.
🔅🌼 The Hasanite Meeting with God 🌼🔅
🌷 Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba is one of the paths and passages leading to the meeting with God. To be heedless of Imam Hasan is to be heedless of the loftiest signs of God Most High.
🌷 Imam Hasan is among the mysteries by which one reaches the presence of the Best of Creators.
🌷 Through Imam Hasan, let us attain divine good deeds: the good of this world and the next, and the meeting with the Benevolent One.
🌷 Let us journey toward God with the Hasanite way of goodness.
🌷 We are lost: lost both within ourselves and beyond ourselves. We need a way. We are already at our destination, but do not know it; we need to come to understand this truth. The Imam is the one who answers our need. The way is the fulfillment of the senses, complete wakefulness, and knowing; God meets this need through the Imam.
🌷 To reach God through Hasanite manners is pure goodness.
🌷 To travel the way means to attain growth, flourishing, and beauty.
🌷 Just as God has manifest and hidden names, so too has He placed manifest and hidden members, faculties, inner capacities, and senses within our souls.
🔅🌼 The Hasanite Soul 🌼🔅
🌷 Let us care for our Hasanite soul, lest it perish.
🌷 Without Hasan, our soul is lifeless, without blessing, barren, and cut off.
🌷 Hasan is the jewel at the heart of our Hasanite being. Without Hasan, we are without beauty, a body without a pillar.
🌷 Let us not neglect our Hasanite senses. With Hasan, we inhabit a particular horizon of worldview and knowledge.
🌷 The absence of Hasan is worse than blindness; without Hasan, we are a desert devoid of vistas.
🌷 Through the Hasanite spirit, we will find the Hasanite sense of servitude; without Hasan, we are not servants.
🌷 Through Hasanite life, Hasanite pleasures become perceptible. With Hasanite dignity and stature, our being stands firm and steadfast.
🌷 Without knowing Imam Hasan (peace be upon him), we have died without experiencing Hasan’s passing. A life shaped by Hasan can be experienced only through knowing his majesty.
🌷 The sight of Hasan’s rising and setting on the horizons of our hearts and souls has a particular splendour. Hasan’s blossoms and manifestations bring life to the world of our souls. Hasan is within us.
🌷 As the veil is lifted from the Hasan within us and we draw upon it, the sun of Hasan appears from the soul of our world.
🌷 Let us look beyond the outward aspect of good deeds to their inner reality as well. The wilayah has both an outward and an inward dimension.
🌷 The good deeds of the wilayah are beyond enumeration, for they are the treasury of all things.
🌷 Witnessing the wonders of Hasan is a path to witnessing the soul of Imam Hasan (peace be upon him). What remains unknown far exceeds what is known.
🌷 Whatever people do not understand, they label “dark”—dark matter, dark energy, and black holes, for example.
🔅🌼 Hasan has no equal 🌼🔅
🌻🔆 Al-Baqarah: 165 وَ مِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَتَّخِذُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ أَنْداداً يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللَّهِ وَ الَّذينَ آمَنُوا أَشَدُّ حُبًّا لِلَّهِ وَ لَوْ يَرَى الَّذينَ ظَلَمُوا إِذْ يَرَوْنَ الْعَذابَ أَنَّ الْقُوَّةَ لِلَّهِ جَميعاً وَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ شَديدُ الْعَذابِ
🔆 Some people take others besides God as equals, loving them as they should love God. But those who believe love God more intensely. If only the wrongdoers, when they see the punishment, could see that all power belongs to God, and that God is severe in punishment.
🌷 Any neglect of the wilayah will be accompanied by false attachments and idol-making. Neglecting Hasan goes hand in hand with the ascendancy of ignorance.
🌷 When reason is lost, a person’s discernment falters, and they become ensnared by love of this world, love of the self, love of sin, and love of what is loathsome.
🔅🌼 Knowing Mu‘awiya 🌼🔅
🌷 Alongside knowing Hasan, let us also know Mu‘awiya, for there is a danger of choosing Mu‘awiya in Hasan’s place. Hasan is the path of tawhid, and Mu‘awiya the path of shirk.
🌷 Where is the sun’s abode? The sun’s abode is the abode of Hasan al-Mujtaba. Where is the paradise of Hasan?
🔅🌼 The world of Hasan 🌼🔅
Let us know the inner dimensions of Hasan.
Hasan is a world without equal, a world unknown: a well—or rather, seas—left desolate; not a palace, but an entire world, firmly built.
Where are the verdant ones of Hasan, that they may drink the water of life? Each Imam has his own special sustenance for life.
How far are we from the centre of Hasan’s world?! The Hasan-world expands faster than humankind’s journey towards knowledge.
🌼Ali Sa‘i (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141 (903)🌼
[1] Bihar al-Anwar (Beirut edition), vol. 75, p. 101 Majlisi, Muhammad Baqir ibn Muhammad Taqi, Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, Beirut, second edition, 1403 AH.
[2] Al-Kafi (Islamic edition), vol. 1, p. 11 Kulaini, Muhammad ibn Ya‘qub ibn Ishaq, Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyya, Tehran, fourth edition, 1407 AH.
[3] Al-Kafi (Islamic edition), vol. 1, p. 195 Kulaini, Muhammad ibn Ya‘qub ibn Ishaq, Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyya, Tehran, fourth edition, 1407 AH.
[4] Tafsir al-Qummi, vol. 1, p. 86 Qummi, Ali ibn Ibrahim, Dar al-Kitab, Qom, third edition, 1404 AH.
[5] Al-Kafi (Islamic edition), vol. 1, p. 144 Kulaini, Muhammad ibn Ya‘qub ibn Ishaq, Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyya, Tehran, fourth edition, 1407 AH.
