Nurturing the Soul

🌸🔆🌿   “The Prayer that Brings Being into Order”  “Losing the Self and Finding the Self”

🔅🌹 Summary and Supplement to “The Prayer that Brings Being into Order” “Commentary on Prayer 20 of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya, Session 208”  “اللهم ابدلنی”  “Losing the Self,” “Finding the Self,” and more…       1402.07.13    Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903)  🌹🔅

🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹

🔅🌼 Al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya is a sanctuary of salvation.🌼🔅

🌻 Whoever is estranged from al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya is companion to ignorance and misguidance.

🌻 If there are no eager hearts ready to receive the secrets of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya, the particles of the universe, the molecules in the air, the angels and the noble prophets yearn for the secrets of Imam Sajjad, peace be upon him.

🌻 The treasures of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya lie within surging seas, rushing rivers and radiant stars.

🌻 Eager hearts are the repositories and treasuries of Imam Sajjad’s, peace be upon him, secrets.

🌻 Al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya is an ocean of noble virtues and a sky of exalted teachings.

🌻 Al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya brings order to the disordered thoughts and affairs of human beings.

🌻 Al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya brings a person’s very being into order.

🌻 With exquisite care, Imam Sajjad, peace be upon him, teaches the lessons of servitude to God from beginning to end, from the lowest to the highest.

🌻 From every angle we view Prayer 20 of al-Ṣaḥīfa, new secrets come to light.

🌻 Al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya is a mirror that reveals reality; through it, we can behold the face of our own spirit and soul with perfect clarity. It is the plumb line that brings our souls into order. The prophets hasten ahead to the dwelling of Imam Sajjad, peace be upon him. Al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya is a mine of treasures, first and last. No loss can compensate for being distanced from it.

🌻 Pure, tranquil hearts are the wellspring of the secrets of the Imams of purity, peace be upon them. Sincerity and sanctity are the means by which secrets are infused into a person’s soul. A pure being is a page inscribed with the teachings of the Household of Infallibility and Purity.

🌻 Imam Sajjad, peace be upon him, is a gateway to the City of the Prophet, and one blessed path that leads to him is al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya.

🌻 Whoever is close to the light is wedded to beauty.

🔅🌼 The secrets of cultivating the soul 🌼🔅

🌻 The land of the soul flourishes in the light of the Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt, and is laid waste when separated from them.

🌻 If we cultivate the world within ourselves, we cultivate the world outside us. When the soul flourishes, the world flourishes. So let us first cultivate our souls, that our world may flourish.

🌻 Bringing order to the soul prepares the way for bringing order to the world beyond us. Adorning the soul is the first step towards adorning what lies beyond us. We are not separate from the world outside ourselves; we are part of it.

🌻 By setting ourselves right and adorning ourselves, we can set the world right and make it beautiful.

🌻 The one who cleanses must be clean; only someone who is enlightened can illuminate others. Only the good can nurture goodness.

🌻 Only honey can sweeten the palate. What sweetness can you expect from someone whose very being is bitterness?

🌻 We have lost sight of the truth of our own being. Whoever is captive to the self is trapped in the dungeon of degradation. The lower self is our servant; let us not make it our master. Whoever surrenders to the lower self lays waste to both this world and the next.

🌻 The lower self must be held to account and judged, and, if necessary, disciplined.

🌻 Hold your lower self to the strictest account, for it is the greatest embezzler: it plunders a person’s faith, worldly life and hereafter.

🌻 Hold your lower self to account so rigorously that it learns its lesson.

🌻 Hold your lower self to account as though a master were calling his slave to account.

🌷🔅 قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ص‏ لَا يَكُونُ الْعَبْدُ مُؤْمِناً حَتَّى يُحَاسِبَ نَفْسَهُ أَشَدَّ مِنْ مُحَاسَبَةِ الشَّرِيكِ شَرِيكَهُ وَ السَّيِّدِ عَبْدَهُ‏ [1]

🌻 Whoever becomes a captive of the ego loses sight of the truth of their own being. Whoever loses themselves has lost the greater world. Whoever loses themselves has lost joy, peace, comfort and salvation.

🌻 The greatest loss in the world is for a person to lose themselves.

🌻 When someone loses themselves, they have already lost their primordial nature. Without it, a person is a servant devoid of knowledge.

🌷🔅 al-Zumar: 15   فَاعْبُدُوا ما شِئْتُمْ مِنْ دُونِهِ قُلْ إِنَّ الْخاسِرينَ الَّذينَ خَسِرُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَ أَهْليهِمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيامَةِ أَلا ذلِكَ هُوَ الْخُسْرانُ الْمُبينُ

🌷🔅 فِي الْحَدِيثِ النَّبَوِيِّ الْمَشْهُور: حَاسِبُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ قَبْلَ أَنْ تُحَاسَبُوا وَ زِنُوا قَبْلَ أَنْ تُوزَنُوا وَ تَجَهَّزُوا لِلْعَرْضِ‏ الْأَكْبَر[2]

🌷🔅 حَاسِبْ نَفْسَكَ قَبْلَ أَنْ تُحَاسَبَ، فَإِنَّهُ أَهْوَنُ لِحِسَابِكَ غَداً، وَ زِنْ نَفْسَكَ قَبْلَ أَنْ تُوزَنَ، وَ تَجَهَّزْ لِلْعَرْضِ‏ الْأَكْبَرِ يَوْمَ تُعْرَضُ لَا يَخْفَى عَلَى اللَّهِ خَافِيَةٌ، اسْتَحِ مِنَ اللَّهِ، فَإِنِّي وَ الَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَأَظَلُّ حِينَ أَذْهَبُ إِلَى الْغَائِطِ مُتَقَنِّعاً بِثَوْبِي أَسْتَحِي مِنَ الْمَلَكَيْنِ اللَّذَيْنِ مَعِي.[3]

🌻 How astonishing! Someone searches for what they have lost, yet has lost themselves and does not seek their own self.

🌷🔅 عَجِبْتُ لِمَنْ يَنْشُدُ ضَالَّتَهُ‏ وَ قَدْ أَضَلَّ نَفْسَهُ فَلَا يَطْلُبُهَا.[4]

🌻 Let us weigh ourselves constantly, taking the measure of our humanity, lest it lose weight and worth, lest our humanity suffer from anemia without our even knowing it.

🌻 Let us make the scales of the Resurrection heavy with good deeds. Sin means treating one’s very being as insignificant.

🌻 If the force of attraction at the heart of the solar system were cut off for even a moment, its planets would become wandering rocks. Likewise, in the Milky Way, stars would slip from their orbits.

🌻 If a person forgets the central force of attraction within themselves, the orbit of their servitude to God is destroyed.

🌻 If the vast universe within a human being strays from its orbit, that person strays from humanity and servitude to God.

🌻 Which of their own limbs and organs does a person serve? Whatever they serve determines their worth and value.

🌻 Whatever we love, we are worth as much as it is.

🌻 Whoever loves God surpasses the highest measure of worth; they go beyond value itself, and it becomes impossible to assign them a price.

🌷🔅 قَالَ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ع قِيمَةُ كُلِّ امْرِئٍ مَا يُحْسِنُه‏[5]

🌻 O God, show me who I am.

🌻 People have forgotten to water the garden of their own being. God Himself sowed the human being’s existence; tending it is everyone’s duty. Like the she-camel of صالح, the Creator, Lord of all worlds, has entrusted many she-camels to our care; we must not let them go thirsty or hungry.

🌻 The forgetful human being has forgotten their 75 noble qualities. They have let their vices grow strong and their virtues wither.

🌻 When the power of goodness departs from a person’s soul, evil takes its place.

🌻 The peacock of old was more beautiful than the peacock of today; what it looks like in the end depends on the record of its deeds.

🌻 Perhaps today’s pleasure-seeking parrots will be tomorrow’s crows.

🌻 The moment of death is when the veil is lifted from the truth of a person.

🌷🔅 al-Tariq: 9   يَوْمَ تُبْلَى السَّرائِرُ

🌻 A seed splits open in an instant, and a beautiful flower, in all its beauty, emerges from within. At death, the human being will be split open. Either a sun will rise from within the soul, or darkness will appear.

🌻 The Day of Flight—the day of fleeing from lowliness—has come into view.

🌷🔅 ‘Abasa: 34   يَوْمَ يَفِرُّ الْمَرْءُ مِنْ أَخيهِ

🔅🌼 What an exalted station the believer holds! 🌼🔅

🌻 God Almighty defends the believer. The offence of insulting a believer ranks alongside unbelief and heresy.

🌻 Such wondrous bonds connect God Almighty and the believer that, were they to be revealed, the hearts of all who dwell on earth would be overturned.

🌷🔅 عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع‏ مَا مِنْ عَبْدَيْنِ مُسْلِمَيْنِ إِلَّا وَ بَيْنَهُمَا حِجَابٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ فَإِنْ قَالَ أَحَدُهُمَا هَجْراً فِي صَاحِبِهِ هَتَكَ اللَّهُ ذَلِكَ السِّرَّ- فَإِنْ بَرِئَ أَحَدُهُمَا مِنْ صَاحِبِهِ كَفَرَ أَحَدُهُمَا يَعْنِي أَشَدَّهُمَا قَوْلا[6]

🌷🔅 عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع أَنَّهُ قَالَ: إِذَا قَالَ الْمُؤْمِنُ لِأَخِيهِ أُفٍ‏ خَرَجَ‏ مِنْ وَلَايَتِهِ وَ إِذَا قَالَ أَنْتَ لِي عَدُوٌّ كَفَرَ أَحَدُهُمَا لِأَنَّهُ لَا يَقْبَلُ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ عَمَلًا مِنْ أَحَدٍ يَعْجَلُ فِي تَثْرِيبٍ‏ عَلَى مُؤْمِنٍ بِفَضِيحَتِهِ وَ لَا يَقْبَلُ مِنْ مُؤْمِنٍ عَمَلًا وَ هُوَ يُضْمِرُ فِي قَلْبِهِ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِ سُوءً وَ لَوْ كُشِفَ الْغِطَاءُ عَنِ النَّاسِ لَنَظَرُوا إِلَى مَا وَصَلَ بَيْنَ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ وَ بَيْنَ الْمُؤْمِنِ وَ خَضَعَتْ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ‏  رِقَابُهُمْ وَ تَسَهَّلَتْ لَهُمْ أُمُورُهُمْ وَ لَانَتْ لَهُمْ طَاعَتُهُمْ وَ لَوْ نَظَرُوا إِلَى مَرْدُودِ الْأَعْمَالِ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ لَقَالُوا مَا يَقْبَلُ اللَّهُ مِنْ أَحَدٍ عَمَلا[7]

🌼 Ali Sa‘i (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141 (903)  🌼

[1] Self-Examination; *Self-Examination*, by Sayyid Ibn Tawus, p. 14 Ibn Tawus, Murtazavi, Tehran, 4th edition, 1376 Sh.

[2] Self-Examination; *Self-Examination*, by Sayyid Ibn Tawus, p. 13  Ibn Tawus, Murtazavi, Tehran, 4th edition, 1376 Sh.

[3] *Amali* (al-Tusi), text, p. 534  Tusi, Dar al-Thaqafa, Qom, 1st edition, 1414 AH.

[4] *Uyun al-Hikam wa al-Mawa‘iz* (al-Laythi), p. 329  Laythi Wasiti, Dar al-Hadith, Qom, 1st edition, 1376 Sh.

[5] *Amali* (al-Saduq), text, p. 447 Ibn Babawayh, Ketabchi, Tehran, 6th edition, 1376 Sh.

[6] *Mishkat al-Anwar fi Ghurar al-Akhbar*, text, p. 103 Tabarsi, al-Maktaba al-Haydariyya, Najaf, 2nd edition, 1385 AH / 1965 CE / 1344 Sh.

[7] *Al-Mu’min*, p. 72 Kufi Ahwazi, Imam al-Mahdi (peace be upon him) Foundation, Qom, 1404 AH.