Taking Stock of Body and Soul (No. 1)
«Taking stock of one’s inner life and recognising the soul’s true character can help a person move away from animalistic traits and toward perfection. Self-examination and reflection on one’s spiritual qualities reveal the face of one’s inner self. In a narration, Imam Sajjad divides the people of his time into six groups, likening them to lions, wolves, foxes, dogs, pigs, and sheep. The true believers, like sheep among these groups, endure hardship.»
• Examine yourselves. Do not keep the virtues and vices within you hidden from the scrutiny of heart and mind!
• Strive to survey the countenance of your soul!
• Do you have a human face? What does your human form look like? Are you beautiful, captivating? Do you fall in love with yourself as a sign of love?
• Do you have an angelic face? If so, that is surely cause for joy! Yet you are still incomplete, for angelic nature and celestial beauty are only one aspect of you, one of your capacities—not all that you are!
• God forbid—far be it from your perfection and presence—but is your face that of a beast, like a draft animal, like a cow, sheep or camel? Or like a centipede, with its many different traits?
• What kind of animal? Beasts of burden are better than venomous creatures and predators! Woe to those who resemble pigs, slaves to their appetites and lusts, and in the vilest, most repulsive way, indulging in what is forbidden. Or those who resemble venomous creatures—snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, and so on—or predators: lions, wolves, jackals, and the like—or crows…
• It takes only a review of some traits of the spirit and psyche for a person’s true face to emerge. Do not fear the mirror; do not break it! That would only worsen the state of the human spirit and psyche. Keep Satan at a distance, for he makes ugliness appear beautiful, urges people to move in the opposite direction from their true nature, and will not rest until he has dragged them to the lowest of the low! Keep your conscience awake and clear. Do not silence it; let your true face be revealed!!!
• Healing, correcting and reshaping the face, and restoring its beauty are easy: all we need do is turn to God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, the Ever-Returning. He will restore our beauty, enhance it, and love us.
• If only the beauty of lovely fish, the charms of beautiful birds, the graces of angels, and the goodness of every beautiful creature were imprinted on your soul—and once more you bore witness to the call, «فتبارک الله احسن الخالقین»!
• Consider the following hadith carefully. I hope you belong to none of these six groups! Remember: a believer who is a Shi‘i is like a honeybee!
• أحْمَدُ بْنُ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الْبَرْقِيُّ عَنْ أَبِيهِ يَرْفَعُهُ إِلَى زُرَارَةَ بْنِ أَوْفَى قَالَ: دَخَلْتُ عَلَى عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ ع فَقَالَ يَا زُرَارَةُ النَّاسُ فِي زَمَانِنَا عَلَى سِتِّ طَبَقَاتٍ أَسَدٍ وَ ذِئْبٍ وَ ثَعْلَبٍ وَ كَلْبٍ وَ خِنْزِيرٍ وَ شَاةٍ فَأَمَّا الْأَسَدُ فَمُلُوكُ الدُّنْيَا يُحِبُّ كُلُّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمْ أَنْ يَغْلِبَ وَ لَا يُغْلَبَ وَ أَمَّا الذِّئْبُ فَتُجَّارُكُمْ يَذُمُّونَ إِذَا اشْتَرَوْا وَ يَمْدَحُونَ إِذَا بَاعُوا وَ أَمَّا الثَّعْلَبُ فَهَؤُلَاءِ الَّذِينَ يَأْكُلُونَ بِأَدْيَانِهِمْ وَ لَا يَكُونُ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَا يَصِفُونَ بِأَلْسِنَتِهِمْ وَ أَمَّا الْكَلْبُ يَهِرُّ عَلَى النَّاسِ بِلِسَانِهِ وَ يُكْرِمُهُ النَّاسُ مِنْ شَرِّ لِسَانِهِ وَ أَمَّا الْخِنْزِيرُ فَهَؤُلَاءِ الْمُخَنَّثُونَ وَ أَشْبَاهُهُمْ لَا يُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى فَاحِشَةٍ إِلَّا أَجَابُوا وَ أَمَّا الشَّاةُ فَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ تُجَزُّ شُعُورُهُمْ وَ يُؤْكَلُ لُحُومُهُمْ وَ يُكْسَرُ عَظْمُهُمْ فَكَيْفَ تَصْنَعُ الشَّاةُ بَيْنَ أَسَدٍ وَ ذِئْبٍ وَ ثَعْلَبٍ وَ كَلْبٍ وَ خِنْزِيرٍ.
Al-Khiṣāl, vol. 2, p. 339
• Ja‘far ibn Muḥammad ibn Surūr related to us: He said, “Muḥammad ibn Ja‘far ibn Baṭṭa related to us: Aḥmad ibn Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Barqī, on the authority of his father, related the hadith through Zurarah ibn Awfā, who said: I went to see the Fourth Imam. He said to me, ‘O Zurarah, in our time people fall into six classes: lions, wolves, foxes, dogs, pigs, and sheep. Rulers are like lions, each wanting to prevail and never be defeated. Your merchants are wolves: when they buy, they disparage the goods, and when they sell, they praise them. Foxes are those who earn their living in the name of religion, but do not believe in their hearts what they expound with their tongues.’
• Dogs are foul-mouthed, abusive people who bite others with their tongues as dogs do; people show them respect out of fear of their sharp words.
• Pigs are those whose nature and disposition are effeminate or like that, and who accept every kind of debauchery and disgrace when invited to it.
• Sheep are the believers who suffer: their wool is shorn, their flesh is eaten, and their bones are broken. What can a sheep do, caught in the claws of lions, wolves, foxes, dogs, and pigs?”
Al-Khiṣāl / translated by Kamare’i, vol. 1, p. 302
• 110–141