The Adornment and Mystery of the Heavens

🔘 Third of Muharram
📆 Date: 1403/04/19 – 3 Muharram 1445
📌 Meshkat-e Noor session
👤 Lecture by Master Ali Saei

🗒 Some of the points discussed in the session:
📌 Please note that the hadiths cited in the text have been paraphrased. For the full text of the hadiths, please refer to the lecture.

🌼 God splits open the light of Husayn and creates from it ḥanān and the ḥūr al-ʿayn. The Messenger of God swears that Husayn surpasses, in majesty and glory, every pleasure you can imagine. (Gardens and the ḥūr al-ʿayn are places of pleasure and beauty.)
🌼 In the Verse of Light, Husayn is the lamp within the glass: the light of God illuminates every land. It lights both the inward and the outward, the seven heavens, and every mystery.
🌼 Without the glass, beauty would not be revealed. Remove the glass from a lantern, and only a spark of light remains; the glass, however, spreads the light beautifully. If we took the glass away from the earth, we would see nothing but darkness.
🌼 If modesty were given form, it would take the shape of Husayn. Modesty is the fortress of wholesome life, the fortress of a world of beauty. Without modesty, beauty would perish.
🌼 Our Master says, «سلوني قبلا ان تفقدونی», and swears by God that he knows the paths of heaven better than the paths of earth. The Master is the leader of the believers. If the believers wish to reach honey, Ali is the queen bee who makes it.
🌼 They ask our Master what God created first. He replies that He created light first.
🌼 They ask how the heavens were formed, and the Master replies that they were formed from water vapour. Note that by “water” here, the Imam does not mean H₂O; he means the shadow of water.
🌼 They ask how the earth was formed, and the Master replies that it was formed from the foam of water.
🌼 They ask what mountains are made of. The Master replies: waves. (What does this refer to?)
🌼 They ask why Mecca is the Mother of Cities. The Master replies that the earth spread out from beneath it.
🌼 They ask about the lowest heaven, and the Master replies that it is made of a restrained wave.
🌼 They ask about the length and breadth of the sun and moon, and the length of the planet, and the Master replies.
🌼 They ask about the colours of the seven heavens, and the Master names them in order, along with their colours. (See the lecture.)
🌼 By God, the Master was ready to journey through the heavens and wanted to take us along with him.
🌼 Husayn is the adornment of the heavens and the earth.
🌼 On the Throne are the likenesses of all creatures, those of the desert and the sea alike. If my image is on God’s Throne, then I have a presence in the celestial realm. What does my face look like there?
🌼 Do I also have a likeness on each of the seven earths? Are the seven earths what is meant by parallel worlds?!
🌼 Have we beheld the dominion of the heavens and the earth?!
🌼 Every adornment is a reflection of Husayn’s beauty.
🌼 If I have understood beauty, it means I have gone beyond it.
🌼 Beauty awakens desire; beauty is a sign.
🌼 We must not become prisoners of desire and let it make us forget our destination.
🌼 Beauty is only a path to be travelled; we must reach what lies beyond it.
🌼 Seeing is a translation of knowledge: the more learned we become, the stronger our longing for beauty. The pursuit of pleasure, too, is a translation of knowledge: the more learned we become, the greater our capacity for pleasure.
🌼 Devotion to the Imams is the most delightful of all pleasures.
🌼 Why are jewels so captivating? What is it about diamonds and gold? Their appearance alone does not enchant us; it is their inner reality that draws us in. We sense that inner reality, but cannot comprehend it; we cannot translate it into words.
🌼 Imam Husayn (AS) is the essence of the jewels of existence, the adornment of the heavens and the earth. Husayn surpasses every precious stone. We must come to know Husayn and to sing of him.
🌼 We must read God’s Book of Adornment to attain knowledge of God.
🌼 The vessel of our knowledge must expand; the way to do so is to turn towards God. Knowledge needs a pure heart in which to settle and find peace. A constricted, dark heart drives wisdom away.
🌼 Beauty is not merely for pleasure; it is also a means of becoming more learned.
🌼 Knowledge is still in its infancy in this age. How much do we really know about planet Earth?
🌼 To see the world’s beauties, one needs a wide-open vision.
🌼 I am still confined to the seven bands of the spectrum; I cannot see beyond them.
🌼 How many beauties have I read? To read all beauty is possible through the power of God.
🌼 Through piety, one can seek the means of drawing near and become connected to Husayn.
🌼 We must pray in each of the heavens and hold mourning for Husayn in every one of them. We must unleash a storm of devotion.
🌼 The Master has drawn a map of the heavens and the earth so that I may conquer them.
🌼 If Husayn is the lamp of guidance, why do I not accept his guidance?!
🌼 Without this lamp of guidance, my lower self and Satan will overcome me and cause me to fall into darkness.
🌼 O God, grant me clear sight, so that I may behold my Imam.