Written transcript of the lecture
The Meshkat-e Noor teachings series🌻🔆🔆🌻
🌼🔆🌼Innate Intelligence🌼🔆🌼
🔹Weekly sessions on the explanation and interpretation of the *Sahifa Sajjadiya*: Supplication 20
📅 Date: 1404/10/18 – 18 Rajab 1447
✨ Session: Meshkat-e Noor
🎤 Speaker: Master Ali Saei
📝 Some topics discussed in the session:
The secret to overcoming Satan 🗝
Imam Sajjad, peace be upon him, teaches us the secret to overcoming Satan: How can we outwit Satan? How can we turn this formidable adversary to the service of worshipping God? Satan stands in the human being’s path, and we must remove this adversary from the way of serving God. We must get past this obstacle; we must trample Satan underfoot, bend his back, leave him helpless and lamenting, and make him despair. We must leave behind all that is vile and pass through darkness to attain light and holiness. We must pass through fire and Hell to find our way to Paradise. We must purify what we take in, consume light, and radiate it ourselves. We must purify our inputs so that what we produce becomes holy. We must become makers of things of the highest quality.
Satan stands in the human being’s path. He constantly influences our faculty of perception, seeking to penetrate our very being and take control of our decision-making. Satan seeks to dominate the human spirit and the entire system of perception; to seize the heart and all its faculties—the heart with its intellect and its forces—and destroy the intellect and its forces, replacing them with ignorance and its forces. He wants to turn the human heart into his own garrison, and, through his temptations and embellishments, with the help of envy, turn a person into a weapon of destruction—destroying goodness through that very person.
Trust in God is confidence in the All-Provider ⚖️
One particular divine law that silences and defeats most of Satan’s schemes is trust in God—confidence in the All-Provider. There is not a single particle, let alone a human being, whose provision God has not guaranteed. Alongside what is lawful, He has also placed a corresponding share of the unlawful. In other words, a person’s provision comes in two shares: one lawful and the other unlawful. We must make our way to the lawful share. If we reach for the unlawful one, we will be held to account through the lawful share—that is, our lawful provision will be reduced. God, the Great and Mighty, has ordained lawful provision for us, and it will reach us in complete peace and security. This is God’s law: He has placed lawful provision within a sphere of safety and security, and it will certainly come to us. At the same time, He has placed unlawful provision within our reach. If we take any of what is unlawful, God reduces by the same amount the lawful provision He ordained for us. Beyond these two, God has also bestowed abundant grace and generosity. This is the meaning of the blessed verse. A person will receive their lawful provision; if they want more, let them ask God, ask of His grace. God will graciously give, and immerse them in His provision.
So let us trust this law of God and embrace it. God will surely bring us our provision by lawful means. We must be certain of this. Perhaps for a short while we will be put to the test; we must not let ourselves be drawn toward unlawful provision, for that would diminish our lawful share while leaving us with punishment in the Hereafter—a burden we must bear. This is God’s law. We will receive our provision; it is decreed by God. He has ordained our share of water and bread, of every fruit and food. Even our share of pleasure is ordained: we will not attain more than our allotted share of it. If we are drawn toward unlawful pleasure, our lawful pleasure will certainly be diminished. Our provision in terms of housing, attracting attention, status and social standing—all of it is allotted by God, and He will bring it all to us by lawful means. Let us not seek it by unlawful means! But there is a condition: the condition is to seek provision with moderation. I must seek it in a measured, gracious, and good way. I must not be wasteful or neglect to preserve and care for it, thereby burning through my own provision until it is gone.
Your provision is in the heavens 🌌
The Exalted Lord says: “Your provision is in the heavens.” Surely, your provision is in the heavens, along with everything you have been promised. Your provision is in the heavens, while you move about on earth; keep your efforts measured. Your provision does not come from the heart of the earth; it will rain down from the heavens. So turn your gaze towards the Creator of the heavens and trust in God’s promises. Nothing that is meant for a person will be lost to them on earth. Allah swears an oath so that humankind may be certain that their provision is in the heavens, along with everything they have been promised. Be certain, and do not drive yourself to ruin. “By the Lord of the heavens and the earth: this is indeed the truth, beyond any doubt, just as surely as you speak.” This matter, this provision—the provision that will come from the heavens—is certain. I, the Lord of earth and heaven, swear by heaven and earth that I will bring you your provision. This is the truth. Be as certain of it as you are of your own speech and words.
Do not kill your children for fear of poverty; We provide for them, and for you as well. How many creatures are unable to carry their own provision, too weak to earn it or strive to obtain it—yet Allah provides for them, and for you too. He is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. When a person believes in this truth, they will be neither caught up in desires and worldly adornments nor enslaved by envy.
How can I seek provision in a measured, moderate way? How can I seek lawful provision with balance, grace and goodness? Try to divide your hours into four parts. Divide your time into four parts; divide the twenty-four hours of the day and night into four:
- Devote one quarter to intimate communion with God.
- Devote another quarter of these twenty-four hours to seeking your livelihood.
- Devote another quarter to keeping the company of trustworthy brothers—those who know your faults and point them out to you, helping you become aware of your shortcomings, while remaining sincere towards you in their hearts.
- Devote the remaining quarter to your pleasures, provided they are lawful, and let that quarter enable you to fulfil the other three. In other words, use it to strengthen yourself for the three quarters that came before.
This is the secret of moderation in seeking lawful provision. By the God of the heavens and the earth, our provision will come from the heavens—from where we expect it and from where we do not. Allah will provide for us. Let us remind ourselves of this again and again. By God, He will provide for us; let us be certain of it.
The rival of artificial intelligence is innate intelligence 🧠
In the pursuit of lawful provision, the Exalted God has also placed what is forbidden as a test, so that His worthy servant may be distinguished. We showed the human being two paths: the path of good and the path of evil. We guided them to the way; they may be grateful or ungrateful. Thus, on every person’s path there is both lawful and unlawful provision. Which will a person choose: the lawful or the unlawful? If they turn to what is lawful, they will receive the provision apportioned to them, and may also seek God’s grace and attain more. But if they reach for what is forbidden, they forfeit lawful provision, while their punishment in the Hereafter remains. This provision—every individual… every land, too, has its provision. Every country in this universe, every people, has its own allotted share. Countries that commit aggression will not obtain more provision. If those domineering countries understood this law of God, they would no longer invade other countries or bring hardship upon themselves and others. Let us respect God’s law.
Satan is constantly planting his suggestions in our spirit, our soul, our intellect and our heart. It is up to me to recognize Satan, to know him and distinguish truth from falsehood. If I fail to tell truth from falsehood, I will go astray; I will swallow poison in place of an antidote. And how many people swallow poison and bring ruin upon their afterlife! Yes, distinguishing truth from falsehood, and satanic promptings from those sent by God, is among the greatest of forms of knowledge. How can I make that distinction? My heart must be sound, and my intention pure and sincere, if I am to discern an angel’s voice from Satan’s. If my heart becomes sick, I will no longer be able to tell Satan’s voice from an angel’s; I will be destroyed.
We are living in the End Times. These End Times are a special class for the people of the End Times. I must recognize Satan’s whispers, repel them and neutralize them. I must answer the angel’s voice, which calls to me from my heart and summons me to the truth; I must say, “Here I am.” I must distinguish revelations inspired by God from satanic ones. If I cannot, I will be destroyed.
Artificial intelligence will overpower me; it is the very embodiment of the whispers that assail my heart. Discerning the truth has become exceedingly difficult in this world. The rival of artificial intelligence is the intelligence of our innate nature. If it is not active, we are lost. One day, our Imam of the Age, His Eminence Baqiyyat Allah al-Aʿẓam (AJ), will call to us and summon us to himself. If our innate intelligence is not awake, those Dajjal-like intelligences will deceive us. Let us be on our guard: the next stage of artificial intelligence will be Dajjal-like intelligence. Many will fall captive to it—and many are already in its grasp. If my innate intelligence is awake—my prophetic, Alid and angelic intelligence—I will find answers to all my questions through them. But if my innate intelligence lies dormant, I will be deaf and dumb to all of these: to artificial, prophetic and Alid intelligence alike. I will be captive to satanic intelligence.
If our innate intelligence is awake, we will need nothing else. Every human being could have been a prophet of God. But because people’s innate nature was not fully awakened, prophets were sent. Only 124,000 pure human beings brought their innate nature to life and heard the voice of truth directly from God. Our ears are deaf to what is heard through divine inspiration; we need God’s pure prophets and saints so that we can hear the melody of truth.
If this innate intelligence of ours were to awaken, everyone would be an expert physician; we could even meet our own health and medical needs. We would hear the voices of our limbs and organs, hear their pain and understand what they needed. Whether directly or through inspiration, we would know what remedy to seek. Without even thinking about it, we would be drawn to certain fruits and other things and be healed. But instead, illness gives us its orders. Deadly viruses make demands upon our bodies, and we spend every hour of every day serving the enemies within us, both physical and spiritual.
So let us awaken our innate intelligence, purify our hearts and make our intentions sincere. The heart is God’s sanctuary; let us not allow anything other than God to dwell there. The remembrance of God and love for God must fill our hearts. There should be no room left for anyone else—not even for God’s angels to long to enter our hearts, this sanctuary of God.
So let us guard our souls and spirits, lest Satan seize them—and take over our decision-making and resolve. The central command of a human being must be governed solely by the Sovereign of all existence, Allah. Otherwise, Satan will take charge of this greatest of worlds. Desire, embellishment and envy—whether arising from the self or from Satan… When desire and embellishment run along the path of envy, corruption takes hold of a person’s soul.
So let us resist every desire. Let us not allow Satan to seize our souls! Let us not allow him to take control of the operating system of our being! Let us not allow our memory to fall into Satan’s hands! Let us not allow Satan and the self to start manufacturing appetites and making decisions! Let us not allow them to issue commands from within me! Let us not allow envy to enter my soul, stirring hatred within me until, in the end, I want the whole world destroyed!
Let us not allow this envy to spread from one person to a whole society, giving rise to racial, national, territorial, linguistic, ethnic and tribal envy, and to blind fanaticism. One land will envy another, and worlds will be destroyed. At the individual level, envy will assail us with destructive waves; at the level of nations, with waves that converge and intertwine. Envy is a vile weapon, fired with bullets of arrogance, narcissism, oppression and the like—and its result is the destruction of the human world. Envy means suicide: it destroys itself in order to destroy the world. So we must cleanse the land of our being of every corruption, and purge ourselves of the jinn Iblis and the lower self. If we give Satan and the lower self even the slightest smile, the land of our soul will fall into Satan’s hands.
Satan lays his eggs in their breasts 🕷
They took Satan as their standard in all their affairs and made him their guide; they chose Satan in place of the angels, and Satan in turn turned them into his snares. In other words, this human being became one of Satan’s threads—a strand in his web—so that whenever Satan wants to capture prey, he does so through this person. What a fall from grace! From those heights, from the best of forms, he plunges to the lowest of the low.
And Satan does not stop there. He lays eggs in their breasts and raises his young there; he moves and crawls in their laps, in their very embrace—as though the human being had become Satan’s mother! He suckles the milk of their humanity, drains them of all they possess, and uses it up. Satan consumes their Hereafter, their worldly life, all their resources, and turns the human being into an empty shell. He looks and gazes through their eyes; this human being has become Satan’s lookout. The person who ought to have become an eye of God has now become an eye of Satan. Satan sees through his eyes and speaks with his tongue. Thus he makes them stumble and makes falsehood seem fair to them—like someone who has taken Satan as a partner in his rule and whose tongue gives voice to falsehood.
Such a person becomes an instrument of Satan. Satan’s blood runs in his veins; he becomes a hybrid, both human and jinn. He becomes a source of evil forces, constantly radiating negative energies from within. Wherever he steps, whatever space he enters, whoever he looks at, he contaminates. Through him, Satan brings his desires to fruition. The human being becomes the object of Satan’s appetite: whatever Satan craves, the person pursues to the point of self-destruction, all to provide Satan with food. He fulfils all Satan’s wishes and embellishments, becoming Satan’s weapon. And Satan does not let him die. Like a spider that lays its eggs inside its prey, he stings it and keeps it hovering between life and death, so that he can always feed on warm flesh. Satan captures the human being in just this way, making him «میتٌ بین الأحیاء» and bringing him into Satan’s service. This person becomes Satan’s breeding apparatus, his hatchery and his hunting ground, catching all that is foul. He becomes Satan’s field: whatever seed Satan chooses, he sows in the human soul; from the human heart he brings his own evils to fruition and makes his vile tree bear fruit. This person becomes Satan’s laboratory. He is no longer a single Satan but a whole host of them. This human being, once the noblest of creatures, becomes the vilest of the vile.
Once he has taken possession, Satan turns the human being into his screen, carrying out his desires through him. Beyond breeding his young, he uses the human being to fulfil all his ambitions. Through him, Satan infiltrates and sows the seeds of sin wherever he wishes. He walks and crawls through the human being, going wherever he wants. The human being becomes Satan’s mount, his donkey, descending to that lowly station. Satan gains complete control over this person and makes him his permanent home.
