Written transcript of the lecture
The Meshkat-e Noor teachings series🌼The Dawn of Hadi Light from the Heart of Mahdavi Light🌼
🌼The Limits of Free Will🌼
🌸🔆🌿 “The Naqawi Secret” “The Secrets of the Knowledge of Imamate” “The Secret of Time”
🔅🌹 A summary, with an addendum: “The Naqawi Secret,” “The Secrets of the Knowledge of Imamate,” “The Secret of Time,” “The Secret of the Forbidden Tree” “ ” 1402.04.12 Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat 110.141(903) 🌹🔅
🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹
☘️ 🔅 🌸 O God, make Your guide known to us. 🌸 🔅 ☘️
🌸 🔅 O God, if You do not make Your guide known to us, I will lose the way of guidance; I will be lost and forgotten. 🔅 🌸
☘️ 🔅 Al-Hadi, peace be upon him, is the mighty رمز of the greater encounter with God, and the Naqawi secret is the horizon of the Muhammadan heaven. 🔅 ☘️
🔅 ☘️ Imam al-Hadi, peace be upon him, became dust so that he might make us heavenly. ☘️ 🔅
☘️If we do not know Hadi, we have lost—an eternal loss, in this world and the next.☘️
🔅 If we do not connect with the truth of the Naqawi, we are left defrauded and erased. 🔅
☘️Let us see through Hadi and hear through him, so that we may behold the highest realm and hear the mighty realm of divine omnipotence.☘️
🔅 Imam al-Hadi, peace be upon him, has joined light to light, infused life into life, and become the one and only peerless jewel. 🔅
☘️Imam Ali al-Naqi, peace be upon him, is the furnace of divine love.☘️
🔅 Whoever yearns for love should give their life to this furnace of love. 🔅
🔅 Through a knowing visitation to Imam al-Hadi, peace be upon him, let us connect to his vast network. 🔅
🌹🔅 السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا أبا الحَسَنِ عَلِيَّ بْنَ مُحَمَّدٍ الزَّكِيَّ الرَّاشِدَ النُّورَ الثَّاقِبَ وَرَحْمَةُ الله وَبَرَكاتُهُ ، السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا صَفِيَّ الله السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا سِرَّ الله السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا حَبْلَ الله السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا ألَ الله السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا خِيرَةَ الله السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا صَفْوَةَ الله السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا أمِينَ الله السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا حَقَّ الله السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا حَبِيبَ اللهِ ، السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا نُورَ الاَنْوارِ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا زَيْنَ الاَبْرارِ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا سَلِيلَ الاَخْيارِ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا عُنْصُرَ الاَطْهارِ ، السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا حُجَّةَ الرَّحْمنِ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا رُكْنَ الإيْمانِ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا مَوْلى المُؤْمِنِينَ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا وَلِيَّ الصَّالِحِينَ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا عَلَمَ الهُدى السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا حَلِيفَ التُّقى ، السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا عَمُودَ الدِّينِ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا بْنَ خاتَمِ النَّبِيِّينَ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا بْنَ سَيِّدِ الوَصِيِّينَ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يا بْنَ فاطِمَةَ الزَّهْراءِ سَيِّدَةِ نِساءِ العالَمِينَ ، السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُّها الاَمِينُ الوَفِيُّ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُّها العَلَمُ الرَّضِيُّ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُّها الزَّاهِدُ التَّقِيُّ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُّها الحُجَّةُ عَلى الخَلْقِ أَجْمَعِينَ ، السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُها التَّالِيَ لِلْقُرْآنِ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُها المُبَيِّنُ لِلْحَلالِ مِنَ الحَرامِ ، السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُها الوَلِيُّ النَّاصِحُ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُها الطَّرِيقُ الواضِحُ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُها النَّجْمُ اللائِحُ ، أَشْهَدُ يا مَوْلايَ يا أبا الحَسَنِ أنَكَّ حُجَّةُ اللهِ عَلى خَلْقِهِ ،
🌹🔅A ray from the sun of virtues
🌹🔅☘️ The attributes of the Imam recorded in visitation texts are only a part of his attributes. ☘️🔅🌹
🌷The attributes set out in the visitation texts were present in the Imams at the time of their Imamate—and they possessed still more.
🌿 The Imam’s noble and sublime attributes are multiplying at every moment, with ever-increasing speed.
🌿The cord of God binds us, forming the mighty knot of servitude; it strengthens the very soul of devotion to God, connects us to divine mercy, and lifts us from the lowest to the highest.
🌷 Through the blessing of the Imams, a believer must continually ascend. If a believer’s noble attributes do not increase, they are at a loss. The decline of good attributes is a sign of being accursed; their stagnation, a sign of loss; and their ascent, a cause for emulation.
🌹🔅 The Desert of Occultation
🌹🔅☘️ The desert of occultation is a garden in which the finest human beings blossom. ☘️🔅🌹
🌷 Is the community’s deprivation of the blessing of the Imam’s presence a sign of our defeat? To be deprived of this blessing is surely heartbreaking, but it does not absolve us of our duties and responsibilities. Everyone is accountable to the extent of their capacity and must act accordingly.
🌿 Surely, the reward of a community deprived of the blessing of the Imam’s presence is greater than that of a community receiving the Imam’s grace. The same act earns a different reward under these two different conditions.
🌷 A flower that grows in the desert is more precious than one that grows in the highlands amid torrential rain.
🌿 In the blessed reign of Imam al-Zaman, the greatest grace will be granted to those who, amid the desert of occultation, have not forgotten the garden of existence.
🌷 New duties may be established in the time of Imam al-Zaman in response to the needs of the age, but the laws of the Prophet Muhammad remain unalterable and will be preserved for as long as God wills.
☘️🔆 Imagine that travel between the stars becomes possible, or that the Earth’s direction of rotation changes, or its speed is altered; that faster-than-light speeds become possible; that human genes change, new organs grow in the human body, or particular genetic, physical and spiritual transformations take place. Imagine entering the worlds of Jabulqa and Jabulsa and other worlds, or their inhabitants—and those of other worlds—coming to Earth; journeys through time, temporal ruptures, and so on.
🔆☘️ And as reason develops, our obligations, too, will expand.
🌹🔅☘️ Ignorance of the Imam breeds enmity ☘️🔅🌹
🌿 If we fail to attain knowledge of the Imam, we will either go to excess or fall short; both are enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt. But excess is worse than falling short. Those who go to either extreme will be enemies of Imam al-Zaman.
🌷 Let us know Imam al-Zaman as he truly is, with the knowledge he deserves; otherwise, we will become an impediment to our Imam.
🌹🔅☘️ The Imam’s soul eternally kisses the beauty of the Qur’an ☘️🔅🌹
🌿 In the time of the Imam’s presence, his words take precedence over the written Qur’an, for the Imam is the clarifying Qur’an and the speaking Qur’an. But in the time of occultation, the written Qur’an takes precedence over narrations attributed to the Imam.
🌷 In the truest sense, the Imam is the living Qur’an: he recites it from the pure page of his heart.
🌿 In reality, the Imam is the Book of God. The Imam’s very being is a unique tablet of the Qur’an, inscribed and spread across the pages of his soul.
🌷 The Qur’an, as the Greater Weight, is inscribed in the soul of the Lesser Weight, raising the Imam’s being to the station of the Greater Weight. With the Qur’an, the Imam is everything.
🌹🔅 The accursed taste of the forbidden tree
🌹🔅☘️ How did the children of Adam taste the forbidden tree? ☘️🔅🌹
🌿 Where and how did Adam’s descendants share in partaking of the forbidden tree? Adam was in the material world, while the souls of his children were present in the World of ذر. Yet, in some way, they were connected to Adam—through cellular or genetic ties, or by some other means—and were free to absorb or reject the essence of the forbidden tree. Whoever absorbed it had impurity arise within them; whoever refrained remained pure and undefiled. (He knows.)
🌷 God is powerful—He is all-powerful and can erase the effects of things and events. More than that, He can erase and annihilate the things and events themselves, then bring order to the conditions that have arisen anew through His knowledge beyond all description—all by His will, unconfined by time or limitation.
🌿 After repenting, Adam returned to a state better than the one he had been in before partaking of the forbidden tree. This is the secret of «یا مبدل السیئات باضعافها من الحسنات».
🌹🔅 The zero point at the boundary of free will
🌹🔅☘️ What happens if we reach the zero point at the boundary of free will? ☘️🔅🌹
🌿 It is possible for a person to reach the zero point at the boundary of free will.
🌷Could this world be a review of our thoughts at the very outset of choosing and exercising free will—a review of the options before us and the events contained in each, any of which might come to pass?
🌿Is it possible to remake the soul and the world without disturbing the prevailing order of existence? Yes. Everything is subject to the Lord and overcome by Him; whatever He wills, comes to be.
🌷Abrogation and confirmation exist in all things, even in time, space, and events. They are in God’s hands, and He has power over all things—even to erase events that have already taken place.
🌿Time was subservient to the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them. Among the mysteries of the Ascension was the joining of time and space by the permission of the Almighty. Entering the future is one example; the mystery of intercession—which in a sense influences events—is another.
🌷Entering the dimensions of time is a kind of journey through time, not a journey with time.
🌿Moving through time differs from moving out of time; likewise, passing through time and passing from time are distinct matters.
🌷The intermingling and interconnection of time’s different dimensions, and the blending of past, present, and future, make the nature of time all the more wondrous.
🌿If we remove a single component from a mixture or concoction, the resulting mixture takes on a new order.
🌷The removal of an entity from among existing things, or of an event from among events, and its nonexistence, arrange the world into a new order.
🌿The First Will is the soul of all wills; it is the singularity of all wills, and everything lies within it. Past, present, and future are contained in it without any temporal dimension. Later wills are, in truth, interpretations of that First Will. Whoever is connected to the First Will gains insight into all time, space, and events.
🌷The properties of the combinations that make up the universe change when a single entity is erased.
🌿For God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise, it is all the same whether an event itself is erased or its effect is erased—whether He removes the effect or its cause.
🌷God Most High can erase anything contained in the Mother of the Book.
🌿اللَّهُمَّ إِنَ كُنْتَ كَتَبْتَنِي عِنْدَكَ فِي أُمِّ الْكِتَابِ شَقِيّاً مَحْرُوماً مُقَتَّراً عَلَيَّ فِي الرِّزْقِ فَامْحُ مِنْ أُمِّ الْكِتَابِ شَقَائِي وَ حِرْمَانِي وَ أَثْبِتْنِي عِنْدَكَ سَعِيداً مَرْزُوقاً فَإِنَّكَ تَمْحُو مَا تَشَاءُ وَ تُثْبِتُ وَ عِنْدَكَ أُمُّ الْكِتَاب
🌷There are differences between abrogation, transformation, erasure, badaʾ, and annihilation.
🌷By the permission of the One Almighty, it is possible to enter the past and influence its events; with every change, a new order takes shape.
🌿After time’s different dimensions have been influenced, the geography of the present and future will also be transformed and adjusted in accordance with the new changes.
🌿🌷ثُمَّ قَالَ ذُو الْقَرْنَيْنِ لَا بَلْ نَمْشِي إِلَى خَلِيلِ الرَّحْمَنِ فَمَشَى وَ مَشَى مَعَهُ أَصْحَابُهُ حَتَّى الْتَقَيَا قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ ع بِمَ قَطَعْتَ الدَّهْرَ قَالَ بِإِحْدَى عَشْرَةَ كَلِمَةً:
سُبْحَانَ مَنْ هُوَ بَاقٍ لَا يَفْنَى سُبْحَانَ مَنْ هُوَ عَالِمٌ لَا يَنْسَى سُبْحَانَ مَنْ هُوَ حَافِظٌ لَا يَسْقُطُ سُبْحَانَ مَنْ هُوَ بَصِيرٌ لَا يَرْتَابُ سُبْحَانَ مَنْ هُوَ قَيُّومٌ لَا يَنَامُ سُبْحَانَ مَنْ هُوَ مَلِكٌ لَا يُرَامُ- سُبْحَانَ مَنْ هُوَ عَزِيزٌ لَا يُضَامُ سُبْحَانَ مَنْ هُوَ مُحْتَجِبٌ لَا يُرَى سُبْحَانَ مَنْ هُوَ وَاسِعٌ لَا يَتَكَلَّفُ سُبْحَانَ مَنْ هُوَ قَائِمٌ لَا يَلْهُو سُبْحَانَ مَنْ هُوَ دَائِمٌ لَا يَسْهُو.
🌷Gaining speed within time is different from gaining speed relative to time and moving ahead of it: a motion that overtakes time.
🌷The mystery of «این الطالب بدم المقتول بکربلا» will be revealed at the time of the advent. The Imam, riding upon time, will traverse the age.
🌹🔅☘️ God, without peer, is the Knower, the All-Knowing.☘️🔅🌹
🌷Does God know through knowledge, or is knowing one of the acts of the All-Unique God? Describing the realm that precedes knowledge is possible only through knowledge; yet this realm lies beyond knowledge, and to cast a scientific hue over what is beyond science diminishes the grandeur of that wondrous realm.
🌿What is impossible for God is impossible.
🌹🔅☘️ I do not understand my own understanding ☘️🔅🌹
🌿We understand events digitally: our understanding is simplified and incomplete. Were it not incomplete, its complexity would make it incomprehensible to us. To avoid being wholly deprived of understanding, digital, segmented, stepwise, colour-based and multispectral ways of understanding help us.
🌷Seeing in black and white, or through a few spectra, is in reality a reduction of billions of spectral gradations to just a handful, making them easier for us to understand. It is like reducing an alphabet of billions of letters to 28.
🌿Seeing countless thousands of colour spectra as a single colour is a kind of accommodation in understanding—a minimal apprehension of the truth.
🌷A sense of continuity is not proof of continuity; it is simply a failure to notice the divisions.
🌿I truly do not understand how I understand.
🌹🔅☘️ The human self takes its colour from the human spirit ☘️🔅🌹
🌷The human self is interpreted in light of the spirits that dwell within it.
🌿Whatever spirit dwells within a person’s soul is the spirit to which that person’s self is ascribed. If the Spirit of Faith dwells within, the self is called the tranquil self; if the Spirit of Faith departs and the Spirit of Desire takes its place, the self is described as satanic and vile.
🌼 Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141 (903) 🌼
