Written transcript of the lecture
The Meshkat-e Noor teachings series🌻🔆A Life Spent in Service🔆🌻
🌼🔆🌼A Lifetime Devoted to Serving the Beloved🌼🔆🌼
🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹
🔅🌹“A Life Spent in Service” “A Golden Life” “Commentary on Supplication 20 of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya” « عَمِّرْنِي مَا كَانَ عُمُرِي بِذْلَةً فِي طَاعَتِكَ » “Session 232” and so on; summary with supplement 1403.08.10 Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903) 🌹🔅
🔅🌼 وَ عَمِّرْنِي مَا كَانَ عُمُرِي بِذْلَةً فِي طَاعَتِكَ🌼🔅
🌷🔆وَ عَمِّرْنِي مَا كَانَ عُمُرِي بِذْلَةً فِي طَاعَتِكَ، فَإِذَا كَانَ عُمُرِي مَرْتَعاً لِلشَّيْطَانِ فَاقْبِضْنِي إِلَيْكَ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَسْبِقَ مَقْتُكَ إِلَيَّ، أَوْ يَسْتَحْكِمَ غَضَبُكَ عَلَي
🔅🌼O Beloved, let me spend my life in Your service 🌼🔅
🌹O God, grant me a life in which I may devote myself to obeying You.
🌹O God, grant me a life I can make a garment of service to You.
🔅🌼 Obedience is the outward sign of worship🌼🔅
🌹Obedience to God is the highest expression of worship. Obedience attests to worship; it is among the most important means of attaining the station of servitude to God, which is humanity’s highest rank and finest medal.
🌹To attain the station of worship is to conquer the summit of creation. It is to pass beyond all reports and reach the far shore of worship’s purpose.
🔅🌼 O Beloved! Make obedience and worship take root within me🌼🔅
🌷🔆وَ عَبِّدْنِي لَكَ وَ لَا تُفْسِدْ عِبَادَتِي بِالْعُجْب
🔆O Beloved, make me Your devoted servant, and do not let self-admiration ruin my worship (or let me fall prey to self-admiration).
🌷🔆وَ أَكْمِلْ ذَلِكَ لِي بِدَوَامِ الطَّاعَةِ، وَ لُزُومِ الْجَمَاعَة
🔆O Beloved, perfect my merits through constancy in obedience and steadfast adherence to the community.
🌷🔆 وَ لَا تَبْتَلِيَنِّي بِالْكَسَلِ عَنْ عِبَادَتِك
🔆O Beloved, do not afflict me with sloth in worshipping You.
🌷🔆وَ اسْتَعْمِلْنِي بِمَا هُوَ أَسْلَم
🔆O Beloved, employ me in what is sounder (and more worthy).
🌷🔆وَ اسْتَعْمِلْنِي بِالطَّاعَة
🔆O Beloved, employ me in Your obedience.
🌷🔆وَ اسْتَعْمِلْنِي بِمَا تَسْأَلُنِي غَداً عَنْه
🔆O Beloved, employ me in what You will call me to account for tomorrow.
🌷🔆وَ اسْتَعْمِلْنِي بِمَا هُوَ أَرْضَى
🔆O Beloved, employ me in what is most pleasing to You.
🌷🔆وَ اسْتَعْمِلْنِي بِطَاعَتِكَ فِي أَيَّامِ الْمُهْلَة
🔆O Beloved, employ me in Your obedience during the days You have granted me respite
.
🌷🔆وَ اسْتَعْمِلْنِي بِمَا تَسْتَعْمِلُ بِهِ خَالِصَتَك
🔆O Beloved, employ me in deeds done sincerely for You.
🌷🔆وَ اسْتَعْمِلْنِي فِي مَرْضَاتِكَ عَمَلًا لَا أَتْرُكُ مَعَهُ شَيْئاً مِنْ دِينِكَ
🔆O Beloved, employ me in deeds that please You, so that I neglect none of my religion.
🔅🌼 “His devoted servant” has gone beyond outward worship and attained its inner reality before God🌼🔅
🌹The station of being His devoted servant is among the hidden stations, beyond anyone’s capacity to imagine or conjecture. To serve God as His devoted servant is to worship Him in the innermost secret, among the unseen and the hidden.
🌹The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, attained the station of “His servant and Messenger.” He never tires of worshipping God. That is why he says: “ مَا عَبَدْنَاكَ حَقَ عِبَادَتِكَ”
🌷🔆وَ قَالَ رسول الله ص: مَا عَبَدْنَاكَ حَقَ عِبَادَتِكَ وَ مَا عَرَفْنَاكَ حَقَّ مَعْرِفَتِكَ.[1]
🔆I have not worshipped You as You deserve to be worshipped, nor have I known You as You deserve to be known.
🔅🌼Offer your life to the One you worship 🌼🔅
🌹Offer your life, together with all it has brought forth, to the One you worship. Offer the tree of your being, along with its fruits, to the One you worship.
🌹When we welcome an honored guest, we prepare a meal and arrange it on the table with care and artistry. Offering one’s life is like this: it is done with the utmost discipline, respect, and love.
🌹To offer your life is to spend it with the utmost beauty, grace, and worthiness—in other words, to present it to the One you worship in purity.
🌹Devote your life to your Lord alone. Do not give anyone else a share in it.
🔅🌼A life offered freely🌼🔅
🌹A life offered freely is one without claims, demands, or expectations.
🌹To offer one’s life is to place it in the service of the One you worship, beyond the realm of obligation: it is to leave duty behind and enter the realm of love and rapture.
🌹One acts not out of obligation or duty, but out of love and devotion.
🌻🔆الإنسان : 8 وَ يُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعامَ عَلى حُبِّهِ مِسْكيناً وَ يَتيماً وَ أَسيراً
🔆And they give food, despite their love for it and their own need, to the poor, the orphan, and the captive.
🌻🔆الإنسان : 9 إِنَّما نُطْعِمُكُمْ لِوَجْهِ اللَّهِ لا نُريدُ مِنْكُمْ جَزاءً وَ لا شُكُوراً
🔆“We feed you only for the sake of God; we seek from you neither reward nor thanks!”
🌻🔆الإنسان : 11 فَوَقاهُمُ اللَّهُ شَرَّ ذلِكَ الْيَوْمِ وَ لَقَّاهُمْ نَضْرَةً وَ سُرُوراً
🔆So God will shield them from the evil of that Day, and meet them with joy and radiance.
🔅🌼A life offered freely is a life of freedom🌼🔅
🌷🔆وَ قَالَ ع إِنَّ قَوْماً عَبَدُوا اللَّهَ رَغْبَةً فَتِلْكَ عِبَادَةُ التُّجَّارِ وَ إِنَّ قَوْماً عَبَدُوا اللَّهَ رَهْبَةً فَتِلْكَ عِبَادَةُ الْعَبِيدِ وَ إِنَّ قَوْماً عَبَدُوا اللَّهَ شُكْراً فَتِلْكَ عِبَادَةُ الْأَحْرَار[2]
🔆Imam Ali, peace be upon him: Some worship God in hope of His reward; this is the worship of traders. Others worship Him out of fear; this is the worship of slaves. And some worship Him in gratitude; this is the worship of the free.
🔅🌼A life offered freely is adorned with recommended acts of worship🌼🔅
🌷🔆 قَالَ ص إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى يَقُولُ لَا يَزَالُ عَبْدِي يَتَقَرَّبُ إِلَيَّ بِالنَّوَافِلِ مُخْلِصاً لِي حَتَّى أُحِبَّهُ فَإِذَا أَحْبَبْتُهُ كُنْتُ سَمْعَهُ الَّذِي يَسْمَعُ بِهِ وَ بَصَرَهُ الَّذِي يُبْصِرُ بِهِ وَ يَدَهُ الَّتِي يَبْطِشُ بِهَا إِنْ سَأَلَنِي أَعْطَيْتُهُ وَ إِنِ اسْتَعَاذَنِي أَعَذْتُه[3]
🔆The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said: God Most High says: “…My servant keeps drawing near to Me through supererogatory acts until I love him. Then I become the ear with which he hears, the eye with which he sees, the tongue with which he speaks, and the heart with which he understands. Whenever he calls upon Me, I answer him; and whenever he asks Me for something, I grant it to him.”
🔅🌼A life offered freely is a life of gold🌼🔅
🌹A life devoted to God is a life of voluntary worship, passionate love, and joyful, dignified devotion. Put more simply and fittingly, it is a life in the way of Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad. Such worship can never be enough.
🔅🌼Worship is a special bond with the One worshipped🌼🔅
🌻🔆Surah al-Dhariyat: 56 وَ ما خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَ الْإِنْسَ إِلاَّ لِيَعْبُدُونِ
🔆I created jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me.
🌹No one is worthy of worshipping God unless God grants permission to worship Him!
🌹The creation of humankind and jinn is bound up with worship!
🌹Before and after the creation of humankind and jinn, the relationship between Creator and created is different!
🌹What was the state of the human being before becoming human, and what will it be afterward? If only I knew! This worship is an introduction to the main text.
🔅🌼If you do not know God, you will worship something other than Him🌼🔅
🌷🔆عَنْ أَبِي حَمْزَةَ الثُّمَالِيِّ قَالَ قَالَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ ع يَا أَبَا حَمْزَةَ إِنَّمَا يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ مَنْ عَرَفَ اللَّهَ وَ أَمَّا مَنْ لَا يَعْرِفُ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّمَا يَعْبُدُ غَيْرَهُ [4]
🔆Abu Hamza relates: Imam al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said to me, “In truth, only someone who knows God worships Him. One who does not know God is as if worshipping someone other than Him.”
🔅🌼How are we to know God?🌼🔅
🔆We should know God through all His Most Beautiful Names, His exalted attributes, and His greatest signs.
🌷🔆 عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ قَالَ: دَخَلَ رِجَالٌ مِنْ قُرَيْشٍ عَلَى عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ ص فَسَأَلُوهُ كَيْفَ الدَّعْوَةُ إِلَى الدِّينِ قَالَ تَقُولُ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ أَدْعُوكُمْ إِلَى اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ وَ إِلَى دِينِهِ وَ جِمَاعُهُ أَمْرَانِ أَحَدُهُمَا مَعْرِفَةُ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ وَ الْآخَرُ الْعَمَلُ بِرِضْوَانِهِ وَ إِنَّ مَعْرِفَةَ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ أَنْ يُعْرَفَ بِالْوَحْدَانِيَّةِ وَ الرَّأْفَةِ وَ الرَّحْمَةِ وَ الْعِزَّةِ وَ الْعِلْمِ وَ الْقُدْرَةِ وَ الْعُلُوِّ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَ أَنَّهُ النَّافِعُ الضَّارُّ الْقَاهِرُ لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ الَّذِي لا تُدْرِكُهُ الْأَبْصارُ وَ هُوَ يُدْرِكُ الْأَبْصارَ وَ هُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ وَ أَنَّ مُحَمَّداً عَبْدُهُ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ أَنَّ مَا جَاءَ بِهِ هُوَ الْحَقُّ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ وَ مَا سِوَاهُ هُوَ الْبَاطِلُ فَإِذَا أَجَابُوا إِلَى ذَلِكَ فَلَهُمْ مَا لِلْمُسْلِمِينَ وَ عَلَيْهِمْ مَا عَلَى الْمُسْلِمِينَ.[5]
🔆Some men from Quraysh came to Ali ibn al-Husayn (peace be upon him) and asked him what it meant to call people to religion. The Imam replied: “You say, ‘بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم I call you to Allah and to His religion.’ This brings together two matters: one is ‘knowledge of Allah, mighty and majestic,’ and the other is ‘acting in a way that pleases Him.’ To know Allah, mighty and majestic, is to know Him as One, compassionate, merciful, mighty, knowing, powerful, and exalted above all things; to know that He alone brings benefit and harm and holds sway over all things; that He is not perceived by sight, but perceives sight; that He is subtle and aware of all things; and that Muhammad (PBUH) is His servant and messenger, and that all he brought from God Most High is true, while everything else is false. If they respond to this call, then they will have all that is due to Muslims, and all that is incumbent upon Muslims will be incumbent upon them (they will be equal to Muslims in every respect).”
🔅🌼The worship of one who knows God is worship filled with delight🌼🔅
🌷🔆 عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع قَالَ: لَوْ يَعْلَمُ النَّاسُ مَا فِي فَضْلِ مَعْرِفَةِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ مَا مَدُّوا أَعْيُنَهُمْ إِلَى مَا مَتَّعَ اللَّهُ بِهِ الْأَعْدَاءَ مِنْ زَهْرَةِ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَ نَعِيمِهَا وَ كَانَتْ دُنْيَاهُمْ أَقَلَّ عِنْدَهُمْ مِمَّا يَطَئُونَهُ بِأَرْجُلِهِمْ وَ لَنُعِّمُوا بِمَعْرِفَةِ اللَّهِ جَلَّ وَ عَزَّ وَ تَلَذَّذُوا بِهَا تَلَذُّذَ مَنْ لَمْ يَزَلْ فِي رَوْضَاتِ الْجِنَانِ مَعَ أَوْلِيَاءِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ مَعْرِفَةَ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ آنِسٌ مِنْ كُلِّ وَحْشَةٍ وَ صَاحِبٌ مِنْ كُلِّ وَحْدَةٍ وَ نُورٌ مِنْ كُلِّ ظُلْمَةٍ وَ قُوَّةٌ مِنْ كُلِّ ضَعْفٍ وَ شِفَاءٌ مِنْ كُلِّ سُقْمٍ [6]
🔆 Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: “If people knew the worth of knowing God, Mighty and Majestic, they would not look longingly at the glitter of this worldly life and its blessings, which God has allowed His enemies to enjoy. This world would seem to them less valuable than the dust beneath their feet. They would find delight in knowing God, and take pleasure in it like someone who is always among God’s close companions and friends in the gardens of Paradise. Knowledge of God is the companion of every lonely person, the friend of every forsaken soul, the light in every darkness, the strength of every weakness, and the cure for every illness.”
🌼Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903)🌼
🔅🌼A map and overview of the topic “Devoting One’s Life” 🌼🔅
### 🌿 Obedience: Affirming Worship and Servanthood
Obedience to God is proof that I worship Him. Through obedience, I attain the station of servanthood to God, the highest rank of human perfection. A person must become God’s servant. Who has attained this station? The noble Prophet, Muhammad al-Mustafa (PBUH), attained the station of “His servant and His messenger.” He wears this magnificent medal with pride and acknowledges God’s rightful claim. When he attained the station of being God’s servant, he gained access to hidden truths and worshipped God with profound, unparalleled devotion. Attaining the station of worship is the summit of our humanity.
### 🌸 Servanthood: A Leap Beyond Worship
The station of servanthood to God is lofty; it is a leap towards a stage beyond worship. But what lies beyond worship? Servanthood to God is the first step towards the very heart of life.
### 🔥 Self-admiration: A Scourge to One’s Rank and Accumulated Deeds
Self-admiration can burn up years of spiritual gains in a single moment. Rank, knowledge, wealth and even worship are all destroyed when someone says, “I am superior,” because of their clothes, beauty, status or place of residence. This arrogance engulfs everything like a fire and consumes it.
### 🌠 Sincere Servanthood: Keeping Clear of Self-admiration
Whoever attains the station of worship but is overcome by self-admiration sets himself on fire. O God, compel me to do what pleases You and for which I will be called to account tomorrow.
### 🌌 A Prayer for Sincerity in Servanthood
O God, if I do not spend my life in obedience to You, I will become a field for Satan to cultivate.
### 🌿 Surrendering Oneself to God’s Service
O God, make my life a garment of service to You. Take the strength of my arms and put it to use in obeying You.
### 🌹 Beauty in Worship: Welcoming God as One’s Guest
My worship should be at its most beautiful, just as I welcome a guest with the finest food and the most thoughtful hospitality. O God, let my obedience be for You. Teach me the art of worship, so that I may serve You in the most beautiful way. My life should be devoted to worshipping You; my whole being should be in the service of Your worship.
### 🌿 Sincerity in Worship: A Life Belonging to No Other
My worship must be sincere; my life belongs to God alone, with no partner beside Him. This life belongs to God, and I worship only Him. My worship should not be motivated by a share in Paradise or escape from Hell; I serve Him solely for His pleasure.
### 🌸 The Kinds of Worship: The Worship of Merchants and the Free
Some worship God for the sake of Paradise and its rewards; they are traders. Others worship Him out of fear of Hell; this is the worship of the abject. But there are those who worship God in gratitude and for His own sake; this is the worship of the free. The free give food to the needy without expecting a reward, acting solely for the sake of God’s pleasure.
### 🌌 Love of Worship: Beyond Duty and Obligation
Even if God had not made worship obligatory, I would still go to Him in the depths of the night, drawn by love for Him and gratitude for His kindness, and ask His permission to worship Him. True worship is offered out of love, not out of duty or obligation.
### 🔥 Worship in Love: A Thirst for Nearness
Worship in love is worship performed out of love and affection. The lover thirsts for nearness to God and cannot be content with the obligatory acts alone. He longs to worship more and leap toward God.
### 🌸 Drawing Near Through Voluntary Worship: Attaining Divine Love
A hadith qudsi tells us that when a servant consistently performs voluntary acts of worship with sincerity, he draws ever closer to God, until God comes to love him. When God loves His servant, He becomes his hearing, and the servant hears through Him; He becomes his sight, and the servant sees with insight through Him; He becomes his hand, and the servant, by divine power, takes the hands of those in need. This servant becomes Yad Allah—the hand through which God comes to the aid of others.
### 🌻 A Blessed Life: A Lifetime Given to God
O God, bless me so that I may give my life in Your path. A blessed life is one devoted to God and spent in His service.
### 🌹 Adorning Our Lives with the Virtues of the Prophet and His Family
I must adorn my life with the beautiful spiritual and divine virtues, so that I may live in a way worthy of drawing near to the Prophet and the Ahl al-Bayt (AS).
### 🌟 Worship: The Purpose of Creation and the Pinnacle of Human Flourishing
Obedience is a first step toward worship and an affirmation of servitude. Worship is the purpose and ultimate end of the creation of humankind and jinn. I must grasp the meaning and essence of worship, and ask whether worship belongs only to this human creation of ours, or whether a new form of relationship with God will emerge thereafter. Worship without knowledge has no meaning; I must worship God with a full understanding of Him.
### 🌌 Knowledge of God: The Condition for True Worship
If I do not know God, my worship will be meaningless, and perhaps I will have served someone else. My God, I need to know You. How can I come to know You fully, so that my worship may be sincere and true?
### 🌹 The Call to God: The Beginning of Knowledge
Imam Sajjad (AS) said: Say “بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم”, and call people to Allah, the Almighty. Knowing God means knowing His oneness, mercy, compassion, might, knowledge, and power. This knowledge is the beginning of the path of faith and worship. Where do I stand? I have not even moved beyond the first steps of knowing Him. I must reach a point where I know that whatever He has brought is true, and anything else is false. That is how one becomes a believer and attains the stations of obedience and worship.
### 🌟 Knowledge of God: A Companion in Fear and Solace in Loneliness
Knowledge of Allah is a companion through every fear and frees a person from loneliness. Whoever attains this knowledge has no fear in their heart, for God is always with them. This knowledge is like a light in the darkness, a remedy for every pain and a cure for every illness. What power and efficacy lie in knowledge of Allah, the Almighty!
🌼Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903)🌼
[1] Bihar al-Anwar (Beirut ed.), vol. 68, p. 23Majlisi, Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi—Beirut, second edition, 1403 AH.
[2] Nahj al-Balagha (ed. Subhi Salih), p. 510Sharif al-Radi, Hijrat—Qom, first edition, 1414 AH.
[3] Guidance of Hearts to the Right Way (by al-Daylami), vol. 1, p. 91 Al-Daylami, al-Sharif al-Radi, Qom, first edition, 1412 AH.
[4] Bihar al-Anwar (Beirut edition), vol. 27, p. 57 al-Majlisi, Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, Beirut, second edition, 1403 AH.
[5] Al-Kafi (Islamic edition), vol. 5, p. 36 al-Kulayni, Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyya, Tehran, fourth edition, 1407 AH.
[6] Al-Kafi (Islamic edition), vol. 8, p. 247 al-Kulayni, Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyya, Tehran, fourth edition, 1407 AH.
