The Imam: Active Tawhid

🔹 The Eve of the Birth of Imam al-Jawad, peace be upon him
📅 Date: 1403/10/22 – 11 Rajab 1446
✨ Session: Meshkat-e Noor
🎤 Speaker: Master Ali Saei
📝 Some of the topics discussed in the session:

🌟 The Eve of the Birth of the Imam of Generosity and Grace

Imam al-Jawad, peace be upon him, is one who parts seas—both earthly seas and heavenly ones. He opens the springtime of hearts, and in the hands of the Imams, the Generous One, he is a miracle of God. He is the Moses of the family of Muhammad and, in his brevity, like the Jesus of the family of Muhammad.

The Imam of generosity and grace is a source of divine blessings: blessings without end or limit. Imam al-Rida, peace be upon him, said: “This blessed child is the greatest blessing for our Shi‘a; no child like him has ever been born among our Shi‘a.” This points to a particular mystery: it is for the Shi‘a to draw forth the blessings of Imam al-Jawad.

🌌 The Shi‘a and Drawing Forth the Blessings of al-Jawad

The Shi‘a must be the architects of al-Jawad’s blessings. Through their Imam al-Jawad, they must reach the summit. God has opened this Imam’s gates to us. Imam al-Jawad, peace be upon him, is a source of divine generosity and grace. Through this Imam, God has made His blessings and acts of grace manifest.

Who will enter the sea of al-Jawad’s blessings? The Shi‘a must be immersed in God’s immense and unending blessings. God’s blessing bespeaks the boundlessness and enduring nature of His mercy.

🌠 The Blessings of Imam al-Jawad and Spiritual Poverty

Why am I poor and deprived? Because I have lost my blessing and wealth. The Imam is within my heart. If my heart is expansive and open, I have found my Imam. But if my heart is constricted, I have lost him. That is the poverty I have brought upon myself.

Why am I the poorest of all? Because I have forgotten the immense wealth and treasure that is Imam al-Jawad, peace be upon him. I have a proof of God like Imam al-Jawad, yet I have left him inactive in my life. Otherwise, the spiritual kingdom of Imam al-Jawad would encompass all my possessions and property, and I would know no limits or bounds.

🌌 Wronging the Imam and Oneself: A Grave Denial of Blessing

Could there be any greater ingratitude? I have denied an immense blessing: Imam al-Jawad, peace be upon him. I have wronged the Imam—and, even before that, myself. I am unjust to my own soul and have committed a crime against it.

Forgetting a blessing is no different from destroying it. What must we do to benefit from this immense source? Receiving these blessings requires a heart made vast—a heart refined through pure intention.

When a person’s intention is corrupted, blessing moves away from them. It departs and takes its leave. Purifying the heart and intention is the key to receiving the blessings of Imam al-Jawad, peace be upon him.

🌟 Principles for Drawing on the Blessings of Imam al-Jawad, Peace Be upon Him

To observe the principles of blessing, we must set our hearts right and make our intentions sincere. As long as our intention is not sound and our heart has not become pure, we cannot benefit from the blessings of Imam al-Jawad, peace be upon him. If the heart is unworthy of the greatest blessings, the Imam departs from that person.

The secret to drawing on Imam al-Jawad, peace be upon him, lies in turning to God, seeking knowledge of Him, and honouring the rights and due claims of God’s proof. Only with a pure heart, sincere intention, and truthful soul can we benefit from the Imam’s immense blessings.
O Lord, purify my heart and make my soul sound and sincere, so that I may become worthy of receiving this greatness.

🌌 Faith and God-consciousness: Keys to the Opening of Blessings

The secret to receiving the blessings of Imam Jawad (AS) lies in faith and piety. Faith must be renewed and its soundness examined. Piety, too, must be assessed, so that the blessings of heaven and earth may be opened to us.

With the two keys of faith and piety, we can draw upon the blessings of Imam Jawad and reach their depths.
O Lord, grant me faith and piety worthy of Imam Jawad, so that I may partake of these immense blessings and be delivered from poverty, blindness and estrangement.

🌠 Receiving Blessings Through the Great Ones

The Noble Prophet Muhammad Mustafa (PBUH) said:
Blessing is ever with your elders.
Whoever keeps the company of their parents dwells within God’s blessings. Whoever sits with the great ones and keeps their company attains divine blessings.

To partake of the generosity of Imam Jawad, we must know the great ones in his lineage:

• Imam Reza, Imam Kazim, Imam Ja‘far Sadiq, Imam Sajjad, Imam Hasan and Imam Husayn, Imam Ali al-Murtada, and the Noble Prophet Muhammad Mustafa.
• His revered grandmother, Fatima Zahra (SA).

Keeping company with the great ones in Imam Jawad’s lineage is a path to receiving his blessings.
What a remarkable saying! If we keep the great ones in Imam Jawad’s lineage in mind and seek their intercession, God’s blessings upon us will increase.

🌌 The Swift Arrival of God’s Blessings and the Spreading of His Generosity

God’s blessings rush towards a home where His bounty is given freely, faster than a needle sinking into a camel’s hump or a flood rushing downhill. If we open God’s table of mercy to those in need, His mercy will rain down upon us with all haste.

To partake of Imam Jawad’s bounty, it is enough to spread his tables of generosity. By laying them out and making his virtues known, we will witness a downpour of his blessings rushing towards us.

🌠 A Profound Hadith from Imam Jawad

A single saying of Imam Jawad can unlock the depths of our primordial nature. In relating a hadith from the Commander of the Faithful concerning the human spirit, this revered Imam reveals a wondrous truth.

When the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali, was asked what becomes of the human spirit during sleep, he referred the question to Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba. Imam Hasan (AS) said:
The spirit belongs to the wind, and the wind belongs to the air. This air is celestial, beyond the material realm. When God permits the spirit to return, the wind draws it in and places it back in the body, and the person lives on. But if He does not permit its return, the air draws in the wind, and the wind draws in the spirit; then the person departs this world.

🌌 The Spirit’s Life Depends on Celestial Air

The human spirit is the offspring of the wind, and the wind is the offspring of the air. It is this celestial air that gives life to the spirit. When we sleep, our spirit journeys to the celestial air and draws sustenance from it. But sin and heedlessness keep the spirit imprisoned in the body, preventing it from reaching that celestial air.

Those held captive by the self and the world stifle their own spirit and are unable to attain spiritual expansiveness. Only through remembrance of God can the spirit be set free and placed in the embrace of the wind and the air, where it may drink its celestial milk, return to the body and breathe new life into it.

🌠 The Spirit’s Liberation from Captivity and Flight Towards Its Primordial Nature

If our spirit cannot take flight, our primordial nature will grow rigid. The primordial nature is a traveller that must keep expanding at every moment, for God has no bounds and is ever manifesting in a new mode. Yet heedlessness and sin fetter the spirit and keep it from encountering the truth of the unseen realm.

Our spirit is a traveller journeying toward its primordial nature. If we do not let it take flight, our primordial nature, too, will cease to be dynamic, and our soul will sink into lifelessness. The spirit needs the air of divine unity to escape the darkness and reach the boundless expanse of the divine primordial nature.

🌟 The Imam: A Spirit Joined to Divine Unity

I have killed my spirit, for I have lost my way from my Imam. The Imam is the means that joins us to God, and is more spirit than spirit itself. In every dimension and expanse, he breathes life into my spirit. Imam Jawad, peace be upon him, is the transcendent divine means: if I had the chance to breathe alongside him, I would have known the joy of a pure life grounded in divine unity.

Only with the Imam can one experience a pure life grounded in divine unity, for the Imam is primordial nature made manifest and divine unity in action. The Imam is the very warp and weft of divine unity in existence.

🌌 Imam Jawad, peace be upon him: The Key to Understanding Divine Unity

The Imam is the divine tongue that leads us to a unity of language. Imam Jawad’s blessed words on divine unity distil its beginning and its end. Explaining the meaning of “الواحد”, he said:
This means that divine unity is the common language of all creation. The whole universe, in one voice, proclaims the oneness and unity of God. Every creature, from the tiniest particle to the galaxies, glorifies and affirms God’s unity.

Divine unity is reason itself, while associating partners with God is nothing but illusion. When our primordial nature awakens and we keep close to our Imam, we will attain the truth of divine unity. The Imam is divine unity in action, and accompanying him awakens our primordial nature.

🌠 The Language of Primordial Nature: The Language of Divine Unity

No one and nothing can call upon anyone but God. Our entire being bears witness to God’s oneness. In the language of primordial nature, every creature joins in harmony with all others to glorify God’s oneness.

If human beings spoke from their primordial nature, they would understand the language of water, light, stars, and birds. Every particle in the universe, from the angels to the plants, sings of God’s oneness. Love is one and only, and it belongs to God.

The language of primordial nature is the language of connection and unity, shared by all beings. Escape from primordial nature and separation from creation are impossible. All knowledge and life are manifestations of divine unity.

🌌 Divine Unity: The Common Language of All Creation

Divine unity is the common language of all creation. To be separated from primordial nature is as impossible as being separated from creation. Every being bears the seal of divine unity and cannot break free of this song of oneness.

“We are all held in the embrace of God’s divine unity.” 🌟