The Insidious Whisperer of Sin

🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹

🔅🌹 “The Map and Order of Servitude”  “A Critique of the Poem ‘Drink Wine, Burn the Pulpit …’”  “A Critique of Shaykh Baha’i’s Poem” “A Commentary on Supplication 20 of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya”  “Session 221” and more … An abstract, with an addendum       1403.03.10    Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141 (903)  🌹🔅

🔅🌼 The Map and Order of Servitude through Noble Character 🌼🔅

🌹The landscape and territory of noble character begins with perfect faith and the finest certainty. It is firmly established through the best intentions and deeds, and flourishes through an abundance of good intentions, the rectification of certainty, the correction of hidden flaws, and the soul’s freedom from distraction. By escaping self-infatuation and falling out of love with the self, one reaches true love. And by attaining sound guidance, the path of truth, and an intention to grow, the tree of servitude reaches the height of its flowering. From noble character, one advances to exalted character, and from there attains the summit of worship, the joy of servitude, and contentment with it.

🔅🌼 A Permissible Wish for Death 🌼🔅

🌹The humiliation of becoming a pasture for Satan is so degrading that, to escape it, one may need to wish for death.

🌹Let us clear the body and soul of their defects, correct what is flawed, and transform and improve it, thereby cultivating the path of servitude.

🔅🌼The Impregnable Fortress of Godwariness 🌼🔅

🌹Make yourselves impervious to sin.

🌹By turning to sin, a person becomes a pasture for Satan.

🌹No narration ever condones laxity in serving God, nor does any recommend one sin as a cure for another. Anyone who claims otherwise has committed a grave slander against the sacred presence of the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them. In the way of the Ahl al-Bayt, anything that negatively affects the order of servitude is opposed.

🔅🌼The Insidious Whispering of the Human Satan 🌼🔅

🌹The worst whispering is the temptation to sin and transgress. When accompanied by encouragement, it can destroy the order of servitude. Worse still is the attempt to make sin seem justified, so that the sinner believes they are doing good. Worse than that is being tempted to commit a sin in such a way that the person imagines they would be sinning if they refrained from it. Worse still is to regard sin itself as virtuous.

🌹Let us not become Satan’s accomplices! Let us not smooth the path to sin for ourselves or others; rather, let us make it more difficult, strewn with obstacles. Let us never endorse or embellish sin.

🔅🌼Satan Is Truly Satan 🌼🔅

🌹Beyond his satanic audacity, Satan is, by divine wisdom, made an instrument for testing the purity and sincerity of servitude.

🌻🔆Ṣād: 82   قالَ فَبِعِزَّتِكَ لَأُغْوِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَعينَ

🔆He said, “By Your might, I will surely lead them all astray,

🌻🔆Ṣād: 83   إِلاَّ عِبادَكَ مِنْهُمُ الْمُخْلَصينَ

🔆except Your chosen servants among them!”

🌹Satan is resolute in his oath! He wants to prove that fire is superior to clay, to vindicate himself and disgrace humankind, and he is determined in this resolve. Satan intends to disgrace humanity and will not relent.

🌻🔆Al-Ḥijr: 42   إِنَّ عِبادي لَيْسَ لَكَ عَلَيْهِمْ سُلْطانٌ إِلاَّ مَنِ اتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ الْغاوينَ

🔆“You (Satan) will have no authority over My servants, except those who follow you and go astray.”

🌻🔆Al-Isrāʾ: 65   إِنَّ عِبادي لَيْسَ لَكَ عَلَيْهِمْ سُلْطانٌ وَ كَفى‏ بِرَبِّكَ وَكيلاً

🔆“You (Satan) will never have authority over My servants. Your Lord is sufficient as their guardian.” (Whoever places their trust in God will escape Satan’s schemes.)

🔅🌼Those Who Consider Themselves More Godlike Than God 🌼🔅

🌹The ignorant insist on God being «ارحم الراحمین», the Most Merciful of the merciful, so that this overshadows His being «اشد المعاقبین», the Sternest in punishment—and in this way encourage people to sin! Yet when we call upon God as «ارحم الراحمین», we seek His help and forgiveness at His door; we do not use it as an excuse for our own slackness in worship.

🌻🔆Joseph: 64   قالَ هَلْ آمَنُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ إِلاَّ كَما أَمِنْتُكُمْ عَلى‏ أَخيهِ مِنْ قَبْلُ فَاللَّهُ خَيْرٌ حافِظاً وَ هُوَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمينَ

🔆He said, “Am I to trust you with him as I trusted you with his brother before? … And God is the best guardian, and He is the Most Merciful of the merciful.”

🌻🔆The Believers: 118   وَ قُلْ رَبِّ اغْفِرْ وَ ارْحَمْ وَ أَنْتَ خَيْرُ الرَّاحِمينَ

🔆And say, “My Lord, forgive me and have mercy on me; You are the best of those who show mercy.”

🌹We invoke God as «ارحم الراحمین» so that we may win His love and seek His forgiveness—not to feel safe from the consequences of our sins.

🌹They say, «هو ارحم الرحمین»—“He is the Most Merciful of the merciful”—but they do not say, «بالمومنین رحیما»—“merciful to the believers.”

🌻🔆The Cattle: 147   فَإِنْ كَذَّبُوكَ فَقُلْ رَبُّكُمْ ذُو رَحْمَةٍ واسِعَةٍ وَ لا يُرَدُّ بَأْسُهُ عَنِ الْقَوْمِ الْمُجْرِمينَ

🔆If they deny you, tell them, “Your Lord is vast in mercy, but His punishment cannot be averted from the guilty.”

🌻🔆The Heights: 156   وَ اكْتُبْ لَنا في‏ هذِهِ الدُّنْيا حَسَنَةً وَ فِي الْآخِرَةِ إِنَّا هُدْنا إِلَيْكَ قالَ عَذابي‏ أُصيبُ بِهِ مَنْ أَشاءُ وَ رَحْمَتي‏ وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْ‏ءٍ فَسَأَكْتُبُها لِلَّذينَ يَتَّقُونَ وَ يُؤْتُونَ الزَّكاةَ وَ الَّذينَ هُمْ بِآياتِنا يُؤْمِنُونَ

🔆And ordain for us good in this world and in the Hereafter; we have turned to You in repentance. “He said, ‘I afflict with My punishment whom I will, but My mercy encompasses all things. I shall ordain it for those who are mindful of God, pay the alms, and believe in Our signs.’”

🔅🌼Mindfulness of God is a condition for acceptance 🌼🔅

🌹Let your weeping for Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, be joined to seeking God’s pleasure, for “Husayn” is content with God’s will and gives his life for God.

🌹Weeping for the Master of Martyrs, peace be upon him, is a path of journeying toward God, of love’s wayfaring and nearness to Him. Weeping is a path of devotion to God; beware of straying from it.

🌹Whoever does not, through grief and weeping for Husayn, cleanse their soul of sins and reprehensible deeds has wronged Imam Husayn, peace be upon him.

🌹The ignorant may repeat a narration without understanding it, trapping people in the mire of sin.

🌹Sometimes a hadith is quoted in fragments, without its context or conclusion, leaving people numb to the consequences and repercussions of sin.

🌹The following hadith is one example of a narration whose context, conclusion and conditions have been omitted; without them, the listener is led into error.

🌷🔆وَ رُوِيَ أَيْضاً عَنْ آلِ الرَّسُولِ ص أَنَّهُمْ قَالُوا مَنْ‏ بَكَى‏ أَوْ أَبْكَى فِينَا مِائَةً ضَمِنَّا لَهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْجَنَّةَ وَ مَنْ‏ بَكَى‏ أَوْ أَبْكَى خَمْسِينَ فَلَهُ الْجَنَّةُ وَ مَنْ‏ بَكَى‏ أَوْ أَبْكَى ثَلَاثِينَ فَلَهُ الْجَنَّةُ وَ مَنْ‏ بَكَى‏ أَوْ أَبْكَى عَشَرَةً فَلَهُ الْجَنَّةُ وَ مَنْ بَكَى أَوْ أَبْكَى وَاحِداً فَلَهُ الْجَنَّةُ وَ مَنْ تَبَاكَى فَلَهُ الْجَنَّة[1]

🔆It is narrated from the Family of the Messenger: “Whoever weeps over our afflictions, or makes a hundred people weep, Paradise is theirs. Whoever weeps, or makes fifty people weep, Paradise is theirs. Whoever weeps, or makes thirty people weep, Paradise is theirs. Whoever weeps, or makes ten people weep, Paradise is theirs. Whoever weeps, or makes one person weep, Paradise is theirs. And whoever makes themselves appear to be weeping, Paradise is theirs.”⟦21⟁

🌹Let us seek the missing, omitted and implicit part of this hadith. There is no doubt that in this hadith, knowledge of the rights of the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them, and the intention of seeking God’s presence, nearness and pleasure are implied.

🌹God-consciousness is a condition for deeds to be accepted and approved. The path to Paradise passes through taqwa, which has many degrees; its lowest degree may be understood as a sincere search for truth.

🌻🔆al-Māʾidah: 27   …  إِنَّما يَتَقَبَّلُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقينَ

🔆God accepts only from those who are mindful of Him.

🔅🌼I visit Husayn seeking nearness to God.🌼🔅

🌷🔆 عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع قَالَ: قُلْتُ جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ مَا لِمَنْ أَتَى قَبْرَ الْحُسَيْنِ زَائِراً لَهُ عَارِفاً بِحَقِّهِ‏ يُرِيدُ بِهِ وَجْهَ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى وَ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ فَقَالَ لَهُ يَا هَارُونُ مَنْ أَتَى قَبْرَ الْحُسَيْنِ ع زَائِراً لَهُ عَارِفاً بِحَقِّهِ‏ يُرِيدُ بِهِ وَجْهَ اللَّهِ وَ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ غَفَرَ اللَّهُ [وَ اللَّهِ‏] لَهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِهِ وَ مَا تَأَخَّرَ ثُمَّ قَالَ لِي ثَلَاثاً أَ لَمْ أَحْلِفْ لَكَ أَ لَمْ أَحْلِفْ لَكَ أَ لَمْ أَحْلِفْ لَكَ.[2]

🌷🔆 Hārūn ibn Khārijah relates from Abū ʿAbd Allāh, peace be upon him. He said: I said to him, “May I be your ransom, what is the reward for someone who visits the grave of Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, knowing his rightful status and making the visit for God and the abode of the Hereafter?” The Imam replied:

“Hārūn, whoever visits him, knowing his rightful status and making the visit for God and the abode of the Hereafter—for, by God, the Almighty will forgive that person’s past and future sins.” The narrator says:

Then the Imam said to me three times:

“Did I not swear it to you? Did I not swear it to you? Did I not swear it to you?!”

🔅🌼Make your visitation of Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, a ruby.🌼🔅

🌷🔆 عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع قَالَ: مَنْ زَارَ الْحُسَيْنَ مُحْتَسِباً لَا أَشَراً وَ لَا بَطَراً وَ لَا رِيَاءً وَ لَا سُمْعَةً مُحِّصَتْ عَنْهُ ذُنُوبُهُ كَمَا يُمَحَّصُ الثَّوْبُ بِالْمَاءِ فَلَا يَبْقَى عَلَيْهِ دَنَسٌ وَ يُكْتَبُ لَهُ بِكُلِّ خُطْوَةٍ حِجَّةٌ وَ كُلِّ مَا رَفَعَ قَدَماً عُمْرَةٌ. [3]

Qudāmah ibn Mālik related to us from Abū ʿAbd Allāh, peace be upon him. He said:

🌷🔆 Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, peace be upon him, said: “Whoever visits Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, hoping for reward—not out of pride or arrogance, nor for show or reputation—will have their sins cleansed, just as a garment is washed clean with water. No stain or misstep will remain upon them. For every step they take, they will be granted the reward of one pilgrimage, and whenever they lift their foot from the ground, they will have the reward of one lesser pilgrimage.”

🌹Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, was martyred so that sin might die—not, God forbid, to provide some people with an excuse or an easy way to sin.

🌹There is no doubt that every kind of love, grief, anguish and tear for the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them, bears its own blessings and benefits; but its distinctive effect is realised only when the intention is to draw near to God.

🔅🌼Taqwa: the secret of being beloved and accepted🌼🔅

🌻🔆al-Tawbah: 53   قُلْ أَنْفِقُوا طَوْعاً أَوْ كَرْهاً لَنْ يُتَقَبَّلَ مِنْكُمْ إِنَّكُمْ كُنْتُمْ قَوْماً فاسِقينَ

🔆Say, “Spend willingly or unwillingly; it will never be accepted from you, for you are a rebellious people.”

🌻🔆al-Tawbah: 54   وَ ما مَنَعَهُمْ أَنْ تُقْبَلَ مِنْهُمْ نَفَقاتُهُمْ إِلاَّ أَنَّهُمْ كَفَرُوا بِاللَّهِ وَ بِرَسُولِهِ وَ لا يَأْتُونَ الصَّلاةَ إِلاَّ وَ هُمْ كُسالى‏ وَ لا يُنْفِقُونَ إِلاَّ وَ هُمْ كارِهُونَ

🔆Nothing prevented their contributions from being accepted except that they disbelieved in God and His Messenger, performed the prayer only sluggishly, and gave only unwillingly.

🌻🔆al-Māʾidah 5:36   إِنَّ الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا لَوْ أَنَّ لَهُمْ ما فِي الْأَرْضِ جَميعاً وَ مِثْلَهُ مَعَهُ لِيَفْتَدُوا بِهِ مِنْ عَذابِ يَوْمِ الْقِيامَةِ ما تُقُبِّلَ مِنْهُمْ وَ لَهُمْ عَذابٌ أَليمٌ

🔆Indeed, those who disbelieve—even if they possessed all that is on earth, and as much again, and offered it all to ransom themselves from the punishment of the Day of Resurrection—it would not be accepted from them. A painful punishment awaits them.

🌻🔆Āl ʿImrān 3:85   وَ مَنْ يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلامِ ديناً فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ وَ هُوَ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخاسِرينَ

🔆Whoever chooses a religion other than Islam—that is, submission to the command of God—will never have it accepted from them; and in the Hereafter they will be among the losers.

🌻🔆Āl ʿImrān 3:91   إِنَّ الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا وَ ماتُوا وَ هُمْ كُفَّارٌ فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْ أَحَدِهِمْ مِلْ‏ءُ الْأَرْضِ ذَهَباً وَ لَوِ افْتَدى‏ بِهِ أُولئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذابٌ أَليمٌ وَ ما لَهُمْ مِنْ ناصِرينَ

🔆Those who disbelieve and die in disbelief—even if the whole earth were filled with gold and they offered it as ransom for their evil deeds—it would never be accepted from any of them. They will face a painful punishment, and they will have no helpers.

🌻🔆al-Baqarah 2:48   وَ اتَّقُوا يَوْماً لا تَجْزي نَفْسٌ عَنْ نَفْسٍ شَيْئاً وَ لا يُقْبَلُ مِنْها شَفاعَةٌ وَ لا يُؤْخَذُ مِنْها عَدْلٌ وَ لا هُمْ يُنْصَرُونَ

🔆And fear the Day when no one can bear another’s punishment; no intercession will be accepted on their behalf, no ransom will be taken from them, and they will not be helped.

🌹Faith and piety are the grounds on which intercession may be accepted.

🔅🌼Encouraging Sin through Poetry🌼🔅

🌹Artful speech may well be a tent pitched by Satan, a veil behind which the impurities of Iblis are injected.

🌹Falsehood and error, adorned by satanic and carnal temptations, are used to instil corrupt beliefs.

🌹When corrupters find their audience naive, they ride roughshod over their minds.

🌹The delicacy of an expression or the subtlety of a poem can captivate the mind and cloud the intellect. We must therefore be discerning about both verse and prose, lest our minds be poisoned.

🔅🌼A Critique of the Poem “Drink Wine, Burn the Pulpit, but Do Not Harm People”🌼🔅

🌹Does refraining from harming people make every other act permissible? What kind of satanic suggestion is this?!!!

🌹Wine-drinkers are among the most harmful of people: they harm themselves, others, society, the world, and religion.

🌹Some people, knowingly or unknowingly, use poetry to promote weak convictions, disregard for religion, and indifference to Islamic sanctities.

🌷🔆 قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ص‏ إِنَّ مِنَ الْبَيَانِ لَسِحْراً وَ مِنَ‏ الْعِلْمِ جَهْلًا وَ مِنَ الشِّعْرِ حُكْماً وَ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ عَدْلًا.[4]

🔆The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said: “Some forms of eloquence are magic, some branches of knowledge are ignorance, some poetry is wisdom, and some speech is justice.”

🌹They turn poetry into a saying; worse still, they use poetic language to cast a spell, silencing minds and making them captive to delusions.

🌹Beware of polished, measured, rhyming speech. Do not let it close off the path of thought; do not let its surface appeal keep you from inquiry.

🌹Poetry is polished, stirring, and impassioned speech! Look closely at its substance and purpose, lest it bite you like a beautifully marked snake—even though there is no shortage of poems as delicate as flowers.

🔅🌼“Poetry” may well be one form of “false speech”🌼🔅

🌻🔆al-Ḥajj 22:30   … فَاجْتَنِبُوا الرِّجْسَ مِنَ الْأَوْثانِ وَ اجْتَنِبُوا قَوْلَ الزُّورِ

🌻 … Keep away from the filth of idols, and shun false and empty speech and singing!

🌷🔆 عَنْ أَبِي بَصِيرٍ، قَالَ: سَأَلْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) عَنْ قَوْلِ اللَّهِ تَبَارَكَ وَ تَعَالَى:

فَاجْتَنِبُوا الرِّجْسَ مِنَ الْأَوْثانِ وَ اجْتَنِبُوا قَوْلَ الزُّورِ، قَالَ: «الْغِنَاءُ».^[5]

🔅🌼Perhaps “poetry” is one form of “ornate speech.”🌼🔅

🌻🔆Al-An‘ām: 112   وَ كَذلِكَ جَعَلْنا لِكُلِّ نَبِيٍّ عَدُوًّا شَياطينَ الْإِنْسِ وَ الْجِنِّ يُوحي‏ بَعْضُهُمْ إِلى‏ بَعْضٍ زُخْرُفَ الْقَوْلِ غُرُوراً وَ لَوْ شاءَ رَبُّكَ ما فَعَلُوهُ فَذَرْهُمْ وَ ما يَفْتَرُونَ

🌻Thus We appointed for every prophet an enemy: devils from among humankind and jinn, who secretly whispered to one another embellished words—deceptive, baseless, and false. Had your Lord willed, they would not have done so. So leave them and their fabrications to themselves!

🌹Ornate speech is false and hollow language dressed up to deceive.

🔅🌼Recommended acts adorn obligatory acts.🌼🔅

🌹One should refrain from a recommended act only when it stands in the way of an obligation.

🌹If recommended acts interfere with obligations or with other recommended acts of greater importance and priority, then, as necessity requires, they should not be performed.

🌹Recommended acts are the vitamins of obligatory acts: they raise their worth and enhance their colour and beauty. Every recommended act strengthens the others. Supererogatory prayers encourage men to be honourable, compassionate and attentive to people’s needs; they do not hinder them from doing so.

🌹Let us not mistake recommended acts for an obstacle to honourable conduct.

🔅🌼Dispel poetry’s enchantment with reason.🌼🔅

🌹The poem “Drink wine, burn the pulpit, but do not hurt people” is a satanic suggestion. It is used to undermine obligations and recommended acts, and to ensnare people in sin.

🌹Hypocrisy is blameworthy and condemned, but avoiding it does not make every action permissible. Sincerity is the beginning of acting purely and devotedly; it does not mean escaping the duties of servitude to God.

🌹The poem “Drink wine, burn the pulpit, but do not hurt people” is a form of hostility to religion, a war against God and the Sharia and spiritual way of the Two Weighty Things.

Drink wine, burn the pulpit, but do not hurt people

You who tell me to be Muslim, don’t drink wine

You who yourself said, “Don’t drink”—do not do it

Say or do whatever you wish, but do not be a hypocrite

Drink wine, burn the pulpit, but do not hurt people

Do not drown others in the sorrow you bear

You are troubled yourself; do not trouble others with your troubles

If someone does not wish to be distressed, do not insist

I am content and happy; I want nothing else

I do not want to weep instead of being happy

I am cheerful, so that kindness may flow through my heart

O ascetic, be happy and smile; do not weep before us

Drink wine, burn the pulpit, but do not hurt people

🌻🔆An-Naḥl: 97   مَنْ عَمِلَ صالِحاً مِنْ ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنْثى‏ وَ هُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَلَنُحْيِيَنَّهُ حَياةً طَيِّبَةً وَ لَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْرَهُمْ بِأَحْسَنِ ما كانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ

🔆Whoever does righteous deeds, whether man or woman, and is a believer, We shall surely grant them a good life and reward them according to the best of what they used to do.

🌹Why don’t they say, “Get a perfect score”? Why do they say, “Even if you get zero, you won’t go to Hell; you’ll go to Paradise”? Why don’t they call people to aspire to the highest ranks? Have they put themselves ahead of the Quran? Why don’t they remind us of God’s good pleasure?

🌹Is it enough to learn to read and write as an act of devotion, or should we pursue a higher education in devotion? Should we focus only on the poor and disregard God’s other commands, or care for the poor while also observing all of God’s commands? Which is the wiser course?

🌹There is a difference between becoming a creature of Paradise and attaining the company of the houris. To acquire the beauty of devotion, we must follow all of God’s laws and commands. Settling for the bare minimum is a sign of ignorance.

🔅🌼A Critique of a Poem Attributed to Shaykh Baha’i🌼🔅

Fasting every day, praying every night

Keeping the fast each day, praying every night

Making the pilgrimage every year, journeying to the Hijaz

Staying awake on Friday nights, confiding one’s secrets to God

Asking Him, who has no need of anything, to fulfill one’s own needs

Keeping vigil in mosques and along the thoroughfares

Shunning forbidden things and worldly amusements

Walking from Medina to the Kaaba barefoot

Opening one’s lips to say “Labbayk” as duty requires

By God, none of these bears fruit to the same degree

As opening a closed door to someone who has lost hope

🌹Had Shaykh Baha’i not read the Quran?! Was he unfamiliar with any hadith?! Or is this poem not his at all? It seems unlikely that Shaykh Baha’i would compose such a shallow poem.

🌹Supererogatory acts do not hinder righteous deeds; they are their fuel! Obligatory and supererogatory acts inspire righteous conduct and kindness to others.

🌹Supererogatory acts are the very essence of kindness to others; they nurture the joy of caring for the poor and needy.

🌹Indifference to supererogatory acts leads to mistreating others. Those who pray at night, fast and perform the pilgrimage are emissaries of divine love and compassion.

🌹Supererogatory acts are like fragrance and color: they strengthen and beautify every good deed.

🌹Caring for the hopeless and the destitute is only one of our duties of devotion to God, not the whole of it.

🌹Kindness to others is accepted in God’s presence when accompanied by faith and piety.

🌻🔆النحل : 97   مَنْ عَمِلَ صالِحاً مِنْ ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنْثى‏ وَ هُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَلَنُحْيِيَنَّهُ حَياةً طَيِّبَةً وَ لَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْرَهُمْ بِأَحْسَنِ ما كانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ

🔆Whoever does what is right, whether man or woman, and is a believer, We shall grant them a good life and reward them according to the best of what they used to do.

🌹A believer should reflect on God’s good pleasure and, to attain it, must follow all of God’s commands rather than pick and choose among them.

🌻🔆آل‏عمران : 15   قُلْ أَ أُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ مِنْ ذلِكُمْ لِلَّذينَ اتَّقَوْا عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْري مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهارُ خالِدينَ فيها وَ أَزْواجٌ مُطَهَّرَةٌ وَ رِضْوانٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَ اللَّهُ بَصيرٌ بِالْعِبادِ

🔆Say, “Shall I tell you of something better than these (material possessions)?” For those who are mindful of God and use these possessions in lawful, righteous and just ways, there are gardens with rivers flowing beneath their trees, where they will abide forever; and there are pure spouses and God’s good pleasure. God sees His servants well.

🌻🔆التوبة : 72   وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْمُؤْمِنينَ وَ الْمُؤْمِناتِ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْري مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهارُ خالِدينَ فيها وَ مَساكِنَ طَيِّبَةً في‏ جَنَّاتِ عَدْنٍ وَ رِضْوانٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ ذلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظيمُ

🔆God has promised believing men and women gardens beneath which rivers flow, where they will dwell forever, and pure dwellings in Gardens of everlasting bliss. Yet God’s good pleasure is greater than all of this. That is the supreme triumph!

🌻🔆البقرة : 3   الَّذينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ وَ يُقيمُونَ الصَّلاةَ وَ مِمَّا رَزَقْناهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ

🔆(The God-fearing are) those who believe in the unseen [that which lies beyond the reach of the senses]; establish prayer; and spend out of all the blessings and provisions We have bestowed upon them.

🌻🔆العنكبوت : 45   اتْلُ ما أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ مِنَ الْكِتابِ وَ أَقِمِ الصَّلاةَ إِنَّ الصَّلاةَ تَنْهى‏ عَنِ الْفَحْشاءِ وَ الْمُنْكَرِ وَ لَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ وَ اللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ ما تَصْنَعُونَ

🔆Recite what has been revealed to you from the Book, and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer restrains one from indecency and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of God is greater. God knows what you do.

🌹Those who are devoted to prayer are also devoted to giving zakat; the path of almsgiving, generosity and kindness runs through prayer.

🌹Those who fast also give zakat al-fitra. Thus, care for others is part of the way of those who pray and fast. Those who fast feel the pain and hardship of poverty more deeply, for they experience hunger and thirst in their own bodies. They are therefore compassionate toward the poor and needy—even though a few hypocrites, who merely make a show of praying and fasting, are deprived of this blessing.

🌹Those who perform Hajj purify their wealth: they set aside the khums due on it and discharge their obligations. Thus, those who perform Hajj are generous and giving.

🌼Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903)🌼

[1] Luhuf on the Martyrs of al-Taff / translated by Fahri; text; p. 10  Ibn Tawus, Ali ibn Musa; Jahan Press—Tehran, first edition, 1348 SH.

[2] Kamil al-Ziyarat; text; p. 144  Ibn Qulawayh, Ja’far ibn Muhammad; Dar al-Murtazawiyya—Najaf al-Ashraf, first edition, 1356 SH.

[3] Kamil al-Ziyarat; text; p. 144  Ibn Qulawayh, Ja’far ibn Muhammad; Dar al-Murtazawiyya—Najaf al-Ashraf, first edition, 1356 SH.

[4] Bihar al-Anwar (Beirut edition); vol. 1; p. 218  Majlisi, Muhammad Baqir ibn Muhammad Taqi; Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi—Beirut, second edition, 1403 AH.

[5] Al-Burhan fi Tafsir al-Qur’an    vol. 3    881 Bahrani, Hashim ibn Sulayman; Mu’assasat al-Bi’tha, Department of Islamic Studies—Iran, Qom, first edition, 1415 AH.