Written transcript of the lecture
The Meshkat-e Noor teachings series🌼🔆🌼Tawhid: The Means Before All Means🌼🔆🌼
🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹
🔅🌹 “The Miracle of Water” “Fighting the Enemy” “The Samaritan and Mu‘awiya” “The Secret of Sincere Love” “Continuing the Commentary on Supplication 20, Passage 13” and more … A summary with an addendum 1405.04.25 Ali Sa‘i (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903) 🌹🔅
🌻 🌷 🔆 اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْ مَا يُلْقِي الشَّيْطَانُ فِي رُوعِي🔆 🌷 🌻
☀️🌹مِنَ التَّمَنِّي وَ التَّظَنِّي وَ الْحَسَدِ🌹☀️
🕋
🤲 🔆ذِكْراً لِعَظَمَتِكَ، وَ تَفَكُّراً فِي قُدْرَتِكَ، وَ تَدْبِيراً عَلَى عَدُوِّك🔆 🤲
❇️ Erase the enemy’s influence by erasing the enemy’s traces!
Continuing our discussion of strategies against God’s enemy!
❇️The root of enmity toward God
Make this world serve your devotion to God!
Do not become fuel for worldly life; do not fan the flames of its passions!
Striking at the world of those enslaved to it means taking away the life, fuel, and resources of God’s enemies!
Do not leave God’s enemies a worldly life to enjoy! Their lives are bound up with their worldly interests!
Deny God’s enemies their worldly comfort!
✅ A pure person is adorned with pure traces
Pure people embrace pure traces wholeheartedly and bear within themselves countless signs of the Divine Presence—like a pure fragrance, the lingering trace of noble virtues.
The traces of divine grace work wondrous miracles!
Every trace brings about a profound transformation!
✅The secret behind the miracle of the Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt
The influence of God’s verses works miracles only when joined with the Ahl al-Bayt; likewise, the influence of the Ahl al-Bayt works miracles when joined with the Qur’an!
Without the Ahl al-Bayt, a person will fall into the predicament of the Samaritan!
We must not use religion, the Qur’an, and the Ahl al-Bayt as instruments for our worldly ends—for that would be the greatest injustice against them!
❇️Two mirrors held in one embrace
The Greater Weight and the Lesser Weight are, in relation to one another, software and hardware: they complete and complement each other, and each reflects the other!
When the Greater Weight is revealed through the being of the Lesser Weight, its miracle and majesty become manifest!
❇️The Qur’an elucidates all things; the Ahl al-Bayt encompass them
The Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt are one reality with two distinct faces. Each makes the other known, interprets the other, and manifests the other’s beauty and majesty!
The Qur’an is knowledge in its effusion, the wellspring of knowledge, and an elucidation of all things; the Ahl al-Bayt are the library of existence!
✨🔆 An-Nahl: 89 وَ يَوْمَ نَبْعَثُ في كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ شَهيداً عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ أَنْفُسِهِمْ وَ جِئْنا بِكَ شَهيداً عَلى هؤُلاءِ وَ نَزَّلْنا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتابَ تِبْياناً لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَ هُدىً وَ رَحْمَةً وَ بُشْرى لِلْمُسْلِمينَ
🔆 “And remember the day when We shall raise up from every community a witness from among themselves, and make you a witness over them. We have sent down to you this Book as an explanation of all things, and as guidance, mercy, and glad tidings for the Muslims.”
✨🔆 Ya-Sin: 12 إِنَّا نَحْنُ نُحْيِ الْمَوْتى وَ نَكْتُبُ ما قَدَّمُوا وَ آثارَهُمْ وَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ أَحْصَيْناهُ في إِمامٍ مُبينٍ
🔆 “Surely We bring the dead to life, and We record what they have sent ahead and all the traces they leave behind; and We have enumerated all things in a clear Book.”
❇️Miracles Through Their Effects
The effects of verses upon one another are a miracle upon a miracle. Through their interconnection, lesser verses are elevated by greater ones. A verse that is a mere drop must join the ocean of verses!
✅A verse: the occurrence of a divine miracle
The interaction of effects with one another brings new creations into being!
With every verse, each person experiences new creations within themselves!
At every moment, through the verses, a person acquires a new quality, is renewed, and becomes other than they were before!
Through the verses, a person is composed, transformed and brought into being anew!
Through the verses, a person is like a field, growing, multiplying and changing!
With every inward, earthly, heavenly, celestial, Ahl al-Bayt and Quranic verse, a person is transformed and renewed!
✅The harmony between soft verses and hard verses
Every divine software calls for its corresponding divine hardware!
Life-giving water works its miracle only with the hardware of pure earth!
Pure water works miracles with pure earth—miracles of beauty and wonder. Water also works a scientific miracle with everything it touches: it reveals the nature and properties of things. It acts like a computer that brings their inner reality into form and displays it!
✨🔆الرعد : 4 وَ فِي الْأَرْضِ قِطَعٌ مُتَجاوِراتٌ وَ جَنَّاتٌ مِنْ أَعْنابٍ وَ زَرْعٌ وَ نَخيلٌ صِنْوانٌ وَ غَيْرُ صِنْوانٍ يُسْقى بِماءٍ واحِدٍ وَ نُفَضِّلُ بَعْضَها عَلى بَعْضٍ فِي الْأُكُلِ إِنَّ في ذلِكَ لَآياتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ
🔆On the earth are neighbouring tracts, each different from the others, and gardens of vines, fields and date palms—some growing from a single root, others from two. Though all are watered with the same water, We make some yield better fruit than others. Surely in this are signs for people who use their reason!
✨🔆الأعراف : 58 وَ الْبَلَدُ الطَّيِّبُ يَخْرُجُ نَباتُهُ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِ وَ الَّذي خَبُثَ لا يَخْرُجُ إِلاَّ نَكِداً كَذلِكَ نُصَرِّفُ الْآياتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَشْكُرُونَ
🔆A wholesome land brings forth its plants by its Lord’s leave, while a barren land yields only scant, worthless growth. Thus do We make the signs clear for a people who give thanks.
❇️The hardware of a flower seed and a thorn seed
Water sets the seed in motion and reveals the nature of the flower and the thorn!
❇️Sincere love works miracles
Love is a unique influence and force that produces particular effects and reveals the qualities of those who bear it!
Pure love leaves no room for impure conduct!
Pure, sincere love within the heart’s compass turns it towards goodness!
Faith is beloved to hearts, while disbelief, wickedness and disobedience are hateful to every heart—for the Creator, Lord of all worlds, has so willed. Whoever shuns faith and inclines towards what is hateful shows that they have turned away from their innate nature!
✨🔆 الحجرات : 7 وَ اعْلَمُوا أَنَّ فيكُمْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ لَوْ يُطيعُكُمْ في كَثيرٍ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ لَعَنِتُّمْ وَ لكِنَّ اللَّهَ حَبَّبَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْإيمانَ وَ زَيَّنَهُ في قُلُوبِكُمْ وَ كَرَّهَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْكُفْرَ وَ الْفُسُوقَ وَ الْعِصْيانَ أُولئِكَ هُمُ الرَّاشِدُونَ
🔆And know that the Messenger of God is among you. Were he to comply with you in many matters, you would surely be burdened. But God has made faith beloved to you and adorned it in your hearts, and has made disbelief, wickedness and sin hateful to you. Such people are rightly guided!
❇️The secret of the power of pure love is freedom from the bondage of this world
Love is the subtlest force in all existence, and the most powerful weapon in the world!
To have divine love in one’s heart is to equip the soul with the greatest weapon in all existence!
To govern divine love is to govern the greatest power in all existence!
Pure love must be distinguished from impure love!
To be tainted by love of this world is to turn from friendship with God to enmity toward Him!
One whose head is buried in the lowest depths cannot turn their gaze toward the highest heights!
One who has made themselves a captive of this world will never taste the sweetness of divine love!
Love of this world is a clear sign of God’s enemies!
💫🔆قَالَ وَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع يَقُولُ إِذَا تَخَلَّى الْمُؤْمِنُ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا سَمَا وَ وَجَدَ حَلَاوَةَ حُبِ اللَّهِ وَ كَانَ عِنْدَ أَهْلِ الدُّنْيَا كَأَنَّهُ قَدْ خُولِطَ وَ إِنَّمَا خَالَطَ الْقَوْمَ حَلَاوَةُ حُبِ اللَّهِ فَلَمْ يَشْتَغِلُوا بِغَيْرِهِ.[1]
💫 Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said:
“When a believer is freed from attachment to this world, they rise to lofty stations and discover the sweetness of love for God. Then, in the eyes of worldly people, they seem like someone who has lost their wits. In truth, the sweetness of divine love has made them forget themselves, leaving them occupied with none but Him.”
❇️Verses that blind the bats!
The verses of God are a means of guidance, yet for the ignorant they are also a cause of misguidance!
The Quranic verses and divine commands work like light and water: they reveal the true nature of people, things and objects!
They illuminate the purity of the people of truth through the light of their guidance, and expose the corruption of the people of falsehood through their misguidance!
How often God’s grace becomes a source of misguidance for the corrupt: His blessings become punishment for them, and light becomes darkness!
In the furnace of divine trial, some emerge as pure gold, while others reveal the baseness of their souls!
✨🔆 Ar-Ra‘d: 27 وَ يَقُولُ الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا لَوْ لا أُنْزِلَ عَلَيْهِ آيَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِ قُلْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُضِلُّ مَنْ يَشاءُ وَ يَهْدي إِلَيْهِ مَنْ أَنابَ
🔆 Those who disbelieve say, “Why has no sign (or miracle) been sent down to him from his Lord?” Say, “God leads astray whoever He wills, and guides to Himself whoever turns back to Him!” (The miracles are not lacking; it is their obstinacy that stands in the way!)
✨🔆 An-Nahl: 93 وَ لَوْ شاءَ اللَّهُ لَجَعَلَكُمْ أُمَّةً واحِدَةً وَ لكِنْ يُضِلُّ مَنْ يَشاءُ وَ يَهْدي مَنْ يَشاءُ وَ لَتُسْئَلُنَّ عَمَّا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
🔆 Had God willed, He would have made you all one community (and compelled you all to believe; but forced faith is of no avail). Yet He leads astray whom He wills (and deems deserving), and guides whom He wills (and deems worthy)! (He grants some the grace of guidance and withholds it from others.) You will surely be questioned about what you used to do!
✨🔆 Fatir: 8 أَ فَمَنْ زُيِّنَ لَهُ سُوءُ عَمَلِهِ فَرَآهُ حَسَناً فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يُضِلُّ مَنْ يَشاءُ وَ يَهْدي مَنْ يَشاءُ فَلا تَذْهَبْ نَفْسُكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسَراتٍ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَليمٌ بِما يَصْنَعُونَ
🔆 Is one whose evil deeds have been made appealing to them, so that they see them as good and beautiful, like one who sees things as they truly are?! God leads astray whoever He wills and guides whoever He wills. So do not let your soul perish with grief over them. God knows all that they do! (8)
❇️Divine signs work miracles in the monotheistic hardware within us
In a soul devoted to the Oneness of God, the Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt are the source of divine miracles!
Faith and piety are prerequisites for benefiting from God’s means—means that work miracles on the path of servitude to God!
Otherwise, a person becomes like the Samaritan, using God’s means to pursue their own desires!
✨🔆 Al-Mā’idah: 35 يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَ ابْتَغُوا إِلَيْهِ الْوَسيلَةَ وَ جاهِدُوا في سَبيلِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
🔆 O you who believe! Be mindful of God, seek the means to draw near to Him, and strive in His cause, so that you may prosper!
❇️Shi‘a and Shi‘a in Name Only
Those who are Shi‘a in name only are not the same as true Shi‘a. They are hypocrites who have insinuated themselves among the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt (AS). In the name of love for the Ahl al-Bayt (AS), they inflict the greatest harm on them—whether through rash conduct, exaggeration, misrepresenting their words, taking a one-sided view of the Ahl al-Bayt while ignoring the Qur’an, or in various other ways that bring trouble upon God’s religion!
Those who are Shi‘a in name only resemble the Samaritan: they use God’s means to serve their personal and worldly interests!
How many people who merely pose as Shi‘a exploit others in the name of the Ahl al-Bayt (AS)—consuming not only their lives and wealth, but even their faith!
💫🔆 وَ عَنْ يُونُسَ بْنِ يَعْقُوبَ عَنْ أَخِيهِ عَنْ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ ع قَالَ شِيعَتُنَا ثَلَاثَةُ أَصْنَافٍ صِنْفٌ يَأْكُلُونَ النَّاسَ بِنَا وَ صِنْفٌ كَالزُّجَاجِ يَتَهَشَّمُ وَ صِنْفٌ كَالذَّهَبِ الْأَحْمَرِ كُلَّمَا أُدْخِلَ النَّارَ ازْدَادَ جَوْدَةً. [2]
💫 It is narrated from Yunus ibn Ya‘qub, from his brother, from Imam al-Baqir (AS), who said:
“Our Shi‘a are of three kinds:
One group exploits people through us, making us a means to worldly gain and leadership.
Another group is like glass: they shatter at the first hardship.
And another group is like pure gold: each time they enter the fire, their excellence increases.”
❇️The Best for the Worst Hardware
✨🔆 Al-Sajdah: 7 الَّذي أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ وَ بَدَأَ خَلْقَ الْإِنْسانِ مِنْ طينٍ
🔆 He is the One who made excellent everything He created, and began the creation of humankind from clay;
Al-Tīn: 4 لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنْسانَ في أَحْسَنِ تَقْويمٍ
Al-Tīn: 5 ثُمَّ رَدَدْناهُ أَسْفَلَ سافِلينَ
❇️From the Samaritan to Mu‘awiya
Those who falsely claim to love the Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt are like people who raise God’s light upon the spears of their own carnal desires.
From the Samaritan to Mu‘awiya: the Samaritan used “the Messenger’s trace” to make the calf low; Mu‘awiya raised the Qur’an on spearpoints; and, before him, others took the Commander of the Faithful’s (AS) rightful claim from him by raising banners of substitutes!
❇️How Can Knowledge Increase Ignorance?
The true bearer of knowledge is the intellect. Without intellect, knowledge produces ignorance—not because this is inherent in knowledge, but because its bearer drags it to the slaughterhouse! This is like the world today, where knowledge is used to produce oppression and corruption!
Knowledge is a transcendent effect of God. If an ignorant human being who bears this effect is unworthy of it, they will make people worship the calf, like the Samaritan!
Indeed! When knowledge falls into unworthy hands, it becomes an instrument of misguidance and ignorance.
❇️From the Trace of the Messenger’s Foot to the Messenger Himself!
The Samaritan possessed insight and spiritual vision, but followed his lower desires and, foolishly, misused his abilities and potential—leading both himself and many of his followers astray!
✨🔆Ta Ha: 96 قالَ بَصُرْتُ بِما لَمْ يَبْصُرُوا بِهِ فَقَبَضْتُ قَبْضَةً مِنْ أَثَرِ الرَّسُولِ فَنَبَذْتُها وَ كَذلِكَ سَوَّلَتْ لي نَفْسي
🔆(The Samaritan) said: “I saw what they did not see. I took a handful from the Messenger’s footsteps, then cast it away. This is how my soul made this deed seem fair to me!”
The signs of God should be used for spiritual growth, not misused in ways that lead to decline. The entire universe and all its parts are signs and tokens of God; we should benefit from them wisely, with faith and God-consciousness.
God’s signs fill the earth and the heavens. What is there in the universe that is not His sign and token?!
How we take up God’s signs and how we benefit from them are of great importance!
❇️The Field of This World and the Field of Faith
✨🔆Al-Fath: 29 مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ وَ الَّذينَ مَعَهُ أَشِدَّاءُ عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ رُحَماءُ بَيْنَهُمْ تَراهُمْ رُكَّعاً سُجَّداً يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلاً مِنَ اللَّهِ وَ رِضْواناً سيماهُمْ في وُجُوهِهِمْ مِنْ أَثَرِ السُّجُودِ ذلِكَ مَثَلُهُمْ فِي التَّوْراةِ وَ مَثَلُهُمْ فِي الْإِنْجيلِ كَزَرْعٍ أَخْرَجَ شَطْأَهُ فَآزَرَهُ فَاسْتَغْلَظَ فَاسْتَوى عَلى سُوقِهِ يُعْجِبُ الزُّرَّاعَ لِيَغيظَ بِهِمُ الْكُفَّارَ وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذينَ آمَنُوا وَ عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحاتِ مِنْهُمْ مَغْفِرَةً وَ أَجْراً عَظيماً
🔆Muhammad (PBUH) is the Messenger of God. Those who are with him are firm and resolute toward the disbelievers, yet compassionate toward one another. You see them bowing and prostrating, seeking God’s grace and His good pleasure. The mark of prostration is visible on their faces. Such is their description in the Torah, and their description in the Gospel: like a crop that sends forth its shoots, then strengthens them until they grow sturdy and stand upright, delighting the farmers. Through them, He enrages the disbelievers. God has promised those among them who believe and do good deeds forgiveness and a great reward.
The pure earth, through the astonishing signs of its growth, fills farmers with wonder! And the earth of the believer’s soul, with the signs and wonders of their magnificent being, fills the disbelievers with amazement, leaving them speechless!
Through God’s signs and tokens, the believer makes the earth and heavens a stage for their own wonders!
❇️The Signs of Servitude to God Shine Forth from a Person’s Outer and Inner Being
The effects of worship are visible to all, even in this earthly life!
💫🔆وَ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ AS قَالَ: إِنَّ الْمُؤْمِنَ لَيَزْهَرُ نُورُهُ لِأَهْلِ السَّمَاءِ كَمَا تَزْهَرُ نُجُومُ السَّمَاءِ لِأَهْلِ الْأَرْضِ وَ قَالَ إِنَّ الْمُؤْمِنَ وَلِيُّ اللَّهِ يُعِينُهُ وَ يَصْنَعُ لَهُ وَ لَا يَقُولُ عَلَى اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْحَقَ وَ لَا يَخَافُ غَيْرَهُ وَ قَالَ إِنَّ الْمُؤْمِنَيْنِ لَيَلْتَقِيَانِ فَيَتَصَافَحَانِ فَلَا يَزَالُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمَا مُقْبِلًا بِوَجْهِهِ وَ الذُّنُوبُ تَتَحَاتُّ عَنْ وُجُوهِهِمَا حَتَّى يَفْتَرِقَا [يَتَفَرَّقَا[3]
🔆 It is narrated from Imam al-Sadiq (AS) that he said:
“The light of the believer shines for the inhabitants of heaven, just as the stars of heaven shine for the inhabitants of earth.”
And he said: “The believer is indeed a friend of God. He supports him and guides his affairs; he speaks to God only what is true, and fears no one but Him.”
And he said: “When two believers meet and shake hands, God continually turns His face toward them, and their sins fall from their faces until they part.”
One day, the magnificent signs of worship and servitude to God will shine forth in all their fullness from a person’s countenance on the Day of Resurrection.
❇️Defence and offence against satanic influences are acts of divine mercy
✨🔆المائدة : 35 يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَ ابْتَغُوا إِلَيْهِ الْوَسيلَةَ وَ جاهِدُوا في سَبيلِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
🔆O you who believe! Be mindful of God, seek a means of drawing near to Him, and strive in His way, so that you may prosper!
❇️Knowing the means
Knowing the means requires knowledge of its technology and of how to use it in a way that leads to transcendence.
If we do not understand the means, or use it merely as a tool, its effects will be the opposite of what we intended.
The means leads «الی الله»—not «عن الله». Those who go to extremes follow the path of «عن الله», and stand condemned!
❇️Influences multiply and grow stronger!
One way to readily dispel Satan and satanic enemies is to eliminate satanic influences!
Satanic influences are Satan’s lungs, the place where he breathes!
Enmity and mischief grow and multiply through their influences. Like seeds, those influences take root and spread.
A person may unwittingly become Satan’s field: all it takes is for a satanic seed, or some influence of Satan, to take root in the soul! It will then produce ignorance, folly and misguidance.
Every kind of influence grows and multiplies, whether it breeds vices or virtues!
Tolerating satanic influences is «self-destruction»: it can lead to being transformed, having one’s nature altered, and one’s heart sealed!
The effective weapon against satanic influences is divine influences.
❇️Activating divine governance
Until the divine faculty of governance is activated, no wise ordering of affairs can take place!
Once this faculty is active, a person will be capable of accomplishing anything.
The faculty of governance cannot be activated unless a person aligns with their innate nature!
The crown of innate nature is its oneness-centred nature!
An extinguished innate nature means that a person has become God’s own enemy and must devise a course of action against themselves!
❇️The prerequisite means to God
The prerequisite means to God is tawḥīd.
💫🔆«وَ وَسِيلَتِي إِلَيْكَ التَّوْحِيدُ، وَ ذَرِيعَتِي أَنِّي لَمْ أُشْرِكْ بِكَ شَيْئاً، وَ لَمْ أَتَّخِذْ مَعَكَ إِلَهاً، وَ قَدْ فَرَرْتُ إِلَيْكَ بِنَفْسِي، وَ إِلَيْكَ مَفَرُّ الْمُسيءِ، وَ مَفْزَعُ الْمُضَيِّعِ لِحَظِّ نَفْسِهِ الْمُلْتَجِئِ.» [4]
💫 “My means to You is tawḥīd, and my firmest assurance is that I have set up no partner alongside You and chosen no other deity with You. Indeed, with my whole being I have fled to You. You are the refuge of sinners, and the refuge of those who have squandered their share and seek shelter.”
❇️Means and intermediaries
Above all means stands the One who brings the means to fruition: God, Glorified and Exalted. The prerequisite means to God is also His tawḥīd. Through Him, we come to know Him, His Book, His Messenger and His proof (اللهم عرفنی نفسک…)
«عرفنی نفسک» means «عرفنی توحیدک». Through God, we attain knowledge of the prerequisite means and all His means (عرفنی رسولک…عرفنی حجتک…). Once we know the means, our servitude, worship and understanding are transformed, and our journey to God gathers speed!
«ذَریعَة» (plural: ذرائع)
From the root «ذَرَعَ», it means a cause, something at hand, a means of recourse, or anything that brings a person to their goal.
The Qur’an says: “O أَیُّهَا الَّذِینَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَ ابْتَغُوا إِلَیْهِ الْوَسِیلَةَ” — and *dharīʿa* is also used to mean a means or a path, though with a slight difference.
“وَسِيلَتِي إِلَيْكَ التَّوْحِيدُ، وَ ذَرِيعَتِي أَنِّي لَمْ أُشْرِكْ بِكَ شَيْئاً”
*Wasīla* = the path to God, which is “tawḥīd” (belief in the oneness of God). Tawḥīd is not itself the ultimate goal; rather, it is a means that brings a person closer to God and enables them to attain divine proximity.
*Dharīʿa* = a safeguard or a pre-emptive measure that protects a person from polytheism and misguidance. Here, “not associating partners with God” and “choosing no other object of worship” are presented as a *dharīʿa*—a safeguard that wards off polytheism.
So, in this supplication:
Tawḥīd is the means of reaching God (a positive approach).
Avoiding polytheism is a safeguard against misguidance (a defensive, preventive approach).
4. Final summary
| Term | Central meaning | Primary function |
| *Wasīla* | Closeness and proximity | Positive (attaining good) |
| *Dharīʿa* | Means and safeguard | Defensive (warding off evil and danger) |
Thus, in this noble supplication, the servant draws near to God through tawḥīd (*wasīla*) and, by abandoning polytheism (*dharīʿa*), protects themself from deviation and ruin. Both are paths to God: one for “arriving,” the other for “not falling into misguidance.”
❇️The station of *wasīla* depends on tawḥīd
It is impossible to separate the Imam from the *wasīla* (tawḥīd): tawḥīd is the very soul of God’s Proof! God’s Proof is the fortress of tawḥīd, the word of tawḥīd, the reality of tawḥīd!
❇️Tawḥīd comes before the *wasīla*
Tawḥīd precedes the *wasīla ilā Allāh*; through tawḥīd, God’s Proof is the “*wasīla ilā Allāh*.” Turning towards the *wasīla* means embracing tawḥīd!
When tawḥīd is the *wasīla* for God’s Proof, who is himself the “*wasīla ilā Allāh*,” then tawḥīd comes before the *wasīla*!
The key to our connection with, communion with, and benefit from the *wasīla* is divine tawḥīd!
If our *tawassul* bears the fragrance of tawḥīd, then it is sound and sincere; otherwise, it is nothing but an illusion!
❇️The finest course of action is tawḥīd!
Tawḥīd is the means by which we connect to the Hand of God, the Good of God, and the Power of God!
Holding fast to the Two Weighty Things is possible only through tawḥīd!
Clinging to the Rope of God is possible only through tawḥīd!
❇️The *wasīla* carries the authority of God’s religion!
💫🔆 اللَّهُمَّ مُثَبِّتَ الْقُلُوبِ ثَبِّتْ قَلْبِي عَلَى دِينِكَ وَ اجْعَلْ وَسِيلَتِي إِلَيْكَ وَ رَغْبَتِي فِيمَا عِنْدَكَ وَ اجْعَلْ ثَوَابَ عَمَلِي رِضَاكَ وَ أَعْطِ نَفْسِي سُؤْلَهَا وَ مُنَاهَا وَ زَكِّهَا أَنْتَ خَيْرُ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا وَ أَنْتَ وَلِيُّهَا وَ مَوْلَاهَا اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّد[5]
🔆“O God, Steadfastener of hearts, make my heart steadfast in Your religion; make my *wasīla* lead me to You and direct my desire towards what is with You; make the reward for my deeds Your good pleasure; grant my soul its wishes and aspirations, and purify it, for You are the best of those who purify, and You are its Guardian and Master. O God, send blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.”
❇️It is God who accepts the *wasīla*
Without God, we cannot find our way to God! The Most High bestowed the means upon us so that we might hasten toward Him. Whoever forgets to worship God by means of what He has provided has not truly found the means at all, though they imagine themselves connected to it!
💫🔆اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ شَجَرَةِ النُّبُوَّةِ وَ مَوْضِعِ الرِّسَالَةِ وَ مُخْتَلَفِ الْمَلَائِكَةِ وَ مَعْدِنِ الْعِلْمِ وَ أَهْلِ بَيْتِ الْوَحْيِ وَ أَعْطِنِي فِي هَذِهِ اللَّيْلَةِ أُمْنِيَّتِي وَ تَقَبَّلْ وَسِيلَتِي
فَإِنِّي بِمُحَمَّدٍ وَ عَلِيٍّ وَ أَوْصِيَائِهِمَا إِلَيْكَ أَتَوَسَّلُ وَ عَلَيْكَ أَتَوَكَّلُ وَ لَكَ أَسْأَلُ يَا مُجِيبَ الْمُضْطَرِّينَ يَا مَلْجَأَ الْهَارِبِينَ وَ مُنْتَهَى رَغْبَةِ الرَّاغِبِينَ وَ نَيْلِ الطَّالِبِين[6]
🔆“O God, bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad—the tree of prophethood, the seat of the message, the place where angels come and go, the wellspring of knowledge, and the household of revelation. Grant me tonight what I long for, and accept my means of drawing near to You.
For through Muhammad, Ali, and their successors I seek to draw near to You; in You I place my trust and from You I ask, O Responder to the helpless, O Refuge of those who flee, O utmost hope of those who hope, and O fulfillment of those who seek.”
✳️Clarifications (supplementary notes)
✅“The role of collective reason and consultation” has a special place in sound judgment.
A prudent person, of course, is one who even seeks counsel from an enemy, so as to do the opposite of what they advise. One may also consult a fearful person in order to act with courage, or seek the views of different groups, as appropriate, in order to make sound decisions.
The highest level of consultation is with the faithful and the God-conscious; beyond all of this is consultation with God, carried out through supplication, intimate prayer, istikhāra, casting lots, and related practices.
✅The purely satanic enemy
“The boundary between an enemy who can be reformed and one who cannot” is human nature, which serves as a criterion for making appropriate decisions. A person’s primordial nature is evident in those things to which all people, despite differences in religion and belief, remain committed, regard as good, or recoil from.
✅“Forbearance” and “strategic silence”
Forbearance is called for when there is hope that the other party may reform, or when one recognizes that any kind of confrontation would worsen the situation.
At times, dealing firmly and effectively with a satanic enemy requires serious strategic planning; any haste may aggravate matters—like an infected wound, where surgery of any kind could spread the infection.
✅“Satanic effects” as “the lungs of Satan” and “Satan’s breathing space”
This encompasses every moral vice and every departure from human nature in thought and conduct, whether individual or social, as well as inhuman tendencies, anything contrary to freedom and dignity, and so on.
A comprehensive list of these appears in the hadith on the forces of reason and ignorance.
✅The danger of “interpretive determinism” in the text
The statement “God’s verses are a means of guidance, and for those who follow ignorance, a means of misguidance”
means that the identity and essence of things lie hidden in darkness and are revealed by the light of truth; it does not mean that things acquire their identity through the light.
Water, too, brings this effect to light: it reveals the fragrance of perfume and, in turn, the foul stench of filth.
Likewise, every test brings people’s scholarly standing to light.
The sending of messengers and scriptures by the Most High Lord revealed the true nature of people in their acceptance or rejection of the truth.
Specific historical events, too—such as the event of Ghadir Khumm and Saqifah—brought people’s inner realities to light.
The issuing of specific commands—such as those concerning prayer, zakat, fasting, jihad, and the like—also brought people’s inner realities to light. All of these commands reveal who people truly are; they do not confer an identity upon them!
Divine verses are sent down to guide, but those who turn their backs on God’s light or close their eyes choose the path of misguidance for themselves—like someone who, instead of travelling by ship across the ocean, plunges into its depths!
✅ The “Role of Divine Will” Alongside “Effects”
Every effect is a manifestation of God’s will! No effect exists without a cause, and every effect is a clear sign of its cause’s will.
A means, too, is among the highest signs of the divine will that is pleasing to God!
Divine will manifests itself in many ways throughout existence!
No means endures unless God’s will upholds its continued existence, and no act in all existence comes to pass without His will!
✅ “A Means to God” and “A Means in God’s Presence”
Anything that brings a person closer to God serves as a means to God. But some means are like keys to other means of drawing near to God; the Qur’an and the Prophet’s Household are among them. The Divine Essence, the maker of every means, takes precedence over all things!
His oneness is the master key to every means. He is both the maker of keys and the creator of every cause and lock!
✅ “A Critique of Excessive Mysticism”
“Excessive mysticism” is not mysticism at all, but a counterfeit form of it! It obstructs the path to knowledge and is, in truth, a facsimile of true knowledge—like imitation gold beside the real thing. In short, every counterfeit form of mysticism strays from the path of the Qur’an and the Prophet’s Household!
✅“At times, light itself is like darkness”: Those who refuse to accept the truth and shrink from engaging with its rays are blinded. For anyone who reacts to the truth in reverse and acts in hostility toward it, light and truth become a kind of darkness, trapping them in the mire of falsehood!
Whoever flees from the light is blinded; whoever flees from water dies of thirst!
✅“How often God’s light becomes the darkness of misguidance for the wicked”: Ali, the Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him, was God’s speaking light on earth and in heaven. Yet the envious waged war against that light, blinding themselves and others, fleeing the path of guidance and choosing misguidance!
✅“The historical Samaritan” and “the symbolic Samaritan”
Among the symbolic Samaritans are the toxic online spaces of our time; the deceptive, manipulative purveyors of falsehood in the media, who exploit people’s base desires; corrupt, deceitful, power-hungry politicians; scholars who use scientific discoveries to dominate the uninformed; and those who invent sects in opposition to God’s religion.
✅“Creational signs” (signs of existence), “legislative signs” (religious rulings), and “ethical signs” (conduct): Quranic verses are God’s silent signs; the Prophet’s Household are God’s speaking signs. Each person is a lasting sign of God in their own right. God’s signs are beyond number and impossible to enumerate!
💎 🍃
🌟 1. Consultation: among the highest forms of wise judgment
Consultation is possible not only with friends and believers, but even with enemies—for sometimes an enemy shows you the error of their ways without realizing it.
A prudent person consults the “cowardly” to learn where dangers lie, and the “brave” to find the strength to act.
But the highest form of consultation is “consulting God,” through prayer, intimate supplication, istikhara, and the heart’s own seeking.
Thus, planning without consulting God and His saints is incomplete; consultation is the key that opens the doors of wisdom.
🌸 2. Human Nature: A Criterion for Recognising an Enemy Who Can Be Reformed
“Fitrah” is the shared human conscience: despite their differences in religion and belief, all people recognize it as good and are drawn away from its opposite.
Anyone who crosses this “natural boundary” and turns to “injustice, lying, aggression, and corruption” is no longer “open to reform,” for they have waged war on their “true self”—their fitrah.
The standard of discernment, then, is this shared fitrah. Whoever stands against it is an enemy who can be restrained only through “firm action.”
🌺 3. Forbearance and Strategic Silence: The Wisdom of Knowing the Moment
“Forbearance” has its place when there is “hope of reform,” or when “any hasty response” would make matters worse.
At times, strategic silence is itself “wise counsel”—like operating on an infection: haste can cause it to spread.
Thus, “forbearance” and “silence,” in their proper place, are forms of wisdom; they do not mean “surrendering to injustice.”
🌻 4. Satanic Traits: Breathing Space for Satan
“Satanic traits” encompass all “moral vices,” from what is “contrary to fitrah” to “inhuman impulses and tendencies opposed to freedom and dignity.”
The hadith on the “hosts of reason and ignorance” gives a full list of these traits: “pride, envy, greed, ostentation, conceit, anger, lust, and so on.”
To cleanse one’s being of these “satanic traits” is to “cut off the roots that give Satan room to breathe” in the human soul.
🌷 5. Divine Signs Reveal Identity; They Do Not Confer It
The divine signs do not create “the identity of things”; rather, they “reveal their hidden identity.”
Just as light does not create the colors of things but makes them visible, the divine signs, too, bring “the true nature of individuals” to light.
The sending of messengers and scriptures, the events of Ghadir and Saqifah, and divine commands such as prayer and jihad all “unveil what lies within”; they do not “confer identity.”
The signs are therefore sent down to guide; but whoever “turns their back on the light” chooses the path of misguidance for themselves.
🌹 6. The Divine Will: The True Cause of Every Effect
Every effect is “a manifestation of God’s will”; no effect exists without its “true cause”—God.
A means, too, is among the clearest signs of “God’s approving will”; without His will being established, no means can endure.
Every act in the world, then, takes place by His will; and every means works its wonders in the shadow of “His will.”
🌼 7. A Means to God and a Means in God’s Presence: A Difference in Function
Any means that brings a person closer to God is a “means to God”; yet some means are “keys to other means.”
The Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt are among these “master keys,” while “tawhid” is the “master key to all means.”
God is both the “maker of keys” and the “maker of all means and locks.”
Without tawhid, then, a means not only fails to show the way; it leads one astray.
🌿 8. Pseudo-Mysticism: A Counterfeit of the Truth
“Excessive mysticism” is not mysticism at all; it is “pseudo-mysticism,” which obstructs the path to knowledge.
Just as “gold” stands apart from “imitation gold,” “pure mysticism” stands apart from “pseudo-mysticism.”
Every form of pseudo-mysticism strays from the path of the “Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt”; whoever separates from these two becomes ensnared by a “counterfeit” of the truth.
🌾 9. Light as Darkness for Those Given to Abominations
Whoever refuses to accept the truth and shies away from “taking in rays of light” becomes blind.
Whoever responds to the truth with a “backward reaction” and stubbornly resists it will find that “light” becomes “darkness” for them, trapping them in the “swamp of falsehood.”
Ali (AS) was God’s “speaking light” for the people of earth and heaven. But the envious, by warring against the light, blinded themselves and others and turned to misguidance.
🌺 10. Symbolic Samaritans in the Present Age
Toxic online spaces, media that spread lies, deceptive politicians, and scholars who use scientific discoveries to pursue domination are all “symbolic Samaritans” in the present age.
Those who fabricate sects in opposition to divine religion and use the “trace of the Messenger” (religious truths) to lead people astray are the clearest examples of the “symbolic Samaritan.”
🌻 11. Divine traces: boundless and countless
Divine traces are beyond number and impossible to enumerate:
“Cosmic traces”: the signs of existence (the horizontal and vertical signs)
“Legislative traces”: religious rulings and commands
“Ethical traces”: human conduct and dispositions
“Quranic verses”: God’s silent traces
“The Ahl al-Bayt”: God’s speaking traces
“Every person”: God’s enduring trace within that person
Thus all existence is a “trace of God,” and every trace opens a window onto the “true Agent” (God).
💫 In a final aphorism:
“All existence is a ‘trace of God,’ and every trace opens a window onto the ‘true Agent.’ Signs do not create the identity of things; they reveal it. In every age, symbolic Samaritans exploit the ‘trace of the Messenger’ to lead people astray. But the discerning believer, through ‘consultation with God’ and ‘following the Quran and the Ahl al-Bayt,’ finds a path through these traces to ‘divine unity.’”
🌟 Philosophical and wisdom teachings from the text “The Miracle of Traces”
1. The ontology of traces (the study of the existence of signs)
| No. | Wisdom and philosophical point– | Brief explanation |
| 1 | All existence is God’s “trace” and “sign.” | The earth, the heavens, the Quran, the Ahl al-Bayt, and even human existence itself are all “divine signs.” |
| 2 | Divine traces are “software” that works miracles in the “hardware of human existence.” | Harmony between “divine software” (signs, rulings, ethics) and “existential hardware” (a pure heart and sound reason) is essential for a miracle to occur. |
| 3 | Pure water works miracles on pure soil; | a pure vessel of being is a prerequisite for receiving divine grace, while impurity prevents the manifestation of merciful traces. |
| 4 | Traces do not “confer identity”; rather, they “illuminate hidden identity.” | Divine signs do not change the essence of things; they reveal their hidden reality, like light bringing out the colors of objects. |
| 5 | Divine traces are beyond number and impossible to enumerate. | “Cosmic traces” (the signs of existence), “legislative traces” (rulings), “ethical traces” (conduct), and the “Quranic verses” and “Ahl al-Bayt” are all instances of these infinite traces. |
| 6 | Every trace is a manifestation of “divine will.” | No trace exists without the “true Agent” (God), and every means works miracles in the shadow of “His will.” |
2. The epistemology of means (understanding the paths of nearness)
| No. | Theological–Philosophical Point | Brief Explanation |
| 1 | A “means” is anything that brings a person closer to God. | Faith, piety, righteous deeds, seeking intercession through the saints, and even reflecting on God’s signs are all “means to God.” |
| 2 | Some means are “keys to other means.” | The Quran and the Prophet’s Family are among the “primary keys” that set other means in motion. |
| 3 | A “means to God” differs from a “means with God.” | A “means to God” is a path to reach God, such as divine unity, faith, and seeking intercession. A “means with God” is a special station the saints hold before God, such as intercession. |
| 4 | A means has the opposite effect if one lacks “knowledge of the means.” | The Samaritan fashioned a calf using the “trace of the Messenger” (a sign from God), because he lacked “true knowledge” of the means. |
| 5 | Divine unity is the “precondition for all means” and the “master key to every means.” | No means can bring one to God without divine unity, and every appeal for intercession must carry the “fragrance of divine unity.” |
3. The Human Being and the Traces and Means
| No. | Theological–Philosophical Point | Brief Explanation |
| 1 | A pure person is “adorned with pure traces.” | God’s merciful traces manifest in the being of a pure person, transforming them into “God’s art gallery.” |
| 2 | Every human being is a “lasting trace of God” within themselves. | Each person’s existence is one of God’s signs, which they must discover and bring to fruition. |
| 3 | Pseudo-Shiites are like the Samaritan, who exploit divine means for their own personal gain. | In the name of the Prophet’s Family (AS), they prey on people and use the “traces of the Messenger” to lead others astray. |
| 4 | “Love of this world” is the defining mark of God’s enemies. | Whoever becomes attached to this world is deprived of the “sweetness of love for God” and turns against Him. |
| 5 | In the hands of the unworthy, “knowledge” becomes an instrument of misguidance. | Knowledge is a “transcendent trace of God”; but when it falls into the hands of those who act like the Samaritan, it turns people into calf-worshippers. |
4. The Philosophy of Divine Unity (Precondition for All Means and Master Key)
| No. | Theological–Philosophical Point | Brief Explanation |
| 1 | Divine unity is the “precondition for every means to God.” | Divine unity comes before every means; without it, no means can bring one to God. |
| 2 | “My means of approach to You is divine unity” (a passage from a supplication). | Divine unity is not merely a belief, but “the practical path to reach God.” |
| 3 | A “barrier” (that which comes first) repels polytheism, while a “means” draws one toward nearness. | A “barrier” keeps a person from going astray, while a “means” brings them closer to God. |
| 4 | The Imam cannot be separated from the “means” (divine unity). | Divine unity is “the soul of God’s proof”; and God’s proof is “the fortress of divine unity” and “the reality of divine unity.” |
| 5 | Holding fast to the Two Weighty Things is possible only through divine unity. | The Quran and the Prophet’s Family cannot be understood or followed without a “unitive perspective.” |
| 6 | Divine unity is the “master key to every means”; God is both the “maker of keys” and the “maker of all causes and locks.” | Every means is effective by God’s permission; God Himself is the “true agent of effect.” |
5. The Philosophy of Effects and Countereffects (Software Warfare)
| Item | Philosophical and Theological Insight–Philosophical | Brief Explanation |
| 1 | Godly effects close the “breathing space of Satan.” | Purifying one’s being of “satanic effects” (pride, envy, ostentation, and so on) means cutting off the roots through which the enemy gains entry. |
| 2 | Satanic effects act like “Satan’s lungs,” growing and multiplying. | Any “moral vice,” if it takes root in a person, becomes “Satan’s farmland.” |
| 3 | The effective weapon against satanic effects is “Godly effects.” | Through “remembrance, reflection, and discernment,” eradicate satanic effects and plant “Godly effects” in their place. |
| 4 | Every “divine trial” brings people’s “rank in knowledge” to light. | The sending of messengers, the revelation of scriptures, and events such as Ghadir and Saqifah reveal people’s “inner realities.” |
6. Comprehensive and Cross-Cutting Insights
| Item | Philosophical and Theological Insight–Philosophical | Brief Explanation |
| 1 | The Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt are “two mirrors held in one another’s embrace.” | The Qur’an (the silent book) and the Ahl al-Bayt (the speaking book) complement and interpret one another. |
| 2 | “The Qur’an is an exposition of all things”; the Ahl al-Bayt are “the repository in which all things are enumerated.” | The Qur’an is “explanation and elucidation,” while the Ahl al-Bayt are “the gathering place of all truths.” |
| 3 | The “Samaritan” used the “messenger’s trace” to make the calf bellow, while “Mu‘awiya,” by raising the “Qur’an on spears,” deceived the people. | Both exploited “divine effects” to serve their own desires. |
| 4 | “Knowledge” in unworthy hands breeds “ignorance”; this is not the nature of knowledge itself. | If the bearer of knowledge is not “God-fearing,” he leads knowledge to the “slaughterhouse.” |
| 5 | For believers, the “signs of God” are “the light of guidance”; for unbelievers, they are “proof that leaves no excuse.” | The difference lies not in “the nature of the signs” but in “the way people respond to them.” |
| 6 | Through their “effects,” believers make the earth and heavens a stage for their wonders. | The believer’s light shines for the inhabitants of heaven, and the effects of their worship are manifest in this world and the next. |
🌹 Final Summary (in a Single Aphorism)
“All existence is an ‘effect’ and a ‘sign’ of God, and every effect opens a window onto the ‘true Cause.’ Means are pathways to draw near to God; yet no means, without ‘divine oneness,’ can bring a person to the destination. Divine oneness is the ‘prior means’ and the ‘master key to all means’; and any appeal for intercession lacking the ‘fragrance of divine oneness’ is nothing but ‘illusion.’ The Samaritans of every age exploit the ‘messenger’s trace’ to lead people astray; but the pure believers, through the ‘Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt’ and ‘sincere divine oneness,’ make these effects a bridge to spiritual ascent.”
An Expansive, Lyrical Elaboration
🌟 1. Effects: Signs Scattered Across the Horizon of Existence
All existence is an “effect” and a “sign” of God, from distant galaxies to a drop of water rolling over a flower petal.
The earth and heavens, the Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt, and even your own being are all “divine signs” that speak of the “true Cause” in their own silent language.
These effects are like “software” that works miracles within the “hardware of human existence”—provided that the “hardware” (your heart and soul) is pure and ready.
Just as “pure water” and “pure soil” create a garden, so “Godly effects” make the garden of meaning bloom within a “pure heart.”
🌸 2. The Means: A Bridge Between Earth and the Heavens
A “means” is anything that brings you closer to God: faith, piety, righteous action, seeking the intercession of God’s friends—and even gazing up at the night sky.
Some means are “keys to other means.” The Qur’an and the Prophet’s Household are among these “master keys” that open the doors of understanding for you.
But without “understanding the means,” a means can lead you astray, as it did the Samaritan, who used “a trace of the Messenger” (a sign from God) to fashion a calf that made a sound.
A means, then, can be both a “bridge to transcendence” and a “snare of ruin”; the difference lies in how you see it.
🌺 3. Divine Oneness: The Precondition and Master Key to All Means
Divine Oneness is the “precondition” and “master key to all means.”
No means can bring you to God without the “fragrance of divine oneness”; and any appeal for intercession emptied of “divine oneness” is nothing but an “illusion.”
Just as a key cannot work without “a hand to turn it,” neither can a means unlock what is closed without “sincere devotion to divine oneness.”
God is both the “maker of keys” and the “maker of every cause and lock”; and divine oneness is the “hand that turns the keys.”
🌷 4. Satanic Traces: The Enemy’s Breathing Ground
Satanic traces are like “lungs” through which the enemy draws breath: pride, envy, ostentation, conceit, greed, and all the “vices of character.”
If these traces take root within you, you become “Satan’s field,” yielding a harvest of misguidance at every turn.
But the effective weapons against them are “traces of divine mercy”: remembrance, reflection, contemplation, repentance, and seeking forgiveness.
With these weapons, you “break Satan’s lungs” within yourself and close off the ground from which he draws breath.
🌻 5. Symbolic Samaritans in Every Age
The Samaritan is not merely a historical figure; he is a “symbol of anyone” who exploits “signs from God” to serve their own desires.
In our time, “symbolic Samaritans” seek to mislead people online, in the media and politics, and even under the guise of religion.
Using “a trace of the Messenger” (religious truths), they fashion calves that make a sound: calves of “fame, power, wealth, and self-worship.”
But the discerning believer recognizes these “symbolic Samaritans” and uses “signs from God” to “multiply virtues,” not “produce vices.”
🌹 6. Knowledge in the Wrong Hands: A Weapon for Ignorance
Knowledge is a “transcendent sign of God”; but if it falls into the hands of the “unworthy,” it becomes an “instrument of misguidance.”
Just as a surgeon’s knife saves life in a doctor’s hands and brings death in a murderer’s, knowledge in the hands of “Samaritan-like figures” turns people into “calf-worshippers.”
So without “piety” and “divine oneness,” knowledge not only fails to guide; it breeds “compounded ignorance” and plunges a person into the swamp of self-regard.
🌼 7. The Qur’an and the Prophet’s Household: Two Mirrors Held Close
The Qur’an and the Prophet’s Household are “two mirrors held close together”: they interpret one another and give meaning to one another.
The Qur’an is “an exposition of all things,” and the Prophet’s Household is its “living embodiment.”
Whoever parts from these two is left wandering like a “bat” in the darkness of ignorance, deprived of the “light of guidance.”
So holding fast to the Two Weighty Things is possible only through “divine oneness,” for divine oneness is the “seeing eye” that enables us to look rightly into these two mirrors.
🌿 8. Light and Darkness: In the Mirror of the Human Gaze
For believers, God’s signs are a “light of guidance”; for disbelievers, they are “proof brought to completion.”
The difference lies not in “the nature of the signs,” but in “the way people respond to them.”
Those who turn their backs on the light choose the path of misguidance for themselves; those who open the eye of the heart see the truth in its radiance.
Just as water brings life to fertile land but makes salty soil even more bitter, so God’s signs cultivate faith in a pure heart and deepen disbelief in an impure one.
🌾 9. The field of faith: a wonder in the eyes of disbelievers
A believer is like a field watered by “the water of God’s signs,” constantly putting forth fresh shoots of “virtue and knowledge.”
This field grows so wondrously that it fills “disbelievers” with amazement, leaving them speechless with astonishment.
A believer’s light shines for the inhabitants of heaven as the stars shine for the inhabitants of earth; even in this world, the traces of their worship are visible in their face and conduct.
💫 Final words
O heart, if you wish to see the “effect,” look in every direction throughout existence: everything is a sign of God.
If you wish to find the “means,” hold fast to the Qur’an and the Prophet’s family, for the keys to every door of knowledge are in their hands.
If you wish to grasp “divine oneness,” sever your attachment to all that is other than God, for divine oneness precedes every means.
If you wish to remain safe from “symbolic Samiris,” use sound reason and a pure heart to distinguish effects from their source.
And if you wish to bring the “field of faith” to fruition, water the heart with “the water of God’s signs,” so that not only you, but all the world, will marvel at its wonder.
🌟 Part One: A systematic summary of the “miracle of effects”
1. The central principle: effects are manifestations of God’s will in existence
All existence is an “effect” and a “sign” of God—from the tiniest particle to the galaxy, from the Qur’an to the Prophet’s family, and including human existence itself.
God’s effects are “software” that work miracles within the “hardware of a pure human being.”
Effects do not “confer identity”; rather, they “reveal the hidden identity” of things and people.
2. The means: a path of nearness to God
A “means” is anything that brings a person closer to God (faith, piety, righteous deeds, and seeking the intercession of God’s friends).
Some means are “keys to other means,” such as the Qur’an and the Prophet’s family.
Without “sound understanding,” a means can become an “instrument of misguidance”—as when the Samiri fashioned a calf from “the trace of the Messenger.”
3. Divine oneness: prior to all means and the master key
Divine oneness is the “means to God that precedes all others” and the “master key to every means.”
No means can bring a person to God without the “fragrance of divine oneness.”
Holding fast to the Two Weighty Things—the Qur’an and the Prophet’s family—is possible only through a “unitive vision.”
4. Satanic effects and divine protection
Satanic traits—arrogance, envy, ostentation, greed, and other moral vices—are “breathing spaces for Satan.”
The effective defense against satanic traits is “divine virtues”: remembrance, reflection, discernment, repentance, and seeking forgiveness.
Effects grow and multiply: both the divine—multiplying virtues—and the satanic—multiplying vices.
5. Symbolic Samiris in every age
The Samiri is a symbol of anyone who uses “God’s signs” to serve their own desires and mislead others.
Examples of symbolic Samaritans in the present age include disinformation media, deceitful politicians, domineering scholars, and religious sect-makers.
🌹 Part Two: Further Clarifications (to Resolve Ambiguities)
| Topic | Clarification |
| Consultation | Consult everyone—even the enemy. The highest form of consultation is turning to God in prayer, intimate supplication, and seeking guidance through istikhāra. |
| How to Discern an Enemy | “The shared human nature” is the criterion for distinguishing between an enemy who can be reformed and one who cannot. |
| Forbearance and Silence | Forbearance and silence, when fitting and guided by hope for reform, are forms of wisdom—not submission to oppression. |
| Satanic Effects | This includes all “corrupting moral traits, inclinations contrary to human nature, and inhuman tendencies.” |
| Interpretive Determinism | The verses do not confer identity; rather, they “reveal the identity that lies hidden.” |
| The Divine Will | Every effect is “a manifestation of God’s will”; no means can have an effect without His will. |
| Pseudo-Mysticism | Pseudo-mysticism is a counterfeit of the truth, far removed from the path of the Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt. |
| Light in the Guise of Darkness | For those steeped in wickedness, God’s light becomes “the darkness of misguidance,” for they are hostile to the truth. |
🌼 Part Three: A Fuller Elaboration (in the Language of the Heart and the Mind of the Soul)
1. Effects: Scattered Signs Across the Horizon of Existence
All of existence is God’s “effect” and “sign,” from distant galaxies to a drop of water rolling down a flower’s petal.
The earth and heavens, the Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt, even your own existence—all are “divine signs” that, in their silent language, speak of the “true Agent.”
These effects are like “software” that works wonders within the “hardware of human existence”—provided that the “hardware” (your heart and soul) is pure and ready.
2. Means: A Bridge Between Earth and Heaven
A “means” is anything that brings you closer to God: faith, piety, righteous deeds, seeking the intercession of God’s chosen ones, even your fixed gaze upon the night sky.
Some means are “keys to other means.” The Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt are among these “master keys,” opening the doors of knowledge to you.
Yet without “knowledge of the means,” a means can lead you astray, as the Samaritan did: using the “trace of the Messenger” (a sign from God), he fashioned a calf that made a sound.
So a means can be both a “bridge to spiritual ascent” and a “snare of ruin”; the difference lies in “how you see it.”
3. Divine Unity: The Prerequisite and Master Key to All Means
Divine unity is the “prerequisite to every means” and the “master key to them all.”
No means can bring you to God without the “fragrance of divine unity”; and any appeal for intercession empty of “divine unity” is nothing but “illusion.”
Just as a key cannot work without “a hand to turn it,” a means cannot open the way without “sincere divine unity.”
God is both “the maker of keys” and “the maker of all means and locks”; divine unity is “the hand that turns the keys.”
4. Symbolic Samaritans in Every Age
The Samaritan is not merely a historical figure; he is “the symbol of anyone” who uses “divine signs” to serve the lower self’s desires.
In our time, “symbolic Samaritans” seek to mislead people online, in the media and politics, and even under the guise of religion.
Using the “relics of the Messenger” (religious truths), they fashion calves that low—the calves of “fame, power, wealth, and self-worship.”
But the discerning believer recognizes these “symbolic Samaritans” and uses the “divine traces” to “multiply virtues,” not to “produce vices.”
5. Light and Darkness: Reflected in the Human Gaze
For believers, God’s signs are “the light of guidance”; for disbelievers, they are “proof brought to completion.”
The difference lies not in “the nature of the signs,” but in “the way a person responds to them.”
Whoever “turns their back on the light” chooses the path of misguidance for themselves; whoever opens “the eye of the heart” sees the truth in its radiance.
Just as water brings life to fertile soil but makes salty land saltier still, God’s signs cause faith to sprout in a pure heart and deepen disbelief in an impure one.
6. The Field of Faith: A Wonder to Disbelievers
The believer is like a field watered by “the water of God’s signs,” constantly putting forth fresh shoots of “good character and knowledge.”
This field grows so wondrously that it fills “the disbelievers” with amazement, leaving them open-mouthed in astonishment.
The believer’s light shines for the people of heaven as the stars shine for the people of earth; and even in this world, the marks of worship are plain in their face and conduct.
💎 Final Summary (in a single aphoristic, lyrical passage)
“All existence is God’s ‘trace’ and ‘sign’; every trace opens a window onto the ‘True Agent.’ Means are paths by which we draw near to God; yet no means can bring anyone to the destination without ‘divine unity.’ Tawhid is the ‘prior-to-all-means’ and the ‘master key to every means’; and any appeal to an intermediary that lacks the ‘fragrance of tawhid’ is nothing but ‘illusion.’ The Samaritans of every age exploit the ‘relics of the Messenger’ to lead people astray; but pure believers, through the ‘Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt’ and ‘sincere tawhid,’ build from these traces a bridge to spiritual ascent, making the field of their faith so fruitful that the world looks on in wonder, open-mouthed with amazement.”
[1] Al-Kāfī (Islamic edition), vol. 2, p. 130 Kulaynī, Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq, Islamic Books Publishing House, Tehran, 4th edition, 1407 AH.
[2]Kashf al-Ghumma fī Maʿrifat al-Aʾimma (old edition), vol. 2, p. 132 Arbali, ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā, Banī Hāshim, Tabriz, 1st edition, 1381 AH.
[3] Al-Muʾmin ؛ ؛ p. 29 Kūfī Ahwāzī, Ḥusayn ibn Saʿīd, Imam Mahdi Foundation, Qom, 1404 AH.
[4]An excerpt from Supplication 49 of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya
[5] Miṣbāḥ al-Mutahajjid wa-Silāḥ al-Mutaʿabbid, vol. 2, p. 477 Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan, Shiʿi Jurisprudence Foundation, Beirut, 1st edition, 1411 AH.
[6] Miṣbāḥ al-Mutahajjid wa-Silāḥ al-Mutaʿabbid, vol. 2, p. 833 Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan, Shiʿi Jurisprudence Foundation, Beirut, 1st edition, 1411 AH.
