Written transcript of the lecture
The Meshkat-e Noor teachings series🌼The Greatest Trial: Virtual Spaces🌼
🌼The Real Presence of Satan in Virtual Spaces🌼
🌸🔆🌿 “The Virtual Space of the Lower Self” “The Satanic Virtual Space” “The Human Being: The Center of Good and Evil”
🔅🌹 Summary, with an addendum: “Supplication 20 of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya, Session 204” “The Virtual Space of the Lower Self” “The Satanic Virtual Space” “The Human Being: The Center of Good and Evil” “ ” 1402.03.25 Ali Saei (Abdollah Meshkat 110.141(903)) 🌹🔅
🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹
🌸More virtual than virtual space is the virtual human being: one who is ruled by the lower self and Satan. His life, too, becomes virtual.
☘️Internet-based virtual space is a subset of the virtual space of the lower self and Satan.
🌸Reversing truths and falsehoods, and turning them upside down, is one of the principal aims of satanic and carnal virtual spaces.
☘️The harm that pseudo-believers inflict on society is greater than that caused by unbelievers.
🌸The captives, slaves and bondwomen of today’s virtual spaces are in a worse state than anyone held in captivity, slavery or bondage.
☘️Appropriating religion for personal gain is the gravest injustice against religion.
🌸Legalistic loopholes and religious justifications are among the deceptions used by ignorant pseudo-believers to conquer this world and the Hereafter.
🌸Captives of virtual space
☘️Those held captive in virtual spaces are condemned to a false, virtual life.
🌸When life revolves around idle amusement, people are cut off from the real world and imprisoned in virtual space.
☘️Virtual space is not confined to mobile phones; it takes shape within the human heart.
🌸The greatest error in the history of the world is unfolding. We must be alert: entrust your minds and hearts to God, and hold fast to the Two Weighty Things.
☘️The virtual sun is one example of how vulnerable people today are when distinguishing reality from illusion. Virtual prophets, sent by satans, are proclaiming their call; a virtual god will claim divinity.
🌸Worshippers of illusion are the worst idolaters in the world.
☘️For those given over to illusion, distinguishing a virtual god from the true God is the hardest task imaginable.
🌸When the mind deceives us, its power to mislead grows stronger still when it is influenced by the lower self and Satan.
☘️It may become harder for a person to tell right from left. Discerning the hair-thin line between truth and falsehood requires faith and God-consciousness.
🌸With his one eye, the Antichrist has stolen the sight of those who worship illusion.
☘️Believing in the Antichrist is humanity’s worst defeat—even before the accursed Antichrist proclaims himself divine.
🌸Each person’s conduct and state of mind in virtual space bears witness to the corruption within.
☘️Satanic thoughts penetrate the human mind; the hearts of those devoted to illusion are under Satan’s sway. Let us be vigilant.
🌸Whoever has not attained divine oneness worships illusions—from worshipping names and attributes to worshipping deeds, fantasies and appearances.
☘️The One and Unique God has not been worshipped, for God must be worshipped through divine oneness.
🌸Humanity’s final trial will soon take place.
☘️Soon the virtual Antichrist will be replaced by the real Antichrist.
🌸Our approach to creation’s turning point, the transformation of conditions and the beginning of creation’s metamorphosis are among the reasons satans are striving so fiercely to intensify their mischief.
☘️The world is in labour.
🌸A devastating storm of trials lies ahead: extraordinary and rare trials.
☘️Breaking free from captivity in virtual spaces is among the foremost duties of people today.
🌸Let us prepare well for the ultimate test.
☘️We must become familiar with the Hereafter—its culture and language, its lanes and byways. Love of this world keeps us from understanding the structure and knowledge of the true world.
🌸The system of taqwa is a way of experiencing the Hereafter before entering it. Through taqwa, we can journey through the Hereafter before our departure, and experience death before we die.
☘️All beings recoil from those who sin—even the sinner and Satan himself—for the stench of sin torments everyone, including the one who bears it.
🌸The burden of enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong is heavy.
☘️Human beings stand between water and fire, good and evil. Within every person there is a venomous snake, a ravenous wolf, and a deceitful fox.
🌸Mastering the scorpion within transforms its deadly venom into a healing remedy.
☘️Let us manage the heart’s menagerie and train the creatures within. Let us turn the commanding self into the tranquil self, and transform the adversarial and hypocritical into the cooperative. Let us turn the fire in the heart’s volcano into a welcome warmth.
🌸The disciplined self is in our hands; we must not let it go. Nor should we loosen our hold on a menagerie once brought under control.
☘️The lowest of the low is lower still than one who follows caprice and worships the self: it is the self-worshipper.
🌸The one who follows caprice first massacres the inner virtues, then turns to killing the righteous outside.
☘️From the light that shines through Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, Paradise unfolds. And from Paradise’s smiling face, the beauties of the sanctuary and precinct of wilayah are revealed—of which Fatima Ma‘suma, peace be upon her, is an example.
🌸The way things are arranged and ordered gives shape to their form and majesty. The arrangement of water molecules yields different fruits; the arrangement and ordering of other elements, and their combinations with one another, produce still other forms.
☘️We must consider the nature of reason and ignorance at the moment of the command «اقبل وادبر» and what follows it: reason accepted and became joined to mercy, while ignorance rebelled and became joined to the curse. Faith and disbelief determine changes in nature and transformations of structure; the beauty or repulsiveness of beings is shaped by the excellence of their faith and taqwa.
🌸Whoever chooses reason or ignorance changes their nature through that choice. The same structural transformation occurs in every test.
☘️The primordial nature of the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them, is only one part of their immense structure, not the whole of it. The same is true of other beings.
🌸The Ghadir test and the presentation of the divine trust have different stages. Each stage brings its own particular test, and the process continues.
☘️وَ فَتَقَ نُورَ الْحُسَيْنِ فَخَلَقَ مِنْهُ الْجِنَانَ وَ الْحُورَ الْعِينَ وَ الْحُسَيْنُ وَ اللَّهِ أَجَلُّ مِنَ الْجِنَانِ وَ الْحُورِ الْعِين
🌸وَ اعْلَمْ أَنَّ لِكُلِّ ظَاهِرٍ بَاطِناً عَلَى مِثَالِهِ فَمَا طَابَ ظَاهِرُهُ طَابَ بَاطِنُهُ وَ مَا خَبُثَ ظَاهِرُهُ خَبُثَ بَاطِنُهُ وَ قَدْ قَالَ الرَّسُولُ الصَّادِقُ ص إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْعَبْدَ وَ يُبْغِضُ عَمَلَهُ وَ يُحِبُّ الْعَمَلَ وَ يُبْغِضُ بَدَنَهُ وَ اعْلَمْ أَنَّ لِكُلِّ عَمَلٍ نَبَاتاً وَ كُلُّ نَبَاتٍ لَا غِنَى بِهِ عَنِ الْمَاءِ وَ الْمِيَاهُ مُخْتَلِفَةٌ فَمَا طَابَ سَقْيُهُ طَابَ غَرْسُهُ وَ حَلَتْ ثَمَرَتُهُ وَ مَا خَبُثَ سَقْيُهُ خَبُثَ غَرْسُهُ وَ أَمَرَّتْ ثَمَرَتُه[1]
🌸الشَّرُّ كَامِنٌ فِي طَبِيعَةِ كُلِّ أَحَدٍ فَإِنْ غَلَبَهُ صَاحِبُهُ بَطَنَ وَ إِنْ لَمْ يَغْلِبْهُ ظَهَر[2]
🌸 عَنْ أَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ع قَالَ النَّفْسُ مَجْبُولَةٌ عَلَى سُوءِ الْأَدَبِ وَ الْعَبْدُ مَأْمُورٌ بِمُلَازَمَةِ حُسْنِ الْأَدَبِ وَ النَّفْسُ تَجْرِي فِي مَيْدَانِ الْمُخَالَفَةِ وَ الْعَبْدُ يَجْهَدُ بِرَدِّهَا عَنْ سُوءِ الْمُطَالَبَةِ فَمَتَى أَطْلَقَ عِنَانَهَا فَهُوَ شَرِيكٌ فِي فَسَادِهَا وَ مَنْ أَعَانَ نَفْسَهُ فِي هَوَى نَفْسِهِ فَقَدْ أَشْرَكَ نَفْسَهُ فِي قَتْلِ نَفْسِه[3]
🌼 Ali Sa‘i (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141 (903) 🌼
[1] Nahj al-Balagha (ed. Subhi Salih); p. 216 1 vol., Hijrat, Qom, first edition, 1414 AH.
[2] Classification of Pearls of Wisdom and Gems of Speech; p. 105 Islamic Propagation Office, Iran, Qom, first edition, 1366 SH.
[3] Mishkat al-Anwar fi Ghurar al-Akhbar; text; p. 247 Haydariyya Library, Najaf, second edition, 1385 AH / 1965 CE / 1344 SH.
