Written transcript of the lecture
The Meshkat-e Noor teachings series🌻🔆🔆🌻
🌼🔆🌼Breaking free from the fault line of baseness🌼🔆🌼
🔹 Weekly sessions on the explanation and interpretation of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya: Supplication 20
📅 Date: 1404/09/13 – 13 Jumada al-Thani 1447
✨ Session: Meshkat-e Noor
🎤 Speaker: Master Ali Saei
📝 Some of the topics discussed in the session:
The School of Devotion in al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya ✨
( 11 ) اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِهِ ، وَ اجْعَلْ أَوْسَعَ رِزْقِكَ عَلَيَّ إِذَا كَبِرْتُ ، وَ أَقْوَى قُوَّتِكَ فِيَّ إِذَا نَصِبْتُ ، وَ لَا تَبْتَلِيَنِّي بِالْكَسَلِ عَنْ عِبَادَتِكَ ، وَ لَا الْعَمَى عَنْ سَبِيلِكَ ، وَ لَا بِالتَّعَرُّضِ لِخِلَافِ مَحَبَّتِكَ ، وَ لَا مُجَامَعَةِ مَنْ تَفَرَّقَ عَنْكَ ، وَ لَا مُفَارَقَةِ مَنِ اجْتَمَعَ إِلَيْكَ .
( 12 ) اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْنِي أَصُولُ بِكَ عِنْدَ الضَّرُورَةِ ، وَ أَسْأَلُكَ عِنْدَ الْحَاجَةِ ، وَ أَتَضَرَّعُ إِلَيْكَ عِنْدَ الْمَسْكَنَةِ ، وَ لَا تَفْتِنِّي بِالِاسْتِعَانَةِ بِغَيْرِكَ إِذَا اضْطُرِرْتُ ، وَ لَا بِالْخُضُوعِ لِسُؤَالِ غَيْرِكَ إِذَا افْتَقَرْتُ ، وَ لَا بِالتَّضَرُّعِ إِلَى مَنْ دُونَكَ إِذَا رَهِبْتُ ، فَأَسْتَحِقَّ بِذَلِكَ خِذْلَانَكَ وَ مَنْعَكَ وَ إِعْرَاضَكَ ، يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ .
In al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, Imam Sajjad teaches us the secrets and principles of managing the soul and the world. Every passage of al-Sahifa is both the first lesson and the final one: through each passage of Imam Sajjad, we can soar to the highest horizons of devotion to God. These passages guide us to the utmost heights of servitude to God. Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya offers lessons not only for humanity, but for the entire world—not only for human beings, but for all the angels and all the spiritual beings in existence. Its teachings know no bounds. In these passages, the Imam teaches us the secret of strength, unveils the hidden mysteries of divine love, acquaints us with the secrets of wisdom, and reveals the meaning of trust in God. This al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya is our book for understanding the advent of our master, the Remnant of God Almighty—may my soul be his ransom.
The secret of trust in God and facing the world 💠
The need for the Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya will become clear to us at the time of the reappearance. Then its fruits will ripen for us—its sweet fruits—and the hidden secrets within it will be unveiled. The Imam teaches us the mysteries of reliance upon God. We have arrived at a secret: a person must be reliant upon God, not given to making excuses. To attain the station of reliance and flee the state of excuse-making, we must pronounce five takbīrs over our own souls.
We must bid farewell to all our desires, just as a person bids farewell to life at the moment of death. What are we to do? The secret of these five takbīrs is that we must not try to get ahead of what has been allotted to us. Whatever is meant to come our way will come—why should we rush towards it? To sneak a look at what has been apportioned to others is a kind of distrust in God. If He is the Provider, He has apportioned our provision and will bring it to us. We should not set our hearts on things that do not exist. So three paths lie before us: we must not try to get ahead of what has been allotted to us; we must not pry into what has been apportioned to others; and we must not become attached to what does not exist, nurturing desires for it. What should we do? We should act as our master, Amīr al-Muʾminīn, did. Let us take him as our model and play the role of our master—let us embody his example, so that God may give our hearts a taste of a drop of his gentle spirit. Our master stands before the world, counsels it, disciplines it, and brings it to the friends of God. This is our master, addressing the world…
“O world, O world, keep away from me. Do not come to me; you have taken the wrong road. O world, why are you coming to me? What are you hoping to do? Are you offering yourself to me? Are you adorning yourself to draw me towards you? Are you making yourself sweet and colourful in my eyes? Do you hope to stir my longing for you? Do you hope to make ʿAlī fall in love with you—with your ornaments, your dances, your messages, whether real or illusory, with your insinuations?”
How astonishing are my master’s words; they contain the finest subtleties. As a person sinks into each passage of his speech, he is swallowed up in it. “Your time has not come, O world. You are so small; you have not yet grown tall enough to come to me. I bring the whole afterlife, the entire universe, to its knees—what, then, of you, O world? I have not fixed my gaze upon Paradise; I have not set my eyes or my heart on the pleasures of this world or the next—what, then, of you? You are still small. Before ʿAlī, you are still an infant at the breast; your teeth have not yet come through, and you have not yet grown tall enough to stand before him. It is not as you imagine. Your time has not come to contend with ʿAlī—not even for a moment will ʿAlī turn his gaze towards you. If you came to me decked in your finest ornaments, I would pay you no attention.”
“How far from me you are, O world! You think I would look your way? Go and deceive someone else; you cannot deceive me. I have no need of you whatsoever; I am not attached to you at all. I have divorced you three times—there can be no return! O world, I have divorced you thrice; I have let you go. I have severed myself from you so completely that there can be no reunion!”
“Your pleasures are fleeting; your life is brief, short-lived. Your worth and standing are slight. You are utterly worthless, O world; your ambitions are paltry. Why should I set my heart on you?”
“Even ʿAlī, whose single blow outweighs the worship of both humankind and jinn, with all his virtues, sighs over how little provision he has. He sighs—ah, how little the provision, how long the road, how far the journey, and how immense the destination, that great meeting-place, that glorious meeting with God… Ah! How will I ever reach Him?” So how are we to bid farewell to our desires? How can we attain the station of reliance? Let us keep my master’s words close to our hearts. Let us listen and learn.
Training the Soul and Attaining the Station of Reliance 🕊
When the majesty and beauty of our Master take hold of our being, it becomes easier to pass through this world, and we attain the station of trust in God with ease. Until we reach this state of heart, we will be hesitant rather than trusting: captives of the world, of its causes and effects, of ourselves, and of others. Only when we let go of all that is other than God will we attain the station of trust.
Our Imam Sajjad shows us how to shape a noble character—how to form ourselves and become people of trust in God. When it is time for supplication, I lack the strength; God, the All-Powerful, can bring me to the station of trust in Him. Our Imam Sajjad elevates the human system: he shows us how to grow, and reveals the secrets of growth. We must take up each of his supplications ourselves and bring them to life. Unless we let these Sajjadi secrets be tasted in our very souls, we will not savour their sweetness.
His strategic roadmaps are systemic, not static, but dynamic; they raise a person to the rank of God’s friends. Our Imam Sajjad does not want us to stand still, fall, or keep silent. We must always be ready to take flight, soaring toward the heights of perfection, to the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, and to the encounter with Almighty God. We must live each and every one of our Imam Sajjad’s supplications. They are like an ocean: we must swim in the vast sea of Sajjad’s prayers and experience their life through his words. Let each supplication become a wing carrying us toward God: they hold the secrets of flight, of advancement and progress.
The Imam teaches us never to become attached to ourselves, to others, to this world, or even to the Hereafter. We must turn only to God. We must not deceive ourselves or become dependent on ourselves; we must free ourselves even from self-reliance—let alone dependence on others or on things. We must place our trust in our own Creator, the Creator of the whole universe.
The danger of self-confidence and tawhidic independence ⚜️
The Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (peace be upon him), brings his words to a close: “Never, ever trust your ego; never become enamoured of yourself.” Self-reliance in this sense is forbidden. It means becoming dependent on oneself, approving of oneself and forgetting God. What, then, should we do? We should make use of all our abilities and all that we are, while placing our trust in God. Our very being is a gift from God, an act of His grace. Let us move forward through His power and strength, not relying on our own. Let us make the best use of whatever God has given us, and connect that little to the Infinite—that is what it means to trust in God.
Never trust your ego, never trust yourself, for self-reliance is one of Satan’s greatest hunting grounds. Satan catches us in our own trap; he makes us his prey through ourselves. And if trusting ourselves is forbidden, trusting others is even more so. We must attain complete independence from all things and all people—even from ourselves—and reach God. We should not become attached to the little power, ability or knowledge we possess. Our knowledge and ability are signs pointing us towards Him. So let us follow these signs, these abilities, and use the gifts within us, which are themselves signs, to draw near to Him.
O God, grant us the perfection of turning away from all that is other than You and turning towards You, so that we may sever our ties with everything but You and attain the highest union with You. Herein lies the secret: if we cut ourselves off from all but God, we will attain the highest union with Him. We must therefore attain complete independence from all but God: abandon self-sufficiency and seeking sufficiency in others, and hold fast to seeking sufficiency in God alone. Everything in existence is under the care of the Creator of existence—so why should we turn away from Him? Every being in this world is a written page, a book by the Author of existence, meant to turn us towards Him, the Author and Creator, until we attain sufficiency in God and trust in Him. Dependence on oneself is a sign of self-worship; dependence on another is a sign of worshipping another. Freedom from dependence on both oneself and others is a sign of worshipping God. We are servants of whatever we depend on and become attached to. We must attain spiritual independence and practical independence from all but God: this is the essence of pure servitude to God. When we wish to worship God alone, we must free ourselves from every attachment to anyone but Him. This is what our master, Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him), says in his intimate prayer to our Lord:
ولا تقتنی ….
“I would become dependent; I would humble myself before the source of my dependence, and become its lowly servant. Do not leave me to myself, lest I become dependent on anyone but You and seek help from them. Do not let me humble myself before anyone but You. Whoever shows another the kind of devotional humility that is not due to them has worshipped them.”
Humility belongs to God alone. If I humble myself before God—and that is possible only by turning away from all but Him—God will honour me. He will not only raise me to the heights of dignity, but make me honourable before everyone; He will grant me honour among His servants. But if I become dependent on anyone but You, and humble myself before anyone but You, O God, I will be severed from You.
Whoever humbles himself before a wealthy person in order to obtain what that person possesses loses two-thirds of his faith; it is destroyed. This applies in the individual and social spheres, and at the national and international levels. Any country that bows and yields to others in the hope of gaining wealth beyond its borders loses two-thirds of its faith. Another hadith says: “Whoever humbles himself before a wealthy person, God places poverty between his eyes”—that is, he will never escape poverty. At every moment he sees himself as wretched and destitute. Why? Because God has placed poverty between his eyes: he sees the world through the lens of poverty. Any country that looks to other countries in this way will become poor and wretched. Another hadith says that even if a person does not ask for anything, and has no intention of seeking wealth, merely humbling himself before someone because that person is wealthy destroys two-thirds of his faith.
That is the secret behind this prayer: “ولا تفتنی …”
It is about protecting one’s faith, honour and dignity. It is a discipline—a practice in spiritual and practical independence.
Old age, divine blessing, and the Sajjadiyya’s insurance policy 🌿
To reach the eternal source of boundless power—power whose vastness comes from none but God—any dependence on material means and earthly powers is a swamp of hidden and open idolatry. Without doubt, any heedlessness of God turns us towards what is other than God; it is the beginning of self-worship, the worship of others, and idolatry. Idolatry is a form of blindness, and an especially clear and subtle form of associating partners with God. In every circumstance, even in old age, we must not depend on anyone but God. O God, do not let me become dependent on anyone but You in my old age. I do not seek death; I seek You, but I do not wish to depend on anything other than You.
O God, even in illness, even when I am frail, I do not wish to depend on anyone but You or seek help from anyone but You. This is Imam Zayn al-Abidin; this is the Sajjadi insurance policy. Whoever has secured himself through Imam Zayn al-Abidin (peace be upon him) and his intimate prayers has attained the first and last wealth and strength. Neither in old age, frailty and senescence, nor in illness and helplessness, will God abandon him.
No part of our lives is futile or in vain. When I grow old, it means the fruit of my soul has ripened fully; it is time for the harvest. If I go astray, then after a lifetime of effort, after bringing my soul’s fruit to maturity, a worm will devour it. Let us not forget any season of our lives: each stage holds its own secret and bears its own fruit and harvest, which must be gathered. Old age is the final harvest; we must seek God’s help and free ourselves from dependence on all else. So old age is the golden period of human life, the yield of a lifetime spent breathing and worshipping. Society must understand that its elders are not a burden. God’s blessings are found with the old; He has made them a source of His blessings. To drive out the elderly, to cast them aside, is to remove God’s blessings from the earth. Society will fall into poverty because it has cast away the source of God’s blessings.
The scourge of laziness in worship and the decline of humanity 🕯
O God, keep me from being lazy in worshipping You; do not test me by making me lazy in Your worship. Retirement from serving God, or a break from it, is impossible; no one can resign from God’s service. Those who grow weak and lazy in worship and service to God act as though they wish to flee from it, to put an end to worshipping God and resign from His service. Every kind of laziness in worship brings a lowering of rank, decline and defeat. Weakness in worship turns a human being into an animal, and an animal into something lower still—even lower than inanimate things. Perhaps in the intermediate realm that person will appear as a beetle, or something even lower. Even in this world, a servant who is lax in serving God takes on an animal nature. This human being, who should have surpassed even the angels, has now become like an animal. Through laziness in worshipping God, our society today has fallen into decline. All its progress is on the track of animality, because service to God has been cast aside. It advances ever faster, with ever greater speed, in animal pursuits. What human achievement do we see? None. Why? Because humanity has been severed from within; it has descended into animality. Worshipping God is the bread, water and fuel of our growth; it fuels our ascent and gives us wings to rise and fly. Without worship, the human being withers and wastes away. This state of affairs, which has taken hold in the depths of this world, this planet, this earthly life, has turned the world not merely into a vast zoo, but into a ruin beyond savagery. Humanity has crossed the line into savagery and become wilder still: it subdues every wild animal, and every wild animal bows before it.
Drawing boundaries with those who sin and joining the people of piety 📜
O God, do not let me become separated from those who are joined to You. A person must therefore adopt a guiding principle for how to relate to others, practising both separation and solidarity: separation from those who sin, and solidarity with the people of piety. This is one of the secrets of progress in worship. When truth and falsehood become companions, truth is the loser. Can truth befriend falsehood? It loses—and loses with God. Those people—the sinful, the unbelievers and the idolaters—want you to yield to them so that they will yield to you. That is truth’s defeat. لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ: this is the final word. Any social passivity leads to a transformation of one’s beliefs. Are many divided lords better, or God, the One, the All-Dominant? I must find where to draw the line between separation and solidarity. Should I align myself with most people? أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ، أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ، أَكْثَرُهُمْ يَجْهَلُونَ: most of them are ignorant, they act in ignorance; most have not believed in God, most are idolaters, أَكْثَرُهُمْ كَاذِبُونَ. So I must find my own line and not cross it: I must join the people of piety, keep away from those who sin, and flee from them.
