Written transcript of the lecture
The Meshkat-e Noor teachings series🌸🔆🌿 “The Wonders of the Shia” “Life Beyond Time”
🔅🌹 Summary with an Addendum: “The Astonishing Secrets of the Shia” “A Commentary on Supplication 20 of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya” “Session 214” “ وَ مِنْ ظِنَّةِ أَهْلِ الصَّلَاحِ الثِّقَة” “The Shia Sanctuary” and … 1402.09.02 Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141 (903) 🌹🔅
🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹
🔅🌼The worthy are the enemy of unworthiness 🌼🔅
🌷Who are “the people of righteousness”? What an exalted standing and power they possess! Their judgment can build up—or destroy—a person’s standing.
🌷The counsel of the people of righteousness seeks what is best for both individuals and society. Only the worthy wholeheartedly embrace the judgment and counsel of the righteous.
🌷One reason the Occultation of the Master of the Righteous of the world has been prolonged is the lack of sincerity in accepting his lofty judgment. The people of hypocrisy are responsible for his rejection and exile; through their conduct, they have made him a fugitive and an outcast.
🌷The people of righteousness are a mirror reflecting the righteousness of society’s members.
🌷If a believer belongs to the people of righteousness, he may hold any opinion he wishes. But until he reaches this station, he has no right to express an opinion without decisive proof.
🌷Keeping our bond with the people of righteousness alive means maintaining a constant, enduring connection with virtue.
🌷A bond with the tall, graceful cypress makes every person a cypress in turn. Let us cherish our connection with the people of righteousness, so that we too may walk the path of virtue.
🌷Any suspicion without clear evidence destroys a person’s faith.
🌷God is protective of the believer; He will not tolerate any suspicion directed against one.
🌷Let us always keep watch over our thoughts, for suspicion is faith’s enemy and destroyer.
🔅🌼The Shia’s journey through time🌼🔅
🌷Human beings have entered this earthly realm after a long journey. The worthy and faithful possess an existence of exalted degrees and levels. From the very beginning of creation—whose origins are hidden—they have made their way into this lower world.
🌷The prevailing view is that the faithful have been present throughout every expanse of existence. The world’s calculations cannot measure the age of the faithful: they can calculate only a person’s earthly age, that is, their age in time. Yet the age of the faithful extends beyond time.
🔅🌼The astonishing creation of the Shia🌼🔅
🌸🔆عَنْ جَابِرِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الْأَنْصَارِيِّ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ص يَقُولُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَلَقَنِي وَ خَلَقَ عَلِيّاً وَ فَاطِمَةَ وَ الْحَسَنَ وَ الْحُسَيْنَ وَ الْأَئِمَّةَ مِنْ نُورٍ فَعَصَرَ ذَلِكَ النُّورَ عَصْرَةً فَخَرَجَ مِنْهُ شِيعَتُنَا فَسَبَّحْنَا فَسَبَّحُوا وَ قَدَّسْنَا فَقَدَّسُوا وَ هَلَّلْنَا فَهَلَّلُوا وَ مَجَّدْنَا فَمَجَّدُوا وَ وَحَّدْنَا فَوَحَّدُوا ثُمَّ خَلَقَ اللَّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَ الْأَرَضِينَ وَ خَلَقَ الْمَلَائِكَةَ فَمَكَثَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ مِائَةَ عَامٍ لَا تَعْرِفُ تَسْبِيحاً وَ لَا تَقْدِيساً وَ لَا تَمْجِيداً فَسَبَّحْنَا فَسَبَّحَتْ شِيعَتُنَا فَسَبَّحَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ لِتَسْبِيحِنَا وَ قَدَّسْنَا فَقَدَّسَتْ شِيعَتُنَا فَقَدَّسَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ لِتَقْدِيسِنَا وَ مَجَّدْنَا وَ مَجَّدَتْ شِيعَتُنَا فَمَجَّدَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ لِتَمْجِيدِنَا وَ وَحَّدْنَا فَوَحَّدَتْ شِيعَتُنَا فَوَحَّدَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ لِتَوْحِيدِنَا وَ كَانَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ لَا تَعْرِفُ تَسْبِيحاً وَ لَا تَقْدِيساً مِنْ قَبْلِ تَسْبِيحِنَا وَ تَسْبِيحِ شِيعَتِنَا فَنَحْنُ الْمُوَحِّدُونَ حِينَ لَا مُوَحِّدَ غَيْرُنَا وَ حَقِيقٌ عَلَى اللَّهِ تَعَالَى كَمَا اخْتَصَّنَا وَ اخْتَصَّ شِيعَتَنَا أَنْ يُنْزِلَنَا فِي أَعْلَى عِلِّيِّينَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى اصْطَفَانَا وَ اصْطَفَى شِيعَتَنَا مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَكُونَ أَجْسَاماً فَدَعَانَا وَ أَجَبْنَا فَغَفَرَ لَنَا وَ لِشِيعَتِنَا مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ نَسْبِقَ أَنْ نَسْتَغْفِرَ اللَّه[1]
🌸🔆Abu Jaʿfar Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Husayn ibn Musa ibn Babawayh al-Qummi relates from Jabir ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Ansari that he heard the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) say: “Allah, Exalted is He, created me, Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husayn (AS) from a single light, then clasped that light in the hand of His power. Our Shiʿa came forth from that clasping. When we glorified Allah, they glorified Him with us; whenever we sanctified and proclaimed His oneness, they sanctified Him and proclaimed His oneness with us. The same was true of magnifying and affirming His unity. Then the Glorified and Exalted created the heavens, the earths and the angels. The angels remained for a hundred years, unable to glorify or sanctify Allah. But when we and our Shiʿa glorified and sanctified Him, the angels learned from us and began to glorify Him; the same was true of the other remembrances. Thus, we were the ones who affirmed the oneness of God; none other than us did so. It is fitting that Allah, Exalted is He, should grant our Shiʿa the same distinction He has granted us, and bring us and our Shiʿa to the highest of the high. Truly, the Glorified and Exalted chose us and our Shiʿa before He brought bodies into existence. He called us, and we answered. He forgave us before we had asked Allah for forgiveness.”[2]
🔅🌼Light, too, has fragrance and oil🌼🔅
🌷The All-Knowing Creator drew the oil from the light of the Ahl al-Bayt (AS), extracted its fragrance, and the Shiʿa came into being.
🌷The idea of pressing light cannot be grasped through the equations of the material world. Is it even possible to comprehend this immense and wondrous attraction exerted upon the light? And what a singular attraction it was! What a realm that pressing, that drawing-in, and that exalted station must have encompassed!
🌷The Shiʿa are the quintessence of the light of the Ahl al-Bayt (AS). The glorification, sanctification, proclamation of divine oneness and magnification voiced by the lights of the Shiʿa were joined and connected to those voiced by the lights of the Ahl al-Bayt; they were in harmony, sounding as one. There was no delay, no interval: light was like a thread whose melody was the magnificent remembrance of God.
🌷The subtleties and mysteries of the spread of divine remembrance when there was nowhere for it to spread are among the secrets still unknown. There was no time to serve as a means for its expansion and division. How can “remembrance entire, a single utterance” be conceived? What kind of remembrance is the remembrance of light? For in that first horizon there was neither time nor place; time and place had not yet appeared in that primordial horizon.
🌷The distillate of divine light, the resonance of divine remembrance issuing from that distillate, the flashes of the lights’ radiance, and the joy of servanthood in that primordial seclusion of existence—what a wondrous realm it must have been!
🌷To distil the first light is like distilling a distillate: this is the innermost secret. How can a distillate be drawn from a reality that is solid and one? What God wills! Blessed is God!
🌷The Shiʿa are the fragrance and purity of the world of being.
🌷To spread in a realm beyond space and time is not spreading as we understand it. The confines of language keep us from finding the right word for that station beyond all horizons, free of every horizon.
🌷The most sublime sound, voice, melody and music of existence—the remembrance of glorification, sanctification, proclamation of divine oneness and magnification—is the resonance of the primordial lights.
The harmony of the essence of the soul with the very essence of life is beyond the will. It is a harmony beyond volition.
🌷The response to the glorification of the first glorifiers was immediate, without the slightest passage of time: an absolute harmony between instrument and song.
🌷The nature of the first remembrance, in that horizon beyond all horizons, is not made of words. That which is one is itself the remembrance of glorification; it is the very embodiment of glorification, sanctification, proclamation of divine oneness, magnification and affirmation of God’s unity.
🌷Tell me, what kind of throat does light have? Light is one with itself, with its throat and with its remembrance. Absolute light is itself the absolute throat and the absolute voice.
🌷What, indeed, can glorification mean in that horizon beyond all horizons, where nothing has been created but light and the melody of glorification? What are we glorifying Him for—is it for nothing?
🌷The Shiʿa were at the forefront of remembering God before the angels were created. The angels, during their hundred-year pause—years without time—stood waiting to learn the language of remembrance, so they might be nurtured in it. This shows the greatness of the Shiʿa in relation to the angels: the angels received a hundred years of instruction before they became worthy to remember God.
🌷The meaning of remembrance in that primordial horizon is beyond comprehension.
🌷The passion and rapture between the Creator and the primordial lights are beyond the power of words to describe.
🌷The angels needed to be taught in the class of glorification: a lofty, exalted class of instruction and education, where they could begin their service to God. They needed to grow and flourish, and to become capable of worship and of loving communion with the Beloved.
🌷Yes, permission from God is necessary to glorify Him. He is the One who makes everyone remember Him.
🌷The hadith on the creation of the First shows that the angels attended the class of “the followers in the presence of the lights of the First.”
🌷In glorifying God, the Shi‘a were joined heart and soul to His glorification; heart and lips were one.
🌷The Shi‘a, too, are God’s chosen ones.
🌷The immediate effect of the “Shi‘a universe” is the key to proving the truth of the Shi‘a. This connection is free of all limitations. Harmony and accord with the Imam operate in every cosmic realm, both in the station of the First Creation and in this material world.
🌷The idea of forgiveness before sin has appeared takes the true, essential meaning of forgiveness beyond pardon for transgressions. Forgiveness for what? For something that is nothing, something that has not yet come into being?
🌷The truth of the Shi‘a is concealed among successive creations, one after another.
🔅🌼Visible and Invisible Nerves Among the Believers🌼🔅
🌸🔆عَنْ جَابِرِ بْنِ يَزِيدَ الْجُعْفِيِّ قَالَ: تَنَفَّسْتُ بَيْنَ يَدَيْ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ ع ثُمَّ قُلْتُ يَا ابْنَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أَهْتَمُّ مِنْ غَيْرِ مُصِيبَةٍ تُصِيبُنِي أَوْ أَمْرٍ يَنْزِلُ بِي حَتَّى يَعْرِفُ ذَلِكَ أَهْلِي فِي وَجْهِي وَ يَعْرِفُهُ صَدِيقِي قَالَ نَعَمْ يَا جَابِرُ قُلْتُ وَ مِمَّ ذَاكَ يَا ابْنَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ قَالَ وَ مَا تَصْنَعُ بِذَاكَ قُلْتُ أُحِبُّ أَنْ أَعْلَمَهُ فَقَالَ يَا جَابِرُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَلَقَ الْمُؤْمِنَ مِنْ طِينَةِ الْجِنَانِ وَ أَجْرَى فِيهِمْ مِنْ رِيحِ رَوْحِهِ فَلِذَلِكَ الْمُؤْمِنُ أَخُو الْمُؤْمِنِ لِأَبِيهِ وَ أُمِّهِ فَإِذَا أَصَابَ تِلْكَ الْأَرْوَاحَ فِي بَلَدٍ مِنَ الْبُلْدَانِ شَيْءٌ حَزِنَتْ عَلَيْهِ الْأَرْوَاحُ لِأَنَّهَا مِنْه[3]
🌸🔆Imam Muhammad al-Baqir عليه السلام said: God created the believers from the soil of Paradise and breathed His spirit into them. Thus, one believer is a full sibling to another, sharing both parents. Whenever sorrow befalls one of them in some land, the other grieves with him.
🌸🔆عَنْ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ ع قَالَ: الْمُؤْمِنُ أَخُو الْمُؤْمِنِ لِأَبِيهِ وَ أُمِّهِ لِأَنَّ اللَّهَ خَلَقَ طِينَتَهُمَا مِنْ سَبْعِ سَمَاوَاتٍ وَ هِيَ مِنْ طِينَةِ الْجِنَانِ ثُمَّ تَلَا رُحَماءُ بَيْنَهُمْ فَهَلْ يَكُونُ الرَّحِمُ إِلَّا بَرّاً وَصُولًا وَ فِي حَدِيثٍ آخَرَ وَ أَجْرَى فِيهِمَا مِنْ رَوْحِ رَحْمَتِهِ.[4]
وَ عَنْهُ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ السَّيَّارِيِّ وَ حَسَنِ بْنِ مُعَاوِيَةَ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ الْفُضَيْلِ عَنْ أَبِي حَمْزَةَ الثُّمَالِيِّ عَنْ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ ع قَالَ: الْمُؤْمِنُ أَخُو الْمُؤْمِنِ لِأَبِيهِ وَ أُمِّهِ وَ ذَلِكَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ تَبَارَكَ وَ تَعَالَى خَلَقَ الْمُؤْمِنَ مِنْ طِينَةِ جِنَانِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَ أَجْرَى فِيهِمْ مِنْ رَوْحِ رَحْمَتِهِ فَلِذَلِكَ هُوَ أَخُوهُ لِأَبِيهِ وَ أُمِّه[5]
🌸🔆عَنْهُ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنْ صَالِحِ بْنِ سَهْلٍ الْهَمَدَانِيِّ قَالَ: قُلْتُ لِأَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ مِنْ أَيِّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَ اللَّهُ طِينَةَ الْمُؤْمِنِ قَالَ مِنْ طِينَةِ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ فَلَنْ يُنَجِّسَ أَبَدا[6]
🌷Believers are brothers and sisters to one another: brother to brother, brother to sister, sister to sister.
🌷Believers stand to the Imam of the believers as children do to a parent.
🌷A believer’s heart breaks when another believer grieves, even if one is in the west and the other in the east.
🌷When the Imam grieves, the believer’s heart is torn apart, even if they are separated in time and place, even by successive centuries. This is the secret behind believers’ hearts breaking at the grief of Ashura. Time and place cannot stand as a barrier between believers and the Imam of the believers.
🌷A bond links believers through special nerves: those within and beyond space, and those within and beyond time. Believers are intertwined and woven together.
🌷A believer and other believers are uniquely bound to one another. They are like a single heart, a single spirit, a single body.
🌷A believer is ahead of time and space.
🌷The father of every believing man and woman is his brother, and his mother is his sister.
🌷Throughout the journey of servitude, as the believer travels the road to Paradise, he becomes of one nature with it. In truth, the believer belongs to the Paradise of all worlds; the fragrance and breeze of Paradise ripple and flow from his soul. The believer is a source of beauty, delight, serenity, and gentleness.
🌷Believers are like a single system. No believer is separate from another, just as no part of the body is separate from the rest: the eyes are not separate from the ears, the heart, the liver, and so on.
🌷The nervous systems of believers are knotted together and intertwined; believers form a bond. They have no geographical borders; they are joined to one another. Believers share nerves that extend through time and beyond it.
🌸🔆The mystery and beauty of the supplication of inhalation: اللَّهُمَّ لَا تَحْرِمْنِي رِيحَ الْجَنَّةِ وَ اجْعَلْنِي مِمَّنْ يَشَمُّ رِيحَهَا وَ طِيبَهَا
🔅🌼The crispy bits at the bottom of the pot, 1402.9.2🌼🔅
🌷Modern sciences ride upon the mount of ignorance.
🌷Fear that worship and devotion may not be accepted adds to their vitality.
🌷Our fear that our supplications may not be answered is not due to a lack of trust in God, but to a sense that we are unworthy of having them answered.
🌷The mystery of forgiveness for past sins, «غفران ماتقدم», and future sins, «غفران ماتأخر», lies either in refraining from sin or in being granted the opportunity to repent in the future. But forgetting our fear can lead to the audacity to sin; it brings disobedience and slows our progress.
🌷Humanity, in search of extraterrestrial beings, has yet to explore the depths of Earth’s oceans or learn what creatures live there.
🌷Extraterrestrial beings need not be made of visible elements or be human-sized; some may be microscopic or macroscopic—and indeed, they are.
🌼Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903) 🌼
[1] جامع الأخبار(للشعيري) ؛ ؛ ص9 Shuʿayri, Haydariyya Press, Najaf, first edition, undated.
[2] كشف الغمة / ترجمه و شرح زوارهاى ؛ ج2 ؛ ص14 Arbali, Islamic Publications, Tehran, third edition, 1382 Shamsi.
[3] المحاسن ؛ ج1 ؛ ص133 Barqi, Islamic Books Publishing House, Qom, second edition, 1371 AH.
[4] المحاسن ؛ ج1 ؛ ص133 Barqi, Islamic Books Publishing House, Qom, second edition, 1371 AH.
[5] المحاسن ؛ ج1 ؛ ص134 Barqi, Islamic Books Publishing House, Qom, second edition, 1371 AH.
[6] المحاسن ؛ ج1 ؛ ص133 Barqi, Islamic Books Publishing House, Qom, second edition, 1371 AH.
