Zaynab, the Pure Tablet of God

🔹The Passing of Lady Zaynab, peace be upon her
📅 Date: 1403/10/27 – 15 Rajab 1446
✨ Session: Meshkat-e Noor
🎤 Speaker: Master Ali Saei

📝 Some of the topics discussed in the session:

🌙 The eve of the passing of the Lady of Patience and Steadfastness

On the eve of the passing of Zaynab al-Kubra—the deputy of al-Zahra and al-Husayn, queen of the world and the wisest of humankind—we offer our condolences to the celestial realm.

✨ The dawning of Zaynab

O God, make the dawn of Zaynab visible to our eyes. Make us worthy and deserving of this glorious dawn, so that we may witness the greatness and majesty of this supreme sign of Yours and expand our hearts and souls.
Zaynab al-Kubra is a mystery yet to be discovered.
The virtues of this noble lady have yet to be fully revealed. But the day will come when the world witnesses the dawning of Zaynab al-Kubra’s greatness. Why has this greatness not yet been fully revealed? Because if this mystery were laid bare, divine testing would lose its meaning.
Woman is one of God’s great signs.
A virtuous woman is a sign in whom God displays His beauty. She is a vessel in which God has placed His boundless mysteries and beauty.

🎨 The pure tablet of virtuous women

The supreme Creator inscribes the marks of His majesty and beauty upon the being of a virtuous woman. But an impure woman betrays the trust God has placed in her, and will be the loser.
A virtuous woman is God’s pure tablet, a vessel for divine mysteries. Divine beauty and delight flow through this vessel. Yet these mysteries have not been fully manifested. God’s pen has only just touched this tablet.

What soul is worthy of having God’s pen inscribe its being in full?
Who could it be but Zaynab al-Kubra?
When impurity is cleansed from the human soul, divine knowledge and wisdom shine within it and become manifest. This is the mystery of divine unity: the mystery of oneness in tawhid.

🛡 Zaynab al-Kubra: the heroine of Karbala

Who is Zaynab al-Kubra?
Do we know of Zaynab’s battles? Karbala was a conflict on every front: military, theological, legal and philosophical. Satan sought victory in every arena, but Zaynab al-Kubra shattered his philosophy with the sword of her wisdom.
In the heart of darkness, this wise lady established a school and filled the pages of history with lessons from God.

When Ibn Ziyad praised God for the martyrdom of Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, Zaynab al-Kubra said:
“It is only the immoral who are exposed, and only the wicked who lie.”
When that vile man asked, “How did you see God’s work with your family?”, the Lady replied:
“I saw nothing but beauty.”

📜 The philosophy of the world in Zaynab’s words

Lady Zaynab explained the philosophy of the world by citing a verse from the Quran:
“They were a people for whom God had decreed martyrdom, and they hastened to their resting places.”
These words illuminate the philosophy of death: death is God’s irrevocable law.
In the darkness of Karbala, Zaynab al-Kubra taught us the lessons of servitude and tawhid, lessons that will endure throughout history.

🌟 The law of death: from being killed to martyrdom

If God’s decree is that a person be killed, it will surely come to pass—whether death comes in bed or by the sword. But the men of God must be astute enough to turn being killed into martyrdom.
Let their deaths not be in vain or end in anything other than martyrdom.
In the court of Ibn Ziyad, Zaynab al-Kubra beautifully explained this divine law:
Death is God’s law, but one must be astute enough to turn it into martyrdom.

A Kiss for God’s Decree:
We should kiss the decree of the Almighty and embrace God’s judgment with all our heart and soul. Such acceptance is the fullest submission to God.

🔭 A Deeper Look at the Universe

To attain the highest wisdom, we must look deeply into the universe: at each of God’s signs, at women and men, at all phenomena—with open hearts and a pure, discerning eye.
God has established a wondrous order between the one who attracts and the one who is drawn. This order is a mystery of God: He has placed within us a faculty that connects the sensing subject with what is sensed.

We must not lose sight of this divine mystery. We should use it to understand the Creator’s message. What wisdom and knowledge does the Creator of these signs lead us to?

When the faculty of sensation and arousal is properly attuned in human beings, that arousal carries us beyond the signs. Otherwise, we will be led astray.

🌺 Woman: A Great Sign of God

Woman is a great sign of God, a divine tablet. If she is properly brought to life as a divine program, what splendor will shine forth from her!
But only those whose hearts they have made pure and sound can attain the mysteries of this sign.
A woman who preserves the purity of her being will reach her full potential, revealing within herself all her capacities and divine beauty.

The Example of a Flower:
When we look at a flower, if it can express its meaning, all its beauty, purity, and sweetness will become manifest. A woman, too, is like a flower in whom God has placed immense potential.

💡 Bringing the Divine Nature to Life

God has bestowed on us a primordial nature which, if properly cultivated, will reveal divine mysteries.
But beings whose inner selves are filled with ugliness cannot bring themselves to life; they will remain incomplete.
Each person can bring themselves to life in proportion to their worthiness. If that worthiness is limited, God’s grandeur and splendor within them will likewise remain incomplete.

🌟 Bringing Our Being to Life: Manifesting Divine Beauty

How can we bring our being to life so that all divine beauty is made manifest through it?
What is the secret of this process?
If we taste creation through the intellect, it will have a particular flavor; if we experience it through ignorance, it will taste quite different.

The depth of our understanding depends on the breadth of our knowledge and insight.
Our delight, our sensitivity, and our attraction to beauty depend on how fully our intellect is developed. The more expansively our intellect is developed, the more our sense of beauty is transformed.
But those who shape themselves through ignorance will find that their understanding and pleasure remain limited by that ignorance.

What system do we use to bring ourselves to life?
Our senses, understanding, pleasure, and inclinations all depend on our inner operating system.

🌺 The Difference Between a Pure and an Impure Woman

Beauty means different things to intellect and to ignorance.
A pure woman and an impure woman differ in every respect: their pleasures, their enjoyments, even their worlds are different.

A pure woman is a mirror whose reach extends from pre-eternity to eternity; an impure woman sees herself only on the confined tablet of this world.
Men who love impure women love the dust, not the heavens.

🛡 God’s Veil Over the Beauty of the Pure Woman

The difference between a woman of wisdom and one without it is plain in both character and appearance. God draws a veil over the beauty of a virtuous woman so that the unworthy cannot prey upon her.
One day, that veil will be lifted, and God’s pure signs will shine forth.

🌟 Outward and Inward: The Truth Revealed

The outward bears witness to the inward, but it takes time for the inward to become visible in the outward.
How many people—women among them—harbour a corrupt inner nature while keeping up a polished appearance. Why does their inner nature remain hidden? Because its time has not yet come.

Some people’s outward appearance is like a butterfly, while their inner nature is as vile as a cockroach. The day will come when their appearance, too, will match what they are within.

🌺 Reading the Inner Nature from Its Dwelling Place

A person’s inner nature can be judged by the place it calls home. Where does a butterfly make its home?
Its home is among the purity of flowers and sweet basil. But a butterfly that makes its home among filth has a corrupt inner nature.

The heart must be guided by reason to perceive the beauties of the divine.

📖 The Qur’an and Awakened Hearts

All the verses, warnings and signs of God are recalled only for those who possess a heart.
If they have no heart, neither the Qur’an nor the Ahl al-Bayt will have any effect on them.

Who are those who possess a heart?
They are those whose hearts dwell in reason. Such a heart is present only with God, heedless of all besides Him.

The Meaning of Martyrdom:
To be a martyr means to have a heart present only with God, and to direct every aim and intention solely towards His pleasure. Such a person is a martyr.

🕊 Ruined Hearts and the Secret of Life

A heart that follows the world will be sealed; that is, when a person prefers this world to the Hereafter, their heart is destroyed.
They seem to have a heart, but the heart they ought to have is no longer within them.
This secret speaks of a bitter truth: to be heartless is to disregard the Hereafter.

🌟 The Secret of the Heart and the System of Servitude

Who are those who have hearts but do not understand, who have ears but do not hear?
They are worse than cattle.
Our Master, Amir al-Mu’minin, peace be upon him, said:
“I am the one who possesses the heart; I am the one who has a heart.”
Do others have no heart?
By God, the heart is one and unique.
In this world, there is no heart other than that one.

The true heart is Ali’s heart.
I will possess a heart when I belong to Ali.
Then I will feel and understand with Ali, love with him, and call upon God through Ali.
This is the first and last secret.
If I am mistaken, please set me straight.

✨ One System for the World

The world and all who live in it must be guided by one, unified system.
If our very being is not governed by the system of Ali and his descendants, who are one, our servitude will be incomplete and our existence filled with loss.

An incomplete existence is captive to impurity.
But if we are shaped by the divine system, our being will be filled with serenity and purity, with no impurity finding a place in it.

📖 The Manifest Book and the System of the Manifest Imam

The Clear Book is the book in which all things are recorded.
If our being is brought to life through the system of the Manifest Imam, we will gain knowledge of all things and be able to say:
“I am a servant of God.”

With this knowledge and understanding, we will attain complete witnessing. Otherwise, we will remain in ignorance and helplessness.

🛡 The Secret of Zaynab: A Heart That Understands

Who is Zaynab al-Kubra?
She is the one who understands with her heart.
When Zaynab al-Kubra delivered her sermon in Ibn Ziyad’s court, they said:
“It is as though Ali himself is delivering the sermon.”
Indeed, for she spoke with Ali’s heart.

She shook Ibn Ziyad’s court to its foundations and bestowed an everlasting radiance upon history.
And if Zaynab is like this, what must Fatima be?

🌟 The Stronghold of Reason and the Ahl al-Bayt

Our stronghold is the Ahl al-Bayt, purity and sanctity.
This is the stronghold of reason.
Reason is our very self and soul.
When I become rational, I become one who belongs to the Ahl al-Bayt.
Through the Ahl al-Bayt, I attain true understanding.
When I become rational through the Ahl al-Bayt, then I will be a servant of God.

✨ Reason, the Ahl al-Bayt, and Worship of God

God can be worshipped only through reason, and this reason is the Ahl al-Bayt.
Until we belong to Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, we remain incomplete.
We must understand and attain deep knowledge through Muhammad and his family.

When we receive all the signs of Muhammad and his family, we will possess reason and heart.
But if we lose these signs and our connection with them is severed, our hearts will be sealed and will no longer be sincere.
Everyone is sowing in the heart—but what will this sowing yield?

🌟 Zaynab al-Kubra: A Symbol of Growth and Vitality

In this world of existence, Zaynab al-Kubra embodies vitality and growth.
She flourishes within her own soul and helps this world to flourish.

This Muslim, believing, patient and humble lady is also one who preserves and remembers.
She is an unrivalled model for all humanity, showing how to attain perfection on the path of faith and servitude.