Lessons from Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Sermons
Sermon
86

SERMON 86

The Qualities of a faithful
believer

O' creatures of Allah!
the most beloved of Allah is he whom Allah has given power (to
act) against his passions, so that his inner side is (submerged
in) grief and the outer side is covered with fear. The lamp of
guidance is burning in his heart. He has provided entertainment
for the day that is to befall him. He regards what is distant to
be near himself and takes the hard to be light. He looks at and
perceives; he remembers (Allah) and enhances (the tempo of his)
actions. He drinks sweet water to whose source his way has been
made easy. So he drinks to satisfaction and takes the level path.
He has put off the clothes of desires and got rid of worries
except one worry peculiar to him. He is safe from misguidance and
the company of people who follow their passions. He has become the
key to the doors of guidance, and the lock for the doors of
destruction.

He has seen his way
and is walking on it. He knows his pillar (of guidance) and has
crossed over his deep water. He has caught hold of the most
reliable supports and the strongest ropes. He is on that level of
conviction which is like the brightness of the sun. He has set
himself for Allah, the Glorified, for performance of the most
sublime acts of facing all that befalls him and taking every step
needed for it. He is the lamp in darkness. He is the dispeller of
all blindness, key to the obscure, remover of complexities, and a
guide in vast deserts. When he speaks he makes you understand
whereas when he remains silent then it is safe to do so. He did
everything only for Allah and so Allah also made him His own.
Consequently, he is like the mines of His faith and as a stump in
His earth. He has enjoined upon himself (to follow) justice.

The first step of his
justice is the rejection of desires from his heart. He describes
right and acts according to it. There is no good which he has not
aimed at nor any likely place (of virtue) of the Qur'an. Therefore
the Qur'an is his guide and leader. He gets down when the Qur'an
puts down his weight and he settles where the Qur'an settles him
down.

The Characteristics of
an unfaithful believer

While the other (kind
of) man is he who calls himself learned but he is not so. He has
gleaned ignorance from the ignorant and misguidance from the
misguided. He has set for the people a trap (made) of the ropes of
deceit and untrue speech. He takes the Qur'an according to his own
views and right after his passions. He makes people feel safe from
big sins and takes light the serious crimes. He says that he is
waiting for (clarification of) doubts but he remains plunged
therein, and that he keeps aloof from innovations but actually he
is immersed in them. His shape is that of a man, but his heart is
that of a beast. He does not know the door of guidance to follow
nor the door of misguidance to keep aloof therefrom. These are
living dead bodies.

About the Descendants
(Itrah) of the Holy Prophet

"So wither are
you going to" (Qur'an, 81:26) and "how are you then
turned away?" (Qur'an, 6:95; 10:34; 35:3; 40:62). Ensigns (of
guidance) are standing, indications (of virtue) are clear, and the
minarets (of light) have been fixed. Where are you being taken
astray and how are you groping while you have among you the
descendants of the Prophet? They are the reins of Right, ensigns
of Faith and tongues of truth. Accord to them the same good
position as you accord to the Qur'an, and come to them (for
quenching the thirst of guidance) as the thirsty camels approach
the water spring.

O' people take this
saying(1) of the last of the Prophets
that he who dies from among us is not dead, and he who decays
(after dying) from among us does not really decay. Do not say what
you do not understand, because most of the Right is in what you
deny. Accept the argument of one against whom you have no
argument. It is I. Did I not act before you on the greater thaqal
(ath-thaqal al-akbar, i.e. the Qur'an) and did I not retain among
you the smaller thaqal (ath-thaqal-al-asghar, i.e. the descendants
of the Prophet).(2) I fixed among you
the standard of faith, and I taught you the limits of lawful and
unlawful. I clothed you with the garments of safety with my
justice and spread for you (the carpet of) virtue by my word and
deed.

I showed you high
manners through myself. Do not exercise your imagination about
what the eye cannot see or the mind cannot conceive.

A part of the same
sermon, about Banu Umayyah

Till people begin
thinking that the world is attached to the Umayyads, would be
showering its benefits on them, and lead them to its clear spring
for watering, and that their whip and sword will not be removed
from the people. Whoever thinks so is wrong. There are rather a
few drops from the joys of life which they would suck for a while
and then vomit out the whole of it.

(1).
This saying of the Prophet is a definite proof of the view that
the life of any one from among the Ahlu'l-bayt (Household of the
Holy Prophet) does not come to an end and that apparent death
makes no difference in their sense of living, although human
intelligence is unable to comprehend the conditions and happenings
of that life. There are many truths beyond this world of senses
which human mind cannot yet understand. Who can say how in the
narrow corner of the grave where it is not possible even to
breathe, replies will be given to the questions of the angels
Munkar and Nakir? Similarly, what is the meaning of life of the
martyrs in the cause of Allah, who have neither sense nor motion,
can neither see nor hear? Although to us they appear to be dead,
yet the Qur'an testifies to their life.

And say not of those
who are slain in the path of Allah that they are dead; Nay,
(they are) living, but ye perceive not. (2:154)

At another place it
says about their life:
Reckon not those who
are slain in the way of Allah, to be dead; Nay! alive they are
with their Lord being sustained. (3:169)

When restriction has
been placed on mind and tongue even in respect of the common
martyrs that they should not be called dead nor considered dead,
how would not those individuals whose necks were reserved for
sword and palate for poison be living for all times to come.

About their bodies
Amir al-mu'minin has said that by passage of time no signs of
ageing or decay occur in them, but they remain in the same state
in which they fell as martyrs. There should be nothing strange in
it because dead bodies preserved through material means still
exist. When it is possible to do so through material means will it
be out of the Power of the Omnipotent Creator to preserve against
change and decay the bodies of those upon whom He has bestowed the
sense of everlasting life? Thus about the martyrs of Badr, the
Holy Prophet said:
Shroud them even with
their wounds and flowing blood because when they would rise on
the Day of Judgement blood would be pushing out of their
throats.

(2).
"ath-thaqal al-akbar" implies the Qur'an and
"ath-thaqal al-asghar" means Ahlu'l-bayt (the Household
of the Holy Prophet) as in the Prophet's saying: "Verily, I
am leaving among you (the) two precious things (of high estimation
and of care)," the reference is to Qur'an and Ahlu'l-bayt.
There are several reasons for using this word Firstly,
"thaqal" means the kit of a traveller, and since the kit
is much in need, it is protected carefully. Secondly, it means a
precious thing; and since this is of great importance, one is
bound to follow the injunctions of the Qur'an and the actions of
Ahlu'l-bayt. So they have been called 'precious things'. Since
Allah has made arrangements for the protection of the Qur'an and
Ahlu'l-bayt till doomsday so they have been called
"thaqalayn" . So the Prophet before leaving this world
for the next, declared them to be his valuable possessions and
ordered people to preserve them. Thirdly, then have been called
"Thaqalayn" (precious things) in view of their purity
and high value. Thus Ibn Hajar al-Haytami writes:

The Prophet has called
the Qur'an and his Descendants as "thaqalayn" (two
precious things) because "thaqal" means a pure, chaste
and preserved thing, and either of these two were really so,
each of them is the treasure of Divine knowledge and a source of
scholarly secrets and religious commandments. For that reason
the Prophet desired the people to follow them and to stick to
them and to secure knowledge from them. Among them the most
deserving of attachment is the Imam and Scholar of the family of
the Prophet namely Ali ibn Abi Talib (Allah may honour his
face) because of his great insight and copiousness of knowledge
which we have already described. (as-Sawaiq al-muhriqah, p. 90)

Since the Prophet has
with regard to apparent implication attributed the Qur'an to Allah
and the descendants to himself, therefore in keeping with the
natural status the Qur'an has been called the bigger weight while
the descendants, the smaller weight. Otherwise from the point of
view of being followed both are equal and from the point of view
of utility in the development of character there can be no
question in the status of the speaking party (the Ahlu'l-bayt)
being higher than the silent one (the Qur'an).