Islamic Morals [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Lesson: 41 Taqwa Continued

Traditions

Yaqoob
bin Saif says: I heard from Imam Sadiq (a.s.): Almighty Allah does not take
out a slave from the disrespect of sin to the honour of taw except by making
him needless without wealth, and beloved without family and acquainted without
company.

Amr bin Saeed
says: I approached Imam Sadiq (a.s.) and said: I come to you only once after
some years so kindly tell me some words of advice on which I may act. The Imam
said: I admonish you to have fear of Allah and to have Wara and effort. Know
that an effort. Know that an effort without wara gives no benefit.

It is recorded
that Imam Sadiq (a.s.) has said: Make taqwa your habit and protect your religion
with abstinence.

Similarly he
has also said: It is essential that you, without speaking, invite others to
Islam through fear of God, and abstinence and endeavour and truthfulness in
talk and trustworthiness and good behaviour with neighbour and with everybody
that is, your attitude, O Shias! Must be such that your opponents may incline
toward your creed and be adoration for us and do not make us feel ashamed. You
should also lengthen your bowing rukoo of prostrations, because, when one of
you makes a long rukoo and sajdah, satan, from behind, cries out: Alas, this
person obeyed and I rebelled!

Kheesama says:
Before proceeding on a journey I went to Imam Sadiq (a.s.) to say him good bye,
when he said: Convey my salaams to our friends and advise them to fear Allah
and announce that we do not make them needless affluent without God but with
the help of good deeds and our recommendation intercession does not reach without
abstinence and verily, the most sorrowful person on the Day of Judgement is
a man who praises justice but acts against it.

Amirul Momineen
(a.s.) says: O servants of God! I advise you to fear Allah which Taqwa is both
a provision and a baggage, and so also a shelter. Provision makes man reach
his destination and a shelter protects him from dangers.

O servants
of God! Fear of Allah???? away from doing the prohibited and makes their hearts
a place of precaution in such a way that they remain awake in nights talking
with their Lord Creator and they fast during hot days.

Amirul Momineen
(a.s.) said: Thanks for every bounty is a refrain from what Allah has prohibited.

Consequences
of Taqwa

Clear-sightedness
as a result of Piety

O you who
believe! If you are careful of your duty to Allah, He will grant you a distinction

A light
which will make it possible for you to distinguish truth from untruth.

and whoever
is careful of his duty to Allah, He will make for him an outlet, And give him
sustenance from whence he thinks not

and whoever
is careful of his duty to Allah, He will make easy for him his affair.

and he
careful of your duty to Allah, Allah teaches you

These short
yet meaningful sentences describe one of the most important fate-forming man
problems of man and it is that, on the path that man traverses for attaining
success, there always are some by away and pitfalls. If he does not remain careful
about them and does not avoid them he falls down in such a way that no sign
of him is left. So it becomes easy for man if he recognises what is truth and
what is untruth, good and bad, friend and foe, useful and harmful and of fortune
and misfortune.

The difficulty
is that, in many of such cases, man becomes doubtful. He thinks untruth to be
truth, selects foe instead of friend walks is a bye lane instead of on the right
path.

We understand
from the Holy Quran that this way of seeing eases our problems as curtains for
lust, greed, passion, selfishness and excessive love of wealth, wife and children,
position and status hinder our intelligence. This darkness can be removed only
by the light of Taqwa.

Secondly, we
know that every perfection, wherever it may be, is the reflection of a light
of the Lord. The more man gets near to Allah, the more powerful reflection he
will receive, from that Fountainhead of all perfection. Accordingly, all knowledge
and wisdom sprout from that main Source of knowledge and wisdom. When man, in
the light of Taqwa, gets nearness to Him by avoiding sin and thus mixes his
insignificant drop of his existence with the unfathomable ocean, he acquires
a big booty of awareness and wisdom. So, in the course of human history, we
find men and women who were pious. In them we see such an extraordinary knowledge
and wisdom that it is impossible to acquire through common avenues of education.
They were able to recognise a number of calamities that were rooted in the folds
of chaotic social conditions. They saw the heinous faces of enemies through
thousands of deceptive veils. As a proof of this we give here some narrations:

1. A believer sees with the light of God!

2. Beware of the intelligence of a Faithful.

3. Be cautious of the guess and imagination of the faithful because the Lord
Almighty makes their tongues tell only the Truth

It is recorded
from the innocent Imams (a.s.): Assist us by means of Wara. Verily the one of
you who meets his Lord when he possess wara gets ease from God because the Lord
Almighty has said: the one who obeys Allah and His Apostle on the Day of Judgement
will be the neighbour of one on whom Allah will have completed His bounty and
they are the Messengers and the Truthfuls and Martyrs and the Pious and indeed
they are the good friends.