Lessons from Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Sermons
Sermon
159

SERMON 159

Praise of Allah

Allah's verdict is
judicious and full of wisdom. His pleasure implies protection and
mercy. He decides with knowledge and forgives with forbearance.

O' my Allah! Praise be
to Thee for what Thou takest and givest and for that from which
Thou curest or with which Thou afflictest; praise which is the
most acceptable to Thee, the most like by Thee and the most
dignified before Thee; praise which fills all Thy creation and
reaches where Thou desirest; praise which is not veiled from Thee
and does not end, and whose continuity does not cease.

Greatness of Allah

We do not know the
reality of Thy greatness except that we know that thou art
Ever-living and Self-subsisting by Whom all things subsist.
Drowsiness or sleep do not overtake Thee, vision does not reach
Thee and sight does not grasp Thee. Thou seest the eyes and
countest the ages. Thou holdest (people as slaves) by foreheads
and feet. We see Thy creation and wonder over it because of Thy
might, and describe it as (a result of) Thy great authority;
whereas what is hidden from us, of which our sight has fallen
short, which our intelligence has not attained, and between which
and ourselves curtains of the unknown have been cast, is far
greater.

He who frees his heart
(from all other engagements) and exerts his thinking in order to
know how Thou established Thy throne, how Thou created Thy
creatures, how Thou suspended the air in Thy skies and how Thou
spread Thy earth on the waves of water, his eyes would return
tired, his intelligence defeated, his ears eager and his thinking
awander.

A part of the same
sermon about hope and fear in Allah.

He claims according to
his own thinking that he hopes from Allah. By Allah, the Great, he
speaks a lie. The position is that his hope (in Allah) does not
appear through his action although the hope of every one who hopes
is known through his action. Every hope is so, except the hope in
Allah, the Sublime, if it is impure; and every fear is established
except the fear for Allah if it is unreal.

He hopes big things
from Allah and small things from men but he gives to man (such
consideration as) he does not give to Allah. What is the matter
with Allah, glorified be His praise? He is accorded less
(consideration) than what is given to His creatures. Do you ever
fear to be false in your hope in Allah? Or do you not regard Him
the centre of your hope? Similarly, if a man fears man he gives
him (such consideration) out of his fear which he does not give to
Allah. Thus, he has made his fear for men ready currency while his
fear from the Creator is mere deferment or promise. This is the
case of every one in whose eye this world appears big (and
important) and in whose heart its position is great. He prefers it
over Allah, so he inclines towards it, and becomes its devotee.

The example of the
Holy Prophet

Certainly, in the
Prophet of Allah (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him and his
progeny) was sufficient example for you and a proof concerning the
vices of the world, its defects, the multitude of its disgraces
and its evils, because its sides had been constrained for him,
while its flanks had been spread for others; he was deprived of
its milk and turned away from its adornments.

The example of Musa
(Moses)

If you want, I will,
as a second example, relate to you concerning Musa, the
Interlocutor of Allah (p.b.u.h.) when he said: O' Allah! I need
whatever good Thou mayest grant me (Qur'an, 28:24). By Allah, he
asked Him only for bread to eat because he was used to eating the
herbs of the earth, and the greenness of the herbs could be seen
from the delicate skin of his belly due to his thinness and
paucity of his flesh.

The example of Dawud
(David)

If you desire I can
give you a third example of Dawud (p.b.u.h.). He is the holder of
the Psalms and the reciter among the people of Paradise. He used
to prepare baskets of date palm leaves with his own hands and
would say to his companions: "Which of you will help me by
purchasing it?" He used to eat barley bread (bought) out of
its price.

The example of Isa
(Jesus)

If you desire I will
tell you about Isa (p.b.u.h.) son of Maryam (Mary). He used a
stone for his pillow, put on coarse clothes and ate rough food.
His condiment was hunger. His lamp at night was the moon. His
shade during the winter was just the expanse of earth eastward and
westward. His fruits and flowers were only what grows from the
earth for the cattle. He had no wife to allure him, nor any son to
give grief, nor wealth to deviate (his attention), nor greed to
disgrace him. His two feet were his conveyance and his two hands
his servant.

Following the example
of the Holy Prophet

You should follow your
Prophet, the pure, the chaste, may Allah bless him and his
descendants. In him is the example for the follower, and the
consolation for the seeker of consolation. The most beloved person
before Allah is he who follows His Prophet and who treads in his
footsteps. He took the least (share) from this world and did not
take a full glance at it. Of all the people of the world he was
the least satiated and the most empty of stomach. The world was
offered to him but he refused to accept it. When he knew that
Allah, the Glorified, hated a thing, he too hated it; that Allah
held a thing low, he too held it low; that Allah held a thing
small, he too held it small. If we love what Allah and His Prophet
hate and hold great what Allah and His prophet hold small that
would be enough isolation from Allah and transgression of His
commands.

The Prophet used to
eat on the ground, and sat like a slave. He repaired his shoe with
his hand, and patched his clothes with his hand. He would ride an
unsaddled ass and would seat someone behind him. If there was a
curtain on his door with pictures on it he would say to one of his
wives. "O' such-and-such, take it away out of my sight
because if I look at it I recall the world and its
allurements." Thus, he removed his heart from this world and
destroyed its remembrance from his mind. He loved that its
allurements should remain hidden from his eye so that he should
not secure good dress from it, should not regard it a place of
stay and should not hope to live in it. Consequently, he removed
it from his mind, let it go away from his heart and kept it hidden
from his eyes. In the same way he who hates a thing should hate to
look at it or to hear about it.

Certainly there was in
the Prophet of Allah all that would apprise you of the evils of
this world and its defects, namely that he remained hungry along
with his chief companions, and despite his great nearness the
allurements of the world remained remote from him. Now, one should
see with one's intelligence whether Allah honoured Muhammad (the
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his descendants) as a
result of this or disgraced him. If he says that Allah disgraced
him, he certainly lies and perpetrates a great untruth. If he says
Allah honoured him, he should know that Allah dishonoured the
others when He extended the (benefits of the) world for him but
held them away from him who was the nearest to Him of all men.

Therefore, one should
follow His Prophet, tread in his footsteps and enter through his
entrance. Otherwise he will not be safe from ruin. Certainly,
Allah made Muhammad (the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him
and his descendants) a sign for the Day of Judgement. a conveyor
of tidings for Paradise and a warner of retribution. He left this
world hungry but entered upon the next world safe. He did not lay
one stone upon another (to make a house) till he departed and
responded to the call of Allah. How great is Allah's blessing in
that He blessed us with the Prophet as a predecessor whom we
follow and a leader behind whom we tread.

The example of himself

By Allah, I have been
putting patches in my shirts so much that now I feel shy of the
patcher. Someone asked me whether I would not put it off, but I
said, "Get away from me." Only in the morning do people
(realised the advantage of and) speak highly of the night journey.