Lessons from Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Sermons
Sermon
220

SERMON 220

Delivered after reciting the
verse:

. . . therein declare
glory unto Him in the mornings and the evenings; Men whom
neither merchandise nor any sale diverteth from the remembrance
of Allah and constancy in prayer and paying the poor-rate; they
fear the day when the hearts and eyes shall writhe of the
anguish. (Qur'an, 24:36-37)

Certainly, Allah, the
Glorified, the Sublime, has made His remembrance the light for
hearts which hear with its help despite deafness, see with its
help despite blindness and become submissive with its help despite
unruliness.

In all the periods and
times when there were no prophets, there have been persons with
whom Allah, precious are His bounties, whispered through their
wits and spoke through their minds. With the help of the bright
awakening of their ears, eyes and hearts they keep reminding
others of the remembrance of the days of Allah and making others
feel fear for Him like guide-points in wildernesses. Whoever
adopts the middle way, they praise his ways and give him the
tidings of deliverance, but whoever goes right and left they
vilify his ways and frighten him with ruin. In this way, they
served as lamps in these darknesses and guides through these
doubts.

There are some people
devoted to the remembrance (of Allah) who have adopted it in place
of worldly matters so that commerce or trade does not turn them
away from it. They pass their life in it. They speak into the ears
of neglectful persons warning against matters held unlawful by
Allah, they order them to practise justice and themselves keep
practising it, and they refrain them from the unlawful and
themselves refrain from it. It is as though they have finished the
journey of this world towards the next world and have beheld what
lies beyond it. Consequently, they have become acquainted with all
that befell them in the interstice during their long stay therein,
and the Day of Judgement fulfils its promises for them. Therefore,
they removed the curtain from these things for the people of the
world, till it was as though they were seeing what people did not
see and were hearing what people did not hear.

If you picture them in
your mind in their admirable positions and well-known sittings,
when they have opened the records of their actions and are
prepared to render an account of themselves in respect of the
small as well as the big things they were ordered to do but they
failed to do, or were ordered to refrain from but they indulged
therein, and they realised the weight of their burden (of bad
acts) on their backs, and they felt too weak to bear them, then
they wept biterly and spoke to each other wile still crying and
bewailing to Allah in repentance and acknowledgement (of their
shortcomings), you would find them to be emblems of guidance and
lamps in darkness, angels would be surrounding them, peace would
be descending upon them, the doors of the sky would be opened for
them and positions of honour would be assigned to them in the
place of which Allah had informed them. Therefore, He has
appreciated their actions and praised their position.They call Him
and breathe in the air of forgiveness, they are ever needy of His
bounty and remain humble before His greatness, the length of their
grief has pained their hearts, and the length of weeping their
eves. They knock at every door of inclination towards Allah. They
ask Him Whom generosity does not make destitute and from Whom
those who approach Him do not get disappointed.

Therefore, take
account of yourself for your own sake because the account of
others will be taken by one other than you.