Chapter 2 : Preference on Delving Into Ethics
Preference of Delving into the Science of Ethics and Spending Some Time of Ones Life Therein Be informed that some righteous and kind brothers, who are free of impurities, those who struggle against the evil-insinuating self, have been confused. When Satan the accursed saw them thus struggling against their desires, something which is better than jihad, so much so that the Prophet ('s) called it the 'supreme jihad,’ he wanted to deceive them away from it, casting a great misconception into their hearts. It is the following: The observing of admonitions and counsels and disseminating them, seeking them and struggling to achieve them, which is the basis of the science of Akhlaq, all lack preference. When we see ourselves doing the opposite of what we know, we notice that this is detrimental and more supportive of the argument against a servant of Allah. Indifference and negligence will in this case be more appropriate and a better course, for the sin of someone who knows is different from the sin of one who does not. The least one knows and the more limited his scope of warning signs and norms of threats is, the less pretentious he becomes and the more worthy of being excused; one who knows is not like one who does not.
When I heard them expressing such a concept and came to know that it is one of the tricks of Satan the Accursed, I drew their attention to an incident narrated by Shaikh al-Hurr in his book titled Al-Jawahir al-Saniyyah in a chapter dealing with Qudsi ahadith. This incident rebuts this misconception, uprooting it and rendering it null and void.
The gist of the incident is that Allah, the most Glorified One, says, 'Do not say, `We fear, if we come to know, not to apply our knowledge.’ Rather, you should say, `We learn, and we hope we will act upon our knowledge,’ for I did not enforce anything on you except to make it as means of mercy for you.’ This text exists in Al-Jawahir al-Saniyyah with minor wording variation.
Such a Divine statement is the best rebuttal of this misconception. Had it not been for Satan’s trickery, there would have been no room for confusion that requires dispelling, but this Divine rebuttal suffices for a refutation. We would like to provide you with further explanations whereby you can come to know how clear the issue of knowledge and acting upon it is and the fruit of each, and you will find what makes up this chapter the preference of knowledge and its fruits; so, let us say that it is well known that knowledge is useless if not acted upon. It is just like doing something without knowledge. But a servant of Allah is ordered to adhere to both of them: each of them supports and strengthens the other.
One who seeks knowledge not to act upon it but to brag about it, to cover with the beauties of knowledge and its prevalent beauty and glitter among the people the ugliness of his own actions as well as his ugly dispositions, there is no doubt that he is a friend of Eblis the accursed. His knowledge is his own curse, and the curse of others, so much so that even the inmates of hell complain about his harm. He is one of those who bear their burdens and the burdens of others as well. He is a demon in a human form; we seek refuge with Allah against him. Such is the case also of one who uses knowledge as a habit on which he accustoms himself 6, thus turning it into a pretense and a reputation commended by people without knowledge or insight, such a person is a donkey tied to the first, though he is less harmful to the servants of Allah.
But if one is rational in his comprehension, seeking what reforms himself and brings him happiness in this world and in the next, he is the one who turns to Allah, seeking what is with Him, and he is the one to whom the addresses of this art are directed in order to cultivate him, raise his status with regard to what he seeks. Let him know that whenever a gate to knowledge opens for him, acting upon it becomes easier, and it increases his agility and desire. Whenever he acts upon what Allah grants him of knowledge, this will let him inherit the knowledge of that which he did not know before, thus increasing his knowledge, as we are told by Ahl al-Bayt ('a) who have said that one who acts upon the knowledge which he acquires will inherit the knowledge of what he never knew before. This, in reality, renders his action a norm of knowledge, for such knowledge shall succeed him and earn good things for him, so he becomes included among those who seek the type of knowledge which many narratives have praised and preferred.
Also, his knowledge, learning and teaching are all among the best branches of knowledge. It is then that such a servant earns perfect happiness through the knowledge which prompts one to act upon it, a deed springing out of knowledge and the happiness which is perfected through the compounded accumulation of knowledge and action. Yet the best portion of both in the sight of Allah is knowledge itself; it is through it that one servant of Allah is distinguished from another.
Our master, the Commander of the Faithful ('a), has said, 'A touch of knowledge is better than a great deal of deeds, and they both are like intention and action: intention receives distinction. Or they may be compared with the soul and the body: the soul is distinctive.’
What we have stated here should suffice one who seeks guidance, and surely Allah is the Master of success.
Chapter 3 : Allahs Purpose of Creation
Allah Created Us to Live Happily Forever; He prepared Us for Such Happiness Be informed that Allah created mankind to live forever happily. Life in the Hereafter has no end. Allah has made the life in this world like a farm wherein one plants something in order to reap its fruit in the Hereafter, basing the reward in the life to come on the deeds in this life. The servants of Allah prepare themselves for such an eternal life through their deeds in this life. 7
Undoubtedly, had such a short-lived life-span, such a short time to live, been spent with adoration to the extent that Allah is not disobeyed even for a twinkling of an eye, nor is one breath spent except in obedience to Allah, it still by necessity and commonsense falls short of qualifying for such rewards. Therefore, it is by virtue of the dictates of the Divine kindness and mercy that Allah opens for His servants the gates of His generosity, thus qualifying them to be rewarded with what has no end nor diminution; each and every blessing starts from Him; each and every act of His kindness is out of His own favor.
The first manifestation of His generosity and kindness to His servants is that He does not terminate the outcomes of their deeds when their life-spans terminate. Rather, He has made such life-spans equivalent to the duration of life itself, measured by the days they are acted upon and by those who put them to action. He did so by making one of His injunctions is that if someone starts a tradition wherein there is guidance for people, he will receive its rewards as well as the rewards of all those who implement it till the Day of Judgment. Likewise, if anyone initiates an evil tradition, he will bear its sin as well as the sins of all those who act upon it till the Day of Judgment (Waram Collection, Vol. 2, p. 236).
He also makes one of His injunctions letting parents share in the good deeds done by their offspring by virtue of the parents being the reason for the existence of the offspring, and this chain of offspring is endless.
He also made the rewards of some good deeds the creation, out of them, of angels who worship Him till the Day of Judgment, assigning the rewards of such worship to the person who performed such good deeds. Also, He opened a gate from which His mercy descends upon them, considering the rewards of a night’s good deeds equivalent to those of one thousand months: Allah, the most Praised One, has told us: 'The Night of Destiny (Lailatul-Qadr) is better than a thousand months.’
He also has regarded one hour’s contemplation equivalent to sixty years of adoration (Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 17, p. 327 where the reward is recorded as equivalent to one year) according to some narratives. 8
He made the night’s stay at the shrine of the Commander of the Faithful ('a) equivalent to seven hundred years’ adoration.
He made taking care of a believer’s need equivalent to the adoration of nine thousand years during which one spends the day fasting and the night praying (Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 74, p. 315).
He made the fast of three days a month equivalent to fasting for eternity.
All of these are indications of His kindness towards His believing servants, thus granting them His favors in order to qualify them to reach the station of spending all their life-span in obedience to Him so that they will yearn to such precious qualification earned through His generosity and open-handedness.
Yet all of this is still not much compared to what He wants to qualify them as a compensation for spending eternity worshipping and obeying Him, the most Exalted One, the most Great. He, therefore, completed His favors to them by opening a gate for rewarding even their intentions, making such intentions rewardable with more rewards than the actual implementation thereof. He thus decreed that the believers= intentions, had they been kept in this world for eternity, would have continued thus obeying Allah, the most Exalted, the most Great. Thus, He granted them the rewards of those who forever obey Him, making their eternal stay in Paradise the reward for such good intentions.
Likewise, had the unbelievers, because of their ill intentions, stayed alive forever, they would have forever remained disobedient to Him. He, hence, rewarded them by eternally tormenting them.
So, my Brother seeker of guidance, be informed that your actions are based on continuation, not on cessation, even if you see them as temporal, for some transmissions state that happy is one whose sins die when he himself dies. In other words, he should be happy when such sins are not emulated by others; otherwise, he will have to bear the burden of anyone who emulates him in committing them till the Day of Judgment. A sin, may Allah shelter us from it, is serial by nature except if Allah, out of His kindness, effaces and removes it. So, beware of committing sins, for they may bear an impact on your offspring and your offspring’s offspring, and so on. Let your desire be to obey Allah. Anything intended for Allah grows. One of the signs of its growth is that it continues to bear an impact till the end of time, affecting the offspring and the offspring’s offspring and so on till the Day of Judgment. Remain, therefore, vigilant, and do not be indifferent. 9
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6. This refers to a point which must not be overlooked by the elite. Knowledge is nothing but the manifestation of the reality of the intellect in its best condition; otherwise, the cases of incompatibility and compounded ignorance are prevalent in all branches of knowledge. Thereupon, making a profession of storing a portrait of the reality in one’s sub-conscience and deriving pleasure from so doing, such as one who collects books just to make a show, can never be regarded as something sacred which brings the servant closer to the supreme truth. Accumulated knowledge which is not implemented, therefore, may turn into an occupation to which one gets accustomed. He, hence, will not consider the Hereafter acting upon it because this will reveal intellectual discoveries regarded as worthless in the outside world.
7. Paying attention to the brevity of one’s life-span prompts him to remain vigilant and to motivate him as he moves to do anything at all. Man naturally loves for himself what is good and desires goodness and eternity even as he confuses himself while identifying the sources of what is good and what is not, as is obvious. Thereupon, to absorb the notion that life is very brief and that the happiness or the misery of such eternity is defined by this limited life-span makes every temporary moment equivalent to perpetuity. It is well known that such a rational comparison, to which he is invited by both the Shari`ah and by transmitted incidents, changes one to a being who is very careful about each and every moment of his life. He is also concerned about doing what is best to fill this short period which will determine one’s eternal faith: either perpetual damnation in hell, or a perpetual bliss in heaven.
8. Some references states hat one hour’s contemplation is better than a year’s adoration. As for sixty years, rewards, it is reported about one who falls sick while performing the pilgrimage in Mecca (Al-Mustadrak, Vol. 9, p. 364) and for one who learns two ahadith or who teaches them to others, thus reaping their benefits (Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 2, p. 152), for one who implements justice even for one hour (Jami` al-Akhbar, p. 119), and for one who falls sick and accepts such sickness wholeheartedly. About the latter, the Imam ('a) has said, 'He does not complain about what afflicted him to anyone.’ (Mishkat al-Anwar, p. 281).
9. Most books do not lack this piece of advice. One who is busy committing a sin, though minor, is not prepared to take this journey which requires the traveller to be accepted by his Master. Success in undertaking such a path depends on the Divine blessings which guide the servant of Allah. These cannot be earned by a servant who exposes himself to the Wrath of his Master, the One Who grants such blessings. It is well known that a sin, though minor except if we commit it against someone great, thus making such a sin quite serious, causes one to feel ashamed and frightened once he looks deeply into it. This is why it is customary for all those who tread this path to keep seeking Allah’s forgiveness in order to renew their covenant with the Lord Whom we have never come to know as He ought to be known nor worshipped as He ought to be worshipped. As for the prophets and wasis, peace be upon them, who do seek Allah’s forgiveness, they seek it in order to express their humility to Him, deeming Him Great. In addition to that, their conditions sometimes change from the highest to the high, and such a change obligates them to always seek forgiveness.
