Ethics

The key phrase which has been emphasized a lot in the pligrimage book "Ziyarat-nama" of the Imams,
is patience. i.e., "You! (Imams) remained patient, and this patience, was practiced with pleasure for the sake of Allah. You! accepted the heavy load of carrying the trust, and in spite of all the difficulties and hardships, you delivered it to its final destination."

Truly, the responsibility of guiding mankind and explaining them the truth of religion, and resisting tyranny, corruption, and transgression during the days of the Imams, like any other time, was a difficult task requiring a lot of patience and strong determination. If the patience practiced by the Imams would have been of such a type that although unhappy about the bad conditions of their times, with hearts bleeding for the worsening plight of Muslims and Islam, they had confined themselves to the safe boundaries of their homes without taking any concrete steps for destruction of evil and betterment of situation in favour of the community, then this type of patience would not have been of any special distinction, prestige and honour. There is nothing special in this kind of inert behaviour and anybody could do it easily. Of course, this type of conduct is practiced by weak and uncommitted persons.

The prominence and glory which distinguish the lives of the holy Imams, and the special characteristics which may be repeated while reciting salutations as mentioned in the "Ziyarat-nama", was their being patient in obedience to Allah. This is an area, in which many ordinary people found themselves helpless, and could not tolerate the hardships and therefore failed to achieve that honour and distinction.

Adapted from the book: "Discourse on Patience" by: "Seyyed Ali Khamenei'i"