Knowledge and Faith
Sometimes you see that one has knowledge of these realities but has no faith. Undertakers are not afraid of the dead, for they have certainty that the corpse cannot harm one. Even when the dead person was alive and had a spirit in his body he could hardly do anything, so of what harm can he be now as an empty frame? However, those who are afraid of the dead are afraid because they do not have faith in this truth. They merely have knowledge.
They know about God and the Day of Retribution, but they lack certainty. The heart is unaware of that which the intellect has understood. They know the proofs for the existence of God and the reality of the Resurrection, but these very same intellectual proofs may be veils covering the heart which do not permit the light of faith to shine in, until God, the Exalted, frees them from the darkness and obscurities and leads them to enter the worlds of light and radiances:
ALLAH is the Guardian (Wali) of those who believe; He brings them out of the darkness into the light. (2:257)
He whose Guardian (Wali) is God, the Blessed and Exalted, and who is taken by Him out from the darkness never commits another sin, never backbites, never slanders others, and he is never vengeful or envious of his brothers in faith. His own heart is filled with a feeling of luminosity and he no longer holds the world or what it contains in high esteem. As Imam 'Ali (A.S.) said: "If all the world and what it contains were offered to me to cruelly and unjustly take the skin of a grain of barley from the mouth of an ant, I would never accept it." But some of you trample over everything, and you backbite the great [scholars] of Islam. If others speak ill of the grocers and perfume sellers on the street and backbite them, some of you relate unfair things, insult and are impudent toward the scholars of Islam, because you are not firmly grounded in faith and you do not believe in [divine] retribution for your own deeds.
Infallibility ('ismah) is nothing but perfect faith. The meaning of the infallibility of the prophets and the Friends of God (awliya') is not that, for instance, Gabriel took them by the hand. (Of course, if Gabriel had taken the hand of Shimr he would never have committed a sin.) Rather, infallibility is the offspring of faith. If a man had faith in God, the Exalted, and if he saw God Almighty with the eyes of his heart as one sees the sun, it would not be possible for him to commit a sin, just as if one were standing before an armed power, one would find some 'infallibility'. This fear comes from belief in the [divine] presence, which keeps man from committing sin. The Impeccables (ma'sumun), Peace be upon them', after their creation from pure nature (tinah) because of the effects of their spiritual discipline, and acquisition of radiance and virtuous character traits, always see themselves as being in the presence of God, Who knows all things and encompasses all affairs. They have faith in the meaning of the words, "La illaha illa ALLAH", and they believe that other than God, all persons and all things, are perishing and have no role in determining man's destiny:
All things are perishing but His Face. (28:88)
If man is certain and has faith that all the outward and inward worlds are in the presence of the Lord, and that God, the Exalted, is present everywhere and sees everything, in the presence of God and God's blessings there would be no possibility for committing sins. Man is not able to commit sins before a discerning child and does not expose his private parts, so how could he expose his nakedness before God, the Exalted, and not dread to commit a crime? This is because he has faith in the presence of the child; however, with regard to the divine presence, if he has knowledge, he still lacks faith. Due to the multiplicity of his sins, which have darkened and blackened his heart, he is totally unable to accept such truths, and may not even consider them to be likely. Actually, man would not recklessly run wild if he considered it at all likely - he need not have certainty - that which is reported in the Noble Qur'an is true, the promises and the threats, and that he should amend his ways and deeds.
If you consider it at all likely that ferocious beasts, which might harm you, are to be found along the path, or that there are armed bandits who might hold you up, you would refrain from taking that path, and you would try to ascertain the correctness or incorrectness of these reports. Is it possible for someone to consider it possible that hell exists and that one may remain for ever in its fire while at the same time doing wrong? Can it be said that one who considers God the Almighty to be present and watching and who sees himself to be in the presence of the Lord, and who considers it possible that there might be retribution for his words and deeds, a reckoning and chastisement, and that in this world every word he speaks, every step he takes, every deed he does, is recorded by angels of ALLAH (SWT) called Raqib and 'Atid and they carefully record all his words and deeds, and in such a state, could he be fearless of his own wrongdoing? It is painful [to realize] that they do not even consider these truths to be possible. From the manners of some and their way of living it is obvious that they do not even consider the existence of a supernatural world to be likely, since the mere consideration of this likelihood keeps man from committing many wrongs.
How long do you wish to remain in the sleep of negligence, plunged in corruption? Fear God! Beware of the aftermath of your deeds! Wake up from the sleep of negligence! You have not yet awakened. You have not yet taken the first step. The first step of wayfaring is yaqzah (awakening), but you are still asleep. Your eyes may be open, but your hearts are asleep. If your hearts were not so sleepy and rusted and blackened with the effects of sin, you would not continue your wrongful deeds and words so carelessly and indifferently. If you thought a bit about the affairs of the other world and its terrible path you would give more importance to the heavy duties and responsibilities which rest upon your shoulders.
There is also another world for you; there is also the resurrection. (You are not like other existent for which there is no returning.) Why do you not take warning? Why are you not awake and conscious? Why do you so heedlessly engage in backbiting and speaking ill of your Muslim brothers, or listening to such things? Do you not know that the tongue, which wags in backbiting, will be trampled under the feet of others on the day of the resurrection? Have you heard that backbiting will be food for the dogs of hell? Have you ever given a thought to how evil are the consequences of these differences, enmities, jealousies, cynicism and selfishness, and arrogance and conceit? Do you know that the repercussion of these wicked forbidden deeds is hell and that it is possible, God forbid, that they will lead to the everlasting fire?
God does not want man to be afflicted with maladies unaccompanied by pain, for when an illness is accompanied by pain, it forces man to seek a cure, to consult a doctor or go to a hospital, but an unfelt illness without pain is more dangerous. By the time one becomes aware of it, it is too late. If mental illnesses were accompanied by pain, this would be something for which to be thankful. Ultimately, man would be forced to find a cure or a remedy. But what can be done about such dangerous diseases for which there is no pain? The maladies of arrogance and selfishness are without pain. Other sins corrupt the heart and the spirit without causing any pain. Not only are these maladies unaccompanied by pain, but they also bring apparent pleasure. Meetings and sessions of backbiting are very warm and sweet! Love of the self and love of the world, which are the roots of all sins, are pleasurable. One who is afflicted with dropsy may die from water, but yet he enjoys drinking it until his last breath. Naturally, if one gets pleasure from an illness, and it also has no pain, he will not seek any cure for it. However much he is warned that it is fatal, he will not believe it.
If someone is afflicted with the maladies of hedonism and worshipping the world, and his heart is filled with love of the world, he will grow weary of all else but the world and what is in it. ALLAH (SWT) forbid, he will become an enemy of God, the servants of God, the divine prophets and awliya and the angels of ALLAH (SWT). He will have a sense of hatred and loathing for them, and when the angels come at the command of the Glorious God to take his soul, he will have a feeling of repulsion and abhorrence, for he will see that God and His angels want to separate him from his beloved (the world and worldly things). It is possible that he will leave the world with hostility and enmity toward the Presence of the Exalted Truth (Al Haq). One of the great men of Qazwin, may ALLAH (SWT) have mercy on him, reported that he was present at the bedside of someone at the moment of his death. During the last moments of his life, he opened his eyes and said: "No one has ever wronged me the way God has done! Now, He wants to separate me from these children whom I have taken such pains to raise. Is there any greater injustice than this?" If one has not refined oneself, turning away from the world, and has not expelled love of the world from his heart, there is the fear that he will die with a heart overflowing with anger and aversion toward God and His awliya'. He will have to contend with an ominous destiny. Is such an unbridled man to be considered as the crown of creation or as the vilest of creatures?
By Time! Surely man is in loss, except for those who believe and do good works and enjoin upon each other truth. And enjoin upon each other patience. (Sura 103, Al Asr)
In this surah, the only exceptions are the believers who perform good works. And a good work is a work, which is congruous with the spirit. However, you see that many of man's works are only congruent with the body. "Enjoining" is also not practiced.
If you are dominated by love of the world and love of the self, and if this prevents you from perceiving truths and realities, and prevents you from performing deeds purely for God, and if you are kept from enjoining the truth and enjoining patience, and you are thereby obstructed from the way to guidance, then you will have failed. You will have failed in this world and in the next, for you will have given up your youth and will be prohibited from the blessings of heaven and otherworldly advantages, and also lack this world. If others have no way to heaven, and if the doors to divine mercy are closed to them, if they are to abide eternally in the fire of hell, at least they will have had the world, they will have enjoyed worldly advantages, but you.
Beware, lest love of the world and love of the self gradually increase within you to the point that Satan is able to take away your faith. It is said that all of the efforts of Satan are for the sake of robbing faith. All of his efforts and labors, night and day, are for the sake of taking away the faith of men. No one has given you a document to guarantee you a permanent faith. Perhaps one's faith is merely on loan (mustawda') and in the end Satan will get it, and you will leave this world with enmity for the Blessed and Exalted God and His awliya'.
Perhaps one will have enjoyed an entire life of divine blessings, provided for by Imam Zaman (AJ) and, God forbid, in the end one may give up his life without faith and in enmity toward the Bestower of the Blessings. If you have any interest in, relations with, and affection for the world, try to cut it. This world, with all its superficial glamour and glitter is too insignificant to be worthy of love, especially for one who has divested himself of such superficialities of life. What do you have of this world that your heart should be attached to it? You have naught but the mosque, the prayer niche, the seminary, and the corner of a room. Is it proper for you to compete for the mosque and the prayer niche? Should this be a cause of disagreement among you, to corrupt the society? Suppose that, like the worldly people, you had a comfortable sumptuous life, and that, God forbid, you spent your life on feasting and drinking. After your life is over, you would see that your life had passed like a pleasant dream, but the requital and liability for it will be with you always. What value does this fleeting and apparently sweet life have (assuming that it is very sweet) in comparison to endless chastisement? The chastisement of worldly people is sometimes endless. The worldly people who imagine that they have acquired the world and benefit from its advantages and boons are remiss and mistaken. Everyone sees the world from the window of his own environment and situation, and imagines that the world is exactly that which he has. The physical world is broader than that which man imagines he has acquired, discovered and through which he roams. It has been narrated about this world with all its means and ways that: "He has never looked graciously upon it." So, how must the other world be upon which God, the Blessed and Exalted, has looked graciously? What is the 'source of greatness' to which man is called and what is it like? Man is too low to comprehend the source of greatness.
If you purify your intentions, rectify your deeds, expel love of self and position from your hearts, a high station will be prepared for you. The whole world and what exists in it along with its superficial aspects is not worth even a cent in comparison to the station prepared for the righteous servants of God. Try to achieve this lofty station. If you are able, try to make something of yourselves and improve yourselves so that you may pay no heed even to this lofty station. Do not worship God in order to reach this station, but rather call upon Him and prostrate yourselves with your heads upon the earth before Him because He is worthy of worship and magnification. In that case you will have torn through the curtains of light and reached the source of greatness. Can you obtain such a position with these deeds and actions, which you perform? Can the path you tread reach it? Is there any likelihood of your being saved from divine chastisement and escaping the terrible torment and fire of hell?
Do you imagine that the lamentations of the Pure Imams (A.S.) and the cries of Imam Sajjad (A.S.) were merely for education's sake, and that they wanted to instruct others about how to cry? With all that spirituality and the lofty position they hold, they wept for fear of God! They understood how difficult and dangerous it is to advance along the way before them. They were aware of the difficulties, hardships and problems of crossing the Sirat, which has this world at one end and the next world at the other and which passes through hell. They were aware of the worlds of the grave, of the barzakh, and of the resurrection, and of their terrible torments, and hence they were never complacent and always took refuge in God from the intense chastisements of the other world.
What thought have you given to these terrible devastating torments, and what way have you found to deliverance from them? When are you going to decide to reform and refine yourselves? Now, while you are young and have the strength of youth and the power over your faculties, and physical weakness has not yet overtaken you, if you do not think of refinement and of making something of yourselves, then how will you be able to do it when you become old, when your bodies and souls are in the grip of weakness and feebleness, and you have lost your will power, your decisiveness and your resistance, and when the burden of your sins has blackened your hearts? With every breath and every step you take, and with each passing moment of your life, reform becomes more difficult, and it is possible for darkness and corruption to increase. The more one's age advances, the more the things which conflict with human felicity multiply and the more one's powers are weakened. Thus, when old age arrives, it is difficult to be successful at refinement and the acquisition of the virtues and piety (taqwa'). One is unable to repent, for repentance is not merely the verbal expression, "I repent before ALLAH (SWT)," rather contrition and the resolve to abandon one's sin are also necessary. Such contrition and resolve are not to be obtained by one who has engaged in backbiting and lying for fifty or seventy years, whose beard has become white with sin and transgression. Such a person is afflicted with sin to the end of his life.
Youths should not sit still until the dust of age turns them grey. (I have reached old age and am aware of its misfortunes and difficulties.) While you are young, you are able to accomplish something. While you enjoy the strength and determination of youth you can expel selfish desires, worldly attractions and animal desires from yourselves. However, if you do not think about reform and making something of yourselves while you are young, it will be too late when you become old. Think, while you are young, before you become old and exhausted. A young heart is subtle and celestial, and within it the motivation for corruption is weak. However, the older one gets the stronger and firmer is the source of sin implanted in the heart, until it can no longer be uprooted, as it is reported: "The heart of man is clear and shining like a mirror; with each sin a man commits, another black mark is added to the heart, until it becomes black, so that it is possible that a night and day cannot pass without the commission of a sin against the Lord. When old age arrives, it is difficult to restore one's heart to its original form and state.
If, God forbid, you have not reformed yourself when you leave the world, in what manner do you expect to meet God, when your heart is black and your eyes, ears and tongue are polluted by sin? How can you restore that with which God has entrusted you when it has become polluted and wicked, while it was given to you in perfect purity and cleanliness? These eyes and ears which are under your control, this hand and tongue which are at your command, these organs and limbs with which you live, all have been entrusted to you by God, the Almighty, and were given to you in perfect purity and righteousness. If they are afflicted with sin, they become polluted. If, God forbid, they are polluted with that which is forbidden, wickedness results. When the time comes to return this trust, it is possible that you will be asked if this is the right way to protect the trust, which was given you. When the trust was placed under your control, was it like this? Was the heart, which you were given, like this? Were the eyes, which were bestowed upon you, like this? Were the other organs and limbs, which were, placed at your will this polluted and dirty? What will be your answer to these questions? How will you meet God when you have committed such treachery with regard to that with which you have been entrusted?
You are young. You have spent your youth in such a way that from a worldly perspective you have given up many benefits. If you use this valuable time and the spring of your youth in the way of God and with a specific sacred purpose, then it has not been wasted, but rather this world and the next have been secured for you. However, if your behavior is of such a manner as is currently witnessed, then you have wasted your youth and the prime of your life has been passed in vain. In the other world, before God, you will be questioned and reproached, while the penalty for your perfidious deeds and acts will not only be limited to the other world. In this world also, various severe difficulties, calamities and troubles will grab you by the neck, and you will fall into the whirlpool of misfortune and disaster.
