Patience and gratitude are two great virtues. He who is devoted to God and to His Imams, discharges all the obligations that he owes to them and relies on them in prosperity and adversity. He puts up with discomforts in the discharge of these duties for the sake of God and for the sake of the Imams. He belongs to that group of "Sabirs" i.e. those who bear hardships with patience about whom God says in His holy book, "God rewards the ‘Sabirs' beyond one's calculations." God has praised them and spoken of His rewards to them in several other verses of the Quran.
By virtue of this quality of patience the "Sabirs" have kept themselves in check from doing unlawful things and have persisted in their devotion to God. As a reward for this they have received His favors and have settled down in "Jannat" the abode of bliss.
O momins, keep yourselves in check from doing wrong things and make yourselves deserving of divine favors. Persevere in your devotion and train yourselves to put up with discomforts for the sake of the Imams. Do not be discouraged. Rush into them and do not feel depressed. Patience in this respect is an act of devotion to God. Those who practice it will be amply recompensated by God. "Sabirs" are sure to be rewarded.
It is by patience over the difficulties which the followers of the Imams had to undergo that their authority has been established on earth and their claims have been recognized by the people. It is through the suffering of these followers that people have submitted to their authority.
The "Sabirs" are steady people. They put up with all sorts of hardships for the sake of the Imams. They rush to the Imams and are ever-ready to carry out their orders. If they are appointed to any office they do the job willingly. They are devoted to God and they suffer with patience and firmness what befalls their lot. They abide by the laws of God. They fight for God and they establish His laws on earth. By virtue of this they win the reward of God. They are the happiness of people on earth and their end is the best.
Had the Sabirs not attended to the duties of God and had they not put up with hardships for the sake of the Imams and had they shilly-shallied in the discharge of their religious duties they would have brought on themselves a great disaster. Man would have pounced upon man in front of men and behind them. The strong ones would have swallowed the weak ones and villains would have persecuted men of respectable birth. May God forbid us from such a disaster and the failure of religion which is sure to end in the reign of terror.
This is about patience. With regards to gratitude, it perpetuates the blessings and increases them to an unimaginable extent. Those who are neglectful in this are considered to be "Kafirs" i.e. deniers of truth and deniers of divine favors. God says, "If you show gratitude to Me I shall increase My blessings on you. If you become ‘Kafir' i.e., if you deny My favors then my punishment is very severe." The Prophet says, "If one does you a good turn you must be reciprocal to him. If you cannot do so then thank him. If you fail to do so you become ‘Kafir' i.e. denier of his favors." God does not like that we should be ungrateful to Him for the favors that He has done to us. He does not approve of ingratitude even from man to man for the good turn that one may do to another. He says, "Be grateful to me and to your parents. You have to return to me."
The Prophet says, "On the day of judgement God will say to some one of the ungrateful persons such and such a man did you a good turn but you did not thank him and denied his favor." The man will say in reply, "I thought that you were the source of the good turn he did to me and I thanked you for it." God will say, "How should you thank me when you did not thank the person whom I had made the medium of doing you a good turn?"
To sum up, if to thank our parents for their bringing us up and to thank those men who do us a favor is a duty enjoined on us by God and want of it amounts to "Kufr" then, it needs no imagination to realize the magnitude of the importance of our thank to the Imams whose favors on us are beyond our calculations.
Let us make a short survey of their favors on us. We were ignorant of everything and were spiritually dead. They brought us back to life and showed us the path of wisdom. We were blind, they gave us the eyes to see for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. We were groping in the dark they showed us the light. We had lost the track, they showed us the way to salvation. We were lacking in knowledge, they gave us the knowledge. We were falling in hell-fire, they picked us up and put up in the midst of the righteous. In short, they have done us the favors which we cannot count. They have given us all that is good in this world and the world to come.
With all this, even if one were to follow them with no other motive than an earthly desire for a worldly gain, he will get what he wants. He will get even double the amount of his expectations, provided he is honest in the discharge of the duties that are assigned to hm and is steady in his work. But, if he proves to be dishonest and unfaithful to them in doing his job, if he works against the interest of those very persons who provide him with all sorts of facilities and give him the necessary protection and security of life and property, then the blame lies at his doors. May God protect us from such people and may He not show us such things. The only course left open for such a person is to make amends for his misbehavior and seriously repent for it. He must set himself right and be grateful to Imams.
source : http://www.amaana.org
