The Signs of the Genuine Followers of the Apostles

The following signs distinguish a true believer from non-believers:

Faith in the unknown; keeping up prayers; giving away generously; Faith in all heavenly books(bibles); belief in the Doom’s Day; belief in the angels; paying back the orphan’s possession; carrying out one’s promises; patience in disasters; war for God; honesty; tolerance of right issues; carrying out what is righteous; hastening in asking for pardon; repentance; not to insist on doing minor sins; avoidance of being indifferent in religious affairs; avoidance of extravagance; being constant; surrender to the right ways; fearing God; involvement in supplication; tolerance of hardships for the sake of God; killing God’s enemy and getting martyred; brotherhood; increasing one’s faith by reciting the Holy Qur’an; giving shelter to the homeless; helping the oppressed; friendship with the believers; enjoining the right thing and prohibiting the evil-doing; keeping up to one’s words; associating with the relatives; making up for the wrong-doings; being hopeful of God’s blessings; limiting one’s lusts; humbleness; avoidance of showing rough manners towards the ignorant; night-prayers; avoiding jealousy; avoiding adultery; avoiding the association of any partner for God; avoidance of homicide; good deeds; praising and worshipping God; being rough towards the infidels; being generous towards the believers; avoiding skepticism; piety; repentance at the dawn; feeding the poor; being worried about accountability at the Doom’s Day; reciting the Holy Qur’an; comprehending the Holy Qur’an; acting out the commands of the Holy Qur’an; sincerity in one’s actions; avoidance of using illegal wealth; avoiding usury; honesty; being content with what God has bestowed upon us; treating people justly; taking care of the family’s needs; good-temper; avoidance of mischief; avoidance of alcoholic beverages; soberness in the face of hardships; gratitude; serving people; avoiding talkativeness; taking advantage of one’s youth; keeping one’s health; avoiding false pride; keeping off ignorance; greeting people; awaiting the prayer time; ignoring the whims and wishes; living moderately; acting justly; considering the workers’ rights; showing inclination towards the Hereafter; performing the fasting in the holy month of Ramadan; pilgrimage of Ka’aba; love towards the Infallible ones(a.s); obedience towards the Imams(a.s); obeying the just religious leader; strengthening one’s wisdom; association with God’s genuine followers; avoiding the finding of faults in others; being sorry for one’s sin; improving the life conditions for one’s dependants; accepting a believer’s invitation; avoiding the accumulation of wealth; offering advice to people; eagerness to meet Allah; being clean and tidy both internally and externally; avoiding gossip and tattletale; good wish for all; resolving people’s problems; respecting the elderly; doing good to one’s parents; considering the others’ rights; considering the neighbors’ rights; avoiding treason; reliance on Allah; supplication for people; eagerness to attend the mosque; acquiring knowledge; enticing people towards good deeds; contemplating over the issues brought out in the Holy Qur’an and the books on narrations, such as the second volume of Usul Kafi, the eight volumes of Muhajjatul Beiza; Tuhaful Uqul; Jami’ul Sa’adat; volumes 77 and 78 of Biharu Anwar; A’alam Ad-Din; Irshadul Qulub; and Khisal by Saduq.

Life without the Prophets’ guidance would be sheer darkness and going astray; any movement without the leadership of the Prophets is doomed to failure.

Through the revelation received by God, the Prophets realize that man is composed of body, heart, spirit and self. They have provided specific instructions for each of these elements. Acting on these principles, which the Prophets offer to man, he may make a heavenly being out of himself.

Man should look at himself through the Prophet’s eyes so that he may treat each dimension of his being properly.

He, then, should feed his wisdom with knowledge and sciences; he should strengthen his heart with righteous thoughts; he should feed the self with right ethical issues; he should strengthen his soul with heavenly manners; and should guide his eyes and other organs through the principle of enjoining good deeds and prohibiting evil doings.

Without the assistance of the Prophets, man would convert into a one-eyed satan, who would look at the world only through one eye and what he sees would be only material things and lusts.

The great scholar, Sa’adu Din Humawiyyah writes: Be aware that the devil is a one-eyed creature that focuses on itself. It sees itself; it cannot observe the truth. Anybody who acts in the same manner will see the body, not the soul. Have you not noticed that the satan saw Adam’s body, not his essence? Satan was haughty and proud, worshipping his own fire nature. He looked at the fire; he noticed it was superior to other elements. He assumed wind, soil and water of inferior characteristics. When he looked at man, he said:

أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِي مِنْ نَارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِينٍ  [1]

“I am better than him; Thou hast created me of fire, and him Thou didst create of dust.”

As a result, satan was deprived of God’s favors. The material world is filthy and heavy: it will lead us towards darkness; the spiritual world, however, is delicate and light: it will lead one towards light.

God made the wind subservient to Solomon(Sulaiman), which then he could make a month’s journey in one morning and a month’s journey in one evening.

غُدُوُّهَا شَهْرٌ وَرَوَاحُهَا شَهْرٌ  [2]

 “…which made a month’s journey in the morning and a month’s journey in the evening.”

He, in this way, could capture the tiny world of his, because the larger world was made dominated to him.

قالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ3: أنَا أدْعُوكُمْ إلى كَلِمَتَينِ خَفِيفَتَينِ فِي اللِّسانِ وَثَقِيلَتَينِ فِي المِيزانِ، تَمْلِكُونَ بِهِمَا الْعَرَبَ وَالْعَجَمَ، وَتَنْقادُ بِهِمَا الاُمَمُ، وَتَدْخُلُونَ بِهِمَا الْجَنَّةَ وَتَنْجُونَ بِهِما النّارَ: شهادَةُ أنْ لا إلهَ إلاَّ اللهُ، وَأنّي رَسُولُ اللهِ.

The Prophet(s.a.w) said: “I will invite you to pay heed to two words, whose utterance is quite easy, but in practice, they are hard to carry out. Through the usage of these two terms you would have domination over both Arabs and non-Arabs; you could then dominate nations; you could arrive at the paradise due to these two words; you could get rid of the Hell fire because of these two terms: Those two words are the following: Confess to the unity of Allah and be a witness to my Prophet-hood.