Allah loves human being even so more than one's mother, just enough to remember him heartily

Moses and Korah

Allamiyi Majlis¢ narrates from `Ali Ibn Ibr¡him Qumi: When Korah denied Moses and his prophethood, refusing to pay zakat of his wealth and accusing Moses, Moses complained to Allah about him. The Almighty told Moses: “I ordered the heavens and the earth to obey you; give them whatever order you want!”

So Moses went to Korah’s house while he had his servants close all the doors to Moses. Reaching Korah’s palace and seeing all the doors closed, Moses pointed to the doors, sp all of them opened. When Korah saw Moses, he knew that Moses has come with Allah’s chastisement. And he said: “O Moses! I ask you, for our tie of kinship, to have mercy on me.” Moses (a.s) told him: “O son of Lavi! Don’t talk to me because it is of no use for you.” Then Moses addressed the earth: “Take Korah!” Therefore the palace and everything in it was descended into the earth. Even at that time Korah wept and requested Moses because of their kinship. But Moses replied again: “Do not talk to me!” even though Korah deplored, Moses did not accept, because he was angry of Korah’s indecent deeds. After Korah’s death, Moses went to his worship place where he was addressed by Allah: “O Moses! Korah and his people requested you, but you did not heed them. By My Glory that if he had deplored to Me, I had accepted him, but since he called you, I left him to you!”

The Youth and His Mother

It is written in Tafs¢r Naysh¡b£r¢ that in Prophet Muhammad’s age a young man was close to his death. The Prophet (s.a) was asked to visit the sick young man. The Prophet of Islam came to the young man while he was unable to utter his testimonies (to Allah Oneness and Mu¦ammad’s prophethood)! The Prophet (s.a) asked his acquaintances: “Has he been forgetful about prayer?” And he was answered no. He asked again: “Has he refused to pay zakat?” The people around the sick youngster denied it too. The Prophet questioned them: “Has his father cursed him?” And they answered negatively. The Prophet asked: “Has is mother cursed him?” “Yes,” the people replied. So the Prophet (s.a) called his mother and asked her to forgive his son. The mother refused to do so, saying: “How can I forgive him while he has beaten me in the face and hurt one of my eyes?” Then the Messenger of Allah (s.a) ordered to bring fire. The sick man’s mother asked the reason for bringing fire. The Prophet (s.a) replied: “I want to burn him for the sin he has committed.” Therefore the mother said: “I don’t want him to be burnt, because I have bore him for nine months in my womb, breastfed him for two years, trained and lived with him for many years, so I forgive him to be saved from being burnt.”

While a mother who is one’s conventional trainer does not wish his disobedient child to be burnt, how would Allah, Who is human’s True Trainer, have developed him from poorness to excellence, torture His disobedient, sinner, ignorant servant in the Fire? “Far be it from You! You are more generous than that You should torture him whom You have nurtured.”

Right of Hospitality

It is narrated that Yaz¢d Ibn Muhallab had lent some money to Wak¢`, a noble man of Khurasan. He sent an envoy to receive that sum of money from Waki’s representative. The envoy asked money from that representative and put him under pressure for the payment.

One day, later on, the envoy of Yaz¢d took the representative of Waki’ to Yaz¢d in order that he ask respite for the payment. At the same time the food table was set. Yaz¢d’s representative told Waki’s to get out of there together. But he refused to do so and began eating food. Afterwards, he asked Yaz¢d for a respite for the payment again. So Yaz¢d told his representative: “Do not ask Wak¢’s envoy for the lent money anymore and don’t put him under pressure, because he has eaten our food now and has right of hospitality.”

Certainly, the Merciful Allah would not torture with Fire a servant who has the right of hospitality to his Lord.

Right of the Guest on His Host

The historians have narrated that three hundred captives were brought to Ma`an Ibn Z¡’idah, a great war commander. Ma’an ordered to kill all of them. A captive boy who had not reached puberty yet said: “O commander! By Allah do not kill us before drinking water!” Ma’an said: “Let all of them drink water!” When they all dranl water, the young man told the commander: “Now all of us are your guests and greeting the guest is a duty of the noble ones.” So Ma’an said: “You are right.” Then he ordered to free all of those captives.

For sure, as the Commander of the Believers, `Al¢ (a.s), has informed us it is far away from the Beneficent Allah to chastise a servant who has always been a guest of His bountiful blessings.

وَلَيْتَ شِعْرى يا سَيِّدي وَإِلهي وَمَوْلايَ أَتُسَلِّطُ النّارَ عَلى وُجُوه خَرَّتْ لِعَظَمَتِكَ ساجِدَةً، وَعَلى أَلْسُن نَطَقَتْ بِتَوْحيدِكَ صادِقَةً، وَبِشُكْرِكَ مادِحَةً، وَعَلى قُلُوب اعْتَرَفَتْ بِإِلهِيَّتِكَ مُحَقِّقَةً، وَعَلى ضَمائِرَ حَوَتْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ بِكَ حَتّى صارَتْ خاشِعَةً، وَعَلى جَوارِحَ سَعَتْ إِلى أَوْطانِ تَعَبُّدِكَ طائِعَةً وَأَشارَتْ بِاسْتِغْفارِكَ مُذْعِنَةً، ما هكَذَا الظَّنُّ بِكَ وَلا اُخْبِرْنا بِفَضْلِكَ عَنْكَ يا كَريمُ يا رَبِّ

Would that I knew, my Master, my Allah and my protector, whether You will give the Fire dominion over faces fallen down prostrate before Your Greatness; tongues voicing sincerely the profession of Your Oneness and giving thanks to You in praise; hearts acknowledging Your Divinity through verification; minds encompassing knowledge of You until they have become humble; and limbs speeding to the places of Your worship in obedience and entreating Your forgiveness in submission. No such opinion is held of You! Nor has such been reported- thanks to Your Bounty- concerning You, O Allah! -Generous!

Comprehensive Worship

The most comprehensive type of worship is considered prayer. The one, who performs prayer, shows his humility to his Lord, confesses to His Oneness, and appreciates Him, via his prayer. The prayer-performer’s body organs that are attached to his conscious will eagerly hurry to worship places, such as the mosques and shrines.

Moreover, the knowledgeable servants of Allah who have deeply known their Lord, and His creation motives, are very humble before Him. They confess to His Oneness in appearance and hidden and are thankful to His numerous blessings. They rush to the worship places with their enthusiastic organs for gaining His satisfaction.

How can these servants hold a bad opinion of You? And why shouldn’t they be optimistic of Your forgiveness? Which prophet and which heavenly book has informed the pious servants that they would be tortured and their faces, tongues, hearts, and lambs be burnt in Fire?

In fact the prophets, Imams, and heavenly books have notified the believers that the pious believers, who have committed virtues, would not be tortured in Fire, away from their Lord, even if they have had some wrongdoings, because of their repentance and regretful ness.

Some traditions about the most comprehensive worship that is prayer are narrated here, hoping that Allah help us in completing this great worship, that hinders chastisement from us.

The Messenger of Allah states in traditions about prayer:

الصَّلاَةُ مِنْ شَرَائِعِ الدِّينِ، وَفِيهَا مَرْضَاةُ الرَّبِّ عَزَِّ وَجَلَّ، وَهِيَ مِنْهَاجُ الأنْبِيَاءِ.

Prayer is among the religious rules. It brings Allah’s satisfaction and is the Prophets’ path.[1]

جَعَلَ اللهُ جَلَّ ثَنَاؤهُ قُرَّةَ عَيْنِي فِي الصَّلاَةِ وَحَبَّبَ إلَيَّ الصَّلاَةَ كَمَا حَبَّبَ إلَى الجَائِعِ الطَّعَامَ، وَإلَى الظَّمْآنِ المَاءَ، وَإنَّ الجَائِعَ إذَا أكَلَ شَبِعَ، وَإنَّ الظَّمْآنَ إذَا شَرِبَ رُوِيَ، وَأنَا لاَ أشْبَعُ مِنَ الصَّلاَةِ.

The Praiseworthy Allah has set prayer the light of my eye and happiness of my heart and has made it deer to me, as food is deer to a hungry person and water is deer to a thirsty one. The hungry becomes full of the food and the thirsty becomes full of the water, while I never get completely full of prayer.[2]

إذَا قُمْتَ إلَى الصَّلاَةِ وَتَوَجَّهْتَ وَقَرَأتَ أُمَّ الكِتَابِ وَمَا تَيَسَّرَ مِنَ السُّوَرِ ثُمَّ رَكَعْتَ فَأتْمَمَتَ رُكُوعَهَا وَسُجُودَهَا وَتَشَهَّدْتَ وَسَلَّمْتَ، غُفِرَ لَكَ كُلُّ ذَنْبٍ فِيمَا بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَ الصَّلاَةِ الَّتِي قَدَّمْتَهَا إلَى الصَّلاَةِ المُؤَخَّرَةِ.

When you stand up for prayer toward qibla, and recite the first Qur’¡nic chapter (S£rat al-F¡ti¦ah) and any other Qur’¡nic chapter you could, then performed roku’ and sajda, followed by tashahhud and salam, all your sins before your prayer and until your next prayer would be forgiven.[3]

Am¢r al-Mu’min¢n, Imam `Al¢ (a.s), have said about prayer:

الصَّلاَةُ تَسْتَنْزِلُ الرَّحْمَةَ.

Prayer descends blessings.[4]

الصَّلاةُ قُربانُ كُلِّ تَقِيٍّ.

Prayer makes every pious servant close to Allah.[5]

أوصِيكُمْ بِالصَّلاَةِ وَحِفْظِهَا، فَإنَّهَا خَيْرُ العَمَلِ، وَهِيَ عَمُودُ دِينِكُمْ.

I recommend you perform prayer and keep on it, because it is the best deed and the base of your religion.[6]

إنَّ الإنْسَانَ إذَا كَانَ فِي الصَّلاَةِ فَإنَّ جَسَدَهُ وَثِيَابَهُ وَكُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَوْلَهُ يُسَبِّحُ.

When one is performing prayer, his body, clothes, and everything around him are worshipping![7]

يَا كُمَيْلُ! لَيْسَ الشَّأنُ أنْ تُصَلِّيَ وَتَصُومَ وَتَتَصَدَّقَ، إنَّمَا الشَّأنُ أنْ تَكُونَ الصَّلاَةَ فَعَلْتَ بِقَلْبٍ نَقِيٍّ وَعَمَلٍ عِنْدَ اللهِ مَرْضِيٍّ وَخُشُوعٍ سَوِيٍّ.

O Kumayl! You should not merely perform prayer, fast, and pay charity; rather you should perform prayer with a purified and humble heart to satisfy Allah.[8]

Besides the Holy Qur’¡n, the reliable Shi’a tradition sources like “Kutub Arba’a”, “Was¡’ilaAl-Sh¢`ah”, etc. are the best and most complete sources about the worldly and heavenly effects of performing prayer.

Having Good idea about Allah

A human who is a believer, righteous, and virtuous servant and is going to seek Allah’s path during his lifetime should have good idea about Allah’s Mercy, Blessings, and Forgiveness. In other words, while he is in fear of the Hereafter and Allah’s chastisement, he should be hopeful of His Benevolent treatment at death time, in the purgatory, and especially in the Last Day, and His Forgiveness of the sins. Everyone should be hopeful that Allah would accept his efforts, bringing him to the Paradise among His friends.

The infallible Imams (a.s) have considered having a good idea about Allah as a result of one’s positive effort, in their traditions: Imam `Al¢ (a.s) stated:

حُسْنُ الظَّنِّ أنْ تُخْلِصَ العَمَلَ وَتَرْجُوَ مِنْ اللهِ أنْ يَعْفُوَ عَنِ الزَّلَلِ.

Having good idea about Allah is attempting sincerely for Allah and hoping for Allah’s forgiveness of your sins.[9]

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said:

حُسْنُ الظَّنِّ بِاللهِ أنْ لاَ تَرْجُو إلاّ اللهَ وَلاَ تَخَافَ إلاّ ذَنْبَكَ.

Having good idea about Allah is to hope in no one but Allah, and to fear nothing but your sins.[10]

The Messenger of Allah (s.a) said about goodwill:

وَاللهِ الَّذِي لاَ إلَهَ إلاّ هُوَ، لاَ يَحْسُنُ ظَنُّ عَبْدٍ مُؤمِنٍ بِاللهِ إلاّ كَانَ اللهُ عِنْدَ ظَنِّ عَبْدِهِ المُؤْمِنِ، لأنَّ اللهَ كَرِيمٌ بِيَدِهِ الخَيْرَاتُ، يَسْتَحْيي أنْ يَكُونَ عَبْدُهُ المُؤمِنُ قَدْ أحْسَنَ بِهِ الظَّنَّ وَالرَّجَاءَ ثُمَّ يُخْلِفُ ظَنَّهُ وَرَجَاءَهُ، فَأحْسِنُوا بِاللهِ الظَّنَّ وَارْغَبُوا إلَيْهِ.

I swear by God who has no partners that there are no believers who have a good opinion about God and receive anything less than they expect from Him. This is so since God is Benevolent and has authority over all that is good, and is ashamed of one of his servants having a good opinion about Him and He acting otherwise. Therefore have a good opinion about God and be inclined to Him.[11]

لاَ يَمُوتَنَّ أحَدُكُمْ إلاّ وَهُوَ يُحْسِنُ الظَّنَّ بِاللهِ، فَإنَّ حُسْنَ الظَّنِّ بِاللهِ ثَمَنُ الجَنَّةِ.

Do not die and depart from this world until you have formed a good opinion about God, since this is the price for Heaven.[12]

حُسْنُ الظَّنِّ بِاللهِ مِنْ عِبَادَةِ اللهِ.

Forming good opinion about Allah is a kind of worshipping Him.[13]