In the description of 8th invocation, which is the most significant of the invocations recorded in Sahifeh by Imam Zainol Abedin(s), Professor Hossein Ansarian presents you with a taxanomy of the crucial points in this invocation and then will briefly explain each one. This text is adopted from “The land of lovers” written by the professor.
Imam Sajjad(s) has referred to forty four significant factors each of which could easily lead a man towards destruction:
Greed,
Wrath.
Jealousy.
Impatience.
Lack of contentment.
Bad-temper.
Excessive lust.
Irrational anger.
Giving way to one's wishes and whims;
Opposing guidance;
Negligence.
Haughtiness.
Adoption of evil against righteousness.
Insistence on wrong-doing.
Belittling sins.
Unwillingness towards obedience;
False pride.
Belittling the poor.
Mistreatment towards one's inferiors.
Lack of appreciation towards others' favors;
Assisting the tyrants;
Degrading the oppressed;
Demanding something which one does not deserve;
Talking nonsense;
Deceiving people;
Self-conceit.
Wrong aspirations;
Wickedness;
Humbling minor sins;
Shaitan's domination;
Lack of appreciation for one's life.
King's tyranny;
Squandering;
Lack of interest in getting one's subsistence;
Rejoicing at the enemies' misfortune;
Need for socialization;
Living a harsh life.
Dying with no provision for the future;
Great sorrow;
Great disaster;
The worst calamity;
Adverse rewards.
Deprivation of rewards.
Enduring the tortures of the Doom's Day.
In here we elaborate on the first factor” greed”.
Addressing Allah, Imam Sajjad(s) states: O God! I whole-heartedly ask you to protect me with Your Power, Generosity, against the storm of greed since I resort to you against this destroyer of faith and conviction.
The following factors all contribute to the creation of greed in us: negligence towards the righteousness; negligence towards oneself; the lack of recognition of the existence; staying away from the domain of prophethood, Imamate, educational issues, the Holy Quran, which is a Book on science, wisdom, growth and guidance; and finally, irrational inclination and infatuation towards the misleading appearances of this world.
No doubt, one who is away from Allah and as a consequence, considers himself immune from the chastisement of the Doom's Day and one who disregards the sacred verses of the Holy Quran and the discourse of the Infallible Ones(s), is ready to be afflicted by different vices, including the horrible issue of greed.
If man considered the fact that there is no owner of this world except for Allah and that what we possess could easily be destroyed in a disaster and that we dwell in this world only for a short period of time, that each person has a specific amount of subsistence, that multiplying wealth while others are in dire poverty is an absolutely foolish act, there would not be any place left in his heart.
Islam abhors a man who is lazy and sluggish and the one who will not go after business to obtain his sustenance either by cultivating land or being engaged in industry and arts. Man is religiously obliged to engage in a proper job to provide his family with their needs and let them enjoy their life.
Islam encourages man to engage in business and to observe the divine rules and regulations. Islam attaches equal value to both prayers and lawful jobs.
Islam considers the legally-gained subsistence and holy-war as equal. The sweating of the hand-working laborers is taken to be the same as the blood of warriors shed at the theater of the holy-war.
The kind Allah, as manifested in the sacred verses of the Holy Quran, has set this world as a place for prayers, business and endeavors and has demanded that man should base his world over the Divine rules so that he may have a prosperous world Hereafter. Laziness, lethargy and sluggishness will only lead us towards the mouth of colonialism and will demolish our prosperity in the world Hereafter.
All the elements of this world, from the atoms to the galaxies, are in constant motion. In this way, we are confronted with a beautiful, perfect and glorious world. The endeavors of the elements of this world make this world a reflection of Allah's face. This is manifested in Imam Ali's invocation:
وَبِعَظَمَتِكَ الَّتي مَلأتْ كُلَّ شَيءٍ، وَبِسُلْطانِكَ الَّذي عَلا كُلَّ شَيءٍ، وَبِأسْمائِكَ الَّتي مَلأتْ أرْكانَ كُلِّ شَيءٍ، وَبِنُورِ وَجْهِكَ الَّذي أضاءَ لَهُ كُلُّ شَيءٍ.
[I swear to] Your Magnanimity which has dominated over all things; and Your attributes which have set the foundation for all creatures and Your Light which has illuminated everything.
In fact, the activities, movements and dynamisms of all creatures have set the existence as a mirror for the manifestation of Allah's Grandeur.
Being superior to other creatures, man could easily manifest God's Attributes. If he did not try hard in both material and spiritual issues, he would commit an unpardonable sin. This great error of his will damage the whole community of Islam and will enhance the fall of the Moslems in the pitfall of colonialism.
Based on both the sacred verses of the Holy Quran and narrations, man could through his trial both in prayers and in financial activities become the manifestation of heavenly realities. In the case of his deviation from the right path, he would change into the devel.
Man's body would not deteriorate through hard work; rather, it would convert into a genuine human physique. What man does in this world will return to him in a more profound shape in the other world.
This fact is revealed in the Holy Quran that the believer's eyes will become sharper than they are here in this world; in this way, they can delve into the depth of the realities of the creation.[1]
“but now We have removed from you your veil, so your sight today is sharp.”
وَمَنْ يُطِعْ اللَّهَ وَالرَّسُولَ فَأُوْلَئِكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ النَّبِيِّينَ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَاءِ وَالصَّالِحِينَ وَحَسُنَ أُوْلَئِكَ رَفِيقًا [2]
And whoever obeys Allah and the Apostle, these as with those upon whom Allah has bestowed favors from among the Prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good, and a goodly company are they!
جَنَّاتُ عَدْنٍ يَدْخُلُونَهَا وَمَنْ صَلَحَ مِنْ آبَائِهِمْ وَأَزْوَاجِهِمْ وَذُرِّيَّاتِهِمْ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ يَدْخُلُونَ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ كُلِّ بَابٍ سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ بِمَا صَبَرْتُمْ فَنِعْمَ عُقْبَى الدَّارِ [3]
The gardens of perpetual abode which they will enter along with those who do good from among their parents and their spouses and their offspring; and the angels will enter in upon them from every gate: peace be on you because you were constant, how excellent, is then, the issue of the abode.
Those who are pious throughout their lives and would not gain unlawful wealth, will live pleasantly in the other world and will benefit from all sorts of assets available in the Garden.
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِآيَاتِنَا وَكَانُوا مُسْلِمِينَ ادْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ أَنْتُمْ وَأَزْوَاجُكُمْ تُحْبَرُونَ يُطَافُ عَلَيْهِمْ بِصِحَافٍ مِنْ ذَهَبٍ وَأَكْوَابٍ وَفِيهَا مَا تَشْتَهِيهِ الْأَنفُسُ وَتَلَذُّ الْأَعْيُنُ وَأَنْتُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ وَتِلْكَ الْجَنَّةُ الَّتِي أُورِثْتُمُوهَا بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ لَكُمْ فِيهَا فَاكِهَةٌ كَثِيرَةٌ مِنْهَا تَأْكُلُونَ [4]
Those who believed in Our communications and were submissive: Enter the garden, you and your wives; you shall be made happy. There shall be sent round to them golden bowls and drinking-cups and therein shall be what their souls yarn after and wherein the eyes shall delight, and you shall abide therein. And this is the garden which you are given as an inheritance on account of what you did. For you therein are many fruits of which you shall eat.
Due to hard work our bodies will become exhausted and feeble on the surface. However, they will internally become vigorous to entertain in perpetual delights in the other world.
On the contrary, those who devastate their bodies due to their engagement in excessive lusts and mundane pleasures, will be left with nothing except for a pile of bones which will, in the interpretation of the Holy Quran, be consumed in the hell fire:وَأَمَّا الْقَاسِطُونَ فَكَانُوا لِجَهَنَّمَ حَطَبًا [5]
“And as to the deviators, they are fuel of hell.”
Now that we have become acquainted with the Blessings of Allah and with the instructions of the prosper-offering of Islam, it is a great drawback to engage in greed.
The greedy one is at the mercy of losing Allah, the paradise, the Doom's Day and man's sublime traits. The storm of greed would entirely demolish human values. For this reason, Imam Zainol Abedin(s), in the beginning of the eighth invocation, addresses God, saying:
اللَّهُمَّ إنّي أعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ هَيَجانِ الْحِرْصِ.
O God! I resort to you against greed and its devastating consequences.
Mulla Mahdi Naraqi, the great jurisprudent, in his precious book called “Jame'l Sa'adat,” on the issue of greed, states: Greed is a carnal and sensual trait of man which excites him to collect what he, in fact, does not need, without getting satiated or satisfied. Greed is one of the greatest of man's passions. It is, in fact, a devastating, misleading force in man; it is an arid desert; it is a canyon with no bottom in sight.
From experience, it is shown that a greedy person falls in different horrible whirlpools until he is completely ruined. The Great Prophet of Islam is reported to have said:
لَوْ كانَ لابْنِ آدَمَ وادِيانِ مِنْ ذَهَبٍ لابْتَغى وَراءَهُما ثالِثاً، وَلا يَمْلأُ جَوْفَ ابْنِ آدَمَ إلاَّ الْتُّرابُ، وَيَتُوبُ اللهُ عَلى مَنْ تابَ.
If there were two deserts filled with gold for man, he would still desire for a third one. The only thing which could fill the stomach of man is the soil. However, Allah will accept the repentance of anybody who repents.
The Prophet(s) has stated, as well:
مَنْهُومانِ لا يَشْبَعانِ: مَنْهُومُ الْعِلْمِ وَمَنْهُومُ الْمالِ.
“There are two hungry ones who will never get satisfied with what they have: hungry for knowledge, and hungry for wealth.”
يَشِيبُ ابْنُ آدَمَ وَتَشِيبُ فيهِ خَصْلَتانِ: الْحِرْصُ وَطُولُ الأمَلِ. [6]
As a man gets older, there are two traits enlivened in him: greed and long aspirations and wishes. Imam Baqir(s) has stated:
مَثَلُ الْحَرِيصِ عَلَى الدُّنْيا كَمَثَلِ دُودَةِ الْقَزِّ كُلَّما ازْدادَتْ مِنَ الْقَزِّ عَلى نَفْسِها لَفّاً كانَ أبْعَدَ لَها مِنَ الْخُرُوجِ حَتّى تَمُوتَ غَمّاً. [7]
A greedy one acts out in this world like a silk-worm; the more it wraps up around itself, the harder it could leave its jail, and this will lead to its inevitable end.
The Prophet(s) contrasts greed with contentment and says:
طُوبى لِمَنْ هُدِيَ لِلإسْلامِ، وَكانَ عَيْشُهُ كَفافاً وَقَنِعَ بِهِ. [8]
How lucky is the one who is guided by Islam and whose subsistence is sufficient and is content with what he is given, by Allah.
And he has also stated:
كُنْ وَرِعاً تَكُنْ أعْبَدَ النّاسِ، وَكُنْ قانِعاً تَكُنْ أشْكَرَ النّاسِ، وَأحِبَّ لِلنّاسِ ما تُحِبُّ لِنَفْسِكَ تَكُنْ مُؤْمِناً.
Be pious so that you could be the most devotee worshipper; and be content so that you may be ranked as the most appreciative of all; and ask for others what you ask for yourself: in this way you will be a true believer.
رُويَ أنَّ مُوسى سَألَ رَبَّهُ تَعالى وَقالَ أيُّ عِبادِكَ أغْنى؟ قالَ: أقْنَعُهُمْ لِما أعْطَيْتُهُ.
Once Musa [Moses] asked the Almighty God: from among your servants which one is the most sufficient? The answer was revealed to him: the one who is the most content.
عَنْ أمْيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَA: ابْنُ آدَمَ إنْ كُنْتَ تُريدُ مِنَ الدُّنْيا ما يَكْفِيكَ فَإنَّ اَيْسَرَ ما فيها يَكْفيكَ، وَإنْ كُنْتَ إنَّما تُريدُ ما لا يَكْفِيكَ فَإنَّ كُلَّ ما فيها لا يَكْفِيكَ.
Imam Ali(s) has stated: O Adam's son: a little of this world would suffice you; however, if you desire for more, the world would not be enough for you.
The religious scholars have proposed two methods for the treatment of greed.
source : land of lovers
