Kumail said, ‘I will share the wil that Ali bin Abi Taleb (as) left for me with you, which is better than the entire world and everything that is in it.
Ali bin Abi Talib (as) told me:
O Kumail! Start your day with the name of Allah, “Bismillah,” and with “La Howla wa la qowwata illa billah” (There is no strength or power but with Allah), and entrust your soul to Allah. mention us with our names and send blessings on us (Salawat), and seek refuge with Allah. This will protect you and everything around you from evil on that day.
O Kumail! Allah disciplined the Prophet (saw) and the Prophet (saw) disciplined me, and I discipline the believers and teach manners to the honorable ones.
O Kumail! I am the founder of every field of knowledge and every secret will be revealed by the Qaem (12th Imam) (as). O Kumail! ‘Offspring, one from the other, and Allah is hearing, knowing.” (3:34)
O Kumail! As long as you do not listen to anything except that which comes from us, you will be part of us.
O Kumail! You (people) need help in learning about everything that exists.
O Kumail! When you want to start eating, start with the name of Allah. Nothing can hurt you with His name; it is a cure from illness.
O Kumail! Always have someone eat with you and do not be stingy with your food. Understand that you do not provide sustenance and that Allah will reward you for sharing your food.
O Kumail! Have akhlaaq, make your companions’ lives easier and do not be harsh with your servants.
O Kumail! Take your time when you eat so that those with whom you are eating finish their food and receive their rizq.
O Kumail! When you are finished eating, thank Allah for the sustenance, and thank Him loudly so that others hear you and thank Him too, because this will increase your reward.
O Kumail! Do not keep eating until you are full; leave room for water and air.
O Kumail! Do not eat all the available food because the Prophet (saw) never did so. Stop eating while you are still a little hungry because that is healthy eating.
O Kumail! Health is in eating little and drinking little.
O Kumail! Prosperity in fortune comes with almsgiving, consolation of the believers, and visiting your relatives. Your relatives are those who are close to us.
O Kumail! Be more generous, more kind, and more charitable to the believers from your family than to other believers.
O Kumail! Do not turn away the poor even if you can only give them a date or a grape!
O Kumail! Charity grows in Allah’s eyes.
O Kumail! The akhlaaq of a believer is beautified through his humility, made complete through his kindness, honored through his compassion, and glorified through not participating in hearsay.
O Kumail! Do not ever be self-righteous because you will seduce only the foolish and you will lose your real friends.
O Kumail! Only argue about Allah (with disbelievers) who look like they are intelligent, because they are all foolish anyway as Allah says, ‘Verily they themselves are the fools, but they do not know.’ (2:13)
O Kumail! Every nation has good and bad people. So do not get in a heated argument with those who are ignorant. And if they insult you, be patient amongst them for Allah says, ‘When the ignorant address them, they say: Peace.’ (25:63)
O Kumail! Always tell the truth. Surround yourself with those who are pious and abandon those who are immoral.
O Kumail! Stay away from the hypocrites and do not befriend those who will betray you.
O Kumail! Never knock on the door of the unjust, mingle with them, or earn from them. Do not every obey them and do not speak in their gatherings about that which will make Allah angry with you. O Kumail! If you have to attend gatherings (of the unjust) praise the Lord continuously, entrust your soul to Allah, and seek refuge with Allah from their evil. Say nothing to them, but deny their actions in your heart and glorify the Lord loudly so that they can hear you. Consequently, they will fear you and you will be protected from their evil.
O Kumail! The best thing that Allah loves from His slaves, after testifying in Him and His vicegerents, is beautifying the soul through compassion and patience.
O Kumail! There is nothing wrong with people not knowing your secrets. O Kumail! Do not show people your needs and be patient while anticipating Allah’s reward and you will thereby earn peoples’ trust.
O Kumail! Who is your brother? Your brother is he who does not let you down in times of difficulty, does not keep quiet when you do something wrong, does not lie to you when you ask him a question, and does not wait to offer his help until he learns that the problem has already been solved.
O Kumail! A believer is the mirror of his fellow believer. A believer will help identify a fellow believer’s weaknesses and he will help him rectify them.
O Kumail! Believers are brothers and nothing should come between brothers.
O Kumail! If you do not love your brother then you are not his brother.
O Kumail! A believer is one who follows us. Those who do not follow us, neglect us and will not be with us. And those who are not with us will be in the lowest levels of Hell.
O Kumail! Our secret matters are to be kept secret. If someone discloses them to you and orders you to keep it confidential, do not disclose it. If you disclose it, your repentance will not be accepted, and if that happens your destination will be Hell.
O Kumail! Allah does not allow the secrets of the family of the Prophet (saw) to be made public because not everyone’s heart has the capacity to bear it.
O Kumail! Do not teach that which the family of the Prophet (saw) tells you except to a believer who is worthy of such information.
O Kumail! Do not teach the disbelievers anything about us because they will change it and use it against you.
O Kumail! The believers who have died will come back and will achieve victory with the believers yet to come. O Kumail! Allah will give these believers good in this life and in the Hereafter.
O Kumail! You are surrounded by your enemies. You have to live with them, eat with them, and drink with them. It is possible that you may be wealthier than they are, to their utter disappointment, but Allah will help you and fail them.
O Kumail! I swear to Allah that when your leader (the 12th Imam (as)) appears, your enemies will not eat with you, live near you, or knock on your door. They will not receive any blessings; they will be the dishonored and the despised ones. They will be captured wherever they go and they will be killed. O Kumail! Praise the Lord and the Imams for this and for every other blessing.
O Kumail! For any difficulty say “La howla wa la qowwata illa billah’ (there is no strength or power but with Allah) and the difficulty will be removed.
For any blessing say, ‘Alhumdulillah’ (All Praise Belongs to Allah) and We will increase the blessing.
If your sustenance is delayed, seek forgiveness and it will come to you.
O Kumail! If Shaytan whispers in your heart, say:
‘A’ouzo billah al-qawi min al-Shaitan al-ghawi wa a’ouzo bi Mohammaden al-radhi min sharre ma qoddera wa qadhi wa a’ouzo bi illahennas min sharre al-jinnate wa nnase ajmaeen wa sallam.’
(I seek refuge with the strong Allah from the deviating Shaytan, and I seek refuge with the tactful Mohammad from the worst fate and destiny, and I seek refuge with the Lord of mankind from the jinn and human beings.)
This prayer will keep you safe from the evil plotting of Shaytan and the devil with him, who are all devils like him. O Kumail! They use deception, conflict, vanity, devilish insinuations, and pride according to the level of the person’s obedience and disobedience. Therefore, if one is not fully aware of these satanic strategies, they will seize him.
O Kumail! There is no enemy worse than Shaytan and the devils with him, and nothing can hurt you more than they can. Their wish is for you to be with them tomorrow in Hell when they are being tortured, and they will be in Hell eternally and the flames of Hell will never be reduced.
O Kumail! Allah is angry with those who do not guard themselves from Shaytan and the devils with him by using His name and the name of His Prophet and the Imams. Allah is angry with those who do not seek refuge with Him and with those who do not send Allah’s blessings on His Prophet and his family.
O Kumail! The devils will deceive you with themselves, and if that does not work they will deceive you with you They will beautify your desires to you and they will grant your wishes and desires. They will seduce you and make you forget. And then they will order you to commit sins; they will prevent you from performing good deeds; and they will lie to you about Allah. They will make you believe that you are on the right path and you will be seduced. You will commit sins and the punishment for the sinner is Hell.
O Kumail! Memorize these words of Allah, ‘Shaytan has beguiled them and given them false hopes’ (47:25). Shaytan is a deceiver, but Allah is the dictator.
O Kumail! Repeat these words that Allah said to the cursed Shaytan, ‘Summon against them your cavalry and infantry, and share their riches and children with them, and make promises to them. But Shaytan promises them nothing but deceit’ (17:64).
O Kumail! Shaytan does not divert you to himself. He makes you deviate from Allah and pushes you to disobey Allah, and then you will be troubled.
O Kumail! Shaytan will come to you gently with the best of his tricks and will order you to perform acts of obedience that you enjoy, so you will think he is an honorable angel, but he is really the accursed Shaytan. And once you trust him, he will order you to commit the greatest of sins, the sins from which you cannot be saved.
O Kumail! Shaytan creates traps for you. Be careful not to fall in them. O Kumail! The earth is full of their traps and no one is safe from the traps except those who hold on to us. Allah has said that no one can survive from the traps except His servants, who are our followers, ‘As for my devoted servants, you shall have no power over them’ (15:42) and ‘His authority (that of the Shaytan) is only over those who befriend him and associate others with Allah’ (16:100).
O Kumail! Save yourself with our Wilayat or Shaytan will share your riches and your children with you, as Allah has promised in the Qur’an.
O Kumail! Do not be deceived by those who perform long prayers, fast continuously, or give charity and think that they are successful.
O Kumail! I swear to Allah that I heard the Prophet (saw) say:
When Shaytan orders people to commit great sins like adultery, drinking wine, usury and other similar sins, he also puts the love of extreme worship, submission, ruku’, and sujood in their hearts. And then Shaytan guides them toward those leaders who will lead them to Hell, and there will be no help for them on the Day of Judgment.
O Kumail! People either stay on the right path or deviate from it. You only deserve to stay on the right path if you walk the clear and straight road which will not lead you to corruption, the road which will not lead you away from our instructions and that with which we have blessed you.
O Kumail! There is no concession in your wajibaat (mandatory duties) and there is no need to overly exert yourself with the mostahabaat (optional duties).
O Kumail! Allah will only question you about your mandatory duties; the optional duties are there to help with the great terrors on the Day of Judgment.
O Kumail! Allah is greater than needing your mandatory or optional religious duties or any other good deed or the best of charities; these actions can only benefit you.
O Kumail! Your sins are greater than your good deeds, and your negligence is greater than your glorification of Allah. But Allah’s blessings are greater than that which your actions merit.
O Kumail! Allah’s blessings never leave you so do not turn away from His praise, glorification, sanctification, remembrance, and thankfulness at all times.
O Kumail! Do not be amongst those about whom Allah says, ‘Be not like those who have forsaken Allah’ (59:19) ‘They are the wicked transgressors’ (24:4).
O Kumail! The point of praying, fasting and giving charity is not the physical action; it is to do them with a pure heart and with true sincerity while bearing the rules of Fiqh in mind in such a way that Allah accepts your deeds.
O Kumail! When you are in ruku’, sujood, or performing the rest of the actions required in salaah, not only should your heart be focused and devoted to Allah, but even your joints and your veins need to have the same focus and devotion. And this should apply to all of your prayers.
O Kumail! Pay attention to the clothes in which you pray and the place in which you pray because if they do not meet the conditions (of prayer), your prayer will not be accepted.
O Kumail! The tongue reveals that which is in the heart, and the heart survives on food. So watch what you feed your heart and your body, because if your food is not Halaal Allah will not accept your praise and glorification.
O Kumail! Listen and understand that we do not allow breech of trust. Those who tell you otherwise are not speaking the truth and have committed a sin and deserve Hell for their lie.
I swear that I heard the Prophet (saw) repeat this three times an hour before his death, ‘O Abal-Hasan! Do not breech the trust of the pious nor the immoral in the greatest or the smallest things, even if it is a thread.’
O Kumail! Do not go to war except by the order of the just Imam, and do not perform optional religious duties except by the order of the virtuous Imam. O Kumail! Do you think the prayers of a pious believer would be accepted without the guidance of Allah’s messengers? I swear to allah that they would not be accepted.
O Kumail! Religion belongs to Allah. So do not be deceived by the words of this deluded nation who denied us after they were guided and refused to obey us after they accepted us.
O Kumail! Religion belongs to Allah and He does not allow anyone to announce it except the messengers, the prophets and the Imams.
O Kumail! Positions assigned by Allah are Prophethood and Imamate, and everyone else who claims a position from Allah is an oppressor, invader or one who had gone astray.
O Kumail! Christians did not deny Allah, neither did Jews. They did not even deny Isa or Musa. O Kumail! What they did was they added, removed, and changed things. By doing so, they denied Allah, disbelieved, became accursed, resented, and they did not repent. That is why they are not accepted. O Kumail! Allah accepts only from the pious ones.
O Kumail! Our father, Adam, was not born Jewish or Christian, and his son, Habil, was a righteous Muslim. Allah did not accept the sacrifice of Qabil because he was not a righteous Muslim. So Qabil envied his brother and killed him. Qabil is one of the twelve prisoners in Falaq (lowest place in Hell), six of the prisoners will be from the beginning of time and six are from the end. Falaq is the lowest place in Hell, and the steam of Falaq heats Hell. So avoid those whose steam is the source of the heat of Hell.
O Kumail! We are truly the pious ones and those who do good.
O Kumail! Allah is generous, merciful, great, and patient. He guided us to become His caliphs, ordered us to lead, and ordered people to follow. So we have fulfilled our duty without disobeying Him and we sent His message (to the people) without being hypocrites. We believed in His command and accepted it without any doubt.
I swear to Allah that no devils inspired us and we inspired no devils like the group whose name Allah mentions in the Qur’an, ‘The devils among men and jinn, who inspire one another with tinsel discourses to deceive’ (6:113). O Kumail! Hell will be for them and they will see the delusion.
O Kumail! I swear to Allah that I do not enjoy nor wish to order or stop people, and that I will be despised by the public when I claim the command of the believers and when I am referred to as the Commander of the Believers.
O Kumail! We are the second weight and the Qur’an is the first weight. The Prophet (saw) gathered the people for seven continuous days, ensuring that everyone would hear the following message he gave on the Minbar:
O People! I speak on behalf of Allah; I do not speak of my own inclination. So those who believe me believe Allah, and those who believe Him will be rewarded with Paradise. And those who do not believe me do not believe Allah, and those who do not believe Him will be punished with Hell.
Then the Prophet (saw) called me (Imam ‘Ali (as)) to stand next to him on the Minbar. He placed my head on his chest, and Hasan and Husain were to his right and left.
Then he said:
O people! Jibraeel told me that Allah, who is both your Lord and my Lord, has ordered me to teach you that the Qur’an is the first weight. The second weight is Ali, my successor, and then his sons, and then after them, their sons. The first weight testifies for the second weight, and the second weight testifies for the first weight. They will always be together and will not separate until they meet Allah, and then Allah will judge between them and His slaves.
O Kumail! If this is our status then why did they usurp our rights and precede us? And why did some hold back and not support us?
O Kumail! The Prophet (saw) informed them of the message of Allah and advised them but they do not like the advisors.
O Kumail! The Messenger of Allah (saw) told me something which he announced to the supporters from Medina and to the immigrants from Makkah on the afternoon of the fifteenth day of Ramadhan while he was standing on top of his Minbar.
The Prophet (saw) said:
Ali and my innocent sons, who are his sons, are from me and I am from them. My sons are the best of people after their mother. They are the ark of rescue and those who board it will survive and those who stay behind will drown. The survivors are in Paradise and those who drown are in Hell.
O Kumail! Status is in Allah’s hands, and He will give it to anyone He wants. He is the Lord and owner of all virtues. So why do people envy us for virtues that Allah has bestowed on us? Allah also created us before any other creation. Do they think that they can disconnect us from our Lord with their jealousy?
O Kumail! Let those who are not in Paradise be ready for the extreme torture in Hell: everlasting disgrace, shackles, bridles, long chains, large pieces of fire, neighborhood of every devil, purulent drinks, clothes made of iron, harsh guards, blazing fire, and closed and locked doors. The inmates of Hell will be screaming but will not be answered; they will call for help but there will be no mercy shown to them.
They will say, ‘O Malik, would that your Lord put an end to us.’
Malik will respond, ‘Verily you are to stay. Verily We brought to you the truth, but most of you despised the truth’ (43:77-78).
O Kumail! I swear to Allah that we are the truth to which Allah refers by saying, ‘And were the truth to follow their whims, certainly the heavens and the earth and all those that are in them would have been ruined’ (23:71).
O Kumail! After staying in Hell for a long period, the inmates of Hell will call Allah, the owner of the Holy names, and ask, ‘Is there any hope for us?’
And Allah will reply, ‘Remain condemned in it, and speak not to Me’ (23:108).
O Kumail! Then they will lose hope of ever escaping and their sorrow will increase. At this point they will be sure of their destruction for what they earned with their deeds and they will be tortured.
O Kumail! Say, ‘Praise be to the Lord who saved us from the unjust.’
O Kumail! I think Allah for making the believers and I successful, and I think Him at all times.
O Kumail! Those who win in this life win a passing life, which is temporary, so understand what I have said to you and you will win the Hereafter, which is eternal.
O Kumail! Everyone moves toward the Day of Judgment hoping that Allah is pleased with them and hoping for the highest levels of Paradise, but no one reaches there except those who are pious.
Then the Commander of the Believers (as) said, ‘O Kumail! If you want you can go now.’
(as translated in “The Glad Tidings of mustafa For the Shia of Murtaz’a” published by shiabooks.ca .
--
It is narrated that Imam Ali (as) has said:
Kumayl, those who amass wealth die even as they live
while those who
possess knowledge will continue to exist for as long
as time lasts.
Kitab al-Irshad
Page 169
Shaykh al-Mufid
Translated by I K A Howard
No comments:
Post a Comment