1

Chapter

Publisher's Preface

Ansariyan Publications, publishers of quality Islamic literature in various languages, is pleased to present this book to you which is one of the translated works of our brother, Yasin T.

alJibouri. We have already published a number of books writ-

ten or translated by al-Jibouri and are pleased to add this one, too, to the list. Hie first book written by al-Jibouri which Ansariyan published in 1421 A.11./2000 A.D. was Fast of the Month

of Ramadan; Philosophy and Ahkam followed by Allah: The

Concept of God in Hain and Kerhala and Beyond. This book is

one of his numerous translations.

Our readers often ask us to introduce the authors or translators to them; therefore, instead of repeating ourselves, we

would like to refer them to our Publisher's Preface in Uswat al-Arifeen if they wish to read full details about the translator.

Here, we would like to give you just a brief idea about him:

Al-Jibouri was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1946 and lived most of his life in holy al-Kadhimiyya city. He obtained his B.A. in English on June 30, 1969 from the College of Arts, Baghdad

University, and his M.A, in English from (then) Atlanta

University (now Clark-Atlanta University), Atlanta, Georgia, on December 20, 1978, and in March of 1988 a Certificate with

Honors in Microprocessors and Microcomputers from N.R.I, of

Washington, D.C, in addition to three certificates in electronics and programming, including advanced programming, writing

more than 100 programs.

He taught English as a second language at high schools in

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Iraq, a vocational institute in Saudi Arabia, and a University in the U.S. He edited and revised three English translations or

the Holy Quran: I) by S.V, Mir Ahmed Ali, .2) by A. Yusuf Ali, and 3) by M.H. Shakir, He also edited several newsletters and magazines, including Middle East Business Magazine, a high

quality business magazine headquartered in Arlington, Virgin-

ia, U.S.A., of which he became Senior Editor. Among the books he edited are: Socio-Economic Justice with Particular Reference to Nahjul-Balagha, A Biography of Leader., of Islam and

Your kalima and the Savior. He is the first person ever to translate works of the martyred economist Imam Ayatullah

Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr such as: Contemporary Man and the

Social Problem, A General Outlook at Rituals, The General

Bases of Banking in the Muslim Society, and What Do You

Know About Islamic Economics? The second title only is avail-

able with the U.S, Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.,

U.S.A. He also translated and/or published numerous titles;

among them are: A Biography of Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr,

The Form of Islamic Government and Wilayat al-Faqeeh, About

the World Political Situation From a Muslim's Viewpoint, Our

Faith and A Biography of Imam al-Rida by the late Shaikh

Muhammad Jawad Fadlallah, in addition to a large number of

political tracts, pamphlets, translations, and newsletters.

His translated works include the following:

1) The first four volumes of the series titled Al-Islam Risala-tuna.

2) Al-Murajaat: A ,Shi'i-Sunni Dialogue, the first authentic English translation of Al-Murajaat by Imam Sayyid Sharafuddeen

Sadrud-Deen al-Musawi,

3) Al-Shi'a hum Ahl al-Sunnah by Dr. Muhammad al-Tijani al-

Samawi.

4) AI-:Maqta! (the martyrdom epic of Imam I lusaim by Abd al-

Razzaq al-.Moqarram's book.

He also translated the following titles originally authored in Arabic by Rachad el-Moussaoui: Best Month, Best Night; The

Book of Istikhara; Weapon of the Prophets:Miracles of the Holy Our'an: and The Great Names of Allah (Asma' Allah al-Husna).

3

These titles do not carry the Translator's name, however.

He translated 2 books by the late Grand Ayatollah Mohammed

al-Shirazi: 1) Canon: A Glimpse al the Islamic Law and 2) The Pathway to an Islamic Revival.

He wrote several articles for Islamic Monitor, bulletin of the Islamic Research & Information Center.

He has written eight books:

1) Volume One of his autobiography titled Memoirs of a Shi'a

Missionary in America: Two Decades of Da 'wah,

2) Fast of the Month of Ramadan: Philosophy and Ahkam,

3) The Ninety-Nine Attributes of Allah,

4) Mary and Jesus in Islam,

5) Allah: The Concept of God in Islam,

6) Muhammed: The Prophet and Messenger of Allah,

7) Ghadir Khumm: Where Islam was Perfected, and

8) Kerbala and Beyond

He was quite active in Islamic Da'wa work in the United States.

He founded the Islamic Society of Georgia, Inc. (Atlanta, Georgia) in 1973, the Islamic Revival Movement in 1980, the International Islamic Society of Virginia, Inc. in 1982, and the Iraq News Monitor in 1992, Edited Islamic Affairs newsletter from

January 1974 — June 1989.

On September- 3, 2003, he returned to his homeland and re-

sumed living in al-Kadhimiyya where he has so far translated

five books one of which is this title in addition to kashif Reebu an Ahkam al-Gheeba by Sheikh Taqi ad-Din Ibraim son of Ali

a1-'Aamili. Al-Siraj: The Lantern (towards the Path of Allah) by Sheikh Hussain bin Ali bin Sadiq al-Bahrani and The Truth

about the ,Shi'ah Ithna-Asheri Faith by As'ad Wahid alQasim.

All these books are available with Ansariyan.

We solicit your comments about these and other books which

we publish, and surely your opinion counts with us.

4

Ansariyan Publications

5

2

Chapter

Introduction

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the most Mercifitl

Praise to Allah Who knows the inner thoughts, Who tests the

conscience, Who encompasses everything; ilk is the power and

dominance over everything; blessings and salutations to the

one who brought the glad tidings, the warner, the shining

light, Muhammad, the master of messengers, and upon his pro-

geny, the good ones, the pure.

The human heart, whereby man is granted distinction over

all creation, is like a mirror: It is affected by what it receives of contemptible effects of ugly norms of conduct and wrongdoings. If the effects arc praiseworthy, the heart's mirror be-

comes clearer, shinier, more illuminating, so much so that in it the reality of the truth becomes glittering, the truth about what is hidden from the beings becomes revealed, and the truth of

the matter sought in the creed becomes obvious. It is to such an intellect that the Master of the Faithful, peace be with him, refers when he says the following: "0 servants of Allah! The one who is the most loved by Allah from among His servants is one who is assisted by Allah against his own self (nab), so he is somber, outfitted with fear, the light of guidance shining in his heart," till he says, "So he, with regard to conviction (iman), is like sun rays." This is the heart that, upon the mention of Allah, the most Exalted, the most Great, becomes fearful, and when

His verses are recited, they increase its conviction and in it remembrance settles, Allah Almighty has said, … Indeed, in the

remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest" (Qur'an, 13:28).

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If the effects are contemptible, they are like a dark smoke that rises to the heart's mirror, and it keeps piling up time and over again till the entire page of the heart is blackened. So it is totally dark. It becomes stamped with predomination, veiled

From Allah Almighty. The most Praised One has said, "But the stain of the (ill) that they do is on their hearts! Truly they will he veiled from (the light of) their Lord that Day" (Qur'an, 83:14-15). The Almighty has also said, "Is it not a guiding (lesson) to those who inherit the earth alter its (previous) residents, that, if We so willed. We could punish them (too) for their sins, and seal up their hearts so that they could not hear'?"

(Qur'an, 7:100), Thus, lle makes a connection between hearing and stamping on the hearts, stamping with the sins.

Al-Kulaini, may Allah be pleased with him, cites on p. 273,

Vol. 2, No. 20, of his work al-Kafi Zurarah citing Abu Ja'far peace be with him, saying, "Every servant of Allah has a white spot in his heart. When he commits a sin, blackness will enter into the white spot. If he repents, the blackness disappears, but if he keeps committing sins, the blackness keeps spreading till it covers the entire whiteness. Once it covers the whiteness, this individual will never go hack to righteousness." It is the meaning of this verse: "But the [black] stain of the (ill) that they do is on their hearts" (Qur'an, 83:14), and perhaps the meaning of this narrative may bring to 'memory this verse:

"Thus does Allah seal up the heart of every arrogant and ob-stinate transgressor" (Qur'an, 40:35). So, think about it and ponder.

He, peace be with him, is also quoted as saying said, "Hearts are of three types: a heart that is turned upside down, knowing no good: It is the heart of an apostate (kafir), a heart that has a black spot, goodness and evil in it wrestle with each other:

whichever wins overtakes him, and an open heart; in it there is a lamp that shines; its light never goes out till the Day of Judgment: It is the heart of a believer." I is says "till the Day of Judgment" because this heart does not disintegrate when the body disintegrates; obedience to Allah polishes the heart,

whHe disobeying Him blackens it."

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So, if the deeds are righteous and the rituals accepted, they have to hear an impact on the clarity of the heart, its 1700r and shine, The soundness of deeds, especially the rituals, has to meet the condition of being complete in their Parts and

meeting their conditions as well as undertaken exclusively for the sake of seeking nearness to Allah Almighty. If the deed

lacks these conditions, when it lacks some of its parts or conditions, or if it is insincere, it may not instill noor into the heart, nor does it bear any impact on the heart's clarity and shine.

When we see in ourselves and in our hearts that performing

the rituals is not having any effect on our hearts, when we

sense no noor for them within nor any effect without, although

.most or all of our worship meets the first condition, being inclusive of the parts and outwardly conditions, i.e. outwardly sound… , vet they lack the noor… , it is so on account of their lacking sincerity for Allah Almighty; otherwise, why do not we put an end to committing what is abominable and detested?

Why do the springs of wisdom not flow from our hearts al-

though the sacred tradition determines that they must flow in forty days according to his statement, peace be with him, "One who is sincere to Allah for forty mornings, the springs of wisdom flow from his heart to his tongue"'? And why is Satan playing games with us, interfering in all our affairs, although he had made a pledge to Allah Almighty not to tempt the sincere

ones: "Then, by Your might, I will put them all in the wrong, except Your servants among them, the sincere and purified ones"

(Qur'an, 38:82-83)?

This is only the outcome of our deeds being conjoined with

insincerity. And I do not mean, when 1 mention sincerity being absent from our deeds, the high levels of sincerity that are

among the characteristics of the friends of Allah, those who arc near to Him, for we have no share of such sincerity… , but I

mean the lowest of its levels, that is, it contains no pretension which nullifies the deeds. If we sift through our deeds and

rituals, we will find out that Satan has penetrated most of them and spoiled our deeds, as we will, God willing, explain. Any

deed undertaken in order to make a show is null and void ac-

cording to the Shari'a and has no bearing, no impact, no effect.

We have to correct our deeds from this side and rid them of

8

pretension for it is shirk in Allah Almighty in adoration according to his statement, peace be With him, "Every form of pretension is shirk (polytheism)."

Since shirk has many branches, and since Satan and the nafs

in this regard have hidden traps which nobody except a dis-

cerning critic can detect, this summary is written to seek benefit from statements by scholars of the hereafter and professors of ethics, especially the greatest professor, Imam al-Khomeini, may Allah preserve his shade, pleading to the Master, the most Great, to make it exclusively for the sake of pleasing Him and not to let Satan has any share in it so it may be a means for salvation and a tool for forgiveness; surely Allah grants success: surely He provides help.

Pretension

In the Name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful

Praise to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, greetings unto

Muhammad and his Progeny and the sincere servants of Allah.

PRETENSION ACCORDING TO THE QUR'AN:

1. So, woe unto the worshippers, who are neglectful of their

prayers, those who (want only) to be seen (by men), but they

refuse (to supply even) neighborly needs. (Qur'an, 107:4-7)

2. And they have been commanded no more than this: To

worship Allah, offering Him sincere devotion, being true (in

faith). (Qur'an, 98:5)

3. Is it not to Allah that sincere devotion is due'? (Qur'an, 39:3)

4. Whoever expects to meet his Lord, let him do righteous

deeds, and in the worship of his Lord, admit no one as (His)

partner. (Qur'an, 18:110)

PRETENSION IN TRADITIONS:

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1. In his book according to isnad to Yazid ibn Khalifah, the author cites the narrator saying that Abu Abdullah, peace be

with him, said to him, "Every form of pretension is shirk. One who works for the sake of pleasing people is to be rewarded by them, and one who works for Allah will be rewarded by Allah."

2. In his book al-Saduq says that the Messenger of Allah (a.s) was once asked, "What will bring us salvation in the life to come'?" [le (a.s) said, "Salvation then will be in not attempting to deceive Allah so lie lets you he deceived, for anyone who

tries to deceive .Allah will himself he deceived, Conviction will be extracted out or him, and he actually deceives none but his own self." He was asked, "How can anyone try to deceive Allah'?!" The Prophet (a.s) said, "I le acts upon what Allah has enjoined, then by the same action he tries to impress others. So, fear Allah and avoid pretension, for it is shirk against Allah. A pretender will be called upon the Day of .Judgment with four

names: 0 Kafir (apostate)! 0 Fajir (debauchee)! 0 Ghadir (de-

ceiver)! 0 Khasir (loser)! Your deeds are void, your reward is cancelled, and there is nothing good for you this Day: so, seek your rewards from those for whom you used to work!"

3. In Wassail al-Shi'ah by al-Hurr al-Amili quoting Qurb al-

Isnad,, through isnad traced to the Commander of the Faithful (a.s) , the Messenger of Allah (a.s) has said, "One who makes himself look good by doing what Allah loves then in secrecy defies Allah by doing what Allah hates will find Allah angry with him in the Hereafter, holding him in contempt." This sacred tradition will later be explained, so wait. There are many such traditions, and what we have stated must suffice and serve the memory.

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3

Chapter

Meaning Of "Pretension"

The word "riya" (pretension) is derived from "ru'ya" ( vision, eyesight), just as the word "sum'a" (reputation) is derived from

"sam'" (hearing), in essence, the meaning of pretension is that one seeks, through the medium of his good deeds, distinction

and prominence in the hearts of people, even if this can be

achieved through good deeds. But the term, according to the

Shari'a, requires this intention to materialize in the, rituals and in the deeds intended for seeking nearness to Allah as a condition for their acceptance according to the Shari'a. Thereupon, the meaning of pretension is what is supposed to be a deed for the sake of nearness to Allah with the intention to seek a status among the people". The leading imam, al-Khomeini, may Allah prolong his shade, has made a statement in this regard. Its gist is that pretension, according to him, is not exclusively relevant to an act of worship but is broader than that. He says, "Be informed that pretension is showing people some good deeds, or

commendable attributes, or true beliefs in order to achieve a status in their hearts and fame among them that he is kind,

sound of belief, trustworthy and pious without truly seeking to please the Almighty. This materializes in certain levels:

FIRST LEVEL :

It has two degrees: In the FIRST degree, one shows off the

true beliefs and divine branches of knowledge so he will be

famous for being pious and will have a status in people's hearts such as he may say, "1 see none effective in existence save Allah," or he may say, "1 rely on none save Allah". Or he may identify himself as being associated with true belief's by either 11

affiliation or reference. This type of pretension is the most widely circulated, For example_ when either reliance on Allah or accepting Ills decree is discussed at a gathering, the pretender will then sigh or move his head to beckon that he is on the path of those who rely on or who accept the decree of

Allah.

In the SECOND degree, he clears himself of or puts it above

false beliefs, seeking distinction and prominence in the hearts whether explicitly or implicitly.

SECOND LEVEL :

It, too, has two degrees: In the FIRST degree, one demon-

strates the commendable attributes and the virtuous faculties seeking distinction and prominence. In the SECOND degree,

he holds himself as being above contradictions, clearing him-

self of contemptible attributes and foul faculties for this same purpose.

THIRD LEVEL :

It is the pretension known to exist among the faqihs, may Al-

lah be pleased with them. It, too, has these two degrees: ONE

OF THEM is doing what is required by the Shari'a or legislated adoration, or doing what is rationally commendable seeking

showing them off to people and winning their hearts in a wider sense than doing so through what is meant by pretension when

doing the same, or in the way he does it, or in meeting its condition or a portion thereof according to what they have stated in the books of fiqh (jurisprudence). The second is leaving a _job for the same." This is what the imam, may Allah prolong his shade, describes the classifying norms of pretension.

A scholar of the hereafter has mentioned another classifica-

tion tor pretension after having defined pretension, saving it is what the servants of Allah fare with obedience to Him, dividing it into five types :

1. pretension about the faith with the use of the body

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2. pretension about the faith through the norms of clothing, outfitting form and attire

3. pretension in speech

4. pretension in action

5. pretension in companionship and in friendliness with the

public

This division, though not logical, is backed by examples for

each explaining the deceptions of the wily. They benefit those who wish to purify their souls and reform them so they may be guided against the ways of the soul's deceptions. We, therefore, would like to mention some of them here with our own

editing :

The first type, that is, the pretension about the faith with the use of bodily parts, means showing thinness, weakness and yel-lowish facial complexion so one is thus deceived about the extent of exertion, the deep concern about the creed and the

overwhelming fear of the Hereafter. He wants to give the im-

pression that he is eating very little, his face is yellow because of spending the night vigilant, greatly exerting himself and

feeling depressed out of concern for the religion. He also

makes a pretense by leaving his hair untidy so he may give the impression that his mouth is deeply involved in religious utter-ing [rather than in eating and drinking]; he has no time to tidy his hair. These causes, no matter how they appear, give the

people the impression about these matters, so the pretender's soul is at ease when he gives such an impression; so, his soul prompts him to demonstrate them so that it may be restful. You may see this pretender lowering his voice when he speaks so

that the listener may be duped into believing that lowering the voice is due to abundance of adoration, or his lips are withered because of continuous last. It is for this reason that Christ, peace he with him, said, "When one of you fasts, let him oil his head, tidy his hair and use kohl (arras) for his eyes," The reason why he, peace be with him, said so was out of fear of Satan insinuating pretension.

As regarding pretension coming from clothing and appear-

ance, it is when one does not tidy his hair, lowers his head

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when he walks more than what is required by modesty and dignity, when he is quiet in movement, keeping the mark of pros-

tration on the forehead and perhaps wearing an outfit that is not clean so he may be counted among the sincere worshippers

of Allah.

Clothing pretenders are various classes: Some of them seek a

status among the people of righteousness and piety by showing off asceticism. One May wear a worn out garment so he may be

regarded by them as an ascetic and lives in the society in this attribute. The mark of his pretension is that if he is asked to wear an average clean garment like that worn by the righteous predecessors, it will be very hard for him to do so, and it will he as if lie is being led to his slaughter because he is afraid people will say that lie is tired of being an ascetic and returned to his old self, desiring the life of this world. Another class seeks acceptance among the people of righteousness and the

people of the world such as businessmen and the elite. These

poor folks feel embarrassed and alarmed because if they wear

luxurious clothes, the ascetics and the servants of Allah will reject them. And if they wear old worn out clothes, they will perhaps fall in the eyes of the people of this world and in the ayes of the rich. They want to combine between the acceptance of

the people of faith and that the people of this world; therefore, they choose clothes the weaving and the fabric of which arc

valuable, hence the value of their clothes is similar to that of a rich man's clothing, but its form and color give the impression that it is worn by the righteous. With this trick they seek acceptance by both groups. The mark of pretension of this group is that if they are asked to wear old clothes that are in good shape, it will be very hard for them to do so out of their tear the righteous people will tell them that they desired the life of this world. And if they are asked to wear what is coarse or

worn out, it will be a harsh undertaking due to their fear of losing lace among the rich. Each of these classes sees its status represented in a particular way of dressing; it is hard for him to move to something less or something more or to anything

else, even if it is permissible or preferred by the Shari'a.

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As for pretension in speech, it is when a pretender keeps repeating pieces of wisdom: He keeps reminding others in order

to win people's hearts. He memorizes words of wisdom, tradi-

tions and biographies in order to use them in his debates to

show the richness of his knowledge and to point out to his extreme care about the conditions of the pious ancestors. He

chooses statements containing vocal letters, or at least verbal ones, so he may move his tongue in a gathering of the people.

If the statement contains both types of letters, it will be preferred by him. During a public meeting, he busies himself with repeating holy statements although if he sits alone for hours, his lips do not utter anything of the mention of Allah. His de-nunciation of what is detestable is intense before the public: he expresses sorrow for people committing transgressions, and he is amazed at how they dare to disobey .Allah. Thus, people may get the impression that he does not commit a transgression,

nor does he have the courage to undertake it. The branches of speech pretension exhaust a great deal to mention.

As regarding pretension in action, such as a praying person

showing off how he prolongs his standing during the prayers

reciting lengthy chapters, especially if he is an imam of a

group, so that people may recognize his distinction and that he has memorized many chapters of the Holy Qur'an, and they

envy him fur standing so long during his adoration. If he prays at home or outside it, where he is not seen by anyone, lie will be satisfied with reciting the shortest chapters. His condition is the same during solemnity and submission as well as lengthy

prostration during the prayers. When he is seen by the public, he does so more than during his solitude especially if he is the imam of a group. He goes overboard in showing off his deep

adoration, prolonging his prostration especially during the

"sajdat al-shukr", thanksgiving prostration, after the prayer ritual. He may remain prostrating till all those praying behind him disperse. The same applies to the rest of his acts of adoration such as fast, charity and pilgrimage. Even when he Walks to take care of a need, he may hurry, but if one of the men of religion sees him, he immediately reverts to solemnity, to

lowering his head for fear of being accused of haste and of being less solemn. When the man of religion is out of sight, the 15

pretender resumes his pace. A pretender may pray by himself without full concentration, but if someone sees him, he goes

back to his full concentration. When he is in a place of public worship, he states that full attention must be allotted to the Almighty. He wants people to hear him say so in order that he may be counted among the true servants of AIM, the righteous

ones.

Among them is one who is immersed in pretension: When lie

catches himself off-guard, he feels so shy that his gait, when alone, is similar to that when he is seen by people, fearing

people may get to notice the variation in his gait, so he forces himself to walk properly, humbly, when alone so he may get

used to it and it will be the same when he is alone and when in public, and he will not need to shift from one to the other when seen by people. He thus thinks that he gets rid of pretension, being unmindful of the fact that his pretension has intensified, his scheme has doubled, and his pretension has crept into his solitude as well. When he walks properly when alone, so he will do likewise before people, he does not do that out of fear of Allah, nor feeling shy of Him.

Since the source of what is hidden about pretension can be

explained through another example, let us do so to the believing brothers. A pretender may agree that his reason, the hid-

den messenger or the angel in charge of good deeds according

to the traditions, inspires him that prayers, for example, which are performed in public are more profound and contain more

remembrance of Allah than in the prayer ritual performed at

home distantly from the public eyes, and there is no doubt that such a prayer is null due to pretension creeping into it, it is then that Satan or the nafs may interfere in the subject and set up a hidden trap of which a praying person is rarely aware,

which is: The nafs and Satan oblige the believer to pray in

solitude, too, with full devotion and mentioning lengthy sup-

plications so this will be regarded as the answer for reason or for the angel that "My prayer in public is the same as I perform it in solitude; so, what evidence do you have against me that my prayer is that of a pretender? Is not my prayer before

people the same as it is in my home? Actually, the prayer

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which I perform in solitude may be more profound and containing more lengthy praises than it is outside the house and be-

fore the public eyes." But the poor man is heedless of Satan, and the nafs has not left a sound prayer for him, not even in solitude or in the depth of the night. In other words, among the signs of an action not being pretentious is that the action witnessed by people is similar to it in solitude, not the action in solitude being similar to that performed publicly: so, think

about it.

As for pretension in socializing, it is when someone makes arrangements so that scholars may visit him, and so that it will be said that so-and-so is visited by so-and-so, or that he is respected by scholars. It will be said that the theologians seek the blessings of God by visiting him. And if he can find a way so businessmen and the elite, too, visit him, let it be so in order that people may say that so-and-so is respected by all classes of scholars worshipers and the folks of the life of this world. If he cannot attract them to visit him, he himself goes to visit the scholars and worshippers so it will be seen that he met many

scholars and worshippers from whom he benefited, so he brags

about them. If the kind ones and the righteous are mentioned, he sighs and says, "Yes! How often I have met these kind ones, served them and was glad to be at their service!" so the listeners may get to know that serving the friends of Allah and the righteous does not go unrewarded by them, that they must definitely have overwhelmed him with their goodness.

Among the pretenders is one who is satisfied with people

thinking well of him. Many a worshipper isolates himself from the public and stays at home, feeling elated that people think well of him. Although he no longer covets their wealth, he likes prominence and people thinking well of him: this has a sweet

taste, as stated in its right place: it is the sort of power and perfection, though it quickly vanishes, and nobody is deceived by it save the ignorant ones, but most people are! Had people come to know the truth, they would have thought ill of him,

their belief in him would have departed, and they thought that he committed something ugly by thus sitting at home due to

his mind being confused. He was not satisfied with Allah's

17

knowledge of his innocence and the purity of his heart; rather, he is deeply grieved. He may abandon isolation and adoration

and comes out to the society. This poor man, though having no desire for people's funds nor for their companionship, looked forward to their good thoughts of him, their praise of him, so the love for prominence set its roots in his heart, and his poor soul felt satisfied with this much pleasure.

This is a collection of the things that entertain pretenders'

minds. They all seek prominence and recognition in the hearts of people. Pretension has other sources the mention of which is lengthy, and one who is loved by Allah may feel alert about

them, for if Allah loves a servant of His. He enables him to see his own faults.

THE UGLIEST DEGREE OF PRETENSION

Imam al-Khomeini, may Allah prolong his shade, has said,

"Be informed that the most serious degree of pretension and the most detrimental, according to the principles of beliefs and theological branches of knowledge, and the one the darkness

to the heart of which is the most intense of all other types of showing off is this: if the pretender does not believe in what he shows off, he is still among the hypocrites whom Allah fore-warned of being kept in hell forever. His is perdition and eternal loss, and his torment is the most severe. And if he believes in that matter, but he does so seeking a status and distinction in the hearts of people, although he is not a hypocrite, such a conduct requires the light of conviction to abandon his heart so it would be replaced by the darkness of disbelief. This is so because this person, although he was initially committing hidden shirk, demonstrated to people the divine branches of knowledge and the true beliefs that have to be purely for seeking the pleasure of Allah, their owner is the true I holy One, the most Glorious, but he let someone else be a partner in them:

He let Satan have a hand in dealing with them.

Such an action comes from the heart1 seeking to please

someone else other than Allah. lie (a.s) says in a sacred tradition recorded in Al-Kafi, "Every type of pretension is kith, 18

(apostasy)," But both this dark inner-self and bad trend drag, one to have a heart dedicated to anyone except Allah. The

darkness of this vice becomes a means to gradually get one out of this life having no sound conviction (iman). The erroneous conviction becomes an image without a meaning, a body

without a soul, a peal with a pith, and it does not qualify it to he accepted by the most Exalted One as referred to in a sacred tradition in Al-Kafi where Ali ibn Salim is quoted as having said that he heard Abu Abdullah (a.s) saying that the Almighty said,

"I am the best partner: whoever brings another partner besides Me in an action, I shall not accept it. I accept what is purely done for My sake." It is well known that if the inner actions are not purely for the sake of pleasing Allah, the Almighty does not accept them; He does not look at them: rather. He refers them to the other partner, the one/ones for whom the action was

done in order to show off to him/them. Thus, the inner actions will be dedicated to that person, and they get the pretender

out of the limit of shirk into mere apostasy (kufr). Actually, it can be said that this person, too, is among the group of hypocrites. Just as shirk was hidden, so was his hypocrisy. The poor pretender fooled himself into thinking that he is a believer, but he started as a mushrik and ended up as a hypocrite, and he

has to taste the torment tasted by the hypocrites, Woe unto

one who is dragged into hypocrisy!

1We will explain, by the Wilf of Aflah, how conviction is an

act of the heart [of the innermost].

19

4

Chapter

Explaning How Conviction Is Not Knowledge

Then Imam al-Khomeini, may Allah prolong his shade, ex-

plained that conviction is not synonymous with knowledge. He

said:

Be informed that conviction is not the same as knowfedge

about Allah, knowledge about His Unity, about the rest of His fixed attributes of perfection and great negative ones, knowledge about the angefs, the books, the messengers and the

Last Day, for perhaps one may be knowledgeable about aif

these matters without being a befiever. Satan, too, knows

about these levels of knowledge as much as I know, and as

much as you know, yet he is He also believes in the principle and knows that Alfah is the Creator because he says, "You created me of fire and created him of dust." And he knows about the Hereafter, too, because he says, "Grant me a respite till the Day that they are brought back to fife." Yet, despite all these qualities, he is kafir according to the clear Qur'anic verse that says, "… and he was among the unbefievers." The secret in this is that conviction is an act of the heart.

If it is not brought into being, there is no presence for conviction. If anyone gets to know something according to the dic-

tates of the rational evidence, or according to the judgment necessitated by the creed, the heart has to surrender to such

knowledge, so the action conies from the heart as a manifestation of such surrendering and submission, a sort of acceptance, so he may be a befiever. One's perfection is feeling comfortable (with such surrendering) as referred to by this sacred

verse: "'Then do You not befieve?' He said, 'Yes, I do! But so 20

that my own understanding may be satisfied" (Qur'an, 2:260).

When the light of conviction in the heart is strong, it is followed by feeling comfortable with it. All of this is different from knowledge. Our minds can reafize something through

evidence, but our hearts did not surrender to it. Thus, know

ledge becomes useless. For example if you realize through your mind that a dead person cannot harm anyone, even if all the

dead in the world get together, they coflectively have neither sense nor motion in as much as a mosquito, and that alf the

physical and spiritual forces have already departed. But since this meaning does not transcend the limit ()I knowledge, and

since it is not acceptable by the heart, and the heart did not surrender to reason, you cannot spend one night with a dead

person in a dark night, and you will he afraid of his corpse. But if the heart surrenders to reason and accepts such a judgement from reason, you wiff have no problem sleeping in the company of a dead person. Also, if you do that, and you repeat spending the night with a dead person, the heart will then surrender to reason and wilf not be afraid of the dead. It will then be known that surrendering is the line of the heart, and it is different from knowing, which is the fine of reason. It is then that man can prove, through rational evidence, the presence of the

Maker, the Exalted One, that lie is One and Only, that there is an afterlife, in addition to other true beliefs.

But conviction is not a description of these beliefs, nor is one who believes in them is counted among the believers; rather,

he is in the company of the unbelievers, the hypocrites or the polytheists. The point is that this day, a covering has been

pfaced on the eye of his heart, and he does not have the angel-ic vision and the kingfy eye, so he does not reafize this meaning. But if the innermost is revealed, the truly divine power comes up, nature is rendered into ruin, and the truth stands

tall, it is then that you feef you were not a believer in Affah.

The said judgment for reason was not related to conviction 1.

So, Dear One, unless you write down the

It must afso be known that committing, a group of acts of disobedience to Allah is not in sync with befief- in the Hereafter and in the Judgment Day; rather, doing them is not in harmony 21

with the befief that one is in the company of the Truth, the most Exafted One, as referred to often in the cherished sup-pfications. One of the latter exists in the supplication of Abu Hamzah al-Thumali: "If anyone today fooks at my sins other than You, I would not have done it. Had I feared the speedy

penalty, I would have avoided it." The solution for this confusion is sought in the statement of the imam, may his shade be prolonged, in this regard.

blessed statement saying "There is no god except Allah" with the pen of reason on the tabfet of the pure heart, you are not a trufy] believer in the Unity of Aflah Almighty.

If this good divine word enters one's heart, the heart's sub-

mission will be directly to Affah Afmighty. The one who has

such a heart does not then see any other human being as bear-

ing any impact on the domain of the Truthful One, nor does he expect any favor or distinction from anyone else. He will not then seek a station and fame among people. The heart will not be pretentious or deceptive. When you see pretension in the

heart, he informed that your heart has not submitted to reason, nor has the light of conviction shone in it. You will see someone efse other than Allah Afmighty as the influentiaf god; you wifl then be in the company of the pofytheists, or hypocrites, or

apostates.

Having explained the levels and basic origin of pretension,

the Imam, may his shade endure, states a terse admonishment

in which he brings to memory the awful outcome of pretension.

In it, there is a reminding for one who has a heart, or who does listen and stands as a witness. The master of divine sciences, Imam Khomeini, may his shade be prolonged, says the

following :

O pretender who has submitted the true beliefs and divine

branches of knowledge to the enemy of Allah, namely Satan,

thus giving the matters that are exclusively related to Allah, Praise to Him, to someone else. You have taken out the celestial lights that used to shine in the soul and the heart and were the capital of salvation, eternal happiness, the fountainhead of 22

the divine communion, the seeds for the company of the Loved One in the desolate darkness. You have permitted yourself to

suffer eternal perdition, the capital of the distance from the holy place of the Loved One. You have shunned the meeting

with the Almighty, the Truth… . So, be prepared for darkness

beyond which there is no light at all, for hardship beyond

which there is no ease, for ailments that have no cure, for

death that has no life and for a fire that springs out of the depth of the heart and the domain of the soul, burning the domain of the body in a way which neither my heart nor yours

can ever imagine, as Allah Almighty has already informed us in His Revealed Book and which He described in this sacred

verse: "(It is) the Fire of (the Wrath of) Allah kindled (to a blaze) which mounts (right) to the hearts" (Qur'an, 104:7-8).

The Fire of Allah overwhelms the hearts and burns them. No

fire can burn a heart other than Allah's Fire. So, if someone's Unity instinct, which is instilled by Allah, departs from

someone and is replaced by polytheism and apostasy, he will

have none to intercede on his behalf with the Almighty, and he will be lodged into torment forever.

And what a torment it is! It is a torment that originates from the Almighty's subduing and divine wrath. 0 dear one! Do not

expose yourself to the wrath of the Almighty on account of a

false whim and a limited popularity among His weak servants.

Such whim has neither any impact nor fruit save regrets and

sighs. When your ties are cut off from this world, which is like a shop and a place for gain, and when your deeds come to an

end, regrets and sighs will not avail you, and you will not be able to return and retract.

DEGREES OF PRETENSION'S OBJECTIVES

Some scholars of the hereafter have said that pretension,

with regard to one's goals behind pretending, for surely the

pretender has goals, is of three degrees :

THE FIRST DEGREE : It is the most intense and the most

serious: One's goal is to commit a transgression against the

will of Allah and to reach what is prohibitive, such as he makes 23

a show of his acts of adoration, or feigns piety and godliness through many supererogatory acts of adoration. He avoids anything that may bring about people's doubt in his regard. His

goal is so that people may recognize his trustworthiness, hence positions in the judicial system, or religious trusts, or wills, or whatever belongs to orphans. He will then take them and keep

to himself whatever he can. Or he may be trusted with items,

so he takes them and denies having done so, thus reaching his corrupt goals in committing transgressions. One may appear in the attire of the righteous, articulating pieces of wisdom, admonishment, and reminding.

Yet his goal is to look good in the eyes of a beautiful woman.

Some people may attend meetings of knowledge and remem-

brance of the Almighty, or even of the Qur'an, pretending they wish to listen to knowledge and to the Qur'an when their goal is to look at women, and these pretenders are hated the most

by Allah Almighty because they made obedience to their Lord a ladder to reaching their transgression, using it as a tool, a shop, a merchandise in their sinning. Close to these, though

less in degree, is one who commits a crime of which he is ac-

cused, yet he insists on it and wants to keep the charge away from himself, so he feigns piety in order to deny the charge, such as one who denied a trust with him of which people

charged him, so he offers charity with the money in order that it will be said he gives away from his money to the poor, so

how can it be possible that he seizes the funds belonging to

others? The likes of such folks are many among the Muslims.

Individuals may gather funds that belong to the Muslims by the millions through usury or other illegitimate transactions. One may see that instead of returning people's money to them, he

offers charity with some of his money, or builds a mosque or a hospital, so that people may see that he is one who builds

mosques or hospitals; therefore, how can it be possible that he stretches his hands to people's money and possessions? Or one may be charged with having committed a sin with a woman,

and Allah, the most Exalted One, removed the covering from

him and exposed him among the people. Instead of resorting to a covering from Allah, Praise to Him, regretting and pleading to Allah, Who sways the hearts, to change people's attitude

24

about him, he seeks a means through pretension, trying to cover his sin with pretension.

THE SECOND DEGREE: It is when his goal is to obtain a per-

missible worldly gain such as wealth or marriage to a beautiful or distinguished woman, etc., so he feigns grief and keeps himself busy with admonishing and reminding others so that funds may be spent on him. He will then sell more of his merchandise if he is a merchant, a businessman, or among money making

folks. Or if he wishes to marry a distinguished woman, such as the daughter of a righteous scholar, he pretends to her father to be a man of knowledge and adoration so that he may marry

him to his daughter. This sort of pretension is prohibitive because it seeks through the means of obedience to Allah the

wares of this lowly life, but it is of a lesser degree than the first. What is sought through this pretension is by itself permissible but it is contemptible, and its reality is shirk; the absolute authority is the privilege of the True One, the Almighty, when it comes to dealing with His servants.

THIRD DEGREE: The pretender does not seek fortune,

wealth, or marriage, but he shows off his adoration for fear

people may look at him as if he lacks something; therefore, he is not considered to be among the elite and the ascetics, and he is regarded to be among the commoners, such as one who

walks to the congregational prayer services, to mosques, in a hurry, and when people see him, he adjusts his walk and abandons haste although it, at that time, was legitimate. But he

abandons it so he may not be labeled as one of those who love distraction or negligence and not one of the men of eminence.

Also, if he is the first to burst laughing or demonstrates merriment, so he is afraid he will be looked down upon with eyes of contempt, he follows it by seeking Allah's forgiveness and pretends to be sad on its account and says, "How unmindful a human being is! But Allah knows that if such an individual is left to himself, he would not consider doing so as being too much; rather, he fears he will he looked clown upon with contempt

and not with respect.

25

He is like one who sees a group of worshippers offering supererogatory prayers, or making tahajjud, or fasting each

Thursday and Monday, as is transmitted about the imam of the

nation who ordered the youths (of Hizbollah) to fast both these days, so the man goes along with them for fear he will be described as lazy and thus is not attributed to the party of Allah.

If he is left alone, he does no such things. And he is like one who endures the thirst on the Day of Arafa, or in clays during which fast is highly recommended, so he does not drink water

for fear people may get to know that he is not fasting.

So, if they think that he is, he abstains from eating as well, Or he may be invited to partake of food, so he abstains in order that he will be perceived as observing the fast. He may openly state that he is fasting or says he has an excuse. Such a pretender combines two contemptible acts: He is seen by others

as fasting, then he is seen as a sincere one and not as a pretender. He is cautious lest he should mention his act of adoration to people for fear he will be seen as a pretender. He,

hence, wants to give the impression that he is continuing his act of adoration. If he is obligated to drink, he rushes to remind himself that he has an excuse, either explicitly or implicitly, such as seeking an excuse because of an ailment that causes

him to have an acute need to drink water and stops him from

fasting. Or he may say, "Today, I visited so-and-so who pres-sured me to eat, so I ate." He may not then say that in connection with his drinking water so that he will not be regarded as seeking an excuse as a pretender, but he perseveres then mentions his excuse casually in his narrative of an incident such as his saving, "So-and-so loves his brethren. He so much loves them to partake of his food. Today, he insisted that I should do that, and I had no choice except to cool his heart." Or he may say, "My mother is weak-hearted, compassionate in my regard.

She thinks if I fast one day, I will fall sick, so she does not let me fast." Such is the doing of the ills of pretension. It does not jump to articulation except due to the deeply rooted pretension in one's innermost. Similar to this is something which I have seen more than once. Someone says, "I spent the night over the house of so-and-so. During the sahar [pre-dawn] time, I

wanted to rise for the tahajjud. But I was concerned the owner 26

of the house might think I was a pretender, so I did not stand for the prayers." Or he may say, "I did not worship during a particular time for fear I would be regarded as a pretender."

This poor person sees himself, when he does not pray or wor-

ship his Lord, as being sincere to Allah Almighty, fleeing from pretension whereas in fact he has already fallen into it; both his nafs and Satan have taken control of him. In other words, man in such situations has two states: The first is his fear when he prays in someone's house or in the company of a crowd of

people that his prayers may be pretension, yet he knows him-

self best and his weakness, and that he cannot safeguard his

sincerity in public as he used to do in private; in this case, the prayer is abandoned so one may not fall into pretension.

The second is that he is concerned about people considering

him as being a pretender, although he feels comfortable that

he is not praying pretentiously but purely for seeking nearness to Allah. In this case, if he abandons a ritual, he will prove that he is a pretender who does not like people to think anything

about him except being sincere. Abandoning the worship in the first case was for the sake of Allah and in the second for the sake of the nafs and its desires, for the nafs, loves its reputation to be good among the people. Such is love for life and eminence. If one who is sincere to Allah sees in himself a desire to perform a commendable fast, for example, let him do so; he

must not pay attention to what others say about or think of

him. And if he does not find in himself such a desire, he must not fast, and he must not pay attention to what is said about him. Rely on Allah and forget about them all. A sincere worshipper does not care about how people look at him or think of him. If he has no desire to fast, and Allah knows about it, he must not want others to believe something different from what Allah knows about him, thus confusing them. And if he wishes

to fast for the sake of seeking nearness to Allah, he should contend himself with Allah's knowledge, associating none with

Him.

SCIENTIFIC

POINT

TO

ERADICATE

PRETENSIONFROM

THE

THEOLOGICAL

IMAM

AL-

KHOMEINIMAY ALLAH PROLONG HIS SHADE :

27

He, may Allah prolong his shade, has said,

We would like to state m this regard something that may be

effective in treating this heart disease. According to evidence, revelation and observation, as Well as the traditions of the infallible Ones, peace be with them, and the Book of Allah, the Great, according to His dominance over all beings. His main-tenance of all what needs to be maintained… , the hearts of all the servants are under His control and in the grip of His

power. Nobody can fare with the servants' hearts without the

permission of the Maintaining One and His evolving authoriza-

tion. It can never be, Even those who have hearts, too, cannot fare with their hearts without His permission, the most Exalted One, and His dealing. The Holy Qur'an informs us of this fact, and so do the narratives about Ahl al-Bayt, peace be with them, who stated so by reference, explicitly and implicitly. Allah, Praise to Him, is the One Who owns the heart and Who fares

with it, when you are a weak servant incapable of faring with hearts without the dealing of the Truthful One, the most High.

Rather, His will subdues yours as well as that of everything in existence. So, if your pretension is to attract the servants'

hearts and attention, to gain respect and status in the hearts, to earn a good reputation… , all these are outside your control: they are under the control of the Truthful One, the most Exalted. The Lord of Hearts, the One Who owns them, permits

them to incline to whoever He wants. And your behavior may

result in the opposite of what you want. We nave heard about

and seen pretenders with two laces, haying impure hearts,

those whose affair Was exposed and who gained the contrary

of what they had desired. There is a reference to this in a sacred tradition recorded in Al-Kafi as transmitted by Jarrah al-Madaini who quotes Abu Abdullah.

peace be with him, saying the following in his explanation of this verse: "Whoever expects to meet his Lord, let him do righteous deeds and in the worship of his Lord admit no one as

(His) partner" (Qur'an, 18:110): "Someone does some good deed not for the sake of Allah but so people may hold him in

high esteem. He loves people to hear about what he does. Such 28

person is one who associates a partner in the worship of his Lord." Then he said, "No servant does an act of righteousness then time passes by except that Allah will bring something

good out of it. And no servant does something wrong in secrecy and time passes by except that Allah will bring out something bad out of it for him."

You, my dear one, ought to seek good reputation with Allah.

Plead to the One Who owns the hearts to let the hearts incline towards you. Work for Allah, and let your deed be purely for

His sake, for the most Exalted One will then make you loved by people in this world plus rewards you with good things and

eternal blessings in the world of the hereafter. He will then en-hance the impression which you leave on people's hearts and

make you honored in both this life and in the one to come. But if you are able, through practices and struggles, to rid yourself of this love, too, do so in order that your heart may be pure, your deed in this direction will be sound, your heart will direct itself towards Allah, your soul will be cleansed and the impurity of the self (nafs) will disappear, What benefit do you reap from the love of weaklings or from their hatred, or from fame among poor servants of Allah? Even if we suppose there is a

benefit, it will last for only few days, whereas the outcome of this love could drag you to pretension; so, God forbid, you will then become a polytheist, a hypocrite, or an apostate.

And if we suppose that one's [prohibitive] matter in this life will be veiled from the eyes of the people, but in the presence of the divine justice, and in the audience of the righteous servants of Allah, His great Prophets, those who are close to Him and His angels, he will be exposed, and he will surely bear the impact of shame, finding none to help him. You have no idea

what a scandal in that Day it will be and what shame and darkness which none knows save Allah. It is the Day when the un-

believer will say, "Woe unto me! If only I were (mere) dust!"

(Qur'an, 78:40). But it will be of no avail to him. You, poor soul, for the sake of partial love and fame, which are of no benefit, among the servants of the Almighty, turned away from these

blessings, lost the Pleasure of Allah, Glory to Him. You made yourself an object of His wrath. You substituted the deeds

29

whereby you can achieve the abode of honor, the eternal life, the everlasting happiness, life in the highest stations of

Paradise.., with the darkness of shirk and hypocrisy, and you prepared for yourself the sighs, the regret, the intense torment, becoming a prisoner in Sijjeen as described in a sacred narrative in (Al-Kafi and cited from Abu Abdullah, peace be

upon him. In it, the Prophet (a.s) says, "An angel gleefully ascends with the news about a deed of a servant. If he ascends

carrying reports about the servant's Mood deed. Allah, the

most Exalted, the most Great, says, Deposit it in Sijjeen, for he did not seek My pleasure when he did it.'" I and you, in our condition, cannot imagine Sijjeen, nor can we understand the

record of the deeds of the sinners or see the picture of these deeds that are in Sijjeen, but we see their reality when we are incapacitated and have lost touch with any remedy.

So, wake up, my dear one, from your sleep, do awy with

heedlessness and laziness, weigh your deeds with the scales of reason before they are weighed in that world. Hold yourself to account before you are held, and rid the mirror of your heart of shirk and hypocrisy and of having two faces. Do not permit

your heart to rust with shirk and apostasy lest it should be afflicted with the fire of the Hereafter. Do not let the light of nature be replaced with the darkness of disbelief. Do not

render to loss the nature whereby Allah created people, do not betray this trust of Allah, cleanse the heart's mirror so the light of the beauty of the True One shine in it, thus it will be more precious to you than this whole world and everything in it, and the fire of divine love will then burn in the heart, burning every love that you have in your heart for anything else, and you will not accept to replace one moment of it with the whole world,

and you will enjoy the pleasure of remembrance of Allah com-

pared to which all animal pleasures will be nothing at all. If you are not worthy of this station, if these images appear in your eyes to be strange, do not abandon the divine blessings in the world of the Hereafter about which the Holy Qur'an has informed you as well as the traditions of the Infallible Ones in exchange for attracting the hearts of the beings. Do not lose

these rewards, do not deprive yourself of such blissful things 30

for the sake of an imagined fame that lasts few days, and do not trade eternal happiness for continuous pain …

31

5

Chapter

Call To Sincerity From The Professor Of

Theology, Imam AL-Khomeini, May His

Shade Be Prolonged

He, may Allah prolong his shade, has said, "Be informed that the real Owner of the domain, the One Who truly grants bounties, the One Who grants us blissful things, having prepared

them for us even before we came into this world, prepared the nutritional food that is good and suitable to our weak stomach, the One Who cultures and serves with love as great as mountains, so His service may be obligation-free, with suitable environment and air, in addition to all His apparent and hidden

blissful things. He prepared us for the world of the hereafter and that of the barzakh before we get there. This Master of

blessings wants our hearts to love him, to love His Greatness, with sincerity, and the result of this love will be for our own benefit, too. Despite all of this, we do not listen to His commandment but disobey Him and take a path that does not lead us to His pleasure: so, what a great injustice we have committed!

How have we argued with the King of Kings?! And the loss is

only our own; His domain is not hurt in the least, nor can we get out of His power and authority. It makes no difference to Him whether we believe in His unity or not. If we are knowledgeable about Allah, fearing Him, pure of souls, all this is for our own good. And if we are unbelievers or polytheists, we only harm our own selves. Allah is independent of the worlds, of

their obedience, sincerity and worship. His domain is not

harmed by our rebellion.

Our shirk and hypocrisy do not diminish it. But since He is

the most Merciful of those who have mercy, His spacious

32

mercy and great wisdom have required that He leads us to the paths of guidance, the ways of distinguishing goodness from

evil, beauty from ugliness, and to show us what causes human-

ity to slip away, what robs it of happiness, and the great boon for such guidance belongs to Allah. The favor belongs to Him

for whatever acts of adoration, sincerity and worship we per-

form. So long as our visions, and the eyes whereby we can see the barzakh, are not open, we arc unable to comprehend this

fact. And so long as we in this narrow and dark world, in this dark nature, are shackled with the chains of time, jailed in the dark extended place… , we are unable to realize the great

boons that belong to Allah Almighty, and we cannot imagine

the divine blessings that lie in this sincerity, adoration and guidance.

Beware of thinking that we do a favor to the great Prophets

of Allah, or to His honored friends, or to the nation's scholars who are the guides to our happiness and salvation, who have

saved us from ignorance, darkness and torment, who invited us to the world of celestial light, happiness, elation and greatness.

They bear the burdens of hardship and exhaustion when edu-

cating us so we may be saved from the darkness that lies in

false beliefs and compounded ignorance and from the pres-

sures and suffering that arc the manifestations of a lowly conduct, from the engulfing fearful images of the ugly deeds, and so we may instead earn the celestial lights, the norms of happiness and elation, the pleasures of the soul, the feeling of restfulness, the huris with large lovely eyes, and the mansions that we cannot possibly imagine. Our world of this domain, as

greatly spacious as it is, cannot bear one single outfit of those of Paradise. These eyes of ours cannot bear to see a single hair of the huris with their large lovely eyes. Yet the angelic picture of beliefs and deeds has been realized, through divine inspiration, by the great prophets, especially by the one who had the total revelation, the inclusive constitution, namely the seal of prophets (a.s). The prophets saw it, heard it, and called us towards it whHe we, poor souls, arc like children who do the opposite of what the wise rule. Rather, humans even call these

prophets wrong, argue with them and always do the opposite

of

what

they

enjoin.

Yet

those

pure

and

contented

33

personalities, the good and pure souls, due to their compassion and mercy towards the servants of AIM, did not fall short in

calling upon the ignorant one, pulling them in the direction of Paradise and happiness through any means of power and

wealth, without asking them for any reward at all.

The only reward asked by the Messenger of Allah (a.s) was

that we be kind to his near in kin. Perhaps the picture of this kindness in the world of the hereafter may manifest itself in the limn of the most glittering light for us. This reward is for our own good, too, so it may get us to reach happiness and

mercy. Thus, the reward of following the message is credited

for us, and we benefited from it: "Say: 'I ask no reward of you : It is in sour interest.: My reward is due only from Allah'"

(Qur'an, 34:47). How can we, the poor ones, do them a favor,

and what a great benefit do we reap from being sincere to

them?! What favor do you vest upon the scholars of the nation, upon the scholar who explains the difficult issues and the rulings, or upon the honored Prophet, or upon the Holy One, the

most Great?! Each person, according to his level and station, leads us towards the path of guidance. Indeed, we owe them so much, too much to be able to reward them in this world, the

world that is not at all suitable for rewarding them. Indeed, to Allah, to His Messenger, and to His friends belongs the favor lust as the Almighty has said: "Say: 'Do not count your Islam as a favor to me. Nay! Allah has conferred a favor on you when

He guided you to the faith, if you are true and sincere. Truly Allah knows the secrets of the heavens and the earth, and Allah sees well all that you do'" (Qur'an, 49:17-18). If we are truthful in our claim of belief, the favor belongs to Allah for having guided us to thus believe. Allah sees what we do not, and lie knows the images of our deeds, of our belief, of our submission to Him in the world of what is unknown to us. As for us, the

poor ones, we know none of the truth, so we learn from the one who is knowledgeable about them and feel indebted to him,

and we follow the scholar and feel indebted to him, and we offer congregational prayers behind the scholar and feel in-

debted to him, although we owe them without knowing it.

Hence, when we feel that we arc the ones who do them a favor, 34

such feeling turns our deeds upside down, hurling them into Sijjeen, rendering them to an utter loss.

THE SECOND LEVEL OF PRETENSION

From what we have stated, it is learned from our greatest

professor and best teacher of ethics. Imam al-Khomeini, may

his shade be prolonged, that the above-stated level of pretension occupies in the principles of beliefs the first, the most intense and the ugliest of all.

As for the second level of pretension, it lies in tHe virtuous demeanors and the commendable ethics. It, too, according to

what is stated by the imam, may his shade be prolonged, has

two stations: The first is that a person demonstrates the commendable characteristics and the virtuous demeanors in order

to attract people's hearts towards him. The second is that he declares he dissociates himself from the contemptible characteristics and ugly demeanors for the same purpose. Our pro-

fessor has said the following in this regard: "Pretension in this level, although it does not lie in the intensity of ugliness as is the case with the first station, but after attention is drawn to something that may drag the pretender in this level, too, to

what places him in the first level. There is an image for man in the spiritual world that could be non-human because it is connected to the domain of the nafs and to its faculties. So, if it has virtuous human faculties, these faculties would make your spiritual picture human, if you are gathered in [the form of]

these faculties once you do not get out of moderation; the faculties are virtuous when the evil-insinuating nafs does not play havoc with it, nor the path of the nafs interferes in forming, it.

Actually, our professor/mentor, may his shade be prolonged,

used to say that the scales in the wrongful practice and in the right legitimate practice is actually the path of the nafs or the path of righteousness: If the one treading the path does so

seeking what is right, going in the direction of Allah, his practice is right and legitimate, and Allah, Praise and Exaltation belong to Him, will help him in his effort according to the text of this sacred verse: "(As for) those who strive in Our (cause), We 35

will certainly guide them to Our paths, for truly Allah is with those who do what is right" (Qur'an, 29:69). He will thus be attracted towards happiness, abandoning the insinuations of

egotism, leaving behind the will of the nab.. It is well known that one who demonstrates to people his good manners and

virtuous demeanors is prompted thus by his egotistical im-

petus, feeling conceited, loving and adoring himself. Loving Allah can never coexist with egotism. Seeing Him can never co-

exist with seeing the it is simply impossible, a mere fancy. So long as the domain of your presence is represented by your

egotism, as you love power, prominence, fame and dominance

over Allah's servants, your faculties can never be virtuous, nor can your manners be divine because the real factor in the domain of your existence is Satan: neither your angelic aspect

nor your inner-self reflect those of a human. After the angelic barzakh eye opens, it will portray you not as a human being

but, say, as one of the demons. It is impossible for the divine norms of knowledge and the sound belief in the Unity of the

Almighty to exist in a heart that is an abode for the demons. If your domain does not become human, and as long as your

heart is not purified of such crookedness, from any form of

conceit, your heart will never be an abode for the Truthful One, the Almighty. One qudsi tradition states the following: "My earth has no sufficient room for Me nor my heavens, but there is room for Me in the heart of My believing servant." So, there is none in existence that is a mirror reflecting the beauty of the loved One except the heart of a believer. The One Who fares

with the believer's heart is the Almighty, not the nafs, and the factor in its existence is the loved One. The heart of a believer is not one of a person who sticks to his view no matter what, prattling; the heart of the believer is in the fingers of the most Merciful One, turning it however He pleases. The One who

fares with the domain of a human heart is Allah. Turning and

alternating it is done through the will of Allah Almighty. You, poor soul, who is worshipping himself, with whose heart Satan and ignorance fare, having put an end to the faring of the

Truthful Almighty with your heart, through what belief do you expect to be a source for the manifestation of the Truthful One and of [His] absolute domain? Be informed that as long as you remain thus, as long as this vice, the dominance of the will of 36

the nafs over you, you are a disbeliever in Allah, treading the path of the hypocrites even if you imagine yourself as being a Muslim, a believer in Allah.

WISE ADMONISHMENT FROM THE PROFESSOR OF

THEOLOGY, IMAM AL-KHOMEINI,MAY

HIS SHADE

LAST

Wake up from your sleep, dear one, abandon negligence and

tardiness, let your eyes abstain from indifferent sleep, and be informed that Allah Almighty created you for Himself as the

qudsi tradition states: "0 son of Adam! I created all things for your sake and created you for Myself." In the [divine] address whereby Moses was honored, the Almighty said, "… And I

chose you for Myself (Qur'an, 20:41). Turn your heart into an abode for Him, as He has also said, "My earth and heavens do not have room enough for Me, yet the heart of My believing

servant does." So, you and your heart are among the divine canons. Allah Almighty is jealous; therefore, beware of daring to cause your own perdition and be exposed to the law of the

Truthful One, the Almighty. Fear Allah's jealousy lest He

should expose you in this world to a scandal which, no matter how hard you try to rectify, you are unable to rectify it. You are within the domain of your own self and in the presence of the honored angels and great prophets, yet you dare to violate the divine canon and the virtuous manners whereby the friends of

Allah try to imitate Him! You hand them over to someone else

other than the Truthful One; you grant your heart to the enemy of the Almighty, committing shirk in your inner-self and in its domain; so, beware lest the Almighty should expose the domain of your own self and expose you before the angels near to Him. Moreover, He will expose you before this world, afflict

you with a scandal that can never be rectified, scandalize you with a rift that can never be sewn together again. Allah, Glory to Him, covers shortcomings, but lie also is jealous. He is the most Merciful of those who show mercy, yet He also is the

most tough when it comes to penalizing. He covers faults so

long as they do not go overboard. When a fault does, God for-

bid, due to such a momentous act and ethical scandal. His jealousy overshadows his covering as you heard in a sacred

37

tradition. Be aware, then, of all of this and go back to your senses; express your regret to Him for He, the most Exalted

One, is Merciful and tries to help people obtain His mercy. If you return to Him, He will hide your past shortcomings, not acquainting anyone with them, vesting virtue upon you, personi-

fying in you the commendable manners, making you the mirror

of His attributes, carrying out your own will in that world; His will is effective in all worlds, according to the following tradition about the people of Paradise: "An angel comes to them [to the residents of Paradise] seeking permission to enter. Once he enters, he will hand them over a letter from Allah after having conveyed the greeting of the Almighty to them. In the letter

there is an address to everyone. Everyone is addressed thus:

'From the Ever-living, the Sustaining Who never dies. I say to a thing BE, and it is, and I have made you this day able to say BE

to a thing, and it is.'"

The Prophet (a.s) goes on to say that it is then that whatever a resident of Paradise commands, it comes to be 1. The command there will be yours if you want to achieve such a status.

If you submit your will to Allah, He, Praise to Him, will make you the manifestation of His will, faring with the affairs; the domain of creating will be at your disposal in the Hereafter.

This is different from the impossible false authorizing.

1 I would like to add to this what the knowledgeable sheikh,

who is familiar with the lshaqi precious stone, one of the precious stones of wisdom, has said: "He creates, through His determination, anything that can have an existence from beyond

such determination, when the determination itself keeps safe-

guarding it." This is recorded on p. 124 of the Message of Unity by Hassan Zadeh Amuli. The tracing of the narrative in the said hook, AIFutuhat al-Makkiyya [the Meccan campaigns],

Vol. 2, p, 150, at the end of Chapter 73, Query No. 154, Bulaq Press edition.

You, dear one, ought to choose for yourself one of these two

matters, for Allah Almighty is independent of us, of the entire creation, of our sincerity and the sincerity of everyone and

everything in existence.

38

THIRD LEVEL OF PRETENSION

This is the pretension that is known to be found among jur-

ists, may Allah be pleased with them, and it, too, has two

degrees :

The FIRST degree is that one carries out his action and

whatever worship is legislated for him, or through what he

deems as rationally commendable, intending thereby to show

his acts of adoration to the people and win their hearts, intending to be pretentious through that act of worship or through its method, or condition, or a part thereof, as described by our fellows in their books of jurisprudence.

The SECOND degree is that he abandons a deed in order to

reach the same result. The greatest professor of theology,

imam al-Khomeini: says the following: "Be informed that pretension in this level is more frequent and common than all oth-er levels because most of us are not qualified for both abovestated levels. In this aspect, Satan does not intercept our way from that highway. But, since most people are worshippers, up-holding the rituals and formal manifestations of adoration,

Satan is active here more than anywhere else, and the plots of the nafs in this level are many more. In other words, since

most people, according to their quality, live in a physical

Paradise, earning stations in the Hereafter through doing good deeds and abandoning bad ones, Satan, too, enters upon them

from this door, instilling in their hearts the roots of pretension and deception in their deeds, so much so that branches grow

out of them and leaves, substituting their good deeds with bad ones,

( 50 ) hurling them into hell and the lower stations through

these same rituals and acts of adoration, rendering the means whereby the abode of the Hereafter are built requiring their

very destruction, introducing into an act what is supposed to get one in the 'Illiyyeen station to be turned by the angels, according to the command of the Almighty, into one qualifying

the individual to be hurled into the inferno. The persons who fit 39

in this level, who have neither rations nor a conveyance for the trip [to the Hereafter], must persist in cultivating themselves fully, and they must not neglect this matter, too, God forbid, lest they should be among the fellows of hell: They lose track of the path to happiness, and the gates of Paradise will be closed before them whHe those of the fires will he opened." Thus the imam, may his shade endure, ends his statement.

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6

Chapter

Levels Of Pretension From The Aspects Of

What Is Hidden and What Is Manifest, A

Precise Research in The Issue Of Pretension

Be informed that pretension, in as far as being manifest or

hidden, has several levels. Some levels are obvious, some are more obvious, whereas some others are hidden, and some are

more so.

The FIRST level: It is the most obvious level: Someone under-

takes an action in order to show off in a way so as if the need to pretend is not there, he will not do it. It is the most obvious of its levels and needs no explanation.

The SECOND level: It is a little bit more hidden: The pre-

tending side is not initially prompted to undertake the action: rather, the side that urges the origin of the action is the Divine side, the nearness to the Almighty, but the non-divine side in-trudes into it, so much so that the act, despite the care of this side, becomes easier to undertake without it, such as one

whose habit is to perform the tahajjud and to perform the night prayer (qiyam). He performs it every night, but when feeling

lazy and drowsy. But when he has a guest, he stands up from

his bed with agility and ease. Had he not hoped for rewards

from Allah, he would not have abandoned the pleasure of sleep not only due to the presence of the guest but this presence had an impact on him, making it easier for him to pray and to offer tahajjud, and the prayer will then be easier than it would have been if he had been by himself.

41

The THIRD level: In it, the pretension is more hidden than it is in the second level: The non-divine side has nothing to do with the original intention to undertake the action, nor in the ease of doing it. But, at the same time, the substance of pretension is present in the heart. It is known that such pretension cannot be identified except through the precise experiment

such as suspected terminal physical ailments since these, after medical analyses, indicate the presence of a disease which the doctor starts treating. So is the case with this spiritual disease: Precision is a must in diagnosing it. If some traces of the ailment are found, its substance will be known to be present. Its indication is that one must test himself at a time when people accidentally get to see his adoration. Will he then feel happy and elated on account of their seeing him or not? An individual may undertake an action with a sincere intention, desiring no pretension in it: rather, he even avoids pretending and hating it. But, at the same time, if he realizes that someone accidentally gets to know about it, he becomes happy, as if he feels

restful when he gets to know that the individual saw how that act exhausted him. Such happiness and elation form the mark

of pretension which is hidden within him, inside him, from

which elation drips. Had he directed his attention towards anyone other than Allah, and had he paid no attention to people, there is no sense in this elation when he knows that others

came to know about his I righteous] deed. Happiness [in such a case] is like a fire that is hidden inside a stone. It becomes evident when the stone hits iron and the hidden fire comes out to the open and becomes obvious when the stone hits a stone.

People who are acquainted with and knowledgeable about the

stone hitting the iron expose the hidden pretension. At that

time, if this person does not react to this pleasure, that is, when happiness appears in his heart, and if he does not rebuke himself for it, reprimand it and meet it with hatred, this pleasure will be like nutrition for the disease's substance. It grows undetected, and the effect of that growth gradually creates in him the need to find a reason for people having, to be familiar with his work. It is like talking about a subject and saying

something casually. For example, if he is one of those who offer tahajjud, he talks about how the weather is cold or hot at the end of the night, or about something like that, so that

42

others will understand that he was awake at that time [for tahajjud].

It may even be more hidden than that, too, such as one does

not say anything to suggest to others familiarity with them,

with his actions, neither explicitly nor implicitly. But people can get to know it from the way he dresses himself, his appearance or general conditions, such as drowsiness, the low tone of his voice, how his lips are withered… , etc. Or he may not

watch himself during his prostration in order to avoid hitting the ground so prostrating will bear an impact on his forehead.

Deep inside his conscience he will be elated about it, that is, that he has a visible mark of adoration. Or he may be at a

mourning commemoration for Imam al-Hussain (a.s) or a gath-

ering for supplication. At the end of the gathering, he does not remove the tears from his eyes hilly. There are marks like

these, and even more hidden than that, which show no such in-

dications: This means that he may perform a [righteous] deed

sincerely without desiring anyone to notice it, nor does he like it to show, yet he expects people to start greeting him, to be generous to him, to meet him with a smile, with respect, to

praise him, to be energetic in carrying out his errands, to be tolerant as they trade with him, etc. If he goes -to a meeting place, they make room for him. If anyone falls short of doing any of these things, he will find it in his heart to be too heavy, and he will find it unsuitable for his status. It is as if he is rewarded by people for the worship which he hides, so much so

that had he not 'performed such worship, he would not have

demanded all of this, nor would he have found it unacceptable when people treat him any less than that. In my view, this has roots which also extend to conceit. In reality, he demands that from Allah, the most Glorified One, and even wonders why the

Almighty did not cast love for him in the hearts of people so they may respect him although he did perform that "sincere"

act of worship! As a whole, unless the presence of worship is similar to its absence with regard to everything relevant to

people, and had one not contended himself with the fact that

Allah knows about what he does, such an individual will not be free of pretension, even as low as the sound of ants' tracks, nor 43

is he free of conceit either which we, by the will of Allah, will discuss.

It is possible this much pretension voids one's rewards.

Nobody is spared such type of pretension except Allah's sin-

cere worshippers, for Satan can have no way of reaching them.

Perhaps a reference to this lies in a statement by the Com-

mander of the Faithful Ali (a.s) who is quoted as having said.

"Allah, the most Great, the most Exalted, will say to those who recite [the Holy Qur'an in public] on the Judgment Day: 'Did

people not sell to you cheap? Did people not start greeting

you'? Were your needs not taken care of by people?' According to tradition, [the Almighty adds saying] 'There are no wages for you here: you were paid your wages in full.'"

Abdullah Mubarak is quoted as having said that it is narrated about Wahab son of Muneer saying that a man from among the

travelers said to his fellows, "We left behind the wealth and the sons fearing oppression, now we fear lest more oppression has afflicted us than that with which people who have wealth have been afflicted! If one of us is met, he likes to be respected because of the station of his piety. If he asks for something, he likes to be given on account of his faith. And if he buys

something, he likes the seller to sell it to him cheaper because of his faith!" This reached the knowledge of their king who rode among a crowd of people. The valley and the mountain

became full of people. That traveler inquired about it and was told that the king was coming. He asked his servant to bring

him food. He was brought beans and oil which he kept stuffing in his mouth, eating violently. The king asked the travelers,

"Where is your fellow?" They pointed to him, whereupon the Icing asked him. "How are you?" The man said, "Like anyone else," but according to another way of telling this incident. "I am fine." The king said. "There is nothing good with this man."

leaving him. The traveler said, "Praise be to Allah Who sent you away from me, thinking ill of me!"

Yes, my dear one, the sincere ones were apprehensive of hid-

den pretension, trying hard to mislead people about their righteous deeds out of their concern about hiding them more so

44

than people's concern about hiding their bad deeds and sins, all of this in the hope their good deeds will be sincere, so Allah will reward them on the Judgment Day by hiding these bad

deeds and sins from people. These sincere folks knew and be-

came convinced that Allah Almighty does not accept anything

hut what is purely for His sake, for he has said. "And they have been commanded no more than this: To worship Allah, offering

Him sincere devotion, being true (in faith): To establish regular prayers, and to practice regular charity: such is the right and straight religion" (Qur'an, 98:5). The Judgment Day is the Day of their want and need for righteous deeds: it is the Day when neither wealth nor offspring will be of any benefit save for one who reaches Allah with a sound heart.

A scholar has provided this example: The desert travelers go

there with the best currency in circulation because they know that the need for it is the greatest in the desert, and that the desert people accept only the best currency. The same applies to those who have hearts. They witness the Day of Judgment

and the rations whereby they supply themselves: piety, know-

ing that the best of rations is piety. They bring about deeds that are free of pretension, protecting themselves against all levels of pretension.

UNIQUE QUR'ANIC JEWEL

When narrating the story of Yousuf (Joseph) and his brothers, the Qur'an states that alter the latter having come to Egypt

and asked Yousuf to provide them with provisions and rations, the Qur'an states the following: "At length, once he had fur-nished them with provisions (suitable) for them, he put the

drinking cup in his brother's saddle-bag. Then a crier shouted out, '0 you (in) the caravan! Behold! You are thieves, without doubt!'' (Qur'an, 12:70).

One of the men of knowledge says, "It is not right to think that Yousuf accused his brother of theft so he would take him and keep him in his company because if Yousufs purpose was

to keep his brother with him, he did not have to accuse him in this ugly way, embarrassing him and letting him fall in the

45

public's esteem as a thief although he is the son of the prophet of Allah. Rather, he could have found another excuse to do that without scratching his dignity. If he had to, he could have done so secretly, say, in a confidential personal meeting rather than before the public, so much so that a crier had to cry out to the caravan, charging it of theft. So, what prompted this announce-ment to the caravan which contained Canaanites who would re-

turn to the land of Canaan and the robbery committed by a

prophet of Allah would be the core of the talk in all meeting places and gatherings'? Men will talk about it and so will the women, and the reputation of a house about which people

know nothing but honor and spirituality will be ruined. There has to be something hidden in this matter."

The man of knowledge goes on to say, "The hidden matter is that reaching truly divine dignity is not easy except through public humiliation. We tie dignity to the truth because posts and stations among the public are not truly dignifying. True

dignity is in reaching nearness to Allah. In other words, it is neighborliness of Allah, the company of the Lord of the Worlds, a station of the truth near an Able King. The company of Allah's servants is the company of Allah. Whoever loves you loves Allah, and whoever hates you hates Allah. Whoever Allah

chooses, He starts with you, Whoever visits his brother in Allah, the Almighty says. 'You have visited Me'. This dignity does not become available except when conditions are met the

greatest of which is humiliation by the people. If you wish, you can say that the greatest obstacle in the path towards Allah

and towards reaching Allah's courtyard is love for prominence and eminence among the people.

So long as the heart remains attached to such love, the own-

er of this heart cannot reach his destination as this narrative tells us: Two ferocious wolves, one of which attacks a herd of cattle from its beginning and the other from its end, are as detrimental to one's creed as loving distinction and a high station.

Therefore, the worldly mastership is rejected in the eyes of

Allah's friends who hate it as the Master of the Pious has said,

'By the One Who split the seed and created the breeze, had it not been for the presence of what is present… , you would have 46

found this world of yours less important in my esteem than a goat's sneeze.' One who treads this path must take this love

out of his heart, even if it means dropping his esteem from

public eyes if he does not feel secure regarding the ills and detriments of his own nuts, just as severing a part of the body is permissible, even obligatory, when there is concern about the health of the rest of the bodily parts. Therefore, the virtuous al-Naraqi has narrated in his hook Mi'raj al-Sa'ada about a schol-ar reciting the Qur'an in front of their students and sincere ones deliberately in a way about which they claim he has no

knowledge and that he is illiterate. Committing a small harm in order to attain a great deal of goodness is rational and according to the Shari'a permissible. This concept has many testimo-nials from those who tread the path towards Aim, and many

refer to it in their poems.

One of the men of knowledge says, "I saw once in a vision someone whom I did not know. He handed me a piece of paper

and ordered me to sign it. I signed it without knowing what is written in it or be familiar with its contents. Once I have signed it, the person who gave it to me said, 'Our narrative is quite hard: it is not tolerated except by an angel who is near to Allah, or a sent prophet, or a servant whose heart Allah tested with conviction.' He read this tradition and said, 'I undoubtedly choose humiliation.' So, I woke up from my sleep and came to

know that I had signed the document of my humiliation among

the people so I may win through such humiliation the ability to bear the difficult traditions and the secrets of Ahl al-Bayt, peace be with them." This topic has a lengthy continuation, so we shall leave it for its place and people.

Generally, the impurities of hidden pretension arc numerous,

countless. As much as one realizes on his own about how a hu-

man being or an animal becomes acquainted with his adora-

tion, he still has a branch of pretension. Since he has no hope set on animals and infants being thus acquainted with his adoration, he does not care whether they are present [when he is

involved in an act of adoration] or if they are absent, whether they notice his adoration or not. If one is sincere, having no desire about anyone [with regard to his acts of adoration], lie will 47

think very lowly of their knowledge of his acts of adoration because he knows that they, too, are like children: They cannot bring him sustenance, nor can they bear any impact on his destiny, nor increase his rewards. Rather, they cannot bring their own selves any good, or any harm, or death, or life, or resurrection … , etc.

At this point, in order to explain what we are driving at, we have to submit a question because the matter is very important: We see most people feeling glad when their good deeds

are recognized; so, is such feeling of happiness lauded by the Shari'a, or is it held as contemptible?

The answer is that it is not lauded at all, nor is it held as contemptible either. Instead, it is praised in some cases and held with contempt in others. Here are the details :

The lauded one falls into four categories :

The FIRST is that one's intention is to hide the acts of obedience and sincerity to Allah, but when people noticed what he

was doing, he has to remember that Allah, the most Praised

One, by virtue of His Attribute expressed in this supplication:

"0 One Who manifests what is beautiful!" has manifested something beautiful, so he is led to think that Allah has fared well with him: The perfection of His munificence is that He

hides obedience and disobedience. But Allah, due to the beauty of His care, hides the man's acts disobedience whHe manifesting those of his obedience. This is a great act of kindness from the part of Allah Almighty in his regard, hence the man is very happy on account of Allah having done such a nice thing for

him, not because people praise what he has done or the status in their hearts which he now occupies. It is as though he sees through it that Allah, due to His favor and mercy, has accepted his deed, so he is happy about it. "Say: 'In the bounty of Allah, and in I His mercy, let them rejoice!'" (Qur'an, 10:58).

The SECOND is that his happiness stems from I his convic-

tion that] since Allah Almighty manifests what is beautiful in him when covering up what is ugly in this life, He will do

48

likewise in the Hereafter as well, for Allah is the Lord of the Hereafter and of this life. Actually, His mercy in the Hereafter is broader than it is in the life of this world as referred to in the traditions. It is as though he is repeating what Imam Zayn al-

'Abidin (a.s) has said in one of his supplications thus: "Lord!

Just Os You have covered up sins that I have committed in this life, I have a greater need that You will veil them in the Hereafter." His elation in the first case is due to accepting what is in the present time without considering the future, whHe in the second his mind is set about the future. One tradition states the following: "When Allah covers up the sin of one of His servants in the life of this world, He covers it up for him in the Hereafter as well."

The THIRD is that his elation stems from his belief that hopefully those who see his act of adoration will emulate him, hence he will have an increase in the rewards. Even if he undertakes the action publicly with this same intention, he will not be violating the spirit of sincerity: He will have the reward, due to his intention, as though he undertook that deed privately firstly, and secondly due to Allah Almighty manifesting his deed and

letting others emulate his act of obedience to Him, and one

who thus feels elated is quite justified. The manifestation of indications of benefit is sweet and undoubtedly prompts one to

be happy bout it.

The FOURTH is this: When he sees how those who noticed

his act of adoration praise him for being obedient to his Lord, he will feel happy and glad that they, too, obey Allah and love to see people obeying Him as well; their hearts incline towards the good deeds. There are some people who see obedient

people and hold them in contempt, or feel envious, or speak ill of them, or ridicule them, or charge them with pretension

rather than praise them for their act of adoration. This elation is due to seeing how good the belief of Allah's servants is, how good their souls are. The sign of sincerity in this type is that one feels happy when people praise someone else just as he

feels happy when they praise him, perhaps even more so, as it is quite obvious.

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As regarding what is contemptible, it is when one feels happy for having earned a status in the hearts of people, so people may now praise and magnify him: This is hated and is contemptible, and surely Allah knows best.

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7

Chapter

Wise AdmonishMment From The Professor

Of Theology, Imam Khomeini,May His

Shade, Endure

Quite often, it so happens that a pretender does not pay at-

tention to the fact that pretension has penetrated his actions, that his good deeds are a pretense and worth absolutely nothing. This is so because the traps of the self (nafs) and those of Satan are quite minute and transparent. Humanity's path is

very narrow and dark: Unless man fully examines, he does not

pay attention to what he does.

One thinks that his deeds are purely for the sake of earning

the Pleasure of Allah, but they instead please Satan. Since it is the human nature to be egotistical, such love for one's own self veils him from seeing his own faults. For example, earning the science of religion, which is one of the important acts of obedience and adoration, may afflict one with pretension in this

great form of adoration even whHe he is unmindful, unaware,

of it. He, as we have already stated, due to the thick curtain, the curtain of self-love, likes to solve a scholarly problem in the presence of scholars and chiefs in a way which nobody else

came up with. It will make him stand out, according to his own thinking. The more he explains the problem sufficiently, attracting the attention of those present, the more elated he

feels. If someone opposes him, he has to overcome and humili-

ate him; he has to make him lower his head before people, forcing his own argument on him, his opponent, whether it is

right or wrong. After vanquishing the opponent, he feels within himself that he has distinguished himself and earned a place of prominence. If a master believes what he says, so much the

51

better. And the poor man is unaware that although he earned a status among the scholars and men of virtue, he dropped in the esteem of his Lord, the King of kings in all domains Who orders the deed of such an individual to cause him to be hurled into Sijjeen.

Quite often, it so happens that a pretender does not pay at-

tention to the fact that pretension has penetrated his actions, that his good deeds are a pretense and worth absolutely nothing. This is so because the traps of the self (nafs) and those of Satan are quite minute and transparent. Humanity's path is

very narrow and dark: Unless man fully examines, he does not

pay attention to what he does.

One thinks that his deeds are purely for the sake of earning the Pleasure of Allah, but they instead please Satan. Since it is the human nature to be egotistical, such love for one's own self

veils him from seeing his own faults. For example, earning the science of religion, which is one of the important acts of obedience and adoration, may afflict one with pretension in this

great form of adoration even whHe he is unmindful, unaware,

of it. He, as we have already stated, due to the thick curtain, the curtain of self-love, likes to solve a scholarly problem in the presence of scholars and chiefs in a way which nobody else

came up with. It will make him stand out, according to his own thinking. The more he explains the problem sufficiently, attracting the attention of those present, the more elated he

feels. If someone opposes him, he has to overcome and humili-

ate him; he has to make him lower his head before people, forcing his own argument on him, his opponent, whether it is

right or wrong. After vanquishing the opponent, he feels within himself that he has distinguished himself and earned a place of prominence. If a master believes what he says, so much the

better. And the poor man is unaware that although he earned a status among the scholars and men of virtue, he dropped in the esteem of his Lord, the King of kings in all domains Who orders the deed of such an individual to cause him to be hurled into Sijjeen.

Lord! Do purge our hearts of the impurity of shirk and hypo-

crisy! Purify the mirror of our hearts from the adornment of

52

loving this world which is the cause of all these matters. Be our Companion, help us, we poor souls who are afflicted with loving ourselves, with loving distinction and eminence, along this dangerous journey, this path that has many obstacles, the narrow and dark one, surely You can do anything at all, Al-

lahomma Ameen.

Among the important acts of adoration in Islam is the con-

gregational prayer service in which the distinction of the imam is greater: therefore, Satan penetrates in it more than in others. His enmity towards the imam is greater. Satan stands to

deprive the imam of this virtue, empty his deed of sincerity, thus .causing him to be lodged in Sijjeen, rendering him associating a partner with Allah, the most Great. Satan enters into the heart of imams of congregational prayers from various

paths such as conceit and pretension, which is making a show

of this form of worship before the public in order to win a

status in their hearts and earn the reputation of being great and sublime. For example, Satan sees so-and-so, who is a great worshipper, having attended his congregational prayers,

whereupon he increases his submission, bringing him closer to himself through various means and tricks in order to get him in the end to fall in his trap. He reminds the imam in his place of meeting, or through another way, to let people know that "So-and-so worshipper attends my congregational prayer service,"

finding in his heart love for this person who attends his service, demonstrating love and sincerity to him in a degree which he does not demonstrate to Allah Almighty or to His close servants even for one moment in his lifetime, especially if the at-tendant of the prayer service is a respected businessman. If, God forbid, a man of distinction attends the prayer service because of losing track of his path, so he joins the ranks in his congregation, the calamity will then be greater. Satan, at the same time, does not leave the imam alone whose group is smaller in number. He attends and insinuates to him to let people understand that "I have abandoned the world and I pray in the quarter's small mosque with the poor and the indigents." [his imam is like his predecessor, even worse, because he nurtures in his heart the vice of jealousy, too, permitting its tree to produce its fruit. Since he had no share of the good things in this 53

life. Satan deprives him of his share in the Hereafter as well, rendering him a loser in this life and in the one to come.

This Satan does not leave me or yourselves alone when we

are not imams of the congregational prayer service not be-

cause we shy away from it but our hands fall short of it, so he insinuates to us to defame the group of Muslims, to charge

them, to suggest that there are faults with that group, counting our deprivation of the group as our isolation from it and abandonment of this life. We identify ourselves as being free of love for the self and for prominence. We, then, are in a worse shape than both previous groups. We do not have the complete life

enjoyed by the first group nor the incomplete one for the

second group, nor do we have the Hereafter. Had we been

able, our seeking eminence and our love for distinction and

wealth would have been greater than both those groups.

Satan is not satisfied with playing tricks on the group's im-

am, nor is the fire of his desire quenched by turning the imam into a fellow of hell, but he also enters the rows of those who follow the imam as well to commit his mischief.

Since the first row is the best, and since the right side of a row is better than the left, it is his first target. Satan takes the hand of the poor worshipper and gets him out of his house despite the distance from the place where the group congregates

and seats him in the right side of the first row. He starts insinuating to him to inform people of this virtue which he at-

tained. This poor man, too, without Satan tempting him, mani-

fests the distinction of his own self with twinkling and cod-

dling, thus his inner shirk shows itself, entering his deed into the Sijjeen (the sinners' record).

Then Satan enters in the rest of rows, mobilizing then folks

to hold on to the first row and to throw the poor worshipper, who is sitting in the first rank, with their arrows of defamation and curses whHe labeling themselves with integrity. It may be noticed that Satan takes the hand of a respected person, especially if he is among the people of knowledge and distinction, to seat him in the other row so that this person may show

54

people that despite his status among the public or in the world of knowledge, whHe a man like him ought not emulate such an

imam, but "On account of my renunciation of this life and abandonment of the selfs desire, I attended his congregational service. Despite all of this.. I even sat in the last row… " The likes of this individual are never seen in the first row at all! Satan does not contend himself with only the imam and those who

follow him but sticks to the heard of one who prays individu-

ally, taking his rein, pulling him out of the home or market, spreading a carpet for him with twinkling and coddling in a

corner in the mosque, a man who does not see any imam as be-

ing just, so he prolongs his bowing and prostrating as people look on, repeating lengthy sacred verses. This person hides inside himself his desire that people must understand the fol-

loowing: "Due to the plentitude of my sanctity and precaution, I abandon the group so I may not be afflicted by praying with an imam who is not just." Besides being conceited and pretentious, this man is also ignorant of the issues of the Islamic Shari'a because the emulation authority of this person perhaps does not apply any criterion besides a good appearance so he

may emulate an imam. Thus do we place the rest of our mat-

ters at the disposal of Satan whHe whenever this cursed one

finds an impure heart to which he resorts, he burns the apparent and the hidden deeds, rendering him among the fellows of

hell even through good deeds. Thus ends the wise admonish-

ment of Imam al-Khomeini.

EXPLAINING

HOW

TO

SCIENTIFICALLY

AND

PRACTICALLY CURE THE HEART OF THE DISEASE OF

PRETENSION

Some scholars of the hereafter have made statements in this

regard which I would like to cite here briefly with sonic

explanations :

You have come to know that pretension voids the good deeds

and causes Allah to hold one in contempt, that it is one of the major lethal sins; so, you have to get ready, be serious and

struggle when bearing the hardship of uprooting this tree from the heart. Reaching the ladders of sublime humanity is not

55

easy without bearing hardships. Likewise, getting rid of terminal diseases cannot be achieved except by taking bitter

medicines. This struggle, though tough in the beginning, fails within the practical field: its hardship gradually dissipates completely.

( 67 ) Let it be known that the origin of pretension is love for prominence. If love for prominence is analyzed, it will be

rendered to three roots :

1. Love for praise: man loves to be praised and lauded; he

finds pleasure in hearing compliments.

2. Flight from ill reputation; man hates to be the source of ill reputation; he is harmed and feels the pain when hearing that his reputation is being chewed.

3. Greed for what people possess.

These three often cause pretension.

It may he observed how one does not desire praise, nor does

he covet lauding, nor does he look at what others enjoy, but he cannot tolerate to be reprimanded and spoken ill of, so he undertakes a pretentious act. He is like a miser individual who participates in a deed of righteousness when he sees others doing likewise, spending money for that cause. He finds himself among generous people who offer plenty of money by way of

charity. He offers little of it by way of charity so he may not be described as a stingy person. Or he may be like a young man

among youths who are worshipping, keeping themselves busy-

with prayer and supplication, so he, too, prays and supplicates so that he may not be spoken ill of and accused of being lazy and idle. And there are among the scholars those who do not

covet to be praised by people, but he cannot tolerate to be

identified as knowing very little. If he is asked about an issue with which he is not familiar, he is swill to issue a verdict without knowledge rather than convincing himself of asking

someone else who is familiar with it for fear he may be held as 56

ignorant. Generally speaking, one can be patient with regard to the pleasure of praise but cannot tolerate the pain of being

spoken ill of.

One who treats these three causes has to know that one

seeks and desires something due to thinking that it is good,

useful and sweet to him, whether it is so now or it will be in the future. If he gets to know that it is pleasurable in the present time but is harmful in its outcome, it will be easy for him not to desire it. It is like one who knows that honey is delicious, so he craves eating it, but if it becomes obvious to him that it contains poison, it will be easy for him to shy away from it. Thus is the case with our subject. No matter how much a servant of Allah knows that pretension is harmful, that it causes him not to reform his harm, that it deprives him of imminent success and the loss of a station in the hereafter, in the final outcome, bringing him punishment, contempt and infamy, when

someone cries out as witnesses testify: "O debauchee, treacherous, pretender, polytheist! Did you ever feel the shame when you traded the obedience to Allah for what the short life

offered'? Did you not watch people's hearts but did not watch out when you meet the Truth, Praise to Him? Did you not seek

popularity among the servants of Allah by doing what brings

about wrath from Allah? Did you not decorate yourself with

what makes you look bad in the eyes of Allah'? Did you not

seek nearness to the servants of Allah by being distant from

Him? Did you not seek their praise by being ill spoken of by Allah? Did you not seek their pleasure by exposing yourself to

Allah's anger'? Did anyone else stand in your eyes as being

thus less important than Allah?!" We seek refuge with Allah from such humiliation and exposure. "If only you could see when the guilty ones bend their heads down before their

Lord… " (Qur'an, 32 : 12).

So, no matter how much a servant of Allah thinks about this

humiliation, comparing it with what he earns from His ser-

vants, from making himself look good in their eyes, a status

among them attained through the venue of pretension, one

which he may not even get, comparing it with what he will face of shame and infamy in the Hereafter… , he will then come to

57

know that pretension is fire that has burnt his good deeds, rendering them into the record of the sinners. He may have lost a high status with Allah by earning this good deed which he

spoiled with pretension, a status that places him in the com-

pany of the prophets and the righteous. Surely pretension has taken him out of the latter's company and send him to the row of the accursed, add to this what he will be exposed to in the life of this world of worries because of trying to please others.

To please others is an unattainable objective; whenever you

please a group, another is displeased with you. What goal does he achieve when he earns their praise? What does he get when

he drops in the eyes of Allah when raising himself in the eyes of His servants whHe such praise does not increase his sustenance, nor does it prolong his lifespan, nor does it benefit him on the day when he realizes his poverty and want? So, 0 pretender who lets pretension covet his good deeds, be informed

that Allah, Praise to Him, is the One Who manipulates the

hearts to either withhold or to give, and the beings have no

choice in this regard, nor is there anyone to sustain them besides Allah. One who sets his hopes on people will never be

free of humiliation and disappointment. Even if he arrives at his goal, he will not be without indebtedness to others, without receiving humiliation; so, how could you abandon what Allah

has in store with Him in exchange for a false hope, for a bad whim that may hit the mark or miss it: If it hits the mark, its pleasure does not compensate for the pain of its bad outcome

and humiliation?!

O pretender! Beware of fearing being spoken ill of! When

people speak ill of you, it does not speed up your demise, nor does it postpone it, nor does it render you among the residents of hell if you are a resident of Paradise, nor does it make you contemptible in the eyes of Allah if you are praised by Him, for all the servants are incapacitated: They cannot cause any harm to their own souls, nor benefit, nor life, nor death, nor resurrection; so, perfection is not achieved through their praise, nor is it diminished because of their criticism. A poet from Banu Tamim once said, "Praise for me is good, whHe criticizing me is bad." whereupon the Messenger of Allah (a.s) said to him.

"You have lied! This applies to Allah: There is nothing good 58

except in praising, nor is there anything bad more than saving something bad about Him. What good would you get when

people praise you whHe you arc held in contempt by Allah'?

And what evil could touch you if people speak ill of YOU whHe Allah praises you'?"

Generally speaking, it is through thinking about these mat-

ters that it is hoped that one's heart is directed towards Allah, so he gets rid of the humiliation of pretension and the cruelty of people's hearts. Lights from his sincerity reflect themselves on his heart whereby his chest is pleased. Through them will

beautiful revelations be opened up that increase his feeling of happiness for being in the company of Allah, of being unhappy when he is in the company of people. He will then hold life in contempt whHe holding the Hereafter with high regards. The

status of the creation drops from his heart. The reason for pretension collapses, and the paths of sincerity will be facilitated for him …

WHEN

SHOWING

OFF

ACTS

OF

WORSHIP

IS

PERMISSIBLE :

ADVICE

BY

IMAM

KHOMEINI,

MAY

I

BE

HIS

SACRIFICE,FOR

THOSE

WHO

WANT

ADMONISHMENTPRACTICAL

TREATMENT

FOR

PRETENSION

Contemplating upon and making plans for the issues which

we have stated, though it has a strong effect in treating this disease, ought not suffice to scientifically treat this dangerous ailment. Rather, the disease has also to be practically monitored. The practical medication is that one must accustom

himself to hiding his acts of adoration and closing the doors whHe doing them just as the doors are closed when sins are

committed, till his heart is convinced that Allah knows about and is familiar with his acts of adoration, and his soul does not stop him from seeking anyone to know about them save Allah.

It has been narrated that a companion of Abu Hafs, the black-

smith, spoke ill of this life and of its people, whereupon Abu Hafs said to him. "You have manifested what you should have 59

hidden. From this day on, do not keep us company." He did not even permit showing this much because in speaking ill of this life there is a sort of invitation to asceticism, and such an invitation often stems out of pretension; therefore, this student

made him the object of his teacher's reprimanding, There is no cure for pretension like hiding. This is so even though it, in the beginning, is very difficult to do, but if one perseveres about it by forcing himself, he will be aided by divine acts of kindness, and good success will be his; it will then be easier for him and his burden will fall through support and help from the

Almighty.

Let me cite for you, kind reader, some of what has been nar-

rated about the biographies of the Imams of Guidance who are

the doctors of the souls :

Al-Qummi, the narrator of traditions, may Allah be pleased

with him, has narrated saying that Imam Ali son of Imam al-

Hussain (peace be with them both) used to come out during

the pitch dark of the night carrying a sack on his back in which he placed small bundles containing [gold] dinars and [silver]

dirhams, and he might also have carried on his back food or

firewood. He would come to a house door and knock it then

hand over something to whoever comes out to open it, covering his face mean hHe so the poor recipient may not know who he

is. When his corpse was placed down for the burial bath, his

hack showed marks of swellings as large as camel humps. He

used to sustain a hundred families from among the poor of

Medina.

The son of Aisha is quoted as having said, "I heard the residents of Medina saying, 'We have now lost the secret charity

when Ali son of al-Hussain (a.s) died.' When he died and was

stripped for the funeral burial, they kept looking at the marks on his back. They said that he used to carry flour sacks on his back during the night in order to get them to reach the poor of Medina stealthily, and he used to say that secret charities put out the wrath of the Lord."

60

The Prophet (a.s) has said, "The greatest rewards for an act of worship are for one who hides them." 1

The Commander of the Faithful, peace be with him, has said,

"One of the treasures of Paradise are: hiding a good deed, persevering whHe facing calamities, and hiding hardships." 2

1 Safeenat al-Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 15.

2 Ibid.

The Imams, peace be with them, are also cited as having

said, "The distinction of a good deed done in secrecy over one done openly is that the first will be rewarded seventy times as much."

There are many other such narratives.

1 I say that the professor, may my soul be his sacrifice, has transmitted this statement from his own great mentor Shah-Abadi (may Allah be pleased with him). But I saw it recorded in the book titled Mirsad al-lbad by Sheikh Najm ad-Deen, and favor belongs to the one who does a good deed first.

61

8

Chapter

Areas Where Showing Acts Of Worship is

Permissible

There is no doubt in the requirement of sincerity in the act of adoration and obedience to win the pleasure of Allah Almighty.

This is taken for granted as one of the principles that have to be taken into consideration in all conditions and circum-stances. No other rational or legislated incentive advances an act for the Divine One more than it. Sometimes what the nafs

insinuates is not even considered: A deed has a great benefit; therefore, it must be undertaken in order to show people. A

pretentious deed gives the person who undertakes it nothing in return as the Holy Qur'an clearly states: ",., like those who spend their substance (just) to be seen by men but do not believe in Allah or the Last Day. They are in parable like a hard, barren rock on which there is a little soil; a heavy rain falls on it, leaving it (just) a bare stone. They will be able to do nothing with whatever they had earned" (Qur'an, 2:264).

Besides adhering to this accepted principle of the Sharma,

we say that hiding a righteous deed, although it contains the benefit of sincerity and the absence of pretension, yet, on the other hand, if it is done openly, it may also produce a benefit which is: making it desirable to people. Thus, people may emulate the one who does it even if the deed may he threatened

with pretension. The deed in both cases is raised in the Holy Qur'an: "If you disclose (acts of) charity, even so it is well, but if you conceal them and make them reach those (who arc

really) in need, that is best for you: It will remove some of your (stains of) evil from you. And, Allah is well acquainted with all What you do" (Qur'an, 2:271). Disclosing them is of two types: 62

One is disclosing the act itself publicly, and the other is talking about it after it has been secretly done.

As regarding the first, it in fact has preference over what can be done secretly and what can be done publicly. If the act cannot be hidden, such as performing the pilgrimage, going for a holy war, attending the congregational prayer service, and the like, it ought to be undertaken and not to let the insinuation have room in it. Doing such deeds openly has nothing to do

with making a show or with pretension. Rather, the benefit of taking the initiative in such deeds is to let people desire them, but the condition in them, as we stated, is that they must not be done just to show off. They are to be done publicly.

Rather, perhaps the catalyst to hide such forms of worship is pretension as we pointed out before. It is this: Some souls covet to have a status in the hearts of people, so people may think well of them. In such case, what is also known is this: One who knows that they cannot be hidden, that they will eventually be known, he tries to hide doing them. This is so because if people see the action later on, and they will have to, they will think that this person does what he does for the sake of Allah, praise belongs to Him, and he does not like people to get to know his deeds. For example, if someone wants to perform the pilgrimage, he knows that this action cannot be hidden from people

because later he will have to be seen in Mecca and-Mina and

perform the rounds and other rituals which will be seen by a

huge number of people. And he, once back from the pilgrim-

age, will be visited by the brethren; so, this deed will imminently be known. But if people come to know about it, they will state that he was hiding the preparations for it, so they will consider him as being sincere in his action and will think well of him. Such an individual is either a fool or a deceiving pretender who wants to hide his pretension from people.

But if the deed can and cannot be hidden, such as offering

charity and prayers, it has to be manifested so long as there is no pretension in such manifesting, that there will be no harm in it such as showing the act of offering charity when harming the one receiving it. In such a case, it has to be hidden. But if it 63

has no other harm, it is better to manifest it because it contains a public invitation to others to do likewise. This is proven by the tradition of the prophets and friends of Allah (a.s) who has said the following about such a person: "… He will have the reward of doing it as well as that of anyone else who emulates it." Tradition narrates that doing a deed secretly equals doing it publicly seventy times. There are manifold rewards for doing a good deed secretly, as many as seventy times, if it follows the custom of doing it secretly. As long as the heart separates itself from the impurities of pretension, and sincerity is complete in both cases, there is no doubt that anything good which is emulated by others is surely better. The concern is only about pretension being unveiled. When the impurity of pretension takes place, emulation of others will not avail the doer, and he will perish by it; secrecy in such a case is better.

But one who manifests the deed must take two matters in-

to consideration :

FIRST, he must manifest it when knowing or thinking it will

be emulated, such as a man doing something good for his fam-

ily, or a mentor in his quarter, or a scholar in his country, re-gardless of the variation of individuals' stations. In other

words, the emulation intention is sound in one who is apt to be emulated; otherwise, there is no benefit in manifesting it, and he will miss out on the benefit of doing it secretly.

SECOND, one must monitor his heart; it may have hidden

pretension, so it invites him to manifest in the excuse of emulation. It, in reality, covets that undertaking the effort to win a station of emulation, and this is a hurdle that cannot be transcended except by the strong ones, the sincere. Others, the

weaklings, must not deceive themselves, so they will perish

and cause others to perish unknowingly. The similitude of the weakling in this dilemma is one who does not know how to

swim well. He looks at a group of drowning persons, so he

feels pity for them and goes to them to cling to him so he may save them from drowning. They cling to him, whereupon this

weakling perishes just as they perish. Thus do the feet of the servants of Allah and of the scholars slip away. Some of them 64

hold on to the strong in their manifestation, but their hearts are not strong enough for sincerity, so their rewards are cancelled by pretension.

Notice that this is shrouded with ambiguity. One who wants

to know the treachery of his soul and whether his aim in manifesting the good deed is to propagate it and advocate it, or if he has already fallen into Satan's trap, he must subject himself to a test. The test is: He must ask himself if a man of truth, the one who works for Allah Almighty, tells him to hide the deed so people may emulate another scholar or worshipper from

among his peers, and he will have the same reward of doing

the good deed publicly… , and if his heart inclines to be the one to be emulated, so he manifests the deed, let him know

that the incentive of pretension is there rather than the desire for divine rewards. It is the desire for people's goodness because they aspired to achieve goodness through the action of

some other worshipper who received his reward. He obtained

it despite his secrecy. So, what is wrong with his heart inclin-ing towards manifesting it other than the eyes of people noticing it, making a pretense for their sake? Let the servant of Allah beware of the soul's deception, for it often deceives, when Satan ever lies in ambush. Love for a public status subdues

one's heart. Seldom are manifested deeds safe from perils; so, lie must not substitute safety for anything else, the safety in hiding and in manifesting, perils that our likes cannot bear; therefore, we and all other weaklings ought to be cautious.

A scholar who was propagating the creed was seen in a vis-

ion and was asked what was done to him. He said, "When I arrived at the barzakh [perhaps equivalent in Catholic theology to the purgatory], I was called upon by my name and was

asked what I had done in my lifetime. I said, 'Lord! I wrote

many books to promote the faith.' I was asked, 'When

propagating the creed, did you intend that the faith was to be promoted, or did you want your own self to be widely known?' I was too puzzled to answer." This is why the tradition states the following: "Be sincere in doing your good deed, for the critic is quite observing."

65

As regarding the second type, it is one talking about the deed and announcing it after having secretly done it. Like the first, this, too, is dangerous. It is even much more so: The tongue is easy to articulate and move about narrating the tale with ease, and it may increase, decrease or exaggerate. The nafs enjoys

manifesting claims supportive of love for itself: so, one whose heart is strong, sincere, in whose eyes people look small, it is equal with him whether they speak well or ill of him. If mentioning it to those whom he hopes will emulate it, thus seeking goodness because of it… , it is permissible to talk about the deed. He will even be required to do so if his intention is pure and free of all perils because it is an invitation to others to do (similar) acts of righteousness, an invitation to do good which is good by itself, especially if one's nature is molded on loving to emulate others and being emulated, feeling the weight of its burdens. Talking plays a strong role in bearing an impact on

people's hearts, on their emulating the speaker. Perhaps a pretender manifesting an act of worship, when people do not know that it is pretension, has a great deal of good in it for people, yet it is evil against the pretender; so, how many sincere

people have been the reason behind their sincerity is to emu-

late one who in the eyes of Allah is a pretender! A narrated tradition states this: "Allah strengthens this religion through the sinning man, and through people who do not ponder on consequences"; it refers to that. Talking about a good deed, if one is sincere without any pretension, is good, although there is something quite interesting which we noticed about great men

and which we would like to state here :

The men of divinity, those who rid themselves of desires,

used to discourage others from narrating visions when attributing them to their own selves. They used to say instead, "I know someone

who

does

such-and-such"

or

"Such-and-such

happened the following to him by way of self-disclosure," for example, because the objective is achieved through the action or disclosure itself, and it is not needed to get to know who did it except if knowing so also plays a role in impressing, in emulating. It is only then that they used to identify themselves.

66

ADVICE BY IMAM AL-KHOMEINI –MAY I BE HIS

SACRIFICE–

FOR

THOSE

WHO

WISH

TO

BE

ADMONISHED

So, my dear one, look deeply into your affairs and hold your-

self to account in each of its deeds. Pull words out of it in every incident, so you may get to know for what purpose it is willing to do good deeds and honorable acts, why it asks about issues relevant to the night prayer, why it recites supplications in the presence of others… Does it intend that we should learn the

answers to our questions from it, or does it teach them for the sake of Allah Almighty? Or does it want to be known by people as one of those who perform tahajjud? Why does it want people to know it is traveling on pilgrimage to sacred places, or even the number of such travels? Why it does not want people to

know about its acts of charity which it offered in secrecy, so it resorts to other means in order that talk will pour into the subject of charity, and it will then announce it offers people charity? If all of this is done for the sake of Allah Almighty, if you want people to emulate you and you will be implied in this

statement: "One who leads to a good deed is like one who does it", manifesting your god deed will then be good. Thank Allah, Praise to Him, with your pure conscience and heart, but be

alert lest you should be deceived by the nafs and by Satan

when they both insinuate to you, and do not let them force you to do a pretentious deed in a sacred manner.

If manifesting is not purely for the sake of Allah, abandon

manifestation, for it is nothing but fame, and it comes from the foul tree of pretension. Allah, to Whom all favors belong, does not accept such a deed, and He orders its doer to be placed in Sijjeen. We seek refuge with Allah against the plots of the self, the nafs, for they are quite minute, and we all know in general that our deeds are not purely for the sake of Allah Almighty.

Had we been sincere worshippers, why does Satan thus fare

with our deeds although he had promised Allah, Praise to Him, that he would never intercept the path of the sincere worshippers of Allah nor stretch his hand to their holy field'? Our

greatest mentor, may his shade prolong, says, "Satan is the dog that stands at the gate of Allah. A dog does not bark at the 67

friends of the house's owner, nor does he harm them. The dog stands guard at the door: he does not bother those with whom

the owner of the house feels comfortable. Instead, he prohibits from entering those whom the owner of the house does not."

If you keep Satan busy about your own self, you must know

that your deeds are not purely for the sake of Allah, not for achieving His pleasure. If you were sincerely seeking Aim, why did the springs of wisdom now flow from your heart to your

tongue even though you have been for the past forty years do-

ing deeds which you regard as bringing you closer to Allah?

This is so although tradition says that if one is sincere to Allah for forty mornings, the springs of wisdom will flow from his

heart to his tongue. So, be informed that our deeds are not

purely for the sake of Allah, nor are we even aware of it. Such is the incurable ailment. Woe unto the folks of obedience and adoration, of Fridays and congregations, of knowledge and

faith, if they open their minds and see the Hereafter having

opened its pavilions! They will then see themselves as being

much worse than those who committed major sins, worse even

than the apostates and those who associate partners with Al-

lah! They will see the tablet of their deeds more black than

that of those folks! Woe unto one who enters hell on account of his prayers and acts of obedience! Alas for those whose charity, zakat and prayers are portrayed in the most ugly form! So, poor soul, you are an apostate… As for the sinners, they are

the ones who believe in His Unity though they disobey Him,

and Allah Almighty forgives the disobedient ones through His

favor if He wills. But He has said, "Allah does not forgive one who associates partners with Him" (Qur'an, 4:48) if he dies without having repented. In the sacred traditions, according to what I have heard, the Infallible Ones, peace be with them,

have said. "A pretender associates partners with Allah; one who shows off his religious prominence, his being an imam, his having studied and earned knowledge, and his fast and prayers… , generally in his good deeds, so he may earn a status in the hearts of people, associates others with Allah," according to the reports transmitted about the ones who are infallible, peace of Allah be with them all. Forgiveness is not extended to him, according to the sacred verse above. Would you have

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been among those who committed major sins, openly declaring your being a debauchee, violating the pure sanctities'?! But

you believed in His Unity, associating none with Allah!

So, my dear one, now think about your matter, cure your

soul, and be informed that fame among people who are worth

nothing is worth nothing. Had a sparrow eaten those hearts, it would not have satisfied its hunger; they are worthless, equal-ing nothing. This weakling creature has no power; power is

found only in the divine holy presence, and the Holy One is the only doer, the One Who causes things, whHe if the creatures

want to create flies, they will never be able to do so even if each supports the other in the endeavor. And if the flies rob them of something, they can never reclaim it. Power belongs to Allah Almighty; He is the One Who bears an impact on all

things in existence. So, exert yourself through all types of self-training and perseverance to write with the mind's pen on the heart's sheet that none can bear an impact on existence save

Allah; none is a doer in the abode of verification save Allah. Enable your heart through all means of practical unifying, which is the first degree of tawhid, and make your heart a believer,

'admitting this blessed word. Stamp your heart with the stamp that there is no god save Allah. Make it the portrait for the tawhid statement. Get it to reach the station of comfort. Attract its attention to the fact that people can neither do any harm nor any benefit to you but, rather, the One Who can benefit or harm you is Allah. Praise to Him. Remove from your mental vision this blindness, for there is concern that you may be among those who will say, "Lord! Why did You resurrect me blind?", that you will be resurrected blind on the Day when the innermost becomes manifest. The will of Allah supersedes all wills.

If your heart becomes comfortable with this blessed statement, so you surrender it to this creed, there is hope your end will he good, the roots of shirk, pretension, apostasy and hypocrisy

will all be uprooted from your heart.

Be informed that this faith agrees with reason and tradition.

There is no ambiguity in it about obligation, although it is possible that one who is not knowledgeable about its principles

and precepts may charge it of forcing obligations. The hearing 69

faculties of those who make such charges are not accustomed to some requirements. It is not linked to obligation essentially.

It, then, is whereas obligation is shirk. Such is guidance, when obligation is straying. It is not appropriate to explain what obligation and what destiny is, but the topic is clear for those who are apt to it, whHe others should not get themselves involved in such pursuit. The One Who brought about the Shari'a prohibits entering into such pursuits [for those who are not qualified to do so]. Anyhow, plead to the Merciful Allah in all cir-cumstances, especially when you are in solitude. Plead to Him with humility, inability, and submission to guide you to the

noon of tawhid, so He may enlighten your heart with the glitter of the unknown, with sincerity in your adoration, so you may

be freed from the w hole world and you will see everything in it as being trivial. Humbly seek the Holy One's help to make your deeds dedicated to I Inn, to guide you to the path of sincerity, of love. If you achieve a good result.

remember that you are a weak servant of Allah, the one who

is stripped of the truth, who spent his lifetime following his whims and desires, whose heart, because of the impurity of

transgressions and heart diseases, no longer accepts any ad-

vice, nor can any verse or tradition bear an impact on it, nor can an; evidence, proof or sign. If you do so, perhaps you will be guided to a path that bring about salvation through supplication, for Allah does not turn away a believer who goes to His door: He responds favorably to his supplication.

Having reminded you of these requirements, though you, too,

knew them, for they are not new… , take your time to cultivate your heart, to examine your deeds and actions, your motion

and stillness. Look into your heart's hideouts, and hold your heart to account as strictly as anyone among the folks of this world who holds his partner accountable. Abandon any deed in

which there is the doubt of pretension and flattery, no matter how very honest such a deed may be. If you see that Your public acts of adoration are not being performed sincerely, do

them privately, although they are recommended to be per-

formed publicly, although rare is the case when pretension

agrees in the origin of an obligation but is often in its

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particularities, in what is commendable, in what is superfluous.

Yet, at any rate, purify your heart from the contamination of shirk through a completely serious effort, through a great deal of exertion, so you. God forbid, may not be removed from this

[transient] world whHe being in this condition [to the Here-

after], hence your status will be bad, and there will be no hope for your salvation, and Allah. Praise to Him, will be angry with you. This is confirmed by a sacred tradition in Wasa'il al-Shi'a which cites Owl) al-lsnad which in turn traces it back to the Commander of the Faithful (a.s) who said, "The Messenger of Allah (a.s) said. 'One who makes himself look good in the eves of people by doing what Allah loves, when being an opponent

of Allah in secrecy by committing what Allah hates, will find Allah angry with him, holding him in contempt.'"

This tradition carries two possibilities. One of them is when an individual beautifies his good deeds for people when

privately committing ugly ones. The other is that he goes out to the public and shows others what he has done when deep

down he is only a pretender. At any rate, this tradition contains a reference to pretension because doing what is obligatory and what is commendable, without meaning to make a show, does

not incur the wrath of the Lord. Rather, it can be said that the second possibility is more likely because doing ugly deeds publicly is uglier than doing them privately. Anyhow, God forbid that the King of Kings and the most Merciful of those who

show mercy should be wrathful with man. I seek refuge with

Allah from the wrath of the Clement One.

Here ends his sacred statement, may his shade he prolonged.

NOTICE :

As we have repeatedly stated, the traps of the nafs are nu-

merous; Satan lies in ambush against man in order to rob him

of his capital for the Hereafter through countless tricks. But the more familiar with these tricks one is, such familiarity may benefit him in being saved from them. Let us add to the above the following :

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It may coincide that one spends the night with his adoring friends who stand up for the tahajjud and spend the entire or some of the night praying, and he in his customary case may

offer tahajjud, but he used to rise close to dawn. So, if he sees them, his energy is fired up in harmony with them, so much so that he performs more than what he is used to, or he may pray although he was not accustomed to performing the night prayer. Also, he may be among a crowd of fasting persons, so he is energetic in performing the fast. Had it not been for them,

such energy would not have been fired up. In cases such as

these, a question is put forth: "Is this pretension, so he has to abandon it?"

The answer is: Not at all. Rather, it can be explained in a way wherein some matters are distinguished from others. A believer, since he wishes to adore Allah, performs the night prayer and fasts during the daytime and may be hindered by

obstacles, stopped by being busy, overcome by desires and

pleasures, overcome by indifference, etc. If he accompanies

those who adore, this indifference may abandon him, or the

obstacles may be pushed away from his path, or he may not

keep himself busy doing anything, so he is energized for adoration. For example, he may be at home more capable of sleep-

ing, enjoying a supple bed, or enjoying his wife, or talking with his children and relatives, or he may be busy with his daily

transactions. These distract him from adoration during the first hours of the night, so he has no energy to stand up for prayers at the end of the night, if he finds himself in someone else's home, all these distractions will be removed from him.

Moreover, he may be manipulated by an impetus for righteous-

ness such as seeing his friends turning their attention fully towards Allah, turning away from the life of this world, adoring their Loved One, feeling the pleasure of addressing Him, so the catalyst of goodness moves within him, prompting hint not to

be late from the field of worship. He will then compete with

them in their endeavor. It is in such doing that the competing ones should compete with each other. There is no doubt that

this has nothing to do with pretension. Or one may be robbed

of sleep because of not being used to that house, or for any

other reason, so he takes advantage of his sleeplessness. But 72

when he is at home, sleep overtakes him. Perhaps it may be added to the above his being always at home, and his soul does

not permit him to always offer tahajjud except for a short

while. His condition will be a cause for such energy.

The same applies to fast. It may be hard for him to fast at

home in the presence of delicious foods, and it is difficult for him to keep himself away from them. But if these foods arc not present, the religious impetus to fast takes over. The available pleasures are obstacles and catalysts that weaken one's religious practice. If one is freed from them, the catalyst will be strong. Satan in such situations insinuates to him through pretension and says. "Do not do it, for you will then be a pretender, for you used not to do it at home nor offer more than your

[regular] prayers." He must not pay attention to such insinuation but undertake the deed so Satan and his nafs may lose

hope and not repeat their insinuation. And his desire and en-

ergy may be for the sake of their observing him thus engaged, being concerned about what they may say and the possibility of their accusing him of being lazy, especially if they think that he is among those who offer tahajjud and adoration. His soul does not permit him to fall in their eyes. It wants to maintain its status. It is then that Satan, contrarily to the first possibility, says to him. "Offer your prayers, for you are sincere, and you do not pray for their sake but for that of Allah since you used to pray every night. And if you do not pray for one night or

more, it is due to the abundance of hindrances. Your catalyst tonight is the absence of the obstacles, not for the desire that they see you."

The diagnosis in both situations confuses those who do not

have a keen insight. If it is known that the catalyst is to bring the hearts of the public closer, he may either abandon the adoration or not offer anything more than what he used to do, not even one more prostration. If he comes to know that his energy is due to the removal of the obstacles and to compete with others for winning the Pleasure of Allah and His obedience, he

must take advantage of the opportunity and keep himself busy

worshipping his Lord. The diagnosis in both situations is tough for all those who do not have a keen insight. If one gets to

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know that the motive is to attract people's hearts, he must either abandon the acts of adoration or not add anything to

What he is accustomed to doing, not even a single prostration.

If he gets to know that the catalyst is the removal of obstacles and the competition for achieving the pleasure of and obedience to Alin, let him seize the opportunity and keep himself

busy worshipping his Lord. But if the matter is confusing to

him and he is unable to diagnose the matter, let him ask him-

self this question: "If these men see him praying at a place where they do not see me, will I be generous with my prayers

when they do not notice me?" If there is such generosity, let him pray, for the motive is right. But if he sees himself as having hardship doing so whHe they did not see him, let him leave it for its motive is pretension.

Likewise, he may be present during a supplication meeting.

He looks at them and is overcome with tears out of fear of Allah. But had he heard the supplication when being by himself, he would not have wept, Seeing people weak softens the heart; so, this is not pretension. Rather, he may not be able to weep, so he feigns weeping. This feign weeping, too, may not be motivated by pretension; instead, he fears for his heart lest it should be hard when he sees people weeping and when his

eyes do not shed tears: therefore, he forces himself to pretend to he weeping. This is commendable. The mark of truth in this is that he asks himself this: If he heard them praying when

they could not see him, will he be concerned about his heart

being hard, so he would feign weeping or not? If he does not

find tears when being unnoticed by them, his concern is not

due to his heart being hard, but it is out of his fear lest it should be said that he is hard-hearted. In this case, he ought to abandon his pretense of weeping. And the cause of weeping

may he due to grief, but it is mixed with pretension during the time when he weeps, so he raises his voice and becomes quite

vocal in his wailing; this additional enthusiasm is pretension.

He first wept for the sake of Allah but then Satan kept him doing so. Pretension may invite him to keep his tears on his face in order to show it.

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On the whole, one's nafs and Satan have countless tricks. As a tradition states, "Pretension has seventy doors." keeping in mind that "seventy" is an indication of "many", when each door may open up to many other doors. Another tradition says,

"Seek refuge with Allah against the pretentious submission."

The meaning of "pretentious submission" is that the organs, the limbs, not the heart, are submitting to Allah, although it could have another meaning. In his supplication, the Master of those who Prostrate [Imam al-Sajjad (a.s)] states this: "Lord! I seek refuge with You against my publicly looking good in the

eyes of people when looking ugly in Your eyes privately, keeping people feeling pity for me whHe losing that with which You are more familiar than I am, demonstrating to people my best

condition whHe revealing to You my worst, seeking nearness to people through my good deeds, fleeing away from You through

my wrongdoing, hence I will be afflicted with Your contempt,

and Your wrath will fall upon me! Do, Lord, shelter me from all of this, O Lord of the Worlds!

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9

Chapter

A Seal Of Musk

As we conclude these sheets, we would like to cite a sacred

tradition narrated by al-Kulaini (may Allah be pleased with

him) in his sacred book Al-Kafi from the Master of those who

believe in the Unity of Allah, namely the Commander of the

Faithful (a.s). Sheikh al-Saduq (may Allah be pleased with him) has narrated a similar one from Imam Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq

(a.s). It is one of the pieces of advice by the Prophet (a.s) to Ali (a.s). The tradition is thus rendered through isnad to Abu Abdullah (a.s) who said that the Commander of the Faithful (a.s) had said, "There are three distinctive marks of a pretender: He is energetic [in feigning acts of adoration] when he sees

people, is lazy when alone, and loves to be praised in all his affairs."

Imam al-Khomeini, may his shade prolong, has said the

following :

Since this disgusting sin may be hidden, not known by even

the person with which lie is afflicted: He claims his deed is sincere, whereas in his innermost, he is among the pretenders.

For this reason, they have stated a mark of identification so one may thereby identify his innermost, and he may thus start curing himself of it :

" It thus deceives one through any means it can. The truth is that this happiness and energy are not prompted except by a

heart disease with which this poor man is afflicted, when he

considers his nafs as being sound, not sick. There is no hope that he will be healed. This wretch, in his innermost, in his 76

pith, in his conscience, loves to show people his deed when lie is being unaware of it. Rather, he is demonstrating disobedience in the form of adoration, turning pretension into propagation for the creed. Although it is commendable that one per-

forms what is recommended when he is by himself, why does

the nafs always love to undertake it in public? It weeps for fear of Allah in public congregations with energy and gladly, but

when alone, no matter how it tries, it cannot squeeze a drop

out of the eye. Why does fear of Allah take place only in congregations? One weeps and supplicates in the presence of

thousands of people during the nights of Qadr, offering a hundred prostrations during his prayers, reciting the Greater

Jawshan supplication and the smaller one as well as chapters

from the Holy Qur'an without feeling lazy, nor is he tired doing all of that. But if he prays ten rek'at in his solitude, he feels a back pain, and he is in such a bad shape! If the deeds that

come up of an individual are prompted solely to win the Pleasure of Allah Almighty, or to attain His mercy, or out of fear of His fire, or out of eagerness for Paradise, why should this individual love people to praise him for them? Why should he listen to their praise, directing his heart towards them so he may

hear someone lauding him or saying that so-and-so is a man of adoration, a worshipper who is keen to be in the forefront

when the time of prayers comes, is mindful of what is com-

mendable?! Or so he does so in order that he may hear

someone saying that so-and-so, who performed the pilgrimage,

is a trustworthy man, a man who can be reliable upon with re-

gard to his transactions, etc. If one looks forward to Allah

Almighty with anticipation, why should he care for all this pro-fuse love [for public praise]? If [love for] paradise and [fear of]

the lire are your catalyst to undertake this deed, why do you care for such love? So, be mindful lest this love should come from the branches of that bad tree, pretension, and try your

best to repair what you can repair, and rid yourself of such

love.

There is no harm in attracting attention to something in this regard which is: For each of these psychological conditions

that arc more than the good and the bad aspects, there are

many levels, To be characterized by one of the good attributes 77

when being dissociated from a level of bad attributes may be the specialty of those who know Allah, who are friends of Allah.

As regarding the rest of people, they are as they are in their levels. To be characterized by what is a shortcoming in the

sight of the men of knowledge, of the friends of Allah, does not seem to them [to these faulty persons] to be a shortcoming.

Rather, it may be perfection of a sort. Also, the merits of these individuals seem to be bad to the men of knowledge, to the

friends of Allah. Pretension, which we are discussing, is actually one of these attributes. Salvation from all its levels is the privilege of the friends of Allah. Others do not share them in it.

The general public of people being characterized by one of

its levels is not a shortcoming based on the station in which they are. It does not harm their conviction or sincerity. For example, the hearts of the general public, according to their

nature, incline towards showing people what is good about

them, even if they do not do so with the intention of showing off. But their souls by nature are inclined to such love, and this does not necessitate rendering the deed as void or describing them as unbelievers, hypocrites and polytheist, although this is surely a shortcoming in the sight of the friends of Allah, a

shirk, a hypocrisy in the view of a friend of Allah, or one who knows Allah. To be totally free of absolute shirk, to be re-deemed of all its levels, is the first station of the friends of Allah who have other stations not suitable for elaboration here.

The Infallible Ones, peace be with them, have said that their adoration is one of freemen's, that is, solely out of love for Allah Almighty, neither coveting Paradise nor fearing hell. It is one of their ordinary stations and the first degree of their mastership. There are for them, peace be with them, in their adoration conditions which are beyond our comprehension.

Based on what we have stated, a combination can be made of

the tradition cited above transmitted from the Messenger of Allah (a.s) and the Commander of the Faithful (peace be with

both of them), and the other tradition by Zurarah who cites

Abu Ja'fer, peace be with him, as narrated by Muhammad ibn

Yacoub who traces it back to Abu Ja'fer, peace be with him,

saying, "I asked him about a man who does something good.

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Another sees it and is pleased with it. He said that there is no harm in it, that everyone loves to look in the eyes of people as a man of goodness unless he does something solely for this

purpose." If one loves to be praised, he is regarded in one of the traditions as manifesting pretension, when in the other tradition the harm is removed when someone is pleased with

something good coming out of his deed. The common denomin-

ator in the combination is the difference of opinion according to the status of the individuals. There is another way to look at the combination of both traditions which we have overlooked.

Here the speech of our professor [al-Khomeini], may Allah

prolong his shade, ends.

I say, perhaps the other way in combining both traditions is

that the first tradition examines the love for praise at the time when a good deed is being done, and it is a mark of pretension.

The other tradition examines love for praise after a deed is

already done.

Or the love for praise in the first tradition is made as a mark of pretension, arranged by the other two marks, as is linguistically clear, especially since paying attention to the first marks (energy when people see a doer of good deed and laziness

when he is by himself), and they must be observed together or separately so they may comprise a mark for pretension; otherwise, if one of them is supposed, say the energy when people

see him and also when alone or laziness in both cases, it is definitely not a mark of pretension. If it is added to love for praise, it will definitely be a mark for pretension, a sure revelation of it, and this is contrary to praise alone, for it is not a mark of pretension as the second tradition says.

Or we may say that the first tradition means the pretender,

because of being afflicted with the disease of pretension, loves people to praise him in all his affairs, as the tradition states. As for the second tradition, it is similar to partial obligation: it points out to the appearance of goodness from one when

pleased: there is no harm so long as he did not do the deed for solely this purpose. Surely Allah is the One Who knows best,

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and the last of our supplication is: Praise to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

These sheets have been written down by the indigent, the

one needs the mercy of his Lord, Sayyid Ahmed al-Fahri, on the twentieth day of the blessed Month of Ramadan in the city of

Damascus in the year 1404 with the one who undertook the mi-

gration may be prayers and peace.

[This concludes the dissertation on pretension. 1

CONCEIT

A DISSERTATION ABOUT CONCEIT

CONCEIT ACCORDING TO TRADITIONS

MEANING OF CONCEIT

AN EXPLANATION BY IMAM KHOMEINI

DEGREES & LEVELS OF CONCEIT

In the Name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful

A DISSERTATION ABOUT CONCEIT

CONCEIT

Before we start to explain the meaning of conceit, the dam-

age it causes, its characteristics and how this contemptible

case is treated, we ought to pave the way for all of that with some citations from the Qur'an and the traditions of Ahl al-Bayt, peace be with them all.

Suffices to identify the significance of conceit and the calamity this contemptible case brings about, in the view of the

Qur'an, to read verses 103 – 105 of the blessed Chapter "The Cave", Al-Kahf, where Allah, Praised is He, says, "Say: 'Shall we tell you of those who lose the most with regard to their

deeds, those whose efforts have been wasted in this life, when they thought that they were acquiring good by their deeds?

They are those who deny their Lord's Signs and the fact that

they shall meet Him (in the hereafter): Their deeds will be in vain, nor shall We grant them any weight on the Day of Judgment" ( Qur'an, 18:103-105 ).

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We derive from these sacred verses many interesting points on which we are not going to elaborate, but we would only like to point out that conceit, according to these verses, becomes a cause for many good endeavors in this life to go to waste: it leads to disbelieving the Signs of Allah and in meeting Him, a cause for voiding the good deeds; so, conceit spares no good

deed whereby salvation is anticipated. For these reasons, the good deeds of the conceited ones will have no weight on the

Judgment Day. This suffices as the destruction caused by this case that brings loss.

As regarding conceit according to traditions, the revered Al-

Kafi traces to Ali ibn Suwaid asking, the father of Imam al-Hassan (a.s) about conceit which ruins good deeds. The Imam (a.s) said, "Conceit is of many levels, One of them is that the bad deed of a servant of Allah is decorated for him, so he sees it as good and he likes it, thinking he is doing something good.

Another level is when a servant believes in his Lord, so he

thinks he has clone Allah Almighty a favor whHe Allah is the

one who bestowed His favor on him." The Imam (a.s) is also cited as having said, "One who is absorbed by conceit perishes." Also he is cited as having said, "Someone sins then regrets. He does a good deed whereby he is pleased, so he re-

laxes his condition. It would have been better for him to maintain his first status rather than enter into that." The Imam (a.s) is also quoted as having said, "A scholar came to a worshipper and asked him about his prayers. The worshipper said, 'Should someone like me be asked about his prayers while 1 have been

worshipping Allah since such-and-such?!' asked him about his

tears. The man said to him. 'I cry till my tears pout out.' The scholar then said to him. 'Your laughter when being afraid is better than your weeping when you are thus bragging about it.

Nothing of the good deed of a braggart is ever raised.'"

The Messenger of Allah (a.s) has said, "Three things are lethal: an obeyed miserliness, an illicit desire that iss followed, and one who is proud of himself" He (a.s) has also said, "I lad you not sinned, I would have feared for you what is greater than

sinning: conceit, conceit."

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Ibn Mas'ud has said, "Perishing is brought about in two situations: despondency and conceit. It is when one loses hope for the mercy of Allah, desponds from salvation, loses hope from

self-reform."

Ibn Mas'ud has combined both of these because one's happi-

ness is pawned by his endeavor and serious effort in seeking it.

The Almighty has said, ".., man can have nothing but what he strives for" (Qur'an, 53:39). Unless one energetically seeks his objective and original goal, he will never attain the sought happiness. Each of these two characteristics, despondency and

conceit, plays a role in slowing down an effort towards one's goal, prohibiting one from seeking it as he ought to. As regarding despondency, the morale of the despondent person is not

prepared to pursue his objective. One who desponds from re-

forming himself, so lie is not energetic in order to save it, he may do something that is faster in causing his perdition. One who desponds from reforming himself does not mind committing any wrongdoing; therefore, despondency from the broad

mercy of Allah is considered as one of the greatest sins. As for conceit, since the conceited person thinks he achieved his happiness and won his objective and goal, he, too, stops his good endeavor and pursuit.

In other words, man does not seek something which is

already available rather than something which is impossible.

Happiness in the eyes of the conceited person is already

present, and in the eyes of the despondent person it is im-

possible. In this regard, we contend ourselves with this much.

MEANING OF CONCEIT

Conceit means one sees and admires himself and his actions.

It is a psychological condition which we sometimes find in

ourselves. The meanings given to it, that have been mentioned in language books, mostly explain its requirements or consequences such as elation, arrogance, and denying what others hold against you as objectionable, according to Al-Munjid.

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These meanings, as you can see, are among the requirements of the state which we mentioned in one's nafs. As regarding

the idiomatic meaning for conceit, according to the definition of the scholars of mannerism, it is, according to some scholars of the hereafter, magnifying the blessing, taking it for granted whHe forgetting to attribute it to the One Who bestowed it.

Allama al-Majlisi, may Allah sanctify his soul, has said that conceit is magnifying the good deed, seeing it as plentiful. As regarding feeling pleased with it when feeling humble to the

most Exalted One and thanking Him for enabling its doing, it is good, commendable.

I say that what this great traditionist has said, that is, conceited is "one who sees himself as not having fallen short of undertaking the deed", a reference to a particular conduct to which narrations have referred. Among such traditions is one

recorded in the sacred book A1-Kafi from the father of al-Hassan, namely Imam Mousa son of Ja'fer, peace be with both of

them, who said once to one of his sons, "O son! You have to maintain your endeavor. Do not ever think of yourself as having transcended the stage of falling short of perfecting your worship of Allah, the most Exalted, the most Great, and arc

obeying Him, for Allah is never adored as He should be." it is also as the Messenger of Allah (a.s.) had said, being the best of all descendants of Adam, the one who is the best of them in his knowledge of Allah, and the one who adored Him the best, addressing Him thus: "We did not know You as You ought to he known, nor did we adore You as You should rightly be adored."

Al-Kafi, too, cites Jabir [son of Abdullah al-Ansari saying that the hither of Imam Ja'fer (a.s) said to him, "O Jabir! May Allah never get you out of the feeling of being neglectful and of being derelict in worshipping Allah."

The great traditionist, 'allama al-Majlisi, has quoted the

knowledgeable critic, the great scholar, and the most revered mentor Baha ad-Deen al-'Amili, may Allah be pleased with him, saying, "There is no doubt that if one does a righteous decd, such as fasting on certain days, spending the night praying and the like, feels happy about it. If he feels like that on account of 83

these deeds being a boon from Ain, a blessing from Him, the most Exalted One, upon him, when being afraid of their disappearance, pleading to Allah to grant him more of them… , such feeling is not conceit. But if he thinks that they represent his own characteristic, that they are done by his person, being attributed to him, thinking much of them and feeling reliant upon them, seeing himself as being outside the limit of dereliction, having the attitude as if he is doing Allah. Praise to Him, a favor because of them, such is conceit."

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10

Chapter

Explanation By Imam AL-Khomeini

Imam al-Khomeini, may his shade prolong, has a viewpoint

about this definition. He says the following :

"The explanation of conceit according to what is mentioned by the greatest mentor Bah ad-Deen is correct, but the deed

has to be examined more generally than just inwardly and out-

wardly, more generally than a good or an ugly deed, because

conceit, just as it is ascertained by the acts of the senses, it also is compared with the side actions, running them. Just as the person who has a commendable merit feels conceited, admiring his merit, so is the case with the one who has the bad characteristic, too, for he may also feel proud of himself or of his characteristic. It is as has been indicated in the sacred tradition which we mentioned as narrated by Ali son of Suwaid

quoting the father of al-Hassan (a.s) in which the Imam (a.s) says, "… And among them is that they had deed of a servant of Allah is decorated for him, so he sees it good, and he feels

proud of it, thinking that he is doing well. And among them is that a servant believes in his Lord, so he thinks he is thus doing Allah a favor. The reason why he mentioned these two is

because they are hidden from the sight of most people, and so that people may also get to know that the good feeling and elation, which the Baha'i mentor excludes from conceit and re-

gards as good, is according to the type of one's attitude."

The gist of the viewpoint of imam al-Khomeini with regard to

the statement of the mentor indicates three matters:

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FIRST : The mentor, may Allah have mercy on him, has specifically talked about conceit when someone feels conceited

about his physical deeds, such as -fasting during the time and praying during the night, and the like, and apparently his objective from doing so is not the same as he had mentioned of

the deeds of adoration, benevolence, etc., not looking at the inward deeds. Conceit, as we have already stated, is found in the innate, the inwardly, deeds such as one feeling proud of his belief, which is an action relevant to the heart, an internal submission, feeling proud of his belief in the Messenger as though he feels he is doing Allah and His Messenger a favor, as stated in the tradition quoted above. Thus, conceit is found in the inward characteristics and faculties such as conceit about knowledge, courage, generosity, etc.

SECOND : The mentor, may he be sanctified, specifically discussed conceit about side deeds, with regard to the good

deeds, too, saying, "There is no doubt that one who does good deeds feels elated." The case is that conceit is not confined to the good deeds but it may also take place in the bad ones.

Quite many unbelievers and hypocrites feel proud of their un-

belief and hypocrisy. Those whose faculties are mean are

dragged into feeling proud of their bad characteristics as we, God willing, will mention. We have pointed out to all of this in the tradition cited above, which is the statement of the imam in which he says that a servant's bad deed is decorated for him, so he sees it as being good, and he likes it. Such is the result of Satan, the evil one, confusing him, and such is the bad nafs

decorated for man.

THIRD : According to the imam's viewpoint with regard to the statement of the mentor, that is, the feeling of happiness and elation that happens to man upon doing some righteous

deed, if it is according to what the mentor says, that is, with regard to such deeds being a boon from Allah … , etc., such elation is not conceit. This pursuit, with regard to most people, is according to its kind and is not applicable to all persons. There arc individuals among people who arc among the sincere worshippers of Allah. They have gotten rid of the nafs and of its desires. Their eyes are too blinded to see their nafs in its entirety, 86

so they do not see any deed for themselves except that they feel happy and pleased about it. They see their souls being

owned by their real Owner; they have neither power nor might

of their own. Their will is fused into the will of Allah. They are described by this verse: "Allah sets forth the parable (of two men: one) a slave in the service of another; he has no power of any sort, whHe (the other) a man on whom We have bestowed

goodly favors from Us, and he spends (freely) of it, privately and publicly: Are the two equal? (By no means:) praise be to Allah. But most of them do not understand" (Qur'an, 16:75). They are the testimony to this verse of the Almighty: "They are (but) servants [whose status is] raised to honor [and distinction!"

(Qur'an, 21:26). These are the sincere ones who, when being

heedless about Allah and cast a look at their good deed, they find happiness and pleasure, whereupon they seek forgiveness

of Allah for such a sentiment despite their lofty status with Allah, for the good deeds of the kind ones are the bad deeds of those close to Him.

DEGREES AND LEVELS OF CONCEIT

As we have quoted from the imam, may his blessings endure,

about pretension, that is, it has three levels, and each level has two degrees the explanation of which has already been indicated, so is the case with conceit: it, too, has the same levels and degrees,

The first level is conceit about beliefs. The second is conceit about the faculties. The third level is conceit about deeds. The first level has two degrees: the first is conceit about belief and true branches of knowledge. The second degree, in contrast, is conceit about disbelief, apostasy and inward beliefs. The

second level, too, has two degrees: The first is conceit about good faculties and commendable merits. The second, in contrast, is conceit about bad manners and ugly faculties. The

third level, too, has two degrees: conceit about the good deeds.

Contrasting the second degree is conceit about ugly deeds and wrongdoings.

LEVELS OF CONCEIT

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CONSEQUENCES OF CONCEIT

LEVELS OF CONCEIT

A scholar of the hereafter has divided conceit into two levels.

The conclusion of what he says, with some explanation from

our part, is this: Conceit exists in man for a merit the owner of which sees it as a mark of perfection, there is no doubt about it, and everyone considers himself, in his innermost, as being complete, whether in his knowledge, or wealth, or all other

forms of perfection. He, hence, goes through conditions, in-

cluding fear of losing these perfections, fear of being robbed of that perfection as a whole or in part, or a shortcoming happens to him which spoils his purity. This condition is not described as making anyone wonder.

Also among them is that he does not fear its disappearance,

but he feels elated about this perfection, so much so that he sees it as a blessing from Allah Almighty; he renders it to the Almighty, not to himself; such elation and pleasure about perfection is not conceit, either.

But man has a third status which is labeled as conceit. He is not concerned about the disappearance of perfection but feels elated about its existence, and he feels glad about it. At the same time, his heart becomes attached to it, and he is happy

because it is perfection and eminence, not due to its attribution to the Truthful One, the Almighty, not one of His boons, and he has neither independence nor a principle for this perfection. If he believes in his heart that this perfection is a blessing from Allah, that the Almighty can take it away from him whenever I le wishes, such a feeling leaves no room for conceit to find its way to his heart. If we suppose there is conceit in him, such a belief, the remembrance that Allah, the most Praised One, can take it away from him whenever He wills, removes conceit

from his heart. Based on all of this, conceit is that one looks with magnifying glasses at a blessing and perfection for his

own self, and his heart becomes attached to it, forgetting to attribute it to the True Giver of Boons. Such a condition is the first level of conceit. If he rises from this condition and sees it in his heart as though Allah Almighty owes him a favor, that he 88

has a status and nearness to [lint, he expects Allah Almighty to grant him eminence in the life of this world as a reward for his

[righteous] deed. And if something wrong happens to him, he

goes further in his attitude to the extent that if this wrong happens to a debauchee, it would not have been far-fetched in his view in this goal; this status is called flirtation and coquetry.

For example, it may coincide that he gives someone

something. He magnifies this giving in his view and considers himself as having done that someone a favor. This person admires his giving. If he employs the same person to whom he

gave something, and if he rests his hopes on getting something out of him, thinking it far-fetched that this person would disagree with him, this condition is called flirtation and coquetry, and it is a higher level than conceit. In every case of flirtation, conceit exists, and not the contrary. Conceit can exist through the sentiment of flirtation because the balance and the criterion in conceit is over-estimating a deed and forgetting the blessing without expecting a reward. As regarding flirtation, it accompanies the expectation for the greatest reward. If one expects Allah, Praise to Him, to definitely respond to his supplication, having no inner thoughts of being rejected, he will he surprised if his supplication is not honored. He does not ask himself why his supplication is not honored. Or he is not surprised when the supplication of a debauchee is not honored, but he is surprised when his own supplication is not honored! This poor person, in addition to his conceit, is flirting with Allah

Almighty, too. 1

Be informed that conceit, in each of the previous levels, has

[sub] levels some of which are obvious: One goes in its direction without being aware of it, without noticing, And some of them are minute, quite thin to the extent that unless one fully examines, he will not know accurately nor realize properly.

Also, some of its levels are more intense and causing more perdition than others.

There is a reference to this in the "Opening Supplication"

(du'a al-iftitah. It states the following: "… so I became supplicating to You feeling secure, asking You, feeling close to You, 89

neither afraid nor being apprehensive, flirting with that for which I seek You; so, if Your response is slow, I remonstrate with You due to my own ignorance … , etc."

FIRST LEVEL :

It is the highest of all, and it does the most harm. It is a condition found in man because of intense conceit, so intense it is that he considers himself as doing a favor to the One Who bestows His favors on him, the King of Kings, on account of his belief or other merits. He claims his merits have created,

through his conviction, an expansion in the domain of the

Truthful One, the most Exalted One, creating dissemination of His creed, that he, because of promoting the Shari'a, or due to his instruction and guidance, or his enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, or by his safeguarding His limits, or because of his prayer niche and pulpit… , he created in Allah's creed freshness. Or it is because of his attendance at the congregations of the Muslims, or his holding mourning congrega-

tions for Abu Abdullah, Imam al-Hussain (a.s), that the creed has enjoyed promotion which he feels he thus has done the

Almighty, His Honored Messenger and the Master of Martyrs a

favor, even if such a thought did not surface, he thinks it in his mind, inwardly. From this door comes the attitude of someone

doing a favor to the servants of Allah in the religious matters such as one offering obligatory and commendable charities, his assistance to the weak and the poor. So he feels he has done

them a favor, and this attitude may be hidden even from his

own self, too. (An explanation of people having done no favor to the Almighty, but that Allah does them favors, has already been made before in the discussion of pretension).

SECOND LEVEL :

It is when one flirts with Allah Almighty through the intensity of conceit in his heart. This flirtation is different from the feeling of having obliged, although some scholars do not differenti-ate between them. A person filling this category claims he is loved by Allah Almighty, considering such love to be extended to those who are close to him and to those who preceded him.

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When one of the friends of Allah is mentioned by name, or when a talk goes on about those who are loved by Allah or who love Allah or the one on such a path who attracts others to

Him, one of them feels in his heart that he is one of them. Pretension may humble itself and appears to be different from

that. Or, in order one may confirm such a station for himself, one may deny it in a way when the denial is akin to confirming!

If Allah afflicts him with an affliction, he will then beat the drum of "only friends [of Allah] are afflicted".

Those who claim that they offer guidance to others, the men

of knowledge, the Sufis, the men who study behavior and math-

ematics, are all closer to this danger than all others.

THIRD LEVEL :

This is the level of one who sees himself as demanding his

right from Allah on account of his conviction, or merits, or

deeds which he sees as worthy of rewards, obligating Alm

Almighty to strengthen him in the life of this world and get him to reach the stations in the Hereafter. He believes he is a sincere believer. When the believers are reminded of the un-

known, he sticks his head out among others, imagining he is

worthy of rewards even if Allah, Praise to Him, treats him with justice. Rather, he increases the ugliness of his rudeness, so he speaks out this false statement. If he is afflicted and something wrong happens to him, he objects to Allah in his heart, wonder-ing about the actions of the Just Almighty, how He afflicts the pure believer and sustains the hypocritical sinner. He, hence, is angry at heart with the Truthful One, the Almighty, because of his own estimates. He feigns acceptance, demonstrating [in reality] his anger with the One Who bestows the blessings on

him, pretending to others that he accepts destiny. If he hears that Allah, Praise to Him, afflicts the believers in the life of this world, he solaces his heart with such a thought, not knowing

that the hypocrites who arc tested in this life are numerous, and not everyone who is afflicted is a believer.

FOURTH LEVEL :

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Here, one sees himself as being distinguished from all others, better than all other believers on account of the basis of his belief, by the good characteristics, than those who do not have them, by doing what is obligatory and abandoning what is prohibitive compared to the contrary. He sees himself as being more perfect than all other people, that he performs what is

commendable, regularly attending Friday services, the con-

gregational prayer services and all other rituals, abandoning all contemptible acts. He attributes to himself a distinction, depending on his own self, belief and deeds, looking at all other beings as nothing, as incomplete, looking at people askance.

He inwardly or outwardly taunts the servants of Allah, keeping away everyone from the gate of the mercy of Allah through

some means, keeping His mercy just to himself and to groups

similar to him. The individual who occupies this station reaches a degree where he discusses the good deeds of people, no matter how high they may be, belittling their deeds in his heart or in some other way, raising the standard of his own deeds above such belittling, purifying them from such discussion.

The good deeds of people he sees as nothing. If he does the

same deeds, he magnifies them. He realizes the tiny faults in people very well when not realizing his own fault, overlooking it.

These are the marks of conceit even when one is indifferent

to them. Conceit has other degrees which I have not stated,

and I am certainly unaware of some of them.

Here, his speech, may Allah prolong his shade, ends.

COMMENT :

What the imam, may his shade prolong, has said about con-

ceit according to the beliefs, the faculties and the deeds, is not confined to the good beliefs. Rather, conceit is found in false beliefs, in ugly faculties, in wrong deeds, too. Perhaps this is far-fetched according to some, for how can one become conceited about his disbelief, hypocrisy, bad faculties and dis-

obedience of Allah, Praise to Him?! But let him be informed

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that Allah, the Praised One, created the human nature as it is: containing the status of being accustomed to something. If it undertakes a deed more than once, whether this deed belongs

to those of the live senses or of the innermost, it likes it and becomes used to it. This status in the soul is one of Allah's major paths and important factors for uplifting and heading towards perfection. This is so because a good deed, likewise, in earning the stations and virtuous beliefs, may seem to be a problem for the individuals in the beginning, and they require tolerance for hardships and exercises. But if they are followed by a period of time during which they become accustomed to them, the hardship and difficulty will be removed from it. (Doing something good is a habit, and also a habit is doing evil things). From the standpoint of this status found in the soul, some great men who delved into the meaning of verses referring to torment and to eternity in the fire determined by Allah, Praise to Him, to the unbelievers and polytheists, is derived from some principles of knowledge and philosophy which we arc not here to discuss.

Those who remain tortured for some time reach a state when

they feel accustomed to their environment: they become used

to it: they are not bored by it. Perhaps this sacred verse is useful to cite in this regard: "As often as their skins are roasted through, We shall change them for fresh skins (so) that they

may taste the penalty" (Qur'an, 4:56). This verse supports our argument about the people of the fire particularly if we pay attention to the phrase "… (so) that they may taste the penalty…

". Anyway, we have no knowledge of the facts relevant to the conditions of the world of the hereafter and its horrors, and we must not measure the conditions of that world according to our own: this one. But it is taken for granted that the soul has the ability to get used to something in this world, that it feels comfortable with any action which it does repeatedly and which the heart likes and gets attached to. If one loves something, this love becomes a barrier between him and seeing the faults of

that thing just as this verse of poetry says:

The pleased eyes are too tired to reach a fault. But the eve of wrath reveals all the faults.

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Based on what we have stated when we quoted the may Allah prolong his shade, that is, the unbelievers, the hypocrites, the unbelievers, those whose manners are contemptible, those

whose desires are low, and those who commit transgressions

and sins, may all be dragged to admire their disbelief, sins, bad manners and ugly deeds. They may even feel good about them,

seeing themselves as having free spirits, revolting against tradition, not believing in whims. They think that they have the manliness and courage, that belief in the Almighty is a whim, that adherence to the legislated religious laws is an indication of shortsightedness, that the good manners and virtuous

wishes stem from weak souls, considering adherence to obliga-

tions mid forms of worship as signs of weak comprehension

and a shortcoming of feelings. They see themselves from a

standpoint as bearing free spirits that are not complicated by whims, not caring about the religious laws but worthy of,

praise and lauding. All of this is due to the low characteristics setting deep roots within them, and they have become comfortable with them. They [their faults and sins] look good in their own eyes, so they consider them as signs of perfection as referred to in a sacred tradition in Ai-Kafi from Ali ibn Suwaid From Abul-Hassan, peace be with him, who has said, "Conceit comes in degrees. Among them is the servant of the Almighty

sees his bad deed decorated, so he sees it as good, and he admires it, thinking he is doing something good. The Almighty

has said, 'Say: Shall we tell you of those who lose most in respect of their deeds, those whose efforts have been wasted in this life, while they think that they are acquiring good by their deeds? They are those who deny their Lord's Signs and the fact of their having to meet Him (in the hereafter): Their deeds will be in vain, nor shall We grant them any weight on the Day of

udgment (Qur'an, 18:103-5 ).

The imam, may his shade endure, says the following about

those who admire their false beliefs, low desires and ugly

deeds: "This group of people includes those who consider themselves as men of knowledge when they are ignorant and

the most poor and wretch of all. Doctors of psychology are unable to treat them. Advising and admonishing them have no ef-

fect on them; rather, the effect may reflect contrarily on them.

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These do not listen to proofs; they close their ears and visions against the guidance of the prophets, the evidence of the wise, the admonishment of the scholars. One, therefore, has to seek refuge with Allah, Praise to Him, against the evil of the nafs and its schemes: It drags man from transgression to apostasy, and from apostasy to admiration of apostasy. The nafs and

Satan_ because of underestimating some transgression in the

sight of man, afflict him with such transgression. Once the

transgression sets root in the heart, and once it is taken lightly, one is afflicted with a greater transgression by one degree.

After its repetition, this, too, falls down in his sight, He underestimates it and commits one greater than it, and so on he pro-gresses in committing transgressions: one step after another.

The major transgressions get minimized in his eyes gradually

till all the transgressions become unimportant to him. The religious laws, the divine and the prophetic way shrink in his view, so he is dragged into apostasy, disbelief and admiration of

them both." Here ends the speech of the imam.

I say that this precious statement and practical piece of wisdom, which we have just cited from the great teacher of man-

ners, may his shade prolong, is one of the unique practical

pieces of wisdom and lessons of moral cultivation. The mag-

nanimity of a transgression and sin may fall in the sight of one who commits it as a result of repetition. If transgression, from which we seek refuge with Alm, becomes something ordinary

and not ugly, nobody can imagine there will be a limit for it where one will stop.

Someone whom I trust from among my believing brethren

told me once that he was in the presence of one of those who

use usury and who trade in it, and that man's hand was shak-

ing, uncontrollable. But this person, as a result of repeating his prohibitive deed, became the first person to take usury in the market of Kermanshah (now Bakhtaran). The greatest calamity

is that this state of being "daring" about transgression causes darkness in the heart that gradually puts out the 11001 of conviction, so one will find in himself doubt and hesitation with regard to true beliefs. If he does not properly repent and treat this detrimental ailment, he may be dragged as he draws his

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last breath from life and in the stupor that happens to him at the time of death to putting, out the noor of conviction in his heart in its entirety. He goes from this world in a state of disbelief in Allah Almighty. If his condition becomes like that, there will be no hope at all for his salvation. The gates of happiness will be closed from all sides. A reference has been made to this in verses and traditions. The Almighty has said, "In the long run, the end of those who do evil will be extremely evil because they rejected God's Signs and held them with ridicule"

(Qur'an, 83:14). In the books of tradition, the effect of sinning in the heart is described as the black spot that keeps getting larger as one keeps repeatedly sinning till it completely en-circles it. Abu Ja'far (a.a) is also cited in traditions as having said, "Every servant of Allah has a white spot in his heart.

When he commits a sin, a block spot comes out of it.

When he repents, that blackness disappears. If he gets deep-

er into sinning, that blackness increases till it over-covers the whiteness, and the person will never return to anything good."

This is the meaning of this verse: "By no means! But the stain of the (ill) that they do is on their hearts on account of what they used to earn" (Qur'an, 83:14).

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11

Chapter

Consequences Of Conceit

There are many consequences, and harms of conceit, and

their list is as follows :

1. pride

2. forgetting a sin and underestimating it

3. deprivation of the benefits of admonishment and guidance

4. indifference to people's ways of harm

5. non-belief in the mercy and favor of Allah

Any of these consequences suffices to render one's perdition

and suffering; so, what would you say about all of them

combined?!

PRIDE :

As regarding pride being one of the outcomes of conceit, it is so because both of these characteristics have one and the same root. In other words, if one is conceited and arrogant, and

when one sees himself as being great, his heart's eye will be too blind to see the faults and shortcomings in him. In this

case, if he wants to show someone the condition of looking at his own sell greatly, demonstrating the greatness status, he

will then be afflicted by the dangerous ailment of pride.

In other words, the condition of conceit and of one who con-

siders himself to be greater than others, so long as it stays inwardly and has no outward manifestation, it is pride. If it gets out through the senses, it is called arrogance. Both conditions, pride and arrogance, need another person besides the

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individual himself so the latter may see himself inwardly and innately as being greater than others; it is then that one is characterized by pride. Or he may demonstrate his attitude of thinking he is greater than others to everyone else, hence this person becomes characterized by pride. At any rate, pride and arrogance need the other party. Not all pride is like that. This is the difference between conceit and pride. A conceited person sees himself and his deeds as being great without discerning the others. That is, if we suppose there is nobody who is not conceited, and that Allah. Praise to Him did not create anyone else besides him, so he lives by himself, he can be ima-

gined as being arrogant. The arrogant person is at the verge of the hell of pride. When he finds someone to whom he can

demonstrate his pride, he will then be afflicted with pride and arrogance, and his abode will be hell as is clearly stated in the Holy Qur'an in this verse: "… Is there no abode in Hell for the haughty?" (Qur'an, 39:60). This is one of the dangerous detriments that await the proud. Therefore; all the detriments and afflictions resulting from the sinning characteristic of "pride"

can apply to conceit, too; may Allah grant us refuge from it.

FORGETTING ABOUT AND UNDERESTIMATING SINS

Conceit causes one to forget many sins which he committed

in the claim that he does not need to reform himself; so he

does not mend what he had broken. As a result for this heed-

lessness, he forgets many sins, and he is not concerned about the sins which he still remembers. This condition may drag one into committing new sins. Perhaps this is the meaning referred to in a tradition quoted in al-Shi'a From Imam al-Sadiq (a.s) who cites the Messenger of Allah (a.s) in a tradition in which Mousa (Moses) son of lmran (Amram) asks Satan. "Tell me

about the sin which, when a son of Adam commits, you over-

take him." Satan said, "It is when he is proud of himself, thinks too much of his good deeds and his sin looks small in his eyes."

It is known that when Satan overtakes someone, the result will be more sinning, in addition to underestimating the for this by itself is an insult to the status of the divine greatness which is one of the greatest sins, and it may stop one from being included in the divine mercy, as some traditions point out. In the 98

sacred book where Zaid the cooking oil seller cites Imam al-Sadiq (a.s) saying that Abu Abdullah said that he had heard

Abu Muhammad (a.s) saying, "One of the sins which are not forgiven is when a man says, 'Blessed am I had I only not done anything other than this [deed ]!" Abu Hashim al-Ja'fari quotes Imam al-Hassan al-'Askari (a.s) saying that he heard Abu

Muhammad (a.s) saying, "Among the sins that arc not forgiven is one saying, 'I wish I would not be held accountable except for only this [deed]!"

Imam al-Khomeini, the mentor, may I be his sacrifice, has ex-

plained that conceit obliterates belief and ruins the rewards for the good deeds, according to a tradition narrated by Ali ibn

Suwaid. The imam was asked about the conceit that spoils

good deeds, so the imam explained some of its degrees, citing other traditions as well, in this regard. He said the following :

"The conceit tree is bad; its fruit is many major sins and abominations. When its root rests in the heart, one's affair is dragged into disbelief and shirk and more than both of these.

One of its consequences is underestimating sins; rather, one

who is conceited is not in the process of reforming himself

claims it is pure and purified. He does not care at any time to purge himself of the filth of committing offenses. The thick curtain of conceit blocks him from seeing his own ills. This cata-strophe stops one from achieving perfections, afflicts him with all sorts of shortcomings, brings about eternal perdition, and the doctors of the psyche can find no cure for him."

DEPRIVATION FROM BENEFITS OF ADMONITION

AND GUIDANCE

One of the problems with conceit with which one is afflicted

as a result of this psychological disease, and as a result of one believing in his own superiority over others and the status

which he has with Allah, he regards others as ignorant, seeing no value for their viewpoint. As a result for this condition, he accepts neither advice from any adviser nor any admonishment

from any preacher. One who is deprived of the abundant bene-

fits of admonishment, both the nafs and Satan have a free hand 99

in tempting him. There is a great deal of emphasis in traditions, statements of great men, poets and wise men, on the

company of the folks of righteousness and on being in contact with scholars, so much so that even looking at the face of a

scholar is adoration, and looking at his house door is adoration, according to traditions. On one hand, the nab' and Satan find no room to tempt him because, as a result of keeping the scholars and the wise company, he becomes keenly aware of his

faults, seeing himself as being derelict on the path towards Allah. But if he stops keeping them company, he will be surrounded with detriments, and he becomes unaware of his faults, so he stops seeking his pursuit, claiming he has already achieved his pursuit and no longer needs to exert any effort. One whose condition is like that is definitely going to perish and will imminently fall.

Imam al-Khomeini may his blessings endure, says that among

the harms of conceit is that one looks askance at Allah's servants, seeing their good deeds as nothing even if they may be better than his own: this, too, is one of the paths towards the annihilation of man and thorns on his path.

UNAWARENESS OF THE SERVANTS' DETRIMENTS

Among the perils of conceit is that instead of one seeing his faults and shortcomings, he becomes too blind to see these, so he does not examine his deeds, nor does he ascertain his acts of worship. If the nafs and Satan find their ways to him

through other venues such as pretension and others, one may

treat himself before it is too late. But due to this disease [of conceit], one may not correct the conditions required for the soundness of his rituals and acts of adoration, so his good

deeds and worship become void even according to obvious reli-

gious laws and according to the verdicts of scholars of the

Sharma. But since he admires his good deeds, he does not look for such verdicts so he may apply them to the sacred rites. The poor man finds himself in a situation in which the adoration of as long as fifty years of his lifespan is void and was not correct even in a way where he can repeat them and make up for

them. What a fault is greater than one being unaware of seeing 100

his faults?! The Prophet (a.s) says, "Suffices one for a fault is that he sees people's faults when being too blind to see his

own." Imam Ali bin Muhammad al-Nadi (a.s) has said, "One who is pleased with himself will find many who are displeased with him."

Lord! Enable us to see our faults so such vision may be one

of the marks of Your love for us. He, peace be with him, has

said, "If Allah loves a servant, He enables him to see his own faults."

NOT BELIEVING IN ALLAH'S MERCY AND FAVOR

One of the harms of conceit is that it weakens one's reliance on the favor of Allah, the most Blessed, the most Exalted.

Those who admire their deeds fall into a severe darkness and

peril, so much so that if one mentions one of the favors of Allah and His infinite mercy, they deny it, as if they love that Allah.

Praise to Him and Exaltation, deals with I lis servants according to His justice, so these admirers may be the ones who re-

ceive salvation, according to their claim, and their endeavor in undertaking good deeds will not go to waste. In other words,

the ailment of conceit creates in the conceited persons the ailment of envy, too. If we apply an impossible supposition, that is, if they are saved through Allah's justice, they do not wish the rest of people to be saved through His favor. Although they are deeply immersed in sins, nay, they are the personification of sins and offenses, if these individuals hear someone saving that Allah, Praise to Him, forgives - whomsoever lie pleases

and pays no attention to anyone, nor is He concerned about

him, instead of being pleased and happy with such a statement, they may deny it inwardly though they may not articulate it.

They thus object to Allah about why the Praised One should

thus forgive! In fact, [according to them] He does not forgive, because if he forgives others, what is the difference between them, those who exhausted themselves on the paths of asceticism and adoration, and those who did not? They are as the

Commander of the Faithful (a.s) described: "He fears for others on account of what is less than his own sin, hoping to get more 101

than his deed [is worthy of], magnifying the offense of others when underestimating what he himself commits. He magnifies

his acts of obedience when underestimating the same when

done by others."

As a result of this disease, the admirers reject most narrat-

ives on the side of anticipation narrated by Ahl al-Bayt (a.s), especially with regard to their Shi'ites. They either reject them or interpret them, with some of their own views and interpretation. For this there are many evidences. We would like to state one of them as an example:

The great master. Ibn Tawoos, may Allah be pleased with

him, has stated in his book, Al-Iqbal,, a tradition from Imam Ali ibn Mousa al-Rida (a.s) about the virtue of the Ghadir Day, In it, the following is stated: "Allah orders in it the honored scribes not to record the sins of those who love and follow Ahl al-Bayt for three days starting on the Ghadir Day, not to record any of their sins in honor of Muhammad, Ali, and the Imams

(peace be with them), all of them."

This tradition is one of hundreds of similar ones the record-

ing and masse from Ahl al-Bayt is definitive, and they have a sequentially narrated meaning, but they are heavy on the taste of those among the worshippers and ascetics who think that

they are holy and who admire their deeds, so they cast doubt

about them under the guise of defending the creed. They say

that such narratives permit some people to commit offenses

during the three Ghadir days, relying on this narrative.

In making such a statement, they really are not concerned

about the creed: rather, the root of this confusion, as we pointed out, is the disease of conceit. Since they rely on their

deeds, seeing themselves as being in no need for divine care, they feign sorrow for the creed. But they doubt a man of divinity and spirituality, such as Ibn Tawoos, who has a moral contact with the supreme spiritual kingdom, something which is

admitted by all scholars and great Muslims, and the same

doubt they apply to the great traditionist, al-Majlisi, and other great men of the creed. But their sectarian fanaticism is

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actually much greater than their concern. They believe they definitely protect the creed more than these holy men. But

these men have recorded this tradition and similar ones in

their hooks and were not concerned about some readers hav-

ing the "courage" to charge them with offense. These "nurses that are more merciful than the mothers", or the branches that are superfluous to the main root, defend the sanctities of the creed. They claim the recording of this tradition and its likes causes people to dare to transgress. These vain claimants must he told that the curtain of seeing the soul and its adoration ob-structs belief in these facts:

Otherwise, there is no room to dislike such narratives, and

there is no room for confusion. What, then, is the difference between a written sin being forgiven and not being written in the first place? Are there no clear verses and consecutively reported narratives that say that Alin Almighty forgives all sins, including the sin of shirk when combined with repentance, if

He wills, even if one sinned for seventy years? The One Who

forgives the sins of seventy years and wipes them out through a signal from Him, the most Exalted One, does not only wipe

out sins but, according to the manifestation of the attribute of

"0 One Who changes wrong deeds with good deeds!", replaces a sin with a good deed. Allah changes their sins into good

deeds… Should such obvious verses and authentic narratives

cause people to dare to sin, let that narrative, too, be as such?!

Any answer which you provide about these verses and narrat-

ives we respond to it by contrasting it with this narrative, and what we have stated underscores the scholarly term.

As for the resolving answer and analysis in the issue, one

who truly loves Ali (a.s) is during the Ghadir days immersed in an ocean of happiness and elation. Just as one who is immersed in the sea, surrounded by the tumultuous sea waves does not

accept any outside filth, nor does filth affect him nor makes him dirty, in the sense that water overwhelms him and surrounds him from all sides, so it does not permit filth to bear any impact on him… , so is the case with the Ghadir days: They do not permit room for offense's impact which is in the sense of writing and confirming, nor does it necessitate crossing the

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borders, either: One who loves Ali (a.s) by instinct shies away from transgressing. If a sin is committed by him, it is by virtue of the overpowering nature and external obstacles. He, having committed a sin, even during committing a sin, is ashamed of

it, regretting it, which is one of the important factors for the sin having no effect and necessitating Allah's forgiveness, not only during those three days but in all days, during the entire life-span. The reality of repentance is nothing but this. Repentance is regret, and this is what our Lord, the Almighty, has decreed. Anyone who does not accept Allah's decrees and rulings can do whatever he wants, whatever he can.

Based on the above, there is no room in the narrative for any direction, for any affectation, which has been committed by

some of those who say that this narrative and its likes is negative because the subject rejects such a conclusion in the sense that one who loves Ali (a.s) during these days commits no sin.

Or, as some have committed, according to what has been

transmitted by observers from among the sects of the differ-

ence between a sin and an offense, it is said that the offense is the one that is not recorded. As for the sin, it is recorded.

Based on this trend, they had a problem passing a judgment on al-Majlisi, criticizing him for having interpreted the offenses referred to in the narrative as the sins in his book Zad al-Malad. The summary of what they say is that they made a dis-

tinction between the offense and the sin. They say that the

transgression is the sin that is clone on purpose, while the offense is the sin that is clone unintentionally, unwillingly. What is stated in the narrative is that what is not recorded during the three Ghadir days is the offense, the sin that is done unintentionally, unwillingly, not the transgression that is premedit-ated, clone on purpose, pre-determined, for it is called a sin, not an offense. But this distinction is unnecessary absurdity because a "sin" in the books of language means the absolute transgression, whether it is on purpose or without. But there is disagreement about the offense: Is it the absolute sin undertaken on purpose, as is stated in Al-Munjid? In the latter reference, this text exists: "An offense is a sin, and some say it is done deliberately.

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" The same exists in Muntaha al-Arab so, one can refer to them if he wishes. What is added to the above is derived from its linguistic meaning. This term, the offense, is used in the Qur'an in more than twenty places, and most of these places

cannot convey the sense of a sin done unintentionally or unwillingly such as these verses of the Almighty: "… Nor clues he have any food except the corruption from the washing of

wounds which none eat except those in sin" (Qur'an, 36-37)" :

"… And Pharaoh, and those before him, and the overthrown cit-ies, all committed habitual sin" (Qur'an, 69:9); "… A lying, sin-ful forelock!" (Qur'an, 96:16): "Surely those who seek gain in evil and are engulfed in their sins are the companions of the Fire: they shall dwell in it (forever)" (Qur'an, 2:81); "Because of their sins, they were drowned and were made to enter the Fire (for punishment)" (Qur'an, 71:25). So, how can all these places where Allah, Praised is Ile, makes such strong threats convey the meaning that an offense is the sin that is done unintentionally or unwillingly?! How could Pharaoh or the people of Noah or other sinners have committed their sins unwillingly, unintentionally?! Even if you overlook all of these, what is the

meaning of forgiveness for an offense that is clone unintentionally or unwillingly during these three days although the narrative refers to a status of gratitude, whereas such forgiveness is not restricted to it? It is apparent that these trends and explanations are unacceptable. They remind one of the Persian axiom which says, ".., like one who composes poetry but is unable to come up with a rhyme scheme!" The imam of the nation, the leader of the Islamic revolution, imam al-Khomeini, may his

blessings endure, has made statements on the occasion of the

narratives cited about the virtue of weeping out of fear of Allah which I would like to quote for more benefit:

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12

Chapter

Statement In Point By Imam Komeini

The imam, may his shade endure, says the following :

"What has to be pointed out is that some of those with weak souls, those whose souls are not at ease, cast doubt about

many rewards received for partial matters, being indifferent to the fact that if something seems small in our eyes in the life of this world, it does not mean that its image in the world of the unknown and in the angelic world is also small and insignificant. Perhaps a small being may have in its domain and in-

wardly the perfection of greatness and glory. The sacred

physique and the bodily form of the Honored Prophet, the seal of prophets, the revered Prophet and the great one, peace of

Allah be with him and his progeny, was one of the small existents in this world, hut his holy soul surrounded the domain and the angelic kingdom and was the cause for the existence of the heavens and the earth. Passing a judgment about the "insignificance" and the small size of something according to its hidden and angelic image is a branch of knowledge of the angelic world and Of the hidden and people like us have no right to

make such a judgment. We have to open our eyes and ears to

the words of the scholars of the hereafter world. I mean the

prophets and friends of Allah, peace be with them all.

Moreover, that world is based on the Almighty bestowing His

favors and infinite mercy, while there is neither an end nor a limit to Allah's favors. Absolute exclusion from the favor of the most Generous One Who has the infinite mercy originates from

extreme ignorance, for all these blessings which He has be-

stowed upon His servants and which the minds are too incap-

able of and are too puzzled to count, all came into being

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without anyone asking for or being worthy of. So, what is the objection if He bestows many times as many as these boons un-to His servants without precedence? Is this too much to expect in a world that was built on the influence of the human will and about which the following verse was revealed: "There will he all that the souls could desire there, all that the eves could de-light in" (Qur'an, 43:71), despite man's desires having neither an end nor a measure?! Allah, the most Blessed and Exalted

One, determined that world and the human will so as man

would exist according to His mere will.

"So, my dear one, the narratives and the sacred traditions for these boons arc not just one or two or ten so one may have

room to deny them. Rather, they are beyond the limit of being consecutively reported, and all the reliable books of traditions are filled with such quotations. These are similar to one hearing with his own ears from the Infallible Ones, peace be with them, and they allow no room for interpretation. Such a requirement is in total agreement with the consecutively repor-

ted texts and not in collision with the evidence, but in agreement with it, backed by evidence. Denying it is a proof for the weakness of one's conviction and an indication of his extreme ignorance. One has to unhesitatingly accept the statements of the prophets and friends of Allah, peace be with them, and

there is nothing better than man submitting to the masters of the truth, especially in the matters where reason cannot reveal, nor is there a way to comprehend them except through

the venue of inspiration and message.

If man wants to insert his small mind, his whims and

thoughts, in the unknown and the worship matters of the

Shari'a, he will end up denying what is generally accepted and what is necessary. He will gradually be dragged from what is

few to what is many, from what is low to what is high. If we

suppose that you cast doubts about these narratives and their ism-0, although there is no room in them for denial, you will be casting doubt about the Glorious Divine Book, the heavenly

sacred Qur'an, for it has many such rewards. An example is

this verse: "The night of power is better than a thousand months" (Qur'an, 97:3), and like this verse: "The parable of 107

those who spend their substance in the way of Allah is that of a kernel of corn: It grows seven ears, and each ear has a hundred kernels. Allah gives manifold increase to whomsoever He

pleases" (Qur'an, 2:261). In my opinion, I the writer, one of the reasons for these exclusions and denials is conceit and the

magnifying of deeds. For example, if someone fasts for one day or spends the entire night in adoration, then he hears that

there are great rewards for his deed, he will not think it as being far-fetched. Also, this by itself exists had the deed had its own reward, but he magnifies his deed, admires it, so he believes there is such a reward.

"My dear one :

"If we suppose that we, in all our lifespan, say fifty or sixty years, undertook all the obligations stated in the Shari'a, then we moved from this life with a sound belief, with good deeds

and sound repentance, what is the measure of the reward for

our righteous deeds and conviction? According to the Book and the Sunnah as well as the consensus of all sects, such an individual receives the mercy of the Truthful One, the most Exal-

ted, and he enters Paradise with which he is promised, a

garden in which he will remain eternally in bliss and ease, in everlasting mercy, tranquility and fragrance" Is there room in this for denial, had the basis been the reward for the good

deed? Let us erroneously suppose that our righteous deeds are worthy of being rewarded, the reward of this person will be

hardly imaginable in quantity and quality. It is understood from this that the matter is based on another premise and revolves on another axis: so, there is no room for exclusion, and there is no venue opening for denial."

Here ends his statement, may his shade prolong.

Among the other harms of conceit is that it forces the con-

ceited person to be pretentious. This is so because demonstrating what is beautiful of the human instincts and stopping to

show off one's beauty is very difficult, just as difficult as it is for a hungry and thirsty person not to eat and drink. The men of knowledge, those who are giants in this field, have very

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interesting situations and made very precise statements, but it is not suitable to quote them here. This sense does not distinguish between true beauty and an imagined, fake one. One

who admires his deeds, since they look good in his eyes, and

since the deeds which he does must be shown to others, finds

it very difficult to withstand this psychological inclination. Had he had this will, he would not have been afflicted with conceit in the first place. This is the opposite of one who does not admire his deeds. He does not see them as being anything but as nothing, seeing his manners dismal and his conviction as being unworthy of being demonstrated to others; so, he does not admire himself, his attributes or deeds. Rather, he sees himself as not beautiful at all. Such a person is in no position to make a show of himself and present his deeds to others. He is just as imam Khomeini, may his shade endure, has said, "The rotten and ugly merchandise is never displayed at the wholesale market." But if he sees himself and his deeds as presentable, he will be in a position to show off his beautiful deeds in their imagined beauty. Therefore, all the harms mentioned in these

sheets are definitely counted among the harms of conceit as

well. In the field of the harms of conceit, the greatest mentor of manners and spirituality, imam Khomeini, may his blessings

last forever, has made a statement, and here is a translation of its text :

WISE ADMONISHMENT BY IMAM KHOMEINI :

"Let the conceited person know that this abomination is the seed of all other abominations and the cause of many matters

each one of which independently causes eternal annihilation

and lodgment in torment. If he gets to know these harms prop-

erly, reviewing them carefully, studying the reports and

legacies of the greatest Prophet and his Ahl al-Bayt, blessings of Allah be with them all, he will surely see for himself that he must reform them and purge himself of this abomination, must

uproot it from his inner self so he may not leave this world, God forbid, and go to the next carrying this abomination with him. This is because once the worldly eye is closed, when one sees the power of the barzakh and .judgment, he will see that the condition of those who committed great transgression is

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better than his own, for Allah Almighty permitted them to dive in oceans of His mercy on account of their repentance, or due to their reliance on the favor of Allah Almighty, whHe this

poor-person who saw himself as being independent, seeing in-

wardly that he had no need for the favor of Allah Almighty, Allah, praise to Him, held him to account through the scales of His justice, just as he wanted: Now 1-le informs him that he

never intended to truly worship the Truthful One, that all his acts of worship distanced him from the side of the Truthful

One, all his deeds and conviction were not only nil and nothing but necessitated his perdition. They were seeds for painful torment, a cause for being lodged into hell forever. God forbid

that Allah, praise to I Jim, should deal with anyone through His justice, for had this tablet been opened, none from the first generations and the last would have had a way to salvation.

The imams of guidance, peace be with them, and the great

prophets used to hope, in their silent supplications to Allah, for His favor, the most Praised One, and they were terrified by His justice and judgment.

"The silent supplication by the elite ones to the Truthful One and to the Infallible Imams (peace be with them) are full of ad-mission of dereliction, of incapacitation to truly adore. In one place, the one who is the very best of everything in existence declares the following: "We never knew You as You ought to be known, nor did we adore You as You ought to be adored." The condition of the rest of people is well known. Yes, they realized the greatness of the Truthful One, the Almighty, knowledgeable of the ratio of what is possible to what is mandatory. They knew that had they spent their entire lifespan in the life of this world adoring, being obedient, praising and glorifying Him,

they would never have thanked Allah for His blessings: so, how could they fully meet the requirements for praising Him and

His attributes? They knew that nothing exists by itself, on its own, that life, ability, knowledge, power and all the other perfections are but the shadow of His perfection, the Almighty

that lie is. What can he is poor, rather, purely poor, living in His shade, never being independent. How can there be any

perfection for one by himself so he may display his perfection for sale? What power does he have so he may bargain over his

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work? The ones who are knowledgeable of Allah, of the beauty of the Truthful One, of His Greatness, witnessed through vision and sight how imperfect they are, how incapable, how weighty

their obligation is, while we, poor souls, are surrounded by the barrier of ignorance, indifference and conceit! The barrier of inwardly and outwardly transgressions has veiled from our

eyes, ears, minds, senses and the rest of faculties, so much so that we display our existence in contrast with the overwhelming authority of the Truthful One, the Almighty, claiming independence, saying we are something.

"So, poor being who has no knowledge about his own self

and about his ratio to the Creator! 0 poor wretch who is un-

aware of his function compared to the One Who owns the

kings! Such ignorance, such lack of knowledge, is the cause of these sufferings. We have been afflicted by them because of

the darkness and impurity. The destruction starts from its origin: the water is impure from its source; our eyes are too blind to see the deep knowledge. Our hearts are dead. Such is the

reason for all the calamities. Yet we are not in the process to reform them, either …

"Lord! We plead to You to grant us success, acquaint us with our functions, grant us a share of the lights of deep knowledge with which You tilled the hearts of those who know and those

of Your friends! Show us how Your power and authority over-

whelm, how faulty we are, and enable us to understand the

meaning of praising Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. We are the poor ones, the unaware, who attribute all the praiseworthy attributes to the beings; do inform our hearts that not a single good attribute belongs initially to any being, and show us the truth of tins verse: "Anything good (0 man!) that happens to you is from Allah, but whatever evil happens to you is from

your (own) nafs (soul)" (Qur'an, 4:79), and instill in our cruel hearts, the impure one, the blessed statement of Tawhid, for

we are the people of the barrier, of the dark, of shirk and hypocrisy. We love ourselves, we admire them, so help us take the love for the nuts and for this world out of our hearts. Do make us loving Alin, worshipping I surely YOU can do anything at

all."

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This is the conclusion of the wise admonishment of imam Khomeini, may his blessings last.

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13

Chapter

Treating The Conceit Sickness

GREAT BENEFIT BY IMAM KHOMEINI IN TREATING

CONCEITINCLUSIVE STATEMENT BY IMAM AL-SADIQ

(a.s)

TREATING THE CONCEIT SICKNESS

Be informed, dear one, that the physical doctors, when treat-

ing the physical sicknesses, exert their effort first to find out the cause of the sickness, trying to find out its causing germ.

Once they have succeeded in this stage, they treat the sickness by eradicating the germ with the use of a counter-germ. The

patient will then recover his health and safety.

Likewise, the scientists of manners and the spiritual doctors have also used this method in treating the spiritual and psychological sicknesses. Yes, there is a difference between this and that, which is: In the spiritual and psychological sicknesses, the knowledge of the cause of the sickness may itself be its

treatment without the need to another process. In other words, in the spiritual sicknesses, the cause of which is ignorance.

There is no factor in causing the sickness save ignorance, In this case, if the causes and factors based on ignorance are

identified, their structure will collapse and be replaced with knowledge. The sickness that was rendered to ignorance disappears, and there is no need for a practical treatment program.

For example, when someone is afflicted with fear, and he fears isolation and the dark place, if this person directs his attention to the fact that the origin of his fear is his imagination and whim, and that there is nothing outside his mind at all, and he 113

does not make sure about the harm that he may receive by the outside dark and the isolation… , so if he realizes this meaning, this knowledge itself suffices in the dissipation of his fear from isolation and the dark without the need for a practical treatment, the sickness, which is the subject of our discussion. I mean conceit, belongs also to this same type of spiritual sicknesses. If one does not entirely lean on ignorance, definitely an important portion of it based on ignorance [i.e, he must leave no share for ignorance to dictate to him what he should or

should not do]. It is hoped that this dangerous sickness will disappear by paying attention to what we have stated, to the practical reminders. If some of it remains in the soul, its owner derives divine niceties and is thus successful in eradicating the substance of this sickness completely, by the will of Allah. In this field, we would like to briefly quote what some scholars of the hereafter have said so the benefit may thereby be complete

:

As we stated before, the origin of conceit' in man is his seeing the attribute of perfection in his nafs even if it is not a real perfection but an imagined one. It is known that perfection is of many types and is divided from one standpoint into two

kinds :

FIRST : The perfections that come to be through the choice

of the individual and are optional, SECOND : The perfections

that do not fall under his choice: rather, he is awarded them without his having had a say in their regard, such as beauty, lineage, and the like. Since conceit penetrates the heart mostly by way of optional perfections, we would like to tackle them

and say the following :

If we suppose there is someone who is pious and God-fear-

ing, and he performs many acts of adoration. If he admires

them because these attributes and righteous deeds rest in him being the one who undertakes them, believing that the origin

of a righteous deed comes from AIM, Praise to Him, and that is the One Who bestows his attribute on him and enables him to

undertake this deed, yet he, despite this [sound] belief, still feels conceited … , this is nothing hut ignorance because this 114

individual to whom reference is made is being utilized, and he has nothing to do with originating; so, how can he admire a

deed with which he has nothing to do?

But if he is conceitd because this attribute or that deed

comes out of him rather than anyone else, and it takes place

through his choice, his ability, let him think about the ability, the will, his physical parts and the rest of causes that have a role in completing carrying out the good deed: Where did he

get them from? If he gets to know that all this comes from Allah, the most Praised One from His boons which He granted

him without his being requiring them, without a precedence or a means … , in this portrait, he ought to admire the Truthful One, the Almighty, and admire His generosity and favor which

He bestowed upon him these boons without being worthy of

them, preferring him over others, rather than admiring him-

self. In order to explain this minute Gnostic quest, let us state-an example:

Let us suppose that a king reviews his troops. He looks at

them and promotes one of them, not for a particular merit in

him, nor beauty, nor service, to receive a promotion. This soldier ought to admire the favor 0f the king, his looking after him and preferring him over others without his being worthy of it, and he ought not admire his own self.

Yes, this soldier may admire himself and say, "The king is wise, fair, and does not do injustice to anyone, nor does he oppress, advance or delay except for a reason, nor does he grant a rank to someone nor extract it out of him without a cause.

So, the king must have noticed in me a commendable innate at-

tribute, so he thus preferred me over others for the promotion.

I lad it not been for that attribute, he would not have preferred me." But he has to remember, at the same time, who gave him this attribute, too. Is it one of the boons of the king, the rank with which he specifically gave him rather than anyone else'?

Or did someone else give it to him? if it is a gilt from the king, too, he is not justified for admiring himself. If we suppose that the king had given him a horse as a gift, then he gave him a

servant, too, he ought not feel conceited because just as he

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was not being worthy of possessing the horse, he likewise did not deserve to get the servant. Likewise, there is no difference between the king giving him the horse and the servant together and giving him the horse first then the servant.

If all comes from him, this recipient ought to admire the king and his generosity unless we suppose he obtained the horse,

for example, on his own and the king gave him the servant specifically. But this supposition applies to great men, to worldly kings. As regarding the King of Kings, the originator of existence and of its requirements and consequences, such as His

generosity and outgiving, the only One Who originates the be-

ing and the attribute … , such a supposition does not hold any water at all. This is so because if one, for example, is enabled to admire, and conceit finds its way to him from the venue that Allah, the most Praised One, was the One Who enabled him to

undertake such adoration, but he thinks that this ability is due to his love for Him, that such love is the reason for success of this adoration … , yet in this case lie must ask himself this question : Who cast this love in my heart? The soul will definitely answer him saying, "Surely It is Allah Who honored me with this love." So, let him tell himself that both the love and the adoration are blessings from Allah which He gave him ,

without being worthy of them. So, your admiration must be of

His generosity and open-handedness, for He has blessed you

with existence, granted you your attributes, prepared for you the means to undertake acts of righteousness… : therefore,

there is no sense for a worshipper to admire his worship, nor a scholar to admire his knowledge, nor a beautiful person to admire his beauty, nor a wealthy person to admire his wealth, for all these are due to the favor of Allah Almighty, and their recipient is the object of the outpouring favors and generosity of Allah. The individual himself coming into being is also a sign of l lis generosity and favor.

Dear kind reader : You may not have arrived at the root of

the pursuit, although this pursuit is apt to win your accept-

ance, but there may be some insinuation in the heart that stops one from believing in it. Unless there is belief in something, the mere knowing of it does not bear much impact. We have

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already stated, whHe discussing pretension, that conviction is not the same as knowledge. Some people may have knowledge,

but since they have no conviction about what they do, this

knowledge does not benefit them in anything. The cursed Eblis had the knowledge about the beginning and the return, so he

said, "You created me from fire… " (Qur'an, 7:12), "Grant me a respite till the Day they are raised up" (Qur'an, 7:14), but since he had no conviction in what he knew, he got out of the band of believers and entered into that of the unbelievers as the Holy Qur'an clearly states: "… he refused and was haughty: lie was of those who reject faith" (Qur'an, 2:34). Attention ought to be given to the phrase "… and was of those who reject faith". Refusal and haughtiness about prostrating to Adam were the res-

ult of his being an already rejecter of the faith in the past.

It is not just because he merely did not prostrate to Adam

that he became a rejecter of the faith.

Anyhow, we submit a query in order to remove the hissing

from the heart and hope after getting the answer for this question that the cursed Satan will lose hope and the heart will be ready for the light of conviction to shine in it. The question is this :

Although we know that success and blessings are from Allah,

how can we ignore our good deeds which we did and for which

we anticipate to be rewarded? Had they not been our own do-

ing, we would not have hoped for rewards for them because we

do not expect to be rewarded for deeds done by others. So, if the deeds are not truly from us, what is this reward which Allah, Praised is lie, promised to grant us? And if the deeds are ours, how can we ignore them and not admire them?

This question has two answers: a real answer and a com-

promising one. The real answer is that since realizing it is

based on witnessing those who have hearts and holding coun-

sel with those who are adorned with good conduct and not spe-

cifically according to the understanding of most, people, we do not mention it and contend ourselves with the second answer:

Let us suppose that your claim about your deed is accurate,

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that you did the deed through your ability, although your very existence and the requirements to maintain your existence all come from Allah, the most Praised One, yet, at the same time, had you not been in existence, your deed, will and ability would not have existed, either, nor would this deed have been done.

Thereupon, if the deed comes as a result of your ability, such ability is the key to doing this deed, and this key is in the hands of Allah Almighty.

Let us suppose the world's treasures are placed in a secure

fort and its keys are in the hands of the guard. If we try for thousands of years to enter the fort by climbing over its wall, or find a way to get inside it, you will not be able to do that, nor can you fare with one dinar of the funds deposited in it. But if the guard gives you the key and grants you authority over

the funds and precious stones in the fort, you will easily be able to take from them whatever you wish. Be fair and answer

this question: Will you admire the guard who gave you this key, or will you admire stretching your hand and taking the money

and the jewels from the safe? There is no doubt that you see it as a blessing from the guard and a boon on you, and you do not see your taking the money as having any credit for yourself because all the role in the guard giving you the key lied in his own, presence there and then. He was present, so he gave you

the key. If Allah, Praise to Him, grants the ability in you and gives you power over your will, mobilizing the incentives and prompting you, removing the obstacles and diversions from

your path and facilitating for you the doing of the deed… , is it not odd if you overlook the admiration of the One Who gave

you all these things and not admire His presence, favor and

generosity and admire, thus, the little motion that we suppose comes out of you?!

So, open your heart's eyes, my dear one, observe the One

Who really causes things, and witness with piercing eyes the

very cause. Do not be deceived by Satan and by the nuts, for

they both are your enemies. Their ability is only to make your false beliefs, contemptible characteristics and wrongdoings

look good in your eyes. Instead of lowering your head with

these matters and making you feel shy about them, they force

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you to admire them. So, how can you feel secure and be indifferent if they decorate your acts of worship for you and push you towards being proud of them till all your acts of worship are rendered void, rendering your deeds in Sijjeen after you

hoped it would be in 'Illiyyeen?!

Dear one, consider the conditions of those who are loved by

and close to Allah, Praise to Him, and you will see how they

used to see themselves as bankrupt of good deeds towards Al-

lah, Praise to Him. The Commander of the Faithful, Ali (a.s), wrote the following verse of poetry on the shroud of Salman,

despite his acts of adoration, asceticism and the arrival at the tenth degree of conviction :

I am coming to the Generous One without rations Of good

deeds and the heart is sound.

One of the great men used to say the following whenever a

storm blew out or saw thunder and lightning in the sky: "No ill befalls people except it is on my own account; had Ata' died, people would have been relieved."

After his return from 'Arafat, one of these great men was

asked how he saw the standing there. He said, "I was hopeful they would all receive mercy had I only not been among them."

So, dear one, beware lest you should doubt these Islamic

branches of knowledge which are supported by verses and nar-

ratives relying on witnesses about those who ruled over their hearts, for it [conceit] is the greatest veil against realizing the truth. This sickness, conceit, when coupled with this veil. God forbid, will be chronic and incurable.

Yes, my dear one, Allah Almighty fares with the hearts of His servants, and they have conditions with which we are not familiar. We, the poor ones who are unaware of all matters, nev-er realize the state of submission in the heart of the friends of Allah in all our lifetime, not even for a moment, and we are justified if we do not see them because they are the outcome of

the manifestation of the Greatness of the Truthful One, the

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most Exalted One, to the heart. It is then that the mountain of egotism and selfishness is crushed: "When his Lord manifested His glory on the mount, He made it like dust" (Qur'an, 7:143).

If the power of truth rests in a heart and takes its seat in it, there will be no effect in that heart for seeing the nuts and admiring it: "When kings enter a town, they ruin it, and make the noblest of its people the meanest" (Qur'an, 27:34). We, the folks who are immersed in desires and afflicted with the wishes of the nafs, have no acquaintance with such worlds.

So, Praise be to Allah! What a difference it is between the pious hearts and submissive souls land others!, between the individuals who are drowned in conceit and haughtiness, so much

so that if one of them is insulted, or taken lightly, or harmed, he will think it far-fetched that Allah, Praise to Him, will include the doer in His forgiveness, nor does he doubt that he

became cursed by Allah because of this insult. This is so al-

though if someone harmed a Muslim, he would not denounce it

as such and hope for Allah's forgiveness for his sin. This is due to holding himself great, to his admiration of his own self,

which is ignorance, the combination of conceit, pride and taking Allah lightly. Ignorance, foolishness and stupidity may

cause some people to be defiant and say, "You will see what will happen to him because of what he did to me." If he is accidentally afflicted with a setback, he renders it to his own self and claim it is due to his own status of goodness, and that Allah Almighty wanted thus to cure his ailment, please his con-

science and seek revenge on his behalf although this poor person sees classes of the unbelievers cursing Allah and the Messenger and knows a group that harmed the prophets, peace be

with them. Some beat those prophets and others killed them.

Yet, despite all of this, Allah gave a respite to most of them and did not outright punish them for their actions in the life of this world, nor did He torment them on their account. Rather, some of them may have believed, so no harm touched them,

neither in the life of this world nor in the hereafter. Even Wah-shi, the man who killed Hamzah, the master of martyrs, the

one [uncle] who was the dearest to the Messenger of Allah

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(a.s), harming his revered heart, was enabled to repent and to believe.

But this ignorant conceited person claims he is clearer to Allah than the Messenger of Allah (a.s), and insulting him is more serious than killing the master of martyrs Hamzah, for Allah.

Praise to Him, sought revenge on his behalf against those who insulted him when not seeking revenge against the killers of

prophets. He thus thinks he has a greater status with Allah

than that of His prophets. In thus admiring himself and being conceited, he may have incurred the contempt of Allah when

being unaware of his own annihilation. He and his deeds are in Sijjeen. One who commits more sins than others may be nearer

to Allah Almighty than he is according to the sacred narrative in Al-Kafi from Abu Abdullah (a.s) who says, "Allah knows that sins are better for the believer than conceit. [lad it not been so.

He would not have afflicted a believer with a sin at all."

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14

Chapter

Great Benefit Provided By Khomeini In

Treating Conseit

We would like to conclude this research with something use-

ful provided to us by our greatest mentor, Imam Khomeini,

may his blessings last, in the field of treating the conceit sickness. It is hoped that those who seek it will arrive at the anticipated result with precision according to the useful statement of our mentor and of those stated by great scholars of ethics, and surely Allah grants success and helps.

Imam Khomeini, may his shade last, says the following :

"Be informed that the contemptible sin of conceit is created by loving the nafs. This is so because man by nature loves it, and loving the nafs is the source of every human sin and the

origin of all moral vices. Because of this love, man sees his insignificant deeds as looking great in his eyes, seeing himself as a benevolent person when doing these deeds and one of those

who enjoy a special status with the Truthful One, the Almighty.

He sees himself because of these insignificant deeds, worthy of praise and lauding. His ugly deeds may be decorated for him.

When he sees others doing better and greater deeds than his

own, he is not concerned about them. He often interprets

people's good deeds in a bad way when interpreting his ugly

deeds and wrongdoings as good according to a level of inter-

pretation. He thus thinks ill of Allah's manner when thinking well of his own self. He, through this love, sees himself as crediting the Truthful One, the Almighty, obligating Him to be merciful to him through an insignificant deed which is mixed with a thousand filths and with everything that distances one from 122

his Lord. We ought to think for a short when of the good deeds and the acts of adoration which come out of us in order to see if we deserve to be praised and lauded on their account and be worthy of rewards and mercy, or should we be blamed, penalized and receive the wrath on their account? If the Truthful

One burnt us with the lire of His subduing and wrath because

of these deeds which we consider to be good, it would have

been truthful and just.

"I now would like to seek your own judgment, reader, with regard to the question which I am going to submit to you and

ask you to confirm, after thinking and considering with the

eyes of fairness: the question is :

"Had the glorious Prophet, peace of Allah be with him and his progeny, who is truthful and trustworthy, informed you that if you worshipped Allah Almighty and obeyed His commandments as long as you live, abandoning illicit desires and wishes throughout your life, or if you disobeyed His commandments

all your life and acted according to the dictates of your own self and illicit desires, it will not make a difference in the degrees of your hereafter and you will be saved anyhow and

enter Paradise and be secure against the torment without a difference between your performance of the prayers or your com-

mitting adultery, but the pleasure of Allah Almighty is in keeping yourself busy worshipping Him, praising and lauding Him,

abandoning your illicit desires and inclinations in this world, and that Allah, Praised is He, does not grant you rewards in exchange for this action in the first place… , will you be in this supposition among the sinners, or would you be among those

who adore? Would you abandon the illicit desires and deprive

yourself of pleasures in order to earn His Pleasure, the most Praised One, and out of your love for Him, or would you not?

Would you be regular in doing what is commendable, in ob-

serving Friday congregational prayers, mass acts of worship,

or would you immerse yourself in illicit desires, merriment,

play, singing, etc.? Answer when eying equity and without

pretending.

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"As for me, I can tell you about myself and about those who are like me. We used to be in that condition, among the people

-of transgression, leaving acts of obedience behind our backs, following our illicit desires, and the result of all of our deeds was for the sake of personal pleasures and to look after the

stomach and private part! We were those with bellies.

Worshippers of their desires. But we abandoned such pleas-

ures for the sake of a much greater pleasure. Our full attention and hopes rested on making the desires easily accessible to us.

The prayers, which are the ascending ladder to nearness to

AlPah, we prayed so we could be close to the women of

Paradise and not connected to nearness to the Truly Almighty

nor connected to obedience to the command of Allah: The pray-

er was distant by thousands of parasangs from Allah, Praise to Him.

"O poor soul ignorant of the divine knowledge who knows

nothing but taking care of your desire and anger! And you,

holy man, who is regular in performing his rituals and optional acts of worship as well as obligations, who abandons what is

hated and prohibitive, who is adorned with good manners and

who avoids bad conduct! Weigh your deeds with the scales of

equity so you may see that all these deeds to reach the selfish desires, to sit on a bench of emeralds, to sleep with the hurls having large lovely eyes, to wear silk and brocade, to live in high mansions and to achieve the wishes! Can all these deeds, which are all for the sake of worshipping and loving the self, he attributed to Allah and to the worship of the Truthful One?

What is the difference between you and the one who works for

a wage? If the worker tells his boss that he has done his job purely for his own sake, you will call him a liar. Are yon not a liar when you say that your prayers are for seeking nearness to Allah or to be close to the women of Paradise and achieve what you desire? Let me say the following frankly: All our acts of worship, in the eyes of those who know Allah and who are

friends of Allah, are themselves major transgressions.

"So, poor soul, you act before the Truthful One, the most Great, and before His angels who are close to Him contrarily to 124

the pleasure of the Almighty, when adoration is the ascension ladder for nearness to Him which is performed by the nafs that quite often commands the doing of wrongdoing and by Satan

while, at the same time, you have no shame but lie in every act of worship many times before the Almighty and the angels

close to Him! You invent claims, thinking you are doing Him a favor, feeling proud of what you are doing, acting like a spoiled child, having no shame! What is the difference between my

worship and yours coupled with die transgressions of the

transgressors the strongest of which is pretension, for pretension is shirk; its ugliness and seriousness are due to worship not done for the sake of the Almighty. All our acts of worship are shirk, and there is no tint of loyalty and sincerity in them.

Rather, the pleasure of Allah Almighty does not find its way to them due also to shirk. Rather, they are for the sake of attain-ing pleasures, for satisfying the stomach and the private part.

So, dear one, a prayer service aiming at achieving the love of a woman, be she one of the women of this life or of the hereafter, is not for the sake of Allah. A prayer service undertaken for the sake of reaching the hopes of this life or the aspirations of the hereafter is not connected with Allah:

So, why such flirtation and indulgence?! You look down at

the servants of Allah, thinking that you are one of those chosen by the Truthful One! 0 poor soul! You, through such a prayer

service deserves to be tormented and are worthy of a chain the length of which is seventy yards. So, why do you see yourself as having credit with Allah, preparing for yourself through this flirtation and conceit an additional torment? You are supposed to perform the deeds which you are ordered to perform and

pay attention to their being for the sake of Allah. Be informed that Allah Almighty permits you to enter Paradise through His favor and mercy. The most Praised One has lightened some

shirk for His servants due to their weakness, throwing on them the covering veil through His forgiveness. Do not violate the sanctity of this covering, and leave the covering of forgiveness of the Truthful One placed on the bad deeds which we called

"acts of worship" for. God forbid, if the pages are turned and the pages of justice are brought, the stink of our worship will 125

be no less than that of our transgressions, the sins of transgressors.

"Thiqatul-Islam [the one trusted by the Muslims], al-Kulaini, has narrated in through isnad to Imam al-Sadiq (a.s) who cites the Messenger of Allah (a.s) saving, "Allah, the most Exalted and Great, said to Dawud [David]: 'Give the glad tidings to the sinners and warn the truthful ones.' Dawud said, 'How do I

give glad tidings to the sinners and warn the truthful ones?'

Almighty said, 'O Dawud! Give the glad tiding to the sinners

that i accept the repentance and forgive the sin, and warn the truthful ones against admiring their deeds, for I do not let a servant of Mine stand for judgment except that he perishes."'

So, since the truthful ones perish in the process of the judgment, although they are pure of sins and transgressions, what I can say, and what can you?!

"All this is as such if our deeds and yours are indicative of purely worldly pretension which is one of the abominations and prohibitions, and seldom does it coincide that we do a good

deed which is free of pretension and hypocrisy. Leave this subject alone; we shall not talk about it.

"Now, if there is room for conceit, flirtation and indulgence, do it. And if fairness places one in a position where he feels ashamed, lowering his head, admitting his shortcoming, then

seek forgiveness and repent to Him with seriousness. In all

reality clear each act of worship which you undertake from the lies which you pronounced in the presence of the Truthful One, the most Exalted, and about the titles which you bestowed

upon yourself without any right. Should you not repent about

saying, whHe facing the Truthful One, the most Exalted

One, prior to performing your prayer, "I have directed my face towards the One Who created the heavens and the earth, submissive, believing, and I am not among the polytheist: surely my prayers, asceticism, life and death are for the sake of Allah, Lord of the Worlds"? Did you really submit your heart to the One Who created the heavens and the earth? Are you really a

Muslim'? Are you pure of shirk? Are your prayers, adoration,

life and death for the sake of Allah? Should you not feel

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ashamed when you say in your prayer. "Praise to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds"? Do you really see all praise being due to the Truthful One, the Almighty, or do you see it fitting His servants, even praise due for the enemies of Allah? Is this not lying when you say, "Praise to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds", although you fix lordship in this world for others? Is repentance not required when you say, "Thee do we worship, and from Thee do we seek help"?

Do you worship Allah, or do you really worship your appetite

for food and lust for sex? Do you seek Allah or do you want the hurls with large lovely eyes? Do you really seek help only from Allah, and does every matter in your eves seem to be rendered to only Allah? Is your pursuit and goal is Allah when you go to visit the House Allah? Is your pursuit and goal the Owner of

the House? And does your heart act upon the statement of the

poet who says, "It is not love for the abodes that occupies my heart [but1 it is the love for those that live therein]"? Do you seek Allah'? Do you seek the manifestations of the Greatness

and Beauty of the Truthful One'? Do you hold commemorative

gatherings for the sake of the master of the oppressed? Do you beat your chest and head for his sake, or is it to reach your wealth and wishes, and the catalyst for your holding commemorative gatherings is the craving of the stomach? What pushes you towards the congregational prayers is the craving for the sexual intercourse with the hurls of Paradise], and what

prompts you to keep you busy with the rituals and acts of adoration is love for your own self.

"Brother! Discern the traps of the nut's- and of Satan, and be informed that Satan does not let you undertake a single sincere act [of worship], and these insincere deeds which were accepted by Allah, Glory to Him, only out of His favor, Satan does not let you get them to reach home; so, he fares with you, and with them, rendering them as nil through conceit and indulgence. Thus, this gain, too, passes you by, for you have dis-

tanced yourself from Allah and from His Pleasure, and you did not reach Paradise or the harts with large lovely eyes. This is not all. You became eternally lodged in the torment, tortured in the subduing fire of Allah. Did you claim that through these

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worn out deeds, the stinking and shaky ones, the ones mixed with pretension and desire for fame, with a thousand calamities each one of which bans the acceptance of your deeds, that you indeed have done Allah Almighty a favor, or you joined the company of those who love or who are loved? O poor soul!

Who is unaware of the condition of those who [truly] love,

and the wretch who is ignorant of the hearts of the lovers

wherein fire burns, the poor soul that is unaware of the burning of the sincere ones, of the poor of their deeds… , did you think that their deeds, too, were like my deeds and ours? Did you imagine the prayers of the Commander of the Faithful (a.s) as having distinguished itself from our prayers because a

phrase in it was recited with prolongation or the recitation was more accurate than ours, or the bowing and prostrating were

longer, or the praises and pleas were more numerous than

ours, or that he, peace be with him, distinguished himself from us by praying during every night many prostrations, or that the silent supplication [munajat] of the master of those who prostrate was like mine and yours, and that he shed his tears and cried for the sake of the hurls with large lovely eyes and for the plums and pomegranates of Paradise?!

"By their lives, and it surely is a great oath, if all humans pretended and wanted to utter a single "La ilaha illa Allah!" [There is no god except Allah] a single time just it was uttered by the Commander of the Faithful (a.s), they would never he able to

do that. So, woe unto me for thus knowing the status of the authority of Ali, peace be with him! I swear by the status of Ali ibn Abu Talib (a.s) that had the angels close to Allah and the messengers, aside from the Seal of Messengers, who is the

master of Ali and of everyone else, that had they wanted to

make a single takbir like that of Ali, they would never be able to do it: the condition of their hearts is known only by

themselves.

"So, dear one! Lessen your claim that you love Allah.

"O you man of knowledge, the ascetic one, the judge, the one who performs jihad, who subjects his heart to exercise, the

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faqih, the believer, the holy one! 0 poor souls, the wretches who are afflicted by the traps and desires of the nafs! O helpless folks who are afflicted by the hopes, wishes and love for their own selves! Since we all are incapable, and we all worship when being distant by many parasangs from sincerity and

from loving Allah … , do not think well of yourselves, and do not act like the spoiled ones, and ask your hearts if they truly seek Allah or seek their own selves. Does the heart believe in the Unity of Allah and seek the One and Only God, or is it polytheistic? What is this conceit, and what is the meaning of such pointing out to the deeds? If the value of a good deed, taking for granted it is complete in all its parts and conditions and is free of pretension, shirk, conceit and all destructive elements, is to reach the satisfying of the craving of the stomach and of the private part, what value is attached to it, since all these deeds are shown to the angels of Allah'? So, they have to be

hidden from the visions [of humans]. These deeds arc among

the ugly and calamitous ones. One must be ashamed of them

and must cover them up. Lord! We seek refuge with You, we

the poor ones, from the mischief of Satan, the evil of Satan and the evil-insinuating self [nafs]. Do protect us, Lord, from their traps by the status with You reserved for Muhammad and the

Progeny of Muhammad, Allah blesses him and his Progeny."

This is the end of his statement, may his shadow prolong,

about those who are conceited and who brag about their good

deeds.

INCLUSIVE STATEMENT BY IMAM AL-SADIQ (a.s)

We would like to beautify this dissertation with an inclusive statement by imam al-Sadiq (a.s) so its seal may he musk :

In Misbah al-Shari'a, Imam al-Sadiq (a.s) is quoted as having said the following :

"I am surprised, utterly surprised, about one who admires his deed when not knowing how it will be sealed for him. One who

admires himself and his deed strays from the path of guidance and claims what does not belong to him. One who makes a

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false claim is a liar even if his claim is hidden [not articulated], even if he lives long, for the first that a conceited person un-dergoes is being stripped of that which he admired so he would know that he is helplessly poor, so he may testify against his own self, so the argument against him will be stronger, just as it was done to Eblis. Conceit is a seed loving which is apostasy; its ground is hypocrisy, its water is oppression, its branches are ignorance, its leaves are misguidance, its fruit is a curse and an everlasting abode in the Fire. So, One who opts to be

conceited sows the seeds of disbelief, plants hypocrisy, and it has to bear fruit."

Surely the servant of Allah has said the truth.

All Praise belongs to Allah in the beginning and in the end;

His is the favor manifestly and innately.

These pages have been written by the one who is in need of

the mercy of Allah: Sayyid Ahmed al-Fahri.

[Translation from the original Arabic of this text and its editing were completed, by the Grace of Allah, on a Tuesday,

Jumada II 26, 1429 AH/July 1, 2008 in holy al-Kadhimiyya,

Baghdad, Iraq.]

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"Wisdom is the lost property of the Believer,

let him claim it wherever he finds it"

Imam Ali (as)

Document Outline

- Chapter 1

- Chapter 2

- Chapter 3

- Chapter 4

- Chapter 5

- Chapter 6

- Chapter 7

- Chapter 8

- Chapter 9

- Chapter 10

- Chapter 11

- Chapter 12

- Chapter 13

- Chapter 14

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14