Pretension and Conceit

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 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 humanity 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 perform. 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 whHe educating us so we may be saved from the darkness that lies in false beliefs and compounded ignorance and from the pressures 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 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 indebted to him, although we owe them without knowing it. Hence, when we feel that we arc the ones who do them a favor, 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 professor 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 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 impetus, feeling conceited, loving and adoring himself. Loving Allah can never coexist with egotism. Seeing Him can never coexist 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 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 forbid, due to such a momentous act and ethical scandal. His jealousy overshadows his covering as you heard in a sacred 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, personifying 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, whHe the determination itself keeps safeguarding 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.

THIRD LEVEL OF PRETENSION

This is the pretension that is known to be found among jurists, 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 other levels because most of us are not qualified for both above-stated levels. In this aspect, Satan does not intercept our way from that highway. But, since most people are worshippers, upholding 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 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.