Repentance: The Cradle of Mercy

Introduction

When the aggressive war[^1] broke out, I went to the front to carry out my legal duty, due to my responsibility. There I was lucky to be surrounded with a moral sphere, and I made the acquaintance of those of luminous faces, divine souls, and holy personalities.

Some believers of understanding suggested that I might, on the days when the fronts became quiet and when the mujahidin came back from the way of love to Tehran to do some tasks, hold a meeting of gnostic discussions according to the holy Qur'an, the Prophet’s Sunna and the traditions of Ahlul Bayt (as). We would meet with those pure hearts and luminous faces in a circle of faithful friendship. We confirmed the divine knowledge, and were supplied with the moral provision that was necessary for the fields of fighting.

I could not but accept this suggestion. The weekly meeting’s time was appointed; it was on Tuesday night every week.

In the beginning, the number of attendants was not more than twenty men. The meeting began with offering the prayer congregationally in a moral and divine state, and then mentioning some questions and researches on the divine knowledge. We finished the meeting with the retelling of the
Tragedy of Abu Abdullah al-Husayn (as)[^2]. Gradually the attendants spread the news of the meeting. Other men joined the twenty men that gave the meeting a special moral sphere. This meeting was different from all the other meetings. It had notitle, no name, and no certain etiquette. It had no chairman, no chief or subordinate. It was full of love, longing, unity, and sincerity. They all came to the meeting for the sake of Allah, sat for the sake of Allah, talked and listened for the sake of Allah. Nothing was felt in this meeting save love and passion.

The attendants increased to about one thousand men. I was bound to attend the meeting on Tuesday nights, even if I was in the farthest point of Iran, and so were the other participants. The mujahidin, who were in the south and the west of the country, also got permission from the military leadership to come and participate in this meeting of love.

I thought that this meeting of love and sociability would continue for many years, but fate made a group of the best of the participants of this meeting be martyred, and the Ba’thi[^3]enemy captured another group. The number of the martyrs and the captives from among the participants of the meeting became so high that I could not bear to see their places empty, and the new attendants could not fill the places of those dear ones; I could not but leave the meeting with a sad heart and teary eyes. Therefore, that meeting stopped forever. I am still, until this day on which I am writing these lines, hoping to find men like those dear ones but I have not found ones like them nor do I think that I will in the future.

Many subjects were discussed in the meeting: repentance, loving the truth, the day of resurrection, and gnosticism. Fortunately, all those discussions were recorded on cassettes, and, after some years, I got some of those cassettes by my two sons, Muhammad and Ameer. The discussions in those cassettes were about repentance. They suggested that I write down the discussions and then present them in a book to the people. This book before you is a memorandum of more than twenty meetings filled with moral teachings from those Tuesday nights, nights that bring good and beautiful memories. I hope you will be lucky to make full use of the discussions of this book that address us with new forms in the circle of repentance and go deep intoour consciences to move the feelings of goodness in our souls.

Husayn Ansariyan

[^1]: The war between Iraq and Iran.

[^2]: Imam al-Husayn (as) is the third infallible Imam of the Shia. He has been martyred on Ashura 61 A.H in the land of Karbala.

[^3]: Ba’th was the ruling party in Iraq.