Taqwa (Piety) Advice of Ahl al-Bayt
- The Effects Of Fear =======================
The fear of God Almighty is the highest devotion and the best deed. This is the fear which our Imams, who are the models of knowledge and practice, have observed and taught us. Sometimes, they say: “Praise is due to Allah from Whose fear the heaven and its inhabitants are moaning, and the earth and the people of the earth shiver, the seas and those floating in them are roaring.”[^1]
Once, they recite this supplication: “Put Thy fear in my heart, cut off (the desire of) everything other than Thee so that it neither turns to, nor is afraid of anyone except Thee.”[^2]
And at other times, they say: “O Lord! Make me fear You as if I see You. Make me prosperous with piety and obedience. Make me not unfortunate with sins.”[^3]
This kind of fear has certain effects which are perceptible in the same way that the other kinds of fear have their own effects.
One of the most important effects of this kind of fear is to keep away from committing sins which is actually the best feature, because all misfortunes, entanglements, diseases, physical and mental problems arise from the committing of sins and the doing of unlawful acts. It is for this reason that the supplications of Komail and Arafah, glorification (tasbeeh) after prayers and the Du’as of the Infallible Imams refer to different kinds of sins and their consequences: “O Allah, forgive me those sins which alter blessings … which causes regrets … which causes ailments … which violates protections… which causes supplications to be rejected … which deters rain … which shortens life … which causes adversity … which darkens the space … which uncovers the veils.”[^4]
Each of these sins is considered as special one in Ma’ani al-Akhbar, Al-Kafi, Al-Wafi, Bihar al-Anwar and other books of Hadith.
Imam Baqir (AS) has been reported by Abu Hamza ath-Thumali as saying: “Among the sayings of the Messenger of Allah (SAW), there is a saying as follows: when adultery increases after me, sudden deaths becomes numerous, when people deal in short-weight, God afflicts them with famine; when the zakat is prevented, the earth becomes devoid of blessings of plantation, fruits and mines. When they deviated from justice in their judgments, they assist each other in oppression and aggression. When they break their covenants, God will make their enemies overcome them. When kinship is cut off, wealth shall be put in the hands of the wicked. When they do not enjoin good and forbid the wrong, and do not follow the gracious ones of my progeny, God will make their evildoers dominant, and then their good-doers pray, but they shall be not responded to.”[^5]
Imam Sadiq (AS) has been reported as saying: “…the sin that alter blessings is aggression, the sin that causes regret is homicide, the sin that causes the sending down of wrath is oppression, the sin that violates protections is drinking of wine, the sin that withholds sustenance is adultery, the sin that hastens perishment is cutting off kinship, and the sin that rejects supplications and darkens the space is the undutifulness to parents.”^6
One of the other positive effects of the fear of God is that one, who is fearful of God, does his best to be a model and foremost in religious, social, political, scientific, cultural, and moral scenes. This is the same feature about which God has said: “And the foremost are the foremost, these are they who are drawn nigh (to Allah), in the gardens of bliss.”[^7]
The true example of “the foremost” is Imam Ali (AS) who has been preferred to all others (after the Prophet) in every goodness, and so he has been called “the Master of the Pious”.
One of the other effects of being fearful of God is “weeping” which has been frequently mentioned in the Quranic verses and traditions. In this relation, God Almighty says: “Say: believe in it or believe not; surely those, who are given the knowledge before it, fall down on their faces, making obeisance when it is recited to them. And they say: Glory be to our Lord! Most surely, the promise of our Lord was to be fulfilled. And they fall down on their faces weeping, and it adds to their humility.”[^8]
Elsewhere in the Holy Quran, God says: “And mention Musa in the Book; Surely he was one purified, and he was an apostle, a prophet…. And mention Isma’eel in (his) promise, and he was an apostle, a prophet…. And mention Idris in the Book; surely he was a truthful man, a prophet, And We raised him high in Heaven. These are they on whom Allah bestowed favors, from among the prophets of the seed of Adam, and of those whom We carried with Noah, and of the seed of Ibrahim and Israel, and of those whom We guided and chose; when the communications of the Beneficent God were recited to them, they fell down making obeisance and weeping.”[^9]
Imam Sajjad (AS) has been reported in Manaqib and Majma’ as saying: “It is we that have been meant by these verses.”[^10]
In traditions, we read that whenever the Imams (AS) recited the Holy Quran, they started weeping. As an example, Raja ibn Abu adh-Dhahhaak narrated: “Imam Reza(AS) was reciting the Holy Quran on his way to Khurasan and when he came across a verse about paradise and hell, he began weeping and beseeched Allah for Paradise and sought His protection from Fire.”[^11]
In another tradition, the Holy Prophet (a.s.) has been reported as saying: “Recite the Quran and weep. And if you do not weep, pose as weeping.”[^12]
The Messenger of Allah (a.s.) has been reported by Imam Sadiq (AS) as having said to a group of young men from the Ansar: “I want to recite the Quran. Whoever makes himself weep, paradise shall be his.” He recited some verses from the Quran until he came to the verse: “And those who disbelieve shall be driven to hell in troops...”[^13] He recited this verse until the end of the chapter. The all began weeping except a young man who said: “O Messenger of Allah! I tried to weep, but my tears do not come out.” The Holy Prophet (SAW) said: “I will recite these verses again. Whoever weeps, paradise will be his.” This time, all of them wept and that young man posed as weeping. They all deserved to be in paradise.[^14]
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) has been reported as saying: “O Abu Tharr! Whoever can weep should do so, and whoever cannot do, should feel sad in his heart and pose as if he is weeping, for a hardhearted man is far from God, but you do not understand that.”[^15]
Imam Ali (AS) has been reported as saying: “Weeping is the feature of those who fear God.”[^16]
Imam Ali (AS) has also said: “Weeping out of the fear of God because of being away from God is the worship of the mystics.”^17
“Weeping out of the fear of God, gives light to the heart and keeps one away from committing sins again.”^18
“Weeping out of the fear of God is the key to mercy.”^19
In a sermon, describing the pious, Imam Ali (AS) says: “These are the people whose acts in this world were pure, their eyes were tearful, their nights in this world were like days because of fearing and seeking of forgiveness, and their days were like nights because of feeling of loneliness and being away from all worldly pleasures, and so Allah makes the Paradise as their last abode and gives them the best of rewards.”[^20]
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) has been reported as saying: “Be it known to you that one, whose eyes shed tears out of the fear of God, for each drop of tear, there is a palace adorned with pearls and jewels for him. There is in it what no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no heart has experienced.”[^21]
Imam Sadiq (AS) has been reported by Imam Hasan Askari (AS) as saying: “The distance between man and Paradise is more than the distance between the earth and the heaven when he commits a sin. But when he weeps with regret out of the fear of God, the distance between him and Paradise become less than the distance between his eye and his eyelid.”[^22]
Imam Sadiq (AS) has been reported as saying: “All eyes shall weep on the Day of Judgment except three eyes; an eye that has been lowered not to see what is unlawful (to be seen), an eye that spends the nights in obeying God, and an eye that weeps in the heart of night out of the fear of God.”[^23]
If you wish to know the importance of weeping out of the fear of God, you would better look into the states of the prophets and see what God has said about weeping. In a dialog between Moses (AS) and God Almighty on Mount Sinai, God says: “O Moses! Tell your tribe that no one can approach Me except by weeping out of the fear of Me.”[^24]
Addressing Jesus (AS), God says: “O Jesus, son of the chaste woman! Weep for your self, the weeping of one who says farewell to his family, one who does not like the world and leaves it for the people of the world, and one who loves what is there with his Lord.”[^25]
Qotb Rawandi said: “God said to Prophet David (AS): ‘Call Me with this name: O the Friend of those who weep.”[^26]
As for Adam (AS), it is said that he wept so much there was like two big streams on his cheeks. It is also said that Adam (AS) wept for two hundred years.[^27]
Prophet Noah (a.s.) wept for about five hundred years. So did Prophet Jacob (a.s.) and Prophet Joseph (a.s.). Prophet John (a.s.) wept so much that his cheeks were affected because of shedding too much tears and his mother used to dress the wound with a piece of felt. Prophets David, Moses, and Jesus (peace be on them) did the same.
Our Holy Prophet, the Imams of guidance and Lady Fatima(AS) wept so much that they have been called the ever-weeping ones (Bakka’oon) in traditions.
As for Prophet Yahya (a.s.), he was a young boy when he saw the state of the pious in Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) and asked his mother to buy him the garment of the pious. His mother, with the permission of his father, brought him a woolen cloak. One day when Yahya looked at his lean body, God said to him: “O Yahya! Are you weeping that the coarse clothes have made you lean? By My glory! If you see the hell, which I have created, you will wear a garment of iron.”
Hearing this, the Prophet Yahya (a.s.) wept so much that the flesh of his cheeks melted away. Prophet Yahya (a.s.) was so fearful of the hell that whenever Prophet Zakariyya (a.s.) intended to speak of hell, he would make sure that Prophet Yahya (a.s.) was not present. One day when Prophet Yahya (a.s.) was sitting behind a pillar, Prophet Zakariyya said: “O people! my friend, Gabriel has given me information that in hell there is a mountain of fire called ‘Sakran’ and in the middle of it there is a valley called ‘Ghadhban’ and in the valley there are wells as deep as the distance of a hundred years of walking. In those wells, there are boxes filled with fire, snakes and scorpions. If they sting any one, he shall twist (of pain) for seventy years. At this time, the moaning and crying of Prophet Yahya (a.s.) went to the sky. He left the gathering towards the desert while crying out: “Woe to me from Sakran! Woe to me from Ghadhban!”[^28]
As for the Holy Prophet of Islam, ibn Shahr Ashub in his Manaqib writes: “The Messenger of Allah wept so much that he became unconscious. He was asked: ‘Has God not forgiven your past and future sins?’[^29] The Holy Prophet said: ‘Shall I not then be a grateful servant?’”[^30]
Imam Ali’s states, his spending the night in worshipping, and his much weeping for the fear of Allah are unknown to everyone. We have already mentioned what he said to Habbah al-Urani and Nawf: “If you keep on weeping at night out of the fear of God, your eyes will be bright before God Almighty on the Day of Judgment. O Nawf! There is no drop of tears shed by one for the fear of Allah except that it can extinguish seas of fire.”^31
Perhaps this state is natural for the prophets and infallible Imams. Even those trained by them have such a feature. Persons like Salman, Abu Tharr, Borayr and even the son of Haroon al-Rasheed have attained such position.
It has been related that Haroon al-Rasheed had a son who was too pious. He was the opposite of his father in turning away from the worldly pleasures, position, and rule. He attended the assembly of the pious, wore shabby clothes and frequented cemeteries where he wept and took lesson from their examples. He was considered as the black sheep of his family by his father. When Haroon called his so-called misled son and advised him to abandon that way of living, he said to his father: “O father! I have had enough from this world. I have tasted its fruits. Now, let me have a taste of the hereafter and its fruits.”
Haroon wanted to appoint him as the governor of Egypt, but the young man said: “O father! If you do not leave me alone, I will escape from you.” Haroon said: “I cannot tolerate your separation.” The son said: “You have other sons with whom you can make yourself happy, but if I part with my Creator, what shall I do, for there is no one like Him?”
Haroon’s son eventually went to Basra while he had only one copy of the Holy Quran and a basket. He used to work only one day a week which was Saturday and lived on what he earned for the work of that day.
Abu Aamir al-Basri relates: “The wall of my house had collapsed, so I went out to look for a worker to repair it. On the way, I saw a good-faced young man with a basket in front of him, reciting the Holy Quran. I said to him: ‘O young man! Will you work for me?’ He said: why should I not while I have been created to work?’ I said: ‘mud working!’ He said: ‘I will work for you provided that you will give me one Dirham and a sixth of a Dirham as wage and allow me to offer my prayer at its proper time.’ I accepted his condition and he began his work. When I returned home at night, I found that he had worked as much as the work of ten workers. I gave him two Dirhams. He did not accept and took what he had asked for and went away. The next day I went after him, but I did not find him. People said that he did not work except on Saturdays. I went to see him on Saturday. He was reciting the Holy Quran. I greeted him and asked him to work for me. He came with the same condition. He worked in a way as if he was helped invisibly. I wanted to give him three Dirhams, but he did not accept. He took his wage and went away.
On the third Saturday when I went to the market, I did not find him. I looked for him everywhere. People said: ‘He is sick and lying down in a ruined place’. When we reached the place, I saw him unconscious with his head on a half of a brick. I greeted him, but since he was dying, he did not heed. I greeted him again. He recognized me this time. I wanted to put his head on my knees, but he refused and recited the following verses of poetry:
“O my comrade! Let not the blessings of this world deceive you!
Life comes to an end and blessings perish!
When you know the fate of a nation, you will be questioned about them! When you see a body carried to cemetery, know that you will be the next!”
Then he said: ‘This is my last will and testament to you! When I am dead, put my body on the earth and say: O Allah! This is Your servant. He has escaped from the world to You so that You may accept him. So accept him and forgive him his faults with Your grace.’
Then he said: ‘When you bury me, give my basket to the gravedigger. Take this copy of the Quran and my ring to my father, Haroon al-Rasheed and say to him: ‘I have two trusts from a strange young man. Convey my message to him, saying: ‘Do not die in your ignorance.’ He said this and passed away.”[^32]
It is worth mentioning that weeping is the highest degree of tenderheartedness and the best sign of relations between God and human beings. Weeping is the sign of little disobedience and lack of pollution. Hence, if one is hardhearted, he should know that it is the result of his sins and pollution. Hardheartedness has been blamed in the Quranic verses and traditions. God has ascribed hardheartedness to unbelievers: “Then your hearts hardened after that, so that they were like rocks, rather worse in hardness.”[^33]
Elsewhere, Allah has ascribed hardheartedness to Himself: “But on account of their breaking their covenant We cursed them and made their hearts hard.”[^34]
Hardheartedness has been frequently blamed in traditions in a way that the messenger of Allah (SAW) has been reported by Imam Ali and Imam Sadiq (AS) as saying: “Hardheartedness, dry-eyedness (not weeping with sympathy), greed for further sustenance and insistence on committing sins are the signs of misfortune.”[^35]
In another tradition, we read: “From the signs of wretchedness are dry-eyedness, hardheartedness, far wishes, and love of perpetuality are signs of misfortune.”^36
Imam Sadiq (AS) has been reported as saying: “Even if you cannot weep, pose as weeping. Even if you shed one teardrop, you are lucky.”[^37]
It goes without saying that weeping and tenderheartedness do not necessarily mean that one is innocent, but it is generally believed to be so. Imam Sajjad (AS) has been reported as saying: “The fear of one who weeps but has no piety to keep away him from committing sins is a false fear.”[^38]
Imam Sadiq (AS) has been reported as saying: “Let not their weeping deceive you, for piety (Taqwa) is found in the heart.”[^39]
This does not mean that anyone, who does not weep or is dry-eyed, is not necessarily pious, rather believers are thought to be kind-hearted and fearful of God.
From what we have discussed, it is inferred that the fear of God is a feature of the men of piety, especially if it is intermingled with weeping (for fear of Allah), and weeping for Imam Husain and the rest of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.).
Beyond doubt, human beings are exposed to all calamities since the time they are born. To avoid this, Islam has advised them to create in themselves such morale to be able to resist such mishaps, and sometimes to welcome them in a way that he is pleased with them instead of complaining about them. The pious are such people.
The pious are those who resist sins, difficulties, and calamities, and are patient in order to seek God’s pleasure. The pious are happy with what God has destined for them. Can we accept patience from anyone other than the pious? The pious are called men of understanding, the benefactors, the chosen, and the perfect believers, though people of piety are above others, hence it is said: “O you who believe! Be careful of (your duty to) Allah and be with the true ones.”[^40]
About the pious, the Holy Quran says: “…and be careful (of your duty) to Me, O men of understanding”[^41], and “Those who believe in the unseen and keep up prayer and spent out of what we have given them”.[^42]
About the believers, God says: “Those who keep up prayer and spend (benevolently) out of what we have given them.”[^43]
About the benefactors, God says: “Those who keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate and they are certain of the hereafter.”[^44]
About the chosen, God says: “(to) those whose hearts tremble when Allah is mentioned, and those who are patient with that which afflicts them, and those who keep up prayer, and spend benevolently out of what We have given them.”[^45]
Therefore, the pious are perhaps meant by “the believers”, “the benefactors” and “the chosen”, for some of their features are shared by them.
Patience is to restrain the soul from what reason and religious law have forbidden. Therefore, patience is a general term used with different meaning on different occasions. When it means self-restrain in calamities, it is called patience; otherwise, it is called impatience, anxiety and restlessness. Patience in fighting is called courage and the opposite is cowardice. In calamities, it is called open-mindedness and the opposite of it is incapacity. In relation to speech, it is called keeping secret, and the opposite of this is divulging. God has called them all as patience.
Mohaqqiq Toosi says: “Patience is to restrain the soul from anxiety in distress. It prevents the tongue from complaining and the organs of the body from unusual motions.”[^46]
The Holy Quran has spoken of patience on more than a hundred occasions and if you read them carefully, you will understand what patience is, why it is necessary and what its role in human prosperity is. In one place, it says: “O you who believe! Be patient and excel in patience and remain steadfast, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, that you may be successful.”[^47]
In a commentary on this verse, Imam Sadiq (AS) has been reported as saying: “Be patient against sins, be patient with religious obligations, be fixed in the path of God; and we are the path between God and His people.”[^48]
In another tradition, we read: “Be patient with your faith, be patient against your enemy who challenges you, be ready with your Imam in fighting and struggling, and fear Allah in what He has ordered and has made obligatory on you.”^49
Imam Baqir (AS) has been reported as saying: “One day, Gabriel came down to the Holy Prophet who asked him: “What is patience?” Gabriel said: “…it is as when he is patient in distress, he is patient in happiness, is patient in the time of prosperity and helplessness, and is patient in calamities and in good health. It is not to complain against his Creator to people of the calamities that afflict him.”[^50]
In another verse, God say: “And We will most certainly try you with somewhat of fear and hunger and loss of property and lives and fruits; and give good news to the patient, who, when a misfortune befalls them, say: Surely we are Allah’s and to Him we shall surely return. Those are they on whom are blessings, and those are the rightly guided.”[^51]
There are many verses and traditions about the importance of patience. We will refer to some of those traditions here.
Hafs ibn Ghiyath narrates: “Imam Sadiq said to me: It is incumbent upon you to be patient in all affairs, for God Almighty deputed the Holy Prophet and enjoined him to patience: “And bear patiently what they say and avoid them with a becoming avoidance.””[^52]
Imam Sadiq (AS) has been reported as saying: “The position of patience to faith is like the position of the head to the body. When there is no head there shall be no body, in the same way that when there is no patience there shall be no faith.”[^53]
Abu Hamzah has reported Imam Sadiq (AS) as saying: “When a believer is afflicted with a tribulation and he is patient, he shall have the reward of a thousand martyrs.”[^54]
Perhaps such comparison is a bit odd, but if we look into the states of the afflicted ones, we will realize that such comparison is not far-fetched. A martyr loses his life in the battlefield when an arrow hits him, but in ailments and diseases, it may take many years for one to die, and during these years, he has to tolerate many sufferings. It is here that if one is not patient, he may curse the world and become a disbeliever.
The same is true about one who is exposed to sins and it is difficult for him to keep himself away from them. It is for the same reason that when the army of Islam returned from battles of justice against injustice, the Holy Prophet said: “Well-done! You have completed the minor Jihad, and now it is the turn of the major Jihad.” They asked: “O Messenger of Allah! What is the major Jihad?” The Holy Prophet (a.s.) said: “It is the Jihad against the self.”[^55] It is the patience with respect to the divine rules, that is the performing of religious duties, forsaking prohibitions, patience in obligations and against sins.
Allamah Majlisi, about the above-mentioned tradition, says: “It might mean the martyrs of other nations or the martyrs who have not had a pure intention, but they have their own rewards as a gift from Allah.” But, I think that what I said is more suitable. God is most aware.
The Holy Prophet (SAW) has been reported by Imam Baqir (AS) as saying: “On the Day of Judgment, God will gather all people in one place. Then a herald shall say: ‘Where are the people of patience?’ Some people shall get up. The angels shall welcome them, asking: ‘What was your patience for?’ They shall say: ‘We made our selves patient in obedience to God and made them patient against sins.’ The herald, on the order of God, shall say: ‘My servants say the truth. Open the way for them to enter Paradise without reckoning.’”[^56]
There are many examples of those who were patient in history. In this relation, we can mention Bilal, Khabbab ibn al-Aratt, Maytham, the companions of the Holy Prophet (SAW) and the companions of Imam Hosain (AS). As for the state of Bilal, it has been mentioned that the cursed Abu Jahl made him lie down on the earth and put heavy stones on his back in the hot days of Hijaz, saying to him: “Renounce the Lord of Mohammad! Stop supporting Mohammad!” However, Bilal tolerated all these hardships, saying: “He (Allah) is One! He is One!”[^57] Whenever he was tormented, he just said: “He is One! He is One!”
Khabbab ibn al-Aratt was also tortured to the extent that his flesh melted away. One day, Umar asked him: “How did the atheists torture you?” Khabbab took away his shirt. When Umar looked at his back and was greatly amazed. He said: “By God! I have never seen the back of any one like this!”
Khabbab said: “They set fire to my back and did not extinguish it until the flesh of my back melted away.”[^58]
You may say that these were special people who were trained by the Holy Prophet (SAW), but we can say that such people can be found among ordinary people too. Some man relates: “My friend and I were traveling through a desert where we got lost. We saw a tent and went near it. A woman came out of the tent. She asked who we were, and we said that we had got lost. The woman said: “Turn your faces away, so that I will fulfill your needs.” She spread a mat for us and said: “Sit here until my son comes back and receives you.”
After a short time, a camel rider appeared. Drawing the lap of the tent aside, the woman said: “The camel is mine, but the camel rider is not my son.” The camel rider approached and greeted us. The woman asked about her son, and the camel rider consoled her, saying: O Umm Aqeel, may Allah give you a great reward for (the death of) of your son Aqeel!”
The camel rider then told the story of the death of her son. The woman said: “Dismount you camel now and slaughter this lamb for me to cook a meal for these people who are my guests.” She prepared the food in a way as if she had not lost her son. We were amazed by this act. She then came forward, asking: “Is there among you one who can recite the Quran?” I said: “I can.” She asked me to recite and I recited this verse: “Give good tidings to the patient who, when a calamity befall them, say: Surely we are Allah's and to Him we shall surely return. Those are they on whom are blessings and mercy from their Lord, and those are the rightly guided.”
The woman asked: “Is this verse in the Quran?” I said: “Yes, by God!” She said: “Blessed be you!” She rose up then and offered some rak’as of prayer, saying: “O Allah, I have done what You have ordered me to do. Therefore, fulfill what You have promised.”
I did not see anyone more perfect and more generous than this woman was. She described her Lord with the best names, for she knew that there was no escape from death, that impatience was useless, and weeping did not bring a dead person back to life. So she resorted to a becoming patience.”[^59]
Ash-Shaheed ath-Thani (the Second Martyr) has been reported in the book Maskan al-Fawa’id, as saying: “Some wise man relates: ‘I had gone to Areesh in Egypt with some riders. On our way, we came across a tent where there was a man who was totally blind and whose hands and legs were paralyzed. He said: Praise be to You, O my Mater and Lord! I praise You a praise that is equal to all praises of Your creatures… like Your favor on all Your creatures that You have actually preferred me to many of what You have created.”
I approached him, greeted him and he greeted me back. I said to him: ‘May God bless you! Will you answer me if I ask you a question?’
He said: ‘I will if I know!’
I said: ‘For what Grace of God do you praise Him?’
He said: ‘Do you not see what He has done to me?’ I said: ‘Yes.’ The man said: If God Almighty pours a fire on me to burn me and orders the mountains to crush me and orders the seas to drown me, and orders the earth to swallow me, I will do nothing but keep on loving Him and be grateful to Him.’
Then the man said: ‘I want you to do something for me. Will you?’
I said: ‘Yes, whatever you want!’
The man said: ‘I have a son who takes care of me at times of my prayers, and gives food to me at the time of breaking my fasting. He was not here since last night. Go and see if you can find him for me.’
I said to myself: ‘There is a blessing in this request.’ So I began looking for his son everywhere until I found him torn into pieces by a fierce animal. I said to myself: ‘Surely we belong to Allah and to Him do we return. How can I tell the news of the son to this true servant of God?’
Finally, I went to him. I greeted and said to him: ‘May God bless you. Will you answer me if I ask you a question?’ He said: ‘I will if I know.’ I said: ‘Which one is more honorable and closer to God, you or Prophet Ayyoob?’ He said: ‘Prophet Ayyoob is more honorable with God than I am and his position shall be much higher.’
I said: ‘Almighty Allah tried him, and he was patient and remained alone with no companion. As for your son, he has been devoured by a fierce animal. May God give you a great reward for (losing) him.’
The man retorted: ‘Praise is due to Allah who did not put in my heart any regret of this world.’ He then gave a loud cry and fell on the ground. I sat for some time and then shook him, but he was motionless. I said: ‘Surely, we belong to Allah and to Him do we return. But who will help me to bury him?’ At this time, I saw some riders heading for pasture. I called them and they came to the tent, asking: ‘who are you?’ I told them the whole story. They tied their horses and helped me washing the dead body with the water of the sea. We buried him. I sat besides his grave and began reciting the Quran until some hours of the night passed. A short sleep overtook me, and I saw in my sleep my friend in the best state in a green garden reciting the Quran. I said: ‘What has given you such position?’ He said: know that I have come with the patient for the sake of Allah the Almighty in a position that they have not gained except by patience calamities and gratefulness at the time of ease and comfort.’ Then, I woke up.”[^60]
Imam Ali (AS) has been reported as saying: “For the people of piety, there are signs by which they are recognized; truthfulness, fulfillment of their promises, trustworthiness, lack of avarice, love of kin, having mercy on the weak, little association with women, benevolence, good temper, forbearance, and adherence to knowledge which make them close to Allah. Happy are they and a good return shall be for them. Tooba is a tree in the Paradise whose root is in the house of the Messenger of Allah.”[^61]
[^1]: The Du’a of Eftitah.
[^2]: The Friday Supplication
[^3]: The Du’a of Arafah.
[^4]: The Du’as of Kumayl and Arafah.
[^5]: Al-Wafi, vol. 3, p. 173.
[^7]: Qur'an, 56:10-12.
[^8]: Qur'an, 17:107-109.
[^9]: Qur'an, 19:51-58.
[^10]: Safi, p. 341.
[^11]: Safeenat al-Bihar, vol. 2, p. 417.
[^12]: Safi, p. 340.
[^13]: Qur'an, 39:71.
[^14]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 90, p. 328.
[^15]: Safeenat al-Bihar, vol. 1, p. 97.
[^16]: Ghurar al-Hikam.
[^20]: Nahj al-Balaghah, p. 756.
[^21]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 90, p. 328.
[^22]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 90, p. 329.
[^23]: Ibid., p. 332.
[^24]: Ibid., p. 331.
[^25]: Ibid., p. 332.
[^26]: Mostadrak, vol. 2, p. 293.
[^27]: Safeenat al-Bihar, vol. 1, p. 95.
[^28]: Khazinat al-Jawahir, p. 325.
[^29]: Of course, all the Prophets of Allah are infallible and do not commit any sin or even any simple error.
[^30]: Mostadrak, vol. 2, p. 295.
[^32]: Abwab al-Jinan.
[^33]: Qur'an, 2:74.
[^34]: Qur'an, 5:13.
[^35]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 90, p. 330.
[^37]: Ibid., p. 334
[^38]: Ibid., p. 335
[^39]: Ibid., vol. 67, p. 286.
[^40]: Qur'an, 9:119.
[^41]: Qur'an, 2:197.
[^42]: Qur'an, 2:3.
[^43]: Qur'an, 8:3.
[^44]: Qur'an, 31:4.
[^45]: Qur'an, 22:35.
[^46]: Noor al-Thaqalayn.
[^47]: Qur'an, 3:200.
[^48]: Noor al-Thaqalayn, vol. 1, p. 353.
[^50]: Noor al-Thaqalayn, vol. 1, p. 354.
[^51]: Qur'an, 2:155-157.
[^52]: Qur'an, 73:10.
[^53]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 67, p. 183.
[^54]: Ibid., p. 78.
[^55]: Wasa’il al-Shiah, vol. 11, p. 124.
[^56]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 68, p. 87.
[^57]: Bahjat al-Amal, vol. 1, p. 421
[^58]: Bahjat al-Amal, vol. 4, p. 23.
[^59]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 79, p. 152.
[^60]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 79, p. 149.
[^61]: Ibid., vol. 67, p. 282.