Mikyalul Makarim Fee Fawaaid ad-Duaa Lil Qai’m (Perfection of morals among the benefits of praying for al-Qa’im) Volume 2

Mikyalul Makarim Fee Fawaaid ad-Duaa Lil Qai’m (Perfection of morals among the benefits of praying for al-Qa’im)9%

Mikyalul Makarim Fee Fawaaid ad-Duaa Lil Qai’m (Perfection of morals among the benefits of praying for al-Qa’im) Author:
Translator: Allamah Sayyid Sa'eed Akhtar Rizvi
Publisher: Ja’fari Propagation Centre
Category: Imam al-Mahdi

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Mikyalul Makarim Fee Fawaaid ad-Duaa Lil Qai’m (Perfection of morals among the benefits of praying for al-Qa’im)

Mikyalul Makarim Fee Fawaaid ad-Duaa Lil Qai’m (Perfection of morals among the benefits of praying for al-Qa’im) Volume 2

Author:
Publisher: Ja’fari Propagation Centre
English

Note:

This book is taken from www.al-islam.org

6. In Qunoot Of Prayers

Proving this matter are supplications of the Holy Imams (as) for an early reappearance in a number Qunoot supplications that are related from them. Some of them are:

One: The venerable Sayyid, Ali bin Tawoos, in his book, Muhajjud Daawaat, under a lengthy narration, has narrated from Imam Zainul Abideen (as):

اللهم إن جبلة البشرية وطباع الانسانية، وما جرت عليه تركيبات النفسية، وانعقدت به عقود النشأة تعجز عن حمل واردات الأقضية إلا ما وفقت له أهل الاصطفاء، وأعنت عليه ذوي الاجتباء. اللهم وإن القلوب في قبضتك، والمشيئة لك في ملكتك وقد تعلم أي رب ما الرغبة إليك في كشفه واقعة لأوقاتها بقدرتك واقفة بحدك من إرادتك، وإني لأعلم أن لك دار جزاء من الخير والشر، مثوبة وعقوبة، وأن لك يوما تأخذ فيه بالحق وأن أناتك أشبه الأشياء بكرمك وأليقها بما وصفت به نفسك في عطفك وترؤفك وأنت بالمرصاد لكل ظالم في وخيم عقباه، وسوء مثواه. اللهم وانك قد أوسعت خلقك رحمة وحلما، وقد بدلت أحكامك، وغيرت سنن نبيك (صلى الله عليه وآله) وتمرد الظالمون على خلصائك واستباحوا حريمك وركبوا مراكب الاستمرار على الجرأة عليك. اللهم فبادرهم بقواصف سخطك، وعواصف تنكيلاتك واجتثاث غضبك، وطهر البلاد منهم، واعف عنها آثارهم واحطط من قاعاتها ومظانها منارهم واصطلمهم ببوارك حتى لا تبقي منهم دعامة لناجم ولا علما لآم، ولا مناصا لقاصد ولا رائدا لمرتاد. اللهم امح آثارهم، واطمس على أموالهم وديارهم وامحق أعقابهم وافكك اصلابهم وعجل إلى عذابك السرمد انقلابهم وأقم للحق مناصبه واقدح للرشاد زناده وأثر للثأر مثيره. وأيد بالعون مرتاده، ووفر من النصر زاده حتى يعود الحق بجدته وينير معالم مقاصده، ويسلكه أهله حق سلوكه إنك على كل شئ قدير

O, great Allah; in honesty the creation of humans, human’s personality, and whatever that its running on its soul, and whatever that is combined in it, with creation of man, is unable to handle the destiny and orders, except whatever You have allowed for the one in that class, and have helped those people with permission. O, great Allah, truthfully, every heart is in Your powerful hand, and requests are for You in Your kingdom, in reality, Oh my Lord and Master, You know every requests toward You in removing whatever happening, their time is unmovable with Your power, because of Your decision and Your wish. I know that the hall of rewards is Yours, for either good or bad, either to praise or to punish. In addition, the day that You will judge with justice and fairness is Yours.

Moreover, I know for sure that Your patience is just like Your generosity, and it is the closest to what You described Yourself in Your kindness and love.You are watching the oppressors and unfair person, know their places, and position in the other world. O, great Allah, in truth You have given life, food, and wealth to Your creatures because You are patience and merciful. But, the oppressors unfairly have changed Your orders, the path of Your profits have been altered, the unfair and oppressor disobeyed You and attacked Your friends, changed what You forbidden to do to deeds that are acceptable and good, and they rode against Your orders and arrogantly challenged your institution.

O, my great Allah, send them Your wrath and condemnation including your extreme punishments and hardships quickly, destroy them totally, completely, clean up the towns and cities from their existence, and remove their signs and beings from cities and towns, turn their habitats upside down and deny light in their homes. Destroy them with a destruction that there will be none of them left for anyone to find, no sign of them for anyone to search, no place for them to hide or take refuge, and no one to want them.

O, Allah, pulverize them and their existence, break and destroy their wealth, homes, and habitats, crush their children, separate the disks of their spines in their back, and rush them toward Your everlasting hardship and punishment in hell.Replace their leaders with the Shia Imam and replace them with just and fair Shia people in their place. Light the way for the fire of the truth, bring about the ones who are looking for justice and revenge of the Imam’s blood.

Strengthen the seeker of justice and fairness with Your Might, and increase their strength with Your Power and Help. So that justice and fairness is returned to its rightful path, and the path of justice and fairness is clear for seekers of justice and fairness, so it will be safe for them to step in that path. It is the truth that You are able and have the Power to do anything.1

I say: One who searches with an illuminated mind, the sayings of the Purified Imams (as) it is clear that this Dua is regarding our unseen Master (as). His Eminence, Mahdi (aj). It is a request in the court of Almighty to ease his reappearance. Other contexts are also present in it that trusted people can recognize.

If it is said: Perhaps the statement, ‘Send the potential revenger’ implies Mukhtar. I will say: Without any doubt, it implies His Eminence, the master of the Time. Supplications and traditions narrated from him in Qunoot Duas also prove this.

Two: It is the Qunoot related from Imam Muhammad Baqir (as) as follows:

يا من يعلم هواجس السرائر ومكامن الضمائر وحقائق الخواطر، يا من هو لكل غيب حاضر، ولكل منسئ ذاكر، وعلى كل شئ قادر وإلى الكل ناظر، بعد المهل وقرب الأجل وضعف العمل وأراب الأمل، وآن المنتقل وأنت يا الله الآخر كما أنت الأول، مبدئ ما أنشأت، ومصيرهم إلى البلى ومقلدهم اعمالهم ومحملها ظهورهم إلى وقت نشورهم من بعثة قبورهم، عند نفخة الصور، وانشقاق السماء بالنور، والخروج بالمنشر إلى ساحة المحشر، لا ترتد إليهم أبصارهم وافئدتهم هواء، متراطمين في غمة ما اسلفوا، ومطالبين بما احتقبوا ومحاسبين هناك على ما ارتكبوا. الصحاف على الأعناق منشورة والاوزار على الظهور مأزورة، لا انفكاك ولا مناص ولا محيص عن القصاص قد أفحمتهم الحجة، وحلوا في حيرة المحجة، همسوا الضجة معدول بهم عن المحجة إلا من سبقت له من الله الحسنى، فنجا من هول المشهد وعظيم المورد، ولم يكن ممن في الدنيا تمرد، ولا على أولياء الله تعند، ولهم استعبد وعنهم بحقوقهم تفرد. اللهم فإن القلوب قد بلغت الحناجر والنفوس قد علت التراقي، والأعمار قد نفدت بالانتظار لا عن نقص استبصار، ولا عن اتهام مقدار، ولكن لما تعاني من ركوب معاصيك والخلاف عليك في أوامرك ونواهيك والتلعب بأوليائك، ومظاهرة أعدائك. اللهم فقرب ما قد قرب، وأورد ما قد دنا، وحقق ظنون الموقنين، وبلغ المؤمنين تأميلهم، من اقامة حقك ونصر دينك واظهار حجتك، والانتقام من أعدائك

O One Who know what passes in the hearts of all, and what is hidden in the insides of all, and what is concealed in remembrance. O One Who witnesses and sees every concealed thing, and remembers everything that is forgotten, and is powerful over everything and the One Who sees everything. Moderateness is remote, and death is near, and action is weak, and hopes have ended, and time transfer has come.

And You, O Allah, are the last; You are the first. Whatever You have initiated, you bring to a close. And You created the creatures subject to wear and tear; and You leave Your work to Your discretion, and You bear the responsibility that you have. Till the time, they shall be raised from their graves when the bugle is blown and the sky is rent asunder with light and the coming out with dispersion to the field of gathering. While their eyes will be wide open and their hearts worried. They would be regretting their past deeds and asking forgiveness for the load of sins they bear. It is at that time, when they will have to account of what they have done; their passes hanging from their necks.

And a serious disobedience making their backs collapse. Neither they separate from it nor is there way of escape or a way out from the punishment. Indeed, the proofs would have closed their lips. And wandering on the way, and the hidden cry, and remaining far away from the path, but that the foremost goodness should reach him. So that he may be released from the horror of the situation and also that he should not have done any disobedience in the world and with the Awliya of Allah he should not have any grudge and not have distanced from them. And not taken their rights to be from them.

O Allah, indeed, the hearts have reached to the mouths and the life is at the lips. And the lives have ended in awaiting. And this is neither due to the defect of view; nor blaming the destiny, rather it is due to the sins that we have committed and the opposition to You in commands and prohibitions. And the winning of Your friends and the defeat of Your enemies. O Allah, make nearer what has come near and make us reach what is near and make our hopes realized and make the aspirations of believers true; and help Your religion. And make Your proof evident and take revenge from Your enemies making it fruitful.2

Three: Qunoot of His Eminence, Abu Ja’far Muhammad bin Ali Jawad (as) in the mentioned tradition is as follows:

منائحك متتابعة، وأياديك متوالية، ونعمك سابغة، وشكرنا قصير، وحمدنا يسير، وانت بالتعطف على من اعترف جدير. اللهم وقد غص أهل الحق بالريق، وارتبك أهل الصدق في المضيق. وأنت اللهم بعبادك وذوي الرغبة إليك شفيق، وباجابة دعائهم وتعجيل الفرج عنهم حقيق. اللهم فصل على محمد وآل محمد وبادرنا منك بالعون الذي لا خذلان بعده والنصر الذي لا باطل يتأكده وأتح لنا من لدنك متاحا يأمن فيه وليك، ويخيب فيه عدوك، وتقام فيه معالمك، وتظهر فيه أوامرك، وتنكف فيه عوادي عداتك. اللهم بادرنا منك بدار الرحمة وبادر أعداءك من بأسك بدار النقمة. اللهم أعنا وأغثنا، وارفع نقمتك عنا، وأحلها بالقوم الظالمين

Your regard, one after another, and continuous blessings and all bounties are complete and my thankfulness is little and my praise is short and You are more appropriate to be kind to one who has submitted. O Allah, the necks of the people of truth are tied up, and the people of rightfulness are in dire straits for You. And You are, O Allah, living and kind to the people. And You accept their supplications soon, of whom the early reappearance is most deserving.

O Allah, then bless Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad and send us help at the soonest, such that there is no degradation after that. And give us such help that no falsehood can mar it. And from Your side, give us such relief that Your Wali remains in safety and Your enemies are hopeless. And that Your matters are established. And that Your commands are revealed in that time. And in which Your enemies give up Your enmity.

O Allah, give us through the abode of mercy and give Your enemies through the abode of chastisement. O Allah, help us and hear our cry. And remove Your punishment from us and send it to the unjust people.3

I say: That which proves that the above supplication is regarding an early reappearance of the Imam of the Time (as) is that the circumstances mentioned therein cannot come into being except in the reappearance of His Eminence as mentioned in some traditional reports clearly. Indeed, during the rule of His Eminence, Taqayyah will be abrogated and the sincere devotes of Allah will live in peace and security. While the enemies of God will despair. The teachings of divine faith will be enlivened and its commands will become known to all.

Four: Another Qunoot is narrated from the same Imam in this tradition and it is regarding supplication for the awaiter of the Imam’s reappearance, his followers and those who supplicate for the Imam. The Qunoot is as follows:

اللهم أنت الأول بلا أولية معدودة، والآخر بلا آخرية محدودة أنشأتنا لا لعلة اقتسارا، واخترعتنا لا لحاجة اقتدارا وابتدعتنا بحكمتك اختيارا وبلوتنا بأمرك ونهيك اختبارا وأيدتنا بالآلات، ومنحتنا بالأدوات وكلفتنا الطاقة، وجشمتنا الطاعة فأمرت تخييرا ونهيت تحذيرا وخولت كثيرا وسألت يسيرا فعصي أمرك فحلمت وجهل قدرك فتكرمت فأنت رب العزة والبهاء والعظمة والكبرياء، والاحسان والنعماء والمن والآلاء والمنح والعطاء، والانجاز والوفاء، لا تحيط القلوب لك بكنه، ولا تدرك الاوهام لك صفة، ولا يشبهك شئ من خلقك، ولا يمثل بك شئ من صنيعتك تباركت أن تحس أو تمس أو تدركك الحواس الخمس وأنى يدرك مخلوق خالقه! وتعاليت يا الهي عما يقول الظالمون علوا كبيرا. اللهم أدل لأوليائك من أعدائك الظالمين، الباغين الناكثين، القاسطين المارقين الذين أظلوا عبادك، وحرفوا كتابك، وبدلوا احكامك وجحدوا حقك وجلسوا مجالس أوليائك جرأة منهم عليك وظلما منهم لأهل بيت نبيك، عليهم سلامك، وصلواتك، ورحمتك، وبركاتك، فضلوا، واضلوا خلقك وهتكوا حجاب سترك عن عبادك، واتخذوا مالك دولا، وعبادك خولا، وتركوا اللهم عالم ارضك في بكماء عمياء ظلماء مدلهمة، فأعينهم مفتوحة، وقلوبهم عمية، ولم يبق لهم اللهم عليك من حجة لقد حذرت اللهم عذابك وبينت نكالك، ووعدت المطيعين احسانك، وقدمت إليهم بالنذر، فآمنت طائفة. فأيد اللهم الذين آمنوا على عدوك، وعدو أوليائك فأصبحوا ظاهرين وإلى الحق داعين وللامام المنتظر القائم بالقسط تابعين وجدد اللهم على أعدائك وأعدائهم نارك وعذابك الذي لا تدفعه عن القوم الظالمين. اللهم صل على محمد وآل محمد، وقو ضعف المخلصين لك بالمحبة المشايعين لنا بالموالاة، المتبعين لنا بالتصديق والعمل، الموازين لنا بالمواساة فينا، المحيين ذكرنا عند اجتماعهم. وشد اللهم ركنهم وسدد اللهم دينهم الذي ارتضيته لهم، وأتمم عليهم نعمتك وخلصهم، واستخلصهم، وسد اللهم فقرهم، والمم اللهم شعث فاقتهم واغفر اللهم ذنوبهم، وخطاياهم ولا تزغ قلوبهم بعد إذ هديتهم، ولا تخلهم يا رب بمعصيتهم، واحفظ لهم ما منحتهم من الطهارة بولاية أوليائك والبراءة من أعدائك، إنك سميع مجيب. و صل اللهم على محمد و آله الطاهرين

O Allah, You are the first whose firstness is not a numbered one (the return of everything is to You only) and Your lastness is not limited. You created us not for that it should be a cause, without there being any control for us; and You created us not because of some need. You showed Your power and with Your wisdom You brought us into being as free beings. And tested us by laying down Your commands and prohibitions. And You made Your explanations guide us. And You gave us mediums and gave us duties compatible with our capability. And You gave us the capability to obey Your orders.

Then You gave us the choice to obey You and warned us against Your prohibitions. And You gave us numerous bounties and asked for a little worship; when the commands became complicated, You maintained forbearance and Your value remained unknown and You showed greatness. Thus, You are the Lord of power and majesty, and honor and greatness, and favor and bounties, and kindness and good and fulfillment of promises; and the hearts cannot encompass You and thoughts cannot understand Your qualities. And nothing that You have created can be compared to You.

And nothing that You have created is like You. You are above that You can be sensed through the five senses and when it is that the creatures can understand the Creator? And my God, You are much higher than what the oppressors say. O Allah, help Your friends against the pledge- breaking enemies, as they misguide Your servants and alter Your Book and change Your laws and deny Your right; who dare to occupy the place of Your friends and oppress the Ahle Bayt of Your Prophet, peace and blessings be on them. Then they deviate Your creatures and tear open the veil of Your secrecy from Your servants.

O Allah, they usurp Your wealth and make people slaves. O Allah, release Your earth from darkness and blindness. Their eyes and hearts are blind. And O Allah, don’t leave any of Your arguments incomplete from them. O Allah, You have warned about Your punishment and informed them about the final consequences. And You have promised rewards for the doers of good. And You sent warners to them; thus some of them brought faith. O Allah, help the believers against Your enemies and the enemies of Your friends, till it is clear and they invite to truth. Give victory to the awaited Imam who will establish justice and equity. And O Allah, punish them with Your fire and Your chastisement reserved for Your and their enemies.

O Allah, bless Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad and give strength to the weakness of those who follow Your Awliya. O Allah, make Your pillars strong. Make them firm on the religion You have chosen for them. Completed the favor on them. And save them from the enemies and choose them for Yourself.

O Allah, end their poverty. O Allah, remove their neediness. O Allah, forgive their sins and condone their mistakes. And after You have guided them, do not turn their hearts. And O Allah, do not leave them to disobedience and You purify what have given them through the love of Your Awliya and from aloofness of their enemies. You are the one who answers the prayers. And may Allah bless Muhammad and his purified and chaste progeny.4

Five: The Qunoot of our master, Abul Hasan Ali bin Muhammad Imam Hadi (as) is also mentioned in that tradition as follows:

يا من تفرد بالربوبية وتوحد بالوحدانية، يا من أضاء باسمه النهار، واشرقت به الأنوار، واظلم بأمره حندس الليل وهطل بغيثه وابل السيل، يا من دعاه المضطرون فأجابهم ولجأ إليه الخائفون فآمنهم وعبده الطائعون فشكرهم، وحمده الشاكرون فأثابهم، ما أجل شأنك واعلى سلطانك، وانفذ احكامك. أنت الخالق بغير تكلف والقاضي بغير تحيف، حجتك البالغة، وكلمتك الدامغة، بك اعتصمت وتعوذت من نفثات العندة، ورصدات الملحدة، الذين ألحدوا في اسمائك ورصدوا المكاره لأوليائك واعانوا على قتل انبيائك واصفيائك وقصدوا لاطفاء نورك باذاعة سرك، وكذبوا رسلك، وصدوا عن آياتك، واتخذوا من دونك ودون رسولك ودون المؤمنين وليجة رغبة عنك وعبدوا طواغيتهم وجوابيتهم بدلا منك، فمننت على أوليائك بعظيم نعمائك وجدت عليهم بكريم آلائك واتممت لهم ما أوليتهم بحسن جزائك حفظا لهم من معاندة الرسل، وضلال السبل وصدقت لهم بالعهود ألسنة الاجابة، وخشعت لك بالعقود قلوب الانابة. أسألك اللهم باسمك الذي خشعت له السموات والأرض، واحييت به موات الاشياء وامت به جميع الاحياء وجمعت به كل متفرق، وفرقت به كل مجتمع، واتممت به الكلمات، وأريت به كبرى الآيات، وتبت به على التوابين واخسرت به عمل المفسدين فجعلت عملهم هباء منثورا، وتبرتهم تتبيرا أن تصلي على محمد وآل محمد وأن تجعل شيعتي من الذين حملوا فصدقوا، واستنطقوا فنطقوا آمنين مأمونين. اللهم إني أسألك لهم توفيق أهل الهدى، واعمال أهل اليقين، ومناصحة أهل التوبة، وعزم أهل الصبر، وتقية أهل الورع، وكتمان الصديقين حتى يخافوك اللهم مخافة تحجزهم عن معاصيك، وحتى يعملوا بطاعتك لينالوا كرامتك وحتى يناصحوا لك وفيك خوفا منك، وحتى يخلصوا لك النصيحة في التوبة حبا لك، فتوجب لهم محبتك التي أوجبتها للتوابين وحتى يتوكلوا عليك في أمورهم كلها حسن ظن بك، وحتى يفوضوا إليك أمورهم ثقة بك. اللهم لا تنال طاعتك إلا بتوفيقك، ولا تنال درجة من درجات الخير إلا بك، اللهم يا مالك يوم الدين، العالم بخفايا صدور العالمين طهر الأرض من نجس أهل الشرك، وأخرس الخراصين عن تقولهم على رسولك الافك، اللهم اقصم الجبارين، وأبر المغيرين، وأبد الافاكين الذين إذا تتلى عليهم آيات الرحمن قالوا أساطير الأولين، وأنجز لي وعدك إنك لا تخلف الميعاد، وعجل فرج كل طالب مرتاد بك إنك لبالمرصاد للعباد. واعوذ بك من كل لبس ملبوس، ومن كل قلب عن معرفتك محبوس ومن كل نفس تكفر إذا أصابها بؤس ومن واصف عدل عمله عن العدل معكوس، ومن طالب للحق وهو عن صفات الحق منكوس، ومن مكتسب إثم بإثمه مركوس(8) ومن وجه عند تتابع النعم عليه عبوس أعوذ بك من ذلك كله ومن نظيره، وأشكاله، واشباهه، وأمثاله إنك علي عليم حكيم

O One Who is unique in His lordship, and only One in His oneness. O one through whose name the day becomes bright and the lights get luminescence. Through whose command the night becomes dark and the rain descends. O one Who is called by the helpless and accepts their prayers. And in whom the fearing ones take refuge. Then He takes them into security. And whom the obedient worship and then He rewards them. And the thankful ones thank Him and He gives them recompense. What great majesty and lofty power and dominant commands You have! You are the creator without an obligation and the judge without injustice. Your proof is complete and Your word is decisive. I seek Your refuge from the blowings of the vicious and the ambush of the apostates.

Those who have apostized from Your names and who lie in wait to harm Your friends and those who cooperate with each other in eliminating Your prophets and chosen ones. And those who want to put our Your secret light. Those who reject Your prophets and ignore Your signs and those who chose for themselves other than You, Your prophets and other than believers. And instead of worshipping You they worship them in order to disobey You and rebel against You.

Therefore send Your great bounties on Your Awliya and gift them with Your mighty rewards. And complete what You have given them so that they be protected against the opposition of Your prophets and from deviation. And that their answering tongue accepts the truth of Your covenant. And their attentive hearts accept humbly what the destiny is.

O Allah, I call You by the names to which the sky and the earth humble, through whom You enlivened the dead things and will give death to all the living. With which You brought together all dispersion and dispersed all that was together. And with whom You completed the words and showed the great signs, with which You turned to those who repent and destroy the corrupt acts. And made their acts spread like dust and destroyed them. [I call by the names] so that You bless Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad and make my Shias of those who when they have taken up a responsibility, they first testify it and then speak up after being assured and certain.

O Allah, I pray You give Taufeeq to the people of guidance, acts to the people of certainty, sincerity to the people of repentance, aim to the patient ones, Taqayyah to the people of abstemiousness, piety and secrecy to the truthful ones. That You make them so fearful to keep away from sins; so that they may act on Your obedience; so that they may earn a respectable place. And till the time they are truly fearful of You and Your path.

That they perform the most sincere repentance for the sake of Your love. Thus you make their love incumbent for You; the love which you have reserved for those who repent. So that they rely on You in all their affairs and leave all their dignities to You. O Allah, O master of Judgment Day, Knower of what is in the hearts of the people of the worlds. Clean up the earth from polytheists, and eliminate the liars who allege against Your prophets.

O Allah, destroy the oppressors, and eliminate the lie- forgers, and kill the allegation makers, who when the verses of the Beneficent God are recited to them say:“This is nothing but the stories of the ancients.” Fulfill for me Your promise, indeed You don’t go back on Your word, and hasten the relief (Faraj) of all those who want it. As You are in ambush for the people.

I seek Your refuge from every doubt that disguise the reality, from every heart that is closed from Your recognition, and from the souls which when fall into hardships, turns to infidelity, and from all who advocate justice but act against it, and from the demanders of a right which is far from being described as a right, and those sinners whose every sin is overturned, and from the faces that frown when they are given bounties. I seek Your refuge from all these and their likes and equals. Indeed, You are the Knowing and the Wise.

Six: The Qunoot of our master, Abu Muhammad Imam Hasan Askari (as) is also mentioned in the same tradition; and Shaykh Tusi has quoted it among the recommended recitations in the Qunoot of Namaz-e-Witr, but there is nothing in the supplication which may restrict the time of its recitation. Sayyid Ibne Tawoos says in Muhajjud Daawaat,“And he (as) has mentioned this Dua in his Qunoot and directed the people of Qom to recite it, when they complained about Musa bin Baghi.” We shall present that Qunoot in the next section, Insha Allah.

Seven: The Qunoot of our beloved master, His Eminence, that is mentioned in the same tradition is as follows:

اللهم صل على محمد وآل محمد، وأكرم أولياءك بانجاز وعدك، وبلغهم درك ما يأملونه من نصرك واكفف عنهم بأس من نصب الخلاف عليك، وتمرد بمنعك على ركوب مخالفتك، واستعان برفدك على فل حدك، وقصد لكيدك بأيدك، ووسعته حلما لتأخذه على جهرة أو تستأصله على غرة فإنك اللهم قلت وقولك الحق *(حتى إذا أخذت الأرض زخرفها وازينت)* الآية. وقلت: *(فلما آسفونا انتقمنا منهم)* وأن الغاية عندنا قد تناهت، وإنا لغضبك غاضبون، وعلى نصر الحق متغاضبون، وعلى ورود أمرك مشتاقون ولانجاز وعدك مرتقبون، ولحلول وعيدك باعدائك متوقعون. اللهم فأذن بذلك وافتح طرقاته، وسهل خروجه، ووطئ مسالكه، وأشرع شرائعه وأيد جنوده وأعوانه، وبادر بأسك القوم الظالمين، وابسط سيف نقمتك على أعدائك المعاندين وخذ بالثار إنك جواد مكار

O Allah! Bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad. Honor all Your good friends by fulfilling Your promise and let them perceive their hope in Your assistance and prevent them from the agony of those who put up controversy on You and revolted against Your prohibition by going against You. He used Your favor to vanquish Your bounds and he intended to deceive You with Your hands, he is fully aware that You can publicly hold him responsible and to eradicate him based on Your superiority.

O Allah, You said and You have said the truth {The parable of the life of this world is that of water which We send down from the sky. It mingles with the earth’s vegetation from which humans and cattle eat. When the earth puts on its luster and is adorned, and, its inhabitants think they have power over it, Our edict comes to it, by night or day, whereat We turn it into a mown field, as if it did not flourish the day before.

Thus we do elaborate the signs for a people who reflect}. And You said: { So when they roused Our wrath, We took vengeance on them} Verily our aim has come to an end, and Your annoyance is our annoyance, we are illiberal in helping the fact, we are eager for the coming of your command, we are anticipating to implement Your promise and we are expecting the advent of Your threat to Your enemies.

O Allah, permit that and open his ways and make his reappearance at ease and pave his path, commence his legitimate course and assist him with his helper and soldiers and initiate Your affliction to the group of oppressors and spread the sword of Your wrath against Your enemies in taking revenge, verily You are artful and openhanded.

Eight: Another Qunoot from the same Imam is mentioned in this tradition as follows:

اللهم مالك الملك، تؤتي الملك من تشاء، وتنزع الملك ممن تشاء وتعز من تشاء وتذل من تشاء بيدك الخير انك على كل شئ قدير، يا ماجد يا جواد، يا ذا الجلال والاكرام، يا بطاش يا ذا البطش الشديد، يا فعالا لما يريد، يا ذا القوة المتين، يا رؤوف يا رحيم، يا لطيف يا حي حين لا حي. أسألك باسمك المخزون المكنون الحي القيوم، الذي استأثرت به في علم الغيب عندك، لم تطلع عليه أحدا من خلقك. وأسألك باسمك الذي تصور به خلقك في الأرحام كيف تشاء، وبه تسوق إليهم ارزاقهم في اطباق الظلمات، من بين العروق والعظام. وأسألك باسمك الذي ألفت به بين قلوب أوليائك وبه ألفت بين الثلج والنار لا هذا يذيب هذا، ولا هذا يطفئ هذا. وأسألك باسمك الذي كونت به طعم المياه، وأسألك باسمك الذي اجريت به الماء في عروق النبات بين أطباق الثرى، وسقت الماء إلى عروق الأشجار بين الصخرة الصماء. وأسألك باسمك الذي كونت به طعم الثمار وألوانها، وأسألك باسمك الذي به تبدئ وتعيد. وأسألك باسمك الفرد الواحد، المتفرد بالوحدانية، المتوحد بالصمدانية وأسألك باسمك الذي فجرت به الماء من الصخرة الصماء، وسقته من حيث شئت. وأسألك باسمك الذي خلقت به خلقك، ورزقتهم كيف شئت، وكيف تشاء يا من لا تغيره الأيام والليالي، ادعوك بما دعاك به نوح حين ناداك، فأنجيته ومن معه وأهلكت قومه. وادعوك بما دعاك به إبراهيم خليلك حين ناداك، فأنجيته، وجعلت عليه النار بردا وسلاما. وادعوك بما دعاك به موسى كليمك حين ناداك ففرقت له البحر، فأنجيته وبني اسرائيل، وأغرقت فرعون وقومه في اليم. وادعوك بما دعاك به عيسى روحك حين ناداك فنجيته من أعدائه وإليك رفعته. وادعوك بما دعاك به حبيبك وصفيك ونبيك محمد (صلى الله عليه وآله) فاستجبت له، ومن الأحزاب نجيته، وعلى أعدائك نصرته. وأسألك باسمك الذي إذا دعيت به اجبت، يا من له الخلق والأمر، يا من احاط بكل شئ علما وأحصى كل شئ عددا. يا من لا تغيره الأيام والليالي ولا تتشابه عليه الاصوات، ولا تخفى عليه اللغات ولا يبرمه الحاح الملحين أسألك أن تصلي على محمد وآل محمد، خيرتك من خلقك فصل عليهم بأفضل صلواتك وصل على جميع النبيين والمرسلين، الذين بلغوا عنك الهدى وعقدوا لك المواثيق بالطاعة، فصل على عبادك الصالحين. يا من لا يخلف الميعاد، أنجز لي ما وعدتني، واجمع لي أصحابي، وصبرهم وانصرهم على أعدائك وأعداء رسولك ولا تخيب دعائي فإني عبدك، ابن عبدك، ابن امتك، اسير بين يديك. سيدي أنت الذي مننت علي بهذا المقام، وتفضلت به علي دون كثير من خلقك، أسألك أن تصلي على محمد وآل محمد، وأن تنجز لي ما وعدتني، إنك أنت الصادق، لا تخلف الميعاد، وأنت على كل شئ قدير

O Allah, the proprietor of the supreme authority, You gave the reign to whom You wishes and take of reign from whom You wishes, You honor whomever You like and dishonor whomever You like, You are the possessor of all goods; verily You have power over everything; O the glorious, O the Bountiful, O He who possess Majesty and the bestowal of honor, O the Courageous, O He who possess severe courage, O He who acts according to His wishes, O He who possesses firm strength, O The compassionate, O The Merciful, O The Most Kind, O He who exists when there is no any existence.

O Allah! I request from You, by Your concealed and deposited Names, the self existent, the Eternal, by the concealed knowledge with You, You make impact that none of Our creatures are aware of. I also request from You by Your Name by which You shaped Your creature in the womb how You wish, by Your Name You convey their provision in the darkness of the layers between the vein and the bone, I request from You by Your Name which You made the intimacy between the mind of Your good friends and between an ice water and flame.

I request from You by Your Name by which You have created the taste of the water by Your Name by which You transfer water to the plants under the layers on the ground and have through it transferred the water to the vein of the trees between the solid and the rock. I ask You by Your Name by which You have created the taste of the fruits and their colors. I request from You by Your Name which we commence and conclude and I am requesting from You by Your Name, the one and the Only, having the exclusive possession of oneness, The Oneness in His everlasting, I request from You by Your Name that cause the water to gush out of the hard rock and You convey it to wherever You wishes. I request from You by Your Name by which You have created Your creations and have provide their provision how You and they wishes, O He who was not changed by day and night, I call upon You as Noah has called upon You and You salvage him together with those with him and You have perished the unbelievers among his people, I have also call upon You as Ibrahim (Your intimate friend) had called Upon You when You rescued him and made the flame cold and peace for him, I call upon You as Moses does (Your addresser) when hecalled upon You and You split the sea for him and rescued him and the children of Israel and drown Pharaoh and his people in the sea. I call upon You as Jesus (Your spirit) did when he called upon You and You rescued him from his enemies and raised him unto Thyself, and I call upon You as Your beloved, Your sincere, Your Prophet Muhammad (blessing be upon him and his holy progeny) did and You answered his call and rescued him from the troops that against him and gave him upper hand against Your enemies. I requested from You by Your Name You accepted prayers when You are call with it, O, He who possess the command and the creation, O He whose Knowledge encompasses everything, O He who knows everything in number, O He who did not change by day and night, O He the voice of those that call Him are not in similarity to Him and there are no any hidden language to Him and the plaintive cries of those whose weeping does not weary Him. I seek from You to send Your blessing upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, the best among Your creatures. Blessed them with the best blessing and bless all the Prophets and Messengers, who has delivered Guidance from You, who has made firm their covenant with You through obedience, and send Your blessing to Your good servants.

Implement what You have promise me, O He who did not fail in His promise, gather all my companions and grant them patience, assist me against Your enemies and the enemies of Your Messengers, don’t block my calling, because I am Your servant, the descendant of Your servant, a captive before You, my master, You bestowed this position on me and conferred it upon me and not to other among Your creatures. I seek from You to bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad and to implement what You promised me, You are Honest who does not fail His promise and You possess power over everything.

Nine: The author of Mustadrakul Wasail, has quoted from Ad-Dhikri of Shaykh Shaheed that he said: Ibne Abi Aqeel has narrated the important Duas of Qunoot of Amirul Momineen (as) and mentions the following Dua:

اللهم إليك شخصت الأبصار، ونقلت الاقدام، ورفعت الايدي، ومدت الأعناق وأنت دعيت بالألسن، وإليك سرهم ونجواهم في الأعمال (ربنا افتح بيننا وبين قومنا بالحق وأنت خير الفاتحين). اللهم انا نشكو إليك فقد نبينا، وغيبة إمامنا، وقلة عددنا، وكثرة أعدائنا وتظاهر الأعداء علينا، ووقوع الفتن بنا، ففرج ذلك اللهم بعدل تظهره، وإمام حق نعرفه، إله الحق آمين رب العالمين

O Allah! The eyes are fixed at You, feet are trembling and the hands are lifted and the necks are stretched. You are called by the tongues and the secrets of the acts of Your creatures are clear to You. O our Lord, You judge between us and our nation with truth, as You are the best of the judges. O Allah, I complain to You of the absence of our Prophet and the Ghaibat of our Imam and the paucity of our numbers and the abundance of our enemies, and the display of enmity on us and the incidence of mischief from them on us. So please give success to him by justice that You show. And make the rightful Imam that we recognize, reappear, O Allah, Amen, O Lord of the worlds.5

He (author Mustadrakul Wasail) said: It has come to our knowledge that Imam Ja’far Sadiq (as) has directed his Shias to recite this Dua after the Qunoot of Prayers after the words of Faraj (Laa ilaaha illallaahul h’aleemul kareem…).

Ten: In the same book it is quoted from Misbah of Shaykh Tusi that: And it is recommended to recite the Qunoot after recitation of Qur’anic chapter and before Ruku, as follows:

لا إله إلا الله الحليم الكريم. وساق كلمات الفرج إلى قوله: رب العالمين، يا الله الذي ليس كمثله شئ، وهو السميع العليم، أسألك أن تصلي على محمد وآل محمد وأن تعجل فرجهم. اللهم من كان اصبح وثقته ورجاؤه غيرك فأنت ثقتي ورجائي في الأمور كلها، يا أجود من سئل، ويا ارحم من استرحم، ارحم ضعفي وقلة حيلتي، وامنن علي بالجنة طولا منك، وفك رقبتي من النار وعافني في نفسي، وفي جميع أموري كلها، برحمتك يا ارحم الراحمين

There is no god, except Allah, the Forbearing and the Noble. There is no god, except Allah, the High and the Great. Glory be to Allah, the Lord of the seven skies and the seven earths and what is in them and what is between them and what is below them and the Lord of the Great Emperyan. And praise be to Allah the Lord of the worlds. O Allah, like Whom there is none and He is all-hearing, the all-knowing.

I ask You that You bless Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad and hasten their reappearance. O Allah, one who sees the morning while is hoping for support of none besides You. Then You are my support and hope in all the matters. O one Who is generous to one who asks Him, and one Who is merciful to one who asks for His mercy, have mercy on my weakness and the paucity of my options, and grant me Paradise and save my neck from the hellfire. And take care of me in all the matters and have mercy on me. By Your mercy, O the most merciful of the merciful ones.6

Eleven: Shaykh Sadooq has mentioned it among the Qunoot Duas of Witr and Friday Prayers. He says: Imam Muhammad Baqir (as) said: The Qunoot of Friday consists of praise of Allah, invoking blessings on the Holy Prophet (S) and the words of Faraj (deliverance). Thus this Dua is for the Qunoot of Witr and Friday Prayers. Before you supplicate for your own needs, you must recite as follows:

اللهم تم نورك، فهديت. فلك الحمد ربنا، وبسطت يدك فأعطيت، فلك الحمد ربنا وعظم حلمك فعفوت، فلك الحمد ربنا، وجهك أكرم الوجوه، وجهتك خير الجهات، وعطيتك أفضل العطيات وأهنؤها، تطاع ربنا فتشكر، وتعصى ربنا فتغفر لمن شئت، فلك الحمد، تجيب المضطر، وتكشف الضر، وتنجي من الكرب العظيم، وتقبل التوبة، وتشفي السقيم، وتعفو عن المذنب، لا يجزي بآلائك أحد، ولا يحصي نعماءك قول قائل. اللهم إليك رفعت الابصار، ونقلت الاقدام، ومدت الاعناق، ورفعت الايدي ودعيت بالألسن، وإليك سرهم ونجواهم في الأعمال، ربنا اغفر لنا وارحمنا، وافتح بيننا وبين قومنا بالحق، وأنت خير الفاتحين. اللهم إليك نشكو فقد نبينا، وغيبة ولينا، وشدة الزمان علينا، ووقوع الفتن بنا، وتظاهر الاعداء علينا، وكثرة عدونا وقلة عددنا، فافرج ذلك يا رب عنا بفتح منك تعجله، ونصر منك تعزه، وإمام عدل تظهره، إله الحق آمين رب العالمين

O Allah, Your light has been perfected to guide. Then praise be to You, O Lord. And Your generosity is great, that You may forgive. Then praise be to You, O Lord. Your being is the greatest and Your greatness is most great. And Your path is the best of the paths. And Your forgiveness is the most valuable gift and the best of them. O our Lord, You are obeyed (thanked, when You forgive) and disobeyed.

Our Lord, You forgive whom You like. Then praise be to You. You answer the indignant and remove the hardship and save him from the great sorrow. And accept the repentance and cure the sick and forgive the sins, none can thank for You bounties. And they cannot count Your favors and they cannot be mentioned. O Allah, the voices rise up to You and feet are easy to move towards You. And the necks are stretched and the hands are raised and the tongues call out and with my deeds I seek Your proximity. Our Lord, forgive us and have mercy on us and judge between us and the people with truth, You are the best of the judges.

O Allah, we complain to You the absence of our Prophet and the occultation of our Wali (guardian) and the severity of the times upon us, and the happenings of the mischief and the cooperation of the enemies and the numerosity of our foes and the scarcity of our numbers. So remove them from us O Lord, and bless us with victory and success from You soon. And the help that has got greatness from You and through the just Imam who will appear, give us relief. O the true God, please accept it.7

After that recite seventy times:

أستغفر الله ربي واتوب إليه

I seek forgiveness of Allah and to Him I turn.

I say: We have quoted this Dua from Sayyid Ibne Tawoos as it is more complete.

Twelve: It is a Qunoot that the venerable Sayyid has mentioned in Jamaal al-Usboo bi Kamaal al-Amal al-Mashroo, quoting from Maqatil bin Maqatil8 that he said: His Eminence, Abul Hasan ar-Reza (as) asked: What do you recite in the Qunoot of Friday Prayer? I replied: That which other people recite. The Imam said: Don’t recite what they recite. You recite as follows:

اللهم أصلح عبدك وخليفتك بما اصلحت به انبياءك ورسلك، وحفه بملائكتك، وأيده بروح القدس من عندك، وأسلكه من بين يديه ومن خلفه رصدا يحفظونه من كل سوء، وأبدله من بعد خوفه امنا، يعبدك لا يشرك بك شيئا، ولا تجعل لأحد من خلقك على وليك سلطانا، وائذن له في جهاد عدوك وعدوه، واجعلني من أنصاره، إنك على كل شئ قدير

O Allah! Reform the conditions of Your servant and caliph with those means by which You have reformed conditions of Your messengers and prophets. Surround him with angels and support him with the Holy Spirit. Appoint protectors from the front and behind him, (those) who would guard him from all troubles and calamities. Convert his fear into security, He worships only You and does not associate anybody with You. Do not make any of Your creatures an authority over Your vicegerent. Permit him to fight against Your enemies and his enemies and include me among his helpers. Surely You possess power over everything.9

I say: From the tradition mentioned above, it is clear that praying for Imam Mahdi (aj) in Qunoot is a highly recommended act since it is from those occasions when there is every likelihood of the acceptance of supplications. More so in the Qunoot of Friday and Witr Prayer and Dawn Prayer. May Allah give us the good sense (Taufeeq) to perform this and may He give us a great reward for it.

Notes

1. Muhajj ad-Dawaat, Pg. 49

2. Muhajj ad-Dawaat, Pg. 51

3. Muhajj ad-Dawaat, Pg. 59

4. Biharul Anwar; Vol. 85, Pg. 225-226

5. Mustadrakul Wasail, Vol. 1, Pg. 319 (New Edition, Vol. 4, Pg. 404) Ad-Dhikri, Pg. 184

6. Mustadrakul Wasail, Vol. 1, Pg. 319 (New Edition, Vol. 4, Pg. 405): Misbahul Mutahajjid, Pg. 176

7. Man Laa Yahzarul Faqih, Vol. 1, Pg. 487; Jamaal al-Usboo, Pg. 415

8. This proves that Maqatil bin Maqatil was not a Waqifi (one who stops at the belief that the seventh Imam has gone into occultation).

9. Jamaal al-Usboo, Pg. 413

VI) The Different Kinds of Love

155. I have been asked to focus on what there is to say about love, and the different kinds of love. All the different kinds of love belong to the same family. Love is characterized by longing for the loved one, horror of separation, hope of having one’s love reciprocated. It has been suggested that the sentiment varies according to its object. But the object varies only according to the lover’s desires, according to whether they are on the increase, the decrease, or are vanishing altogether. Thus, love felt for God Almighty is perfect love; that which unites beings in the quest for the same ideal, the love of a father, a son, parents, a friend, a sovereign, a wife, a benefactor, a person in whom one has placed one’s hopes, a lover, all is generally the same, all is love, but there are different species as I have just listed, differing by the amount of love inspired by what the loved one is able to give of itself. Thus love can take different forms: we have seen men die broken-hearted because of their sons exactly as a lover might have his heart broken by his loved one. We have heard of a man who burnt with such fear of God, with such love, that he died of it. We know that a man can be as jealous of them as a lover is of his mistress.

156. The least that the lover can desire of the loved one is to win her esteem, her attention, to approach her - not daring to expect more. This is how far those aspire who love each other in God Almighty.

157. The next stage is when desire grows as time is spent together, in conversation, and interest is shown by one to another. This is the level of the love of a man towards his prince, his friend or his own brother.

158. But the height of what a lover may wish from the loved one is to take her in his arms when he desires her. That is why we see a man who is passionately fond of his wife trying different positions in making love, and different places, so as to feel that he possesses her more completely. It is in this category that we should put caresses and kisses. Some of these desires may arise in a father towards his child and may drive him to [express them] in kisses and caresses.

159. Everything that we have just mentioned is uniquely the function of [extreme] desire. When for some reason, the desire for some object is suppressed, the soul is driven towards a different object of desire.

160. Thus we find that the man who believes in the possibility of seeing God Almighty longs for it, has a great yearning for it and will never be satisfied with anything less since it is that which he desires. On the other hand, a man who does not believe in it does not aspire to this ecstasy and does not wish for it, having no desire for it. He is content to bow to divine will and to go to the mosque. He has no other ambition.

161. We have observed that a man who is legally able to marry his close relatives is not satisfied with favours which would satisfy someone who is not permitted to marry them. His love does not stop at the same point as the love of a man who is forbidden by law to love them. Those, such as Magians and Jews, who are permitted to marry their own daughters and nieces, do not curb their love at the same point as a Muslim does. On the contrary, they feel the same love to their daughters or to their nieces as a Muslim does to a woman he will sleep with. One never sees a Muslim desiring his close relatives in this way, even if they are more beautiful than the sun itself, even if he is the most debauched and the most amorous of men. And if, very exceptionally, it should happen, it would be only among the impious, who do not feel the constraint of the religion, and who allow themselves every lustful thought, and who find every gate of desire open to them. It cannot be guaranteed that a Muslim might not love his cousin so excessively that his love became a passion and overstepped the affection which he bore towards his daughter and niece, even if the cousin was not so beautiful as they. In fact he might desire favours from his cousin which he would never expect from his daughter or his niece. On the other hand, a Christian will treat his cousin with equal respect, for he is not permitted to desire her. But [unlike a Muslim] he does not have to restrain himself with anyone who shared a wet nurse with him, since he may desire her without offending the laws of his religion.

162. We now see the truth of what we said earlier: love in all its manifestations forms one single generic family, but its species vary according to the different objects of its desire.

163. Having said this, human nature is the same every where but different customs and religious beliefs have created apparent differences.

164. We do not say that desire has an influence only on love. We would say that is the cause of all kinds of cares, even those which concern one’s fortune and social position. Thus it may be observed that a man who sees the death of his neighbour, or of his maternal uncle, his friend, his cousin, his great-uncle, his nephew, his maternal grandfather or his grandson, having no claim on their property, does not fret because it has escaped him, however large and considerable their fortunes might be, because he had no expectation of them. But as soon as a distant member of his father's family dies, or one of his remotest clients, he begins to covet their belongings. And with the coveting comes crowding in anxiety, regret, anger and great sorrow if some tiny part of their fortune escapes him.

165. It is the same with one’s position in society: a man who belongs to the lowest social class does not fret if he is not consulted when someone else is given charge of the affairs of the land. He does not fret if someone else is promoted or demoted. But as soon as he begins to feel an ambition to better himself, it provokes so much worry, anxiety and anger that it could make him lose his soul, his world and his position in the hereafter [lose his soul here and in the hereafter]. Thus covetousness is the cause of all humiliation and every kind of anxiety. It is a wicked and despicable kind of behaviour.

166. The opposite of covetousness is disinterest. This is a virtuous quality which combines courage, generosity, justice and intelligence. A disinterested man is truly intelligent because he understands the vanity of covetousness and prefers disinterest. His courage gives birth to a greatness of spirit which makes him disinterested. His natural generosity stops him fretting about property which is lost to him. His equitable nature makes him love reserve and moderation in his desires. Thus disinterest is composed of these four qualities, just a covetousness, its opposite, is composed of the four opposite faults, that is, cowardice, greed, injustice and ignorance.

Greed is a kind of covetousness which would like to possess everything; it is insatiable and ever increasing in its demands. If there were no such thing as covetousness, nobody would ever humiliate himself to anybody else. Abû Bakr ibn Abû ibn al-Fayyâd has told me that ‘Uthmân bin Muhâmis [died 356 AH; 966 CE] inscribed upon the door of his house in Ecija [in Seville] “‘Uthmân covets nothing”.

Other species of this kind

167. A man made unhappy by the presence of a person he detests is like a man made unhappy by the absence of the person he loves. There is nothing to choose between them.

168. When a lover wishes to forget, he is sure to be able to do so. This wish is always granted.

169. If you treat the person you live with with respect, he will treat you with respect.

170. The man who is unhappy in love is the one who is racked by a passion for one whom he can keep locked away and with whom he may be united without incurring the wrath of God or the criticism of his fellow-men. All is well when the two lovers agree in loving each other. For love to run its course freely, it is essential that the two do not feel bored, for that is a bad feeling which gives rise to hatred. Perfect love would be if destiny forgot the two lovers while they were enjoying each other. But where could that happen except in Paradise? Only there can love be sure of shelter, for that is the home of everlasting stability. Otherwise, in the world, such feelings are not protected from misfortunes, and we go through life without ever tasting pleasure to the full.

171. When jealousy dies, you may be sure that love has also died.

172. Jealousy is a virtuous feeling which is made of courage and justice; truly, a just man hates to infringe the sacred rights of others, and hates to see others infringe his own sacred rights. When courage is inborn in a person, it gives rise to a grandeur of spirit which abhors injustice.

173. A man whose fortunes I have followed during these times told me once that he himself had never known jealousy until he was racked by love. Only then did he feel jealous. This man was corrupt by nature, he was a bad character, but nevertheless he was perspicacious and generous.

174. There are five stages in the growth of love: first is to think someone pleasant, that is, someone thinks of someone else as being nice or is charmed by their character. This is part of making friends. Then there is admiration; that is the desire to be near the person that one admires. Then there is close friendship when you miss the other one terribly when they are absent. Then there is amorous affection when you are completely obsessed with the loved one. In the special vocabulary of love this is called ‘ishq, “the slavery of love”. Finally, there is passion, when one can no longer sleep, eat or think. This can make you ill to the point of delirium or even death. Beyond this, there is absolutely no place where love ends.

A note

175. We used to think that passion was found more often among lively and emotional women. But our experience has shown that this is not the case. Passion is found most often among calm women, as long as their calmness is not the placidity of stupidity.

VII) Different Kinds of Physical Beauty

When I was asked to examine this matter, this is how I responded:

176. Gracefulness consists of delicate features, supple movements, graceful gestures, a soul in harmony with the form which fate has given it, even where there is no visible beauty.

177. Allure is beauty of each feature regarded separately. But someone whose features are beautiful when considered separately can still appear cold and be without piquantness, charm, seductiveness or grace.

178. Seductiveness is the aura of the visible parts; it also goes by the name of elegance and attractiveness.

179. Charm is a certain something which has no other name to explain it. It is the soul which perceives it, and everyone knows what it is as soon as they see it. It is like a veil covering the face, a shining light which draws all hearts to it so that all agree that it is beautiful, even if it is not accompanied by beautiful features. Anyone who sees it is seduced, charmed, enslaved, and yet if you looked at each feature separately you would find nothing special. It might be said that there is a certain unknown something which you see when you look into the soul. This is the supreme kind of beauty. However, tastes do differ. Some prefer seductiveness, others prefer gracefulness. But I have never met anyone who preferred allure as such.

180. We call beauty piquant when there is a combination of some of these qualities.

VIII) Practical Morality

181. Fickleness, which is a fault, consists of switching from one way of life which is forced and senseless, to another way of life which is equally forced and senseless from one absurd state to an equally absurd state for no good reason.

182. But a man who will adopt habits which suit his capabilities and his needs, and who will reject everything that is of no use to him [will be drawing on] one of the best sources of good sense and wisdom.

183. The Prophet (Allâh grant him blessing and greeting), the model of all goodness, whose character was praised by God, in whom God gathered together the most diverse and perfect virtues, and whom He kept from sin – the Prophet was in the habit of visiting the sick, accompanied by his friends. They went to the boundaries of Medina on foot, wearing neither boots nor sandals, hat nor turban. He wore clothes woven from the hair of wild beasts when he had them, or he might equally likely be wearing embroidered cloth if he had it, never wearing anything unnecessary and never forgetting anything necessary, content with what he had and doing without whatever he did not have. Sometimes he would ride a fine mule or he would ride a horse bareback or a camel or a donkey, with a friend riding behind him. Sometimes he ate dates without bread, sometimes dry bread, sometimes he ate roast lamb, fresh melon, or halwa, taking as much as needed and sharing out the surplus, or leaving what he did not need and not forcing himself to take more than he needed. He was never angry when he found himself alone fighting for a cause, and he let nothing prevent him from anger when it was a question of God, the Almighty.

184. The perseverance which consists of keeping one’s word and the perseverance which is nothing but obstinacy are so alike that they can only be told apart by someone who knows what different characters are like. The difference between the two kinds of perseverance is that obstinacy clings to error. Its actions are the actions of someone who persists in doing what he has decided upon when he knows that he is wrong, or when he does not know for sure whether he is right or wrong. Such obstinacy is wrong. The opposite of obstinacy is fairness. As for the kind of perseverance which consists of keeping one’s word, its actions are the actions of someone who is right, or who believes himself to be right, not having seen any reason not to believe this. This quality is worthy of praise, and its opposite is inconstancy. Only the first of the two kinds of perseverance [obstinacy] is wrong, because it makes you lose the habit of thinking about a matter once it has been decided, and you stop wondering whether the decision is right or wrong.

185. Good sense is defined as the practise of obedience to God and the practice of piety and the virtues. This definition implies avoidance of rebellion and vices. God has stated this clearly more than once in His holy book (the Qur’ân), emphasizing that anyone who disobeys Him is acting unreasonably. Speaking of certain people, the Almighty has said, “They will say: if we had listened, if we had understood, we would not be among the damned”, [67:10] and He has confirmed their words as true by saying, “They have recognized their own sins, so misfortune be to the damned.” [67:11]

186. Stupidity is defined as the practice of disobedience to God and the practice of vices.

187. As for going wild, throwing stones at people, not knowing what one is saying, that is lunacy and excess of bile.

188. Stupidity is opposite of good sense, as we have shown above; and there is no middle point between good sense and stupidity unless it is ineptitude.

189. The definition of ineptitude is to work and speak in a way that neither serves religion nor the world nor a healthy morality. This is neither disobedience to God not obedience, it does not bring anybody else to such acts, it is neither a virtue nor a harmful vice. It consists only of drivelling and rambling about doing pointless things. According to whether these actions are frequent or rare, the person should be treated as more or less inept. Moreover he may be inept in one matter, sensible in another, stupid in a third.

190. The opposite of madness is the ability to discern and the ability to make free use of sciences and technical knowledge. It is what the ancients called the “faculty of reasoning". There is no middle point between these two extremes.

191. As for the art of conducting one’s affairs and flattering people by means that might win their good will and save a situation, such as false dealing, perversion or any other bad practices, and as for the tricks which allow one to amass a fortune or to increase one’s reputation or to achieve glory by means of a crime or every kind of base behaviour, these are avowed that they had lost their senses and whose words of God confirmed as true when He said that they had lost their senses, knew very well how to conduct their worldly affairs, own standing. This characteristic is called astuteness, and the opposite of it is intelligence and honesty.

192. However if, in order to achieve these same ends, someone acted with reserve and dignity, this would be firmness. Its opposite is weakness or wasting.

193. To be serious, to know how to put each word in the right place, to preserve moderation in the way that you conduct your life, to show courtesy towards anyone who comes to you, that is called steadiness and is the opposite of ineptitude.

194. The virtue of keeping one’s word is made up of fairness, generosity and courage. Because a trustworthy man thinks it is unfair to deceive anyone who has put his trust in him or anyone who has done him a good deed, he acts with fairness. Because he wishes to help to repair the injustices of fate as quickly as possible, he acts with generosity. Because he has decided to bear without flinching all the likely consequences of his fidelity, he is courageous.

195. The virtues have four roots which form all virtue. They are: fairness of justice, intelligence, courage and generosity.

196. The vices have four roots which are the basis of all faults and which are the opposite of the constituents of the virtues. They are: unfairness, ignorance, cowardice and greed.

197. Honesty and temperance are two kinds of fairness and generosity.

Here are some lines of my poetry dealing with morals. Abû Muhammad Alî ibn Ahmad says:

The spirit is the foundation

morals build the fortress upon it.

If the spirit does not adorn itself with

knowledge it will surely find itself in distress.

An ignorant person is surely blind

and does not see where he is going.

If knowledge is not paired with justice

it is deceitful.

If justice is not paired with generosity

it is oppressive.

Generosity depends on courage.

Cowardice is deceitful.

Keep yourself in check if you are jealous

A jealous person has never yet committed adultery.

All these virtues are sublimated in piety.

Truth spreads light when it is spoken.

It is from the roots of Good that springs vows

[that bring us neared to God].

And here some other lines of poetry in my style:

The reins which control all the virtues are

Justice, intelligence, generosity and strength.

The other virtues are composed of these four.

Anyone who possesses them is at the head of his people.

Likewise it is in the head that one finds

The qualities of good sense that enable one to resolve all difficulties.[1]

198. Disinterest as a human quality is a virtue which is made up of courage and generosity. The same is true of patience.

199. Magnanimity is one kind of courage. It does not have an opposite.

200. Moderation is a virtue which is made up of generosity and fairness.

201. Ruthlessness arises from covetousness, and covetousness arises from envy. Envy arises from desire, and desire arises from injustice, greed and ignorance.

202. Ruthlessness gives rise to great vices, such as servility, theft, anger, adultery, murder, passions and fear of poverty.

203. To beg for something that belongs to someone else stems from a tendency which is midway between ruthlessness and covetousness.

204. If we make a distinction between ruthlessness and covetousness, it is only because ruthlessness reveals the covetousness that is hidden in the soul.

205. The art of dealing with people is a quality composed of magnanimity and patience.

206. Truthfulness is composed of justice and courage.

207. Anyone who comes to you with lies will go away with truths; that is to say, anyone who repeats to you lies which he attributes to a third person will make you beside yourself with rage; you will respond to him, and your response is the truth that he will carry away. Therefore be careful not to behave like this, and only answer when you are certain about the provenance of the lies.

208. There is nothing worse than falsehood. For how do you regard a vice which has as one of its varieties disbelief or impiety itself? For all disbelief is falsehood. Falsehood is the genus and disbelief is one of its species. Falsehood arises from wickedness, cowardice and ignorance. Truly, cowardice debases the soul. A liar has a vile soul which is far away from achieving a greatness worthy of praise.

209. If we categorize people by the way of their speaking – and, remember, it is speech that distinguishes mankind from donkeys, dogs and vermin – we can divide them into three groups: the first kind do not worry about what they pass on, they say everything that comes into their heads, without keeping to the truth or correcting mistakes, and this is the case with the majority of people. Another group speak in order to defend their own fixed opinions, or to protest against what they believe to be false, without trying to establish the truth, merely holding their ground. This is frequently the case, but it is not so serious as the first group. The third group makes use of language in the way of God intended and this is more precious than red sulphur.

210. Endless anxiety awaits a man who is goaded or irritated by justice.

211. Two kinds of people live a life without care: one kind are extremely worthy of praise, the other kind are those who care nothing for the pleasures of this world, and those who care nothing for haya’, modesty.

212. To distance ourselves from the vanities of the world it should suffice to remember that every night every man alive, in his sleep, forgets everything that worried him during the day, all his fears, all his hopes. He no longer remembers his children or his parents, glory or obscurity, high social responsibilities or unemployment, poverty or riches, nor catastrophes. Such a lesson should be sufficient for a thoughtful person.

213. One of the most marvellous arrangements in God’s world is that He has made the thing that are most necessary also the most easily attainable, as can be seen in the case of water and the thing which is even more necessary. (i.e. air) And the less essential a thing is, the rarer it is, as can be seen in the case of sapphires and things which are even less useful.

214. With all the worries, a man is like someone walking across a desert. Every time that he crosses a certain area, he sees other areas opening in front of him. Likewise, every time that a man gets something done, he finds other tasks piling up.

215. That man was right who said that the good have a hard time in this world. But the man who said that the good are at rest was also right. The good do suffer from all the evil that they see spread over everything, dominating it, and all the appearances of justice which rear up between true justice and themselves. But their calmness comes from [their indifference to] all the vanities of this world which so worry the rest of mankind.

216. Take care not to agree with a wicked speaker, not to help your contemporaries by doing anything which might harm you in this world or the next – however little – for you will reap nothing but regret, at a time when regret will not help you at all. The man you helped will not thank you. On the contrary, he will rejoice at your misfortune, or, at least – you may be certain – he will be indifferent to the bad results [of your action] and your sad ending. But guard against contradicting the speaker and opposing your contemporaries to the extent that you harm yourself in this world or the next, however little. You will reap only loss, hostility and enmity. You may even allow yourself to take sides, and you may suffer considerable trials which will be of no benefit [to you] whatsoever.

217. If you have to choose between annoying people or annoying the Almighty, and if there is no way out except either to run away from the right or to run away from the people, you should choose to annoy the people and run away from them, but do not annoy your God, do not run away from injustice.

218. You should imitate the Prophet – peace be upon him – when he preached to the ignorant, the sinful and the wicked. Anyone who preaches drily and cheerlessly is doing wrong and is not applying the Prophet’s method. Such preaching would usually only drive his audience to persist in their wicked ways, from obstinacy, anger and rage against the insolent sermonizer. He would then have done bad with his talk, not good. But a man who exhorts in a friendly fashion, with a smile and with gentleness, putting on the appearance of offering advice and seeming to be speaking of a third person when he criticizes the faults of the one he is speaking to, then his words reach farther and have more effect. But if they are not well received, he should go on to exhort or to appeal to the man’s sense of shame, but only in private. And if [his advice] is still not taken, he should speak in the presence of someone who will make the sinner change. This is the practice which God ordains when He commands the use of “courteous terms”. The Prophet used not to address his listeners directly; instead, he would say to them “What are they thinking of, the people who do such thing?…” Peace be upon him! He praised gentleness, commended us to be tolerant and not to argue. He varied his sermons so as not to be boring. And God has said, “If you are harsh, and hardhearted, they would have scattered from about you.” [Qur’ân 3:159.] Severity and hardness should not be used except to inflict the punishment ordained by God. A man who has been given special authority to inflict such punishment must not be gentle.

219. Something which can also have a good effect in a sermon is to praise, in the presence of a wrongdoer, somebody who has acted differently. This is an incitement to behave better. I know no other benefit of the love of praise: a person who hears another being praised models himself on him. It is for this reason that we should tell stories of virtue and vice, so that anyone who hears them may turn away from the wicked deed that he hears others have done and accomplish the good deeds that he hears that others have done, so learning from history.

220. I have considered everything that lives beneath the skies, I have reflected long upon it, and I have observed that everything that exists, whether animate or inanimate, has a natural tendency to build itself up by divesting the other species of their characteristics and investing them with his own. Thus, a virtuous man hopes that all mankind will become virtuous and the sinner hopes that all mankind will become sinful. One may observe that everybody who recalls a past action of their own which they incite others to imitate says, “I always do such and such”; someone with a doctrine wishes that everybody would agree with him. This phenomenon can also be seen among the elements: when some become strong than others, they change them to their own substance: you can see how trees are formed, and how plants and trees are nourished by transforming water and the moisture in the soil to their own substance. For this may glory be given to Him who created and organized all things, the is no other God but He.

221. One of the most astonishing manifestations of God’s power is that [despite] the great number of creatures that exist, you never see one so alike another that there is no difference between them. I asked a man who was very old and had reached his eighties whether he had ever seen in the past any form that resembled somebody nowadays to the point of being identical. “No,” he replied, “on the contrary, every form has something distinctive about it.” The same is true of everything that exists in the world. Whoever makes a study of various objects and of the bodies they make up, whoever makes a long and frequent examination of them, knows this, and is able to discern the differences and to distinguish one object from another thanks to the nuances which the soul can perceive but words cannot express. Glory then to the Almighty, the Omniscient, whose power is infinite.

222. A curious thing in this world is to see people allow themselves to be dominated by perverse hopes which will bring them nothing but trouble in the short term and anxiety and sin in the long term. For example, one person will hope for a rise in the price of foodstuffs, a rise which might be fatal for some people. But, even if one has a certain interest in something happening, the fact that one hopes for it does not make it happen before its time, and nothing will happen that God has not decided. If he had wished for the good and the prosperity of other people, we would have speeded his own reward, achieved peace of mind and virtue, without fatiguing himself at all. Be amazed at the useless corruption of these characters!

Notes:

[1] This poem appears towards the end of the book in Makkî’s edition [pp. 239F].

VI) The Different Kinds of Love

155. I have been asked to focus on what there is to say about love, and the different kinds of love. All the different kinds of love belong to the same family. Love is characterized by longing for the loved one, horror of separation, hope of having one’s love reciprocated. It has been suggested that the sentiment varies according to its object. But the object varies only according to the lover’s desires, according to whether they are on the increase, the decrease, or are vanishing altogether. Thus, love felt for God Almighty is perfect love; that which unites beings in the quest for the same ideal, the love of a father, a son, parents, a friend, a sovereign, a wife, a benefactor, a person in whom one has placed one’s hopes, a lover, all is generally the same, all is love, but there are different species as I have just listed, differing by the amount of love inspired by what the loved one is able to give of itself. Thus love can take different forms: we have seen men die broken-hearted because of their sons exactly as a lover might have his heart broken by his loved one. We have heard of a man who burnt with such fear of God, with such love, that he died of it. We know that a man can be as jealous of them as a lover is of his mistress.

156. The least that the lover can desire of the loved one is to win her esteem, her attention, to approach her - not daring to expect more. This is how far those aspire who love each other in God Almighty.

157. The next stage is when desire grows as time is spent together, in conversation, and interest is shown by one to another. This is the level of the love of a man towards his prince, his friend or his own brother.

158. But the height of what a lover may wish from the loved one is to take her in his arms when he desires her. That is why we see a man who is passionately fond of his wife trying different positions in making love, and different places, so as to feel that he possesses her more completely. It is in this category that we should put caresses and kisses. Some of these desires may arise in a father towards his child and may drive him to [express them] in kisses and caresses.

159. Everything that we have just mentioned is uniquely the function of [extreme] desire. When for some reason, the desire for some object is suppressed, the soul is driven towards a different object of desire.

160. Thus we find that the man who believes in the possibility of seeing God Almighty longs for it, has a great yearning for it and will never be satisfied with anything less since it is that which he desires. On the other hand, a man who does not believe in it does not aspire to this ecstasy and does not wish for it, having no desire for it. He is content to bow to divine will and to go to the mosque. He has no other ambition.

161. We have observed that a man who is legally able to marry his close relatives is not satisfied with favours which would satisfy someone who is not permitted to marry them. His love does not stop at the same point as the love of a man who is forbidden by law to love them. Those, such as Magians and Jews, who are permitted to marry their own daughters and nieces, do not curb their love at the same point as a Muslim does. On the contrary, they feel the same love to their daughters or to their nieces as a Muslim does to a woman he will sleep with. One never sees a Muslim desiring his close relatives in this way, even if they are more beautiful than the sun itself, even if he is the most debauched and the most amorous of men. And if, very exceptionally, it should happen, it would be only among the impious, who do not feel the constraint of the religion, and who allow themselves every lustful thought, and who find every gate of desire open to them. It cannot be guaranteed that a Muslim might not love his cousin so excessively that his love became a passion and overstepped the affection which he bore towards his daughter and niece, even if the cousin was not so beautiful as they. In fact he might desire favours from his cousin which he would never expect from his daughter or his niece. On the other hand, a Christian will treat his cousin with equal respect, for he is not permitted to desire her. But [unlike a Muslim] he does not have to restrain himself with anyone who shared a wet nurse with him, since he may desire her without offending the laws of his religion.

162. We now see the truth of what we said earlier: love in all its manifestations forms one single generic family, but its species vary according to the different objects of its desire.

163. Having said this, human nature is the same every where but different customs and religious beliefs have created apparent differences.

164. We do not say that desire has an influence only on love. We would say that is the cause of all kinds of cares, even those which concern one’s fortune and social position. Thus it may be observed that a man who sees the death of his neighbour, or of his maternal uncle, his friend, his cousin, his great-uncle, his nephew, his maternal grandfather or his grandson, having no claim on their property, does not fret because it has escaped him, however large and considerable their fortunes might be, because he had no expectation of them. But as soon as a distant member of his father's family dies, or one of his remotest clients, he begins to covet their belongings. And with the coveting comes crowding in anxiety, regret, anger and great sorrow if some tiny part of their fortune escapes him.

165. It is the same with one’s position in society: a man who belongs to the lowest social class does not fret if he is not consulted when someone else is given charge of the affairs of the land. He does not fret if someone else is promoted or demoted. But as soon as he begins to feel an ambition to better himself, it provokes so much worry, anxiety and anger that it could make him lose his soul, his world and his position in the hereafter [lose his soul here and in the hereafter]. Thus covetousness is the cause of all humiliation and every kind of anxiety. It is a wicked and despicable kind of behaviour.

166. The opposite of covetousness is disinterest. This is a virtuous quality which combines courage, generosity, justice and intelligence. A disinterested man is truly intelligent because he understands the vanity of covetousness and prefers disinterest. His courage gives birth to a greatness of spirit which makes him disinterested. His natural generosity stops him fretting about property which is lost to him. His equitable nature makes him love reserve and moderation in his desires. Thus disinterest is composed of these four qualities, just a covetousness, its opposite, is composed of the four opposite faults, that is, cowardice, greed, injustice and ignorance.

Greed is a kind of covetousness which would like to possess everything; it is insatiable and ever increasing in its demands. If there were no such thing as covetousness, nobody would ever humiliate himself to anybody else. Abû Bakr ibn Abû ibn al-Fayyâd has told me that ‘Uthmân bin Muhâmis [died 356 AH; 966 CE] inscribed upon the door of his house in Ecija [in Seville] “‘Uthmân covets nothing”.

Other species of this kind

167. A man made unhappy by the presence of a person he detests is like a man made unhappy by the absence of the person he loves. There is nothing to choose between them.

168. When a lover wishes to forget, he is sure to be able to do so. This wish is always granted.

169. If you treat the person you live with with respect, he will treat you with respect.

170. The man who is unhappy in love is the one who is racked by a passion for one whom he can keep locked away and with whom he may be united without incurring the wrath of God or the criticism of his fellow-men. All is well when the two lovers agree in loving each other. For love to run its course freely, it is essential that the two do not feel bored, for that is a bad feeling which gives rise to hatred. Perfect love would be if destiny forgot the two lovers while they were enjoying each other. But where could that happen except in Paradise? Only there can love be sure of shelter, for that is the home of everlasting stability. Otherwise, in the world, such feelings are not protected from misfortunes, and we go through life without ever tasting pleasure to the full.

171. When jealousy dies, you may be sure that love has also died.

172. Jealousy is a virtuous feeling which is made of courage and justice; truly, a just man hates to infringe the sacred rights of others, and hates to see others infringe his own sacred rights. When courage is inborn in a person, it gives rise to a grandeur of spirit which abhors injustice.

173. A man whose fortunes I have followed during these times told me once that he himself had never known jealousy until he was racked by love. Only then did he feel jealous. This man was corrupt by nature, he was a bad character, but nevertheless he was perspicacious and generous.

174. There are five stages in the growth of love: first is to think someone pleasant, that is, someone thinks of someone else as being nice or is charmed by their character. This is part of making friends. Then there is admiration; that is the desire to be near the person that one admires. Then there is close friendship when you miss the other one terribly when they are absent. Then there is amorous affection when you are completely obsessed with the loved one. In the special vocabulary of love this is called ‘ishq, “the slavery of love”. Finally, there is passion, when one can no longer sleep, eat or think. This can make you ill to the point of delirium or even death. Beyond this, there is absolutely no place where love ends.

A note

175. We used to think that passion was found more often among lively and emotional women. But our experience has shown that this is not the case. Passion is found most often among calm women, as long as their calmness is not the placidity of stupidity.

VII) Different Kinds of Physical Beauty

When I was asked to examine this matter, this is how I responded:

176. Gracefulness consists of delicate features, supple movements, graceful gestures, a soul in harmony with the form which fate has given it, even where there is no visible beauty.

177. Allure is beauty of each feature regarded separately. But someone whose features are beautiful when considered separately can still appear cold and be without piquantness, charm, seductiveness or grace.

178. Seductiveness is the aura of the visible parts; it also goes by the name of elegance and attractiveness.

179. Charm is a certain something which has no other name to explain it. It is the soul which perceives it, and everyone knows what it is as soon as they see it. It is like a veil covering the face, a shining light which draws all hearts to it so that all agree that it is beautiful, even if it is not accompanied by beautiful features. Anyone who sees it is seduced, charmed, enslaved, and yet if you looked at each feature separately you would find nothing special. It might be said that there is a certain unknown something which you see when you look into the soul. This is the supreme kind of beauty. However, tastes do differ. Some prefer seductiveness, others prefer gracefulness. But I have never met anyone who preferred allure as such.

180. We call beauty piquant when there is a combination of some of these qualities.

VIII) Practical Morality

181. Fickleness, which is a fault, consists of switching from one way of life which is forced and senseless, to another way of life which is equally forced and senseless from one absurd state to an equally absurd state for no good reason.

182. But a man who will adopt habits which suit his capabilities and his needs, and who will reject everything that is of no use to him [will be drawing on] one of the best sources of good sense and wisdom.

183. The Prophet (Allâh grant him blessing and greeting), the model of all goodness, whose character was praised by God, in whom God gathered together the most diverse and perfect virtues, and whom He kept from sin – the Prophet was in the habit of visiting the sick, accompanied by his friends. They went to the boundaries of Medina on foot, wearing neither boots nor sandals, hat nor turban. He wore clothes woven from the hair of wild beasts when he had them, or he might equally likely be wearing embroidered cloth if he had it, never wearing anything unnecessary and never forgetting anything necessary, content with what he had and doing without whatever he did not have. Sometimes he would ride a fine mule or he would ride a horse bareback or a camel or a donkey, with a friend riding behind him. Sometimes he ate dates without bread, sometimes dry bread, sometimes he ate roast lamb, fresh melon, or halwa, taking as much as needed and sharing out the surplus, or leaving what he did not need and not forcing himself to take more than he needed. He was never angry when he found himself alone fighting for a cause, and he let nothing prevent him from anger when it was a question of God, the Almighty.

184. The perseverance which consists of keeping one’s word and the perseverance which is nothing but obstinacy are so alike that they can only be told apart by someone who knows what different characters are like. The difference between the two kinds of perseverance is that obstinacy clings to error. Its actions are the actions of someone who persists in doing what he has decided upon when he knows that he is wrong, or when he does not know for sure whether he is right or wrong. Such obstinacy is wrong. The opposite of obstinacy is fairness. As for the kind of perseverance which consists of keeping one’s word, its actions are the actions of someone who is right, or who believes himself to be right, not having seen any reason not to believe this. This quality is worthy of praise, and its opposite is inconstancy. Only the first of the two kinds of perseverance [obstinacy] is wrong, because it makes you lose the habit of thinking about a matter once it has been decided, and you stop wondering whether the decision is right or wrong.

185. Good sense is defined as the practise of obedience to God and the practice of piety and the virtues. This definition implies avoidance of rebellion and vices. God has stated this clearly more than once in His holy book (the Qur’ân), emphasizing that anyone who disobeys Him is acting unreasonably. Speaking of certain people, the Almighty has said, “They will say: if we had listened, if we had understood, we would not be among the damned”, [67:10] and He has confirmed their words as true by saying, “They have recognized their own sins, so misfortune be to the damned.” [67:11]

186. Stupidity is defined as the practice of disobedience to God and the practice of vices.

187. As for going wild, throwing stones at people, not knowing what one is saying, that is lunacy and excess of bile.

188. Stupidity is opposite of good sense, as we have shown above; and there is no middle point between good sense and stupidity unless it is ineptitude.

189. The definition of ineptitude is to work and speak in a way that neither serves religion nor the world nor a healthy morality. This is neither disobedience to God not obedience, it does not bring anybody else to such acts, it is neither a virtue nor a harmful vice. It consists only of drivelling and rambling about doing pointless things. According to whether these actions are frequent or rare, the person should be treated as more or less inept. Moreover he may be inept in one matter, sensible in another, stupid in a third.

190. The opposite of madness is the ability to discern and the ability to make free use of sciences and technical knowledge. It is what the ancients called the “faculty of reasoning". There is no middle point between these two extremes.

191. As for the art of conducting one’s affairs and flattering people by means that might win their good will and save a situation, such as false dealing, perversion or any other bad practices, and as for the tricks which allow one to amass a fortune or to increase one’s reputation or to achieve glory by means of a crime or every kind of base behaviour, these are avowed that they had lost their senses and whose words of God confirmed as true when He said that they had lost their senses, knew very well how to conduct their worldly affairs, own standing. This characteristic is called astuteness, and the opposite of it is intelligence and honesty.

192. However if, in order to achieve these same ends, someone acted with reserve and dignity, this would be firmness. Its opposite is weakness or wasting.

193. To be serious, to know how to put each word in the right place, to preserve moderation in the way that you conduct your life, to show courtesy towards anyone who comes to you, that is called steadiness and is the opposite of ineptitude.

194. The virtue of keeping one’s word is made up of fairness, generosity and courage. Because a trustworthy man thinks it is unfair to deceive anyone who has put his trust in him or anyone who has done him a good deed, he acts with fairness. Because he wishes to help to repair the injustices of fate as quickly as possible, he acts with generosity. Because he has decided to bear without flinching all the likely consequences of his fidelity, he is courageous.

195. The virtues have four roots which form all virtue. They are: fairness of justice, intelligence, courage and generosity.

196. The vices have four roots which are the basis of all faults and which are the opposite of the constituents of the virtues. They are: unfairness, ignorance, cowardice and greed.

197. Honesty and temperance are two kinds of fairness and generosity.

Here are some lines of my poetry dealing with morals. Abû Muhammad Alî ibn Ahmad says:

The spirit is the foundation

morals build the fortress upon it.

If the spirit does not adorn itself with

knowledge it will surely find itself in distress.

An ignorant person is surely blind

and does not see where he is going.

If knowledge is not paired with justice

it is deceitful.

If justice is not paired with generosity

it is oppressive.

Generosity depends on courage.

Cowardice is deceitful.

Keep yourself in check if you are jealous

A jealous person has never yet committed adultery.

All these virtues are sublimated in piety.

Truth spreads light when it is spoken.

It is from the roots of Good that springs vows

[that bring us neared to God].

And here some other lines of poetry in my style:

The reins which control all the virtues are

Justice, intelligence, generosity and strength.

The other virtues are composed of these four.

Anyone who possesses them is at the head of his people.

Likewise it is in the head that one finds

The qualities of good sense that enable one to resolve all difficulties.[1]

198. Disinterest as a human quality is a virtue which is made up of courage and generosity. The same is true of patience.

199. Magnanimity is one kind of courage. It does not have an opposite.

200. Moderation is a virtue which is made up of generosity and fairness.

201. Ruthlessness arises from covetousness, and covetousness arises from envy. Envy arises from desire, and desire arises from injustice, greed and ignorance.

202. Ruthlessness gives rise to great vices, such as servility, theft, anger, adultery, murder, passions and fear of poverty.

203. To beg for something that belongs to someone else stems from a tendency which is midway between ruthlessness and covetousness.

204. If we make a distinction between ruthlessness and covetousness, it is only because ruthlessness reveals the covetousness that is hidden in the soul.

205. The art of dealing with people is a quality composed of magnanimity and patience.

206. Truthfulness is composed of justice and courage.

207. Anyone who comes to you with lies will go away with truths; that is to say, anyone who repeats to you lies which he attributes to a third person will make you beside yourself with rage; you will respond to him, and your response is the truth that he will carry away. Therefore be careful not to behave like this, and only answer when you are certain about the provenance of the lies.

208. There is nothing worse than falsehood. For how do you regard a vice which has as one of its varieties disbelief or impiety itself? For all disbelief is falsehood. Falsehood is the genus and disbelief is one of its species. Falsehood arises from wickedness, cowardice and ignorance. Truly, cowardice debases the soul. A liar has a vile soul which is far away from achieving a greatness worthy of praise.

209. If we categorize people by the way of their speaking – and, remember, it is speech that distinguishes mankind from donkeys, dogs and vermin – we can divide them into three groups: the first kind do not worry about what they pass on, they say everything that comes into their heads, without keeping to the truth or correcting mistakes, and this is the case with the majority of people. Another group speak in order to defend their own fixed opinions, or to protest against what they believe to be false, without trying to establish the truth, merely holding their ground. This is frequently the case, but it is not so serious as the first group. The third group makes use of language in the way of God intended and this is more precious than red sulphur.

210. Endless anxiety awaits a man who is goaded or irritated by justice.

211. Two kinds of people live a life without care: one kind are extremely worthy of praise, the other kind are those who care nothing for the pleasures of this world, and those who care nothing for haya’, modesty.

212. To distance ourselves from the vanities of the world it should suffice to remember that every night every man alive, in his sleep, forgets everything that worried him during the day, all his fears, all his hopes. He no longer remembers his children or his parents, glory or obscurity, high social responsibilities or unemployment, poverty or riches, nor catastrophes. Such a lesson should be sufficient for a thoughtful person.

213. One of the most marvellous arrangements in God’s world is that He has made the thing that are most necessary also the most easily attainable, as can be seen in the case of water and the thing which is even more necessary. (i.e. air) And the less essential a thing is, the rarer it is, as can be seen in the case of sapphires and things which are even less useful.

214. With all the worries, a man is like someone walking across a desert. Every time that he crosses a certain area, he sees other areas opening in front of him. Likewise, every time that a man gets something done, he finds other tasks piling up.

215. That man was right who said that the good have a hard time in this world. But the man who said that the good are at rest was also right. The good do suffer from all the evil that they see spread over everything, dominating it, and all the appearances of justice which rear up between true justice and themselves. But their calmness comes from [their indifference to] all the vanities of this world which so worry the rest of mankind.

216. Take care not to agree with a wicked speaker, not to help your contemporaries by doing anything which might harm you in this world or the next – however little – for you will reap nothing but regret, at a time when regret will not help you at all. The man you helped will not thank you. On the contrary, he will rejoice at your misfortune, or, at least – you may be certain – he will be indifferent to the bad results [of your action] and your sad ending. But guard against contradicting the speaker and opposing your contemporaries to the extent that you harm yourself in this world or the next, however little. You will reap only loss, hostility and enmity. You may even allow yourself to take sides, and you may suffer considerable trials which will be of no benefit [to you] whatsoever.

217. If you have to choose between annoying people or annoying the Almighty, and if there is no way out except either to run away from the right or to run away from the people, you should choose to annoy the people and run away from them, but do not annoy your God, do not run away from injustice.

218. You should imitate the Prophet – peace be upon him – when he preached to the ignorant, the sinful and the wicked. Anyone who preaches drily and cheerlessly is doing wrong and is not applying the Prophet’s method. Such preaching would usually only drive his audience to persist in their wicked ways, from obstinacy, anger and rage against the insolent sermonizer. He would then have done bad with his talk, not good. But a man who exhorts in a friendly fashion, with a smile and with gentleness, putting on the appearance of offering advice and seeming to be speaking of a third person when he criticizes the faults of the one he is speaking to, then his words reach farther and have more effect. But if they are not well received, he should go on to exhort or to appeal to the man’s sense of shame, but only in private. And if [his advice] is still not taken, he should speak in the presence of someone who will make the sinner change. This is the practice which God ordains when He commands the use of “courteous terms”. The Prophet used not to address his listeners directly; instead, he would say to them “What are they thinking of, the people who do such thing?…” Peace be upon him! He praised gentleness, commended us to be tolerant and not to argue. He varied his sermons so as not to be boring. And God has said, “If you are harsh, and hardhearted, they would have scattered from about you.” [Qur’ân 3:159.] Severity and hardness should not be used except to inflict the punishment ordained by God. A man who has been given special authority to inflict such punishment must not be gentle.

219. Something which can also have a good effect in a sermon is to praise, in the presence of a wrongdoer, somebody who has acted differently. This is an incitement to behave better. I know no other benefit of the love of praise: a person who hears another being praised models himself on him. It is for this reason that we should tell stories of virtue and vice, so that anyone who hears them may turn away from the wicked deed that he hears others have done and accomplish the good deeds that he hears that others have done, so learning from history.

220. I have considered everything that lives beneath the skies, I have reflected long upon it, and I have observed that everything that exists, whether animate or inanimate, has a natural tendency to build itself up by divesting the other species of their characteristics and investing them with his own. Thus, a virtuous man hopes that all mankind will become virtuous and the sinner hopes that all mankind will become sinful. One may observe that everybody who recalls a past action of their own which they incite others to imitate says, “I always do such and such”; someone with a doctrine wishes that everybody would agree with him. This phenomenon can also be seen among the elements: when some become strong than others, they change them to their own substance: you can see how trees are formed, and how plants and trees are nourished by transforming water and the moisture in the soil to their own substance. For this may glory be given to Him who created and organized all things, the is no other God but He.

221. One of the most astonishing manifestations of God’s power is that [despite] the great number of creatures that exist, you never see one so alike another that there is no difference between them. I asked a man who was very old and had reached his eighties whether he had ever seen in the past any form that resembled somebody nowadays to the point of being identical. “No,” he replied, “on the contrary, every form has something distinctive about it.” The same is true of everything that exists in the world. Whoever makes a study of various objects and of the bodies they make up, whoever makes a long and frequent examination of them, knows this, and is able to discern the differences and to distinguish one object from another thanks to the nuances which the soul can perceive but words cannot express. Glory then to the Almighty, the Omniscient, whose power is infinite.

222. A curious thing in this world is to see people allow themselves to be dominated by perverse hopes which will bring them nothing but trouble in the short term and anxiety and sin in the long term. For example, one person will hope for a rise in the price of foodstuffs, a rise which might be fatal for some people. But, even if one has a certain interest in something happening, the fact that one hopes for it does not make it happen before its time, and nothing will happen that God has not decided. If he had wished for the good and the prosperity of other people, we would have speeded his own reward, achieved peace of mind and virtue, without fatiguing himself at all. Be amazed at the useless corruption of these characters!

Notes:

[1] This poem appears towards the end of the book in Makkî’s edition [pp. 239F].


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