Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

To Sincerity From The Professor Of Theology, Imam AL-Khomeini, May His Shade Be Prolonged

He, may Allah prolong his shade, has said, "Be informed that the real Owner of the domain, the One Who truly grants bounties, the One Who grants us blissful things, having prepared them for us even before we came into this world, prepared the nutritional food that is good and suitable to our weak stomach, the One Who cultures and serves with love as great as mountains, so His service may be obligation-free, with suitable environment and air, in addition to all His apparent and hidden blissful things. He prepared us for the world of the hereafter and that of the barzakh before we get there. This Master of blessings wants our hearts to love him, to love His Greatness, with sincerity, and the result of this love will be for our own benefit, too. Despite all of this, we do not listen to His commandment but disobey Him and take a path that does not lead us to His pleasure: so, what a great injustice we have committed! How have we argued with the King of Kings?! And the loss is only our own; His domain is not hurt in the least, nor can we get out of His power and authority. It makes no difference to Him whether we believe in His unity or not. If we are knowledgeable about Allah, fearing Him, pure of souls, all this is for our own good. And if we are unbelievers or polytheists, we only harm our own selves. Allah is independent of the worlds, of their obedience, sincerity and worship. His domain is not harmed by our rebellion.

Our shirk and hypocrisy do not diminish it. But since He is the most Merciful of those who have mercy, His spacious mercy and great wisdom have required that He leads us to the paths of guidance, the ways of distinguishing goodness from evil, beauty from ugliness, and to show us what causes humanity to slip away, what robs it of happiness, and the great boon for such guidance belongs to Allah. The favor belongs to Him for whatever acts of adoration, sincerity and worship we perform. So long as our visions, and the eyes whereby we can see the barzakh, are not open, we arc unable to comprehend this fact. And so long as we in this narrow and dark world, in this dark nature, are shackled with the chains of time, jailed in the dark extended place..., we are unable to realize the great boons that belong to Allah Almighty, and we cannot imagine the divine blessings that lie in this sincerity, adoration and guidance.

Beware of thinking that we do a favor to the great Prophets of Allah, or to His honored friends, or to the nation's scholars who are the guides to our happiness and salvation, who have saved us from ignorance, darkness and torment, who invited us to the world of celestial light, happiness, elation and greatness. They bear the burdens of hardship and exhaustion whHe educating us so we may be saved from the darkness that lies in false beliefs and compounded ignorance and from the pressures and suffering that arc the manifestations of a lowly conduct, from the engulfing fearful images of the ugly deeds, and so we may instead earn the celestial lights, the norms of happiness and elation, the pleasures of the soul, the feeling of restfulness, the huris with large lovely eyes, and the mansions that we cannot possibly imagine. Our world of this domain, as greatly spacious as it is, cannot bear one single outfit of those of Paradise. These eyes of ours cannot bear to see a single hair of the huris with their large lovely eyes. Yet the angelic picture of beliefs and deeds has been realized, through divine inspiration, by the great prophets, especially by the one who had the total revelation, the inclusive constitution, namely the seal of prophets (a.s). The prophets saw it, heard it, and called us towards it whHe we, poor souls, arc like children who do the opposite of what the wise rule. Rather, humans even call these prophets wrong, argue with them and always do the opposite of what they enjoin. Yet those pure and contented personalities, the good and pure souls, due to their compassion and mercy towards the servants of AIM, did not fall short in calling upon the ignorant one, pulling them in the direction of Paradise and happiness through any means of power and wealth, without asking them for any reward at all.

The only reward asked by the Messenger of Allah (a.s) was that we be kind to his near in kin. Perhaps the picture of this kindness in the world of the hereafter may manifest itself in the limn of the most glittering light for us. This reward is for our own good, too, so it may get us to reach happiness and mercy. Thus, the reward of following the message is credited for us, and we benefited from it: "Say: 'I ask no reward of you : It is in sour interest.: My reward is due only from Allah'" (Qur'an, 34:47). How can we, the poor ones, do them a favor, and what a great benefit do we reap from being sincere to them?! What favor do you vest upon the scholars of the nation, upon the scholar who explains the difficult issues and the rulings, or upon the honored Prophet, or upon the Holy One, the most Great?! Each person, according to his level and station, leads us towards the path of guidance. Indeed, we owe them so much, too much to be able to reward them in this world, the world that is not at all suitable for rewarding them. Indeed, to Allah, to His Messenger, and to His friends belongs the favor lust as the Almighty has said: "Say: 'Do not count your Islam as a favor to me. Nay! Allah has conferred a favor on you when He guided you to the faith, if you are true and sincere. Truly Allah knows the secrets of the heavens and the earth, and Allah sees well all that you do'" (Qur'an, 49:17-18). If we are truthful in our claim of belief, the favor belongs to Allah for having guided us to thus believe. Allah sees what we do not, and lie knows the images of our deeds, of our belief, of our submission to Him in the world of what is unknown to us. As for us, the poor ones, we know none of the truth, so we learn from the one who is knowledgeable about them and feel indebted to him, and we follow the scholar and feel indebted to him, and we offer congregational prayers behind the scholar and feel indebted to him, although we owe them without knowing it. Hence, when we feel that we arc the ones who do them a favor, such feeling turns our deeds upside down, hurling them into Sijjeen, rendering them to an utter loss.

THE SECOND LEVEL OF PRETENSION

From what we have stated, it is learned from our greatest professor and best teacher of ethics. Imam al-Khomeini, may his shade be prolonged, that the above-stated level of pretension occupies in the principles of beliefs the first, the most intense and the ugliest of all.

As for the second level of pretension, it lies in tHe virtuous demeanors and the commendable ethics. It, too, according to what is stated by the imam, may his shade be prolonged, has two stations: The first is that a person demonstrates the commendable characteristics and the virtuous demeanors in order to attract people's hearts towards him. The second is that he declares he dissociates himself from the contemptible characteristics and ugly demeanors for the same purpose. Our professor has said the following in this regard: "Pretension in this level, although it does not lie in the intensity of ugliness as is the case with the first station, but after attention is drawn to something that may drag the pretender in this level, too, to what places him in the first level. There is an image for man in the spiritual world that could be non-human because it is connected to the domain of the nafs and to its faculties. So, if it has virtuous human faculties, these faculties would make your spiritual picture human, if you are gathered in [the form of] these faculties once you do not get out of moderation; the faculties are virtuous when the evil-insinuating nafs does not play havoc with it, nor the path of the nafs interferes in forming, it.

Actually, our professor/mentor, may his shade be prolonged, used to say that the scales in the wrongful practice and in the right legitimate practice is actually the path of the nafs or the path of righteousness: If the one treading the path does so seeking what is right, going in the direction of Allah, his practice is right and legitimate, and Allah, Praise and Exaltation belong to Him, will help him in his effort according to the text of this sacred verse: "(As for) those who strive in Our (cause), We will certainly guide them to Our paths, for truly Allah is with those who do what is right" (Qur'an, 29:69). He will thus be attracted towards happiness, abandoning the insinuations of egotism, leaving behind the will of the nab.. It is well known that one who demonstrates to people his good manners and virtuous demeanors is prompted thus by his egotistical impetus, feeling conceited, loving and adoring himself. Loving Allah can never coexist with egotism. Seeing Him can never coexist with seeing the it is simply impossible, a mere fancy. So long as the domain of your presence is represented by your egotism, as you love power, prominence, fame and dominance over Allah's servants, your faculties can never be virtuous, nor can your manners be divine because the real factor in the domain of your existence is Satan: neither your angelic aspect nor your inner-self reflect those of a human. After the angelic barzakh eye opens, it will portray you not as a human being but, say, as one of the demons. It is impossible for the divine norms of knowledge and the sound belief in the Unity of the Almighty to exist in a heart that is an abode for the demons. If your domain does not become human, and as long as your heart is not purified of such crookedness, from any form of conceit, your heart will never be an abode for the Truthful One, the Almighty. One qudsi tradition states the following: "My earth has no sufficient room for Me nor my heavens, but there is room for Me in the heart of My believing servant." So, there is none in existence that is a mirror reflecting the beauty of the loved One except the heart of a believer. The One Who fares with the believer's heart is the Almighty, not the nafs, and the factor in its existence is the loved One. The heart of a believer is not one of a person who sticks to his view no matter what, prattling; the heart of the believer is in the fingers of the most Merciful One, turning it however He pleases. The One who fares with the domain of a human heart is Allah. Turning and alternating it is done through the will of Allah Almighty. You, poor soul, who is worshipping himself, with whose heart Satan and ignorance fare, having put an end to the faring of the Truthful Almighty with your heart, through what belief do you expect to be a source for the manifestation of the Truthful One and of [His] absolute domain? Be informed that as long as you remain thus, as long as this vice, the dominance of the will of the nafs over you, you are a disbeliever in Allah, treading the path of the hypocrites even if you imagine yourself as being a Muslim, a believer in Allah.

WISE ADMONISHMENT FROM THE PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY, IMAM AL-KHOMEINI,MAY HIS SHADE LAST

Wake up from your sleep, dear one, abandon negligence and tardiness, let your eyes abstain from indifferent sleep, and be informed that Allah Almighty created you for Himself as the qudsi tradition states: "0 son of Adam! I created all things for your sake and created you for Myself." In the [divine] address whereby Moses was honored, the Almighty said, "... And I chose you for Myself (Qur'an, 20:41). Turn your heart into an abode for Him, as He has also said, "My earth and heavens do not have room enough for Me, yet the heart of My believing servant does." So, you and your heart are among the divine canons. Allah Almighty is jealous; therefore, beware of daring to cause your own perdition and be exposed to the law of the Truthful One, the Almighty. Fear Allah's jealousy lest He should expose you in this world to a scandal which, no matter how hard you try to rectify, you are unable to rectify it. You are within the domain of your own self and in the presence of the honored angels and great prophets, yet you dare to violate the divine canon and the virtuous manners whereby the friends of Allah try to imitate Him! You hand them over to someone else other than the Truthful One; you grant your heart to the enemy of the Almighty, committing shirk in your inner-self and in its domain; so, beware lest the Almighty should expose the domain of your own self and expose you before the angels near to Him. Moreover, He will expose you before this world, afflict you with a scandal that can never be rectified, scandalize you with a rift that can never be sewn together again. Allah, Glory to Him, covers shortcomings, but lie also is jealous. He is the most Merciful of those who show mercy, yet He also is the most tough when it comes to penalizing. He covers faults so long as they do not go overboard. When a fault does, God forbid, due to such a momentous act and ethical scandal. His jealousy overshadows his covering as you heard in a sacred tradition. Be aware, then, of all of this and go back to your senses; express your regret to Him for He, the most Exalted One, is Merciful and tries to help people obtain His mercy. If you return to Him, He will hide your past shortcomings, not acquainting anyone with them, vesting virtue upon you, personifying in you the commendable manners, making you the mirror of His attributes, carrying out your own will in that world; His will is effective in all worlds, according to the following tradition about the people of Paradise: "An angel comes to them [to the residents of Paradise] seeking permission to enter. Once he enters, he will hand them over a letter from Allah after having conveyed the greeting of the Almighty to them. In the letter there is an address to everyone. Everyone is addressed thus: 'From the Ever-living, the Sustaining Who never dies. I say to a thing BE, and it is, and I have made you this day able to say BE to a thing, and it is.'"

The Prophet (a.s) goes on to say that it is then that whatever a resident of Paradise commands, it comes to be 1. The command there will be yours if you want to achieve such a status. If you submit your will to Allah, He, Praise to Him, will make you the manifestation of His will, faring with the affairs; the domain of creating will be at your disposal in the Hereafter. This is different from the impossible false authorizing.

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1 I would like to add to this what the knowledgeable sheikh, who is familiar with the lshaqi precious stone, one of the precious stones of wisdom, has said: "He creates, through His determination, anything that can have an existence from beyond such determination, whHe the determination itself keeps safeguarding it." This is recorded on p. 124 of the Message of Unity by Hassan Zadeh Amuli. The tracing of the narrative in the said hook, AIFutuhat al-Makkiyya [the Meccan campaigns], Vol. 2, p, 150, at the end of Chapter 73, Query No. 154, Bulaq Press edition.

You, dear one, ought to choose for yourself one of these two matters, for Allah Almighty is independent of us, of the entire creation, of our sincerity and the sincerity of everyone and everything in existence.

THIRD LEVEL OF PRETENSION

This is the pretension that is known to be found among jurists, may Allah be pleased with them, and it, too, has two degrees :

The FIRST degree is that one carries out his action and whatever worship is legislated for him, or through what he deems as rationally commendable, intending thereby to show his acts of adoration to the people and win their hearts, intending to be pretentious through that act of worship or through its method, or condition, or a part thereof, as described by our fellows in their books of jurisprudence.

The SECOND degree is that he abandons a deed in order to reach the same result. The greatest professor of theology, imam al-Khomeini: says the following: "Be informed that pretension in this level is more frequent and common than all other levels because most of us are not qualified for both above-stated levels. In this aspect, Satan does not intercept our way from that highway. But, since most people are worshippers, upholding the rituals and formal manifestations of adoration, Satan is active here more than anywhere else, and the plots of the nafs in this level are many more. In other words, since most people, according to their quality, live in a physical Paradise, earning stations in the Hereafter through doing good deeds and abandoning bad ones, Satan, too, enters upon them from this door, instilling in their hearts the roots of pretension and deception in their deeds, so much so that branches grow out of them and leaves, substituting their good deeds with bad ones,

( 50 ) hurling them into hell and the lower stations through these same rituals and acts of adoration, rendering the means whereby the abode of the Hereafter are built requiring their very destruction, introducing into an act what is supposed to get one in the 'Illiyyeen station to be turned by the angels, according to the command of the Almighty, into one qualifying the individual to be hurled into the inferno. The persons who fit in this level, who have neither rations nor a conveyance for the trip [to the Hereafter], must persist in cultivating themselves fully, and they must not neglect this matter, too, God forbid, lest they should be among the fellows of hell: They lose track of the path to happiness, and the gates of Paradise will be closed before them whHe those of the fires will he opened." Thus the imam, may his shade endure, ends his statement.

Levels Of Pretension From The Aspects Of What Is Hidden and What Is Manifest, A Precise Research in The Issue Of Pretension

Be informed that pretension, in as far as being manifest or hidden, has several levels. Some levels are obvious, some are more obvious, whereas some others are hidden, and some are more so.

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

The SECOND level: It is a little bit more hidden: The pretending side is not initially prompted to undertake the action: rather, the side that urges the origin of the action is the Divine side, the nearness to the Almighty, but the non-divine side intrudes into it, so much so that the act, despite the care of this side, becomes easier to undertake without it, such as one whose habit is to perform the tahajjud and to perform the night prayer (qiyam). He performs it every night, but whHe feeling lazy and drowsy. But when he has a guest, he stands up from his bed with agility and ease. Had he not hoped for rewards from Allah, he would not have abandoned the pleasure of sleep not only due to the presence of the guest but this presence had an impact on him, making it easier for him to pray and to offer tahajjud, and the prayer will then be easier than it would have been if he had been by himself.

The THIRD level: In it, the pretension is more hidden than it is in the second level: The non-divine side has nothing to do with the original intention to undertake the action, nor in the ease of doing it. But, at the same time, the substance of pretension is present in the heart. It is known that such pretension cannot be identified except through the precise experiment such as suspected terminal physical ailments since these, after medical analyses, indicate the presence of a disease which the doctor starts treating. So is the case with this spiritual disease: Precision is a must in diagnosing it. If some traces of the ailment are found, its substance will be known to be present. Its indication is that one must test himself at a time when people accidentally get to see his adoration. Will he then feel happy and elated on account of their seeing him or not? An individual may undertake an action with a sincere intention, desiring no pretension in it: rather, he even avoids pretending and hating it. But, at the same time, if he realizes that someone accidentally gets to know about it, he becomes happy, as if he feels restful when he gets to know that the individual saw how that act exhausted him. Such happiness and elation form the mark of pretension which is hidden within him, inside him, from which elation drips. Had he directed his attention towards anyone other than Allah, and had he paid no attention to people, there is no sense in this elation when he knows that others came to know about his I righteous] deed. Happiness [in such a case] is like a fire that is hidden inside a stone. It becomes evident when the stone hits iron and the hidden fire comes out to the open and becomes obvious when the stone hits a stone. People who are acquainted with and knowledgeable about the stone hitting the iron expose the hidden pretension. At that time, if this person does not react to this pleasure, that is, when happiness appears in his heart, and if he does not rebuke himself for it, reprimand it and meet it with hatred, this pleasure will be like nutrition for the disease's substance. It grows undetected, and the effect of that growth gradually creates in him the need to find a reason for people having, to be familiar with his work. It is like talking about a subject and saying something casually. For example, if he is one of those who offer tahajjud, he talks about how the weather is cold or hot at the end of the night, or about something like that, so that others will understand that he was awake at that time [for tahajjud].

It may even be more hidden than that, too, such as one does not say anything to suggest to others familiarity with them, with his actions, neither explicitly nor implicitly. But people can get to know it from the way he dresses himself, his appearance or general conditions, such as drowsiness, the low tone of his voice, how his lips are withered..., etc. Or he may not watch himself during his prostration in order to avoid hitting the ground so prostrating will bear an impact on his forehead. Deep inside his conscience he will be elated about it, that is, that he has a visible mark of adoration. Or he may be at a mourning commemoration for Imam al-Hussain (a.s) or a gathering for supplication. At the end of the gathering, he does not remove the tears from his eyes hilly. There are marks like these, and even more hidden than that, which show no such indications: This means that he may perform a [righteous] deed sincerely without desiring anyone to notice it, nor does he like it to show, yet he expects people to start greeting him, to be generous to him, to meet him with a smile, with respect, to praise him, to be energetic in carrying out his errands, to be tolerant as they trade with him, etc. If he goes -to a meeting place, they make room for him. If anyone falls short of doing any of these things, he will find it in his heart to be too heavy, and he will find it unsuitable for his status. It is as if he is rewarded by people for the worship which he hides, so much so that had he not 'performed such worship, he would not have demanded all of this, nor would he have found it unacceptable when people treat him any less than that. In my view, this has roots which also extend to conceit. In reality, he demands that from Allah, the most Glorified One, and even wonders why the Almighty did not cast love for him in the hearts of people so they may respect him although he did perform that "sincere" act of worship! As a whole, unless the presence of worship is similar to its absence with regard to everything relevant to people, and had one not contended himself with the fact that Allah knows about what he does, such an individual will not be free of pretension, even as low as the sound of ants' tracks, nor is he free of conceit either which we, by the will of Allah, will discuss.

It is possible this much pretension voids one's rewards. Nobody is spared such type of pretension except Allah's sincere worshippers, for Satan can have no way of reaching them. Perhaps a reference to this lies in a statement by the Commander of the Faithful Ali (a.s) who is quoted as having said. "Allah, the most Great, the most Exalted, will say to those who recite [the Holy Qur'an in public] on the Judgment Day: 'Did people not sell to you cheap? Did people not start greeting you'? Were your needs not taken care of by people?' According to tradition, [the Almighty adds saying] 'There are no wages for you here: you were paid your wages in full.'"

Abdullah Mubarak is quoted as having said that it is narrated about Wahab son of Muneer saying that a man from among the travelers said to his fellows, "We left behind the wealth and the sons fearing oppression, now we fear lest more oppression has afflicted us than that with which people who have wealth have been afflicted! If one of us is met, he likes to be respected because of the station of his piety. If he asks for something, he likes to be given on account of his faith. And if he buys something, he likes the seller to sell it to him cheaper because of his faith!" This reached the knowledge of their king who rode among a crowd of people. The valley and the mountain became full of people. That traveler inquired about it and was told that the king was coming. He asked his servant to bring him food. He was brought beans and oil which he kept stuffing in his mouth, eating violently. The king asked the travelers, "Where is your fellow?" They pointed to him, whereupon the Icing asked him. "How are you?" The man said, "Like anyone else," but according to another way of telling this incident. "I am fine." The king said. "There is nothing good with this man." leaving him. The traveler said, "Praise be to Allah Who sent you away from me, thinking ill of me!"

Yes, my dear one, the sincere ones were apprehensive of hidden pretension, trying hard to mislead people about their righteous deeds out of their concern about hiding them more so than people's concern about hiding their bad deeds and sins, all of this in the hope their good deeds will be sincere, so Allah will reward them on the Judgment Day by hiding these bad deeds and sins from people. These sincere folks knew and became convinced that Allah Almighty does not accept anything hut what is purely for His sake, for he has said. "And they have been commanded no more than this: To worship Allah, offering Him sincere devotion, being true (in faith): To establish regular prayers, and to practice regular charity: such is the right and straight religion" (Qur'an, 98:5). The Judgment Day is the Day of their want and need for righteous deeds: it is the Day when neither wealth nor offspring will be of any benefit save for one who reaches Allah with a sound heart.

A scholar has provided this example: The desert travelers go there with the best currency in circulation because they know that the need for it is the greatest in the desert, and that the desert people accept only the best currency. The same applies to those who have hearts. They witness the Day of Judgment and the rations whereby they supply themselves: piety, knowing that the best of rations is piety. They bring about deeds that are free of pretension, protecting themselves against all levels of pretension.

UNIQUE QUR'ANIC JEWEL

WhHe narrating the story of Yousuf (Joseph) and his brothers, the Qur'an states that alter the latter having come to Egypt and asked Yousuf to provide them with provisions and rations, the Qur'an states the following: "At length, once he had furnished them with provisions (suitable) for them, he put the drinking cup in his brother's saddle-bag. Then a crier shouted out, '0 you (in) the caravan! Behold! You are thieves, without doubt!'' (Qur'an, 12:70).

One of the men of knowledge says, "It is not right to think that Yousuf accused his brother of theft so he would take him and keep him in his company because if Yousufs purpose was to keep his brother with him, he did not have to accuse him in this ugly way, embarrassing him and letting him fall in the public's esteem as a thief although he is the son of the prophet of Allah. Rather, he could have found another excuse to do that without scratching his dignity. If he had to, he could have done so secretly, say, in a confidential personal meeting rather than before the public, so much so that a crier had to cry out to the caravan, charging it of theft. So, what prompted this announcement to the caravan which contained Canaanites who would return to the land of Canaan and the robbery committed by a prophet of Allah would be the core of the talk in all meeting places and gatherings'? Men will talk about it and so will the women, and the reputation of a house about which people know nothing but honor and spirituality will be ruined. There has to be something hidden in this matter."

The man of knowledge goes on to say, "The hidden matter is that reaching truly divine dignity is not easy except through public humiliation. We tie dignity to the truth because posts and stations among the public are not truly dignifying. True dignity is in reaching nearness to Allah. In other words, it is neighborliness of Allah, the company of the Lord of the Worlds, a station of the truth near an Able King. The company of Allah's servants is the company of Allah. Whoever loves you loves Allah, and whoever hates you hates Allah. Whoever Allah chooses, He starts with you, Whoever visits his brother in Allah, the Almighty says. 'You have visited Me'. This dignity does not become available except when conditions are met the greatest of which is humiliation by the people. If you wish, you can say that the greatest obstacle in the path towards Allah and towards reaching Allah's courtyard is love for prominence and eminence among the people.

So long as the heart remains attached to such love, the owner of this heart cannot reach his destination as this narrative tells us: Two ferocious wolves, one of which attacks a herd of cattle from its beginning and the other from its end, are as detrimental to one's creed as loving distinction and a high station. Therefore, the worldly mastership is rejected in the eyes of Allah's friends who hate it as the Master of the Pious has said, 'By the One Who split the seed and created the breeze, had it not been for the presence of what is present..., you would have found this world of yours less important in my esteem than a goat's sneeze.' One who treads this path must take this love out of his heart, even if it means dropping his esteem from public eyes if he does not feel secure regarding the ills and detriments of his own nuts, just as severing a part of the body is permissible, even obligatory, when there is concern about the health of the rest of the bodily parts. Therefore, the virtuous al-Naraqi has narrated in his hook Mi'raj al-Sa'ada about a scholar reciting the Qur'an in front of their students and sincere ones deliberately in a way about which they claim he has no knowledge and that he is illiterate. Committing a small harm in order to attain a great deal of goodness is rational and according to the Shari'a permissible. This concept has many testimonials from those who tread the path towards Aim, and many refer to it in their poems.

One of the men of knowledge says, "I saw once in a vision someone whom I did not know. He handed me a piece of paper and ordered me to sign it. I signed it without knowing what is written in it or be familiar with its contents. Once I have signed it, the person who gave it to me said, 'Our narrative is quite hard: it is not tolerated except by an angel who is near to Allah, or a sent prophet, or a servant whose heart Allah tested with conviction.' He read this tradition and said, 'I undoubtedly choose humiliation.' So, I woke up from my sleep and came to know that I had signed the document of my humiliation among the people so I may win through such humiliation the ability to bear the difficult traditions and the secrets of Ahl al-Bayt, peace be with them." This topic has a lengthy continuation, so we shall leave it for its place and people.

Generally, the impurities of hidden pretension arc numerous, countless. As much as one realizes on his own about how a human being or an animal becomes acquainted with his adoration, he still has a branch of pretension. Since he has no hope set on animals and infants being thus acquainted with his adoration, he does not care whether they are present [when he is involved in an act of adoration] or if they are absent, whether they notice his adoration or not. If one is sincere, having no desire about anyone [with regard to his acts of adoration], lie will think very lowly of their knowledge of his acts of adoration because he knows that they, too, are like children: They cannot bring him sustenance, nor can they bear any impact on his destiny, nor increase his rewards. Rather, they cannot bring their own selves any good, or any harm, or death, or life, or resurrection ..., etc.

At this point, in order to explain what we are driving at, we have to submit a question because the matter is very important: We see most people feeling glad when their good deeds are recognized; so, is such feeling of happiness lauded by the Shari'a, or is it held as contemptible?

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

The lauded one falls into four categories :

The FIRST is that one's intention is to hide the acts of obedience and sincerity to Allah, but when people noticed what he was doing, he has to remember that Allah, the most Praised One, by virtue of His Attribute expressed in this supplication: "0 One Who manifests what is beautiful!" has manifested something beautiful, so he is led to think that Allah has fared well with him: The perfection of His munificence is that He hides obedience and disobedience. But Allah, due to the beauty of His care, hides the man's acts disobedience whHe manifesting those of his obedience. This is a great act of kindness from the part of Allah Almighty in his regard, hence the man is very happy on account of Allah having done such a nice thing for him, not because people praise what he has done or the status in their hearts which he now occupies. It is as though he sees through it that Allah, due to His favor and mercy, has accepted his deed, so he is happy about it. "Say: 'In the bounty of Allah, and in I His mercy, let them rejoice!'" (Qur'an, 10:58). The SECOND is that his happiness stems from I his conviction that] since Allah Almighty manifests what is beautiful in him whHe covering up what is ugly in this life, He will do likewise in the Hereafter as well, for Allah is the Lord of the Hereafter and of this life. Actually, His mercy in the Hereafter is broader than it is in the life of this world as referred to in the traditions. It is as though he is repeating what Imam Zayn al-'Abidin (a.s) has said in one of his supplications thus: "Lord! Just Os You have covered up sins that I have committed in this life, I have a greater need that You will veil them in the Hereafter." His elation in the first case is due to accepting what is in the present time without considering the future, whHe in the second his mind is set about the future. One tradition states the following: "When Allah covers up the sin of one of His servants in the life of this world, He covers it up for him in the Hereafter as well."

The THIRD is that his elation stems from his belief that hopefully those who see his act of adoration will emulate him, hence he will have an increase in the rewards. Even if he undertakes the action publicly with this same intention, he will not be violating the spirit of sincerity: He will have the reward, due to his intention, as though he undertook that deed privately firstly, and secondly due to Allah Almighty manifesting his deed and letting others emulate his act of obedience to Him, and one who thus feels elated is quite justified. The manifestation of indications of benefit is sweet and undoubtedly prompts one to be happy bout it.

The FOURTH is this: When he sees how those who noticed his act of adoration praise him for being obedient to his Lord, he will feel happy and glad that they, too, obey Allah and love to see people obeying Him as well; their hearts incline towards the good deeds. There are some people who see obedient people and hold them in contempt, or feel envious, or speak ill of them, or ridicule them, or charge them with pretension rather than praise them for their act of adoration. This elation is due to seeing how good the belief of Allah's servants is, how good their souls are. The sign of sincerity in this type is that one feels happy when people praise someone else just as he feels happy when they praise him, perhaps even more so, as it is quite obvious.

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