Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Discourse 7: Worship and Prayer 2

Surely prayer keeps (one) away from indecency and dishonor and certainly the remembrance of God is the greatest. (29:44)

In Islam, acts of devotion, in addition to their preeminence, are a part of its educational program. By genuinenessis meant being a goal of creation irrespective of the matter of human life in any other respect. The Quran says,

"And I have not created jinn and mankind except to worshipMe .” (51:59)

Worship is a means of the human being's proximity to God as well as one's true perfection. That is, that which is the manifestation of the human being's perfection is, at the same time, a goal in itself. It desires to train individuals morally and socially and so a meanshas been adopted which is most effective on human morals and spirit. It enables one to forget the self and self-interests.

In social matters, the basic principle is justice, which is respecting other people's rights. This is the main difficulty of humanity in both morality and society. There is no one who is ignorant of morality and its necessity. The difficulty ispractising it.

When a human being wants to put this principle into practice, that person is faced with interests on one side and morality on the other; truthfulness on one side and profit on the other. One should either resort to falsehood and treason in order to gain profit, or tell the truth and forsake profit. Here we see a man who speaks of justice, acting against ethics and justice in practice. The only thing that acts as a support to the human being's morality and justice and enables one to forsake profit is faith.

Faith in what? In justice and morality themselves. When a person believes in both justice and morality as something sacred?When a person has faith in the basis of sacredness, namely God. So , a person is bound to both justice and morality to the same extent that one is bound to God, and has faith in Him.

This is the problem of our time: That science is supposed to be sufficient formankind. If we recognize justice and morality and act according to them, we can be both just and moral.But it is actually shown that when knowledge is separate from faith, not only is it not useful for morality and justice, it is harmful.AsSana'i , the poet, says, "When a thief carries a light, he can pick more choice objects." But with faith, both morality and justice will endure. In Islam, worship of God is not set up as something separate from morality and justice.

To illustrate this point, here is a question. Where in the world have you seen a guilty person come forth voluntarily for punishment? A guilty person usually flees from justice. The only force that can make a human being voluntarily submit to punishment is faith. We see many examples of this in early Islam. Islam has envisaged punishment for all sins, such as drinking,adultery and theft. At the same time it says, "Punishments are abandoned with the slightest doubt." Islam does not compel a judge or governor to seek out a guilty person; rather it places an urge within a guilty person to come forward for punishment. This kind of thing often happened in the time of both the Prophet andHadrat Ali. A man would come before them begging to be punished in order to purifyhimself .

A man came to the Prophet, confessing adultery. In suchmatters the confession should be repeated four times to be credible. The Prophet said, "Maybe you mean you kissed her?" The man said, "No. It was adultery." The Prophet said again, "Perhaps you only gave her a pinch" hoping again that he wouldsay: "Yes," and he would then be pardoned.But the man gave a negative answer. This dialogue went on until it was quite clear that adultery had been committed and the man begged for punishment in order to be relieved of punishment in the next world.

There is another case of a woman who came to Ali, peacebe upon him, and said, "Oh Commander of the Faithful, I am married and in the absence of my husband, I have committed adultery and I am now pregnant. I wish to be purified from my sin."Hadrat Ali said, "One confession is not sufficient. It should be repeated four times." Then he said, "The punishment for the adultery of a married woman is being stoned to death. If youare dealt this punishment, what happens to the baby in your womb? The baby has done no wrong andmust not be stoned . Go away until your baby is born."

After a few months, the woman came again. This time with a baby in her arms and asked tobe purified since the baby was born. This was her second confession.Again Ali, peace be upon him, said, "We might stone you but this baby is not guilty. It needs milk and a mother to nurse it. So, go away now since the baby needs you."

The woman returned home uneasily and after two years reappeared before the Imam, and said, "Purify me now as the baby has been weaned and is growing up." Ali, peacebe upon him, said, "Go away. This child still needs a mother." The mother wept and said, "Oh God, I have confessed three times but the Imam has sent me away three times and refused to stone me. I cannot bear being polluted with sin."

As it happened, a hypocrite calledAmr binHariz saw the woman and asked what the matter was. She explained what had happened and the man said, "I will settle this. Give me the child and let me be his guardian." She was not aware that Ali wanted her not to make the fourth confession.

They went back to Ali, peacebe upon him, and the woman asked to be purified since the man had agreed to look after the child and insisted on receiving the punishment. Ali, peacebe upon him, felt very uncomfortable that the matter reached a point where no alternative was left for him but to order her to be punished.

This is an example of true faith in religion capturing one's conscience and making one submit to justice. The purpose of worship is to revive one's religious life and give it freshness and strength. The greater one's faith, the more one turns to God and the less one sins. Sinning and not sinning are not the concern of knowledge; they are the concern of faith and neglecting faith leads to sinfulness.

Letme explain a point about the immaculateness of Prophets and Imams. What does this mean? You may say they never sin. That is true, but there are two answers to this. One is that God intentionally prevents them from sinning. If this is the case, thensinlessness is not an accomplishment. If this is the case, no one could sin, since heis hindered by a power beyond himself.Therefore Prophets and Imams may be supposed to have no superiority over other people except that they are treated discriminately by God.So it is not a question of their desiring to sin but being prevented from doing so by God.

Purity is a high degree of faith in God and thinking constantly of him. A person without faith rarely or never thinks of God; that person is altogether negligent.There are others who are occasionally negligent and commit sins in this state of negligence, but when they turn to God, they naturally avoid sin.But if faith attains a perfect state of permanently thinking of God, a person is never negligent and every act of that person is based on faith.

The Quran refers to those who are engaged in trade but never forget God. It does not speak of avoiding trade and commerce. Islam does not prohibit trading. On thecontrary it encourages work and commerce and at the same time expects one to think of God and therefore never sin.

Letme give an example. Has it ever happened to you to put your hand in the fire knowingly-? It does not as a rulehappen unless you wish to burn yourself. Why do we avoid fire? Because our knowledge tellsus it is dangerous and we are sure of this knowledge. In thisway we are pure in relation to fire and our certainty and belief about fire serves as a check.

The friends of God, too, are innocent since they are certain of the burning power of sins and thus, thinking of God and therebybeing attached to morality, justice and rights, enables them to avoid sin. InIslam the life of both worlds is inter-related. Christianity, on the other hand, separates the reckoning of each world. For example, theother-worldly aspect of the Islamic prayer is thinking of God and fearing Him, otherwise why should so many rites be necessary. Being clean in body makes no difference to God for proximity to Him for He says, "When you stand up for the prayer you should have first performed ablution by washing your face and hands as far as the elbows.”

Cleanlinesshas been combined with acts of devotion.Again according to the injunction, "When your body is unclean, you must wash yourself completely." Your place of worship must be lawful and not usurped. So must be your prayer-carpet and your clothes. If one single thread of these is gained illegitimately, your prayer isnull and void . Again, worshipmust be combined with respect for others' rights. If a houseis seized by force, praying in it is invalid for him who has violated the owner's right.Such a house should have either been bought by the latter in order to render his acts of worship correct, or the owner's satisfaction should have been secured first. The same applies to clothes and carpets. Moreover if a religious tax is due on the property of the worshipper, it should have been paid.

Then weare told to face theKa'ba in the prayer. Where is theKa'ba ? It is the first temple built in the world for the worship of God. Everyone should perform the ritual prayer standing facing the direction of the first mosque built by the Prophets Abraham and Ismail. Why should we face it? Is God there? The Quran says, "Whither so ever you turn, there is the Face of God." Why should we face theKa'ba ? Itis meant as a social education for all to face one spot, for, facing any direction one wants, means dispersion and confusion. Thus facing the first temple is devotion.

Again we are told that there is a definite time for devotion, even to the minute. Morning ritual prayer times is between dawn and sunrise, and performing it even a minute before dawn or a minute after sunrise makes it void. You cannot offer the excuse of being sleepy, for, this has no meaning for God since all hours are the same to Him.But the purpose of regarding time is to train and educate human beings. The same punctuality applies also to noon, afternoon, evening and night prayers.

Prayer and worship are inseparable. Inpraying you are not free to do what you like, such as crying in memory of something unpleasant or laughing at a funny incident. Praying is the control of feelings. There is no turning to any side but the point in front, no glancing atanything which might attract your attention. Nor are you allowed to eat or drink while praying. All such diversions are contrary to the spirit of worship, which requires total self-control.

Another point is bodily control. Unnecessary movements of the limbs in standing position, in bowing and prostrationare not allowed . The whole body must be calm and stable before the phraseallahu akbar is uttered. If you feel pain in some part of your body, rest awhile in the same position before resuming your prayer.

Now we come to other parts of theprayer which means attention to God only, and we utter the phrase, "Greetings to all worthy servants of God." This is a declaration of peace and goodwill towards all good beings. This means mingling worship of God with educational matters. In spiritual matters, the more one forgets one's self, the better it is, but from a social viewpoint, one should never forget others.

In the first chapter of the HolyQuran which we recite as part of the ritual prayer, "We worship only You, Oh, God, and beg only Your help." Here we do not use the word 'I' but 'we' to show that all Muslimsare inter-related in an Islamic community. In Islam, 'I' is always replaced by 'we '. All these are lessons to learn. When we sayallahu akbar are we expressing our fear of God? It is natural for the human being to be afraid ofanything which is great, whether it is a mountain, a sea, or a powerful person.But when we say "God is Greater," in a convinced manner, nothing else and no one can frighten us by their greatness, for God is Greater than anything we may imagine and all other things are trivial in comparison with Him.

Hadrat Ali says, "God has manifested Himself in the spirit of the true believers and thus everything else unrelated to God seems small in their eyes."

Smallness and greatness are, of course, relative. If you were in a smaller place before coming here, this hall would seem very large to you; the reverse is also true. Therefore, those who are acquainted with the greatness of God, consider other things insignificant.Sa'di says that for mystics nothing exists but God and only those who understand truth realize the meaning of his words, while others criticize himlor those words. He then asks, "If there exists nothing but God then what are the heaven and earth and men and monsters and beasts?" He answers this question himself by saying that all these things are too small to say they exist as compared with God's existence. He then compares this with an ocean and a drop of water and with the sun and a tiny particle.

When you utter thephrase "God is Greater" in all sincerity, His greatness is personified before you and thus nothing else finds enough significance to be flattered or feared or shown humbleness. In this way, devotion to God brings freedom: you become God's servant but free in relation to everything else. Each of the following words in the ritual prayer has a meaning illustrating God's greatness: "God is great. Glorybe to God. Praise belongs to God. Glorybe to my great Lord and I am praising Him. Glorybe to my great Lord and I am praising Him. Glorybe to my Lord the Most High and I am praising Him."

Many other phraseshave been used in the ritual prayers. Someone asked Ali, peace be upon him, why in each cycle of the ritual prayer there are two prostrations and only one bowing. You know, of course, that prostration shows more humility than bowing. In prostrating, the head, which is the dearest part of the body,is placed on the low earth, as a sign of humility and worship.

In answer, Ali, peacebe upon him, said, "In the first prostration you are reminding yourself that you are made of dust and in the second one you remember that you will die and return to dust and by raising your head once more, you will think of the day you will be raised again for a future life." Let me tell you in connection with the importance of daily prayers that each of us is responsible, not only for the performance of one's own acts of devotion, but also for that of the other members of one's household. This phraseis addressed to the Prophet: "Bid your family to pray and be patient in it." This Command is not only for the Prophet; all of us are duty-bound to it.

What about children? Should they be trained to perform ritual prayer from childhood? The injunction is that childrenshould be taught to perform the ritual prayers from the age of seven. They cannot, of course, yet utter the sentences with the correct pronunciation but theycan be trained to observe the form of it as a habit when they begin their elementary education. It should, however, be remembered that force must not be used in this matter. They should be encouraged and give the chance to perform it willingly. There are many ways of encouragement such as praising, rewarding, showing greateraffection and providing an environment conducive to such a performance.

Taking a child to congregational ritual prayer in a mosque is an effective way of encouragement and religious training. Even adultsare greatly influenced by the spirit of worship in a group. Negligence in making habitual visits to places of devotion causes a frequent lack of inclination towards ritual prayer. This is especially true of children who have not been brought up to regard this as a religious duty and who when they reach the age of manhood, they are quite indifferent towards it.

If the objection is raised that mosques are often not kept clean enough to attract people or that preacher's sermons are sometimes boring, these arematters which could be remedied and not a reason to ignore a religious duty. The Quran says,

"What brought you into hell? They shall answer, 'We were not of those who prayed,neither did we feed the poor and we used to talk vanities with vain talkers." (74:43-46)

Now you understand why in Islam theritual prayer has been called a pillar of religion by the Prophet , for everything will be accepted when the ritual prayer is correctly performed. In his last moment of life, Ali, peacebe upon him, invited people to take the remark of the Prophet about prayer most seriously. You may have heard that onAshura (the 10th of Muharram when Imam Husain and his followers were martyred), the martyrdom of Imam Husain took place in the afternoon, so by noon most of the Imam's household and companions were still alive, and only thirty of them were killed before noon. One of the Imam's companions realized suddenly that it was noon and the time to perform the ritual prayer. He begged the Imam for a collective prayer for the last time. The Imam agreed and said, "You have remembered your ritual prayer so may God make you a devoted man in praying."

It was fittingfor this warrior to be spoken of thus by the Imam.At any rate, they performed the ritual prayer together on the battlefield, a ritual prayer which is called 'ritual prayer of fear' in jurisprudence, consisting of two cycles instead of four since it must be brief enough to see the line ofdefence against the enemy when half of the army prays and the other half is on the alert in case of enemy attack. Then the groups change places for performing the ritual prayer and military duty.

Imam Husain, peacebe upon him, performed the ritual prayer in this manner, not far from the enemy's line. The shameless enemydid not even at this moment leave them at peace and continued their assaults with their bows and arrows and by their biting tongues, sneering at thesedevouted soldiers. Two of the men who shielded the Imam in his ritual prayer fell by the enemy's arrows. One of them wasSa'id bin AbdullahHanafi who was at the point of death when the Imam finished his ritual prayer. When the Imam went to him,Sa'id said, "Oh Abu Abdullah. Have I done my duty?" implying that he would have wished to do more."

This was Imam Husain's ritual prayer in Karbala. In the battlefield of Karbala, he was bowing forward when he received an arrow in his chest, which he drew out from his back. In his prostration, when the right side of his face was on the earth, for he could not lay his forehead on the ground as he had fallen off his horse. At this moment, he said, "In the Name of God and with the help of God and with the religion of the Prophet of God and there is neither might nor power but in God the Most High, the Great. Oh God bless Muhammad and his chaste family."

Inconclusion I pray God grant us a happy end, give us the favor of worship and devotion to Him, make us true performers of ritual prayer, make our intentions pure, protect us against jinn and human beings, and grant salvation to our deceased ones.

Discourse8 : Repentance 1

And (remember) Jonah when he went forth enraged and thought that We would have no power over him, then he called out, "There is no God but You. Glorybe to You. I have done evil." SoWe answered him and delivered him out of grief even so do We deliver the believers. (Quran 21:87-8)

Inmy last two discourses, I explained that worship and prayer, if correctly performed, eventually leads to a true affinity to God. The human being, through worship, will be a real servant of God and a real servant has a true affinity to God. In other words, to be a real servant of God implies a sacredjourney which culminates in affinity to God.

TonightI wish to discuss the first stage of the sacred journey, the point where we must begin our journey towards affinity to God.And this is what we need today.We who have not taken any steps in this sacred path, will not benefit from discussing the higher stages of those travelling this path.

If we are practical beings, we should realizethe first step and the first stage and how we should begin our worship .

The first step on the path of affinity to God is repentance, which is the topic ofmy talk tonight. What does repentancemeans and what is its nature psychologically and what is its consequence spiritually?For many of us, it seems a simple matter but have we ever thought of analyzing it psychologically? Repentance is a characteristic of the human being that sets it apart from animals. The human being possesses certain high aptitudes and distinctivequalities which are not found in animals. One of these is the ability to repent. It does not mean only uttering the phrase, "I seek forgiveness from God, the MostHigh and I repent to Him."

It is not something verbal. It is a psychological and spiritual state, a revolution of the mind and the above phrase describes that state but it is not the state itself.So if we utter this phrase several times a day, it does not mean we are penitent. True repentance once a day brings us stage by stage nearer to God.

As an introduction, let me say that there is a difference between inanimate and living things in the fact that inanimate things have not the ability to change the course they follow by their own power such as the revolution of the earth around the sun or the movement of the stars in their orbits or a stone which is dropped from a height and pulled down by the force of gravity. There must be an external factor to be able to deliver them from their habitual course.

On the other hand, living things such as plants and animals have the ability to change their course from within themselves and if they meetconditions which do not accord with their life and its continuation, they themselves change their course. When a sheep, apigeon or even a fly meets an obstacle in its way, it will change its course even to the extent of a hundred and eighty degrees, thus moving in quite the opposite direction.

Even plants can choose and change their course within certain limits and conditions. When the roots of a tree reach a stone, they change its course.

The human being, too, is similar to plants and animals in this matter. Repentance is in fact a change of the course, not a simple one like that of plants and animals, rather something much more complex and worthy of analysis.

Repentance is an internal revolution of the human being against the self. Plants and animals do not act against themselves yet the human being has the ability to do so. The rise of one group of human beings against another group is a natural and obvious matter since we expect the oppressed to arise against the oppressor. This is also true of the rise of one country or nation against another country or nation.But the rise of a person against the self is not so simple and obvious.

Why does it happen? The reason is that, in spite of having one body, a human being is intellectually and spiritually a complex being. The human being is a mixture of animal ferocity and passion, on the one hand, and of angelic qualities on the other. Sometimes the pig takes over the command as a lustful being, giving no choice to the ferocious beast,devil or angel within to act. Suddenly one part rebels against this rule and subverts it in favor of the domination of another of its aspects.

A sinful being is one whois dominated by the beast or devil within by which the angel and its noble qualities are imprisoned. Repentance is the arising of the noble qualities within against one's own mean and wicked aspects, putting an end to their domination and destroying all their force.

The converse is also true and the base aspects of the human being can defeat the noble aspects and govern the person to its own destruction. It is true that all the instincts and forces granted to human beings have some use andmust be employed in their proper place and time.But there is a limit for each of them which must be observed.

A horse and dogmust be taken care of in order to be useful. There are conditions for proper attention to them and a limit to using them. For a child, play is a necessity for the excess of energy tobe spent and for the child to learn. It would bemis -education to hinder the child from its natural playfulness. It would be unnatural to force it to attend the society of adults. It would be wrong of a clergyman to compel his young son to wear the garment and turban of a mullah and to prevent him from following his natural desire of playing with other children.

You may have come across children who, at their father's persistent suggestion, engage in ritual prayer and other acts of devotion for many years but when they attainmanhood they are suddenly changed into libertines who know no limit in their debauchery. Why is it so? Because natural instincts have longbeen suppressed on the excuse of promoting higher spiritual education. Of course, inclination towards godliness and worship forms a part of a child's nature but theseshould not be strengthened at the price of checking all his other natural instincts, each of which has a share and importance in developing a perfect human being. Otherwise, when by chance a child sees a sexy film or meets a woman, the whole of thestructure which has been forcefully imposed upon him will collapse causing irreparable damage and ruin.

Repentance is quite the reverse of the above conduct. When a person sinks deeply into sin and lust, and the angel within is not satiated, a catastrophe suddenly occurs. A human being does not have only onemouth ; it has hundreds of mouths tobe fed , the mouth of desire, the mouth of love, and the mouth of worship. The spiritmust be fed with worship and devotion.But when it is starved, the subsequent uneasiness is terrible. A young man who is well off and for whom everything has beenprovided, suddenly commits suicide. Everyone wonders why he did so. The reason is that a holy powerhad been imprisoned in him causing him so much pain that it was beyond his endurance and he chose that way out. You meet someone living a luxurious life in a lovely garden and yet he is dissatisfied and uncomfortable. For he lacks the spiritual pleasureswhich he needs and which must be produced from within him, not from the outside.

Thus, repentance is a reaction of the holy, and noble spirit of the human being against the lower animal self; a holy rebellion of the angelic side against the evil and beastly vices within.

How does this retrocession occur? You should firstly remember that if the holy elements in the human being's personality go wholly out of action and are so completely fettered as to make release impossible, then onecannot gain the divine favor of repentance.But just as the presence of only a few virtuous and chaste people in a country may motivate a revolution, so the existence of a few fine and noble elements in a human being will make repentance possible. If one knows God, this repentance may take the form of turning to God. If not, it will take some other form and may even lead to madness.

We called repentance a reaction.When you throw a ball down, it rebounds. Throwing it is an action and the rebound is its reaction. How high the ball rebounds depends on two things: Firstly, the intensity of the action, namely the sin. If it is small, the reaction will be small and if it is great, the reaction in the spirit will be great. So the more cruel a person is, and the bigger his crime, the more intense will be the reaction.The American pilot of the plane which bombed Hiroshima, on looking down at the city he had bombed and the old and young people he had destroyed, felt such a pang of conscience that when he returned to his country to receive his countrymen's welcome and the wreath around his neck, he was a changed man altogether, even though he had been picked for that task in the first place for his cruelty and indifference. He may have smiled at the words of praise showered on him but in the privacy of his home when he was alone with hisconscience he felt such a criminal that he ended his life in a lunatic asylum.

Bushr ibn Artas was a most cruel general ofMuawiyyah . A policy ofMu'awiyah was to send him or other equally hard-hearted men at the head of an army to penetrate the frontiers of Ali's realm and do as much damage as possible; theywere given a free hand to kill, burn, pillage and destroy. ThisBushr once attacked Yemen, committing many crimes including the capture and beheading of the two small sons ofUbaidullah ibn Abbas , Ali's cousin, who was the governor there. Later his conscience troubled him so much forthis ugly deed that neither in his sleep nor while awake even for a moment could he forget this bloody action.Finally he went out and rode a wooden horse in the street with a wooden sword in one hand and a whip in the other, followed by groups of children hooting and laughing at him.

The second factor on which the intensity of the reaction of repentance depends is the nature of a person's conscience and the strength of his faith. That is why even small blunders whichmay hardly be called sins rouse the conscience of those who are spiritually firm and strong, while most of us may commit hundreds of these blunders every day without worrying about them.

Chaste and spiritually strong people are constantly in a state of penitence. One such man wasmy great teacher, the lateHaj Mirza AliAgha Shirazi . Once he visited us at Qum and then invitedme to accompany him to a gathering, where, as it happened, the choicest pieces of both Persian and Arabic poetry were recited. He took an active part in the discussions and was amongst those who recited some poetry. Never didI realize that he had such a profound knowledge in this field. The poetry was of the poetsSa'di and Hafiz and others like them. Of course, to recite poems, especially poems like this, is no sin.But to recite poems at night is undesirable and when we left that house he kept on repeating words of repentance as if he had committed a great sin while many of us would not have worried about acts which may have been considered even more wrong.

The punishment that God has appointed for such beings is such that we are not worthy of them. This man was in the habit of rising two hours before dawn and it was by his example that I understood the meaning of devotion, godliness,penitence and complete absorption in God.But the next morning he happened to wake up later than his habitual hour for prayer and he declared that this was God's punishment for his listening to poetry the night before. In this man's belief, a man who wastes two hours at such an occupation is not worthy of two hours of necessary convocation with God.

I can cite you another example. If you leave a clear mirror in a place where you think, the air is pure and fine, you will see a layer of dust collected on it an hour later even though you had not felt that any dust was in the air before or on the wall or furniture. When a wall is dirty no stain shows on it in an obvious way and if itis blackened with tar, you cannot distinguish any trace of dirt or stain on it.

When the Prophet sat in a gathering, he uttered the following words of penitence many times: I feel traces of turbidity on my heart and every day I repent for them seventy times." Such things seem like a clear mirror to us while for him they are dimness and turbidity. Even talking to us human beings about God may seem turbidity to him in spite of seeing God in the mirror of our existence.

It has been narrated by UmmSalmah and others that for two months before his death, wherever the Prophet sat or did something, he always uttered the following prayer, "Glorybe to God. I seek forgiveness from Him and I repent to Him." She says, "I asked him why he uttered words of repentance so often and he answered that he was commanded to do so. It was later that we realized that the last chapter of the Quran had been revealed to him and he felt that it was a declaration of his end." This wasSura 110, having those three verses,

"When comes the help of God and victory and you see men entering God's religion in throngs, then proclaim the praise of your Lord and seek His forgiveness for He is the Acceptor of Forgiveness."

This chapter was revealed to him even later than the verses concerning the completion of religion of Islam and the succession of Ali, peacebe upon him, and it informed him that his task was done and it was time for the Prophet to think of himself and this is why he continually glorified God and sought His forgiveness.

But we poor creatures are like that tarred wall and repeated sins produce no reaction in our spirit.I do not know where and for how long in our spirit we have been imprisoned that we see no signs of regret for our dark past and realize that we had gone astray and must now turn to God. Then we will be at the starting point of our heavenly journey.

A man came to Ali, peace be upon him, asking for advice. He said, "Be not one of those who long for the next life but do nothing for it." This is actually what some of us are like. We claim to love Ali, peacebe upon him, but it is not real love for if it were, we would accompany it with action. Such people suppose that Ali, peace be upon him, needs a crowd, even if they are not true followers. The same behavior is true of those who weep for Imam Husain, peace be upon him, unaccompanied by good deeds.But if it were true love, they would do something to prove it.

The second advice of Ali, peace be upon him, was, "Be not one of those who feel repentance to be necessary and yet they postpone it." People often think that they are too young to start repenting for they see old people engaged in worship and penitence.But the truth is that the time for repentance is youth. A young branch can be straightened, but when it growsthicker it does not lend itself to a change of shape. In oldage no strength is left to make penitence practicable. By that time, our backis too bent with sin to make repentance effective.Rumi , the poet, tells a story about a man who had planted a bramble on the people's path. When it grew up, he was asked to uprootit but he said, "It is too early, there is no hurry. It is easily uprooted." He kept on offering the same excuse year after year.But the brambles grew thicker and its roots firmer and its thorns sharper and more dangerous, while the man grew older and weaker and unable to pull it out by the root.

The poet means that vices take root rapidly in a person. You can remove them when you are young but as you grow older, you become more and more helpless against them. It is then too late to do anything. I swear by God that evenone hour's delay is important; so is one night and one day. Today is better for repentance than tomorrow and tonight better than tomorrow night. Worship is no use without repentance. Just as one washes oneself for ritual prayer, so one should first repent before one performs an act of devotion whether it is praying, fasting, reading the Quran, going on a pilgrimage or even attending sermons.

Someone came to Ali, peace be upon him, claiming strongly his intention to repent. The Imam realized that he was not serious and asked him, "Do you know what repentance is? It is an act worthy of exalted being; it is a holy state ofmind which makes you feel that God has bestowed His grace on you and that you are surrounded by angels. You lose your egoism and feel you are purified." Inrepentance there is no need to go to a clergyman or to another human being. Repent to your God as itis said in the Quran,

Say, “Oh my people who have been prodigal against yourselves, do not despair of God's Mercy," surely God forgives sins altogether. (Quran 39:53)

The following sentencehas been quoted in a Sacred Tradition,

The groan (of repentance) of sinners is dearer toMe than the glorified glorifications (of Me) so you should sigh and groan in these precious nights. Be your own judge and censor, confess all your sins and be sure that God will forgive you and purify your soul. Then you taste the sweetness of worship and sin and the pleasure obtained from them will seem to you so trifling that you will never feel inclined to commit them anymore nor to lie or slander or accuse others.

Ali, peacebe upon him, has considered six conditions necessary for repentance: Two form its basis, two are the requisites for its acceptance and two for its completion. These six pointswill be explained in my next discourse.

The greatest joy of chaste people has always been to admit to God their shortcomings, their faults, their needs and their poverty, saying that they show nothing but negligence, while God grants nothing but favor and grace. The following prayeris quoted from Imam Husain, peace be upon him,

My Master, when I glance at my sins I am overcome by fear but when I glance at Your Grace I am filled with hope.

Letme say a few words about the tragedy of Karbala. On the9th of Muharram, the day before the martyrdom of Imam Husain, peace be upon him, the army ofUmar Ibn Sa'd launched their assault on the orders ofUbidullah Ibn Ziad intending to give battle at night. Imam Husain, peacebe upon him, asked through his brother,Abu'l Fadl al-Abbas for a respite of one night. To remove suspicion that he intended to delay the fight, he said,

Dear brother, God Himself knows thatI love to offer my ritual prayers to Him and tonight which is the last night of my life, I am more eager to do so and to offer my repentance and beg His Forgiveness.

It was a wonderful night of joy for them, full of hopes of martyrdom. They made themselves neat and tidy and even cut their hair. They set aside one of the tents especially for this. One person would be inside and two men were standing outside when one of them began joking. The other one told him that it was no occasion for mirth and joy. He answered that as a rule he did not joke but he felt that night to be a night for mirth.

When others (the enemy) approached the tents, they heard sounds like the buzzing of bees and asked what it was. They were told that the Imam, his household and companions were busy praying and invoking God's Name. The Imam spent that night in devotion and worship. He saw to the affairs of his family and it was then that he delivered his last, eloquent sermon to his followers.

Letme mention a penitent of Karbala that night, a real penitent whose repentance was accepted:Hurr ibn Yazid Riahi . He was a brave warrior ofKufa . WhenIbn Ziad wanted to send a thousand men for the first time against Imam Husain, peacebe upon him,Hurr was the man chosen. In doingso he oppressed and mistreated the Prophet's household. Itis said thatHurr was seen to be trembling like a leaf. The same narrator was surprised and, approaching him, asked himthe reason and whether he was afraid .Hurr told him,

“No. I have no fear of fighting but I see myself at a cross roads between heaven and hell and I am wondering which route to take.”

Atlast he chose the right route. Slowly, slowly he turned his horse away in such a way that no one knew what he intended to do. When he reached a certain point, he spurred his horse on until he reached the Imam's tent with his shield turned backward as a sign of coming in peace.

On seeing the Imam, he cried out, "Is my repentance acceptable?" Then the Imam said, "Yes." His chivalry was such that he did not put one word of blame upon him for his past conduct.Hurr begged the Imam to let him go and fight. The Imam said, "You are our guest. Get down off your horse and stay with us awhile."But he felt shy, whispering to himself with shame for his past, for having sinned against the family of the Prophet. That is why he again requested that Imam Husain let him go and fight the attacking foes lest one of the children look at him and cause him to die of shame.