When
God began the matters, He chose for Himself what he willed and
extracted what He liked. Within the matters that He liked was faith.
He accepted it; therefore, he derived the name of faith from His Name
and gifted it with whomever He loved among His creatures. He then
showed it. Hence, He made its springs within reach for whoever wants
to have it and made its supports difficult for the opposites to
penetrate. He also made faith the fort of him whoever is loyal to it,
the security of him whoever wants to enter into it, the guidance of
him whoever betakes himself to it, the adornment of him whoever wants
to have its beauty, the religion of him whoever braces it, the refuge
of him whoever seeks its refuge, the bond of him whoever clings to
it, the evidence of him whoever speaks of it, the honor of him who
knows it, the wisdom of him whoever utters it, the light of him
whoever seeks light from it, the proof of him whoever discusses about
it, the claim of him whoever advances it as plea, the knowledge of
him who understands, the narration of him who relates, the rule of
him who judges, the forbearance of him who recounts, the reason of
him who ponder over things, the understanding of him who meditates,
the conviction of him who recognizes, the insight of him who
determines, the sign of him who scrutinizes, the lesson of him who
learns lessons, the salvation of him who believes in it, the Lord’s
love for him who is virtuous, the nearness of him who seeks nearness,
the confidence of him who depends (upon God), the rest of him who
entrusts (with God), the color of him who does charitably, the
welfare of him who takes haste steps (toward God), the shelter of him
who endures, the dress of him who fears (God), the purification of
him who seeks right guidance, the safety of him who submits (to God),
and the spirit of the honest.
Faith
is the principal of right. Right guidance is the way of the principal
of right. Righteousness is its quality and glory is its feat. The
course of faith is bright. Its signpost is brilliant. Its lights are
luminous. Its extreme is high. Its racetrack is easy. Its milking is
ready. Its prize is very precious. Its people are old. Its knights
are noble. The virtuous deeds are its signboard. Chastity is its
lights. Death is its extreme. The world is its racetrack. The
Resurrection is its milking. Paradise is its prize. Hell is its
punishment. God-fearing is its equipage. The charitable are its
knights. By way of faith, the virtuous deeds are shown. By way of the
virtuous deeds, the understanding is gained. By way of understanding,
death is feared. Death is the seal of the world. Through the world,
the other life is approached. Through the Resurrection, Paradise is
loomed. Paradise is the regret of the people of Hell. Hell is the
admonition of God-fearing. God-fearing is the origin of charity.
God-fearing is a purpose the follower of which will never lose.
Likewise, he who applied God-fearing to himself will never be regret
because it is the course through which the winners achieved triumph.
The losers were beaten because of disobedience. Will the intelligent
learn and the God-fearing ones remember?
Faith
stands on four supports: on endurance, conviction, justice, and
jihad.
Endurance
again has four aspects: eagerness, fear, abstention (from the world)
and anticipation (of death). So, whoever is eager for Paradise will
ignore the passions; whoever fears the Fire (of Hell) will refrain
from prohibited acts; whoever abstains from the world takes hardships
lightly; and whoever anticipates death will hasten towards good
deeds.
Conviction
also has four aspects: prudent perception, intelligence and
understanding, drawing lessons from instructive things and following
the precedents of past people. So, whoever perceives with prudence,
wise knowledge will be manifest to him, and to whomsoever wise
knowledge becomes manifest he appreciates instructive objects, and
whoever appreciates instructive objects he is just like past people.
Justice
also has four aspects: keen understanding, deep knowledge, good power
of decision and firm forbearance. Therefore, whoever understands
comes to acquire depth of knowledge; whoever acquires depth of
knowledge drinks from the spring of judgment; and whoever exercises
forbearance never commits evil actions in his affairs and leads a
praiseworthy life among the people.
Jihad
also has four aspects: to ask others to do good, to keep away others
from doing evil, to fight (in the way of Allah) sincerely and firmly
on all occasions, and to detest the vicious. So, whoever asks others
to do good provides strength to the believers; whoever desists others
from evil humiliates the unbelievers; whoever fights sincerely on all
occasions discharges all his obligations; and whoever detests the
vicious and becomes angry for the sake of Allah, then Allah will be
angry in favor of him and will keep him pleased on the Day of
Judgment.
Unbelief
stands on four supports: on lechery, exaggeration, doubt, and
sedition.
Lechery
has four aspects — coarseness, blindness, inadvertence, and
rebellion. The coarse will disgrace the believers, hate the jurists,
and insist on guilt. The blind will disregard the remembrance, have
ill mannerism, challenge the Creator, and be stirred by the Shaitan.
The inadvertent will aggrieve themselves, turn over their backs,
regard their seductions as rightness, be deceived by expectations, be
befallen by regret, be uncovered, and will suffer what he has not
supposed. He who rebels against God will doubt. God will exalt on
anyone who doubts. Then He will humiliate him by His power and
disgrace him by His Majesty. This is because he neglected and
disregarded the Generous Lord.
Exaggeration
has also four aspects: hankering after whims, mutual quarreling
deviation from the truth, and dissension. So, whoever hankers after
whims does not incline towards right. Except sinking in the whims, he
will not obtain anything more. Whenever a seditious matter leaves
him, another will cover him. He is living in confusion. He whoever
quarrels and disputes will be befallen by failure and his affairs
will be ragged. He whoever deviates from truth, for him good becomes
evil and evil becomes good and he remains intoxicated with
misguidance. He whoever makes a breach (with Allah and His
Messenger), his path becomes difficult, his affairs become
complicated, and his way of escape becomes narrow. He who takes a
course other than the believers will surely be apostatizing his
religion.
Doubt
has also four aspects: unreasonableness, fear, wavering, and undue
submission to every thing. So, about which of the bounties of your
Lord can the disputers persistently dispute? He who is afraid of what
befalls him has to run on his heels. He who wavers in doubt the tardy
will left him behind, the last will catch up with him, and the
Shaitans will trample him under their feet. He who submits to the
destruction of this and the next world will perish in them both. Only
the bearers of conviction may be saved.
Sedition
has four aspects: fondness of the adornment, self-enticement, crooked
interpretation, and confusion of the right and the wrong. Adornment
will preclude evidence. Self-enticement leads to passion. Crookedness
takes its adopter to a twisted inclination. Confusion is complicated
groups of darkness. This is atheism and its supports and aspects.
Hypocrisy
stands on four supports: whims, carelessness, rancor, and greed.
Whim
has four aspects: oppression, aggression, passion, and
insubordination. For those whoever oppress, their problems will be
increasing and they will be disappointed and defeated. For those who
aggress against other, they will not be secured against misfortunes,
and their hearts will not be sound. He who does not stop against his
whims will plunge into griefs. He who disobeys (God) will be
intentionally deviating lacking any excuse or evidence.
The
aspects of carelessness are arrogance, pride, negligence, and
excessive expectation. Arrogance takes away from the right. Taking
pride in the present leads to negligence of the coming. Negligence is
an involvement in blindness. Because of expectation, man will have
knowledge of the account of his present manners. If he knows the
account of his present manners, he will die secretly due to the
horror and fear that he concludes.
The
aspects of rancor are conceit, boast, zeal, and tribalism. The
conceited will fall behind. The boastful are dissolute. The zealous
are stubborn. The tribalist is unfair. How bad is the matter that is
lying among falling behind, dissolution, and stubbornness.
The
aspects of greed are complacency, fun, disputation, and haughtiness.
Complacency is abominated for God. Fun is vanity. Disputation is
misfortune for it drives to sinning. Haughtiness is ill amusement,
play, engagement, and substituting the bad for the good.
That
was hypocrisy with its supports and aspects.
God
is prevailing over His servants. His mentioning is exalted, His
authority is upright, His power is firm, His blessing is widespread,
His wisdom is luminous, His claim is evident, His religion is pure,
His word is accurate, His ranks are present, His attribution is
wholesome, His scales is fair, His messages are conveyed, and His
keeping angels are attendant. He then made the sin as guilt, the
guilt as sedition, and the sedition as profanity. He also made
kindness as profit, apology as repentance, and repentance as purity.
He whoever repents to God will be guided. He whoever follows
seditious matters will surely be deviant unless he repents to God,
confesses of his guilt, and believes in the kindness. God will not
ruin except the perishing.
What
great is God! How extensive are his repentance, mercy, good tidings,
and forbearance! How intense are the fetters, fire, power,
omnipotence, and vengeance the He has! He whoever wins obedience to
God will choose for His honor, and he whoever is keeping himself in
disobedience to Him will taste the harsh torture of His punishment.
There is lying the blissful end.
- Located in Tuhaful-Uqool and also Nahjul-Balagha
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