اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ
بِجَمِیعِ مَحَامِدِه کُلِّهَا عَلَی جَمِیعِ نِعَمِهِ کُلِّهَا… اَلْحَمْدُ
لِلّهِ مالِکِ الْمُلْکِ مُجْرِی الْفُلْکِ مُسَخِّرِ الرِّیاحِ فالِقِ الاْصْباحِ
دَیّانِ الدّینِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمینَ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی حِلْمِهِ بَعْدَ
عِلمِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی عَفْوِهِ بَعْدَ قُدْرَتِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ
عَلی طُولِ اَناتِهِ فی غَضَبِهِ وَهُوَ قادِرٌ عَلی ما یُریدُ
ثم الصلاه و السلام
علی محمد عبده و رسوله ارسله بالهدی و دین الحق لیظهره علی الدین کله و لو کره
المشرکون
اوصیکم عبادالله و
نفسی بتقوی الله و اتباع امره و نهیه، و اخوفکم من عقابه
Eighth virtue: Minimizing anything other than God
عَظُمَ الْخَالِقُ فِي أنْفُسِهِمْ فَصَغُرَ مَا
دُونَهُ فِي أَعْيُنِهِمْ،
The Creator God is so great in
their hearts that whatever else is small throgh their eyes.
Minimizing
anything other than God , and also minimizing of the world and its pleasures,
is something that has been repeated in the words of our prophet and Imams. Amir
al-Mu minin describes one of the companions of the Prophet and considers him as
a “God s friend” like this:
كَانَ [يُعَظِّمُهُ] يُعْظِمُهُ فِي عَيْنِي صِغَرُ
الدُّنْيَا فِي عَيْنِهِ نهج البلاغه: حکمت289
He was
prestigious in my view because the world was humble in his eyes.
In the Nahj
al-Balaghah, Amir al-Mu minīn mentioned the disregard for the world and the
inferiority of seeing the worldly pleasures as a characteristics of prophets
and says about the great divine prophets:
… مُوسَى
كَلِيمِ اللَّهِ، حَيْثُ يَقُولُ «رَبِّ إِنِّي لِما أَنْزَلْتَ إِلَيَّ مِنْ
خَيْرٍ فَقِيرٌ»، وَ اللَّهِ مَا سَأَلَهُ إِلَّا خُبْزاً يَأْكُلُهُ، لِأَنَّهُ
كَانَ يَأْكُلُ بَقْلَةَ الْأَرْضِ،
When Musa, the Interlocutor of Allah p.b.u.h.
said: O Allah! I need whatever good Thou mayest grant me Qur an, 28:24 . By
Allah, he asked Him only for bread to eat because he was used to eating the
herbs of the earth
… دَاوُدَ
صَاحِبِ الْمَزَامِيرِ وَ قَارِئِ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ، فَلَقَدْ كَانَ يَعْمَلُ
سَفَائِفَ الْخُوصِ بِيَدِهِ وَ يَقُولُ لِجُلَسَائِهِ أَيُّكُمْ يَكْفِينِي
بَيْعَهَا وَ يَأْكُلُ قُرْصَ الشَّعِيرِ مِنْ ثَمَنِهَا،
If you desire I can give you a third example of
Dawud. He is the holder of the Psalms and the reciter among the people of
Paradise. He used to prepare baskets of date palm leaves with his own hands and
would say to his companions: “Which of you will help me by purchasing
it?” He used to eat barley bread bought out of its price.
… عِيسَى
ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ، فَلَقَدْ كَانَ يَتَوَسَّدُ الْحَجَرَ وَ يَلْبَسُ الْخَشِنَ وَ
يَأْكُلُ الْجَشِبَ وَ كَانَ إِدَامُهُ الْجُوعَ وَ سِرَاجُهُ بِاللَّيْلِ
الْقَمَرَ وَ ظِلَالُهُ فِي الشِّتَاءِ مَشَارِقَ الْأَرْضِ وَ مَغَارِبَهَا،
If you desire I will tell you about ‘Isa
p.b.u.h. son of Maryam Mary . He used a stone for his pillow, put on coarse
clothes and ate rough food. His condiment was hunger. His lamp at night was the
moon. His shade during the winter was just the expanse of earth eastward and
westward.
وَ لَقَدْ كَانَ [رسول الله] صلی الله علیه وآله
يَأْكُلُ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ وَ يَجْلِسُ جِلْسَةَ الْعَبْدِ وَ يَخْصِفُ بِيَدِهِ
نَعْلَهُ وَ يَرْقَعُ بِيَدِهِ ثَوْبَهُ وَ يَرْكَبُ الْحِمَارَ الْعَارِيَ وَ
يُرْدِفُ خَلْفَهُ نهج البلاغه: خطبه160
The Prophet used to sit and eat on the ground,
and sit like a slave. He repaired his shoe with his own hands, and patched his
clothes with his own hands. He would ride an unsaddled donkey and would seat
someone behind him.
The secret of this disregard for the world is,
indeed, the filling of these people with the name of God. If God comes in the
heart of a person, the world will be worthless for him. This is also an
important point about morality, which, instead of trying to get away from
ethical vices that may not be so successful, you can come up with getting close
to moral virtues, which will automatically disappears ethical vices.
Divine love will end the place for non-divine
matters. The love of God, which is mostly achieved through Companion with the
saints and who are close to God, will destroy the love to other than God, which
is the source of moral vices.
The indecent and the praised
world
The word of the world has been used in the
culture of the Quran and hadith in four meanings:
1. The world in literal meaning, means nearer, like
in the verse:
إِذْ أَنْتُمْ بِالْعُدْوَةِ الدُّنْيَا
وَهُمْ بِالْعُدْوَةِ الْقُصْوَى
Recall when you were on the nearer bank, and they were on the
further bank
2. In the meaning of the world before death.
3. It means using the possibilities of the world
before death in order to meet the material and spiritual needs as well as the
worldly and the future needs.
4. It means using the possibilities of the world
before death in order to meet the material demands, at the expense of the loss
of spiritual and other values.
Imam Ali as says:
الدنیا دارُ مَمَرًّ لا دارُ مَقّر، والناس فیها رجلان : رجلٌ باع فیها
نفسَه فاوبَقَها و رجل ابتاع نفسه فاَعْتَقَها
This world is a place for transit, not a place for stay. The people
herein are of two categories. One is the man who sold away his self to his
passions and thus ruined it, and the other is the man who purchased his self
by control against his passions and freed it.
There are three meanings of the four meanings of the world in this
luminous narrative:
Second meaning: means that the world before death,
which is a passage, not the base.
«الدنیا
دار ممّر لا دار مقرّ»
Third meaning: it means the one who has sold
himself to the world in the world and has attained his material desires and has
no benefit from spirituality, and this world is the indecent world.
«رجل باع فیها
نفسه فأوبقها»
The fourth meaning: that is, someone who has
bought himself from the world and saved from the trap of material demands and
freed himself, this world is the praised world.
In a narration of the Messenger of Allah, it is
stated that:
نِعْمَ الْمالُ الصّالِحُ لِلرَّجُلِ الصّالِحِ
A good asset Halal is good for a good person
Ahya al-Alum, vol. 2, p. 162 .
The use of the world s property, if done
correctly, can save the human being in eternal life and the other world, although
when the same property, is not used in correct way, will cause eternal damage
for men.
Amir al-Momenin says about a men who abused the
world:
أَيُّهَا الذَّامُّ لِلدُّنْيَا
الْمُغْتَرُّ بِغُرُورِهَا الْمَخْدُوعُ بِأَبَاطِيلِهَا أَ تَغْتَرُّ بِالدُّنْيَا
ثُمَّ تَذُمُّهَا؟
… إِنَّ الدُّنْيَا دَارُ
صِدْقٍ لِمَنْ صَدَقَهَا وَدَارُ عَافِيَةٍ لِمَنْ فَهِمَ عَنْهَا وَدَارُ غِنًى
لِمَنْ تَزَوَّدَ مِنْهَا وَدَارُ مَوْعِظَةٍ لِمَنِ اتَّعَظَ بِهَا مَسْجِدُ
أَحِبَّاءِ اللَّهِ وَمُصَلَّى مَلَائِكَةِ اللَّهِ وَمَهْبِطُ وَحْيِ اللَّهِ
وَمَتْجَرُ أَوْلِيَاءِ اللَّهِ اكْتَسَبُوا فِيهَا الرَّحْمَةَ وَرَبِحُوا فِيهَا
الْجَنَّةَ نهج البلاغه: حکمت131
O you who abuse the world, O you
who have been deceived by its deceit and cheated by its wrongs. Do you covet
the world and then abuse it?
Certainly, this world is a
house of truth for him who appreciates it; a place of safety for him who
understands it; a house of riches for him who collects provision from it for
the next world ; and a house of instructions for him who draws instruction from
it. It is the place of worship for the lovers of Allah; the place of praying
for the angels of Allah; the place where the revelation of Allah descends; and
the marketing place for those devoted to Allah. Herein they earned mercy and
herein they acquired Paradise by way of profit.