بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
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
Sixteenth Sign of the Righteous:
یَبِیتُ حَذِراً … لِمَا حُذّرَ مِنَ الْغَفْلَهِ،
They finish the day and nights, while avoiding neglect and being away from it.
The word “avoiding” literally means to get away from something scary and frightening. The people of righteous spend hours of theire days and nights in fear of neglect and consequences of it in a state of constant avoidance of anything that causes them to be neglected.
Dangerous disease of neglect
Amir al-Mumenin Ali (PBUH) says:
الغفلهُ أضَرُّ الأعداءِ؛
Negligence is more harmful to a human being than any other enemy.
الغفلهُ ضَلالُ النّفوسِ و عُنوانُ النُّحوسِ؛
Negligence is the delusion of the souls and an opening to every infelicity.
ویلٌ لِمَن غَلَبَت عَلیهِ الغَفلَهُ فَنَسِیَ الرَّحلَهَ وَ لَم یَستَعِدَّ
Woe to the one who neglect overcomes him and thus forgets the journey (the Hereafter) and does not prepare himself for it.
Sometimes a brief moment of neglect of God is enough for the eternal suffering of man. Like some hasty decisions that in them we do not pay attention to the will of the Almighty God and they cause all life long to feel sorry for us and others.
For this reason, people who are not only frightened of neglect and its consequences but also who try to provide themselves and others with the means and features of neglect and entertainment, will depart from rationality and oppose human intellect. Amir al-Mu’minin says:
الغفلهُ شِیمَهُ النَّوکی
Neglect is the character of foolish people.
In his language, Amir al-Momenin tried to wake people up from the sleep of negligent that they had fallen into with some questions and said:
– Is there no one to wake up before his time of death comes?
– Is there no one to wake up from sleep of negligence before his time ends?
– Isn’t anyone trying to succeed before the hard day comes ?!
– is there someone whose getting ready to meet his Lord before his life is taken ?
– is there no one to collect ration for his hereafter before moving away ?
– Isn’t he a repentant of his sin before his death?
Although when we are ignorant of the Almighty God and the passage of time and death, we must know that God is the witness of our actions, and that time passes, whether willingly or unintentionally, knowingly or unknowingly, and every breath we take in is a step closer to our death and to journey of hereafter, the Holy Quran says:
اقْتَرَبَ لِلنَّاسِ حِسابُهُمْ وَ هُمْ فِی غَفْلَهٍ مُعْرِضُونَ
Mankind’s reckoning has drawn near, but they turn away heedlessly.
The Prophet said:
عَجَبٌ لِغَافِلٍ وَ لَیْسَ بِمَغْفُولٍ عَنْهُ، وَ عَجَبٌ لِطَالِبِ الدُّنْیَا وَ الْمَوْتُ یَطْلُبُهُ، وَ عَجَبٌ لِضَاحِکٍ مِلْءَ فِیهِ وَ هُوَ لَا یَدْرِی أَ رَضِیَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ أَمْ سَخِطَ لَه؛
Woe to the ignorant person while not being neglected, and all his affairs are in control. And woe to the person who want the world, while death seeks after him, and woe to the one who opens his mouth to laugh and yet he does not know Is God pleased or unhappy with Him?
Signs of negligent
Negligent humans have symptoms that can be used to recognize them. In the Loghman’s words we can read:
O my son! For everything there is a sign with which it is known … There are three signs of neglect: ignorance (doing something wrong because of neglect) and (doing hobbies and things that keep man away from what he really needs) and
forgetfulness.
Neglect, a way of escaping yourself
Some people run away from the them ‘self’ because they have not made the ‘self’ tolerable for themselves. Neglect is the goal for them, in order to escape!
On the other hand, there are some mystics who make a beautiful ‘self’ for themselves, and they will never get tired of being alone, thinking and meditating on themselves, but also enjoying the most of their solitude and self-esteem.
How good it is for human to wake up from sleep of neglect in this world, and if he does not wake up they will wake him up on the Day of Resurrection, but that awakening will no longer be of benefit to him. Such a person is addressed by God:
لَقَدْ کُنْتَ فِی غَفْلَهٍ مِنْ هذا فَکَشَفْنا عَنْکَ غِطاءَکَ فَبَصَرُکَ الْیَوْمَ حَدِیدٌ
“You were in neglect of this, so We lifted your screen from you, and your vision today is keen.”