Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Are We Doing Our Duty?

O negligent people! O you, who are so indifferent to your obligations and so unmindful of your duties, remember that you will not be excused for such carelessness and negligence. O you, who want to go out of the folds of religion, remember that you shall not be left unquestioned and unpunished.

How is it that I find you drifting away and away from God and swaying towards ungodly thoughts and deeds? You are behaving as if you are cattle whom the pastor is driving through a pasture or a watering place where deadly cattle diseases are raging and they cannot resist this drive, or like sheep who are being fattened on fresh grams and good grass to be butchered and they do not realise they are being so well treated so that when killed they give soft and fat meat. Their vision is so limited that they consider the day they are passing to be the whole span of their lives, and their sole purpose of their existence is to eat and drink. 

~Imam Ali (as) in Nahjul Balagha sermon 173

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Courtesy Costs Nothing...

It is often said that courtesy costs  nothing. At the same time, courtesy is something of such fundamental value in human society that its importance cannot be over emphasized.

Imam Hussain (peace be upon him) stressed the value and merit of acts of courtesy where he says: "Know that acts of courtesy earn praiseworthy results, and end in rewardable gains. If you were to see acts of courtesy personified as a man, you would perceive him to be good and handsome, pleasing for people to behold, and transcending all the worlds. And if you were to see acts of vileness personified, you would perceive an ugly, revolting, disfigured man, whom the hearts would be averse to, and whom the eyes would turn away from in disgust." (Mustadrak al-Wasail)

Imam Ali (as) says in this regard: "People who perform acts of courtesy towards others benefit more from them than the recipients of their kindness, for verily they have the reward for them, the [rewarding feeling of] pride for having helped someone as well as a mention. So however much good a man may do for others, it ultimately always starts by benefiting himself, such that he never seeks thanks for the benefit incurred by himself through helping others." (Kashf al-Ghamma)

Have a courteous day! :)

 

Thursday, November 3, 2011

I Wonder...

"I wonder at the mentality of a miser, fearing poverty he takes to stinginess and thus hastily pushes himself head- long into a state of want and destitution, he madly desires plenty and ease, but throws it away without understand- ing. In this world he, of his own free will, leads the life of a a beggar and in the next world he will have to submit an account like the rich.
I wonder at the arrogance of a haughty and vain person. Yesterday he was only a drop of semen and tomorrow he will turn into a corpse.
I wonder at the man who observes the Universe created by Allah and doubts His Being and Existence.
I wonder at the man who sees people dying around him and yet he has forgotten his end.
I wonder at the man who understands the marvel of genesis of creation and refuses to accept that he will be brought back to life again.
I wonder at the man who takes great pains to decorate and to make comfortable this mortal habitat and totally forgets his permanent abode."
~Imam Ali (as)