Sometimes...

Sometimes you may be deceived by your property and your bodily health into supposing that you will last forever. 
Sometimes you are deceived by your long life, your children and your friends into thinking that you will be saved by them. 
Sometimes you are deceived by your beauty and the circumstances of your birth, which bring you your hopes and desires so easily that you think that you are truthful and successful in achieving your goal. 

Sometimes you are deceived by the regret you show people for your shortcoming in worship, but Allah knows the opposite of that is in your heart. 
Sometimes you make yourself worship in a spirit of reluctance; but Allah desires sincerity. 
Sometimes you imagine that you are calling on Allah when you are calling on another. 
Sometimes you imagine that you are giving good counsel to people, while your real desire is that they bow to you. 
Sometimes you blame yourself when you are really praising yourself.

Know that you will only emerge from the darkness of delusion and desire by sincerely turning in repentance to Almighty Allah, and to whatever you know about Him, and to recognize the faults in your self which are not consistent with your intellect and knowledge, and which the faith, the law and the customary practices of the Holy Prophet and the Imams of guidance do not tolerate.

If you are content with your present condition, there is no one more wretched than you in knowledge and action, nor anyone with a more wasted life. 

You will inherit grief on the Day of Resurrection.


~Imam Sadiq (as)

How Do We Forget This?

Imam al Sadiq (as) narrates that Allah (swt) says:

“By My glory, My sublimity, My majesty and My ascension upon My throne; I shall cut-off, by despair, the hope of anyone who places their hope in other than Me. I shall clothe him with the garb of degradation in front of people; I shall avert him away from My proximity; I shall distance him from ever joining Me. Does he place expectations in other than Me during hardships whilst (full control of) the hardships are in My hands? Does he hope in other than Me and contemplate knocking the door of others whilst I hold the keys to the doors when they are locked? And My door is open to whosoever may implore me. Who is it that has had hope in Me in his misfortunes and I have let him down?! Who is it that has expected from Me in adversity and I have severed his hope in Me? I have preserved the hopes of my slaves but they are not satisfied with my preservation. I have filled My heavens with those who do not tire from glorifying Me; and have commanded them not to shut the doors between Me and My servants, but they (My servants) do not have confidence in My words. Does he (My slave) not know that, when a misfortune from among My misfortunes strikes him, none but Me has the ability to relieve it, except by My permission. So why is it that I see him unmindful of Me?! I granted him, by My generosity, that which he did not even request, then I snatched it away from him; yet he does not ask Me to return it, rather he asks those other than Myself! Does he reckon that, despite Me granting initially before being asked, I would not respond to the one who begs Me after being asked? Am I such a miser that My slave has deemed Me to be miserly? Do generosity and open-handedness not behove Me? Are pardon and mercy not in My hands? Am I not suitable for hopes? Who aside from Me can break them? Do those who hope not then fear in placing hopes in those other than Me?

Had all the inhabitants of My heavens and the inhabitants of My earth, all wished together; and had I granted them all fully in accordance with their hopes – My kingdom would not have decreased even to the amount of one grain. How can a kingdom diminish whilst I am its curator? Alas, what an ill-fate for those who despair in My mercy; and what misery for he who disobeys Me and does not fear Me’”.