Imam Mohammad Bagher (p.b.u.h.) prescribed:
“Jaber! Remove excessive greed by being content. Gain the
sweetness of piety by shortening your expectations and make your heart soft and
humble by memory of God.”
1
Piety is indisposition of the world and that you
do not seek the world by your heat, but, you use the world’s wealth, servants,
etc. to the extent you need. The wealth of the world is not discrepant with
piety, except if one is in love with wealth at his heart and the wealth keeps
him far from memory of God.
Imam Ali (p.b.u.h.) prescribed:
“The whole piety is summarized in two words at Koran: One
who is not pitiful for his past, one who is not happy with what he has gained,
has observed piety.”2
Of course, since most of the people are provoked
to collect wealth owning to their weakness of soul, their piety shall be only
fulfilled by their leaving wealth.
The real pious man has three signs:
1. He is not happy for what he has gained and is
not sad for he has lost, which shows his being pious and not loving wealth.
2. He considers praise and reproach both on the
same level, which shows his piety and unwillingness to any rank.
3. He is only near to Almighty God and has felt
on his heart the sweetness of obedience.
Piety is the key to the door of pandemonium and
releasing from fire consisting abandonment of all the affairs which might make
one neglect God, without feeling pity, without being selfish, without waiting
for them to come back, without seeking any praise for one’s act, without
expecting any compensation for one’s act, but feeling convenient when losing
them and considering them harmful and trying to escape of any harm to the
convenience.
The pious is one who prefers the eternal world to this world, glory to
abjection, endeavor to convenience, hunger to satiety, health of eternal world
to kindness of the world, attention to negligence.
One whose self stays in this world and his heart in the eternal world.
One of the fruits of piety is
generosity,
just as a fruit of loving the world is niggardliness. At piety, if one loses
wealth, he shall be content and if he gains it, he shall be generous to others.
The generous man is close to God and God shall keep him from any error. The
world is a bridge to pass to the eternal world and no one shall stay here, so
the bridge shall not be loved and one shall not be cheated by this beautiful
snake whose appearance is so soft and pretty and whose inner is so harmful and
poisonous.
Piety is
evacuation of the heart by the world and its graces and it is not discrepant
with enjoying God’s blessing. At this home, the more one decreases his interests
to materialistic aspects, to spouse, to child, the more he is apt to go to the
next stage and reaching such a stage necessitates the wayfarer’s owning his
soul, not letting his heart depend on the world’s valueless things.
Imam Ali (p.b.u.h.) prescribed:
“Empty your
hearts of the world, before the world is emptied of your bodies.”
3
The most important thing which avoids our
advancement is our expectation and our dependence to the world, what keeps man
far from any attainment and piety. One who is tied by lust shall not be able to
take the ladder of progress and attainment, but a complete man leaves natural
and instinctive pleasures to try to get culture and to identify the origin, so
that he is transferred from the bottleneck of natural world to the world of
reality to witness the impact of his piety. 4
END NOTES:
1. Imam
Mohammad Bagher (p.b.u.h.)/ Seyed Kazem Arfa
2. Ethics/ The late Seyed Abdollah Moshir/p: 399, 400, 403.
3. 40 Houses of Initiation/ Seyed Kazem Arfaa/p: 137 , 139
4.Initiation/ Banou Mojtahedeh Amin/p: 147, 154.