By Allah...

By Allah, if you saw what you would meet and what you would come to, you would say: ‘Would that we were sent back, and we would not reject the communications of our Lord and we would be of the believers.'[^29] Allah, the Great and Almighty, said: ‘And if they were sent back, they would certainly go back to that which they are forbidden, and most surely they are liars.'[^30] ”[^31] Imam Abu Ja‘far, peace be on him, blamed these people when they turned away from his preaching and directions.

He wanted to set right their behavior. He wanted them to follow righteousness to gain good here and in the hereafter. He gave them these effective preaching to make them obey Allah. For Allah is able to do good for them and to deprive them of that. He preached to them with these lessons to which souls submit, and of which hearts are afraid. Imam al-Baqir, peace be on him, preached to one of his companions. He informed him of the reality of this life.

He, peace be on him, said to him: “Regard the world as a house where you live, and then you leave the house. Or regard (it) as perfection you obtain in your sleep. When you wake, you find nothing of it.”[^32] Indeed if man thinks about the world through this correct opinion, he will be free from conceit, selfishness, greediness, and other psychological diseases that deviate him from the right path.

Among his preaching is this: “If the eye is bathed in tears, Allah will protect its owner from the Fire. If the tear flows down the cheek, neither miserliness nor abasement will befall its owner. There is a punishment for everything except the tear. For Allah, the Most High, forgives the seas of sins through it.”[^33] Imam al-Baqir, peace be on him, summoned Moslems to weep out of fear of Allah. Weeping is among the signs of faith.

It shows the relationship between the servant and his Lord and Creator. Imam al-Baqir, peace be on him, said: “Man should mention death very much. If he mentions death very much, he will refrain from the world.”[^34] Surely, if man mentions death, he will renounce the world and refrains from its vanities and pleasures. Imam Abu Ja‘far (al-Baqir), peace be on him, was asked about the most ascetic of all the people.

So, he, peace be on him, replied: “It is he who pays no attention to the world.”Then he was asked: “Who is the most hopeless of all the people?”“It is he who sells the remaining (life) for the transitory (life),”he replied.