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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Adab as-Salat: The Disciplines of the Prayer Second Revised Edition Section Nine: Application To One’s Own Condition One of the important disciplines of reciting the Qur'an that causes one to get so many good results and advantages is “application” [ tatbīq ]; that is, each āyah which he recites and thinks about, he is to apply its concept to his own condition, to make up for his shortcomings by resorting to it, and to cure his ailments with it.

Take, for example, the honored story of Adam (' a ). See what caused Satan to be expelled from the Sacred Threshold of Allah, despite his countless acts of worship and long devoted bowings, so that you may purge yourself of it, because the state of Allah's proximity belongs to the pure ones, and with satanic conducts and character no one can be admitted to that Sacred Presence.

From the noble āyah s one can learn that the reason behind Iblīs ' refusing to bow down was self-conceit and self-admiration: “ I am better than he. You have created me of fire while him you have created of clay.” [^1] This self-conceit led him to selfishness and ostentation, which is arrogance. This led him to obstinacy, which is independence and disobedience, and hence he was expelled from the Sacred Court.

We, from the beginning of the life, call Satan as the accursed and the discarded, and yet we ourselves possess his very vile characteristics. It has not occurred to us that anyone possessing the same reasons, which caused the dismissal of Satan, will be dismissed, too. Satan has no particular specialty; whatever reason expelled him from the threshold of Allah's proximity would never let us into that proximity. I am afraid that the curses, which we send to Iblīs , are to be shared by us, too.

We may further think of the same noble story, and what caused the superiority of Adam (' a ) over Allah's angels, so that we ourselves may acquire them, too, as much as possible.

The cause was “teaching the names,” as the Qur'an says: “ And He taught Adam all the names.” [^2] The high degree of teaching the names is realizing [ tahaqquq ] the state of Allah's Names, such as the high degree of counting the Names as in the noble hadīth : “Allah has ninety-nine names; whoever reckons them enters Paradise”[^3] which means realizing [ tahaqquq ] their truth, by which man obtains the Paradise of the Names.