ভূমিকা
فَقَالَ: أَنَا أَقُولُ: لَيْسَ الْعَجَبُ مِمَّنْ نَجَا كَيْفَ نَجَا وَ أَمَّا الْعَجَبُ مِمَّنْ هَلَكَ كَيْفَ هَلَكَ مَعَ سَعَةِ رَحْمَةِ اللٌّهِ!؟s One day, it was said to Imam as-Sajjad (as): 'Hasan al-Basri has said, 'I am not amazed how the person who is destroyed (by Allah) is destroyed; rather what is truly amazing to me is the one who is saved (by Allah) and how he is saved!
[I am not surprised how a person deviates from the straight path (as this is quite easy); rather, I am surprised how a person attains true guidance].
The Imam (as) retorted, 'Rather, I say that it is not amazing how the one who is saved (by Allah) is saved, rather that which is amazing for me is the one who is destroyed (by Allah) and how he is destroyed with the vast mercy of Allah being present!'”[^1] This tradition points to a very important topic as there are some people who have developed a habit of pessimism and negativity in their lives. In today's terminology, they see everything as being dark and gloomy.
They state that by keeping in mind the ever presence of Satan - the one who is seeking to misguide everyone - and the lower desires, passions and the corruption of the time we are living in, it is an amazing feat for a person to be saved from all of these things. In essence they are saying that our original state is that of corruption and pollution by sins and that true guidance is that which goes against the 'natural state' of life and if this develops, then it is something amazing!
In our opinion, people who think in this way actually have Satanic thoughts running through them, and thus Hasan al-Basri is also one of those people who had Satanic thoughts in his mind! The story of him and his encounters with Imam ‘Ali b. Abi Talib (as) are well know.