Therefore...

Therefore, it should not be a surprise that one attains salvation, as our original state is that of salvation and not destruction! One of the forms of the evil whispering of Satan that affects young and old and even affects some of the religious scholars is when one says that this present time has become corrupt. Such people give up all hope and feel that they have no responsibility left as they cannot do anything to change the time they are in.

In reality, thinking in this way is merely the act of 'passing the buck' - removing the responsibility from one's own shoulders and placing it on someone elses and looking at the world in the eyes of Hasan al-Basri by stating that it is not possible for mankind to attain salvation which is incorrect! The true believer must be just like Imam ‘Ali b.

al-Husayn as-Sajjad (as) and must say that it should could as no surprise that people are saved (from destruction), rather the true surprise is when a person becomes misled. Therefore, we must always be looking forward to salvation and work hard for this. We should think about the period of the Bani Umayyah since their era was actually better than the period in which we are living today.

It was a period full of spiritual darkness, however at the same time, the Imam still said that it should not be surprising if one attains salvation (even in such a difficult time). We pray that we are able to understand this lesson from Imam ‘Ali b. al-Husayn as-Sajjad (as) and that we do not seek to remove ourselves from the responsibility which Allah (SwT) has placed over us! [^1]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 75, pg. 153 Previous…