Piety Strengthens One’s Faith And Coveteousness Weakens...

Piety Strengthens One’s Faith And Coveteousness Weakens One’s Faith Someone asked Imām Sajjād (a): “What strengthens faith and what weakens it?” The Imām (a) answered: “Piety ( wara‛ ) strengthens one's faith and covetousness weakens one's faith.”[^2] Man expects someone else to come and help him. He must loan me money. He must fix my problems. The person who believes in the oneness of Allah ( tawhīd ) should know that Allah is the only One who solves his problems.

The means that Allah allows to exist will only work to the extent that Allah allows. One's problem would not be able to be solved if Allah does not want it to be solved. A person who believes in the oneness of Allah is one who knows that all good is from Allah and one who knows that the creations of Allah are just means for obtaining that good. Suppose one went to a creature of Allah and expected that creature to solve his problem. This is a form of polytheism.

If I am a Muslim and one who believes in the oneness of Allah, I must be like this: “O' Allah I am going to this person, but my hope is with you. Solve my problem by means of this person.” Lower Your Expectations The sign of a person who really believes in the oneness of Allah is not getting angry when his problem remains unsolved. He says that Allah did not want it. It was not in my best interest. But, if the problem gets solved he thanks Allah and says: “My Lord! You have blessed me.

You solved my problem at the hands of so and so.” Of course there is no problem in thanking that person as well because the person who does not thank the creature will not thank the Creator.[^3] Similar to what was mentioned before, this is an example of Allah's favor. So, it is necessary to thank the means that Allah made for fixing one's problem, not thanking the means independently; for that would be a form of polytheism.

Man becomes angry when he has an expectation from someone, but that person does not live up to his expectations. From the beginning, one must know that it is not in the other person's hands. If Allah wanted the problem to be solved he would have solved it through him or another person. One will never have this unwarranted anger if he thinks like this, because he will not have any kind of expectation. Anger At Oppressors And Open Sin One must become angry at oppressors.

For example, one must be angry at the cursed Saddam Hussein who crossed the boundaries.