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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Al-Siraj: The Lantern on the Path To Allah Almighty Chapter 5: Man is Weak ** ** O Brother who is too indifferent to reform himself, ignorant of his own reality! You, poor soul, have two facets and considerations: One of them concerns your own self, you as you are. To this facet have both your vision and observation been absent.

From this facet, you are a diminishing and perishing person of no value or worth; nobody is concerned about you; you are nothing! As for your other facet, you are tied to the Divine might; you are the manifestation of the Greatness of the Lord; you are a creature made by this Great Creator, the most Exalted One, the most Great.

From this facet, you are tied to all the world starting from the `Arsh and ending with the earth, from the seventh high heavens to the seventh lowest earth, in addition to what is between the east and the west and all parts of the earth. So, if you are good to your own soul, you do well to the whole world and vice versa[^1]. If this confuses you, there is a likeness for you under the `Arsh which does similarly to what you do.

If you do something ugly, Allah puts a shield on your likeness lest you should be scandalized by those around the `Arsh. And if you do something good, Allah manifests it for them. This is the meaning of this statement: ‘O One Who manifests what is beautiful and covers what is ugly’ reported by our mentor, al-Bahai, in his Muftah where he quotes Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) saying, ‘Each and every believer has a likeness in the `Arsh.

If he is busy bowing, prostrating and the like, his likeness does the same. It is then that the angels see him, pray and seek forgiveness for him. And if the servant is busy committing an act of disobedience, Allah lowers down a curtain on his likeness so that the angels may not see it.’ ( Muftih al-Falah , p. 156).

Also, there is no doubt that your daily deeds, every morning and evening, are displayed before the Prophet (‘s) and before the Imams (‘a), especially the Imam of the Time (‘a), may Allah hasten his reappearance, who is Waliyy al-Amr. Anything good in these deeds pleases them, so much so that one of them has said, ‘By Allah! The Messenger of Allah (‘a) is more pleased when a believer does his brother a favor than the one in need of the favor’ ( Al-Kafi , Vol. 2, p. 156).