Surely our master...

Surely our master, the Commander of the Faithful (‘a), has said the truth when he said (the following verses of poetry): Your remedy is within you, though you do not see it; And your ailment is from you, though you do not feel it: Do you think you are but a small heavenly body, While in you the Greatest World unfolds?! And you are the clear book which, Through its signs, what is hidden is revealed. (Diwan Amir al- Mu’min in [‘a], p.

If you regard yourself among the wretched folks, being distant from any chance for happiness, be informed, poor soul, that Allah effaces whatever He pleases and so does He fix, and with Him is the Mother Book. Beware lest you should be a devil in a human form.

Be informed that if you choose this for yourself, you will have lost the opportunity of earning the Divine Care, corrupted the whole world on account of your own corruption, cast grief in the hearts of the prophets and the messengers, the angels near to Allah and all those in the heavens and on earth. The earth complains from your walking on its surface, and the heavens complains from shading you.

It has been reported that the earth complains to Allah for forty mornings about one who is not circumcised and who urinates on it ( Bihar al-Anwar , Vol. 101, p. 110), one of the deeds held in contempt; so, what is wrong with you?! As a whole, you, O wretch, become an enemy of Allah. All those who live in the domain of Allah are your foes[^2]. They seek permission to have their revenge against you.

So, how can you have the might that can withstand them all, the insignificant weakling that you are? Who will shelter you if you duel with Him and fight Him?! Surely there is no escape route for you except one leading to Him: ‘Then hasten (at once) to Allah: I am a plain warner to you from Him!’ (Qur’an, 51:50). Anyone who is afraid of anyone flees away from the latter except one who is afraid of Allah: he flees to Him.