If man pays constant attention to God...

If man pays constant attention to God, he will be engulfed in the world of light and life will be of a different flavor to him and he will behave differently than the others. His world will change and life will be interesting to him since he will be surrounded by the infinite sea of knowledge. He will always be delighted as long as he is with his love. Every moment he adds something to his virtues.

Imam Ali (s) was one of those, who had conquered this mount of knowledge and tasted the flavor of being close to his love. Seyyid Ibn Tawus says: Habbah al-Arani says: when Nouf and I were sleeping in the yard of the Governor's building we saw Ali (s) putting his hands against the wall like a distracted person.

He was whispering: “Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day there are sings for men who understand…etc.”[^2] Habbah al-Arani adds: “Ali (s) was reciting these verses and was walking about like one, who has lost his mind. Then he told me: Are you asleep or awake? I answered I was awake. “If you are in this condition, so what about us then?” Then Imam Ali (s) stared at the ground and begun crying.

He, then, said to me: “Allah knows everything we do. O Habba, Allah is closer to us than our life-veins. He knows everything”. Then he added: “O Nouf! Are you awake? He said: “Yes, I am awake”. Imam Ali (s) then gave them some advice. He advised them to fear God. Then he said: “O God, I do not know whether You care for me or not. I wish I knew how I should be with the amount of sins that I have committed.

Nouf says: “Imam Ali (s) was still in this state until the dawn.”[^3] The Fifth Stage A verse, which is more exciting than the previous verses, is the one, whose comprehension is in the domain of the believers and the sincere gnostics, who are really rare in the creation system. In this sacred verse we read: أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ. “Allah intervenes between man and his heart. 8:24” Thus man belongs to God and he is in direct relation with the Great love.

Hafiz, the Iranian poet says: “There is no wall between the lover and the loved one, You, yourself, Hafiz, are the hindrance, get vanished.” In this process, if a person could, by good luck, stay on the right path and delve deep inside himself, he will realize that he is a servant of God before becoming an independent being and that he does not possess any prestige and identity except being a servant to God, the Almighty.

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