Mouood Mouood English Edition
Submission in Worship
This is another feature of the pious. In this relation, God says: “Successful indeed are the believers, who are humble in their prayers.”48
In Majma’ al-Bayan, we read: “O the humble ones! The humble ones never raise their sights from the places of their prostration, nor do they look right or left.”
Therefore, devotion in prayer is that man should be humble before the greatness of God, and be fully mindful whether his worship is prayer, fasting, Hajj, or else. As for being humble in prayer, the Messenger of Allah (SAW) saw a man playing with his beard while offering the prayer. He said: “If he was humble in his heart, all the parts of his body would be humble too.”49
Splendor in Destitution
This is to show that God the Beneficent has made them (the pious) independent of others lest others may do them some favor making them indebted. Imam Ali (AS) has said: “Give to whomever you wish, and you will be his commander! Beg from someone, and you will be his captive! Be independent of whomever you wish, and you will be like him.”50
Imam Ali (AS) has been reported by Imam Sadiq (AS) as saying: “There should be both a feeling of being in need of people and independence of them in your heart. Your need for them should be in your speaking softly to them and being cheerful (with good temper). Your independence of them should be in your pure honor and preserved dignity.”51
In a commentary on this, Allamah Majlisi says: “Perhaps, the meaning of what Imam Ali (AS) has said is that we should have two beliefs in our heart; one is to believe that we are in need of others, because man is a civilized creature by nature, and the other is to believe that we are not in need of people, for it is God Who provides us with our sustenance. Hence, we should not turn to people for our needs. Therefore, the first belief is related to the association with people through good speech and behavior, and the second belief is related to the safeguarding of our dignity, and dignity is achieved by abandoning begging and greed.”
Patience with Hardship
Endurance is an outstanding feature of the pious. Imam Sadiq (AS) has said: “Patience is the head of faith.”52 The Imam has also said: “The position of patience to faith is as the position of the head to the body. When the head is gone, the body is gone too. It is the same that when patience is gone, faith is gone too.”53
The Seeking for well-gotten Sustenance
It is a prominent feature of the pious, for the impious are reckless about what is lawful and what is unlawful. The pious do their best to eat what is lawful. The Messenger of Allah (SAW) has been reported by Imam Baqir (AS) as saying:“Worship (devotion) has seventy parts. The best part of it is to seek lawful sustenance.”54
Imam Musa ibn Ja’far (AS) said: “Whoever seeks lawful sustenance for his dependents is like one who is fighting in the way of God.”55
Khalid ibn Najeeh has reported Imam Sadiq (AS) as saying: “Greet whomever you meet. Say: Ja’far ibn Muhammad sends his regards to you and say: fear Allah for the sustenance He gives to you. By God! I do not advise you unless I advise myself (with the same) first. It is incumbent upon you to do your best! Whenever you finish your Morning Prayer, seek your sustenance in the early hours of the day. God will soon give you sustenance in the early hours of the day. God will soon give you sustenance and will help you to obtain it.”56
The messenger of Allah (SAW) has been reported by Imam Ali (AS) as saying: “On the Day of Judgment, no man walks even a step unless he is asked about four things; he shall be asked on what he has spent his life, how he has spoiled his youth, where he has obtained his wealth from and how he has spent it, and about the love to us, the Ahl al-Bayt.”57
Pleasure in Guidance
By this, Imam Ali (AS) may mean that the pious are happy, because they have been guided. Imam Ali (AS) has said: “Deceive your self in worshipping, be lenient to, and do not force it. Engage it (in worshipping) when it is free and merry except for the obligations on you, for they must be done.”58
Refraining from Greed
It is a feature of the pious, for they know that greed has its roots in vices. In the words of Allamah Khoo’ee, greed causes humiliation, jealousy, enmity, backbiting, scandal, sycophancy, hypocrisy, abandonment of the enjoining of the good and forbidding the evil, giving up the reliance on God and the contentment with the divine fate, and others.
The messenger of Allah (SAW) has been reported as saying: “The poorest man is one who is greedy.”59
Being asked what feature makes man’s faith steady, Imam Sadiq (AS) said: “What makes man’s faith steady is piety, and what brings him out of faith is greed.”60
Imam Sadiq (AS) has also said: “If you want your eyes to be enlightened and attain the good of this world and the hereafter, do not be greedy for what people have, count yourself among the dead, do not consider yourself above others; and keep your tongue (not to say any bad thing) as you keep your property.”61
A man called Abu Ayyoob Khalid ibn Zeid came to the Messenger of Allah (SAW) and asked: “O Messenger of Allah! Give me an advice, so that I will put it into practice.” The Holy Prophet (SAW) said: “I advise you of five things; set no hope on what is in the hands of people. This is independence. Keep away from greed, for it is indigence. Offer prayer as if it is your last prayer. Avoid doing what you have to apologize for it. Wish for your brother what you wish for yourself.”62
Imam Baqir (AS) said: “Do not covet (the belongings of) one who is above (better than) you. It is sufficient what God has said to the prophet: “Let not then their property and their children excite your admiration.”63 God has also said:“And do not stretch your eyes after that with which We have provided different classes of them, (of) the splendor of this world’s life.”64
We should take into consideration the simple way of living of the Messenger of Allah whose food was bread of barley, his sweetmeat was dates, and his firewood was the dry fronds of palm-tree.”65
Virtuous Deeds
36-40: One of the other features of a pious man is that “He performs virtuous deeds, but he still feels afraid. In the evening, he is anxious to offer thanks (to Allah). In the morning, his anxiety is to remember (Allah). He passes the night in thanking and praising God, and when the morning comes, he is busy glorifying God. He spends the night in fear and in the morning he is delighted with hope. He is afraid of forgetfulness delighted for the favor and mercy received by him.”66
A pious man never underestimates his deeds. He fearfully keeps telling himself: will there remain any good deed for me despite my sins, forgetfulness and unrestrained way of living? Shall I not be taken to account?
