In order to connect our thoughts and hearts with Imam Mohammad Baqir (as), to honor him and learn from him so that we can follow him the following hadith is one I found perfect on this occasion, at this time, on this day (a day late) and for this blog.
So According to our 5th Imam, the 7th infallible what is a Shia? What should we strive to become? What does our 12th Imam (mahhr) expect of us to become before he arrives? And do we personally, in our inner knowledge of ourselves believe we are these or possess these traits?
Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (AS) once said to one of his companions:
"O Jabir it is not enough that a person says;
I am a Shiah and I love the Prophet (SAW) and the Prophet's family and the Imams. By Allah, a Shiah is the one who is perfectly pious and obedient to Allah's commands. Anyone else is not a Shiah no matter how much they say they love Hazrat Ali (AS) and no matter what they call themselves.
O Jabir Our Shiahs are known by these signs:
(a) They are truthful, trustworthy and loyal;
(b) They always remember Allah;
(c) They offer their prayers, observe fasts, and recite Qur'an;
(d) They help their neighbors, take care of orphans, and say nothing but good of people;
(e) They act nicely towards their parents;
(f) They are worthy of peoples trust and confidence.
We know that these qualities are quite a tall order for many of us however, rather than push them aside and think to ourselves, I can not do that because for example I don't know what to do for the orphans, for my neighbours (or the oppressed in case of what is happening in the world). Why not take a moment to think about them and see how we can turn inaction into action.
We know that there are many ways that we can come towards changing our behavior, different levels if you like for every act. The first is to do repentance for not being what Allah and our Imams (as) expect us to be, the ideal that we are to become, to think, become aware and seek knowledge and to gain insight on those traits. Moving down from our mind to our area of expression is our speech. We can talk to Allah about this matter through making Dua which gives us further inspiration towards changing our heart. Then there is the intention with the heart, having the pure intention to want to do something and then there is the will (the third chakra) the action.
After the action comes the love of doing something which is the Rahmat that Allah gives us as a reward for acting upon our thoughts such as a love that we develop for doing that action inspiring more action and finally where actions become habit, the completion of the personal cycle of incorporating goodness in our behavior is the habituation of performing this action...The action has become us. At this point we can teach it, inspire others and move on to the next action.
The thing is that often when we see a hadith and we are not what is expected of us, it is common that we ignore what we believe we cannot change. In reality, that is a fear that Shaitan is putting in us as a result of an incomplete knowledge. Imam Ali (as) talks about this in his first sermon of Nahjul Balagha where he talks about how Shaitan was jealous when Adam (as) was created (creation of Adam is the secion in the first sermon) there is an explanation from the author on it. In order to fight Shaitans whisperings we must fill the void of that knowledge with correct knowledge of it which begins the process. We can change anything because Allah is waiting for us to ask of him his help to change it.
So when we want to become what our Imams (as) expect of us and what is expected of the Ummah to achieve in order to bring our Imam out of occultation, we can instead of feeling helpless, focus on the trait and begin seeking knowledge of it. The fact that it has been put to our attention to bother us that we do not own that trait yet, is a sign that we are ready to obtain it.
When the student is ready, the teacher appears.
Which brings us back to Imam Mohammad Baqir (as) the founder of schools and the splitter of knowledges himself.
So According to our 5th Imam, the 7th infallible what is a Shia? What should we strive to become? What does our 12th Imam (mahhr) expect of us to become before he arrives? And do we personally, in our inner knowledge of ourselves believe we are these or possess these traits?
Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (AS) once said to one of his companions:
"O Jabir it is not enough that a person says;
I am a Shiah and I love the Prophet (SAW) and the Prophet's family and the Imams. By Allah, a Shiah is the one who is perfectly pious and obedient to Allah's commands. Anyone else is not a Shiah no matter how much they say they love Hazrat Ali (AS) and no matter what they call themselves.
O Jabir Our Shiahs are known by these signs:
(a) They are truthful, trustworthy and loyal;
(b) They always remember Allah;
(c) They offer their prayers, observe fasts, and recite Qur'an;
(d) They help their neighbors, take care of orphans, and say nothing but good of people;
(e) They act nicely towards their parents;
(f) They are worthy of peoples trust and confidence.
We know that these qualities are quite a tall order for many of us however, rather than push them aside and think to ourselves, I can not do that because for example I don't know what to do for the orphans, for my neighbours (or the oppressed in case of what is happening in the world). Why not take a moment to think about them and see how we can turn inaction into action.
We know that there are many ways that we can come towards changing our behavior, different levels if you like for every act. The first is to do repentance for not being what Allah and our Imams (as) expect us to be, the ideal that we are to become, to think, become aware and seek knowledge and to gain insight on those traits. Moving down from our mind to our area of expression is our speech. We can talk to Allah about this matter through making Dua which gives us further inspiration towards changing our heart. Then there is the intention with the heart, having the pure intention to want to do something and then there is the will (the third chakra) the action.
After the action comes the love of doing something which is the Rahmat that Allah gives us as a reward for acting upon our thoughts such as a love that we develop for doing that action inspiring more action and finally where actions become habit, the completion of the personal cycle of incorporating goodness in our behavior is the habituation of performing this action...The action has become us. At this point we can teach it, inspire others and move on to the next action.
The thing is that often when we see a hadith and we are not what is expected of us, it is common that we ignore what we believe we cannot change. In reality, that is a fear that Shaitan is putting in us as a result of an incomplete knowledge. Imam Ali (as) talks about this in his first sermon of Nahjul Balagha where he talks about how Shaitan was jealous when Adam (as) was created (creation of Adam is the secion in the first sermon) there is an explanation from the author on it. In order to fight Shaitans whisperings we must fill the void of that knowledge with correct knowledge of it which begins the process. We can change anything because Allah is waiting for us to ask of him his help to change it.
So when we want to become what our Imams (as) expect of us and what is expected of the Ummah to achieve in order to bring our Imam out of occultation, we can instead of feeling helpless, focus on the trait and begin seeking knowledge of it. The fact that it has been put to our attention to bother us that we do not own that trait yet, is a sign that we are ready to obtain it.
When the student is ready, the teacher appears.
Which brings us back to Imam Mohammad Baqir (as) the founder of schools and the splitter of knowledges himself.
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