In this sermon, Maulana Ali (‘as) refers to faith and its supports and aspects, and atheism and its supports and aspects.
When God began the matters, He chose for Himself what he willed and extracted what He liked. Within the matters that He liked was faith. He accepted it; therefore, he derived the name of faith from His Name and gifted it with whomever He loved among His creatures. He then showed it. Hence, He made its springs within reach for whoever wants to have it and made its supports difficult for the opposites to penetrate. He also made faith the fort of him whoever is loyal to it, the security of him whoever wants to enter into it, the guidance of him whoever be-takes himself to it, the adornment of him whoever wants to have its beauty, the religion of him whoever braces it, the refuge of him whoever seeks its refuge, the bond of him whoever clings to it, the evidence of him whoever speaks of it, the honor of him who knows it, the wisdom of him whoever utters it, the light of him whoever seeks light from it, the proof of him whoever discusses about it, the claim of him whoever advances it as plea, the knowledge of him who understands, the narration of him who relates, the rule of him who judges, the forbearance of him who recounts, the reason of him who ponder over things, the understanding of him who meditates, the conviction of him who recognizes, the insight of him who determines, the sign of him who scrutinizes, the lesson of him who learns lessons, the salvation of him who believes in it, the Lord’s love for him who is virtuous, the nearness of him who seeks nearness, the confidence of him who depends (upon God), the rest of him who entrusts (with God), the color of him who does charitably, the welfare of him who takes haste steps (toward God), the shelter of him who endures, the dress of him who fears (God), the purification of him who seeks right guidance, the safety of him who submits (to God), and the spirit of the honest.
Faith is the principal of right. Right guidance is the way of the principal of right. Righteousness is its quality and glory is its feat. The course of faith is bright. Its signpost is brilliant. Its lights are luminous. Its extreme is high. Its racetrack is easy. Its milking is ready. Its prize is very precious. Its people are old. Its knights are noble. The virtuous deeds are its signboard. Chastity is its lights. Death is its extreme. The world is its racetrack. The Resurrection is its milking. Paradise is its prize. Hell is its punishment. God-fearing is its equipage. The charitable are its knights. By way of faith, the virtuous deeds are shown. By way of the virtuous deeds, the understanding is gained. By way of understanding, death is feared. Death is the seal of the world. Through the world, the other life is approached. Through the Resurrection, Paradise is loomed. Paradise is the regret of the people of Hell. Hell is the admonition of God-fearing. God-fearing is the origin of charity. God-fearing is a purpose the follower of which will never lose. Likewise, he who applied God-fearing to himself will never regret because it is the course through which the winners achieved triumph. The losers were beaten because of disobedience. Will the intelligent learn and the God-fearing ones remember?
Faith stands on four supports: on endurance, conviction, justice, and jihad.
Endurance again has four aspects: eagerness, fear, abstention (from the world) and anticipation (of death). So, whoever is eager for Paradise will ignore the passions; whoever fears the Fire (of Hell) will refrain from prohibited acts; whoever abstains from the world takes hardships lightly; and whoever anticipates death will hasten towards good deeds.
Conviction also has four aspects: prudent perception, intelligence and understanding, drawing lessons from instructive things and following the precedents of past people. So, whoever perceives with prudence, wise knowledge will be manifest to him, and to whomsoever wise knowledge becomes manifest he appreciates instructive objects, and whoever appreciates instructive objects, he is just like past people.
Justice also has four aspects: keen understanding, deep knowledge, good power of decision and firm forbearance. Therefore, whoever understands comes to acquire depth of knowledge; whoever acquires depth of knowledge drinks from the spring of judgment; and whoever exercises forbearance never commits evil actions in his affairs and leads a praiseworthy life among the people.
Jihad also has four aspects: to ask others to do good, to keep away others from doing evil, to fight (in the way of Allah) sincerely and firmly on all occasions, and to detest the vicious. So, whoever asks others to do good provides strength to the believers; whoever desists others from evil humiliates the unbelievers; whoever fights sincerely on all occasions discharges all his obligations; and whoever detests the vicious and becomes angry for the sake of Allah, then Allah will be angry in favor of him and will keep him pleased on the Day of Judgment.
Unbelief stands on four supports: on lechery, exaggeration, doubt, and sedition.
Lechery has four aspects—coarseness, blindness, inadvertence, and rebellion. The coarse will disgrace the believers, hate the jurists, and insist on guilt. The blind will disregard the remembrance, have ill mannerism, challenge the Creator, and be stirred by the Shaytan. The inadvertent will aggrieve themselves, turn over their backs, regard their seductions as rightness, be deceived by expectations, be befallen by regret, be uncovered, and will suffer what he has not supposed. He who rebels against God will doubt. God will exalt on anyone who doubts. Then He will humiliate him by His power and disgrace him by His Majesty. This is because he neglected and dis-regarded the Generous Lord.
Exaggeration has also four aspects: hankering after whims, mutual quarrelling, deviation from the truth, and dissension. So, whoever hankers after whims does not incline towards right. Except sinking in the whims, he will not obtain anything more. Whenever a seditious matter leaves him, another will cover him. He is living in confusion. He whoever quarrels and disputes will be befallen by failure and his affairs will be ragged. He whoever deviates from truth, for him good becomes evil and evil becomes good and he remains intoxicated with misguidance. He whoever makes a breach (with Allah and His Messenger), his path becomes difficult, his affairs become complicated, and his way of escape becomes narrow. He who takes a course other than the believers will surely be apostatizing his religion.
Doubt has also four aspects: unreasonableness, fear, wavering, and undue submission to everything. So, about which of the bounties of your Lord can the disputers persistently dispute? He who is afraid of what befalls him has to run on his heels. He who wavers in doubt the tardy will leave him behind, the last will catch up with him, and the Shaytans will trample him under their feet. He who submits to the destruction of this and the next world will perish in them both. Only the bearers of conviction may be saved.
Sedition has four aspects: fondness of the adornment, self-enticement, crooked interpretation, and confusion of the right and the wrong. Adornment will preclude evidence. Self-enticement leads to passion. Crookedness takes its adopter to a twisted inclination. Confusion is complicated groups of darkness. This is atheism and its supports and aspects.
Hypocrisy stands on four supports: whims, carelessness, rancor, and greed.
Whim has four aspects: oppression, aggression, passion, and insubordination. For those whoever oppress, their problems will be increasing and they will be disappointed and defeated. For those who aggress against other, they will not be secured against misfortunes, and their hearts will not be sound. He who does not stop against his whims will plunge into griefs. He who disobeys (God) will be intentionally deviating lacking any excuse or evidence.
The aspects of carelessness are arrogance, pride, negligence, and excessive expectation. Arrogance takes away from the right. Taking pride in the present leads to negligence of the coming. Negligence is an involvement in blindness. Because of expectation, man will have knowledge of the account of his present manners. If he knows the account of his present manners, he will die secretly due to the horror and fear that he concludes.
The aspects of rancor are conceit, boast, zeal, and tribalism. The conceited will fall behind. The boastful are dissolute. The zealous are stubborn. The tribalist is unfair. How bad is the matter that is lying among falling behind, dissolution, and stubbornness.
The aspects of greed are complacency, fun, disputation, and haughtiness. Complacency is abominated for God. Fun is vanity. Disputation is misfortune for it drives to sinning. Haughtiness is ill amusement, play, engagement, and substituting the bad for the good.
That was hypocrisy with its supports and aspects.
God is prevailing over His servants. His mentioning is exalted, His authority is upright, His power is firm, His blessing is widespread, His wisdom is luminous, His claim is evident, His religion is pure, His word is accurate, His ranks are present, His attribution is wholesome, His scales is fair, His messages are conveyed, and His keeping angels are attendant. He then made the sin as guilt, the guilt as sedition, and the sedition as profanity. He also made kindness as profit, apology as repentance, and repentance as purity. He whoever repents to God will be guided. He whoever follows seditious matters will surely be deviant unless he repents to God, confesses of his guilt, and believes in the kindness. God will not ruin except the perishing.
What great is God! How extensive are his repentance, mercy, good tidings, and forbearance! How intense are the fetters, fire, power, omnipotence, and vengeance the He has! He whoever wins obedience to God will choose for His honor, and he whoever is keeping himself in disobedience to Him will taste the harsh torture of His punishment. There is lying the blissful end.