Peak of Eloquence Nahjul Balagha By Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib - English Translation - Sermon 221

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Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib (x) recited this verse: “O you man!

What has beguiled you from your Lord, the most Gracious One?” (Holy Quran, 82: 6). Then he said the following :.

The addressee (in this verse) has no argument; his excuse is most deceptive. He is resigning himself to ignorance.

O man! What has emboldened you to (commit) sins? What had deceived you about your Lord, and what has made you satisfied with the destruction of your own soul? Is there no cure for your ailment or no awakening from your sleep? Do you not have pity on yourself as you have on others? Generally, when you see anyone exposed to the heat of the sun, you cover him with a shade. Or if you see anyone afflicted with grief that pains his body, you weep out of pity for him. What has then made you patient over your own disease? What has made you insistent on your own afflictions, and what has consoled you from weeping over yourself although your life is the most precious of all lives to you? Why does not the fear of an ailment that may befall you in the night keep you awake although you lie on the way to Allah’s wrath due to your sins?

You should cure the disease of languor in your heart with determination and the sleep of neglectfulness in your eyes with wakefulness. Be obedient to Allah and love His remembrance. Picture yourself running away while He is approaching you. He is calling you to His forgiveness and concealing your faults with His kindness, while you are fleeing away from Him, seeking others. Certainly, Great is Allah the powerful Who is so generous, and how humble and weak you are yet still so bold to commit disobedience to Him although you live in His protection and undergo changes of life in the expanse of His kindness. He

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does not exclude you from His kindness and does not remove you from His protection. In fact, you have not been without His kindness even for one single moment, whether it be a favor that He conferred upon you, or a sin of yours that He concealed, or a calamity that He has warded off from you. What is your idea about Him if you had obeyed Him? By Allah, if this had been the case with two persons equal in power and matching in might (one being inattentive and the other showering favors upon you), you would then have been the first to indict yourself of having a bad conduct and committing evil deeds.

I truthfully say that the world has not deceived you but you have had yourself deceived by it. The world opened to you the curtains and divulged to you (everything) equally. And in all that, it forewarned you about the troubles befalling your bodies and the decay in your power. It has been too true and faithful in promise and did not speak a lie to you or deceive you. There are many who advise you about it but they are blamed, and they speak the truth about it but they are opposed. If you understand the world by means of dilapidated and far- reaching power of drawing lessons, you would find it like one who is kind to you and cautious about you. It is good abode for whoever does not like it as an abode, a good place of stay for whoever does not regard it a permanent home for stay.

Only those who run away from this world today will tomorrow be regarded as virtuous. When an earthquake occurs, the Day of Resurrection approaches with all its severity, people of every worshiping place cling to it, while all the devotees cling to the objective of their devotion as all followers cling to their leaders. On that Day, even the act of one looking at the sky [wondering about what it contains and about the One Who created everything] or that of the sound of a footstep on the ground [of one who goes to perform a good deed] will be fully rewarded through His Justice and Equity. On that Day, many an argument will prove void and a contention for excuses will stand rejected.

You, therefore, should now adopt for yourselves the course with which your excuse may be sound and your plea may be heard. Take from the transient things of this world that which will stay for you (in the next world). Provide for your journey. Keep your gaze on the brightness of deliverance, and prepare the saddles (for setting off).