In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and peace and greetings be upon our Master Muhammad, and upon his immaculate household, and may God curse all their enemies.
“Oh Jaber! Life fades away like a shadow. The word of monotheism is a source of dignity for the followers of monotheism. Daily prayers will stabilize sincere belief, and will remove arrogance.” [Speaking in Arabic]
The rest of what Imam Baqir (a.s.) said to Jaber about life is as follows:
“Oh Jaber! Life fades away like a shadow.” [Speaking in Arabic]
Life is like a shadow; the Arabic word used for shadow refers to the shadow of the end of the day. As this shadow announces the end of the day, and when this shadow stretches longer, it indicates that the daylight is coming to an end; it is the same with our life. Here in this world, your and my life resembles that shadow: the longer this shadow stretches, the closer we get to the end. Some people are happy when the year is over, and a new year begins; well, it's okay, because it's Eid, and happiness is fine, but it's also worth pondering: when the year is over, one year of our life has come to an end. Indeed, it is our life that is coming to an end; this should be pondered over. It is true for both the elderly and the young; of course, it is more likely for older people to die, but it is also possible for young people. In this same gathering, we had some young individuals who were many years younger than our present age and died; it should be noted that as the time passes, man is actually getting closer to the end of life.
“The word of monotheism [there is no god but God] is a source of dignity for the followers of monotheism.” [Speaking in Arabic]
Then he continues by saying, “The word of monotheism is a source of dignity for the followers of monotheism.” Why? Because when you say “there is no god but God” you deny being slaves of anyone or anything except the One God. The essential problem of the people throughout history has been worshipping things other than God; such as worshipping the pharaohs; the same is true today: people are slaves of money, position, lust, major powers. When you say “there is no god but God” it means I worship only One; not money, not position, not the emperor, not the Pharaoh. Worshiping is not merely to sanctify the worshipped; no, one may not even believe in it in his heart, yet worships it! Worshiping is to obey completely; this is worshiping. So when we say there is no god but God, we are in fact providing a source of dignity for ourselves; “and he will relieve them of their burden and the fetters that they used to wear;” [the Quran: 7:157]. We are, thus, relieving ourselves of our burdens.
“Daily prayers will stabilize sincere belief.” [Speaking in Arabic]
Then, he goes on by saying that daily prayers have certain outcomes: firstly establishment of sincere faith. It means acting for the cause of God; like performing prayers, which is pure remembrance of God, while it is not mixed with anything. Since, once a man starts to perform prayers, he engages in divine remembrance—that is, if it is done with attention; [but] if we get distracted, it won’t apply to us. However, for those who are attentive and truly feel they are present before God the Exalted, their prayers would be pure remembrance of God: both by words and actions. Standing before God, bowing down to God, prostrating before God, raising hands in prayers before God represent pure remembrance, and will increase sincere faith in one’s heart. This is one point.
“…will remove arrogance.” [Speaking in Arabic]
Daily prayers will also remove arrogance from human beings because we lie prostrate while performing prayers. Nonetheless, we should be cautious that in the prayers we perform, especially those of us who are prayers leaders and a group of people perform prayers following us, this should not take the form of having a senior position that might make us arrogant. While performing prayers, if someone thinks that he is leading the prayers and the crowd of 500, 1000 or 10,000 people are following him, this is in itself a cause of arrogance. If this does not happen, then the prayers will be anti-arrogance; because it involves bowing and prostrating and humbleness.
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