In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
The custodians of the Holy Jamkaran Mosque are present here. In my opinion, one of the greatest divine blessings is rendering service at the holy and auspicious Jamkaran Mosque. Those who have this opportunity – whether brothers or sisters – should appreciate its value.
The thriving of one’s spiritual life relies on constant remembrance of God, supplicating to Him, humbleness before Him and dhikr [praying and paying attention to God]. The opportunity to perform them is available to us in divine mosques and in places of worship, in particular in those centers and mosques where there is a trace and sign of God’s friends[1]. The places where we know for sure or assume to be favored by God’s friends are naturally more spiritual and the auspicious Jamkaran Mosque is one of these places and centers where opportunities to pay attention to God the Exalted, praying, humbleness before Him, and supplication and pleading to Him are more readily accessible.
Fortunately today, this center receives attention from the people. In the past, this was not the case. During the years where I was in Qom, a small number of people used to visit the mosque on the eves of Wednesdays or Fridays and very rarely did they stay there. They were very limited in number. I myself who resided in Qom for a few years found the opportunity to visit Jamkaran Mosque only a few times. It was not common because hearts were not drawn and attracted to spiritual affairs. The environment was not a spiritual environment. That was why such a great and holy center – which was favored by great and sacred personalities and by the servants and saints of God – was ignored by the people, with no one paying attention to it. Of course, a number of great scholars used to pay a visit to the Mosque including the late Fayz Kashani (may God bestow paradise on him). His son, the late Alam-ul-Hoda (may God bestow paradise on him) [Mohammad Kashani known as Alam-ul-Hoda] has a publication in which he mentions that his father and he once paid a visit to the Jamkaran Mosque.
Spiritual and pious personalities were attached to this place, but the masses of the people and ordinary individuals – even us the clergy – were negligent towards it. One of the flaws of non-religious and non-spiritual political systems is neglecting these issues. In such systems, the people ignore the values that are available to them and that they can benefit from. If the system that rules over the society is a spiritual, divine and religious one, one of the natural characteristics that will ensue is the promotion of spirituality to such effect that it will be noticeable to people and that hearts will be drawn to it. This is what has happened today.
Of course, this does not mean that no sin is committed today and that there is no bad, indifferent and negligent person. This is not the case, but there is a difference between a society which promotes a spiritual environment and which introduces spirituality as a value and a society in which spirituality is completely ignored or introduced as an anti-value. That is why we should appreciate the value of this environment.
Therefore, you brothers and sisters who are present here and who are busy rendering service in different ways should appreciate the value of this. In this holy place, everything – including all plans, all measures and all services rendered to the people – should move in the direction of dhikr, attention to God, supplication, and the like. After all, Satan is present everywhere including in spiritual places. It is not the case that Satan says, “I will not enter a place which has turned into a mosque or a shrine.” No, Satan shows his presence wherever we go.
He shows up even during tawaf [an Islamic ritual during which Muslims go around Ka’bah seven times]. Sometimes, the worst vices, insults and the like have been perpetrated in the holiest places, whether sins committed during the tawaf of holy Ka’bah or wrongdoings committed on the path to Mina and Arafat. These sins have been recorded in history. There is a poem that we read in Moghni: “By Allah, I do not know, although I really tried to know, if I did the stoning [of the obelisks] seven or eight times [because of my attention to her].”
It was Omar ibn Abi Rabiah, a well-known Arab poet, who composed this poem. Well, such wrongdoings were committed during the stoning of the devil and in other such places. Satan exists in the Jamkaran Mosque as well. Therefore, you should be wary of him. You should be watchful not to let him harm the people and you yourselves as well. Such care is referred to as taqwa [piety] in our Quranic and Islamic literature. Piety means this: it means that we should constantly be observant of ourselves.
If this observance is exercised, Satan’s impact and influence will be reduced and his blade will be blunt. However, if we do not exercise this watchfulness and if we ignore it, we will fall into Satan’s hands and he will do whatever he wants to us, like a lifeless and unconscious body that falls into the hands of a conscious person. He will sway the body in whichever direction he wants. If we show negligence, Satan will do that to us. Satan appears in our daily prayers as well. He appears in tawaf, during praying and during supplication to God. Therefore, we should be very careful.
In any case, we are very grateful to the brothers and sisters who render services in Jamkaran. Also, I am very thankful to Mr. Vafi who has undertaken these services. I hope that God will help all of you and approve of your work. You who are there should pray for us. You should pray to Allah the Exalted so that He will help us get close to him and engage in supplication and so that we will also benefit from humbleness before God and pleading and supplicating to Him.
Greetings and Allah’s mercy be upon you
[1] اولیاءاللّه
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