My dear daughters and sons! You should be aware that God, the Almighty, does not ignore any of your sufferings. Whatever suffering you endure, if it is for the sake of God, the Almighty will reward you twice as much. Yes, sometimes man suffers but he does not do so for the sake of God, and God will not reward him at all. You may have seen or heard in some prayers that are recited when making a pilgrimage, or in other supplications, the phrase “You waited patiently and reckoned,” in addressing the Infallible Imams - for example Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) – where we say you waited and reckoned. "Reckon" in this sense means that the Imam does this because of God and for the sake of Him. These include a moment of suffering, a moment of mental and spiritual pressure, a physical harm, hunger, thirst, an injury by a stone causing bleeding, a slander, an insult, an injustice, a lie, a lower grade than what you deserve being given on purpose, or anyone offending you. When you know that what you are doing is not rooted in evil desires or sin, or that it is either for the sake of God or is something that the Almighty God is not dissatisfied with, then this will be rewarded by God and will not be lost. God the Almighty is also “quick to reckon.”
On the fortieth day after Imam Khomeini passed away, I was returning home from his tomb by helicopter and I saw the large crowd. Forty days had passed since the decease of Imam Khomeini. I saw the dome and the minarets that had grown up from the ground, the building that the hearts of almost all Muslims in the world beat for, the flood of people, the great multitude of people who were going there on foot in that hot weather in July, the children, old men and women. I said, “My Lord! How soon you compensated.”
The sincerity of this man - Imam Khomeini - all the beautiful things he did in his life, struggles, efforts, cries [against oppression], resistance, those difficult decisions he made and the sufferings he underwent at an age suitable for retirement - that is, between eighty and ninety years old. All these issues after the Revolution took place in the last ten years of the Imam's life, from when he was about seventy-nine to eighty-nine years old. There was a body that had a soul, and that soul was pure sincerity. If it was not for that soul, all of these works would have been worthless and ineffective. Sincerity! The sincerity of this man bore results very soon! Forty days after his death, and there was such a magnificent scene! And this scene will be remembered forever. My dears, this scene is not forgettable. God the Almighty rewarded him quickly… Sometimes a man spends nights or days and thinks it is a very long time. Moments are like this. However, the Almighty God counts every moment. When a person looks at the days that have passed by so far, he/she sees how quickly time has passed by...
“Indeed Allah is swift in reckoning.” [Qur’an 3:19] God quickly reckoned and rewarded... “Indeed if one is Godwary and patient, Allah does not waste the reward of those who do good.” [Qur’an 12:90] Being patient means insisting on the correct stance, resistance. God will reward those who do good. In a prayer from Imam Sajjad (pbuh), we recite, “O guarantor of the reward of the righteous, and O corrector of the deeds of the corrupt.” [Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, Dua 40].
My dears! I advise you to heed piety in all your deeds. Think, examine and see what you are doing, what you want, what you are looking for, why you are studying, why you are saying something, why you keep silent and why you take action. One should not act as if they are intoxicated.
Amir al-Mu'minin, Imam Ali (peace be upon him), compares piety to a fine riding horse. The rider holds its reins and uses them to speed up or stop the horse wherever he wants. The opposite of piety is negligence and deviation. In the words of Imam Ali (pbuh), the opposite of piety is going astray in thoughts, speech, heart, movements of one’s hands and feet, and in decisions and actions, just like a horse that is not suitable for riding. It is like a wild, unrestrained horse with a rider who has no control over it. It is the horse that decides where to go. It is clear that such a person will not survive. [Jan. 14, 1999]
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