Hz Abu Dharr (ra) asked Hz Salman (as), “O?Abu Abdullah! What is the recognition of the noor of Ameerul Momi neen (as)?” Hz Salman (as) replied, “O?Jondab! Let?
s go to Ameerul Momineen (as) and ask Him how to recogni ze His Noor.” So they went to Moula Ali (as), but they did not fi nd Him there. They sat down to wait for Moula Ali (as) to return. Moula Ali (as) returned back and said upon seeing them waiting, “What has brought you to Me on this occasion?”They said, “O?Ameerul Momi neen (as)! We came to ask you how we gain the recognition of your Noor (marifat tul noorania).” Upon hearing their reply, Moula Ali (as) said, “You are religious friends and always struggle in order to gai n more knowledge. You are not from the Muqassireen at all. I swear by My Life, Our marifat tul noorania (recognition of Noor) is wajib (compulsory) on every momin and momina. Then ‘Imam Alí (a.s )narrated:He who accepts my Wilayat superficially (without having deep knowledge and firm belief), has little reward for his deeds, (as their scale will be light, their souls will be in perdition). O Salmán! The faith (iman) of a believer will not attain the level of perfection unless and until he would recognize me as a Noor-the Light. When someone knows me as Noor, only then he would truly attained faith; he is the one whose heart has been tested with the true faith, whose chest (self) is dilated in true Islam and whose faith is based on discernment. Thus, he becomes an „Arif?-staunch believer and embraces faith with peace of mind. But that he who fell short of this cognition – he will be a doubter, immersed in disbelief. O Salmán! O Jondáb! In true essence, recognition of me as a Noor is the acceptance of Allah and recognition and knowledge of Allah is indeed my appreciation; this is the meanings of sincere devotion. Mankind was ordered by Allah to seek nothing but to admit His Tawheed (Oneness). And all were commanded to worship none but One Allah. And they have been commanded no more than this: “To worship Allah, offering Him sincere devotion, being true (in faith), to establish regular prayer; and to practice regular charity; and that is the religion, right and straight path.” “Worshipping Allah” is believi ng in „Tawheed?. “Sincere devotion” and “being true i n faith” are the confessions to the prophet hood of the Prophet (saw)of Allah . “Establishing Prayer” is my „guardianship and devotion?. He who pledges devotion and submission unto me has truly established the obligatory prayers (salat).
Beginning of Religion
Just as a human is one day born and then one day will die. The ideology of religion is similar. It begins with the Creator and ends with the Creator. The human must know he has a Creator. He must believe there is an afterlife. Whatever he has done during his life, he must answer for it to his Creator. When a human forgets his death, this is when he rebels against the laws of the Creator. Now I will give an example for death which no one can deny. Maybe you will even be amazed, but this is an ultimate truth. In this world, no one believes he will die one day. People are afraid of death, but they do not truly believe in death. If they did believe they would die one day, then its effect could be seen on their faces and in their actions. You must remember a few years ago the metrology department announced a hurricane was advancing towards Karachi very rapidly.They told it would destroy the whole city of Karachi.When the people heard this, the whole city was stunned. Fear spread throughout the city, and every person was extremely worried. This was only news which could have been true or not. This is what happened to the people, but the storm did not come. The death is not news. It is a test for the humans. We see thousands of people dying. We bury hundreds of people ourselves. Have you ever seen one person whose face and actions could tell that he really believes in death? Ameerul Momineen (as) described this reality in these words “The people think the death is not for them. They think that it is only for others. The people who we see dying are travelers who soon will come back to us. The moment we bury them we start eating whatever he left behind as if we will always live in this world. (Najul Balagha saying 133)” In Usool e Kafi book Iman o Kufr page no. 158 hadith no. 9 Imam Riza (as) said, “I am amazed at the person who knows of death and is still happy.”
Two Religions
Wherever you find the ideology of religion present, you will always find two different types of religion. One is religion of fear. The second is free religion. The third one which people do not pay attention to is the religion of love. It is necessary to look into the religion of fear. This is the religion in which humans are always afraid. If he does this, this punishment will happen. If he does that, then he wi ll be doomed for eternity to a horrible punishment. So he lives his life in constant fear. From this religion of fear, two horrible results have come about.
The first result is that some people thought that if they missed one prayer time or if they missed one day of fasting that they will go to jahannum (hell). Due to this fear, they do many different things which have nothing to do with the real religion.
One act they do out of fear is they wear their pants high above their ankles. They also increase the size of their beards. They forget everything except the prayers in which people will see them doing. Out of this religion of fear grew up a violent
and extremist type mentality in regards to how to perform religious acts of worship.
The first result is that some people thought that if they missed one prayer time or if they missed one day of fasting that they will go to jahannum (hell). Due to this fear, they do many different things which have nothing to do with the real religion.
One act they do out of fear is they wear their pants high above their ankles. They also increase the size of their beards. They forget everything except the prayers in which people will see them doing. Out of this religion of fear grew up a violent
and extremist type mentality in regards to how to perform religious acts of worship.