Pearl of Wisdom
was asked about jihad, as to whether it was a recommended act or an obligatory one, to which he replied, 'jihad comes in four forms, two of which are obligatory, one of which is recommended but can only be undertaken withan obligation, and one which is recommended. The first obligatory jihad is that which a man wages against his own self in keeping away from acts of disobedience to Allah. This is one of the greatest forms of jihad. Waging jihad against those disbelievers who persecute you is also an obligation. As for the jihad which is recommended but can only be undertaken withan obligation is to fight the enemy, which is an obligation upon the whole community, and which if they abandon, they are all Punishable for it. It is a recommendation upon an Imam, the limit of which is to come and face the enemy and fight them with his community. As for the jihad which is recommended, it is [embodied in) every recommended practice which a person performs and strives in its performance, its completion and its revival. Such an act, and the stnvmg to perform it is one of the best deeds because it is a revival of the Prophetic practice, and the Prophet (SAWA) has said, 'Whoever establishes a good habitual practice, he will get his own reward for it as well as the reward of whoever performs it after him until the Day of Resurrection, without any decrease in their reward thereof.'
Imam Hussain ibn Ali al-Shahid [as] Tuhaf al-'Uqul, p. 243
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About decline and destruction of the world |
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Sermon 63 About decline and destruction of the world
O' creatures of Allah! Fear Allah and anticipate your death by good actions. Purchase everlasting joy by paying transitory things - pleasures of this world. Get ready for the journey, for you are being driven, and prepare yourselves for death, since it is hovering over you. Be a people who wake up when called, and who know that this world is not their abode, and so have it changed (with the next). Certainly, Allah has not created you aimlessly nor left you as useless. There is nothing between anyone of you and Paradise or Hell except death that must befall him. The life that is being shortened every moment and being dismantled every hour must be regarded very short. The hidden thing namely death which is being driven (to you) by two over new phenomena, the day and the night, is certainly quick of approach. The traveller which is approaching with success or failure (namely death) deserves the best of provision. So acquire such provision from this world while you are here with which you may shield yourself tomorrow (on the Day of Judgement). So everyone should fear Allah, should admonish himself, should send forward his repentance and should overpower his desire, because his death is hidden from him, his desires deceive him and Satan is posted on him and he beautifies for him sin so that he may commit it and prompts him to delay repentance till his desires make him the most negligent. Piety is for the negligent person whose life itself would be a proof against him and his own days (passed in sin) would lead him to punishment. We ask Allah, the Glorified, that He may make us and you like one whom bounty does not mislead, whom nothing can stop from obedience of Allah and whom shame and grief do not befall after death.
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