Preaching elements of Nahj al-Balagha
Out of the total of 239 pieces collected by Seyyed Razi, 86 sermons are sermons, and of course some of them are detailed and long, such as sermon 175, which begins with the phrase “Intafawa Babayan Allah”, and sermon 184, which is the longest sermon of Nahj al-Balagha, and sermon 184
Out of the total of 79 pieces that he collected under the title of books (letters), 25 letters are all sermons or contain sentences of advice, admonition, and preaching, and some of them are detailed and long, such as letter 31, which is the admonition of the Prophet to his children. Dear Imam Mojtabi (peace be upon him) and after the famous decree of that Imam to Malik Ashtar, the longest letters are, and the other letter 45 which is the same famous letter of that Imam to Uthman bin Hanif, the governor of Basra, on behalf of the Imam’s government..
The preaching elements of Nahj al-Balaghah are different and diverse. Piety, trust, patience, asceticism, avoiding worldliness, luxury, avoiding selfishness, avoiding longing, avoiding nervousness, avoiding cruelty and discrimination, encouraging to Benevolence and kindness and arresting the oppressed and supporting the weak, encouragement to perseverance, strength and courage, encouragement to unity and agreement and abandoning differences, invitation to learn from history, invitation to thinking and reminder and calculation and meditation, reminding the quick passing of life, Remembrance of death and the sufferings of Sukrat and worlds after death, reminiscence of the conditions of the Day of Judgment are among the elements that have been paid attention to in the sermons of Nahj al-Balagha..
In order to know Nahj al-Balagha from this point of view, in other words, to know Ali peace be upon him in the chair of preaching and exhortation, and to get acquainted with his school of preaching and actually benefit from that rich source, it is not enough to simply To enumerate the elements and topics that Ali (peace be upon him) raised in his speech, it is not enough to say that Ali spoke about piety, trust and asceticism, but we must see what his special meaning was from these meanings and his special educational philosophy about refinement. What has happened to people and their passion for purity and spiritual freedom and salvation from captivity?
These words are common words that are common in the language of the general public, especially those who take on a warning face, but the meaning of these words is not the same for all people, sometimes people’s concepts of these words are in opposite directions, and of course, opposite conclusions are drawn. It is from them .
piety
Taqwa is one of the most common words in Nahj al-Balagha. Few books like Nahj al-Balagha rely on the element of piety, and in Nahj al-Balagha, it is given less meaning and concept than piety. What is piety?
It is usually assumed that piety means “piousness” and in other words, piety means a negative practical method, the more avoidance, piety and withdrawal, the more perfect piety .
According to this interpretation, firstly, piety is a concept that is abstracted from the stage of action, secondly, it is a negative method, and thirdly, the more intense the negative aspect, the more complete the piety .
For this reason, the demonstrators of piety avoid black and white, wet and dry, hot and cold, and avoid any kind of interference in any kind of work, so as not to harm their piety in the slightest .
There is no doubt that the principle of abstinence is one of the principles of a healthy human life. In a healthy life, negation and affirmation, negation and affirmation, abandonment and action, symptoms and attention are combined. It is through negation and negation that one can achieve affirmation and affirmation. And by abandoning symptoms, it is possible to realize action and attention.
The word Tawheed means the word “There is no god but God” is a negation and an affirmation. Without negation, it is impossible to do Tawheed. This is that disobedience and submission, disbelief and faith are related to each other, that is, every submission involves disobedience and every faith includes disobedience. Disbelief and every claim and proof requires denial and negation: Femen ikfar baltaghut and you believe in God, there is no need to ask for it. (1 )
But first of all, abstinences, negations, disobediences, rebellions and blasphemies are in the limits of “contradictions”. Avoiding one opposite is to pass to another, cutting from one is a prelude to connecting with another .
Therefore, healthy and useful abstinences have both direction and purpose and are limited to certain limits. Therefore, a blind practical method that has no direction and purpose and is not limited to a limit cannot be defended and sanctified .
Secondly, the concept of piety in Nahj al-Balagha is not synonymous with the concept of abstinence, even its logical concept. In Nahj al-Balagha, piety is a spiritual force that emerges as a result of many exercises, and reasonable and logical abstinence is, on the one hand, the reason and precursor to the emergence of this spiritual state. On the other hand, it is its effect and result, and it is one of its accessories.
This state makes the soul strong and fresh and gives it immunity. A person who lacks this strength, if he wants to protect himself from sins, he has no choice but to keep himself away from the causes of sin. And because there are always causes of sin in the social environment, he is forced to withdraw from the environment and choose isolation.
According to this logic, one should either be pious and pious and withdraw from the environment, or one should enter the environment and kiss piety and leave it aside. According to this logic, the more avoidant and isolated people become, the more pious they appear in the eyes of the common people. do
But if the spiritual power of piety is found in an individual’s soul, it does not need to leave the environment, it keeps itself pure and beautiful without leaving the environment .
The first category are like those who seek refuge on the mountain slopes to avoid being infected with a contagious disease, and the second category are like those who create immunity by injecting some kind of vaccine, and not only do they not see the need to go out of the city. and avoid contact with people, rather they rush to the aid of the sick and save them. What Saadi brought to Golestan is an example of the first category.:
Badim Abedi in the hills Satisfied from the world to a cave
Why did I say don’t come to Ander city? What time do you get out of your heart?
He said that there are no shepherds There are so many flowers that the pilan slips
Nahj al-Balagheh proposed piety as a spiritual and spiritual force that emerges as a result of practice and practice, and in turn has effects, accessories, and results, among which it makes it easy to avoid sin .
I am responsible for the words of hostages and I am for Zaim .
Indeed, I guarantee the correctness of my speech and I pledge my responsibility to my speech. If the lessons of the past serve as a mirror for a person, piety prevents him from engaging in dubious actions. As far as he says :
Except for those who commit sins, the sun will carry their families and take off their clothes, so they will fight with me in the fire. Except for those who are righteous and humiliated, they will carry them, their families, and their dead will bring them to Paradise (2) .
Verily, leaving mistakes and sins and reins in the hands of the soul is like unruly horses whose bridle has been taken out of their heads and the authority has gone out of the rider’s shoes, and eventually the horses will throw their riders into the fire. And piety is like scorpions It is calm, obedient and tame, whose reins are in the hand of the rider, and those animals calmly lead their riders to heaven..
In this sermon, piety is mentioned as a mental and spiritual state, the effect of which is the control and ownership of the soul. This sermon says that it is necessary to be impious and obedient to the whims of the soul, to be weak, tongue-in-cheek, and impersonal against sensual stimuli and sensual moods. In that state, a human being is like a horseman who has no will and authority of his own, and this is compounded by the fact that he goes wherever he wants. The need for piety is to have the strength of will and spiritual character, and to be the owner of one’s own sphere of existence, like a skilled horseman who He is riding on a well-trained horse and with full power and control he drives the horse in the direction he has chosen and the horse obeys with complete ease..
The piety of God is forbidden to the saints of God, and the necessity of their hearts is fearful, even the captivity of their nights and the hardships of their journeys (3) .
God’s piety has placed the saints of God in its protection, has prevented them from violating the boundaries of God’s prohibitions, and has placed the fear of God in their hearts, to the extent that their nights are sleepless (due to worship) and their days are restless. The water has turned (due to fasting) .
Here, Ali (peace be upon him) states that piety is something that avoids divine prohibitions and fear of God is one of its effects. Therefore, in this logic, piety is neither avoidance nor fear of God, but it is a spiritual force. And the holy one who is looking after these matters.
Fan al-Taqwi in the day of al-Haraz and Jannah and in Ghad al-Tariq to Jannah (4) .
Indeed, piety is like a fence and a shield for man in today’s world, and in the hereafter it is the way to heaven .
In sermon 156, he compared piety to a high and strong shelter that the enemy cannot penetrate .
In all of these, the Imam’s attention is focused on the psychological and spiritual aspect of piety and the effects it has on the soul, so that it creates a desire for purity and good deeds and a feeling of hatred for sin and filth in a person .
There are other examples in this field and maybe this amount is enough and there is no need to mention them .
According to Nahj al-Balagheh, piety is a spiritual force, a holy and sublime force that is the source of pulls and escapes, pulls towards spiritual and supernatural values, and escapes from material pollutions. Piety is a state that gives personality and strength to the human soul and makes a person master himself and own himself .
Piety is protection and refuge, not chains, prisons, and restrictions. There are many people who do not distinguish between immunity and limitations, and in the name of freedom and release from shackles, they give fatwas to destroy the fence of piety .
The common destiny of asylum and prison is to prevent you, but asylum is to prevent dangers and prison is to prevent the exploitation of gifts and talents. This is what Ali, peace be upon him, says :
Let the servants of God know that piety is a dear fortress, and al-Fujur is a humble fortress, so that there is no shame for the people and no protection for them .
Servants of God! Know that piety is a high and impregnable fence and rampart, and impiety and immorality is a low fence and rampart that does not prevent and protect its inhabitants and does not protect the one who takes refuge in it. The sting of mistakes will be cut.
Ali, peace be upon him, in this excellent statement, compares sin and error, which harms a person’s life, to bites such as snakes and scorpions, and says that the power of piety cuts off the sting of these bites .
Ali, peace be upon him, states in some words that piety is the main source of freedom, that is, it is not only a constraint and an obstacle to freedom, but it is the source and origin of all freedoms .
He says in sermon 221 :
God’s piety is the key to the payment and saving of the resurrection and the release of my whole queen and my salvation of the whole world .
Indeed, piety is the key to righteousness and the burden of resurrection and freedom from all slavery and salvation from all destruction .
The matter is clear, piety gives a person spiritual freedom, that is, it frees him from the captivity and slavery of whims and caprices, removes the chains of greed, envy, lust, and anger from his neck, and in this way, the roots of poverty and slavery It destroys the social. People who are not slaves to money, position, and seeking comfort will never fall under the burden of social oppression and oppression..
Among the works of piety that have been mentioned, two are the most important works, one is insight and insight, and the other is the ability to solve problems and get out of hardships. (6)
In Nahj al-Balagha, although it is insisted that piety is a kind of guarantor and guarantee against sin and error, attention is paid to the fact that at the same time, man should not immediately neglect the protection and guarding of piety. Piety is the guardian of man, and man is the guardian of piety. And this distance is not impossible but permissible.
This mutual guarding is of the type of guarding of man and clothes, where man is the guard of the clothes from theft and tearing, and the clothes are the guard of the man from cold and heat, and as we know, the Holy Qur’an has interpreted piety as clothes, and the garment of piety is good (7) .
Ali, peace be upon him, says about the mutual protection of man and piety :
Iqzwa bhaa my name, and Akthwaha bhaa yumkam, and the Asharos of my hearts, and Arhzvaa bhaa my sins… except the fasuns and tsunwahs (8) .
Turn your sleep into awakening through piety and end your time with it and revive the feeling of it in your heart and wash away your sins with it, protect piety and put yourself under the protection of piety .
And he also says :
I command you, the servants of Allah, to fear Allah, for they are the right of Allah, alaikum, and the right of the righteous to Allah is my right .
Servants of God! I command you to piety. Indeed, piety is a divine right upon you and the Creator is a right from you to God. I command you to achieve piety with the help of God and reach God with the help of piety .
Another element of a Nahj al-Balaghah sermon is asceticism. Among the elements of a sermon, perhaps the element of asceticism is repeated the most after the element of piety. Zahd is synonymous with leaving the world. In Nahj al-Balaghah, we often condemn the world and call to leave it. It seems that the most important topic of the Nahj al-Balaghah, which needs to be interpreted according to all aspects of the words of Amir al-Mu’minin, is this topic, and considering that asceticism and leaving the world are synonymous in the interpretations of the Nahj al-Balaghah, this topic is more important than any other topic. It has been discussed more than the elements of Nahj al-Balagha.
Asceticism and desire, if they are mentioned without an attribute, are the opposite of each other .
There are two types of reluctance: natural and mental. Natural reluctance is when the human nature does not have a desire towards a certain object, just as the sick nature does not have a desire for food, fruit and other pleasant substances or drinks. It is obvious that this type Reluctance and symptoms have nothing to do with asceticism.
Spiritual, mental or heart reluctance is that the objects that are the object of natural desire and desire, in terms of human thought and desire – which is in search of happiness and perfection – are not the goal and purpose, the goal and purpose and the ultimate desire and the desired perfection of things. Let us be above worldly carnal pleasures, whether those matters are carnal pleasures of the hereafter, or they are not primarily of carnal pleasures, but of moral virtues, such as dignity, honor, dignity, freedom, or of spiritual and divine knowledge, such as the remembrance of God. God’s love, closeness to God’s Holy Essence.
Therefore, an ascetic means someone whose attention has passed from the material things of the world as desirable perfection and the highest desire, and has turned his attention to something else of the type of things that we have said. Nature area .
He says in sermon 80 :
O people! Al-Zahadah is short of hope and al-shakr at the blessing and piety at the maharam .
O people! Asceticism is shortness of desire and gratitude during blessings and piety towards unnecessary things .
He says in Hikmat 439 :
Al-Zuhd is one of the words of the Qur’an, God Almighty said, “I will not be happy with you, and you will not be happy with me . “
Asceticism is summarized in two sentences of the Qur’an so that you do not feel sorry for what you lose (of worldly material things) and do not be happy for what God gives you. has been achieved
It is obvious that when something was not perfectly desired or was not the main desired but was a means, the bird of desire does not flap its wings around it and does not open its feathers and its coming and going does not cause happiness or sadness .
But it should be seen whether asceticism and withdrawal from the world, which has been insisted and emphasized a lot in Nahj al-Balaghah following the teachings of the Qur’an, has only a spiritual and moral aspect, and in other words, asceticism is only a spiritual quality, or whether it also has a practical aspect. has it? That is, is asceticism only spiritual symptoms or is it combined with practical symptoms?
And according to the second assumption, are the practical symptoms limited to the symptoms of taboos and that is all that is mentioned in sermon 80 or is it something more like the practical life of Ali (peace be upon him) and before him the practical life of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) And what does it show?
And based on the assumption that asceticism is not limited to prohibitions, it also includes pleasures, what is its philosophy?
And should it be done absolutely or is it only allowed under certain conditions?
And basically, is asceticism compatible with other Islamic teachings to the extent of its symptoms?
In addition to all this, the basis of asceticism and rejection from the world is based on the choice of our desired perfections. What are those desirable perfections from the point of view of Islam? Especially how is it expressed in Nahj al-Balaghah?
subscripts
۱-Baqarah/256 .
۲- Nahj al-Balagha, sermon 16 .
۳- Nahj al-Balagha, sermon 113 .
۴- Nahj al-Balagha, sermon 233 .
۵ Nahj al-Balagha, sermon 157 .
۶- Refer to the Book of Speeches of the Month, the first volume, the second speech, or to the book of Ten Speeches
۷-Araf/26 .
۸- Sermon 233 .
۹- The same
