PROVISIONS FOR THE JOURNEY (MISHKAT), VOLUME 1

Book index

First Pages a1
Foreword 1
LESSON ONE 3
The Quality of Servitude and the Path to Eternal Bliss 5
Worship and the perception of Allah 7
Worship and adoration of Allah is a means of ascending and rising through the stations of perfection for the believers 9
The stages of worship of Allahb 11
a) Knowledge of Allah 0
b) Belief in the Prophet (s) and acknowledgement of his divine mission 12
c) Love for the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt (‘a) 13
Likening the Ahl al-Bayt to Noah’s (‘a) vessel and the gate of repentance for the Children of Israel 14
LESSON TWO 17
The Need for Deriving Correct Benefit from Allah’s Blessings 19
Health and leisure, two unknown favors 20
Youth is a period of vitality and liveliness 22
The need for appreciating health and ability 24
This world’s life is a ground of choices, growth and spiritual ascension 25
LESSON THREE 29
Correct Perception of the Realities of Life and Making Optimum Use of [Man’s] Lifespan 31
Making timely use of opportunities and keeping protracted hopes at bay 0
The stages of negligence 32
Asceticism and wrong interpretations 33
Asceticism and belief in the primacy of the hereafter 34
Discharging religious duties and obligations promptly 36
The thought of death terminates protracted hopes 37
The intermediary role of the world 38
LESSON FOUR 41
The Prophet’s (s) Recommendation to Make Good Use of Present Abilities 43
The role of meditation upon death and the consequences of sin 0
The need for appreciating life 45
Discharging duties on time and not being anxious about the following day 46
LESSON FIVE 49
Castigating the Acquisition of Knowledge for Worldly Goals 51
The consequences of not acting upon knowledge and attaining social rank by means of it 0
The consequences of acquiring knowledge for the sake of deceiving others 53
Admitting ignorance is a quality of the divine scholars 54
Man’s biggest regret on the Day of Resurrection 55
The categories of scholars in the words of ‘Alī (‘a) 57
LESSON SIX 59
The Magnificence and Magnitude of the Rights of Allah’s Blessings and the Need for Attention to Obligations 61
The greatness of the rights of Allah and the infiniteness of His blessings 0
The shortness of life and the immortality of good and bad works 63
a) The embodiment of man’s worldly works on the Day of Resurrection 64
b) The suddenness of death is a cause of vigilance and wakefulness 65
The pre-ordination of man’s sustenance and its inaccessibility to others 0
The unity of divine actions [tawhīd-i af‘ālī] and the source of Allah’s beneficence 67
LESSON SEVEN 69
The Vigilance and Alertness of a Believer 71
Companionship with the pious and religious scholars, and the difference of sin in the perception of a believer and an infidel 0
The need for choosing a worthy friend and perceiving sin as great 72
The danger of unrestrained scholars and unwise and foolish ignorant people 73
Paying heed to sin and conceiving it as great is a result of Allah’s grace and favor 76
The need for paying heed to the greatness of the One who is being disobeyed not the smallness of sin 77
LESSON EIGHT 81
The Correspondence of Words with Actions and Guarding the Tongue 83
The effects of the correspondence and lack of correspondence of words with actions 0
The role of sin in being deprived of sustenance 86
Sin in the chain of causes 88
Guarding the tongue and keeping aloof from vain pursuits 90
LESSON NINE 93
The Value and Importance of Prayer and the Differences of Status of the Dwellers of Paradise 95
Subdividing some of the Prophet’s (s) advices 0
The station of Allah’s devotees and the nocturnal worshipers 96
The differences in the gratifications enjoyed by the dwellers of the different stations of paradise 98
The Prophet’s (s) intense love for prayer 100
Prayer is the key to prosperity and bliss 102
Perceiving the sweetness of prayer is the secret of its continuance 104
LESSON TEN 105
The Leaders of Heaven and the Status of Some of the Duties and the Levels of Paradise 107
The leaders of paradise 0
Natural disposition and the search for perfection 108
The status and rank of some duties 111
a) The status and rank of prayer 0
b) The status and rank of fasting 112
c) The status and rank of the jihād 113
The differences of believers in their enjoying the different levels of paradise 114
LESSON ELEVEN 117
The Importance and Role of Fear and Sorrow (1) 119
Fear and sorrow and abstinence from sin 0
Fear and sorrow and spiritual ascension and growth of man 121
The difference between fear and sorrow 0
The world is a prison for a believer and paradise for an infidel 125
Meditation about hell is a cause of fear and sorrow for a believer 126
LESSON TWELVE 129
The Importance and Role of Fear and Sorrow (2) 131
Beneficial and valuable knowledge 0
Security and peace in paradise are a product of fear and dread of Allah in the world 134
The forgiveness of sins is a result of fear of Allah 135
Criticizing dependence on good works 137
The role of paying heed to sin in shunning the Devil 138
A study of the nature of fear and sorrow and the meaning of fear of Allah 139
The simultaneous appearance of opposing and conflicting states 143
LESSON THIRTEEN 147
The Insignificance and Minuteness of the World and the Importance of Perceiving the Hereafter 149
The differences of perception and conduct between an intelligent and an unintelligent person 0
Trustworthiness and humility 150
a) The function of trustworthiness 152
b) The function of humility 153
The insignificance and minuteness of the world in Allah’s views 159
LESSON FOURTEEN 163
Extolling Pursuit of the Hereafter, Asceticism and Spiritual Discernment in Religion and Reproaching Materialism 165
Reproaching materialism and elucidating the highness of faith 0
The need for loving the hereafter 168
Allah’s benevolence and awareness of religion and asceticism in the world 170
LESSON FIFTEEN 177
Wisdom, Foresight and an Angle of the Prophet’s (s) Way of Life 179
Wisdom and foresight are the products of asceticism 0
Signs of the most ascetic people 183
Protracted hopes and procrastination of obligations is a sign of weakness of faith and weakness of confidence in Allah 187
An angle of the Prophet’s (s) way of life 188
LESSON SIXTEEN 191
The Danger of Loving Wealth and Position and Praising Contentment and Simple Living 193
The world, a goal or a means 0
The reproached world 194
Poor believers are light-burdened on the Day of Resurrection 196
Praising contentment and simple living and reproaching covetousness 200
Recommending detachment from the world and disinclination to it 202
LESSON SEVENTEEN 207
The Effects of Crying for the Hereafter, the Broadness of a Believer’s Heart and Piousness 209
The effects of crying for the hereafter 0
The broadness of a believer’s heart and its signs 211
Piousness and fleeing from sanctimony and hypocrisy 214
The intention and its role in the evaluation of works 216
LESSON EIGHTEEN 219
Honoring the Divine Majesty and Splendor of Allah 221
The status of invocation of Allah in the Qur’an and hadīths 0
The quality and quantity of invocation of Allah 224
The relationship between invocation with words and invocation with the heart 226
Two benefits of invocation with words 227
LESSON NINETEEN 231
The Greatness of Allah’s Status in the Viewpoint of the Angels 233
The role of arousing hope and fear 0
The essence of fear and dread of Allah 235
The benefit and status of fear of Allah 236
The status of fear of the leaders and the saints [awliyā’] of Allah 239
The perfection of man and the feeling of humility and lowliness in regard to Allah 241
Fear of Allah and fleeing from sin and obsession with popularity and position 242
The role of perceiving the status of the fear of the lovers of Allah and the angels 243
LESSON TWENTY 247
The Prophet’s (s) Description of Heaven and Hell 249
Meditation about the greatness of creatures 0
The indescribable greatness of the Resurrection 251
Describing a section of the tortures of hell 253
The reaction of people and angels in the face of the clamor and roar of the hell 255
Heaven is the eternal abode of the believers and righteous 256
LESSON TWENTY ONE 261
The Importance of Meditation and the Need for Preserving Factors which Ward off Negligence 263
The three recommendations of the Prophet (s) 264
a) Speaking softly at the time of escorting a funeral 0
b) Speaking softly at the time of war 268
c) Speaking softly at the time of reciting the Qur’an 269
The consequences of inattention to the causes of spiritual wakefulness 271
Reproaching laziness and vain laughting 273
The role of meditation in worship 275
LESSON TWENTY TWO 279
The Realm of Right and Falsehood 281
Right and falsehood and the instances of their application 0
The visible appearance of right and falsehood 283
Man and his free-will, volition and Allah’s temptations 284
Man and the two inclinations towards right and falsehood 288
The general inclination to sensual and worldly pleasures 291
LESSON TWENTY THREE 295
The Perfect Scholar and the Practical Appearance of Belief in the Unity of Divine Actions 297
Abraham and belief in the unity of divine actions 298
Reliance on everything else other than Allah is a result of lack of belief in the unity of divine actions 300
Shaykh Ansārī and his flight from the Devil’s trap 301
Humility is an agent of divinity and honor 304
Imām al-Sajjād (‘a) and the perception of spiritual deficiency and poverty 305
The fruits of true faith in the words of the Noble Prophet (s) 308
LESSON TWENTY FOUR 311
The Importance of Self-Examination, Comparing Works and Shame for Allah 313
Self-examination is an unavoidable need 0
Preconditioning [mushāritah], watching over the soul [murāqibah] and self-examination [muhāsibah] 316
The benefit of self-examining the soul 319
Shame as a result of ugliness of works 323
The concept and domain of shame and shyness 325
The causes of propagating wrong manners and false customs 326

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First Pages




بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم

In the Name of Allah,
the All-beneficent, the All-merciful





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Ahl Al-Bayt World Assembly

The Ahl al-Bayt World Assembly  is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) that was established by a group of Shiite elites under the supervision of the great Islamic authority of the Shiites in 1990 to identify, organize, educate and support the followers of Ahl al-Bayt.

  • Tehran Iran
  • 88950827 (0098-21)
  • 88950882 (0098-21)

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