Transcription
A FATHER’S ADVICE—o—Printed at:P. P. S. Printers, Faiz Mohd. Fateh Ali Street,off Frere Road, Karachi.After returning from Siffeen Hazrath Ali (A.S.) gavecertain advices to one of his sons. He wrote themin the form of a will. They deal with almostevery subject of life which goes a long way tomake a man successful in life, brave, chivalrous,humane, generous, virtuous and God-fearing.o—(From the Translation of Nahj-ul-Balaghaby Mr. Syed Mohammed Askari Jafery)f
Advice from an experienced andGod-fearing fatherto bissonThese advices are from a father, who realises themortality of life, who is getting old, who has patientlyborne reverses and calamities, who hates inordinatedesire and has overcome them and who is goingshortly to pass out of this world, to his son, who isyoung, who has the desire of leading the world tosober ways of thinking and better ways of life, a desirewhich is rather difficult to be achieved; a son who ismortal and is bound by nature to follow the steps ofall mortals, is subject to ailments, is surrounded bymisfortunes and calamities, has to face oppressions andtyrannies, has often to confront and sometimes totolerate hypocrisy, deceit, guile, duplicity and treason,who is to end his life in death, is to bear sufferings, isthe heir to a person who is dead and gone and whofinally ended his life, as a martyr to the animosity ofhis enemies.
0After praise to God and the Holy prophet (A. S.)let it be known to you that decay of health, passingaway of time and nearness of death have made merealise that I should give more thought to my future(next world) and to my people, advise them more andspend more time in equipping them mentally to facethis world. 1 felt that my own sons and my near ones haveas much right as others to utilize my experiences andknowledge of all the ups and downs of life, all the real ities, and all the truths about life and hereafter whichare known to me. I decided therefore to spend moretime over you and to prepare you more for yourfuture. This was neither selfishness nor selfesteem norany mental luxury of giving away advices, but it was thesincere desire of making you sec the world as I foundit, look at the realities of life as I looked at them anddo the right thing at the right time and right place asit should be done which made me write down theseadvices to you. You will not find in them anythingbut truths and realities.My dear son, you are part of my body and souland whenever I look at you I feel as if I am looking atmyself. 1, if any calamity hapens to you, feel as if ithas befallen to me. Your death will make me feel as ifit was my own death. Your affairs are to me like myown affairs. Therefore 1 committed these advices topaper. 1 want you to take care of them, to pavattention to them and to guard them well. I mayremain longer in your life (to personally guide you) orI may not but I want these advices to remain with you.My first and foremost advice to you, my son, is tofear God.Be His obedient servant.'Keep Histhought always fresh in your mind. Be attached toand carefully guard the rope which connects you withHim (Islam)Can any other connection be stronger,more durable and more lasting than this to commandgreater respect and consideration to replace it.How to gain experience and how to build characterAccept good advices and freshen your mind withthem. Adopt piety and kill your inordinate desireswith its help. Build your character with the help ofsincere faith in religion and God.Subjugate yourself-willed, obsinate and refractory nature with thevision of death, make it see the mortality of life and ofall that it holds dear, force it to realise the actuality ofmisfortunes and adversities, the changes of circumst ances and time and compel it to study the histories ofpast people. Persuade it to see the ruined cities, thedilapidated palaces and decaying signs and relics offallen empires and past nations. Then meditate overthe activities of those people over what all they havedone when they were alive and in powers, what theyhave achieved, from where they started their careers,where, when and how they were brought to an end,where are they now, what have they actually gainedout of life and what was their contribution to thehuman welfare? If you carefully ponder over theseproblems you will find that each one of those peoplehas parted company with the others and with all thathe cherished and loved and he is now in a solitaryabode, alone and unattended, and you will be alsolike him.Take care to provide well for your future abode.Do not lose eternal blessing for the sake of plea sures of this mortal world.Do not talk about things which you do notknow. Do not speculate and pass judgement oversubjects about which you are not in a position toform an opinion and are not called upon to do so.Give up the way where there is possibility of yourgoing astray. When there is danger of your wan dering in the wilderness of ignorance, possibility of los ing the sight of the goal which you want to attainand of reaching the end aimed at, then it is better
4to give up the quest than to advance forwardfacing uncertain dangers and unforeseen risks.Advise people to do good and to live virtuously,because you are fit to give such advicesLet yourwords and deeds teach the world lessons of how toabstain from wickedness and villainy. Try your bestto keep away from those who indulge in vices and sinsFight, whenever required, to defend the cause“ 9od, JW,ien you think of defending the causeot God do not be afraid that people will laugh atyou, censure your action or slander you. Fearlesslyand boldly help truth and justice. Bear patientlythe sufferings and face bravely the obstacles whichcome in your way when you follow truth and whenyou try lo uphold it. Adhere to the cause of truthand justice wherever you find it. Try to be wellversed in Islamic jurisprudence and theology andacquire a thorough knowledge of the canons of thisreligion.develop l.he Jiabit of patience against sufferings,calamities and adversities. This virtue of patienceis one of the high values of morality and nobility ofcharacter, and is the best habit which one can developtrust in God and let your mind seek His protectionin every calamity and suffering. Because you willthus entrust yourself and your affairs to 'the BestTrustee and to the Mightiest Guardian.Do notseek help and protection of any body but God. Rey ur Payers, your requests, your solicitations,your supplications and your entreaties to Him andHim alone. Because to grant, to give, to conferand to bestow, as well as to withhold, to deprive,to refuse and to debar lies in His and only in His Power fsk„?s r-mU.C 1 f His Favours and seek as muchot His Guidance as often as you can.Try to undestand my advices, ponder over themdeeply, do not take them lightly and do not turnaway from them. Because the best knowledge is «hatwhich benefits the listener. The knowledge which doesnot benefit any body is useless, not valuable andnot worth learning and remembering.Why a ouog mind needs training ard advice from anexperienced and aged person who loves himMy dear son when I realised that I was gettingold and when l felt that weakness and feeblenessare gradually creeping over me then I hastened toadvise you as to the best ways of leading a noble,virtuous and useful life. [ hated the idea that eitherdeath overtakes me before I can tell you all what1 wanted to tell or my mental capacities like mybodily strength may fa'll a prey to deterioration erel convey all this knowledge to you, or inordinatedesires, temptations and inducements may startinfluencing you, or adverse changes of times andcircumstances may drag you into their mire and Ileave you like an unbroken and untrained colt. Be cause young and fresh mind is like a virgin soilwhich allows things sown in it to grow verdantlyand to bear luxuriously. Theiefore, fhave made useof early opportunities 'to educate and train you be fore your mind loses its freshness, before it getshardened or warped, before you start facing lifeunprepared for the encounter and before you areforced to use your decisions and discretions'withoutgaining advantages of cumulated traditions, collectedknowledgeandexperiences of others.Theseadvices and counsels that I give you, will save youfrom the worry of acquiring knowledge, gatheringexperiences and soliciting others for their advices.Now you can very easily make use of all the know ledge which men have to acquire with great care,trouble and patience. Things which were hiddenfrom them and which only experiments, experiences
67and sufferings could bring to light are now madevery conveniently and easily available to you throughthese advices.these lines, the basic principles of nobility, piety, truthand justice. You may feel them to be overbearingand harsh, but my desire is to arm you with thisknowledge instead of leaving you unarmed to face theworld where there is every danger of loss and da mnation. As you are a noble, virtuous and piousyoung man, l am sure you will receive Divine Guid ance and succour.I am sure He will help you toachieve your aim in life. I want you to promise toyourself to follow my advices carefully.My dear son, though the span of my age is not aslarge as that of some other people who have passedaway before me, but I took great care to study theirlives, assiduously I went through their activities, 1 con templated over their deliberations and deeds, I studiedtheir remains, relics and ruins and 1 pondered over theirlives so deeply that I felt as if I have lived and workedwith them from early ages of history down to ourtimes, and I know what did them good and whatbrought harm to them. Sifting the good from bad Iam concentrating within these pages and for yourgood the knowledge that I so gathered.Throughthese advices I have tried to bring home to you thevalue of honest living and high thinking and the dan gers of a vicious and sinful life, and I have taken careto cover and guard every aspect of your life as is theduty of a kind considerate and loving father.From the very beginning I took care to help you todevelop a noble character and to fit you for the lifewhich you will have to lead, to treat you grow up tobe a young man with a noble character, an open andhonest mind and clear and precise knowledge of thingsaround you. Originally my desire was only to teachyou the Holy Book thoroughly, to make you under stand its intricacies, to impart to you the completeknowledge of His Orders and interdictions and not toleave you at mercy of the knowledge of other people.But after having succeeded in this task I felt nervousthat 1 may leave you untrained and uneducated in thesubjects which themselves are subject to so much con fusion and so many contradictions, subjects whoseconfusions have been worse confounded by selfishdesires, warped minds, wicked ways of life, and sinfulmodes of thinking. Therelore I have noted down, inBest of the advices: Fear of God and Performance of dutyRemember my son, the best out of these advicesof mine are those which tell you to fear God, toconcentrate and to confine yourself to the performanceof those duties which have been made incumbentupon you by Him and to follow in the footsteps ofyour ancestors (The Holy Prophet and Hazrath) andyour pious and virtuous relations. Verily they alwayscarefully scanned their thoughts and deeds, as youmust also try to do and they carefully thought overthe subject before saying anything about it or beforedoing a deed, You should also be doingsamc. Thiskindof deliberation made them take from life what wasreally the best and forsake that which was not madeincumbent upon them or which was not the best. Ifyour mind refuses to accept my advices and youpersist like them to try your own experiments thenyou are at liberty to arrive at your conclusions butonly after carefully studying the subject and afteracquiring the knowledge necessary for such decisions.You must not allow uncertainties and doubts poisonyour mind and scepticism or irrational likes anddislikes affect your views. But remember that beforeyou start thinking and deliberating over a problemseek guidance of the Lord and beseech Him to giveyou a lead in the right direction, avoid confusion inyour ideas and do not let disbelief (about truth of theteaching of religion) take hold of your mind, because
89one will lead you towards agnosticism and the othertowards errors and sins. When you are thus preparedto solve any problem and you are sure that you possessa clear mind, a sincere and firm desire to reach thetruth, to say the correct thing and to do the correctdeed then carefully go through the advices that 1 amleaving for you. ' If your mind is not clear and it isnot as free from doubts and scepticism as you wish itto be, then you will be wandering in the wilderness ofuncertainties' and errors like a camel suffering fromnight blindness, and under these circumstances it isbest for you to give up the quest because with suchlimitations none can ever reach the truth.What to remember and what to learnMy dear son, carefully and very carefully re member these sayings of mine that the Lord,' whois Master of death is also the Master of life.TheCreator is the annihilator. And the One, who an nihilates has the power to again bring everythingback to existence. The One, who sends calamitiestowards you is the One who will bring you safe outof them.Remember that this world is working under lawsordained by Him and it consists of assemblage andaggregate of actions and reactions, causes and effectscalamities and reverses, pains and pleasures, and re wards and punishment: but this is not all whichthe picture depicts; there are things in it which arcbeyond our ken, things which we do not and can not know and things which cannot be foreseen, orforetold, for instance the rewards and punishmentsof ihe day of judgment. Under these circumstancesif you do not understand a thing, do not refuseto accept it. Remember that your lack of under standing is due to insufficiency of your knowledgeRemember that when you came into this world yourfirst appearance was that of an ignorant, uneducatedand unlearned being, then you gradually acquiredknowledge, but there arc several things (in this world)which were beyond your knowledge, which per plexed and surprised you and about which you didnot understand “why" and “how”; gradually youacquired knowledge about some of those subjectsand in future your knowledge and vision may furtherexpand. Therefore, the best thing for you to dois to seek guidance of One, Who has created you,Who maintains and nourishes you, Who has givena balanced mind and a normally working body.Your prayers should be reserved for Him only, yourrequests and solicitations should be alone to Him.you should be afraid of Him and of nobody else.Be it known to you my son that nobody hasgiven the mankind such detailed information aboutGod (His mercy, His kindness, His Glory, His Mightand His Power) as our Holy Prophet (A.S.), I ad vise you to have faith in his teachings, to makehim your leader and to accept his guidance for yoursalvation. In thus advising you, I have done thebest that I can do as a sincere and loving adviserand 1 assure you however you may try to find abetter way for your good, you will not find anysuperior to the one advised’ by me (by this perhapsHazrath meant his advice to accept the guidanceof the Holy prophet A.S. for success in this worldand salvation in the next). Remember my son thathad there been any other god, beside the One, hewould have also sent his messengers and prophet *and they would have pointed out to mankind the domainand glory of this second god and you would havealso seen them. But no such incident ever took place.He is one God whom we all should recognise andworship. He has explained Himself. Nobody is apartner to Him in His Domain, Might and Glory.He is Eternal, has always been and shall always be.He existed even before the universes came into be ing but there is no beginning to His Existence. He
1011shall remain when every other thing will disappearinto nothingness and there shall be no end to HisExistence. His Glory and His Existence is so supreme,pre-eminent, transcendent, incomparable and excellentthat it is beyond the grasp of minds and intellects.None can understand or visualise Him. When youhave accepted these truths and realities then yourbehaviour, so far as His Orders and interdictionsare concerned, should be that of a person who re alises that his status, power and position is nothingwhen compared to that of His Lord, who wantsto gain His favour through prayer and obedience,wo fears His Wrath as well as' His Punishments,and who is absolutely in need of His help andprotection. Remember my son, that God has notordered you to do anything but that which is goodand which propagates and distributes goodness andHe has not interdicted you from anything but thatwhich is bad and will bring about bad effects.are fertile, healthy, congenial and where there isabundant provision of all comforts and pleasares. Theyhave eagerly taken up the journey, happy in the hope offuture blessings and peace. They have willingly acceptedthe sufferings, troubles and hazards of the way, part ing of friends, scarcity of food and comfort during thepilgrimage so that they may reach the jurney’s end—ahappy place. They do not refuse to bear any discom fort and do not grudge any expenditure on the way(giving out alms and charities, and helping the poorand needy. In another paragraph further on Hazrath hasdeveloped the idea that charity is the best way ofproviding for the next world). Every step which theyput forward towards their goal, however tiring and ex hausting it may be, is an happy event of their lives. Onthe contrary the condition of those people, who aresclely engrossed in this world and are sadly engulfed inits shortlived, quickly fading and vicious pleasures, islike that of travellers who are staying in fertile andhappy regions and who have to undertake a journey,knwoing fully well that the journey is going to endin inhospitable, arid and unfertile lands. Can any thing be more loathsome and abhoring to them thanthis journey? How they would hate to leave the placewhere they are and to arrive at the place which theyso much hate, and which is so dismaying, dreadful andfrightening.My dear son, through this message of mine, Ihave explained every thing about this world, howfickle and quick changing is its attitude, how shortlived and evanescent is everything that it holds oroffers and how fast it changes its moods and itsfavours. I have also explained about the life to come;the pleasures and blessings provided there and theever lasting peace, comfort and happiness arranged forin the Heaven. I have given enough examples of bothaspects of life, before and after death, so that you mayknow the reality and lead your life on the basis ofthat knowledge.The truth is that those people who have carefullystudied the conditions of life and the world, pass theirdays as if they are travellers who have to leave a placewhich is famine stricken (practically a desert withextreme scarcity of food and water), unhealthy anduncongenial, and they have to go towards lands whichNeed of introspection(Lei your own person act as criterion to judge the goodnessand wickedness of your deeds)My dear son, so far as your behaviour with otherhuman beings is concerned let yourself act as scalesto help you judge its goodness or wickedness. Dounto others as you wish others to do unto you.Whatever you like for your ‘self’ like for others andwhatever you dislike to happen to you spare othersfrom such happenings. Do not oppress and tyrannise
12anybody because you surely do not like to be oppressedand tyrannised. Be kind and sympathetic to others asyou certainly desire others to treat you kindly andsympathetically. Whatever habits you find objectiveloathsome in others abstain from developing thosetraits of character. If you are satisfied or feel happyin receiving a certain kind of behaviour from othersyou may behave with others exactly in the same wayDo not speak about them in the way that you do notlike others to speak about you. Do not speak on asubject about which you know little or nothing, andif you at all want to speak on anything or about anyone of whom you arc fully aware then avoid scandallibel and aspersion, as you do not like yourself to bescandalized and libelled in the same manner.Beware of vanity and conceitF Rcmember son that vanity and conceit are formsof folly these traits will bring to you serious harmand will be a constant source of danger to you, there[ore’ Iadf 3 w* r bala.nced life (neither be conceitednor suffer from inferiority complex), and exert yourfriLCrrn an h n st living. But do not act like atreasurer for somebody (do not be miser that you earnhoard and leave it for others). And, whenever yoiireceive guidance of the Lord to achieve the thing you5not.geJ P.roud of y ur achievement butbe humble and submissive to Him and realise thatyour success was due to his Mercy and Favour.Life’s passage—its encumbrances and reliefsRemember, my son, that before you is a long andarduous journey (life). The journey is not on"y verylong, exhausting, laborious and onerous, but the'route.s mostly through dismal, dreary and deserted regionsT" b Sadl?,in need'"of refreshing renovatg and enlivening aids and helps and you cannot13dispense with such provisions as to keep you goingand to maintain you till the end of your journey(the day of judgment).But remember that youdo not overload yourself (do not entrust yourselfwith so many obligations and duties that you can not honourably fulfil them or with such luxuriouslife as to be wicked and vicious). Because if thisload is more than what you can coveniently bearthen your journey will be very painful and toilsome toyou. If you find around yourself such poor, needy anddestitute people who are willing to carry your load foryou as far as the day of judgment then consider thisto be a boon, engage them and pass your burden on tothem. (Distribute your wealth amongst the poor, desti tutes and needy—help others to the best of your abilityand be kind and sympathetic to human beings). Thus re lieve yourself from the heavy responsibility and liabilityof submitting an account on theday of reckoning of howyou have made use of His Favours (of health, wealth,power and positions) and thus you may arrive to the endof your journey, light and fresh, have enough provisionforyou there (reward for having done your duty to manand God in this world). Have as many weight carriers asyou can (help as many people as you can) so that youmay not miss them when you very badly need them(when your sins of commission and omission will bebalanced against your good deeds you must haveenough good deeds to turn the scale in your favour).Remember that all you give out in charities andgood deeds are like loans which will be paid backto you.Therefore when you are wealthy andpowerful make use of your wealth and power insuch a way that you get all that back on the daywhen youwill be poor and helpless (the dayof judgment). Be it known to you, my son, thatyour passage lies through an appallingly dreadful!valley (death of grave) and journey is extremelytrying and arduous. Here a man carrying light weightis far better than an overburdened person and one
15who can journey fast will pass through it quicklythan one whom encumberment forces to go slowly.You shall have to pass through this valley.Theonly way out of it is either in the Heaven or in theHell; (there is no other way out and no possibility ofretracing one’s steps). Therefore it is wise to sendyour things there before-hand, so that they (yourgood actions) reach there before you; pre-arrangefor the place of your stay before you reach there,because after death there is no repentence and nopossibility of coming back to this world to undothe wrong done by you.Value and usefulness of prayersRealise this truth, my son, that the Lord Whoowns and holds the treasures of the Heaven andearth has given you permission to ask and beg forthem, and has promised to grant your prayers. Hehas told you to pray for His favours that they maybe granted and to ask for His blessings that theymay be bestowed. He has not appointed guards toprevent your prayers reaching Him. Nor'there isany need for anybody to intercede before Him onyour behalf. If you go back upon your promises,if you break your vows or start doing things thatyou have repented from, He will not immediatelypunish you, nor He refuses you His Favours andgrants in haste; and if you repent once again Heneither taunts you nor betrays you though you mayfully deserve both, but He accepts your repentencesand forgives you. He never grudges His Forgivenessnor refuses His Mercy; on the contrary He has dec reed every repentence as a virtue and pious deed. TheMerciful Lord has orderd that every evil deed ofyours will be counted as one and every good deedand every pious action will be rewarded tenfold.He has left the door of repentence open. He hearsyou whenever you call Him. He accepts your pray ers whenever you pray to Him.You beg of Him to grant you your heart's de sires; you lay before him the secrets of your heart;you tell Him about all the calamities that have be fallen you and misfortunes which face you and be seech His Help to overcome them. You invoke HisHelp and Support in difficulties and distress. Youimplore Him to grant you long life and soundhealth; you pray to Him for prosperity and yourequest of Him such favours and grants that nonebut He can bestow and award.Think over it that by simply granting you theprivilege of praying for His Favours and Mercies,He has handed over the keys of His Treasures toyou. Whenever you are in need you pray and Heconfers His Favours and Blessings.But some times you find that your requests arenot immediately granted, then you need not bedisappointed. Because grant of prayers often restswith the true purpose and intention of the implorer.Some times the prayers are delayed because theMerciful Lord wants you to receive further rewardsby patiently bearing calamities and sufferings andstill believing sincerely in His Help, thus you maybe awarded better favour than you requested for.Some times your prayers are turned down, and thisis also in your interest; because you often, unknow ingly, ask for things that are really harmful to you,if your requests are granted they will do more harmthan good, and many of your requests may be suchthat if granted they will result in your eternaldamnation.Thus the refusal to accede to yoursolicitations is a blessing in disguise to you.Butvery often your requests, if they are not really harm ful to you for this world or for the life hereafter,may be delayed but they are granted in quantitiesmuch more than you had asked for, bringing in moreblessings in their wake than you could ever imagine.So you should be very careful in asking God for
16His Favour, only pray for such things which arereally beneficial to you, and these benefits are last ing and in the long run they do not end in harm.Remember, my dear son, that wealth and power(if you pray for them) are such things that theywill not always be with you and may bring harmto you in life hereafter.Why you are createdBe it known to you my son that you are creat ed for the next world and not for this. You areborn to die and not to live for ever.Your stayin this world is temporary. You live in a placewhich is subject to decay and destruction. It is aplace where you will have to be busy getting readyfor the next world. It is a road (to the next world)on which you are standing. Death is followiug you.You cannot run away from it. However hard youmay try to avoid it, it is going to catch you sooneror later. Therefore take care that it may not catchyou unaware and unprepared and no chance is leftto you to repent the vices and sins committed andundo the harm done by you. If death catches youunaware then you are ctenally damned. Therefore,my dear son, always keep three things in mind:death, your deeds and actions and the life hereafter.In this way you will be always ready to face deathand it will not catch you unaware.I his world and worldly peopleMy dear son, do not be carried away and donot be allured by the infatuation of the worldlypeople in vicious life and its pleasures and do notbe impressed by the sight of their acute struggleto possess and own this world. God has very merci fully explained to you every thing about this world,not only the Merciful Lord but this word has alsotold you everything, it has disclosed to you that17it is mortar, it has openly declaredits shortcomings and its vices.itsweakness,Remember that these worldly people arc bark ing dogs, and, hungry and ferocious beasts. Semeof them are constantly barking at the others. Theirmighty lords kill and massacre the poor and weak.Their powerful persons exploit and tyrannise thepowerless. (Refer Foot note at page 27). Their in ordinate desires and their greed has such a completehold over them that you will find some of themlike animals tamed and tied with a rope round theirfeet and necks. (They have lost freedom of thoughtand cannot come out of the enslavement of desiresand habits). While there are others whom wealthand power have turned mad. They behave like unrulybeasts, trampling, crushing and killing their fellowbeings and destroying things around them. Historyof this world is merely a record of such incidents,some big and some small; the difference is of mightbut the intensity is the same. These people havelost balance of their minds. They do not know whatthey are doing and where they are going; scan theiractivities and study their ways of thinking you willfind them confused and irrational, they appear likecattle wandering in a dreary desert, where thereis no watei to drink and no fodder to eat, no shep herd to cater for them and no guardian to lookafter them. What
has parted company with the others and with all that he cherished and loved and he is now in a solitary abode, alone and unattended, and you will be also like him. Take care to provide well for your future abode. Do not lose eternal blessing for the sake of plea sures of this mortal world. Do not talk about things which you do not know.
