Year Nineteen
Issue No. 959 - 12/Zul Qada/1432 AH
Corresponding to October 11, 2011 AD

Contents:
* Mihrab Platform:
Why Discord Amongst the Believers?

Mihrab Platform
Why Discord Amongst the Believers?

The main axes of the subject:
1- True state of affairs
2- A brother is a provision in this world and the afterworld
3- Animosity devalues the deeds

Purpose:

We will shed the light on the factual relationship between the believers after which we will explain how we can preserve friendship based on the correct fundamentals as well as explain the gravity of dissension and feud in this world and the afterworld.

Exporting the subject:

Commander of the faithful (a.s.) was quoted as saying: "Honest brothers in this world are better to each other than the money that they spend or inherit. No one should increase his asceticism toward his brother or render him dispensable if he does not see him as a friend or if he lacks money."¹

- True state of affairs:

On seeing through the eyes of those contemplating on the state of our environment and on the relationship between the members who uplift the slogan of loyalty and faith, man will reach a bitter conclusion. It says that the desired friendship, mutual love and kindness are few and rare. Besides, the criterion of short expediency based on the mere individual view has taken its decision making way into the people's relationship amongst each other. Therefore, we can see that when one is sad he is not sad for his brother, and when one is happy he is not happy for the other. We can see each individual sinking deeper and deeper into his privacy and pure personal affairs and would not give much attention to the situation that struck his brother and his present condition. This does not fit with the words of our Imam to whom we affiliate, Ja'afar Bin Muhammad al Sadiq (a.s.), who was quoted as saying: "The believer is the brother of the believer, like the one body. If one part ills he will find illness in the rest parts of his body; and their spirits derive from one spirit."²

We can find that mutual advice and consultation have become rare in the midst of our society. One must know that the accounts narrated that Imam al Sadiq (a.s.) was quoted as saying: "The believer is the brother of the believer, his eyes and guide; he does not betray, wrong or cheat him; and he does not give a promise while fail him."³

Unfortunately, we can also find that evil assumption prevailed in the lifters of the slogan of loyalty and belief to the level where discord and the absence or weakness of friendship has spread over to reach a terrible level. One must know that in the accounts Allah's messenger (s.a.a.w.) was quoted as saying: "The believer finds comfort in the believer like the thirsty person who finds comfort in the fresh water."⁴

One of the sayings of Imam al Sadiq (a.s.) reads: "Everything finds rest in something; the believer finds rest in his brother like the bird finds rest in his kind."⁵

- A brother is a provision in this world and the afterworld:

Finding harmony amongst the believers and making a quest to gain their friendship is an issue that was encouraged by the sayings. For example, the commandment of wise Luqman to his son reads, "O son, make a thousand friends and knoweth that a thousand is little; take not even one enemy, and the one is a lot."⁶

There is an equal poem that was attributed to the commander of the faithful (a.s.), which reads:

Have brothers of purity for they are
Supporters if you seek their help and pillars
A thousand friends is not a lot
And the one enemy is too much⁷

The accounts narrate that Allah's messenger (s.a.a.w.) was quoted as saying: "Increase your brothers because each believer will intercede on the Day of Resurrection."⁸

The accounts narrate that Imam al Sadiq (a.s.) was quoted as saying: "Find brothers of honesty because they are a help in comfort and a shield in hardship."⁹
 
Also Allah's messenger (s.a.a.w.) was quoted as saying: "Find brothers of honesty and live under their wings because they are ornament in comfort and a help in hardship."¹⁰

Also in the words of his exaltedness, there is an interpreted story about the people of the fire saying: "So now we have no intercessors; and not a devoted friend."¹¹ Imam al Sadiq was quoted as saying: "Increase your friends in this world because they are beneficial in this world and the afterworld. In this world: they help with needs. In the afterworld: the people of the fire said: So now we have no intercessors; and not a devoted friend."¹²

In the accounts, Allah's messenger (s.a.a.w.) was quoted as saying: "Increase your brothers because your lord is bashful and generous, he feels shy torturing his servant in front of his brothers on the Day of Resurrection."¹³

- Animosity devalues the deeds:

As we learned earlier, friendship has its outcome in this world and the afterworld, similarly, animosity has also its effect: for example, in this world, it produces grudge, hatred, and loathsome as well as divide the believers and render them unlike the necessity of the trueness of faith.

Also in the afterworld, animosity will render the person lose all his bets that he gambled in his quest to gain the rewards and profits that result from good deeds. Therefore, discord and animosity devalues the deeds of the believer, and he will witness his regret behind this issue on the Day of Resurrection. In the accounts, Imam al Baqir (a.s.) was quoted as saying: "If a believer says to his brother [so much as] "uff,"¹⁴ he will be distanced from his care." Besides, if he says: you are my enemy, he renders one of them an infidel, and Allah will neither accept any service that blames a believer nor accept from a believer an act while he intends in his heart harm for a believer. Had the cover been removed from the eyes of the people in order to see the bond between Allah and the believer, they would have bowed for the believer, and their issues would have become easier, and would have simply obeyed each other."¹⁵

The saying was reported by Abu Hamza al Thamali, the reciter of the renowned supplication "Al-Sahar", also known as Abi Hamza al Thamali supplication.

The conclusion that we reach and can be beneficial to us in this lesson reads: Making friends, making a large number of friends, and treating them with love and kindness is part of the elements that will help us in this world and in the afterworld.

On the other hand, antagonizing the believers and dissecting from them as well as causing division and disconnection amongst them is part of the elements that cause humiliation, weakness, and feeling lonely and alienation in the world; it is also one of the causes that will devalue the deeds and lead to loss and eternity in the fire in the afterworld.

1- Al-Zuhd (Asceticism), by Hussein Bin Said al Ahwazi, P. 37, H. 98.
2- Al Kafi, by Muhammad Bin Yacoub al Kulaini, Vol. 2, P. 166, H. 4.
3- Same source, Vol. 2, P. 166, H. 3.
4- Al Nawadir, by Al Qotob al Rawandi, P. 8.
5- Bihar al Anwar, by scholar sheikh Muhammad Baqir al Majlisi, Vol. 74, P. 234, H. 30.
6- Al A'mali, by Sheikh al Saddouq, P. 766, H. 1032.
7- Kanz al Fawa'ed, by Abi al Fat'h al Karaji, Vol. 1, P. 98; the words are attributed to the commander of the Faithful.
8- Kanz al Ummal, by al Muttaqi al Hindi, H. 24642. Also Mousadakat al Ekhwan, by Sheikh al Saddouq, P. 150, H. 1, without phrasing. (The Day of Resurrection).
9- Tuhaf al Uqul, by Ibn Shu'bah al Harrani, P. 368.
10- Kanz al Ummal, H. 24642.
11- Surat Ash-Shu`arā' (the Poets), verses: 100-101.
12- Mousadakat al Ekhwan, P. 149, H. 1.
13- Rabei al Abrar wa Nousous al Akhbar, by al Zamakhsari, Vol. 1, P. 428.
14- The smallest of the Arabic words that means displeasure
15- Al Mo'min, by Hussein Bin Said al Ahwazi, P. 72; also Al Mahasin, by al Barqi, Vol. 1, P. 184; also al Kafi, Vol. 8, P. 265.