Eight instructions of a Sayyid to Ayatullah Marashi Najafi

One of our distinguished Maraje’ Sayyid Marashi Najafi who passed away some years back narrates:

When I was in najaf, I decided to go to Samarra on the maqam of Sayyid Mohammed (son of Imam al-Hadi (as); as I was going, I got lost, and since it was my first experience, I was hungry and hot, all I remember is that I fell unconscious, and when I woke up, all I could see was that my head was resting on the lap of someone who was pouring water on me and was a very handsome Sayyid.

He asked me 'Where are you going?'
I replied 'I was going to visit the maqam Sayyid Mohammed'.
He said but you are here already and I was shocked as to how I got to the place? How come I didn’t see it before when I was conscious.
The water I was given was so sweet and so pure.

I figured that this Sayyid isn't any ordinary Sayyid and that I must sieze the opportunity of being a salik to ask for a prescription (something to benefit for myself) for the benefit of this world and the hereafter.

The Sayyid who has been interpretated to be he Imam of the time (as) gave him eight (8) points and said before hand 'to consider and to take care of all these eight (8) points and you will be alright in this world and the hereafter:

- Recite Qur’an as much as you can

- Wear an Aqiq ring with names of the Ma’soomen, and also put it under the tongue of a dead person

- Be kind and respectful towards ones parents (dead or alive), do good things for them

- As much as you can you go to Hajj, go to Shrines of the Aimmah (as) often

- Respect the Sayyids and the offspring of the Prophet (saw) as much as you can, because one can respect the Prophet (saw) through this

- Do not forget Salaat al-layl, it is shame for those that relate it to us but they are themselves neglectful

- recite the Tasbeeh of Fatimah (as) as much as you can (even before one sleeps) and recite Ziyarat of Imam Husain (as)

- Read the sermons of the Ahl al-Bayt: regarding Fadak of Fatimah (as); of Shaqshiqeya of Imam Ali (as) in Iraq, and Sermon of Zaynab (as) in the court of Yazid.'

Hadith very diffult to understand!

[Bihar Al-Anwar 37:233; Khisaal Al-Sadouq 208; Tafsir Furat Al-Kufi 6; Maani Al-Akhbar 189]

Abul Husain bin Abi Tayyeb bin Shuaib, from Ahmad bin Qasem Al-Hashimi, from Isa, from Farroukh bin Farwah, from Mos'edah bin Sadaqa, from Saleh bin Maitham, from his father Maitham Al-Tammar, who said:
I was in the marketplace and Asbagh bin Nobatah came to me and said, 'O Maitham, I heard a very difficult hadith from the Commander of the Believers (as) today. How can that be?'
'What did you hear' I asked
Asbagh replied, 'I heard the Commander of the Believers (as) say, 'Our Ahadith are very difficult and complex. Only the high-ranked angels, the messengers, and those slaves whose hearts have been tested can handle them.'
So I (Maitham) immediately left the marketplace and went to the Commander of the Believers (as).


'O Commander of the Believers! Asbagh narrated a hadith from you today that was very difficult for me.' I said
'Which hadith was it' he asked.
I narrated the hadith that I had heard from Asbagh. The Commander of the Believers (as) smiled and asked me to sit down.
Then he said:
'Can all knowledge be handled by everyone? 'And when your Lord said to the angels, I am going to place in the earth a khalif, they said: What! wilt Thou place in it such as shall make mischief in it and shed blood, and we celebrate Thy praise and extol Thy holiness? He said: Surely I know what you do not know.'
So Could the angels handle the knowledge?'
I (Maitham) said, 'This is even greater than what I heard from Asbagh.'
The Commander of the Believers (as) said,
'Allah sent the Torah to Musa. Therefore Musa thought there was no one more knowledgeable than him.
To ensure that pride does not enter the heart of Musa, Allah said to him, 'There is someone in My creation who is more knowledgeable than you are.'
So Musa asked Allah to guide him to the most knowledgeable person, and Allah led him to Khizr. When Khizr destroyed the ship, Musa could not handle it; when Khizr killed the boy, Musa could not handle it; when Khizr built the wall, Musa could not handle it (Quran 18:65-82).
As for the believers, the Messenger of Allah (saw) held my hand on the Day of Ghadeer and said, 'O Allah! of whomsoever I am his master, this Ali is his master.'
Do you think everyone could handle that? Only those whom Allah has protected (could handle it).
Therefore rejoice and be delighted because Allah has chosen you to handle the matters and the knowledge of the Messenger of Allah (saw), and this was not entrusted to all of the angels, nor was it given to every Prophet or Messenger.'

The Perfect Servant

Ibn Arabi (III 248.12)


God made this earth a place for the vicegerency. Hence it is the abode of His Kingdom and the site of His deputy, who becomes manifest through the properties of His names.
So, from the earth, He created us. Within it, He gave us residence, whether alive or dead. And from it He will bring us forth through the Uprising in the last configuration. Thus, worship never leaves us wherever we may be, in this world and the afterworld, for, even though the afterworld is not an abode of [religious] prescription [taklif], it is an abode of worship.
Among us, whoever ceaselessly witnesses that for which he was created in this world and the next is the perfect servant, the intended goal of the cosmos, and the deputy of the whole cosmos. Were all the cosmos - the high of it and the low of it - to be heedless of God's remembrance for a single moment, and were this servant to remember Him, he would take the place of the whole cosmos through that remembrance, and the existence of the cosmos would be preserved through him. However, if the human servant were to be heedless of the remembrance, the cosmos could not take his place in that. That of it which is empty of the human being who remembers would go to ruin.
The Prophet said, 'The Hour will not come as long as there remains in the earth someone who is saying <Allah, Allah>'