Guidance from the Words of Imam al-Jawad (a)
(1)
He (a) said: (The believer needs success (tawfiq) from Allah, an admonisher from within himself, and acceptance from whoever advises him).
The triad of success: from Allah, right direction; from oneself, reasoning; and humility toward advice.
(2)
He (a) said: (Four traits help a person in action: health, wealth, knowledge and tawfiq).
Achievement, with its material factors (health and wealth) and its non-material factors (knowledge and guidance from Allah): when these are present, the process of achievement becomes easy, for they are (a help) toward it.
(3)
He (a) said: (Through the shepherd the flock is set right, and through supplication affliction is averted).
Planning and administration are a pressing need, but they are not everything; supplication protects planning from sudden evils and from the descent of affliction.
(4)
And he (a) said: (Whoever rides the mount of patience is guided to the racecourse of victory).
Patience is not stagnation and contentment with the status quo; rather, it is endurance for the sake of deliberation, in order to find one's way to solutions.
(5)
And he (a) said: (Better than good is the one who does it, more beautiful than the beautiful is the one who says it, and weightier than knowledge is the one who bears it.
And worse than evil is the one who brings it, and more terrifying than terror is the one who rides it).
Soaring in the world of abstractions and concepts may be a craving and a heedlessness, because it is a detachment from reality.
Dealing with reality means that when you value good, you value good people, and when you respect knowledge, you respect the scholars.
Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
