Kings Forever

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

تنطق الحكمة على لسانه

'Wisdom Speaks Upon His Tongue'

(Diraar – A Companion of Amirul Mumineen SA)

This article was written by Ra'sul Hududil Mayameen Janab Syedi Aziz Bhaisaheb Qutbuddin in 2016.

Dirar b. Damrah, one of Maulana Ali’s SA companions, described Amirul Mumineen and said, “Wisdom speaks upon his tongue.” Amirul Mumineen’s wisdom and eloquence resonate as powerfully today as they did hundreds of years ago. Some of his wise words have been compiled in several collections, one of which is al-Qadi al-Quda’i’s Treasury of Virtues – which has been edited and translated by Shehzadi Dr Tahera Baisaheba.

One of the core themes of Amirul Mumineen’s sayings is the censure of this world and the focus on the Hereafter. The enticements of this World are near and tempting while the Hereafter is distant and uncertain. Amirul Mumineen’s sayings put these two concepts in perspective by highlighting the transience and fickleness of the pleasures of this World and the certainty and permanence of the Hereafter.

Quoted from “A Treasury of Virtues”, here is one of the passages in which Amirul Mumineen describes this Dunya:

“Ali said: This world is a place of perishing and weariness, of vicissitudes and instruction:

Perishing is this – Fate stands stretching his bow, loading his arrows. His arrows do not miss and their wounds do not heal. He strikes the young with old age, the healthy with illness, and the living with death. He is a drinker whose thirst is never quenched; an eater who is never satiated.

Weariness is this – A man gathers food he will not eat, and builds edifices he will not inhabit. He leaves this world to go to God, with no edifice to take with him, no property to carry.

Its vicissitudes are these – The world gladdens the deprived and deprives the glad. Between the two is only a pleasure that has ceased or a misfortune that has arrived.

Its lessons are these – A man is about to see his aspirations fulfilled when they are severed by the ending of his life. No aspiration is attained, and no aspirer attains.

God be praised! How deceiving are the pleasures of this world! How parching its drink! How scorching its shade! It is as though what existed in this world never did, and what is about to be already is. None who arrives is turned away and none who leaves can return.

Truly, the hereafter is a place everlasting, a place of permanence, whether paradise or hellfire. God’s elect attain paradise in the hereafter through patience, and realize their aspirations through good deeds. They become companions of God in his abode, abiding there as kings forever.”

The wisdom and eloquence of Amirul Mumineen’s kalaam are unmatched. The personification of fate draws attention to the futility of the pleasures of this World and the undeniable outcomes in its confines. The logic of Amirul Mumineen’s statements is undeniable. Amirul Mumineen’s exposure of these surprisingly plain realities is in sharp contrast to the majority’s oblivion to these facts as they bury themselves in their daily grind. Maulana Ali’s statements have broad universal applicability but are also personally relatable.

May Allah Ta’ala grant us inspiration and strength to take heed of the wise sayings of our Mawali Kiraam. May He grant wisdom and courage to guide our decisions in this World prioritizing the Hereafter. May he grant us the spirit and fortitude to follow the path of the Truth and the True Dai to attain paradise.