Human beings are immersed in sins

انسان غوطه ور در معاصي است

مقدمه‌ي دوم: بدانكه الآن تو در ميان معصيتهاي بسيار گرفتاري از چند جهت:يعني آنكه: هر ساعتي در آرزو و خيال هستي، و در معرض آفات و بليات و امراض و عاهات و صدمات رو به سوي مرگ ميدوي، و در كشتي‌اي سواري كه در شدت طوفان به گرداب افتاده، نمي‌داني كه كدام ساعت غرق مي‌شود، از هر طرف دشمني به تو احاطه نموده، و اخلاط اربعه كه اركان بدن تو هستند تو را در ميان گرفته و لابد روزي بيايد كه به يكي از آنها كشته شوي.دوم اينكه: مصيبتي است كه هيچ به فكر آن نيستي و آن مصيبتي است كه اميرالمؤمنين (عليه‌السلام) هر وقت به فكر آن مي‌افتاد ناله مي‌كرد مانند مار گزيده و گريه مي‌كرد مانند زن بچه مرده، و آن اين است كه سفر دوري در پيش داريم كه منزلهايش همه مخوف و مهول است و موردش عظيم است يا بهشت ابدي يا جهنم [486] مؤبد، و توشه كم است و پابرهنه و پياده و دست خالي و راه پرخطر.سوم اينكه: بلاي تو بزرگ و حال تو خراب است به آتشهاي بسيار مي‌سوزي و خبر نداري، و الآن قلب و بدن و زبان و شكم و پاي تو به آتش معاصي مشتمل است، توئي كه [ صفحه 179] در معركه‌ي گناهان كشته شده‌اي و اسير نفس اماره و شيطان گشته‌اي، اعضاي تو همه مشتعل است به آتش از پشت و شكم و قلب، و همه اعضاي انسانيه‌ي تو پاره پاره گشته، صد هزار جراحت از معاصي به تو رسيده، و اسبهاي ضلالت، اندام هدايت تو را پامال نموده‌اند.چهارم اينكه: بليه‌ي عظمي و مصيبت كبري آن است كه اگر در اين دنيا بماني تا سن پيري تو را دريابد، قواي تو از كار بيفتد، پس اگر فقير باشي بلاي عظيم باشد پيري و نيستي، و اگر غني باشي لذتي از عيش نبري و اهل و اولاد از تو بري شوند و تمناي مرگ تو كنند، پس چون از دنيا بروي خواهي رفت به قبري كه مهيا نكرده‌اي از براي خوابگاه خود، نه فرش و نه چراغ از اعمال صالح، پس اگر در آنجا بماني چه كني با بدن پوسيده و اعضاي خاك شده و مصاحبت مور و مار و كرم و عقرب و خنفس.مترجم گويد: و چه خواهي كرد با فشار قبر و سؤال نكير و منكر و عذاب برزخ - انتهي.و اگر بيرون آئي به محشر چه خواهي كرد با آن عرصه‌ي گير و دار كه زمينش آتش، و سقفش آتش از تابش آفتاب، و اطرافش همه آتش معاصي، پس اگر بماني در آنجا چگونه بماني، و اگر بروي كجا بروي، پس اگر پنبه غفلت از گوش و دل برداشته شود و بداني كه در معرض چگونه مصائب هستي هر آينه سزاوار است كه لباس نپوشي، و بر خاكستر نشيني، و از اهل و عيال و منصب و مال دست برداري.اميرالمؤمنين (عليه‌السلام) مي‌فرمود، اگر بداني آنچه را كه من مي‌دانم از آنچه علم آن از شما مستور است - يعني از امر عاقبت شما - هر آينه بيرون خواهيد رفت به بيابانها كه به حال خود گريه و زاري كنيد و اموال خود بي‌نگاهبان و نائب خواهيد گشت و به حال خود مشغول خواهيد گرديد. [487] .

Human beings are immersed in sins.

The second introduction: Know that at this very moment you are trapped amidst many sins from several directions:

First: Every hour you are occupied with hopes and imaginations, while exposed to afflictions, calamities, illnesses, disabilities, and injuries, and you are rushing toward death. You are riding in a ship that has fallen into a whirlpool amid a violent storm, and you do not know at which moment it will sink. Enemies surround you from every side, and the four humors which are the pillars of your body encompass you, and inevitably a day will come when you will be killed through one of them.

Second: There is a calamity about which you never think, and it is the calamity that whenever Ameer al-Mu'mineen (a.s.) reflected upon it, he would cry out like one bitten by a snake and weep like a mother who has lost her child. It is this: we have before us a long journey whose stages are all terrifying and dreadful, and whose destination is immense—either eternal Paradise or everlasting Hell. [486] The provision is little, while you are barefoot, walking, empty-handed, and the road is full of dangers.

Third: Your affliction is great and your condition is ruinous. You are burning in many fires while being unaware of it. At this very moment your heart, body, tongue, stomach, and feet are engulfed in the fires of sins. You are the one who has been slain in the battlefield of sins and has become a captive of the commanding soul, the Nafs Ammarah (the soul that commands evil), and Shayṭān. All your limbs are ablaze with fire from your back, your stomach, and your heart. All your human faculties have been torn to pieces. A hundred thousand wounds from sins have reached you, and the horses of misguidance have trampled the limbs of your guidance.

Fourth: The greatest tribulation and the greatest calamity is that if you remain in this world until old age overtakes you, your powers will cease to function. Then, if you are poor, old age together with poverty will be a tremendous affliction. If you are wealthy, you will derive no pleasure from life, and your family and children will turn away from you and wish for your death.

Then, when you depart from this world, you will go to a grave which you have not prepared as a resting place for yourself. You have provided neither bedding nor a lamp from righteous deeds. If you remain there, what will you do with a decayed body, limbs turned to dust, and the companionship of ants, snakes, worms, scorpions, and beetles?

The translator says: And what will you do with the Feshaar al-Qabr (pressure of the grave), the questioning of Nakīr and Munkar, and the punishment of Barzakh?—End.

And if you emerge to the Plain of Resurrection, what will you do in that arena of struggle and turmoil, whose ground is fire, whose ceiling is fire from the blazing sun, and whose surroundings are all the fires of sins? If you remain there, how will you remain? And if you depart, where will you go?

Therefore, if the cotton of heedlessness were removed from your ears and heart, and you came to know to what kinds of calamities you are exposed, then it would indeed be fitting for you not to wear fine clothing, to sit upon ashes, and to abandon family, rank, and wealth.

Ameer al-Mu'mineen (a.s.) used to say:

«لَوْ تَعْلَمُونَ مَا أَعْلَمُ مِنْ مَا سُتِرَ عَنْكُمْ مِنْ أَمْرِ عَاقِبَتِكُمْ لَخَرَجْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّحَارَى تَبْكُونَ عَلَى أَنْفُسِكُمْ وَتَذَرُونَ أَمْوَالَكُمْ بِلَا حَافِظٍ وَلَا نَائِبٍ وَتَشْتَغِلُونَ بِأَنْفُسِكُمْ.»

“If you knew what I know of that knowledge which has been concealed from you regarding your final outcome, you would surely go out into the deserts weeping over yourselves, leave your wealth without a guardian or caretaker, and become completely occupied with your own souls.” [487]