Islam Guidance

SERMON 83 - This Sermon Is Called Al-Gharra’, and It Is One of the Most Wonderful Sermons of Imam Ali Ibn Aba Talib, Peace be Upon Him

Praise be to Allah Who is High above all else and is Near (the creation) through His bounty. He is the Giver of all rewards and distinction and Dispeller of all calamities and hardships. I praise Him for His continuous mercy and His copious bounties.
I believe in Him as He is the First of all and He is Manifest. I seek guidance from Him as He is Near and is the Guide. I seek His succor as He is Mighty and the Subduer. I depend upon Him as He is the Sufficer and Supporter. And I testify that Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) (blessing of Allah be on him and his progeny) is His slave and His Prophet (p.b.u.h.). He sent him for enforcement of His commands, for exhausting His pleas and for presenting warnings (against eternal punishment).

Enjoining People to be Pious

O servants of Allah! I admonish you to fear Allah Who has furnished illustrations and Who has timed for you your lives. He has given you the covering of outfit and He has scattered for you livelihood. He has surrounded you with His knowledge. He has ordained rewards. He has bestowed upon you vast bounties and extensive gifts. He has warned you through far reaching arguments and He has counted you by numbers. He has fixed for you ages (to live) in this place of test and house of instruction.

Cautioning Against this World

You are tested in this world and have to render an accounting. Certainly this world is a dirty watering place and a muddy source of drinking.
Its appearance is attractive and its inside is destructive. It is a delible deception, a vanishing reflection and a bent pillar. When its despiser begins to like it and he who is not acquainted with it feels satisfied with it, then it praises and puts down its feet (in joy). It entraps him in its trap, makes him the target of its arrows and puts round his neck the rope of death taking him to the narrow grave and fearful abode in order to show him his place of stay and the recompense of his acts. This goes on from generation to generation. Neither death stops from cutting them asunder nor do the survivors keep aloof from committing sins.

Death and Resurrection

They are emulating each other and proceeding in groups towards the final objective and the rendezvous of death, till when matters come to a close, the world dies and resurrection draws near. Allah will take them out from the corners of the graves, the birds’ nests, the beasts’ dens and the centers of death. They will hasten towards His command and run towards the place fixed for their final return group by group, quiet, standing and arrayed in rows. They will be within Allah’s sight and He will hear everyone whom He calls.
They will be wearing the outfit of helplessness and the covering of submission and indignity. (At this time) contrivances will disappear, desires will be cut, hearts will quietly sink, voices will be curbed, sweat will choke the throat, fear will increase and ears will resound with the thundering voice of the announcer calling them towards final Judgment, awarding recompense, striking with punishment and paying rewards.

The Limitation of Life

People have been created as a proof of (His) power. They have been brought up with authority, they are made to die through pangs and placed in graves where they turn into crumbs. Then they will be resurrected one by one, awarded their recompense and will have to account for their actions, each one separately. They had been allowed time to seek deliverance, had been shown the right path and had been allowed to live and seek favors. The darkness of doubts had been removed. They had been let free in this period of life as a training place in order to make preparation for the race on the Day of Judgment, to search for the objective with thoughtfulness, to get time necessary to secure benefits and provide for the next place of stay.

No Happiness without Piety

How appropriate are these illustrations and effective admonitions provided they are received by pure hearts, open ears, firm views and sharp wits. Fear Allah like him who listened (from good advice) and bowed before it, when he committed sin he admitted it, when he felt fear he acted virtuously. When he apprehended he hastened (towards good deeds), when he believed he performed virtuous acts, when he was asked to take lesson (from the happenings of this world) he learned. When he was asked to desist he abstained (from evil), when he responded to the call (of Allah) he leaned (towards him), when he turned back (to evil) he repented, when he followed he almost imitated and when he was shown (the right path) he saw it.
Such a man was busy in search of truth and got rid (of the worldly evils) by running away. He collected provision (of good deeds) for himself, purified his inner self, built for the next world and took provision for the day of his departure, keeping in view his journey, his requirement and the status of his need. He sent ahead for the abode of his stay (in the next world). O servants of Allah!, fear Allah keeping in view the reason why He created you and be afraid of Him to the extent He has advised you to do. Make yourself deserve what He has promised you, by having confidence in the truth of His promise and entertaining fear for the Day of Judgment.

Part of the Same Sermon
Reminding People of Allah’s Bounties

He has made for you ears to preserve what is important, eyes to have sight in place of blindness and limbs which consist of many (smaller) parts, whose curves are in proportion with the molding of their shapes and lengths of their ages. He has also given you bodies that sustain themselves and hearts that are busy in search of their food, besides other big bounties, obliging the bestowing (of His blessings) and a fortress of safety. He has fixed for you ages that are not known to you. He has retained for you remains of the past people for your instruction. Those people enjoyed themselves fully and were completely unhampered. Death overtook them before (satisfaction of) their desires, from which the hands of death separated them. They did not provide for themselves during the health of their bodies nor take lessons during the stages of youth. Are these people who are in youth waiting for the back-bending of old age, those enjoying fresh health waiting for ailments and these living persons looking for the hour of death? When the hour of departure comes closer, the journey is at hand with pangs of grief and trouble. When the suffering of sorrows, suffocation of saliva and the time would arrive for calling relations and friends for help and changing sides on the bed, could then the near ones stop death, or the mourning women do any good? He would rather be left alone in the graveyard confined to the narrow corner of his grave.
His skin has been pierced all over by reptiles and his freshness has been destroyed by these tribulations. Storms have removed his traces and calamities have obliterated even his signs. Fresh bodies have turned thin and withered and bones have become rotten. The spirits are burdened with the weight of sins and have become conscious of the unknown things. But now neither the good deeds can be added to nor evil acts can be atoned for by repentance. Are you not sons, fathers, brothers and relations of these dead and will you not follow their footsteps and pass by their paths? But hearts are still unmoved, heedless of guidance and moving on wrong lines, as though the addressee is someone else and the correct way is to amass worldly gains.

Prepare Yourself for the Day of Judgment

And be informed that you have to pass over the pathway (of Sirat) where steps waver, feet slip, and there are fearful dangers at every step. O servants of Allah! Fear Allah like the fearing of a wise man whom the thought (of next world) has turned away from other matters. The fear (of Allah) has afflicted his body with trouble and pain, his engagement in the night prayer has turned even his short sleep into awakening, hope (of eternal recompense) keeps him thirsty in the day, abstention has curbed his desires and remembrance of Allah is ever moving his tongue. He entertains fear before dangers. He avoids uneven ways in favor of clear ones. He follows the shortest route to secure his purpose, wishfulness does not twist his thinking and ambiguities do not blind his eyes. He enjoys deep sleep and passes his day happily because of the happiness of good tidings and pleasure of (eternal bounties).
He passes the pathway of this world in a praiseworthy manner. He reaches the Hereafter with virtues. He hastens (towards virtue) out of fear (for vice). He moves briskly during the short time (of life in this world). He devotes himself in seeking (eternal good), he runs away from evil. During today he is mindful of tomorrow and keeps the future in his view. Certainly Paradise is the best reward and achievement, which hell is appropriate punishment and suffering. Allah is the best Avenger and Helper and the Holy Qur’an is the best argument and the best to confront (them).

Warning Against Satan

I enjoin upon you fear of Allah Who has left no excuse against what He has warned, has exhausted argument (of guidance) about the (right) path He has shown. He has warned you of the enemy that steals into hearts and stealthily speaks into ears and thereby misguides and brings about destruction, makes (false) promises and keeps under wrong impression. He represents evil sins in attractive shape and shows as light even serious crimes. When he has deceived his comrades and exhausted the pledge he begins to find fault with what he presented as good and considers serious what he had shown as light and threatens from what he had shown as safe.

Part of the Same Sermon Dealing with Creation of Man

Or look at man whom Allah has created in the dark wombs and layers of curtains an from what was overflowing semen, then a shapeless clot, then embryo, then a suckling infant, then a child then a fully grown young man. Then He gave him heart with a memory, a tongue to talk and eyes to see with in order that he may take lesson (from whatever is around him), understand, follow the admonition and abstain from evil.
When he attained the normal growth and his structure gained its average development, he fell in self-conceit and became perplexed. He drew buckets of desires, became immersed in fulfilling his wishes for pleasures of the world and his (sordid) aims. He did not fear any evil nor became frightened of any apprehension. He died infatuated with his vices. He spent his short life in rubbish pursuits. He earned no reward nor did he fulfill any obligation. Fatal illness overtook him while he was still in his enjoyments and perplexed him. He passed the night in the wakefulness of the hardships of grief and the pricking of pains and ailments. He suffered in the presence of real brother, loving father, wailing mother and crying sister, while he himself was under a maddening uneasiness, serious senselessness, fearful cries, suffocating pains, anguish of suffocating sufferings and the pangs of death.
Thereafter, he was clad in the shroud while he remained quiet and thoroughly submissive to others. Then he was placed on planks in such a state that he had been down-trodden by hardships and thinned by ailments. The crowd of young men and helping brothers carried him to his house of loneliness where all connections of visitors are severed. Thereafter those who accompanied him went away and those who were wailing for him returned. He was made to sit in his grave for a terrifying questioning and a slippery examination. The great calamity of that place is the hot water and entry into Hell, flames of eternal Fire and intensity of blazes. There is no resting period, no gap for ease, no power to intervene, no death to bring about solace and no sleep to make him forget pain. He rather lies under several kinds of deaths and moment-to-moment punishment. We seek refuge with Allah.

The Lesson to Be Learned from Those Who Have Passed Away

O servants of Allah! Where are those who were allowed (long) ages to live and they enjoyed bounty? They were taught and they learned. They were given time and they passed it in vain. They were kept healthy and they forgot (their duty). They were allowed a long period (of life), were handsomely provided, were warned of grievous punishment and were promised big rewards. You should avoid sins that lead to destruction and vices that attract the wrath (of Allah).
O people who possess eyes and ears, health and wealth! Is there any place of protection, any shelter of safety, or asylum or haven, or occasion to run away or to come back (to this world)? If not, “how are you then turned away” (Holy Qur’an, 6: 95; 10: 34; 35: 3; 40: 62) and whither are you averting? By what things have you been deceived? Certainly, the share of every one of you from this earth is just a piece of land equal to his owns stature and size where he would lie on his cheeks covered with dust. The present is an opportune moment for acting.
O servants of Allah! Since the neck is free from the loop and spirit is also unfettered, now you have time for seeking guidance. You are in ease of body; you can assemble in crowds, the rest of life is before you; you have opportunity of acting by will; there is opportunity for repentance and peaceful circumstances. (But you should act) before you are overtaken by narrow circumstances and distress, or fear and weakness, before the approach of the awaited death and before seizure by the Almighty, the Powerful.

Sayyid ar-Razi says the following: “It is related that when Imam Ali ibn Aba Talib (p.b.u.h.) delivered this sermon people began to tremble, tears flowed from their eyes and their hearts were frightened. Some people call this sermon the Brilliant Sermon (al-Khutbatul-Gharra’).”

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