 الشيطان اللعين الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين نحمده ونستعين به ونتوكل عليه والصلاة والسلام وعلى خير خلقه أجمعين نبينا وحبيب قلوبنا وشفيع ذنوبنا أبي القاسم المصطفى محمد وعلى أهل بيتها الطيبين الطاهرين المعصومين المطاهرين المكرمين ومعصومين أبي ونستعينه السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته المساعدة المساعدة of the holy prophet محمد صلى الله عليه وآليه وسلم لا دعوى today stand as exemplary and our role models for human beings to indeed follow and to seek as inspiration and to look for as far as guidance and direction is concerned in many areas and dimensions of our lives we need advice we need recommendation we are in dire requirement of motivation in order to seek how others have lived and especially those who have dedicated themselves in the path of the Almighty الله سبحانه و تعالى and have given 100% or more actually in this particular noble objective الله سبحانه و تعالى commands us to follow the Ahl al-Bait and to display and exhibit compassion and loyalty towards them بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم قل لا أسألكم عليه أجرا إلا المودة في القرباء I do not seek anything in return from you except to show love and loyalty towards my family the holy Quran in chapter 42 verse 23 clearly exhibits and displays the need for us to look towards the Ahl al-Bait for inspiration and one of those areas of prime importance is morality is the system of ethics, behavior, conduct today we find that in many instances we are in great need to understand what are the standards to work towards as far as our conduct and our behavior is concerned in society علم الأخلاق the study of ethics and the moral system is indeed a crucial set of teachings in the religion of Islam there are more verses in the holy Quran that detail the morality then there are when it comes to Ahkam laws highlighting its crucial significance and its importance that it plays in the life of the human being and generally for the well-being and the strength of the society and the community when we look at the Ahl al-Bait peace and blessings be upon them the inspiration is such that the holy prophet of Islam رسول العظم محمد صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم says I have been sent to perfect the morality of human beings this inama in Arabic is an exclusive tool لأتممة is emphasis and he has been sent to complete and perfect raising the bar and the standard as far as morality and ethics and conduct is concerned and the Ahl al-Bait عليهم السلام one after the other this ship of salvation the 14 glorious معصومين peace and blessings be upon them starting of course with the holy prophet and the other 13 معصومين are indeed the best role models in this regard the lady of light سيد فاطمة as well as the 12 imams exist today as the best examples of morality and role models to indeed imitate and to follow and we understand therefore why the Almighty سبحانه وتعالى has said that you and I should be loving the Ahl al-Bait because that love will bring us closer to them and this proximity will enable us to learn from them to follow in their footsteps to base our lives around them once Amir al-Mu'mineen peace and blessings be upon him and his holy progeny was walking the narration tells us that behind him was Salman al-Muhammadi رضوان الله تعالى علي this noble companion of the holy prophet and Amir al-Mu'mineen when he was walking behind the Imam he was walking and following his footsteps and the Imam turned and found that Salman was on the footsteps of the Imam and not taking his own footsteps when he asked him why Salman said because I want to follow you even by placing my feet where you walked to that extent there is that incredible association and encouragement to be with the Ahl al-Bait peace and blessings be upon them indeed when we discuss morality and when we think about أخلاق the first thing that emerges in this study or this analysis seeking the أخلاق of the Ahl al-Bait looking at the morality of the glorious household is the idea surrounding intention and the purpose of action of the human being in our day-to-day lives we may conduct many affairs we may speak to people we may organize something we may purchase we may interact the concept here is with regards to why we do what we do and ultimately within the religion of Islam there is a foundation for every action and that is إخلاص sincerity it is the cornerstone to make sure that the action itself is not feeble but rather quite strong and remains a factor that enables the human being to excel and to achieve righteousness and virtue الله سبحانه وتعالى قراء الكثير من الوقت يتعلق about the importance of sincerity the correct intention for the deed for the action it is the real spirit of the action itself as opposed to when you see other denominations or perhaps other beliefs that they may not necessarily focus much upon it if the action itself is good as long as that is viewed as a positive step then it is considered as righteous whereas the religion of Islam says no the beginning of the action is the intention which exists in the heart why am I doing something the action itself needs to be also authentically good, virtuous and of course the result or the aftermath that the human being in terms of how they speak about what they did is also deemed to be fairly important and whether they boast whether they practice ostentation رياء showing off is another factor for the acceptance of the deed by الله سبحانه وتعالى in chapter 39 verse 11 الله سبحانه وتعالى قل إني أمرتوا أن أعبد الله مخلصا للهدين the command is that I should worship Allah sincerely 100% everything should be with him and for him and the practice or the concept of sincerity إخلاص is one that has been demonstrated in the conduct and in the life of the أهل البيت عليهم السلام on numerous occasions الله سبحانه وتعالى details in Surah Al-Insan the famous story of The Holy Amir Al-Mu'mineen سيدة النساء فاطمة الزهراء إمام الحسن الحسين بيسة بلاسنس بيأبونهم all when the Holy Imams الحسن الحسين fell ill and the Holy Imam سيدة فاطمة made a vow that they shall fast for three days if they became better when they did become better they observed this of course and indeed after the first day had gone and it's they are about to break their fast we are told that the door knocks and a poor person a miskiin comes and seeks help they all lift for example the food that they had which is some loaf of bread and they present it to their destitute to the poor man they fast the second day just by breaking their fast with water the second day I often also comes and they repeat the same thing they give the orphan all that they have in terms of their food likewise the similar incident or similar occurrence is viewed on the third day so the second and the third as well as the first all had a similar trend and on the third day somebody who was captive and just released in other words not one who has much food perhaps lacking any support was given the entire food of the Ahl al-Bayt by all of them on the fourth day when the Prophet of Islam visited them he saw that they were quite weak or whenever he visited them after that even at night on the third or on the fourth day he saw that they were visibly weakened because for three days they had not eaten anything and Allah SWT revealed these holy verses in سورة الإنسان و يطعمون الطعام على حبه مسكينا و يتيما و أسيرة إنما نطعمكم لوجه الله لا نريد منكم جزاءا ولا شكورا و the Quran says they gave their food due to the love of the Almighty سبحانه وتعالى to the poor person to the orphan and to the captive they then said according to the Quran we are giving the food because of God because of the Almighty سبحانه وتعالى we are not expecting from you any renumeration or reward neither are we looking for thankfulness or gratitude from you and indeed this story which has been fairly popular and very much known by many people around the world especially the Muslim community highlights the power and the significance of purity of intention purity of thought the purity that's associated with the Niyah and that it was not adulterated it was not tainted it was not done for the sake of others but rather entirely for the sake of the Almighty سبحانه وتعالى now the key feature of this story is that they themselves the Ahl al-Bayt have said نقيمكم لواجه الله we are giving you this food for the sake of Allah and I point to reflect unfortunately some people have translated the first part ويطعمون الطعام على حبه they give the food due to his love or due to the love it is not because of the love of the food as some have translated that they are giving the food even though they love the food No على حبه he refers to the love of the Almighty سبحانه وتعالى ، لسب to the love of the Almighty جل وعلى. And it is emphasized on the next verse إنما نطعمكم لوجه الله that we are giving you this for the sake of الله سبحانه وتعالى. Highlighting how the Ahl al-Bait want us to learn the importance of inculcating and developing the need to do things for the sake of God and for the sake of الله سبحانه وتعالى alone. The Almighty says Imagine that when we buy a product we want this product to be 100% for example a particular brand we wanted to you know not be mixed with other brands if we're looking for a well-known brand of some clothing or technology computers or phone then we expect it to be from the company that we purchase it from or that which has been produced and if it is a fake model where other companies have taken part or certain parts have been taken from this and that we don't normally want it and that's why you know we want the original product. The Qur'an tells us of course that that is what الله سبحانه وتعالى expects from us work and deeds which are not adulterated but rather sincere and pure. The Holy Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم يجب أن يكون لك في كل شيء نية صالحة. يجب أن يكون لك في كل شيء نيية صالحة. يجب أن يكون لك في كل شيء يجب أن تفعله حقاً في الوصول. حتى فنومي والأكل even when it comes to sleep as well as eating so even when it comes to normal day-to-day life how people conduct themselves and what they do to engage in a day-to-day activity even that should be for the sake of الله سبحانه وتعالى. How beautiful is this narration from our six Imam Imam جعفر ابن محمدنا الصادق صلى الله عليه وسلمه عليه إذا كان يوم القيامة يوم القيامة. نظر رضوان خازن والجنة. رضوان who is the keeper or the angel in charge of paradise looks at a few people إلا قومن لم يمروبه. Some people who are in paradise but he has not seen that they have walked past him. In other words he has is quite surprised that they are in paradise already. فيقول من أنتم أين دخلتم. How did you get into paradise? Who are you? They will respond. They will say إياك عننا. Don't worry about us. فإن قومن عبدنا الله سررا فأدخلنا الله سررا that we are people who worshiped Allah in secret and he انتدنا into paradise in secret. في البحار. This narration is from Imam الصادر عليه السلام that this worship of the Almighty سبحانه وتعالى that is not for showing off. That is not for seeking the approval of others. That is not for somehow having a tap on the back is one that is looked for. Hence the prayers at the night صلاة الليل is highly recommended because often there are no people to kind of congratulate the individual. There are no people around the human being. They are normally at home or in a place of worship and not many rise at night to perform this great act of obedience devotion and commitment to the Almighty سبحانه وتعالى. The holy prophet peace and blessings be upon him and his holy progeny states that there are everything is just according to the intention and that's the basis of the actions. But of course ostentation رياء showing off or seeking the approval of others are you doing things for the sake of others and not for the sake of Allah has many many repercussions. It is certainly one that could lead to sins. It is known as الشرق الأصغر minor polytheism. The prophet of Islam peace and blessings be upon him and his family says إن المراقي يناد يوم القيامة that the person who shows off is is called on the day of judgment يا فاجر يا غادر يا مراقي or the one who is showing off or the one who is a transgressor ظل عملك وبطل أجرك that your work is nullified. Your deed is not worth anything and you have strayed from the right path go and seek your reward from the one who you sought to help or you sought sorry you sought to seek approval off. Now أمير المؤمنين peace and blessings be upon him and his holy progeny and the Ahl al-Bait says that you know gives us barometers as to how we should be seeking and improving our sins in terms of our sincerity to please Allah سبحانه و تعالى. He says للمراقي أربع علامات that the person shows off has four signs. Number one يكسلوا إذا كان وحدة يكسلوا إذا كان وحدة means that they are by themselves they're very lazy in terms of إبادة in terms of good deeds ينشطوا إذا كان في الناس when they are with people they sometimes get a bit more energy not energy that sometimes one motivates the other but more so for the sake of pleasing others that they will do it so that others say well done that's very very good. Third و يزيدوا في العملي إذا أثنية عليه if somebody says to them well done you're doing well they do more because they somehow want that particular praise to continue و ينقص منه إذا لم يثنع عليه if somebody doesn't thank them they say oh why am i doing it so they start reducing the good deeds or good work because they say people are not appreciating they're not saying they're not seeing the worth of my deeds they of course fail to recognize that it's الله سبحانه وتعالى who is the ultimate rewarder of the actions in other words it doesn't matter if people are giving the thanks or not it doesn't matter if the people are saying well you know well done or not if we are doing it for Allah then we should continue because nothing is missed by the Almighty سبحانه وتعالى and on that note if somebody gets praise is that acceptable or not إمام البقر عليه السلام says yes it's acceptable provided that we did not do the deeds and the work so that we get the praise and without that praise we won't do it so there's no problem in somebody coming and congratulating someone for example when they have done a positive step in their lives but it is of the utmost importance that it's not fulfilled or it's not done for that purpose indeed we pray to الله سبحانه وتعالى to help us strengthen خلاص and serity in our hearts in our actions to learn from the glorious أهل البيت عليهم السلام every step every speech every action of theirs was done for the sake of الله سبحانه وتعالى القرآن praises them and commands us to follow them so that indeed we also attain success and victory in this world and the after and the after دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين وصل لهم على محمد وآله الطيبين الطاهل