 Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, as-salamu alaikum my dear respected viewers and may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you. Hello and welcome to the 24th episode of the Treaties of Right series with me or host Ali Jassim. Today, we will discuss the right of him who seeks your counsel. Regarding this, Imam Sajjad Zayn al-Abdina, last peace and blessings upon him has said and the right of him who seeks your counsel is that you should give him your counsel as much as you think he can bear. And you should talk with him with such gentle words that he listens to you and you should use such words that his intellect can understand. That is because for each person's intellect, there is a certain way of talking that he can comprehend and respond to. You should choose having mercy as your course of action and there is no power but in Allah's power. Whoever chooses you out of all people to open up to and trust is giving you a huge privilege. In short, Imam Sajjad al-Abdina states that one who seeks counsel has the right to be advised as much as he can bear to hear. Advice should be given gently to help the listener accept it. One should also be kind when giving someone some advice. Giving counsel and wishing well are among the most important topics stressed in Islam. The Qur'an is also stressed that the Divine Prophets are social counsellors. We read in the chapter of Al-A'raf and the Holy Qur'an that the Prophets give advice to people. I but fulfill towards you the duties of my Lord's mission. Sincere is my advice to you and I know from God something that ye know not. The Holy Qur'an Al-A'raf chapter 7 verse 62. Counseling and giving advice is and has been the job and duties of the messengers and the prophets. The Prophet Noah said the following to his nation. I but fulfill towards you the duties of my Lord's mission. Sincere is my advice to you and I know from God something that ye know not. The Holy Qur'an Al-A'raf chapter 7 verse 62. So Salih left them saying oh my people I did indeed convey to you the message for which I was sent by my Lord. I gave you good counsel but ye love not good counsellors. The Holy Qur'an Al-A'raf chapter 7 verse 79. The Holy Qur'an says the following regarding the Prophet Sha'aib. So Sha'aib left them saying oh my people I did indeed convey to you the messages for which I was sent by my Lord. I gave you good counsel but how shall I laments over a people who refuse to believe. The Holy Qur'an Al-A'raf chapter 7 verse 93. All the prophets of God were advisors to their nations. All men naturally welcome being advised except those who have lost their purely divine nature. Such people did not pay any attention to the prophets and were thus seized by a severe punishment. It is interesting to know that even Satan uses giving advice as a means of fooling people. The following verse of the Holy Qur'an about Satan swearing to Adam and Eve that he is their sincere advisor and he swore to them both that he was their sincere advisor. The Holy Qur'an Al-A'raf chapter 7 verse 21. Thus we should realize that our enemies might sometimes approach us as friends giving us advice in order to corrupt us. We learned that the prophets were advisors to their nations. There are several traditions from the Immaculate Moms which state that believers are also each other's advisors. Believers don't necessarily have to be prophets. Any individual who is wise, intelligent, and is a believer can advise and counsel others. There's a chapter in Usul Al-Kafi on Believer's Advice. Mama Sadaq alaihi salam has said it is incumbent upon a believer to give sincere counsel to another believer. The late Allaman Majdisi said in his book Meraat Al-Aqool, what is meant by advice is guiding them to improve their religious and worldly affairs and training the ignorant people to fend off haram from them and bring them some benefits. If they do not accept your advice, you have shown your good intentions by advising them to do good deeds and refrain from evil acts. Don't know about Prophet Ghada. Muhammad Bisa and blessings be upon him and to your family said, each of you should give sincere advice to your brethren just as you give sincere advice to yourselves. Many narrations have reflected on the importance of giving advice and how its reward is of great magnitude. Mama Sadaq alaihi salam quoted on the authority of God's prophet, the people of the highest rank near God on the Resurrection Day are those who were the most active on His earth in counseling His creatures. This implies exerting efforts to advise the people and to improve their conditions. Sofyan ibn Aureyna narrated that he heard Mama Sadaq alaihi salam say, it is prescribed for you to advise the people for the sake of Allah. You will not find any better deed than this. Time for a quick short break, stay tuned. Welcome back. We see that advice given sincerely for God's sake is highly valued. Not advice intended to corrupt the people or out of dishonesty or financial expectations. There is no reward but deprivation for such advice. The noble prophet of Islam delivered a sermon in Mina and said three things for which a Muslim's heart should have no malice. Sincere deeds for God, sincere advice and desiring what is good for the Imams of the Muslims and adhering to their community. We note the importance of doing things for the sake of Allah and the need of the leaders to be advised mentioned by the Prophet in this tradition. So how do we give advice? Advice should be given for the sake of God for it to be effective. It should also be as much as one being advised can accept. We cannot advise people in any way we want. We must learn how to advise, how to express our advice and how to influence the person being advised. Imam Sajed alaihi salam said, you are not free to say whatever you wish since the Prophet of God has said may God have mercy on the servant who speaks well and benefits or is silent and remains secure. Imam Ali the commander of the faithful said, refrain from speaking about what you do not know how to do and do not know the truth about it. What you say is a sign of your intellect and your words inform others of the degree of your knowledge and recognition. One of the key elements in good advice is in it's not being boring. Imam Ali alaihi salam said, the best speech is that which the ears do not eject through forgetfulness and the understanding of which does not fatigue the intellect. This has been expressed as one of the rights of him who seeks your counsel by Imam Sajed and you should talk with him in such gentle words that he listens to you when you should use such words that his intellect can understand. The noble Prophet of Allah also said, we the prophets are appointed to talk to the people according to their level of intellect. Imam Sajed advises us to use mercy in dealing with the people we advise and not use force, frightening or threatening. This is because such acts have no influence on the person being advised. A very important factor in giving advice is being patient. When someone comes to you with a particular problem the most important thing is to listen and be patient. Patients can take on in numerous forms with the most prevalent and most common one being being patient through trials and hardships without losing hope in faith in Allah SWT. As Allah states in the Holy Quran Chapter 8 verse 46, indeed Allah is with those who patiently endure. Here the Holy Quran Allah is not only giving a guaranteed promise that he will assist those who are patient in difficult situations but also provides a beautiful lesson that is being patient is a virtue that is never left without an award. When the verse states that Allah SWT is with those who patiently endure it is trying to explain that Allah SWT is truly on the lookout for those persevering through difficulty and that at one point the patient will be rewarded with ease and solutions for their hardships. This is also mentioned by the Prince of the Imams and the Commander of the Faith Hall. Amir al-Mumin, alaihi salam, as he stated in one of his inspiring and magnificent hadiths. Be sure that there is something waiting for you after much patience. To astonish you to a degree that you forget the bitterness of the pain. Here the Imam is trying to expand on what Allah SWT has already promised in his holy book as he states that those who persevere through hardships while still having faith in Allah SWT will be rewarded with such ease that they will forget the pain they endured during the time of their hardships. Here Imam alaihi salam is also trying to expand on the idea of Allah's mercy and the greatness of his love towards us as he states that the reward from Allah to those who are patient is so great that they will be so astonished they will forget the discomfort and pain they felt during their hardships. Mansour the Abbasid Caliph attempted to invite Imam al-Sadaq alaihi salam to his court in order to claim to be a just ruler. He sent Imam al-Sadaq alaihi salam the following message. Why do you not associate with us in our court as other people do? He thought that Imam would fear his might. But the Imam replied, O Mansour, we have nothing of this world for which to fear you. And find nothing of the hereafter near you to put any hopes in. What is the benefit of my associating with you? Mansour felt bad receiving this response and sent another message saying then come associate with us to give us some advice. Imam al-Sadaq then sent him the following response, O Mansour, whoever seeks the blessings of this world would not advise you and whoever seeks the hereafter would not associate with you. We have reached the end of this episode, stay tuned for another episode on the treaties of rights. Thank you all for watching and may Allah hasten and be a pure and spiteful love and ma'an Mahdi, a-jalla ta'ala farja wa-shareef. Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.