At the Door of a Brother

At the Door of a Brother

Imam Baqir (a.s.) said:

An angel was once passing by a house, when he witnessed a man standing near its door. The angel questioned him, “Why do you stand here?”

“This is the house of my brother and I wish to greet him,” answered the man.

The angel asked, “Is he of your kith and kin or is it that you are in need of his help that you have come to pay him a visit?”

“The reality is not as you make it out to be. We are just brethren in faith and I only wish to meet him and greet him for the sake of God”.

“I am God’s messenger towards you,” the angel said. “He has sent you His greetings and has said: O’ My Servant! You have paid Me a visit and desired My pleasure and so, as a reward for upholding the rights and sanctity of religious brotherhood, I have made Paradise compulsory for you and have distanced you from My fire and wrath

Namunah-e-Ma’arif, vol. 1, pg. 81; Jaame’ al-Akhbaar, pg. 118.

At the Door of a Brother

At the Door of a Brother

 Imam Baqir (a.s.) said:

 An angel was once passing by a house, when he witnessed a man standing near its door.  The angel questioned him, “Why do you stand here?”

 “This is the house of my brother and I wish to greet him,” answered the man.

 The angel asked, “Is he of your kith and kin or is it that you are in need of his help that you have come to pay him a visit?”

 “The reality is not as you make it out to be.  We are just brethren in faith and I only wish to meet him and greet him for the sake of God”.

 “I am God’s messenger towards you,” the angel said. “He has sent you His greetings and has said: O’ My Servant!  You have paid Me a visit and desired My pleasure and so, as a reward for upholding the rights and sanctity of religious brotherhood, I have made Paradise compulsory for you and have distanced you from My fire and wrath

Namunah-e-Ma’arif, vol. 1, pg. 81; Jaame’ al-Akhbaar, pg. 118.

A Mu’min is the Brother of Another Mu’min

A Mu’min is the Brother of Another Mu’min

 Imam Baqir (a.s.) related:

 Once, a group of Muslims had set off on a journey, but in the course of their travel, they lost their way.  Their supplies were soon exhausted and they were overcome by intense thirst.

 (With no water in sight and imagining their end to be near) they put on their shrouds and sat down, resting themselves against the trees.

 Suddenly, an old man in white apparels approached them and said:

 “Arise, for you have nothing to fear.  Here is some water for you.”

 They scrambled for the water and drank to their fill after which, turning to the old man, they said, “May God have mercy upon you!  Who are you?”

 “I belong to the Jinn community, who had pledged allegiance to the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.).  I had heard him say: ‘A Mu’min is the brother of another Mu’min. He is his eyes and his guide (too).’ I could not allow you to die of thirst, while I was here.”

 Al-Kafi, vol. 2, ‘The Chapter of Brotherhood of the Mu’mineen’, tr. 10.

Exercise Caution in Reconciliation

Exercise Caution in Reconciliation

Exercise Caution in Reconciliation

A’bd al-Malik says:

There arose a dispute between Imam Baqir (a.s.) and some of the children of Imam Hasan (a.s.). I approached the Imam (a.s.) and sought to intervene in the matter in order to reconcile them, but the Imam (a.s.) advised:

“Do not say a word in this dispute for our problem is like that of the old man from Bani Israel, who had two daughters. One of them was married to a farmer, while the other to a pottery-maker. Once he decided to pay them a visit. He first visited the daughter who was the wife of the farmer and reaching her house, he inquired about her health. The daughter said: “Dear father, my husband has cultivated a large area of land and if it were to rain, we would be the most prosperous of the entire Bani Israel.”

Then, proceeding towards the house of the other daughter, whose husband was a potter, he inquired about her health.

The daughter said, “Dear father, my husband has moulded pots in great quantity and if God were to withhold the rains till his pots dry up, we would be better off than the entire Bani Israel.”

As he departed from the house of his second daughter, he prayed:

“O’ God! Act as You deem fit for, in this situation, I cannot pray for either of them.”

The Imam then said to me, “You too cannot intervene in this matter. Be wary, lest you show disrespect to either of us. Your responsibility towards us, because of our relationship with the Holy Prophet, is to treat all of us with deference and esteem.

Daastaan-ha Wa Pand-ha, vol. 1, pg. 134; Raudhah al-Kafi, pg. 85.