A Key to Wisdom - Spiritual Majlis (Assembly)

Spiritual Majlis (Assembly)

Human nature has both the characteristics of being influenced and influencing and thus all the attributes of bad manners or good manners enter one person from another person and the bridge of communication for this is made by the external senses alone. That is, the effects of the word and deed of the influencing ones are accepted by the influenced through the faculties of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. Thus, it is extremely important for every wise, religious person to guard his sacred religious beliefs from hollow verbosity and flowery writing and speech. In order to achieve this objective, if there are spiritual majālis (pl. of majlis) of high standard which provide the best means of soul-nourishing pleasures of `ibādat, special dhikr, recitation of manqabat, knowledge and recognition, then not only do they guarantee the security of the sacred beliefs of our adolescent and young generation from the harm of external influences, but also the complete possibility of guiding them on the straight path in order to reach the stages of certainty and enable every `ārif to reach the final reposing destination of the place of oneness, namely, "huwa'l-kull" (in Arabic) or "hamah ūst" (in Persian).

A spiritual majlis is the only means through which every true Ismaili, after creating the beauties of faith within himself, becomes rapt and blessed with the luminous results of the true love of the living and present Imam and can discover the spiritual merit of his exalted and sacred religion, which is full of luminous wonders and spiritual miracles, by observing which, he can attain experiential knowledge and perfect certainty and then his heart will proclaim that his faith and religion are true. In a spiritual majlis, due to the harmony in thinking, unanimity of sincere devotees, abundance of dhikr and above all the blessings of invisible help, the speed of spiritual ascension and progress resembles a fast working machine, which due to the rapidity of its speed and abundant parts and instruments, can do a great quantity of work in a short time. Further, it is important to know that if it is a fact that every difficult worldly work which an individual cannot do, can be done easily by a group, it is also true that in comparison to an individual and separate struggle of a mu'min for spiritual progress, the collective prayer, `ibādat, dhikr of mu'mins and all their other communal spiritual matters become very easy and have far-reaching consequences.

The place of worship and spiritual majlis can desirably and fully benefit the true mu'min whose heart is illumined with the light of faith, and who receives happiness and pleasure from `ibādat, sees his well-being in obedience to the Imam of the time, remembers Mawlā all the time in heart and thought, is a well-wisher of his spiritual brothers and sisters, yearns to hear the discourses of religious knowledge and is pious and a lover of light.

Another form of man's being influenced and influencing is that by Divine help and by means of knowledge and `ibādat, he is also capable of having a desirable influence on himself. Thus every dhākir (one who remembers God) benefits not only from the ethical and spiritual influence of other dhākirs, but also has the best chance of influencing himself by his own humble `ibādat, prayer and dhikr.

The human soul, in its original state, was made from the light of God and had all the attributes of seeing and knowing the unseen and of doing everything. But when it wore the earthly attire, then due to the worldly and physical impurities, it became rusty and the mirror of its heart, which was able to show the unseen, became covered with sensuality and lost the characteristics due to which it was like the Guarded Tablet. The problem becomes aggravated if this precious treasure, which is the compendium of the pleasures of knowledge and action of both worlds, is continuously neglected. Regarding the consequences of the purification of such a soul and its neglect, God says: "Verily he succeeded who purified it, and he failed who buried it." (91:9-10). Thus, the best way of purifying the soul is the spiritual majlis in which every true mu'min can clean the mirror of his soul and bring it back to the original state in which it can show the unseen. Otherwise, it remains buried in the dust of misdeeds and the darkness of ignorance. This is a prelude to eternal failure. Thus, it is the first and foremost duty of a true mu'min not to keep this sacred trust of God which is made from His universal light buried. On the contrary, he should spend a greater part of the daily time of his worldly life in nurturing, protecting and purifying this blessed trust of God.

Wa's-salām!

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