Shahadat of our 5th Imam: Muhammed Ibne Ali Al-Baqir(AS)

Bismillahi Rahmanir Rahim - In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful!

A sad day is upon us, our fifth Holy Imam passed away on this day, through the poisoning of his saddle which caused his entire body to be effected. May Allah curse those who dare commit such a heinous act against such a pure person.

"I admonish you regarding five things; if you are wronged, do not commit wrong doing to others, if you are betrayed, do not betray anyone, if you are called a liar, do not be furious, if you are praised, do not be jubilant, if you are criticised do not fret and think of what is said in criticism, if you find in yourself what is criticised about you, then you are falling down in the eyes of God; when you are furious about the truth, it is much greater calamity then your falling down in the eyes of the people. And if you are opposite of what is said (in criticism) about you, then it is a merit you acquired without having to tire yourself in obtaining it." Our 5th Imam.

If we ponder and reflect upon these words we can InshaAllah improve ourselves.

"If you are wronged, do not commit wrong doing to others"

In the world today many find themselves in this position everyday, people continuously lie, break promises, steal, abandon, deprive, and kill each other. What is the Islamic approach to this? Is it the same as the Christian approach, "turn the other cheek!", is that what is being taught to us through this hadith?

On the contrary, this hadith has not mentioned anything of the sort, look at the wording, "if you are WRONGED..." this part is understood, to be wronged is to be dealt with unjustly, so if someone steals your car, they have wronged you, because it is not just to steal. But the problem comes with understanding the second part, "do not commit WRONG DOING to OTHERS." The question now comes that is it considered wrong to defend ones self, or to take revenge for an unjust act, or to deal punishment for a crime commited? Take the example of the car being stolen, would it be considered unjust to report to the police about your car? would it be considered unjust to take back the car from the thieves if you are given the opportunity? would it be considered unjust to have the thieves punished by the law?

Also realise the word 'others', it is not written, "do not commit wrong doing back to the one who has done wrong to you," Implying people not involved should not be harmed due to anger or irrationality, but at the sametime also implying that wrong should not be done to anyone, even the one who did wrong to you. So back to the case of the stolen car, this implies that just because your car is stolen, you should not steal someone elses car, or if you have a temper, you should not begin shouting at people who had nothing to do with the car being stolen, because this is WRONG.

"If you are betrayed, do not betray anyone"

The concept is again similar here, if we relate this to the previous part, the wordings indicate that betrayal is wrong, whether one has betrayed you before or not.

To betray someone is to misuse their trust, and for it to be mentioned separately from all other wrong doings, gives it an amount of weight which shows how wrong it actually is to misuse trust bestowed upon you by someone.

"If you are called a liar, do not be furious"

Here the emphasis is on lying and anger both, again further ahead, it is written about being criticised and what to do in that situation, but being called a liar could be deemed criticism of a sort by some. On the other hand if one really ponders upon this, it is found that being called a liar when one is not really a liar is in itself a lie.

"If you are praised, do not be jubilant"

We usually find that elation within the self when we are praised, and if we get used to it too much we find a longing for it, so that we lead people on so that they can praise us, and when we find that some people do not respond by praising us, some of us even tend to praise ourselves!!

praise is a very delicate action in Islam, to praise someone who does not deserve it is dhulm, and to praise some one too much is not good, but even just to praise enough when it is deserved could cause a sense of pride within a person, and excessive pride has to be avoided. Allah is the only one who deserves to be praised so much that we could never manage to fulfill how much he deserves with our entire lives.

"if you are criticised do not fret and think of what is said in criticism, if you find in yourself what is criticised about you, then you are falling down in the eyes of God; when you are furious about the truth, it is much greater calamity then your falling down in the eyes of the people. And if you are opposite of what is said (in criticism) about you, then it is a merit you acquired without having to tire yourself in obtaining it."

This is another aspect which we face a lot in our day to day lives, being criticised is usually taken at par as being insulted, where as they are very different from each other, being criticised is something to be thankful for, especially when the person doing the criticism knows how to do it well, without being rude.

So what are we required to do as Muslims when we are criticised? number one, he says look for the fault you are being criticised about. Number two do not become furious, especially if its true. And number three, If its false then be thankful that u have this merit within you without having to work for it, how beautiful advice.

Thus Zuhair's view:
In our lives each of these situations do occur and we have to face them, Islam is a religion which leads toward perfection in every aspect of life, and our Imams are the ones who are there to guide us towards that perfection, thus by following this advice, we would tend toward perfection and achieving our main goal in life by coming closer to the only ONE who deserves our continous Ibadat (worship).

Please keep in mind that the explanation of the hadith written above is just my view, and is open to all criticism. Looking forward to your comments. May Allah guide us all to the right path.