Peak of Eloquence Nahjul Balagha By Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib - English Translation - Sermon 191

#suntv #nahjulbalagha #nahjulbalaghaenglish

Sermon 191

Known as “al-Khutbah al-Qasi’a” (the Sermon of Disparagement)

It comprises a disparagement of Satan [Iblis] for his vanity, his refusal to prostrate before Adam (x), and his being the first to display

bigotry and behave with vanity. It contains a warning to people treading in Satan’s path.

Praise be to Allah Who wears the apparel of Honor and Dignity and has chosen them for Himself rather than for His creation. He has made them inaccessible and unlawful for others. He has selected them for His own great self and has hurled a curse on him who contends with Him concerning them.

623

Trial by Allah, Vanity of Iblis

Then He put His angels on trial concerning these attributes in order to distinguish those who were modest from those who were vain. Therefore, Allah, Who is aware of whatever is hidden in the hearts and whatever lies behind the unseen, said the following: “Verily, I am about to create man from clay. And when I have completed and breathe d into him of My spirit, prostrate to him. And the angels, all of them, did prostrate [to Adam] save Iblis” (Holy Quran, 38: 71 - 74).

His vanity stood in his [Iblis’s] way! Consequently, he felt proud about Adam by virtue of his creation, boasted over him on account of his origin. Thus, this enemy of Allah is the leader of those who boast and the fore-runner of vanity. It is he who laid the foundation of factionalism, quarreled with Allah about the robe of greatness, put on the outfit of haughtiness and took off the covering of humility. Do you not see how Allah made him low on account of his vanity and humiliated him for his bid to be high? He discarded him in this world and provided for him burning fire in the next world.

Had Allah wanted to create Adam from a light whose glare dazzles the eyes, whose handsomeness would have amazed the wits and whose smell would have caught the breath, He would have done so. And if He had done so, people would have bowed down to him in humility, and the trial of the angels through him would have become easier. But Allah, the Glorified One, tries His creatures by means of those things the real nature of which they do not know. He does so in order to distinguish (what is good from what is bad) for them through the trial, to remove vanity from them, and to keep them away from pride and self-admiration.

You should learn a lesson from what Allah did with Satan. He nullified his great deeds and extensive efforts on account of the vanity of one moment, although Satan had worshipped Allah for six thousand years

whether by the reckoning of this world or by that of the next world is not known. Who now can remain safe from Allah after Satan by committing a similar disobedience? None at all. Allah, the Glorified One, will not let a human being enter Paradise if he does the same thing for which Allah turned an angel from it. His command for the inhabitants in the sky and the earth is the same. There is no friendship between Allah and any individual out of His creation so as to give him license for an undesirable thing which He has held unlawful for all the worlds.