In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

The Value of Mankind

How far is the distance between “forgetting about yourself” and “forgetting God”? Questions like: “Who am I?” “Where did I come from?” “Where am I now and where am I going?” “How should I be?” “What is my final goal?” “What do I want and what should I want?”  … and many more question of this type is a sign of “forgetting about yourself”. Such negligence is the introduction to “arrogance”, “rebelliousness”, “waste of life”, “greed” and other “sins”. 

One may ask what is this “self” that forgetting about it has such ruining consequences. Other than the “natural self” which is referred to as our physical body and the “social self” which presents our social image in the life, there is third type. This third type is called as “Humane self” and identifies us as a human being in the whole universe.

Getting to know this third type of “self” is more essential and useful. Moreover training this kind of self is more difficult, rather effective in eternal salvation. Many have not found their Humane Self or have simply lost and ignored it. These individuals escape from thinking about their higher self regardless of where they are in this universe.

The statement of: “One has to get to know him/her ‘self’ ” includes the set of talents and potentials of mental growth. The Divine talents and mercies around us are within this set. And so are the greatness and dignity of mankind and his value of existence. One who does not learn about his talents, has certainly missed a big treasure in himself; one who does not know his own price, will sell himself for a low price in life; and one who is unaware of his own divine capacity, will give in to sins and contempt. The first rule to make profit in any business is to sell your item based on the marker value of that particular item, so that make no loss in the deal. The Infallibles have determined your value of existence to be equal to the paradise and their opinion is an expert one in this respect.

Imam Jawad (PBUH) who’s annual birth date is upon us has the following tradition on the subject:

“Your value is the heaven and you should not sell it for less; be aware not to trade yourself any less than the heaven.”

This means that trading yourself and your soul with anything less than the heaven is a guaranteed loss. Whatever you trade yourself with, that would be your value in this life. If the world is considered the trade center of the close people to Allah (SWT), the great value of human being is also noted so that we don’t loose it due to lack of experience. When we can use our value for the eternal world of hereafter, then why waste in this world? When we have the capacity to go beyond the angels, then why act as worthless as an animal? The reality is that if we spend from our true capital everyday and have replace that with no gain, then there will be a day that we have lost that capital and left with nothing.

However, if we don’t forget about our “self” and our “value”, we will not trade it any cheaper that its true value.  

(Selection taken from the book "A Step in the Path ", by Jawad Muhaddithi)

Roshd website congratulates all Muslims on the birthday anniversary of the origin of wisdom and the merciful Imam, Imam Muhammad Taqi al-Jawad (PBUH).

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