Opens 15 minutes before the session begins.
Mahdawiyyah, Part 16 · The Shield, Part 6 The very first of Imam Ali's short sayings in Nahj al-Balagha compares the ideal believer, in times of unrest, to a two-year-old camel — too weak to be ridden, and without milk to be taken. That image, ibn al-labun, is not a counsel to withdraw. Imam Ali, peace be upon him, governed, fought, and never stepped back from public life; the teaching is about refusing to be used. Classical commentary reads it as guidance for the exact moment a citizen faces a real grievance while unable to tell a genuine movement from an operation exploiting it: make yourself unavailable to both, neither carrying anyone's cause on your back nor funding it with your resources. The session then distinguishes two very different people caught up in unrest — the instigator who knows exactly what he is doing, whom the Qur'an places among those who spread corruption on earth, and the ordinary person swept up by a grievance that is real even though the movement exploiting it is not. The Qur'an calls the second group, without condemning them as criminals, the greatest losers — those who believed they were doing good. The evening then turns outward, to what replaces concealment once real persecution has lifted. The Prophet was sent, as the tradition puts it, to perfect noble character, and this — not hiding — is the believer's primary mode. Which raises the question this six-session arc has been building toward: what is the obligation of a Shia Muslim living in Manchester, Toronto or Sydney, where no one will imprison you for commemorating Ashura? If nobody is threatening your life for your faith, is the Shield still relevant, or has a different obligation taken its place? What the evening covers The baby camel. Imam Ali's teaching on making yourself useless to those who would exploit a genuine grievance for their own ends. Two types of person in the crowd. Why the tradition judges the instigator and the manipulated so differently. Noble character as the primary mode. Why demonstration, not concealment, is what the Prophet was sent to perfect. The Western question. What the obligation becomes when the classical conditions for strategic prudence no longer apply.
In this session
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَطَعْتُكَ فِي أَحَبِّ الْأَشْيَاءِ إِلَيْكَ وَ هُوَ التَّوْحِيدُ وَ لَمْ أَعْصِكَ فِي أَبْغَضِ الْأَشْيَاءِ إِلَيْكَ وَ هُوَ الْكُفْرُ فَاغْفِرْ لِي مَا بَيْنَهُمَا يَا مَنْ إِلَيْهِ مَفَرِّي آمِنِّي مِمَّا فَزِعْتُ مِنْهُ إِلَيْكَ اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِيَ الْكَثِيرَ مِنْ مَعَاصِيكَ وَ اقْبَلْ مِنِّي الْيَسِيرَ مِنْ طَاعَتِكَ يَا عُدَّتِي دُونَ الْعُدَدِ وَ يَا رَجَائِي وَ الْمُعْتَمَدَ وَ يَا كَهْفِي وَ السَّنَدَ وَ يَا وَاحِدُ يَا أَحَدُ يَا قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَ لَمْ يُوْلَدْ وَ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوا أَحَدٌ،
O Allah! I have obeyed You in the most beloved thing to You, which is monotheism, and I have not disobeyed You in the most detested thing, which is disbelief. So forgive me whatever sins lie between these two, O You who are my only refuge and shelter. Grant me safety from that which I have fled to You seeking protection. O Allah! Forgive my many acts of disobedience before You, and accept my little obedience at Your threshold. O my sole provision among all provisions, O my hope and comfort, my shelter and support, O the One and Only, O You who said: 'Say: He is Allah, the One. Allah, the Self-Sufficient. He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none comparable unto Him.'
Mafatih al-Jinan, Supplications (Duas), Dua Sari' al-Ijabah (The Quickly Answered Supplication), Line 1
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