Topic of Discussion:

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In the name of All°h, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Discussion: Attaching Worth to One’s Self

Øad¢th #4
#47 [ Discussion #60
#60]
60]
Lectures on Akhl°q given by His Eminence
Ayatull°h al-`U®m° al-Ø°jj ash-Shaykh N°•ir Mak°rim ash-Sh¢r°z¢ (may All°h protect him)
Translated by Saleem Bhimji – www.al-mubin.org – al-mubin@al-mubin.org

‫ إﻛﺮام اﻟﻨﻔﺲ‬:‫اﻟﻤﻮﺿﻮع‬
Topic: Attaching Worth to One’s Self
Text of the Øad¢th:

 
      
TRANSLATION It has been narrated from Am¢r al-Mo’min¢n `Al¢ ibn Ab¢ ∞°lib
that, “Do not consider
TRANSLATION:
yourself save from the evil of the person who does not consider himself as having any worth.”1

Commentary of Øad¢th:
One of the important issues to discuss is the issue of the regime of worth or value in the Divine Heavenly
religions amongst the human society.

In the material world and in the spiritual world, everything has a value. There are things which are cheap and
things which are valuable, and it is natural that if something has little value then one would easily give it up and
if something is seen as being valuable then it would definitely not be given up with ease! For example, a small
child who has a very expensive jewel in his hand would use it only to play with as in his opinion, it has no value,
and he would easily give this thing up (when the time comes).

The expensive and valuable jewels which we have this world have a name and worth to them – and one of these
such jewels of the world was found by a person who was simply a passerby in a location while there were some
children who were playing with it and who gave him this thing which they felt had no (material) value to it.

The character of a person is just the same – if he considers himself as having any worth, then he would not sell
himself away so easily. In relation to this issue, the Qur˜°n tells us that in the world of existence, after the pure
essence of All°h, there is nothing worth more than the human being and the proof of this is that all things which
exist in the universe have been created for mankind:

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1 Bi¶°r al-Anw°r, Volume 75, Page 365

Ethical Discourse | Discussion # 60 | Page 1 of 2
 “I created all the things in the universe for you and I created you for Me.”

In addition, we see that the highest of all of the creations of All°h i - the Angels – were commanded to prostrate
towards man:

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“So then the Angels bowed down in prostration to him – all of them…”

From this, the value and worth of the human being is made clear. In addition to this, all of the things in the
universe have been placed at the disposal of the human being – meaning that all of the things in creation work for
the human being and this too shows the status of mankind!

Thus, if we were to understand the worth of our soul then we would definitely not sell it for the lower desires
which quickly pass away nor for the worthless positions (in this transient world).

However if we do not recognize our own self worth, then we will definitely sell ourselves cheap and we must be
frightened from such a person since he would even kill a person for a small price since he does not consider
himself to be worth anything and such a person is very dangerous.

However what about the person who considers himself to be worth something, or:


    
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“The one who considers himself to be worth something…”

The answer to this question has been provided by Mawl° `Al¢
in three sentences where he has said:

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“The one who considers himself to be worth something will not weaken himself through his lower desires.”

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“The one who considers himself to be worth something will consider his lower desires as something of no value.”

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“The one who considers himself to be worth something will consider the transient world as something
insignificant in his eyes.”2

…and all praise belongs to All°h i, only the mistakes are mine

2 Miz°nul Øikmah, Under the letters of “B”

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