SERMONS OF NAHJULBALAGHA

SERMONS 

SERMON 1 

In this religious speech he recalls the creation of Earth and Sky and the birth of Adam. Praise is due to Allah whose worth cannot be described by speakers, whose bounties cannot be counted by calculators and whose claim (to obedience) cannot be satisfied by those who attempt to do so, whom the height of thinking-related courage cannot appreciate, and the divings of understanding cannot reach; He for whose description no limit has been laid down, no (funeral speech) exists, no time is (officially made or ordered) and no length of time is fixed. He createdcreation through His Total power, broke up and moved away winds through His Compassion, and made firm the shaking earth with rocks. 
The best in religion is the admission/response/recognition of Him, the perfection ofadmitting/recognizing/responding to Him is to say in court/give proof Him, the perfection ofsaying in court/giving proof Him is to believe in His Oneness, the perfection of believing in His Oneness is to regard Him Pure, and the perfection of His purity is to deny Him attributes, because every attribute is a proof that it is different from that to which it is attributed and everything to which something is attributed is different from the attribute. This way whoever attaches attributes to Allah recognises His like, and who recognises His like regards Him two; and who regards Him two recognises parts for Him; and who recognises parts for Him mistook Him; and who mistook Him pointed at Him; and who pointed at Him admitted limits for Him; and who admitted limits for Him numbered Him. 
Whoever said in what is He, held that He is contained; and whoever said on what is He held He is not on something else. He is a Being but not through important thing/big event of coming into being. He exists but not from non-existence. He is with everything but not in physical nearness. He is different from everything but not in physical separation. He acts but without meaning of movements and instruments. He sees even when there is none to be looked at from among His creation. He is only One, such that there is none with whom He may keep company or whom He may miss in his absence. 

The Creation of the Universe He started creation most at first and begun it originally, withoutgoing through reflection, without making use of any experiment, without creating new things any movement, and without experiencing any breathing in/wish/wishing of mind. He give outted all things their times, put together their differences/different versions gave them their properties, and decided/figured out their features knowing them before creating them, realising fully their limits and confines and appreciating their natural tendencies and details. 
When God created the openings of atmosphere, wide area of stars/heavens and layers of winds, He flowed into it water whose waves were stormy and whose sudden rushes jumped one over the other. He loaded it on dashing wind and breaking typhoons, ordered them to shed it back (as rain), gave the wind control over the energy of the rain, and (made) familiar it with its limits. The wind blew under it while water flowed angrily/desperately over it. 
Then God created forward wind and made its movement (having no germs/unable to have children), caused to continue its position, strengthened/got worse its motion and spread it far and wide. Then He ordered the wind to raise up deep waters and to strengthen the waves of the oceans. So the wind churned it like the churning of curd and pushed it extremely strongly into the stars/heavens throwing its front position on the rear and the unmoving on the flowing till its level was raised and the surface was full of foam. Then God raised the foam on to the open wind and huge stars/heavens and made therefrom the seven skies and made the lower one as anunmoving sudden rush and the upper one as protective ceiling and a high large building without any pole to support it or nail to hold it together. Then He decorated them with stars and the light of meteors and hung in it the shining sun and shining beautifully moon under the revolving sky, moving ceiling and rotating stars/heavens. 

The Creation of the Angels Then He created the openings between high skies and filled them with all classes of His angels. Some of them are in (lying flat on the ground) and do not kneel up. Others in kneeling position and do not stand up. Some of them are in array and do not leave their position. Others are praising Allah and do not get tired. The sleep of the eye or the slip ofclever humor, or laziness of the body or the effect of forgetfulness does not produce/make happen them. 
Among them are those who work as trusted bearers of His message, those who serve as speaking tongues for His predictors of the future and those who carry back and forth His orders and legal orders. Among them are the protectors of His creatures and guards of the doors of the gardens of Paradise. Among them are those also whose steps are fixed on earth but their necks are sticking out into the skies, their limbs are getting out on all sides, their shoulders are inagreement with the columns of the Divine Throne, their eyes are down-looking before it, they have spread down their wings under it and they have made/gave/given between themselves and all else curtains of honor and screens of power. They do not think of their Creator through image, do not credit to Him attributes of the created, do not confine Him within houses and do not point at Him through illustrations. 

Description of the Creation of Adam Allah collected from hard, soft, sweet and sour earth, clay which He dripped in water till it got pure, and kneaded it with moisture till it became gluey. From it He carved an image with curves, joints, limbs and pieces/parts. He solidified it till it dried up for a fixed time and a known length of time. Then He blew into it out of His Spirit after which it took the pattern of a human being with mind that leads and controls him, intelligence which he makes use of, limbs that serve him, organs that change his position, wisdom that tells the difference between truth and lie, tastes and smells, colours and species. He is a mixture of clays of different colours, well-organized materials, (different/branching out into different) go againstories anddifferent/disagreeing properties like heat, cold, softness and hardness. 
Then Allah asked the angels to fulfil His promise with them and to complete the promise of Hislegal order to them by admitting/recognizing/responding to Him through (lying flat on the ground) to Him and submission to His honored position. So Allah said: 
"Be flat towards Adam and they lay flat on the ground except Iblis (Satan)." (Qur'an, 2:34; 7:11; 17:61; 18:50; 20:116) 
Snobbiness withheld him and crime/harmful behavior overcame him. So that he took pride in his own creation with fire and treated hatefully the creation of clay. So Allah allowed him time in order to let him fully deserve His anger, and to complete (man's) test and to fulfil the promise (He had made to Satan). So, He said: 
"Truly you have been allowed time till the known Day." (Qur'an, 15:38; 38:81) 
After that, Allah lived in Adam (p.b.u.h.) in a house where He made his life pleasant and his stay safe, and He cautioned him of Iblis and his hatred. Then his enemy (Iblis) was jealous of hisobeying in Paradise and his contacts with the honest and good. So he changed his conviction intoshifting back and forth and strong desire/formal decision about something into weakness. Hethis way converted his happiness into fear and his fame/respect into shame. Then Allah offered to Adam (p.b.u.h.) the chance to feel deep sorrow for past sin, taught him words of His Mercy, promised him return to His Paradise and sent him down to the place of trial and making babiesof child/outcome. 

Allah chooses His Predictors of the future From his (Adam's) child/outcome Allah chosepredictors of the future and took their promise for his (something that is suddenly shown or understood) and for carrying His message as their trust. In course of time many people weird and sick/ruined Allah's trust with them and ignored His position and took compeers along with Him. Satan turned them away from knowing Him and kept them uninterested from His worship. Then Allah sent His Messengers and series of His predictors of the future towards them to get them to fulfil the promises of His creation, to recall to them His bounties, to strongly encourage/warn them by preaching, to uncover before them the hidden good qualities/advantages of wisdom and show them the signs of His Total power namely the sky which is raised over them, the earth that is placed beneath them, means of living that sustain them, deaths that make them die, sicknesses that turn them old and events that (one after the other) take them. 
Allah never allowed His creation to remain without a Predictor of the future deputised by Him, or a book sent down from Him or a binding argument or a standing plea. These Messengers were such that they did not feel little because of smallness of their number or of largeness of the number of their falsifiers. Among them was either a person or thing that came before who would name the one to follow or the follower who had been introduced by the person or thing that came before.
The Predictor of the futurehood of Muhammmad In this way ages passed by and times rolled on, fathers passed away while sons took their places till Allah deputised Muhammmad (peace be upon him and his child/outcome) as His Predictor of the future, in fulfilment of His promise and in completion of His Predictor of the futurehood. His promise had been taken from thePredictors of the future, his qualities of character were well suspected and his birth washonorable. The people of the earth at this time were divided in different parties, their aims were separate and ways were (many different kinds of people or things). They either compared Allah with His creation or twisted His Names or turned to else than Him. Through Muhammmad (p.b.u.h.a.h.p.) Allah guided them out of wrong and with his efforts took them out of (the state of having no knowledge). 
Then Allah chose for Muhammmad, peace be upon him and on his child/outcome, to meet Him, selected him for His own nearness, regarded him too gave/given respect to to remain in this world and decided to remove him from this place of trial. So He drew him towards Himself withhonor. Allah may shower His blessing on him, and his child/outcome. 

The Holy Qur'an and Sunnah But the Predictor of the future left among you the same which other Predictors of the future left among their peoples, because Predictors of the future do not leave them untended (in dark) without a clear path and a standing ensign, namely the Book of your Creator clearing up its permission and prohibitions, its obligations and (ability to make wise decisions), its undoing/reversing legal orders and the undid/undone ones, its allowed matters and required ones, its details and the general ones, its lessons and illustrations, its long and the short ones, its clear and unknown ones, detailing its shortenings (of a word) and clearing up itsunknown things. 
In it there are some verses whose knowledge (1) is required and others whose (the state of having no knowledge) by the people is allowed. It also contains what appears to be requiredaccording to the Book (2) but its (canceling a law) is showed/indicated by the Predictor of the future's action (sunnah) or that which appears required according to the Predictor of the future's action but the Book allows not following it. Or there are those which are required in a given time but not so after that time. Its prohibitions also differ. Some are major regarding which there exists the threat of fire (Hell), and others are minor for which there are hopes of/future offorgiveness. There are also those of which a small portion is also acceptable (to Allah) but theycan be expanded. 

In this very religious speech he spoke about Hajj Allah has made required upon you the holy trip(hajj) to His holy and untouchable House which is the turning point for the people who go to it aswild animals or pigeons go towards spring water. Allah the honored and praised made it a sign of their prayer before His Greatness and their admission/response/recognition of His Seriousness and self-respect. He selected from among His creation those who on listening to His call responded to it and said in court/gave proof His word. They stood in the position of HisPredictors of the future and looked like His angels who surround the Divine Throne securing all the benefits of performing His worship and hurrying towards His promised forgiveness. Allah thehonored and praised made it (His holy and untouchable House) a symbol for Islam and an object of respect for those who turn to it. He made required its holy trip and laid down its claim for which He held you responsible to discharge it. So, Allah the honored and praised said: 
". . . And (purely) for Allah, is (a responsibility of) people, the holy trip to the House, for those who can afford to take a trip there. And whoever denies then truly, Allah is Selfsufficiently independent of the worlds" (Qur'an, 3:96). 
(1). "The best in religion (din) is His knowledge." The literal meaning of noise is obedience, and its popular sense is code, whether literal sense is taken or the popular one, in either case, if the mind is without any conception of God/godlike quality, there would be no question of obedience, nor of following any code; because when there is no aim there is no point in advancing towards it; where there is no object in view there is no sense in making efforts to achieve it. Anyway, when the nature and guiding teachers/professors of man bring him in contact with a superior Authority and his taste for obedience and sudden (unplanned) desire of submission beats down him before a God, he finds himself bound by certain limits as against miserable and hopelessfreedom of activity. These very limits are noise (Religion) whose point of beginning is knowledge of Allah and admission/response/recognition of His Being. 
After pointing out the extremely important things of Divine knowledge Prince/governor al-mu'minin has described its important voters/parts and conditions. He has held those stages of such knowledge which people generally regard as the point of highest approach to be not enough. He says that its first stage is that with the natural sense of search for the unknown and the guidance of sense of right and wrong or on hearing from the followers of religions an image of the Hidden Being known as Allah is formed in the mind. This image in fact is the (something that comes before) the obligation to thinking and reflection and to looking (for) His knowledge. But those who love idleness, or are under pressure of environment, do not begin/try this search despite creation of such image and the image does not get said in court/gave proof. In this case they remain starved of Divine knowledge, and since their inaccess to the stage of saying in court/giving proof after the formation of image is by will they deserve to be questioned about it. But one who is moved by the power of this image goes further and considers thinking and reflection necessary. In this way one reaches the next stage in the accomplishment of Divine knowledge, namely to search for the Creator through (getting involved with different types of things) of creation and species of creatures, because every picture is a solid and stubborn/unable to move guide to the existence of its painter and every effect to the action of its cause. When he casts his quick look around himself he does not find a single thing which might have come into existence without the act of a maker so much so that he does not find the sign of a footstep without a walker nor a construction without a builder. How can he understand that this blue sky with the sun and the moon in its wide area and the earth with the extreme excitedness of its grass and flowers could have come into existence without the action of a Creator. Therefore, after watching/following all that exists in the world and the controlled system of the entire creation no one can help ending/deciding that there is a Creator for this world of (many different kinds of people or things) because existence cannot come out of non-existence, nor can existence plant part forward from nothingness. 
The Holy Qur'an has pointed to this thinking this way: 
". . . What! about Allah is there any doubt, the Originator of the heavens and the earth ?. . ." (14:10). 
But this stage would also be not enough if this statements (in court) in favour of Allah isdiscolored and ruined by belief in the God/godlike quality of some other god. 
The third stage is that His existence should be admitted/recognized/responded to along with belief in Togetherness and Oneness. Without this the statements (in court) to Allah's existence cannot be complete because if more gods are believed in He would not be One whereas it is necessary that He should be One. The reason is that in case of more than one god the question would arise whether one of them created all this creation or all of them together. If one of them created it there should be some differential to distinguish him otherwise he would be givenspecial (and good) position without reason, which is unacceptable to the mind. If all have created it all together then the position has only two forms; either he cannot perform his functions without the help of others or he is above the need for their help. The first case means his incapability and being in need of others while the other case means that they are several regular performers of a single act and the lie of both has already been shown. If we assume that all the gods performed the act of creation by dividing among themselves then, in this case all the creation will, not bear the same relationship towards the creator since each creature will bear relationship only to its own creator whereas every creature should have one and the same relationship to all creators. This is because all the creation should have one and the same relationship to all the creators as all the created in their ability to accept effect and all the creators in their ability to produce effect should be similar. In short there is no way but toadmit/recognize/respond to Him as One because in believing in many creators there remains no possibility of the existence of any other thing, and destruction proves understood for the earth, the sky and everything in creation. Allah the honored and praised has expressed this argument in the following words: 
"Had there been in (the heavens and the earth [other] ) gods except Allah, they both had been insickness/problem. . ." (Qur'an, 21:22). 
The fourth stage is that Allah should be regarded free of all defects and (not having enough of something), and without body, form, illustration, similarity, position of place or time, motion, stillness, incapability and (the state of having no knowledge) because there can be no (not having enough of something) or defect in the perfect Being nor can anyone be thought of/consideredlike Him because all these attributes bring down a being from the high position of the Creator to the low position of the created. That is why along with Togetherness, Allah has held purity from(not having enough of something) of equal importance.

Say: 'He (Allah) is One (alone). 
Allah, the needless. 
He creates/gives birth to not, nor is He created. 
And there is none like unto Him" (Qur'an, 112:1-4). 
"Vision sees/understands Him not, and He sees/understands (all) vision; He is the Difficult to notice/skillful, the All-aware" (Qur'an, 6:104). 
"So coin you not any similaritys to Allah; truly Allah knows (every thing) and you know not." (Qur'an, 16:74). 
". . .Nothing at all (is there) like the like of Him; and He (alone) is the All-hearing and the All-seeing." (Qur'an, 42:11) 
The fifth stage of completing His Knowledge is that attributes should not be put in Him from outside because of fear that/or else/unless there be (two things existing together) in His Oneness, and deviating from its proper meaning Togetherness may fall in the maze of one in three and three in one, because His Being is not a combination of essence and form so that attribute may cling to Him like smell in the flowers or brightness in the stars. Rather, He is the fountain head of all attributes and needs no medium for visible sign of His perfect Attributes. If He is named All-knowing it is because the signs of his knowledge are shown/are obvious. If He is called All-powerful it is because every particle points to His Total power and Activity, and if to Him is attributed the power to listen or to see it is because the sticking together of the entire creation and its management cannot be done without hearing or seeing but the existence of these attributes in Him cannot be held to be in the same way as in the creation namely that He should be capable to know only after He buys (and owns) knowledge or He should be powerful and strong only after energy runs into His limbs because taking attributes as separate from His Being would mean (two things existing together) and where there is (two things existing together)togetherness disappears. That is how Prince/governor al-mu'minin has rejected the idea of attributes being addition to His Being, presented Togetherness in its true importance, and did not allow Togetherness to be contaminated (with something bad) with stains of variety. This does not mean that words that describe nouns cannot at all be attributed to Him, as this would be giving support to those who are feeling in the dark bottomless pit of negativism, although every nook and comer in the entire existence is full of His attributes and every particle of creation stands witness that He has knowledge, He is powerful, He hears, He sees. He feeds and cares forunder His care and allows growth under His mercy. The plan/purpose is that for Him nothing can be suggested to serve as an (assistant/helping) to Him, because His self includes attributes and His attributes mean His Self. Let us learn this very theme in the words of al-Imam Abu `Abdillah Ja`far ibn Muhammmad as-Sadiq (p.b.u.h.) comparing it with the belief in Togetherness adopted by other religions and then appreciate who is the exponent of the true idea of Togetherness. 
The Imam says: 
"Our Allah the Honored and praised, the Beautiful has ever had knowledge as His Self even though there was nothing to know, sight as His Self even though there was nothing to know, sight as His Self even though there was nothing to look at, hearing as His Self even though there was nothing to hear, and Potence as His Self even though there was nothing to be under His Potence. When He created the things and the object of knowledge came into existence His knowledge became related to the known, hearing related to the heard, sight related to the seen, and potence related to its object." (at-Tawhid by ash-Shaykh as-Saduq, p.139) 
This is the belief over which the Imams of the Predictor of the future's family are (every single person agrees), but the majority group has adopted a different course by creating the idea of(using different things) between His Self and Attributes. ash-Shahristani says on page 42 of his book Kitab al-milal wa'n-nihal: 
According to Abu'l-Hasan al-Ash`ari, Allah knows through (the attribute of) knowledge, is Powerful through activity, speaks through speech, hears through hearing and sees through sight.
If we regard attributes clear/separate from Self in this manner there would be two other choices; either the attributes must have existed in Him from ever or they must have happened later. In the first case we have to recognise as many never-ending objects as the attributes which all will share with Him in being never-ending, but "Allah is above what the people think of/consider Him to have equals." In the second case in addition to subjecting Him to the changes (from one thing to the other) it would also mean that before the buying (and owning) of the attributes He was neither scient, nor powerful, nor hearer nor (person who is seeing or looking) and this is very different from the basic principle of Islam. 
". . . Allah has said with authority trade lawful and has forbidden interest. . ." (Qur'an, 2:275) 
"And when you have finished the prayer remember Allah standing, and sitting, and reacting, and when you are secure (from danger) establish prayer . . ." (Qur'an, 4:103) 
"Of you men! eat of what is in the earth lawful and good and follow not the foot-steps of Satan; for truly he is an open enemy unto you." (Qur'an, 2:168) 
"(And) say you: 'I am only a man like you, it is showed/told about to me that your god is only one God, therefore whoever desires to meet his Lord, let him do good deeds, and business partnernot any one in the worship of his Lord'." (Qur'an, 18:110) 
"What! order/prohibit you upon the people moral rightness and you forget your own selves? Yetyou read the holy written work? What: do you not understand?" (Qur'an, 2:44). 
(2). About the Qur'an, Prince/governor al-mu'minin says that it contains description of the permitted and the forbidden acts such as "Allah has allowed sale and purchase but prohibitedhigh-interest money lending." 
It clears up required and optional acts such as "when you have finished the prayer (of fear) remember Allah rising, sitting or lying and when you feel safe (from the enemy) then say the prayers (as usual)." 
Here prayer is required while other forms of remembering (Allah) are optional. It hasundoing/reversing and undid/undone verses such as about the period of hiding/privacy after husband's death "four months and ten days" or the undid/undone one such as "till one year without going out" which shows that this period of hiding/privacy should be one year. In particular places it permits the forbidden such as "whoever is forced without being wilfully wrongful or law-breaker, commits no sins." 
It has positive legal orders such as "One should not add anyone with Allah in worship." It has particular and general legal orders. Particular is the one where the word shows (statement that's not detailed) but the sense is limited such as "I have made you superior over worlds, Of Bani Isra'il." 
Here the sense of "Worlds," is confined to that particular time, although the word is general in its literal meaning. The general legal orders is one which is long/big in meaning such as "Allah has knowledge of everything." It has lessons and illustrations lessons such as "Allah caught him in the punishment of this world and the next and there is lesson in it." 
"So grabbed and took control of him Allah, with the punishment in the existence after death, and the life before (it)." (Qur'an, 79:25) 
"Truly in this there is a lesson unto him who fears (Allah)." (Qur'an, 79:26) 
"A kind word and pardon is better than charity that is followed by injury, and truly Allah is(surviving with no outside help), the Most not doing/delaying." (Qur'an, 2:263) 
"And remember when We made an agreement with you and raised the 'tur' (the Mountain) above you (saying), 'Hold you fast that which We have given upon you with the strength (of strong desire/formal decision about something) and remember what is therein so that you may guard (yourself) against evil'." (Qur'an, 2:63) 
"So we made it a lesson for (those of) their own times and for those (of their future people/the future) who came after them and a strong encouragement unto those who guard (themselves) against evil." (Qur'an, 2:66) 
"He it is Who makes you in the wombs (of your mothers) as He likes; There is no god but He, the All-mighty, the All-wise." (Qur'an, 3:5) 
"Obedience and a fair word; but when the affair is decided/figured out then if they be true to Allah, it would certainly be better for them." (Qur'an, 47:21) 
"Of those who believe! It is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will; and do not straiten them in order that you may take a part of what you have given, unless they are guilty ofvisible and obvious inappropriate sex-related behavior; but deal kind/nicely with them, and if youhate them, it may be that you hate a thing while Allah has placed in it plentiful good." (Qur'an, 4:19) 
"Say you (unto the people of the Book), 'Dispute you with us about Allah; whereas He is our Lord and your Lord, and for us are our deeds and for you are your deeds; to Him (alone) we are (only) loyal?" (Qur'an, 2:139)

"There is a lesson in it for him who fears Allah," and illustration as "The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is like a grain which grows seven ears each one of which bears hundred grains." It has unspecific and specific verses. Unspecific is one which has no limitation on specification such as "Recall when Moses told his people 'Allah commands you to sacrifice a cow.'" 
Specific is one where denotation is limited such as Allah says that "the cow should be such that it has neither been used for ploughing nor for crop-watering/rinsing with water fields." There is clear and unknown in it. Clear is that which has no detailed/difficult nature such as "Truly Allah has power over everything," while obscure is that whose meaning has difficulty such as "the Kind(Allah) occupies the throne," whose apparent meaning gives the impression as if Allah is bodily sitting on the Throne although the plan/purpose is to press His authority and control. In it there are brief legal orders such as "establish prayer" and those of deep meanings such as the verses about which says: 
"That the sense is not known except to Allah and those surrounded by knowledge." ThenPrince/governor al-mu'minin expands/widens upon this theme in a different style, he says that there are some things in it which are necessary to know, such as "So know that there is no god but Allah" and there are others which are not necessary to know such as "alif lam mim" etc. It has also legal orders which have been undid/undone by the Predictor of the future's action such as "As for your women who commit (cheating on your spouse) get four male witnesses and if four witnesses do appear shut such women in the house till death ends their life." This punishment was current in early Islam but was later replaced by stoning in the case of married women. In it there are some legal orders which undid/undone the Predictor of the future's action such as "Turn your face towards Masjid al-haram" by which the legal order for facing Bayt al-maqdis wasundid/undone. It also contains legal orders which are required only at a particular time after which their obligation ends, such as "when the call for prayer is made on Friday then hurrytowards memory of Allah." It has also pointed to/showed grades of prohibitions as the division of sins into light and serious ones - light such as "Tell the believers to lower their eyes" and serious ones such as "whoever kills a Believer wilfully his award is to remain in Hell for ever." It also contains legal orders where a little performance is enough but there is scope for further performance such as "Read the Qur'an as much as you easily can." 
"Truly your Lord, certainly is He the All-mighty, the All-merciful." (Qur'an, 26:9) 
"Say you (Of Our Predictor of the future Muhammmad) unto the believer men that they cast down their look and guard their private parts; that is purer for them; truly Allah is All-aware of what (all) you do." (Qur'an, 24:30) 
"Not equal are those of the believers who sit (holding back) other than those hurt, and those whotry in the way of Allah with their wealth and their selves (lives). Allah has raised the (people who try hard at things) with their wealth and selves (lives), in rank above those sitting (holding back); Unto all (in faith) Allah has promised good; but those who try, He has distinguished above those who sit (holding [by]) a great payment." (Qur'an, 4:95) 
"Truly, your Lord know that you stand up (in the Night Prayer) night two-third of the night, and (sometimes) half of it, and (sometimes) a third of it, and a group of those with you; and Allahmeasures (well) the night and the day; Knows He that never can you take (correct) account of it, so turns He unto you (kindly) so say you whatever be easy (in the prayers) to be read of the Qur'an; Knows He that there may be among you sick, and others travelling in the earth looking (for) of the grace of Allah, and others fighting in the way of Allah, so say you as much as it can easily be done of it, and establish you the (regular) prayers, and pay you the (prescribed) poor-rate, and offer you unto Allah a good loan; and at all of good you send on before hand for yourselves, you will (surely) find it with Allah, that is the best and the greatest payment; and look (for) you the forgiveness of Allah; Truly, Allah is Often-forgiving, the Most Kind." (Qur'an, 73:20)