RIGHTS OF IMAMS

Rights of Imams

15- THE RIGHT OF THE POSSESSOR OF AUTHORITY

Then the right of the possessor of authority is that you should know that God has established you as a trial for him. God is testing him through the authority God has given him over you. And you should sincerely provide him with your advice. And you should not quarrel with him while he has full dominance over you, for thereby you cause your own destruction and his, too. And you should be humble and courteous for his gifts to attain his satisfaction with you, so that he will not harm your religion. And you should seek God's help in this regard. Do not oppose his power and do not resist him. Should you do so, you would have disobeyed him and disobeyed yourself: thus exposing yourself to encounter his evil and expose him to destruction by you. Thus you will deserve to be considered to be as his assistant acting against yourself and as his partner in what he does to you. And there is no power but in God.

16- THE RIGHT OF THE TRAINER THROUGH KNOWLEDGE

And the right of the one who trains you through knowledge is glorifying him, and respecting his meetings, and listening well to him, and being responsive to him¹, and helping him for yourself in the knowledge that you need by freeing your mind for him, and presenting your understanding to him, and purifying your heart for him, and fixing your eyes on him by means of abandoning leisures and diminishing lust. And you should know that regarding what he teaches you, you are considered as his messenger to teach when you meet the ignorant ones. Therefore, it is binding upon you to render on his behalf properly, and not cheat in the fulfillment of his mission, and strive to deliver what you undertake. And there is no power but in God.

17- THE RIGHT OF THE TRAINER THROUGH OWNERSHIP

And the right of him who trains you through² ownership³ is similar to the right of the possessor of authority over you. Except this one has a right which that one does not: being that you are bound to obey him in every matter, whether small or big, except for what would lead you to abandon incumbent rights of God, or in what would intervene between you, his rights and the rights of the people. And once you fulfill them, you can commit yourself to his rights and engage in fulfilling them. And there is no power but in God.

* By: IMAM SAJJAD Ali ibn al-Hussein (May God Bless Him). Research and Translation by: Dr. Ali Peiravi Ms. Lisa Zaynab Morgan

1. In the other version it is followed by: "You should not raise your voice toward him. You should never answer anyone who asks him about something, in order that he may be the one who answers. You should not speak to anyone in his session nor speak ill of anyone with him. If anyone ever speaks ill of him in your presence, you should defend him. You should conceal his faults and make manifest his virtues. You should not sit with him in enmity or show hostility toward him in friendship. If you do all of this, God's angels will give witness for you that you went straight to him and learned his knowledge for God's sake, not for the sake of the people."
2. In the other version it is followed by: "property is that you should obey him and not disobey him, unless obeying him would displease God, for there can be no obedience to a creature when it is disobedience to God."
3. you are his slave