A sincere, pious and pure gentleman was a tobacco trader by profession. He narrated to me around forty years ago:

I was very much devoted to Late Ayatullah Sayyid Abu Talib and in the evenings at I attended his congregation in Masjid Marikah Khana (Masjid Noor). For many years, between Asr and Maghrib, after explaining some Islamic laws I used to read out miracles of the Holy Imams ('a) from a book. Gradually the audience increased till satanic whisperings interfered with my intention and I became fearful of succumbing to the sinful act of show off. Since I had doubt about the sincerity of my act, I stopped those readings.

One night, I saw in dream that a vehicle of effulgence is brought for me and I mounted it, then it set out with the speed of light to the heavens. My pleasure on seeing those celestial scenes is beyond description, till I reached the seventh heaven. Suddenly that vehicle split from me and I started falling down from there, till I fell in the center of Masjid Markah.

In distress and pain, heard a voice telling me: Your rise was from here and your fall is at the same place. If you want to go up again, you can do so from here only. When I awoke, I regretted my mistake and chastised myself for discontinuing those readings and made a firm decision to resume them.

So, everyday I started coming to the Masjid at Asr time, but I never got the same crowd again and people were no more interested and I was deprived of that great blessing.

Value The Divine Opportunity

The aim of narrating this story is that when a wise believer gets divine opportunity (Tawfiq) to perform a good deed, he should value it and try to continue that act. He should be fearful of its decline and loss; and seek the refuge of the Almighty Allah from it.

For example, if he gets the divine opportunity of getting up at dawn, he should not lose it and if on some nights, he is unable to wake up till the time of Morning Prayers, he should after performing the obligatory prayers perform its Qaza (lapsed prayer); or for example if he reads the Holy Qur’an or some supplication everyday, he must never give it up. If he is having the habit of paying charity daily, weekly or monthly, he should never discontinue it and must not waste this opportunity.

In the same way, is organization of religious gatherings and attending them. It is ordered in traditional reports that you should continue them regularly. Thus, Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq ('a) says: A little things, which continues regularly is better than that big thing, in which there is no endurance.

There are many testimonies of this matter. Here we shall only quote one traditional report. In Al-Kafi, it is narrated through correct chains of narrators from Yaqub Ahmar that he said to Imam Ja 'far as-Sadiq ('a): "May I be your ransom, I am besieged with troubles and hardships," and it is mentioned in another version of report that " I am in huge debts to such a limit that 1 am deprived even from performing good deeds. What can be worse than the fact that I have even forgotten a part of Qur’an."

It is said that when the Qur’an was mentioned, the Imam became fearful, and said: "Indeed if a person forgets a chapter of Qur’an after memorizing it, it would approach him on Judgment Day and a rank of Paradise would become visible to him. Thus, it would greet him. He would reply and ask who he is. He would say: I am so and so chapter, which you wasted and deserted. If had not left me, I would have conveyed you to this level.

After that he said: Remain attached to Qur’an and learn it. In fact some people learn Qur’an for fame; that people may call them memorizers (Huffaz). There is no good in learning Qur’an with this aim, although there are some who repeat it day and night and don 't care whether anyone is aware of it or not.

Fear Of Insincerity Is A Sign Of Sincerity

It is also necessary that if a person wants to perform a good deed, he should before that make his intention pure and adopt sincerity and then only should he perform it and not that he should give up that act altogether fearing loss of sincerity and please the Satan; On the contrary this fear of insincerity is a proof of a rank of sincerity. If in the condition of this fear, he seeks the help of the Almighty before performing that act, it would be better for him.

It is mentioned in the biographies of some scholars that before ritual prayers they used to sit in seclusion for a long time and after pondering on their death, valleys of Purgatory and hardships of hereafter, wept on their condition and then came to the Masjid to lead congregational prayer. Through this practice, their aim was to assure that prayer is only for the Almighty and His remembrance and no attention should be paid to believers and their gathering.