Sayyidna Taher Saifuddin – searchable text

For original page – click here

The intellect is the loftiest essence of the human—it gleams in his soul like the moon.
The intellect is the first entity in creation—it is the addressee of God’s command: “Come forward,” “Go back.”
The intellect comprehended itself, by itself, in the first beginning—its origin is virtuous, its source pure.
The intellect is an essence that comprehends all generated things, all created beings, and all crafted forms.
Using his intellect, the human can see the reality in all things with full perception.
The intellect is an elixir inside the human that transforms his copper base into red gold.
The intellect in the human needs the light that shines forth from the luminous station.
Just like the eye which cannot see unless light aids it and dispels darkness.
With the radiance of the sun of revelation—may its light keep shining!—illumine your intellect, O human.
The intellect is the best of everything when it is free of injustice and hostility.
But if desire takes over, it drives the intellect toward a watering-hole where all things perish, either in their coming or their going.
Like colour: in blue light, coloured objects appear blue to the eye.
The intellect can be beset by so many blights—arrogance, coercion, and tyranny.
If you wish to live a Pure Life, make your intellect commander of your affairs.
If you recognise your soul, you will recognise your Lord,  the one beyond the reach of all thinkers.
If you gain power over something humans before you did not control, know the majesty of the one who gave you that power.
If you soar through the world with your intellect, recognise the splendour of the one who made the world, who runs the world.
If you contemplate creation, you will recognise the Creator, the lofty one ensconced in the highest gallery.
If you meditate upon the power of the atom, you will learn the power of the one who gave it that power.
If you recognise this, then acknowledge the power of your highest lord, and distance yourself from those who deny him.
Glory to the Creator of all things, who is not himself a thing! Do not ever deny his power.
Glory to the lord who granted you this marvellous intellect! Recognise him, do not ever deny him.
Gain strength through the intellect he has bestowed on you, and with the intellectual strength earned by his creatures through their realisation of his existence.
Know that the power of the Creator of all things is the fulcrum of existence for all things.
Reflect upon their mystery and master their wonders. Do not be shaken, do not lose interest, do not become impatient.
Illumine your soul with the light of knowledge. Seek it assiduously. Cut open the truths of creation and examine them.
Know that even the intact intellect is perplexed by the Creator’s grandeur.
Understand the value of the intellect bestowed on you, O human. Direct your deepest care toward your soul.
The man who does not recognise his worth perishes.  He has failed to appreciate his potential.
Praise your Creator, O human, and thank him, for he has shaped you as an upright human.
How many blessings and favours has he granted you! Thank him and remember.
His grace flows continuously, just as the sun’s rays flow through the ages.
If a system follows the system of God’s creation, it will stay on the smooth path.
If a system goes against the system of God’s creation, its foundations will be assaulted by destructive winds.
Religious life and worldly life are twins, if you would but view them with a perceptive eye.
If you conduct your worldly affairs in accord with God’s religion, they will become radiant as Jupiter.
God’s servants will then enjoy a good life, in which their world would bloom like a verdant garden.
If harmony prevails in the world, all lives will be pure and happy.
The Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī, famously known as Ḥaydar, said the following about the world:
It is an abode of truth for those who are truthful. It is an abode of well-being for those who discern.
It is a mosque for God’s loved ones, those who are pious, who prostrate before him and praise him constantly.
It is a place of prayer for the noble, pure angels, who possess a splendid stature.
It is the place where revelation from the lord of the high heavens, lord of the earth and seas, descends.
For God’s elect, it has become a place to transact and earn the abode of bliss.
O human, stand up, exert effort, be energetic, and tighten your drawstring for both transactions.
Don the robes of God’s religion.  Wear the mantle of God-consciousness.
Religion in this world is like the soul in the body. Understand this well, test it and scrutinise.
The world is your home. You live here. Bring to it the honour of the highest station, for a home’s honour derives from the one who resides therein.
Use the world’s services, do not become the world’s servant, and you will receive respect and esteem among people.
Following the religion of right guidance means cultivating the prosperity of this world and the hereafter. Stand up and cultivate both!
If you are a leader, cultivate God’s lands for God’s servants. Do not tyrannise.
Fear only God, who is great of majesty, both in your private and public actions. 
Wear the robe of high virtue. Don the cloak of lofty character.
Walk with dignity and calm. Do not swagger in arrogance.
Be modest in your walk and lower your voice.  Preserve the face of your dignity, and do not grovel in front of people with your cheek in the mud.
Be gentle, practice sound judgment, return to God in repentance, and always smile—but with dignity.
Greet everyone with a happy face, and they will appreciate and respect you.
Sow seeds of love in people’s hearts with virtue and affection.
Be the best groomed. Be the best informed. Gather excellent qualities. Adorn the pulpit. Be an expert merchant.
Spend your wealth wisely, with economy and planning. Do not be a wasteful spendthrift, nor a tight-fisted miser.
Spend your wealth to help people, and you will purchase their approval and gratitude.
Give gifts with an open, happy heart, all for the sake of God’s pleasure. Do not seek gain through your gifts.
Give to whoever asks, as much as you are able. Answer the cries of the destitute and the helpless.
Foster charity and kindness. Intend good for all.
If any ask for protection, protect them. If any ask for help, help them.
If someone who has wronged you acknowledges his fault, forgive him. If someone who has made a mistake offers an excuse, excuse him.
In your mature behaviour, be like a deeply entrenched mountain. In your giving gifts, be like a pouring raincloud.
Do not lie. Do not perjure. Do not break an oath. Do not betray. Do not cheat. Do not deceive.
Do not transgress limits. Do not break through doors. Do not climb over walls.
Traverse the straight path with steady deliberation. Ask God to protect your feet from slipping.
Soothe people with soft words and apply balm to their wounds. Face bitter hardships bravely for the sake of God.
With knowledge and good deeds, procure the comfort of a Sound Intellect,  one that possesses comprehension and discernment.
Whoever harms another incurs harm. Beware of hurting God’s creatures.
If a mendicant comes to you, give him something with a smile, and do not repulse.
As for the favours of the Almighty, speak of them. As for the orphan, do not treat him with harshness.
Make beneficial knowledge the vizier of your belief. Make mature behaviour the vizier of your knowledge.
With deep thought, reflection, and vision, acquire knowledge that benefits.
Acquire knowledge with thoroughness, learn it assiduously, act upon it, and then disseminate it.
Distance yourself from black ignorance. Do not let its filth touch you. Illumine yourself with the light of beneficial knowledge.
Be bold in acquiring virtues and lofty characteristics. Hold back from vices and places of perishing.
Do not deem any deed you perform to be great. Do not deem any sin you incur a trifle.
If an evil is in front, do not go forward. If a good is in front, do not hold back.
O seeker of good, come forward with eagerness. O seeker of evil, go back and desist.
Wake up and earn noble traits. Seekers of elevation keep vigil in the nights.
Wish for others what you wish for yourself. Choose the path of virtue in all that you do.
Be gentle, compassionate, and kind to all living beings. Never turn into a raging tiger.
Acquire virtues, excellent virtues, whose fragrance wafts through the world like redolent musk.
Perfume yourself with the fragrance of a pure character. Anoint yourself with a bouquet of lofty qualities.
Be humble, never haughty, or arrogant, or proud.
God raises the station of those who humble themselves. He lowers all those who are proud and overbearing.
Do not break the heart of a friend, a companion. Accompany him, associate with him, be one who proves worthy when tested.
Do not delay in fulfilling a pledge when you have set a day.  Do not break a guarantee of security you have sworn to uphold.
Do not frolic in fruitless pursuits, O lover of wisdom. Do not turn away from truth for it shines as bright as day.
Forbid people from wrongdoing, O possessor of discernment. Command good always.
Speak words that are sound and salutary. Do not mock, or ridicule, or prattle.
Disdain crime, all types of it. Purify yourself of sin, all kinds of it.
Give thanks for God’s continuous gifts. Endure any hardships that befall you.
A dwelling is either prosperous or a wasteland. Cause it to prosper, then, by careful planning and execution.
If a righteous man wields a sword, his fighting will waft ambergris.
O human, if you are someone who shapes things, then believe in the best shaper of all.
Sell him your life and your property O human, and buy from him the everlasting garden.
O human, fulfil your vow.  Purify your robe.  Glorify your Lord. 
From all things, take what is pure and good. Leave off what is turbid.
Trust in God, seek his aid, request his protection, take refuge in him, solicit his succour, and ask him for victory.
Man is compelled in every situation he faces in this world, all the while wearing the garment of one who is free to choose.
In religion, however, he is indeed free to choose. Choose for your soul what is good for it.
O human, whenever Satan tries to seduce you, seek God’s protection, and refuse to be seduced.
Drunkenness numbs the intelligent person’s intellect. O intelligent one, do not approach an intoxicating drink.
O insightful one, if you wish to live long in ease and plenty, do not gamble.
Do not transact except in things that are lawful and pure. Do not cheat, do not hoard, and do not speculate.
If you seek a thing using its travelled paths, you will obtain it with ease.
If you seek a thing without following its beaten paths, you will find it difficult to obtain.
If something you wish for eludes you, do not grieve, do not be distressed.
Every religion contains at least one word from the people of truth, carried over from ancient times.
Whoever seeks clear truth with pure intent and strives for it, finds it, and finds success.
God commands his servant to be just, kind, and generous to deserving relatives.
God forbids lewdness, treachery, and abominations.
The age is corrupt, or so they say. In fact, if you test this thesis, it is not correct.
Rather, the condition of the age has changed due to the tyranny and changing condition of its people.
Speak right, speak true, and do not fear the censurer. Do not lie, do not make up stories.
Act in a way that will please God and benefit humans. Be energetic, not lazy.
If you possess knowledge and eloquence, and if your people wish it, then climb atop the pulpit.
Reiterate for them words of pure counsel. Persuade their souls to implement them.
Behave in one way both in private and in public. What you conceal should be what you manifest.
Be brave and heroic, valiant and faultless. Do not oppress, do not be cowardly, do not rush headlong into danger.
Give preference to others over yourself, even if you are in a state of poverty. Do not misappropriate everything to your benefit.
Give the mandatory rites their full due. Do not be remiss or fall short.
Pray the ritual prayer; whoever wishes to pray the ritual prayer for the Merciful Lord must also perform ablutions.
O human, believe in God with sincerity. Before this, reject the false Tāghūt.
As for God, fear him. As for his creatures, benefit them. As for your soul, shape its form with the declaration of God’s unity.
In God’s eyes, Islam is the true faith.  He gave it the most suitable name.
For if one truly ponders its essence, it encompasses peace, commitment, and submission.
The foundation of faith’s pillars is in the Sound Intellect—master their knowledge, learn them well.
Islam’s beauties are manifest throughout the world. When the sun appears, it cannot be concealed.
The Sharia is based on the rational intellect. Learn this from the most knowledgeable philosopher.
If the intellect adheres to the conditions that have been placed on the essence of its origin, it becomes true essence.
Man’s intellect is in a state of potentiality. If it trains with knowledge, it emerges into actuality.
O human, safeguard the essence that your great lord has gifted you.
Remember the Creator of all the worlds – blessed be his names! – and remain rapt in his remembrance.
Praise him, thank him, chant the litany of his highest name  – lofty be its greatness! – and ask for forgiveness.
The Qurʾan contains true knowledge, a treasure of priceless jewels.
God – lofty be his greatness! – has made the Qurʾan simple to grasp for one who would take heed.
There is nothing wet and nothing dry except that it is contained in the luminous Book.
If you wish to learn the meaning of a revealed verse from the Remembrance, then seek the children of the Remembrance, and ask for its meaning.
Do not scatter pearls of knowledge before people who do not acknowledge their splendour.
Whoever engages in a transaction urged by the Remembrance, will always earn a profit, and never incur loss.
Always thank God for his favours, and you will gain more and more of his bounties.
O my people, hold fast to God’s rope and do not disperse, and you shall win resounding victory.
The Remembrance is linked with the “family of the Remembrance”— descendants of the pure messenger from Baṭḥāʾ. 
They are stars in the sky of Mukhtār’s prophecy,  bright star rising after bright star.
Prophet Ṭāhā Muṣṭafā is the best of people. The lord of the throne has gifted him the pool of Kawthar.
Muṣṭafā is the city of knowledge. Its gate is the master of the world, conqueror of Khaybar.
Medina’s honour is lofty because [it is the resting place] of that city (medina). The gate’s grave has bestowed honour to the earth of Gharī. 
Their sons, sons of Fāṭima al-Batūl, are Imams whose virtues cannot be counted.
They are the people of the robe, the robe of purity.  Whoever supports them is purified from all forms of filth.
They are Imams who have suckled the milk of revelation. Trustees of the lord of the throne. Intercessors on the day of resurrection.
They are the truthful ones (ṣādiqūn) whose truthfulness is attested by all the people. Their purity (ṣafā) symbolises [the Ḥajj rites of] Ṣafā and Mashʿar.
People call the Prophet Muṣṭafā’s hadith “elevated” when they narrate it on the authority of [Muḥammad] al-Bāqir or Jaʿfar [al-Ṣādiq].
They are the arks of salvation. Whoever embarks upon them is saved from the raging, stormy sea of primordial matter.
They are the Fatimids, magnanimous chieftains. How many rivers of beneficial knowledge did they make flow!
Each Imam is a guide for the people in his age, following on from the Hāshimite Prophet, the Warner.
The Imams have appointed Dāʿīs with full authority, who are overflowing, unending seas of true knowledge.
Each Dāʿī is a philosopher skilled in running the Daʿwa, his virtue is great.
He is an exemplar for the learned and the choicest among them. He is the most honourable manifestation for the radiance of the light of knowledge.
I am the Imams’ Dāʿī who walks their rightly guided, luminous, and well-trodden path.
I am Taher Saifuddin, who calls (dāʿī) God’s creatures toward abundant good.
And toward comprehensive security in the cradle of wellbeing, and toward a fruitful life.
I have tested the conditions of the age, experiencing them through time with deliberation and patience.
High waves of the storm of deviation clashed and billowed like mountains, yet I was not perplexed.
Rather, I remained firm in my perfect conviction of victory from the Great God.
I have offered sincere service to the descendants of the Prophet who is the best giver of glad tidings.
This poem contains compelling insights, arising from the experiences of one who was given command, and a long life, through a long age.
It is the fruit of knowledge whose rivers flow amply from the spring of right guidance.
It contains good words that will benefit people. Speak them if you can, or write them down.
Store treasures of love of the prophet and his radiant, well-content descendants, for your religion, your worldly life, and your afterlife.
Perform good deeds as much as you can, and you will be given the gardens of paradise and beautiful, coloured carpets.
May God shower blessings on the Prophet and his pure descendants, the people of the house, the most honourable assembly.