Forbearance, calmness, respectfulness and forgiveness are the peculiar characteristics of good ‘momins’. God has mentioned forbear- ance as a distinctive mark of one of His Prophets. He says “Verily, Ebraheem was for bearing, and compassionate and oft-turning to God.” To Prophet Mohammed He say “Take to for- giveness, order your followers to do good and keep aloof from the ignorant people. If Satan comes in your way, seek the protection of God. He is all-hearing and all knowing *.” There are other verses of this type which are as follows: “He has given to the momins peace of mind in oyder that they may increase their Faith³.” “have faith in God and His Prophet. Exalt Him, revere Him and sanctify Him morning and evening.” “Let them forget and forgive. Do you not like that God should forgive you? He is forgiving and merciful.” About the momins’ He says They are kind to one another.”
It is the duty of the followers of the Imams to acquire these virtues which have been taught to us by God through the above verses. Let them cultivate these habits and become as they have been described by God, forbearing, kind, grave and respectful in public and in private. This will add to their dignity here and will store for them a reward in the next world.
It is incumbent on us to practice these virtues with the best of our intentions and with frankness in our dealings with the Imams and the officers appointed by them. God will double our reward for the good we do to them just as He will double the punishment of those who do them harm. We have talked of these things in detail in one of the previous chapters of this book.
Nothing can be more desirable and more worthy of our attainment than the practice of these virtues which will entitle us to a reward from God and which will increase our reputation in our life time and after our death and will make us secure on the day of judgement.
It is equally desirable for those who know themselves and know the proper position of the Imams and who work for the good of the next world that they should keep clear of those habits which are the very opposite of the above virtues. They should never have recourse to them in their thoughts, in their words and in their actions. For instance, insolence is the opposite quality of forbearance, revengefulness is the opposite of forgiveness, hard-heartedness is the opposite of leniency, self-conceit is the opposite of respect- fulness and frivolity is the opposite of seriousness. These evil habits are condemned by the people in general and to shun them is a positive virtue. It is a dreadful thing to indulge in them in our dealings with the public in general; but if any one were to have recourse to them in his dealings with the Imams and their friends, he will be com- mitting a sin of astounding atrocity.