This sermon is called Khutba al-Ghara and is counted among the most remarkable sermons of the Commander of the Faithful: All praise is to Allah, Who is exalted in His power and near in His generosity. The Bestower of every benefit and increase, and the Remover of every calamity and trial. I praise Him for His bounties and abundant blessings. I believe in Him because He is the First and Manifest, and I seek guidance from Him because He is the Nearest and Guide. I seek help from Him because He is Powerful and Able, and I trust in Him because He is the Sufficient and Helper. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, sent to implement commands, complete the argument, and warn beforehand through admonishing events. O servants of Allah! I advise you to fear Allah, Who has set forth examples for you, appointed the times of your lives, clothed you with various garments, and provided your sustenance. He has taken full account of you and appointed your reward. He has blessed you with His vast blessings and generous gifts, and warned you with effective proofs. He has counted you one by one, and in this place of trial and lesson, He has appointed your lifespans. In it is your trial, and on its entry and exit will be your accounting. This world's watering place is foul, and the place of drinking is filled with mud. Its outward is attractive and its inward is destructive. It is a vanishing deception, a setting light, a sliding shadow, and a leaning pillar. When one who hates it becomes attached to it, and a stranger becomes satisfied with it, it raises its feet and strikes the ground, catches him in its net, makes him a target for its arrows, places the noose of death around his neck, and takes him to the narrow grave and terrifying destination, where he will see his abode (Paradise or Hell) and reap the result of his deeds. The state of those who come later is like that of those who came before. Death does not turn away from selection, and those who remain do not desist from sin. They follow each other's ways and advance one after another toward the final destination and place of annihilation, until all matters are concluded, the world's age ends, and the Day of Resurrection arrives. Then Allah will bring forth all from the corners of graves, birds' nests, beasts' dens, and places of destruction. Group after group, silent and still, standing and arrayed, advancing toward the command of Allah and running toward their place of return. The gaze of power will be upon them, and the caller's voice will reach all their ears. They will be wearing the garment of weakness and helplessness, and humiliation will cover them due to incapacity and powerlessness. Excuses and strategies will be absent, and hopes will be cut off. Hearts will sit in despairing silence. Voices will be suppressed and silenced. Sweat will place a noose in the mouth. Terror will increase, and when they are called for the final judgment, giving recompense for deeds, and for punishment and reward, ears will tremble from the caller's thunderous voice. These servants were created to prove His authority, and they were raised with dominance and control. At the time of death, their souls are seized and they are placed in graves, where they will disintegrate, then be raised alone from graves, receive recompense according to their deeds, and each will be given separate accounting. They were given the opportunity for salvation while in the world, the straight path was shown to them, and they were given time to seek Allah's pleasure. The darknesses of doubt were removed from them, and in this period of life and place of action, they were left free so that they might prepare for the race in the Hereafter, seek the goal through reflection, and have enough time to acquire benefits and prepare for their next destination. These are correct examples and healing advice, provided they have pure hearts, listening ears, strong opinions, and alert minds. Fear Allah like the one who, when he heard words of advice, bowed down; when he sinned, acknowledged it; when he feared, acted; when he was afraid, advanced toward good deeds; when he believed in the Day of Resurrection, performed good deeds; when admonitions were given, took lesson; when warned, desisted from evil; when called, responded and turned toward Him; and turned to Him with repentance and return. He followed completely and saw the truth when it was shown. Such a person remained active in seeking truth, broke free and fled from the bonds of the world, prepared provisions for himself, kept his inner self pure, and built the house of the Hereafter. He has loaded provisions for the journey of the Hereafter and its travel, and for times of need and places of poverty and destitution. O servants of Allah! Fear Him in view of the purpose of your creation, and fear Him to the extent He has warned you. Create entitlement for those things He has prepared for you, seeking fulfillment of His true promise and fearing the terror of the Day of Resurrection. Also in this sermon are these words: He created ears for you so that you may hear and preserve necessary and important things, and He gave you eyes so that they may emerge from blindness and become bright and luminous. And various parts of the body, each containing many organs with their appropriate complexities, with their form's composition and the proportion of life's periods, with bodies that fulfill their needs and hearts that seek their spiritual nourishment. In addition to other great blessings, gratitude-inducing gifts, and fortresses of safety. And He has appointed your lifespans, which He has kept hidden from you, and left opportunities for taking lessons from the conditions and events of past people. Those people who were enjoying their fortune and moving about freely - how death seized them before their hopes were fulfilled, and the hand of age distanced them from those hopes. They did not prepare when bodies were healthy, and they did not take lessons and advice when youth was present. Are those in full youth waiting for old age that bends the back, and those in the freshness of health waiting for diseases that strike? And are those with life seeing the moments of annihilation? When the time of departure is near and migration is close, and the time comes for restlessness of anxiety and distress, burning and fever, the nooses of saliva, and turning from side to side while crying for help from relatives and loved ones - did the close ones stop death, or did the weeping of mourners bring any benefit? He is left alone, bound and tied in a narrow corner of the grave in the cemetery. Snakes and scorpions have made his skin like a sieve. The trampling has destroyed his freshness. Winds have erased his traces, and events have obliterated even his marks. Fresh bodies have become emaciated and withered. Bones have decayed, and souls are pressed under heavy burdens of sin and have come to believe in the unseen. But for them now there is no way to increase good deeds, nor any room for repentance from evil deeds. Are you not the sons, fathers, brothers, and relatives of these dead ones? You too will face exactly the same conditions, walk the same path, and pass on the same highway. But hearts are still disinterested in guidance and happiness, heedless of guidance, and going in the wrong field. As if someone else is intended and addressed, and as if gathering the world is the correct path for them. Remember that you must pass over the Bridge (Sirat) and in places where feet stumble and slip, and at every step there are dangers of fear and terror. Fear Allah like the intelligent and wise man fears, whose heart has been made heedless of other things by reflection on the Hereafter, whose body has been put in hardship and difficulty by fear, whose little sleep has been changed to wakefulness by night prayer, whose hot midday hours pass in thirst in hope of reward, whose desires have been restrained by asceticism and piety, and whose tongue is always moving with remembrance of Allah. He feared before dangers came, avoided broken paths and took the straight path, chose the straight way to reach the intended path, was not twisted by delusions, and his eyes were not veiled by doubtful matters. He sleeps sweet sleep having obtained the joys of good news and the comforts of blessings, and passes his days in peace and security. He passed through the world's passageway with praiseworthy character and reached the Hereafter's destination with felicities. In view of its dangers, he advanced toward good deeds and walked quickly in this period of life for goodness. In seeking the Hereafter, through wholeheartedness and eagerness, no room for excuse-making remains, and the straight path has been shown and the argument completed, and you have been warned about that enemy who secretly penetrates into chests and reaches ears while whispering. He misleads and destroys, and makes false promises and gives false hopes. At first, he adorns the greatest crimes and presents them, and makes the greatest deadly sins appear light and easy. When he has led the misled soul onto the path of misguidance and firmly caught it in his snares, he begins to speak ill of what he had adorned, and advances toward what he had made light and easy, and flees from evils. He considers today and tomorrow and looks ahead to future needs. What is greater than Paradise for forgiveness and gift, and Hell for punishment and chastisement? And who is greater than Allah for taking revenge and giving help? And what is greater than the Quran as proof and argument against you? I advise you to fear Allah, Who shows the weight and importance of things to be feared, and begins to warn about that from which He had made you satisfied and fearless. (Also part of this sermon is the description of human creation): Look at him whom Allah created in the darknesses of the mother's womb and the inner layers of the veil - a gushing drop and formless congealed blood. Then it became an embryo, then a suckling infant, then a child beyond weaning, then a full-grown youth. Allah gave him a caring heart, a speaking tongue, and seeing eyes, so that he might understand while taking lessons and desist from evil while being affected by advice. But when balance and moderation were created in his limbs and his stature reached its height, he burst forth in pride and arrogance, and began to wander blindly, drawing buckets of debauchery and lust, and spending his life in fulfilling states of joy and pleasure and desires of passion. He did not consider any calamity, nor was he affected by any fear. Finally, he died in a state of heedlessness and intoxication in those disturbances, and spent what little life remained in futilities. He earned no reward and fulfilled no duty. While he was still on the path of remaining rebellions, death-bringing diseases struck him, leaving him stunned. He spent the night awake in the hardships of grief and calamity and the severity of pain and suffering, in a state where he was before a true brother, kind father, mother crying in distress, and sister beating her chest in restlessness, in the intoxications of death throes, severe bewilderment, painful screams, restlessness of gasping breath, and the intensities of death that render helpless. Then he was wrapped in a shroud in a state of failure, and remained bound to others' movement and rest without resistance. Then he was placed on a bier, in a state where he was exhausted from toil and hardship and worn out from illnesses. The supporting youth and cooperating brothers carried him on their shoulders to the house of exile, where all ties of meeting are severed. When the escorts and afflicted relatives returned, he was lifted and placed in the grave's pit, to face the terrors of questioning and the blows of examination from the angels, and then the greatest calamity - the hospitality of boiling water and entry into Hell, and the flames of Hellfire and the intensity of blazing flames. There is no pause for rest, no escape for a while for peace and comfort, no restraining force, no comforting death now, no sleep to forget the suffering, but he will be in various kinds of deaths and new torments every moment. We seek refuge with Allah. O servants of Allah! Where are those who were given long lives and enjoyed blessings, were told and understood everything, were given time but spent it in negligence, were kept healthy but forgot that blessing? They were given long respite, were given good things, were warned of painful punishment, and great promises were made to them. (So now you) avoid sins that lead to destruction and errors that anger Allah. O you who have eyes and ears! O you who have health and wealth! Is there any place of escape or room for deliverance? Or any refuge or abode? An opportunity to flee, or any way to return to the world? If not, then where are you wandering, and where are you turning, or what things are you approaching? Yet from this vast earth, each of you has only a piece the length of your stature, in which you will lie with your cheek on the dust. This is still a gain, O servants of Allah, while the noose is not around the neck and the soul is still free - the opportunity to acquire guidance, the comfort of bodies, the gathering of assemblies, the remaining time of life, the opportunities to use choice anew, the room for repentance, and the state of tranquility, before falling into hardship and distress, before fear and destruction cover you, before death comes, and before the grasp of the Powerful and Dominant seizes you. Sayyid Razi says: It is reported that when His Eminence delivered this sermon, bodies trembled, hair stood on end, tears flowed from eyes, and hearts quaked. Some people remember this sermon by the name Khutba al-Ghara.