Sol 5.6

  1. Honor well the trust with which you have been charged—

    a collar upon the dove, in secret and in public.

  2. You have indeed entered into a bargain concerning those you lead;

    so choose the venture’s profit over loss.

  3. They have entrusted you with a guaranteed trust;

    so beware—beware utterly—the liability of one who neglects it.

  4. Know the true worth of that trust:

    liability for it is no liability that will be forgiven.

  5. If you tend it well, they will gain its reward, and so will you;

    but if you betray it, they will be safe while you bear the burden.

  6. You stand between gain and safety;

    take whichever path you deem the prudent one.

  7. Consider fully, with due discernment,

    being safe by undertaking it and being safe by leaving it.

  8. If you can fulfill its rights and conditions,

    then—may your hands prosper—seize the gain: what excellent treasure!

  9. But if you cannot, safety itself is a gain,

    and the wiser of your two choices is the one farthest from danger.

  10. Yet if you leave it despite being able to perform it,

    the sin of neglect falls upon whoever was capable.

  11. The imamate is an office, and its station

    requires greater sincerity and freedom from pride.

  12. Do not seek it for pomp or self-exaltation,

    lest the Almighty cast you one day into Saqar.

  13. Let your undertaking of it rest upon sincerity, not

    upon becoming a leader whom people magnify.

  14. The One from whom no hidden thought is absent

    knows the true nature of hearts’ intentions.

  15. Do you think the conscience can deceive Him, when His knowledge

    is pure and equal regarding whatever is concealed or declared?

  16. Suppose deception availed you among created beings—

    could it remain hidden from Him who knows the unseen?

  17. Every deed, inward or outward,

    lies wholly within the knowledge of the All-Knower of unseen things.

  18. Part from your desire, and leave to your Lord a nature

    purified by sincerity of every evil.

  19. Purify your inner self, whose afflictions are

    evil, and whose dye is imperfection and filth.

  20. Bear the pillar of religion, as you have been charged to bear it,

    on behalf of those who saw you as capable and competent for it.

  21. Whenever you are present among people at their prayer

    and those present deem you fit to be put forward,

  22. then be the imam without misgiving; do not forsake

    the duty of congregational prayer, and seek the company’s reward.

  23. Yet you have prescribed duties

    made radiant by traditions, as the moon shines forth.

  24. Among them is constant observance of the shadows

    and the beginnings of the prayer times—that is the aim.

  25. The servant most beloved to his Lord

    is one who observes the shadows, according to the report.

  26. The beginnings of the times possess a rank of excellence;

    the Prophet urged them, and his practice in them continued.

  27. Your Lord’s pleasure is at the beginning of the times, His mercy

    in their middles, and pardon at their ends.

  28. Except the evening prayers on winter nights,

    and noon prayer, delayed for coolness on hot days.

  29. Some prefer waiting for a congregation;

    others prefer the transmitted teaching, as has become clear.

  30. Once the whole congregation is ready,

    say the opening takbīr; this matter calls for sound judgment.

  31. Beware assuming the imamate if you are

    prone to grammatical error, for the best reciter leads the people by tradition—

  32. even if your error does not corrupt the meaning,

    since by the ruling of the hadith you are not eligible.

  33. The prayer remains valid if the error does not corrupt the meaning,

    though the offense itself is not excused.

  34. Some consider it invalid if you change a verse of mercy

    into its opposite, or monotheism into polytheism.

  35. Others restrict invalidity to changing monotheism into polythe—

    ism, or reversing the two.

  36. Improper pausing resembles grammatical error when it changes the

    meaning; and it is said to harm when it affects monotheism.

  37. Comparable are leaving letters undotted or dotting them wrongly in the

    Qur’an, since either can turn the wording into something else.

  38. Comparable too is ignorance of the articulation points of let—

    ters, which harms the prayer of those led by such a person.

  39. A person with a defect of speech may lead them

    if the letter was not distorted through his ignorance.

  40. Prayer behind one with a speech impediment is valid if he has mastered

    enough verses for a valid prayer.

  41. So too one who substitutes one letter for another, if

    the effect arises from an impairment or innate disposition.

  42. As for the famous report about Bilal’s pronouncing sīn, we do not

    accept it, for fabrication is the sound judgment concerning it.

  43. Another duty is that you recite measuredly—

    do you not see that the explicit Book commands it?

  44. And do not neglect the duty of lightening the prayer’s pillars;

    do not be one whose conduct drives people away.

  45. Sufficient warning is what Muʿādh received from the Messen—

    ger of God: a rebuke for lengthening the surahs.

  46. People’s circumstances differ, so let

    this imam take their natural conditions into account.

  47. Let him personally ensure that the rows are straight,

    or appoint another, following the practice of the best of humankind.

  48. Let him intend that imamate to include latecomers—

    whoever arrives after prayer begins as well as whoever is already present.

  49. Let him articulate the takbīr and salutation decisively, so that

    the follower performs them afterward, following his lead.

  50. Whenever he says the takbīr or speaks to be heard, let him increase

    his voice only to the degree needed for hearing.

  51. Let his intention toward the follower be wholly sincere in

    preserving the prayer’s limits, inward and outward.

  52. After completing the prayer, let him move from the place

    where he led it to another spot—

  53. within a mosque, a house, or elsewhere;

    his imamate has ended, so what is he waiting for?

  54. Let him turn toward the right when turning aside—

    except in open country, where the imam may turn as he can.

  55. Let him choose from among them the most excellent person

    to stand directly behind him; this is established by report.

  56. This is because the holder of the imamate has a rank

    in righteousness, so it is best to station a righteous man behind him.

  57. He can then serve as his deputy whenever some matter

    befalls us—and how fittingly succession preserves the good!

  58. Let him strive, when supplicating, to include everyone;

    he must not reserve his prayer for himself apart from those present.

  59. Thus his prayer embraces the friend of God as his due,

    while leaving the rest to the One who sets the Hereafter aright.

  60. His station requires him to regard himself

    as a delegation to the Generous and Righteous One, seeking beneficence.

  61. A delegation is likelier to receive honor

    if no private need constricts its soul.

  62. Fix your certainty upon the Generous One: He accords

    with the expectations of whoever turns to Him in need.

  63. When the inward heart turns toward Him,

    it returns through His mercy with its desire granted.

  64. No one has sincerely returned to the All-Merciful,

    in hope and fear, at any station and come away a loser.

  65. Make all your concerns center upon prayer, for it is

    a manifest means of communion and glad tidings.

  66. Preserve for your Lord its spirit and its life;

    without them, seeing a corpse or a stone would be the same.

  67. Its life is its sincerity, reverence,

    and the submission of a heart enclosed against attachments.

  68. The outward pillars are merely instruments;

    when the inner secret is purified, it rectifies what appears.

  69. The worship expressed by movements and stillness falls under

    the governance of hearts; here the whole matter lies.

  70. Bind the heart firmly to this station, lest

    it expose itself to peril—for our hearts charge and retreat.

  71. The heart is God’s house, and within it is His light;

    the Generous One looks at it, not at outward forms.

  72. Devote your whole heart while standing in His presence;

    do not give Him one portion and another portion over a lifetime.

  73. Maintain your station in prayer and outside it,

    a servant abiding in excellence, whether approaching or departing.

  74. When you remember God, recognize His majesty,

    your thought moving between hope and fear.

  75. Beneath His grandeur, be inwardly filled with awe

    and reverence, taking no account of any outward impression.

  76. Never exceed your proper bounds in any situation;

    you are the one in need of Him, in benefit and harm.

  77. The sum of this whole matter is absolute neediness,

    pure servitude, and serenity free of all turbidity.

Sol 5.6