Amir ul Mu'mineen Ali (as) said: "He who abandons forbidding what is wrong with his heart, his tongue and his hands (and is indifferent while seeing vices committed) is a dead corpse amongst the living."

Bihar-ul-Anwar, vol. 100, p. 94  

“There will come a day when you will not enjoin good and not forbid evil.” There will come a day when your neighbour hears you cry in agony as your family is slaughtered, but turns away because helping you would cost too much. There will come a day when the death of innocent children is a price worth paying, and the slaying of frail old women who cannot walk triggers no guilt in the conscience. There will come a day when your neighbour is more worried about how many dollars he can save than about how many of your children die. There will come a day when your neighbour watches as you are pillaged and consumed by fire, while he takes a tentative step back, afraid that a small spark of that fire may land at his feet.

“There will come the day when you will enjoin evil and forbid good.” There will come the day when you stand divided, raising arms against your brother, while the thieves make away with what little life you have left. There will come the day when wealthy slaves prostrate before self-made idols, and sell themselves and their people in exchange for lavish comforts. They will wear the tag of lackeys with pathetic pride, and with them will follow millions, deaf, dumb and blind- whatever light that momentarily shines for them is put out by fear, ignorance and greed, until their eyes are charred by their own  burning fingers so that they will never open again.

“There will come that day when you will see evil as good, and good as evil.” There will come that day when truth loses all meaning, and becomes a ball that is thrown from the hands of one oppressor to the next, each moulding it to their own best interests. There will come that day when you see little girls paint pretty messages on missiles that are destined to burn and deform other little girls, who happen to live just across the border. There will come that day when the blatant and horrific massacre of hundreds is seen as the ‘pangs of birth’: the sweet pain that comes before the delight of wiping out an entire nation. There will come that day when you will be humiliated, robbed of your homes, killed, then asked to remain submissive and silent. There will come that day when the world will have no shame, when it will feebly kneel before the bullies who hold no respect for any law. There will come that day when conscience is denied, and you will be amongst the walking dead.

What will you do then? What will you do when the truth you so clearly see is shifted, blurred, covered, cut and manipulated until people give up all hope of finding it? What will you do when you are met with a blank wall where you expected emotion? What will you do when you are met with suspicion when you so needed help? What will you do when your neighbour loves so much to be deceived that he needs only a bad lie to send him into a cocoon of patriotic racism? What will you do when even the air you speak into smothers your words and imprisons them? What will you do when the pain inside you has nowhere to go, when you choke with frustration at your helplessness and weakness? What will you do when you see lie after lie, injustice after injustice, tragedy after tragedy? What will you do when you are told you are sub-human, when you are not allowed to speak, because whatever comes from you is fanatical and illogical?

What will you do when your uselessness brings tears to your eyes, when you are almost drowned in your own pain? What will you do when the tribulations become great, and hope is cut off? What will you do when the Earth seems constricted, and the skies are blocked off?

Will you gather and talk endlessly ? Or will you stay in your own miserable corner and remain silent? Will the flood of seductive distractions provide you with a safe hole to crawl into? Will you be drawn into a game, caught in a mirage of lust, seduced by illusions of desire, until you can no longer hear the cruelty of the world around you, until the cruelty reaches your own doorstep and you wake up from a daydream only to enter your worst nightmare? Will the accusations pound you into submission? Will the sheer volume of lies make you doubt the truth you so clearly see? Will the hypocrisy of the enemy quell the burning desire for justice? Will you become impotent? Will your heart die? Will it become a stone that refuses to move? Will it suddenly forget love and compassion, because hatred and greed have taken up all the room? Will you become a zombie, walking and talking, but rotting with the stench of death?

Or will you resist?

Will you remember the three figures, bowing and prostrating before the One Unique Lord- will you remember that man, woman and boy, alone, in the centre of a frighteningly vast universe, speaking truth and bringing people from the darkness and into the light? Will you remember how they gave their wealth, their love, their existence to forbid the greatest evil and enjoin the greatest good? Will you remember them being isolated, punished, mocked, accused- in the centre of an empty desert surrounded by endless water? Will you then look around- and see that no corner of the world, no grain of sand and no drop of water remains that does not know the names of Muhammad, Ali and Khadijah?

Will you remember that the boy grew into a man- a man with a secret that allowed him to respond every time Muhammad called, and to stand up every time Truth called? A secret that meant he was the one who lay quietly in Muhammad’s bed, waiting for death, while Muhammad took his Lord’s message to the world. A secret that gave him the bravery and wisdom to become the voice of human justice. A secret that meant it was he- Ali- all of faith, that went to meet all of disbelief, and that it was he who struck a blow that equalled the worship of all men and jinn from the beginning of time until the end. A secret that meant he remained and fought an army while others fled, until the heavens cried that there is no youth like Ali, and no sword like Thul Fiqaar. A secret that meant he let no accusation stop him from enjoining good, no threat stop him forbidding evil, and no propaganda blur his vision of the one clear truth. A secret that meant truth followed him- always, and falsehood opposed him- always, until he himself became the criterion that distinguished between evil and good.

When Ali faced a choice, he took the option that his self hated more, when Ali felt the world pursuing him, he warned it to seduce someone other than him, when Ali saw death, he welcomed it with open arms, when Ali looked, he saw nothing but the One Almighty Lord.

Ali divorced this world thrice, Ali fought his self until his desire became a weak slave to his Love for Truth. Ali fought until he became free, a freedom that began from within but soared to the world without and carried on its back not only those around him, but those who will come after him until the end of time- Ali’s secret was his freedom.

So now…here…will you resist?... Will you fight until you become free, from within and without? Will you hold on to the pain as a sign of your humanity, will you embrace the anguish as a sign that your conscience lives, and will live, in the face of all falsehood and evil? Will you speak…with your own voice? Will you wake up others, slowly…until your voices come together as one loud cry that will be heard? Will your pain change the world you live in? Will your tears move the black hearts and open the blind eyes that strangle this planet?

Will your trust in the All-Powerful and All-Seeing endow you with power and vision? Will it move you to move others with you?... so that even if we are swimming against a vicious current, we will not have left without making our statement and presenting our proof, we will not have left without enjoining good and forbidding evil, so  that on the Day of Gathering, the oppressors will be left with no excuse.