Benefiting from the Pious

Advice from Imam al-Haddad (may Allah have mercy upon him and benefit us by him).

You must keep the company of pious people, display the same etiquettes that they display and seek to benefit from their deeds and words. You do this by visiting both the living and dead amongst them in a state of great reverence for them, truthfully having the best opinion of them. This is how visitors benefit from those that they are visiting and receive spiritual assistance from them.

The people of this time benefit little from pious people because they have so little veneration for them and because they do not have a good opinion of them. As a result of this, they are deprived of the pious people’s blessings and are unable to witness their miracles. They thus wrongly assume that none of Allah’s chosen slaves are existent in this time, when in fact there are many, praise be to Allah, some manifest and some hidden.

No one knows them except someone whose heart Allah has illuminated with the light of veneration and holding a good opinion of them.

For this reason it has been said: “Your portion of spiritual assistance is received according to your perception.”