Source: Self Bulding, P. 301, by Ayatullah Ibrahim Amini.
The most eminet learned Divine scholer and gnostic (late) Akhund Mulla Hussain-Quli Hamdani (R.A)in his letter to one of the scholer in Tabriz writes:

(Bismillah ar Rahman ar Rahim, Alhamdu lillahi rabal alimin was salat was salam ala Muhammad wa aleh al tahirin wa lantatullahi ala adaihim ajmaeen).

"In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful"

"Praise be upon God of the worlds, salutations be upon the Muhammad and his Holy progeny and may be the curse of God be upon their enemies.

"It should not remain hidden for religious brothers that there is no way to achieve the nearness of the Lord of Splendor and Majesty except strictly following the sacred religious law of Islam (Sharia) in all movements, pauses, conversations, and instances etc. Superstitious methods practiced by some pseudo mystics and ignorant ones in accordance to their intellectual taste do not produce any desired result except their taking farther distance from God-Almighty.

"Even a person who forbids upon himself meat and leaves the hairs of his mustache untrimmed, if is blessed with the blessing offaith, (i.e. belief about the immunity from sin for the Sinless Imams of the Prophet s progeny) must understand, that unless and until he strictly practices their instructions and traditions for invocations, he would become farther away from God-Almighty.

"It is therefore, necessary that he must regard the sacred Divine Law (Shariah) with special reverence and should attach utmost importance for its execution. Whatever have been emphasized in the sacred religious law as well as whatever have been comprehended by this poor servant by using intellect and deliberating traditions may be concluded: "The fulfillment of the heartiest desire of all creatures - God's Nearness - depends upon their making serious efforts and endeavors to quit sinning.

"So for this is not done recital of invocations and pondering over Qur`anic verses would not produce any useful result for heart, because the rvices rendered by some one who is in direct rebellion against the King ruld be useless. 1 don't know, what sort of King? The exaltedness belong that king of Splendor and Majesty, and which enmity could be more worst then enmity with such a King?

"You must better understand that your efforts endeavor forhieving God s Nearness - while still sinning and being contaminated is serious mistake. How come this matter has remained hidden from your es that it is the sin of a sinner which causes the King to feel hatred yards him, and this hatred can never be summed up with His love.

"Since you know it with certainty that avoidance of sins is the beginning, end, apparent, and hidden of faith, therefore the sooner you engage

urself in self-struggle the better it would be. With absolute dedican from the moment you awake, all along the day till the time of sleep you must monitor your self stri ctly. Be careful to remain respectful because you are continuously in the presence of the Lord of Majesty and splendord know that all your body parts and members, including the finest particles of your existence are the prisoners of His Power, therefore, do not get to observe the rules of etiquette. Worship him in a manner as though you are actually seeing Him, and if you do not see Him, any way he sees you.

"Be conscious about His Majesty and your humility, His Eminence and your lowness, His Magnanimity and your abjectness and His Freedom from needs and your neediness. Be aware that if you act negligently in remembering the Lord of Glory and Magnanimity but He does remember you, and in his presence stood like a helpless, wretched servant. Like a bony dog put your chin upon dirt before His feet. Is this distinction and honor is not sufficient for you that He has permitted you to utter His Holy Exalted Name by your filthy tongue? The tongue which had become unclean due to pollution of sinning.

"Oh dear! Since the Most Compassionate and Most Merciful Lord has made the tongue as the reservoir of the mountain of light, to be commissioned only for His Holy invocation it is indeed shamelessness that the King's reservoir be polluted by refuse and filth of lying, backbiting, cursing, teasing, and sinning. It should be a place full of perfume and rose water instead of being filled with filth and refuse. Beyond any doubt since you acted negligently in supervising your self strictly, you don't know what sort of horrible sins and transgression have been committed by your body parts namely: ears, tongue, eyes, hands feet , belly, and sexual organs.

"What sorts of devastating fires have you ignited? How much corruption have you induced in your religion? How much prohibited wounds have you inflicted upon your heart through the tongue's swords and arrows? It will be surprising if it has not already been killed. If I want to comment about the details of these deviations even this entire book would not be enough, what can I do with one page? You, who have yet not cleaned your body parts from the filth, how do you expect someone to write for you about the heart s condition? Therefore, make haste, hurry up to perform a true repentance and seriously guard your self.

"In summary, after making his best endeavors for strictly guarding the self a wayfarer striving for God s Nearness should not be negligent about night vigil awakening before dawn and offering the night prayer (Namaz-e-Shab) with concentration and heart s presence. If time permits he should engage himself in hymns and invocations but at least a part of night should be spent in invocation with heart's presence. In all these situations the wayfarer should not be without grief and sorrow and if he is- he should acquire its causes.

"In the end recite the rosary of Hazrat Fatimeh al-Zahra' (s.a) [1], verse of sincerity - 12 times, "There is no god but God. There is no partner, there is no kingdom except yours. (La illahi illahi wahdahu la sharika lah, lahu al-Mulk) - 10 times, "There is no god but God (la ilahi illallahu) - 100 times, I Beseech God's forgiveness and offer repentance (Astaghfarullahi rabi wa atuboh ilahe) - 70 times, a portion of Holy Qur an and the famous prayer named Dual - Sabah [2] of the Commander of the Faithful Imam Ali (a.s).

"One should remain in the state of ablution continuously and it is preferred to offer two units of prayer after performing each ablution. Be careful not to inflict the least damage or hurt the feeling offellow human beings and must strive sincerely in meeting the needs of fellow Muslims especially the scholars and pious ones. He should not attend any meeting where there is a possibility of sinning, even socialization with the negligent ones is harmful. Also, accessive involvement in world affairs - although permitted religiously, too much humor, nonsense talking, and listening to false rumors are injurious for the hearts condition ultimately making it a dead heart.

"Without, practicing, strict self-control simply engaging in invocation and deliberations would be fruitless and would not produce the results even though if one succeeds in achieving ecstasy, because it won t be durable and one should not be fooled with ecstasy achieved without self- surveillance. I do not have lot of strength and I beseech you to pray a lot for me and do not forget this humble wretched sinner full of guilt. Do recite Surah Power (Qadr), one hundred times on Thursday night and Friday afternoon.

- Tazkirateh al-Muttaqin, p-207.

1. Allahu Akbar 34 times, Subhan allahi 33 times, and Alhamdu lillahi 33 times [Tr].

2. For Dual Sabah refer to Mafateh aI-Janan of Haj Sheikh Abbas Qummi p-.97 [[Tr.]