Translation of the saying:
One of our companions informed us, he said: We were in the presence of Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani, may Allah Almighty protect him. Then one of our companions entered with a piece of paper in his hand. When he sat down, he turned toward His Eminence and said: “May I be sacrificed for you, this is a letter written by a woman from your admirers, and she delivered it to me through several go-betweens to deliver it to you. Shall I give it to you to read?” He said: “No, but read it aloud so everyone can hear.” So he read it loud, and it was written in it: “Peace be upon you, sincere servant of Allah! I am a woman who does not perform prayer, despite believing in religion and adhering to hijabi, even the niqab, and I do not listen to music. However, I have abandoned performing prayer for some time, and none but Allah knows about it; because I have kept it hidden from everyone. I am deeply saddened by this, but it appears to be beyond my control! I have become exhausted and ask you to guide me; because I think about it every day. I do not want my master, the Mahdi, to turn away from me, or to be excluded from the ranks of your helpers. I am not afraid of Hell, but if my master, the Mahdi, says to me, ‘Do not come to me,’ that will be Hell for me! I hope that you will guide and pray for me so that I may not be among the losers.” So our companions were surprised by these words and found them perplexing, and some of them turned toward some others, whispering about how such a thing would be possible! Then His Eminence turned toward them and said:
Are you surprised by this? While within each of you, there are qualities more surprising than this! You say, “We are Mansoor’s helpers,” yet you do not leave the world to its people and do not turn away from your spouses, children, and parents for Allah, and you sin in secret as if you do not believe in Allah and the Last Day! Indeed, ignorance sickens the heart, heedlessness weakens it, sin kills it, and the passage of time causes it to decay, just as it causes a corpse to decay. Then every sickness, weakness, death, and decay spreads from it to all other organs and then corrupts them all. So rectify your ignorance with knowledge, your heedlessness with dhikr, and your sin with repentance; hasten to do so before the time becomes prolonged for you and then you become unable.
Now who is this who blows dust off his sleeve so it does not make him dusty, but he does not wash impurity off his body that has tainted him up to his neck?! Do you not know that there are seven gates between you and the heaven, one above the other, and none of you can enter the heaven unless he passes through all the gates, and the key to the first gate is prayer?! So perform prayer, and do not say, “I do not perform prayer”; because whoever does not perform prayer will not reach the heaven, even if he fasts, gives charity, performs Hajj, and does numerous good deeds. Rather, Allah, Our Lord, does not look at him on the Day of Judgment, nor does He speak to him, and for him is a painful punishment.
So how astonishing it is that one fears the Mahdi’s disapproval but does not fear the punishment of Hell! Does he fear Allah’s Caliph and not fear Allah Himself?! Undoubtedly, if he knew Allah, he would fear him, but rather if he knew His Caliph too, he would surely fear what he fears; because the Mahdi fears the punishment of Hell and trembles for its fear, and he performs prayer; rather, the Angels in the heavens and Jibril, who is trustworthy of our Lord, fear the punishment of Hell and tremble for its fear, and they perform prayer; because there is no evil, trial, suffering, and destruction unless it exists in the punishment of Hell, and there is no good, well-being, comfort, and mercy unless it does not exist in it, and therefore, whoever benefits from the intellect fears it, and nobody is reckless about it except for one who lacks the intellect, and he is the one who does not perform prayer because of his recklessness. Even if he claims that he does not fear Hell, it is still obligatory for him to perform prayer to show gratitude for Allah’s blessings and obey His command, and not follow the path of His enemy, Satan, who disobeyed His command and refused to prostrate, so he became wretched and cursed. Undoubtedly, whoever follows the path of Satan and refuses to prostrate will end up in the same fate as Satan and become his companion in Hell; except that he will reproach him there and say: “Woe to you; because I did not prostrate to Adam, and you did not prostrate to Allah!” I tell you the truth: Undoubtedly, whoever does not perform prayer is worse than Satan; because Satan was commanded to prostrate to him, while he prostrates to Satan! Unless he repents and performs prayer; because Allah is the Accepter of repentance, the Most Merciful.
At that time, one of our companions said to His Eminence: “O master! Pray for her; because she is one of your admirers.” So he raised his hands in supplication and said:
O Allah! You Who have patience over the ignorance of your servants, do not hasten to punish them, and are always able to guide them! Have mercy on this servant of yours and grant her success in performing prayer; because she likes to become pure and loves your Caliph, the Mahdi.
Then all of our companions said: “Accept it, O Lord of the worlds.”