what I serve them with in this epistle. Because I am the least of them in knowledge and practice, the most of them in error and slipping, and the most in need of pardon, forgiveness, and kindness. And I am before their hands humble and lowly, just as they are before the hands of their Master. So if they have mercy upon me, God will have mercy upon them; and if they cover [my faults], God will cover them; and if they honor me, God will honor them.

And it has been narrated from the Master al-Sadiq, from him is mercy, that he said: "Whoever brings a believer near, God brings him near to Him; and whoever suppresses anger towards a believer, God turns to him with affection; and whoever covers [the faults of] a believer, God pardons him from affliction when it becomes due upon him."

And it has been narrated in the book Al-Mawa'iz [The Exhortations] that our Master, the Commander of the Faithful (Amir al-Mu'minin), said to a gathering of his companions: "Does a man among you think that if he loves us and allies with us, he has attained salvation?! No, by the right of the Messenger of God, he does not attain salvation except by allying with his brethren, alongside loving us, loving our allies (Awliya'), and severing ties with our enemies."