Ayatullah Sayyid Abul Qasim al-Khoei was once sitting with his students when he mentioned, ‘Indeed it is so easy for a man to see the action of another which he does not like and yet forget it so quickly that he performs the very same action or one that is even worse.’
He then related the following story:
‘One day I entered the shrine of the Commander of the Faithful, Ali (A), and saw a man praying opposite the door, blocking the path of many visitors and inconveniencing them when they tried to pass him. In my mind, I said to myself, “How ignorant this man is!”
‘The days passed and one day I found myself, without even realising it, praying in the same place! I too was placing the visitors in difficulty and people were even pushing each other because of me. I did not feel guilty as I had not realised my mistake and due to my forgetfulness and negligence, when a person tried to pass in front of me, I even asked myself, “Why did he not take another path around me?”
‘A person tends not to see his own mistakes so that he is not obliged to blame himself for them. We tend to open our eyes very widely to observe others and the defects they have whilst perhaps we might have greater defects ourselves. Thus I demand of you – whenever you see me committing a mistake, inform and remind me of what I have done!’
The Ways Of The Righteous Vol. 1