Du'a Makarim al-Akhlaq — Learn it as a map, not a list

An instructive video (about 10.7 minutes, 1920×1080) in Justin Sung's teaching style: big picture first, then chunks, then patterns, then details. It copies his method, not his voice or likeness.

• Source text: https://hekm.co/article/577 (Du'a Makarim al-Akhlaq, from Mafatih al-Jinan; supplication 20 of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya)
• Video: makarim-al-akhlaq.mp4 (H.264 + AAC, with an English mov_text subtitle track)
• Subtitles: makarim-al-akhlaq.srt
• Narration transcript: ../../transcripts/makarim-al-akhlaq.txt

What it teaches

• Five rings, from the inside out: Core (faith, certainty, intention, action) → Self → Others → World → End.
• Pattern 1, counterweight: every gift is guarded from its shadow (for example, honour without arrogance, or being raised among people but lowered in my own eyes).
• Pattern 2, transformation: every negative becomes its opposite (for example, hatred into love, or backbiting into speaking well).
• Thread, humility: "after judging myself, all I have left is Your grace."
• Ends with a 5-step study plan: priming, ring/pattern tagging, linking, living one pair a day, and rebuilding the map from a blank page.

Scenes (18 scenes, 56 build steps)

1. Hook: line-by-line becomes a blur
2. List vs map
3. Context and a pause prompt: "what would you ask for?"
4. The five rings
5. Core: faith → certainty → intention → action, repair, focus
6. Pattern 1: counterweight (with a balance scale)
7. Self: steadiness, the time request, self-audit (pause prompt)
8. Pattern 2: transformations in relationships
9. Others: two levels (protection, then excellence)
10. Adornment of the righteous, chunked into 5 groups
11. World: provision, strength, dependence on God alone
12. World: money, the link back to the core, balanced pairs
13. Pattern 2 inside your head (thoughts, speech)
14. Core: the emotional centre (humility before forgiveness)
15. End: how a life is sealed
16. The whole du'a on one page
17. How to learn it this week
18. Close

Build

pip install edge-tts
python3 build.py          # writes makarim-al-akhlaq.mp4 + .srt here; caches intermediates in build/
python3 build.py --shots  # only render slide PNGs (for layout checks)
python3 build.py --clean  # wipe build/ first

Pipeline: build.py writes one HTML slide per scene (styled by style.css). agent-browser screenshots each build step at 1920×1080. edge-tts (voice en-US-AndrewNeural, rate −4%) narrates each step. ffmpeg crossfades the steps into segments and concatenates them. Subtitles are timed per sentence, using each sentence's share of the step's audio.

Requirements: ffmpeg, agent-browser (Chromium), and the fonts Caveat, Noto Sans and Noto Naskh Arabic (fonts-noto-core). The SAY map in build.py changes how Arabic names are spelled for the speech engine only; the subtitles keep normal spelling.

Caveats

• Voice licence: edge-tts uses Microsoft's free read-aloud endpoint. It may not allow commercial or public posting. Swap the voice or record your own narration before publishing.
• Interpretation: the five-ring structure and the two patterns are a study aid, not a scholarly commentary. The English lines are paraphrases, and the attribution follows tradition.