¶ Door Number Thirty-Eight
¶ Tests
¶ “Do people think once they say, ‘We believe,’ that they will be left without being put to the test?”
There is a plethora of traditions from Mohammed and the Family of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) which emphasize that the Divine Just State will not come until the believers are tested and sifted. The purpose of these tests is to purify, perfect belief and trust in God, while ridding the believing community of the remnants of the offspring of Cain and Iblis. Abdullah ibn Abi Yaafor said that he heard Imam Al-Sadiq (PBUH) say:
“Woe to the oppressors of the Arabs from an evil which is approaching.” I said: “May I be your ransom, how many of the Arabs will be with the Qaim?” He said: “Very few.” I said: “By God, the ones who speak about it from them are many.” He said: “The people must be tested and distinguished and sifted, and there shall come out of the sifting many people.”
Imam Al-Baqir (From Him is Peace) clarified that the sifting and testing would be specifically for the close followers of the Imam (From Him is Peace), his Shia, for he said:
“You shall be examined, O Shia of the Family of Mohammed, just as the kohl is in the eye, and verily the person knows when the kohl is in his eye and he does not know when it shall come out of it, as such a man will wake up upon our matter and wake up while he has gone out of it.”
Imam Al-Sadiq (From Him is Peace) spoke of the extremity of the testing and trials and tribulations in which some would go out of faith and eventually come back after much trouble, while the tests would leave others completely broken. He (From Him is Peace) said:
“ ‘By God you shall be broken like glass, and verily glass can be restored to how it was, by God you shall be broken like pottery, and pottery when broken cannot be restored to how it was, and by God you shall be sifted, and by God you shall be distinguished, and by God you shall be examined until there does not remain from you except very few,’ and he clamped his fist.”
Imam Al-Baqir (From Him is Peace) explained that the point of this testing is to rid the believing community of all those who claim faith but do not believe. He (From Him is Peace) said they would test the believers by intentionally throwing at them speech which causes the believers to be disgusted, in order to find out who will stick with the Family of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) no matter what. Aba Ja’far (From Him is Peace) said:
“Verily, this speech of ours causes the hearts of men to be disgusted, whoever accepts it increase them, and whoever denies it, leave them, there must be a tribulation in which every close and intimate friend shall fall…until no one remains except for us and our Shia.”
The testing, sifting, trials, and tribulations will cause the followers of the Imam (From Him is Peace) to literally curse each other and declare themselves innocent of each other. It was narrated that Umaira bint Nufail said: “I heard Imam Al-Hussein ibn Ali (PBUT) say:
‘This matter which you await shall not happen until you declare yourselves innocent of one another and you spit in the faces of each other and until you each testify that the other is a disbeliever, and until you curse each other.’ So I said to him: ‘Is there any goodness in that time?’ Imam Al-Hussein (PBUH) said: ‘All of goodness is in that time, the Riser shall rise and end all that.’ ”
Without this happening, there shall never be a Divine Just State, because the hypocrites must be ripped out of the believing community, those who do not deserve this matter of God’s. That is why Imam Al-Baqir (From Him is Peace) said:
“The matter which you stretch out your necks looking towards shall not happen until you are examined, and alas, the matter which you stretch out your necks towards shall not happen until you are distinguished, and the matter which you stretch out your necks towards shall not happen until you are sifted, and the matter which you stretch out your necks towards shall not happen until you lose hope, and the matter which you stretch out your necks towards shall not happen until all those who are going to be miserable are miserable, and all those who are going to be happy become happy.”
The Prophet (PBUH & His Family) warned us that holding firm to faith during the sifting would be like
“holding on to a fiery coal.”
¶ The Test of Adam: The Non-Working Scholars
In order to know what to expect of tests and tribulations in the time of the Riser/Qaim (From Him is Peace), let us look at the types of tests that the previous Prophets and Messengers (PBUT) and their followers went through. We start with Adam (PBUH) and his test was to not eat from the tree. The devil was allowed to try to sift Adam (PBUH) by telling him that if he ate from the tree, he would have an everlasting kingdom and he would be like God. Adam (PBUH) had to decide who was telling the truth, God, or Satan. He had to decide who would he trust and listen to. The fact that he listened to Satan meant that he chose to worship Satan instead of God. Imam Al-Sadiq (From Him is Peace) said in regard to the verse:
“ ‘They took their rabbis and priests as Gods without God.’ By God, they did not call them to the worship of their own selves and if they would have called them to that (meaning if they said worship me) the people would not have done so, but rather they made for them permissible what was impermissible, and they made impermissible what was permissible, so they worshiped them unknowingly.”
Therefore, Satan was the first non-working scholar and he made Adam (PBUH) fall by seducing him to go against the commandments of God, making the permissible impermissible and vice versa. Thus, we know that in the time of the Riser/Qaim, we should expect that Satan tries to tempt and confuse the people through the non-working priests, rabbis, bishops, and shaikhs of religion who will try to make us go against the direct words of the Imam (From Him is Peace).
¶ The Test of Noah: Time, Timing, and Patience
In the time of Noah (PBUH), and Noah (PBUH) was a Savior and a Riser with truth from the Family of Adam (PBUH), the believers were tested severely. Imam Al-Sadiq (From Him is Peace) said:
When God revealed the Prophethood of Noah (PBUH) and the Shia came to have certitude that the relief was close, the tribulations became harsher and the libel (false accusations) became so much that it led to extremely severe conditions striking the Shia, and Noah (PBUH) would be attacked violently to the point that he would remain at times unconscious for three days while bleeding from his ears before waking up. That was around 300 years from when he was sent forth. At that time he would call the people night and day and they would escape from him, and he would call them in secret and they would not respond to him and he would call them openly and they would turn away. After 300 years, he decided to supplicate against them, he sat after the Fajr prayer supplicating when there came down to him a group of three angels from the seventh heaven and they greeted him saying: “O Prophet of God, we have a need.” He said: “What is it?” They said: “That you delay your supplication against your people, for it is the first dominance of God on the Earth.” Noah said: “I have delayed supplication against them another 300 years.” And he went back to them and did what he always did and they would do what they would always do, until another 300 years had passed and he was hopeless that they would believe. He sat at noon time for supplication and there came down to him another group of angels from the sixth heaven and the angels greeted him and said: “We went out early and came to you.” They asked for the same which the group from the seventh heaven asked for and he responded to them as he responded to the others and he returned to his people, and his calling them to God only increased them in their persistence to run away from him, and this remained the case for 300 years. At the completion of 900 years in total, the Shia went to him and complained to him about what was happening to them from the public and the tyrants and they asked him to ask God to hasten the relief. Noah agreed to do so and he prayed and supplicated and Gabriel (PBUH) came down and said: “Verily, God has accepted your supplications and he said to tell your Shia to eat these dates and plant the seeds and take care of it until it grows, when it completes growth, I shall relieve them.” So Noah thanked God and praised Him and told the Shia that and they were happy, and Noah (PBUH) informed them what God revealed to him, so they did what they were asked and took care of the seed until it brought forth fruits. Then they took the fruits and went to Noah (PBUH) and asked him to fulfill his promise, so he asked God and God inspired him to tell them: “Eat this date and plant its seed and if it brings forth fruits, I shall send the relief.” So when they thought that he broke his promise, a third of them apostatized and two thirds remained. So they ate the dates and planted the seeds until it brought forth fruits and they took the fruits and came to Noah (PBUH) and informed him and asked him to fulfill the promise, and he asked God about that and God inspired him saying: “Eat from these dates and plant its seed.” And so another third apostatized and there remained a third firm. So they ate the dates and planted the seeds and when it brought forth fruits they took it and went to Noah and said: “There does not remain from us except few and we are afraid over ourselves that if the relief is delayed again we will die.” So Noah (PBUH) prayed and said: “O Lord, none of my companions remained except for this small group, and I am afraid they will be destroyed if the relief is delayed.” So God inspired him saying: “I have accepted your supplication.”
Imam Al-Sadiq (From Him is Peace) said:
“And as such with the Qaim (PBUH), the days of his absence shall stretch in order that truth is separated from falsehood and faith is purified by the apostasy of all those whose clay was evil from the Shia, the ones whom we feared their hypocrisy if they felt enabled and felt the dominance that is spread in the time of the Qaim (PBUH).”
So here we see that another type of testing which we can expect in the time of the Qaim/Riser (From Him is Peace) is time, timing, and the patience it takes for the Rise to happen. Indeed, the Shia of Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) expected the Rise to happen back in 1999 when he first appeared, saying he was a Messenger from Imam Mahdi (PBUH & His Family) and now it is 2022. That is 23 years that the Shia have been waiting for a Rise and the majority of the believers in Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) have been waiting for 15 years to see him (From Him is Peace) appear publicly after he went into an absence in 2007 (although he did appear to his preferred ones in 2015). What we can learn from this great test that the believers went through with Noah (PBUH) is that even if God’s promise is delayed repeatedly, we must not assume that the promise was broken or the prophecy was false, and it is not an excuse to apostatize, and we must hold on to our faith no matter what. Time is a great test of faith and the long wait with the Qaim/Riser (From Him is Peace) is to be expected.
¶ The Test of Abraham: Dreams, Traditional Family & Blood Relations
With Abraham (PBUH), there is no better example of a test than the one with God commanding him to sacrifice his son. In the Holy Qur’an, Abraham (PBUH) had a dream:
“My son, I see in a dream that I am slaughtering you.”
So first, Abraham (PBUH) was tested with believing his dream and when he believed in his dream and acted upon it, God praised him and said:
“You have fulfilled the vision. Indeed, this is how We reward the good-doers.”
That is the same thing that Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) did, he believed in his dream. He saw Imam Mahdi (PBUH & His Family) telling him in the dream to meet him somewhere and so he believed his dream and went and met him in that place, trusting that it was Imam Mahdi (PBUH & His Family) because the devil does not come in the image of the Imams (From Them is Peace). So, in the time of the Riser, the believers are tested as well with their dreams and with believing their dreams and acting upon them in support of the Qaim/Riser.
The second part of Abraham’s test was that he was commanded to sacrifice his son. This command in and of itself went against the Noahic commandment to not murder:
“Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.”
So, Abraham (PBUH) had to not only go against the commandments of God which he already knew, but he had to sacrifice his own son. What we learn from this is that God sometimes tests us by giving us commands which are contradictory to our own moral compass or contradictory to the religion we were taught before. He might test us with sacrificing our family, for not everyone’s family will recognize this truth and travel with you upon this path. Abraham (PBUH) also left Hajar and Ishmael (PBUT) in the desert and migrated towards God. We can expect in the time of the Qaim/Riser (From Him is Peace) that the believers must make similar choices and abandon or sacrifice their familial relationships in pursuit of God, the truth and the establishment of a Divine Just State.
¶ The Test of Moses: Migration
Moses (PBUH) was a great test for the Israelites, for when he was sent to them, he could neither speak Hebrew very well as he was raised in the palace of Pharaoh, speaking Egyptian, nor was he accustomed to the ways of the Israelites. The last thing the Israelites were expecting was a Savior from the house of Pharaoh. To them, Moses (PBUH) was an Egyptian, a son of the Pharaoh. For that reason, in the time of the Qaim/Riser, God also sifted and tested the believers by giving them a Savior who was raised in Egypt and then migrated to the West, America, and his Call begins from the West. Imam Al-Kathim (From Him is Peace) was asked about the Mahdi, where is his Rise from and where does he reside, to which he responded:
“The likes of he who you asked of is like a pillar which fell from the heavens, its head is from the West and its origin is from the East, so from where do you see the pillar stand if it is raised up?” The man said: “From its head.” Imam Al-Kathim (PBUH) said: “That is enough, from the West he shall rise and his origin is from the East and it is over there that his Rise is established and his matter completed. And as such is the Mahdi (PBUH) and his upbringing in the East and then he migrates to the West, and he rises from there and in the East his matter is completed.”
There are many indications that the Qaim/Riser comes from the West. The traditions mention that most of his companions are non-Arabs:
“With the Qaim (PBUH) from the Arabs are few.”
The believers are ordered to come to him even if crawling over ice and snow, and ice is known to exist in Europe and America and not in the Middle East:
“Come to him even if you were crawling over ice…”
His mother is non-Arab and from the West:
“His mother is Roman.”
So even if a matter comes from a direction other than expected, contradictory to our expectations and belief, we cannot reject it and apostatize using that as a reason. Then after recognizing that truth, perhaps as the Israelites were tested with migrating with Moses (PBUH) and abandoning the lands of Pharaoh, the believers are tested with migrating towards the Qaim/Riser (From Him is Peace).
¶ The Test of Jesus: Internal & External Enemies
Even in the times of other Saviors of the past, such as the Messiah Jesus (PBUH), the believers had to be sifted in order that none but the true believers remain. Before Jesus (PBUH) is arrested, he says to Simon Peter (PBUH):
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”
In the story of Jesus (PBUH), we see an example of a sifting. The believers, the disciples, were faced with a very hard test. They believed that Jesus (PBUH) is the Messiah, and they knew that the Jewish traditions had stated that the Jewish Messiah will rule from Jerusalem and fill the world with justice and equity as it had been filled with injustice and tyranny. They knew also that the one who declared himself to be a Messiah falsely would not be able to fulfill the mission and promise given by God to the true Messiah. Anyone who declared themselves to be the Messiah, while they were not, God would cut off their life.
Now they see Jesus (PBUH) who claimed to be the Messiah, being arrested and taken to the Romans, where he is seemingly helpless and unable to defend himself. God and His angels do not come to his rescue, and he is crucified and killed three years into his ministry. They were left confused, full of questions: What does this all mean? How could this be? Is he truly the Messiah or not? Was this a punishment because he claimed something that he was not? Doubt filled their hearts and minds. Eventually, the disciples held firm to their faith, even though they abandoned Jesus (PBUH) and denied him during his arrest and questioning. They would pass the test and go on to spread the message of Jesus (PBUH) all around the globe. But indeed, their test was a hard one, as their test was to believe in Jesus (PBUH) even if he did not fulfill, in their minds, the criteria of a Messiah. The believers with the Qaim/Riser (From Him is Peace) will be tested as well with whether they will remain firm standing by his side and defending him against the enemies without denying him, even when facing imprisonment or death.
¶ The Test of Mohammed: Rising & Establishing a Divine Just State
Now the journey from Adam (PBUH) to Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) is one that went from facing the non-working scholars with Adam (PBUH), to facing the test of time with Noah (PBUH), to sacrificing traditional family relationships with Abraham (PBUH), to migrating with Moses (PBUH), to staying strong in the face of the enemies with Jesus (PBUH) and enduring oppression. Finally, the test with Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) was the test of rising and establishing a Divine Just State. As such with the Qaim/Riser (From Him is Peace), the promise of God must come and there must be established a Divine Just State, and the believers will be tested with establishing and defending their own State. Not only that, but the believers will be tested with remaining firm with the Qaim/Riser and not judging his actions no matter what they see or hear from him.
After the establishment of his state, Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) sifted his nation by the appointment of his successor. Ali (From Him is Peace) was a clear example of a sifting which took place. The nation, which was in the tens of thousands in number, was reduced to simply four true believers after the death of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). But why would the Muslim nation abandon the successor of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family)? Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) was the perfect reflection and Caliph of God and thus he and his successor Ali ibn Abi Talib (From Them is Peace) were carrying with them the full truth and true religion of God. This true religion of God is heavy and only a few can handle it and for that reason accepting the successors of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) was very difficult for the people, because the truths that they came with were difficult. Imam Al-Sajjad (From Him is Peace) said:
“By God, if Abu Dharr knew what was in the heart of Salman, he would have killed him, and the Prophet of Allah made them brothers to one another, so what do you think about the rest of creation? Verily the knowledge of those who know is extremely difficult, and none can handle it except for a Prophet Messenger or close angel or a believing servant whom God tested his heart for faith. Verily Salman became of those who know because he is one of us Ahlul-Bayt, and for that reason he is likened to those who know.”
Imam Ali (From Him is Peace) once said to Abu Dharr:
“If Salman spoke to you about what he knew you would have said: ‘May God have mercy on the killer of Salman.’ ”
Even Jesus (PBUH) spoke about the fact that the truth is disturbing when he said:
“Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed.”
Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said:
“The truth is heavy and sour, and falsehood is light and sweet.”
Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) disturbed his nation with the truth many times. However, due to the power and influence of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family), the people remained under Islam until his death. As soon as he died, many people apostatized, and the wars of apostasy began. The reason why the people apostatized after Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) was because they saw and heard many disturbing matters from him during his life. They were saying they were Muslims in the apparent, but in reality, they concealed their disbelief. Encountering a disturbing matter is a great form of sifting and testing. To find something disturbing is due to the fact that it goes against preconceived notions or ideas that we had. We think something is right and another thing is wrong only to be told or discover that Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) says that this is wrong and that is right. The person who is not grounded in faith cannot handle when hearing that the beliefs he previously held were wrong, and that person becomes disturbed and his brain attempts to explain the contradiction in his mind and heart by rejecting the Prophet and his message, declaring them to be false or agents of Satan. Imam Ali (From Him is Peace) said:
“Something suspicious is called suspicious because it resembles the truth.”
People become confused between those matters which are truths but resemble falsehood or those matters which are false but resemble the truth.
For example, in the story of the Righteous Servant, Moses (PBUH) becomes confused regarding the Righteous Servant because his actions resemble falsehood even though they are truths. The Righteous Servant puts a hole in the ship of some poor people who gave him a lift and kills a boy who had committed no sin and fixes the wall in the town of the oppressors. These actions in the apparent are wrong and/or evil. But it is only through understanding the reasons that the actions turn from falsehood to truth in the eyes of Moses (PBUH). The Righteous Servant reveals that he actually put a hole in the ship so that it would not be seized by the oppressive king who was coming towards them seizing all the ships of the area. With this piece of information, it became clear to Moses (PBUH) that the Righteous Servant was actually trying to help and not harm the poor people. The Righteous Servant reveals that he killed the boy because he was a disbeliever who would harm the parents, and so with this piece of information it became clear that the Righteous Servant’s apparent act of mercilessness was an act of mercy. The final act of restoring the wall was an act of mercy towards the two orphans who owned a treasure underneath that wall. Restoring the wall was for the purpose of protecting the treasure until they grow up and dig it up themselves. As such is the case with the believers who come close to the truth, they first follow the Messenger, and when they see an action from him that is apparently evil or wrong, they become disturbed and apostatize before understanding the reason. For this reason, Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) always advised the believers that if they were to remain on this path they had to have: “Patience and then patience and then patience and then submission”, meaning to have patience over what they will see and hear until they understand the reason, and when they understand the reason, to submit to it and accept it. Here are some examples of incidents with Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) which disturbed his companions and caused them to apostatize.
¶ Questioning the Source & Mechanisms of Revelation
There were many accusations against Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) during his life that he was a liar, a fraud, and a deceiver. They accused him of not receiving any revelation from God. In fact, they said he was plagiarizing his material from others or having people word it for him. These accusations would not mean much had they been coming from enemies of Islam and Mohammed (PBUH & His Family), for naturally the disbeliever and enemy will throw lies and accusations at his opponent. However, these accusations were coming from believers, they were coming from the Prophet’s own scribes. It is a little known fact amongst Muslims that Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) had 42 scribes who would write down his revelations from God, the Holy Qur’an. Several of these scribes apostatized. One of them was Abdullah ibn Abi Al-Sarh, who migrated to Medina and was a close and trusted companion of the Prophet (PBUH & His Family) and was assigned by the Prophet the duty of being a scribe of the Holy Qur’an.
There are a couple of stories surrounding Abdullah, one of them being that one day the Prophet (PBUH & His Family) dictated to him the 14th verse of Surah Al-Mu’minun (Chapter 23), which stated:
“Then We developed the drop into a clinging clot ˹of blood˺, then developed the clot into a lump ˹of flesh˺, then developed the lump into bones, then clothed the bones with flesh, then We brought it into being as a new creation.”
Abdullah, astonished by the detail in the verse, said:
“So Blessed is Allah, the Best of Creators.”
Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said to him:
“Yes, write it down with the verse, that is how it came down.”
Abdullah began to doubt the Prophethood of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) and thought to himself, how could this be? Is the revelation coming down upon me as well? Mohammed must be a liar. Abdullah decided to change some of the words as the Prophet (PBUH & His Family) would dictate them to him, so if the Prophet of God (PBUH & His Family) would tell him to write,
“Verily, God is All-Knowing, All-Wise”,
he would write,
“All-Forgiving, Most Merciful”
and if he tells him to write,
“All-Forgiving, Most Merciful”,
he would write,
“All-Knowing, All-Wise.”
He then claimed that the Prophet didn’t even notice the changes he made, and he disbelieved completely in Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) and in the middle of the night he escaped to Mecca and went back to his old religion.
The Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) was extremely angry and ordered his death. When the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) and the Muslim army conquered Mecca, there were 4 men and 2 women whom the Prophet ordered that they must be killed, even if they were found holding onto the curtains of the Kaaba. Abdullah was one of them. Uthman ibn Affan eventually begged for his forgiveness and interceded for him with the Prophet and Abdullah was forgiven and went back into Islam. More controversies took place with the scribes of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family), a second scribe apostatized and made the exact same accusations against Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). Anas ibn Malik said:
“There was a Christian man who became a Muslim and read Surah Al-Baqarah and Surah Al-Imran and he used to write for the Prophet (PBUH) and he returned to being a Christian. He would say: ‘Mohammed does not know except what I wrote for him.’ The man passed away and they buried him and in the morning his body was thrown out of the earth. The people said: ‘This is the doing of Mohammed and his companions, they searched for him after he fled from them and threw him.’ So they dug a hole for him in the ground as deep as they could, and the next morning the earth had thrown him out of the grave again, so they said: ‘This is the doing of Mohammed and his companions, they searched for him after he fled from them and threw him.’ So they dug a hole for him in the ground as deep as they could, and the next morning the earth had thrown him out of the grave again, so they knew it was not from the people so they threw him.”
The Muslims were disturbed because they thought that the angel Gabriel (PBUH) or God would speak to Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) as humans do, reciting to him word for word, letter for letter, the Holy Qur’an. When they saw what they saw, they assumed him to be a false Prophet and it appeared to them as if he was actually making up the Qur’an or plagiarizing verses which he thought worked from his scribes and adding it to the Holy Qur’an. The truth, however, as we previously said in this Book, is that the Holy Qur’an is the words of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). He spoke the words and had them written down in the way he saw fit to express the greater truths which were inspired to him by God. So, for example, God is All-Knowing, All-Wise and All-Forgiving and all three of these attributes describe a God who is infinitely capable of all things, so it doesn’t really matter which words or phrases he uses so long as the idea comes through to those who are believing in the message.
Perhaps, if the scribes at the time understood the mechanisms of revelation and divine communication, they would have been more accepting. Perhaps, if they had understood that this is how divine revelation had always been, taken a less literal stance, or if they had simply asked the Prophet himself (PBUH & His Family) instead of escaping and apostatizing, they would have understood and would have not done what they did. For example, it is written in some sources that the story of Dhul-Qarnain (PBUH) in Surah Al-Kahf (Chapter 18) contains verses from a poem that was written in pre-Islamic times by one of the scribes of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) liked the verses and ordered the scribe to adopt it in Surah Al-Kahf. If this is true, then it doesn’t invalidate the Prophethood of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family), because simply, God could have informed Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) that the story was accurate and Mohammed was free to translate this message to his people in whatever way he saw fit, whether through re-writing the whole story in his own words or adopting it partially from his scribe.
Imagine being one of the Muslims at the time, hearing that the scribes of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) had apostatized and ran away to Mecca. Imagine hearing that they said that the Prophet was not a true Prophet and did not know except what they wrote, and that they changed the words of the divine revelation, and he did not even realize it. Imagine them saying that he was stealing their knowledge and words. That would have been a great test of faith and loyalty, and a great sifting at the time. Only those who were firm in faith would not doubt and the rest would shake like the leaves of a tree in the middle of a severe storm. If several of the 42 closest and most trusted companions of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family), his own scribes who witnessed and wrote down the divine revelation, could apostatize and claim he was a liar and never received divine revelations from God, one should not be surprised if some of the closest companions of Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace), perhaps some of the 42, did the same and belied that the Qaim/Riser (From Him is Peace) ever received revelation from Imam Mahdi (PBUH & His Family). Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said:
“You will follow the ways of those nations who were before you, span by span and cubit by cubit (i.e., inch by inch) so much so that even if they entered a hole of a lizard, you would follow them.”
¶ The Test of Sexual Relations
One of the matters which disturbed the Christians and the Arabs in the time of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) was his relations with women. The Prophet’s (PBUH & His Family) marriages and relations with women is still a controversial matter in this very day and age and many people use it to argue against Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) and Islam. They refer to the fact that he did not obey God’s very rules in the Qur’an, for the Qur’an allowed four wives for every man, and the Prophet (PBUH & His Family) married many more than that. It was narrated that he had nine permanent wives in his life and several other women whom he married for a short period of time (Muta) and others besides those who were slaves or handmaidens or women that he married and divorced. It is also narrated that he had asked other women for their hand in marriage, but they refused. The Christians would compare this to Jesus (PBUH) and say Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) is an ungodly man. They knew more about Mohammed’s (PBUH & His Family) history than the Muslims and would write about him in their books and plays and poems and try to discredit him and his religion. In one such poem, Dante’s Inferno, by the famous Italian writer Dante Alighieri, Mohammed is seen in the eighth circle of hell.
The first circle of hell is Limbo for the unbaptized and virtuous non-Christians. The second circle of hell is for the lustful and adulterers. Here is where Dante placed Cleopatra and Helen of Troy. The third circle of hell is for the gluttons who cannot control their bellies. The fourth circle of hell is for the greedy, all those who fought over money and material wealth. The fifth circle of hell is for those controlled by their anger and wrath. The sixth circle of hell is for the heretics who blaspheme against religion and believe in heresies. The seventh circle is for the violent murderers and killers. The eighth circle is for those who are frauds and liars and in it he placed Mohammed and Ali (PBUT). The only circle lower than that is the ninth circle in which he places Satan chewing on Judas, the betrayer of Christ.
In the books of the Muslims, the authority, rights, and powers of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) are explicitly recognized and noted. Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) had many rights concerning not just women but in all aspects of life as well. In the famous Islamic qur’anic interpretation book, Tafsir Al-Qurtobi, it says:
As for what was declared permissible for Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), it is a total of 16 points:
First – Choosing the best from the war booty before its distribution.
Second - Taking the fifth of the fifth, or the fifth.
Third - Continuous fasting.
Fourth - Taking more than four women.
Fifth - Marriage in the form of a gift (being gifted a wife).
Sixth - Marriage without a guardian (for the woman).
Seventh - Marriage without a dowry.
Eighth - Marriage while in the state of Ihram.
Ninth - The obligation of establishing equality in the time spent with the wives is lifted off of him, explanation will follow.
Tenth - If his sight falls on a woman, her husband must divorce her, and his marriage to her is permissible for him. Ibn Al-Arabi said: This is what Imam Al-Haramayn said, and the scholars have provided a similar explanation to the story of Zaid in this sense.
Eleventh - That he freed Safiya and made her freedom her dowry.
Twelfth - He entered Mecca without Ihram, and we have a difference in opinion regarding this.
Thirteenth - Fighting in Mecca.
Fourteenth - That he is not inherited from.
This was mentioned in the analysis section, only because if death approaches a man by illness, most of his property is removed from him, and only one third is left for him, and the possessions of the Messenger of God (PBUH) remain according to what was clarified in the verse of inheritance and Surah Maryam.
Fifteenth - His wives remain his wives after his death.
Sixteenth - If he divorces a woman, his sanctity remains with her, so no one is allowed to marry her after that. These three sections are mostly presented in detail in their respective sections which will follow, God-willing.
And it was permitted for him (peace and prayers be upon him) to take food and drink from the hungry and thirsty, even if he who is with him fears death for himself, because of the Almighty’s saying: “Surely the Prophet has a greater claim over the believers than they have over their own selves.” [Surah Al-Ahzab: 6].
It is upon every one of the Muslims to protect the Prophet (PBUH), and it was permitted for him to protect himself.
God honored him by making the taking of war booty permissible for him. The whole earth was made for him and his nation a place of prayer and it was made pure. There were Prophets whose prayers were not valid except if they were in mosques. Victory was given to him by fear, the enemy would fear him from a month worth of distance. He was sent to all of creation, and before him were Prophets who were sent to a group of people and not to others. His miracles were like the miracles of the Prophets before him and more. The miracle of Moses (PBUH) was the stick and water gushing out of a rock. The moon was split for the Prophet (peace and prayers be upon him) and water came out from between his fingers (peace and prayers be upon him). The miracle of Jesus (peace and prayers be upon him) was resurrecting the dead and healing the blind and lepers, while pebbles glorified God in the hands of the Prophet (peace and prayers be upon him) and a tree branch leaned towards him, and this is greater. God favored him over them by making the Qur’an a miracle for him, and made his miracle remain in him until the Day of Resurrection, and for this reason his Prophethood was made eternal, and it is not nullified until the Day of Resurrection.
Firstly, what can be concluded from the above is that Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) had more of a right over everything than the people, including their own selves, their wives, their children, their property, their food and drink, etc. The Holy Qur’an states,
“The Prophet has more of a right over the believers than their own selves...”
A Muslim must give up his wife if the Prophet desired her, he must give up his life to protect the Prophet’s life, etc. He has priority in all things. These are the rights that David (PBUH) and Solomon (PBUH) had, and these are the rights of every Prophet and Messenger (PBUT) and what is accepted for one Prophet must be accepted for every Prophet, and what was acceptable for Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) must be acceptable for the Mahdis (PBUT). The ruling of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) in relation to the people is similar to the ruling of
“What your right hands own.”
So, because all of creation was created by God, and since He sustains it, His Messengers and divinely appointed Kings have the same rights that God would have over His creation. They are His representatives and are delegated complete authority and if they were to destroy creation, they are also free to do so.
“We said: O Dhul-Qarnain! Either punish them or treat them kindly.”
The ruling of the divinely appointed King towards creation is like the ruling of a father towards his son. In Islam, any person who kills another person without just cause (i.e. self-defense, war, etc.) is to be killed, except for a father who kills their own son. The father who kills his own son is not charged with murder because he gave his son life and therefore, he is immune from prosecution if he takes it away. Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said:
“Me and Ali ibn Abi Talib are the fathers of this nation and our rights over them are greater than the rights of parents. Verily, we save them if they obey us from hellfire and place them in paradise and take them out of slavery and make them catch up with the best of the free.”
Secondly, we must state that in terms of the Jews and Christians who are attacking Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) on the basis of sexual relations or marriages, or the religion of Islam based on sexual speech or imagery, the Bible and the Torah are exactly the same if not much more explicit than the Holy Qur’an and narrations. For example, the Song of Solomon is a section in the Old Testament which speaks about Prophet Solomon (PBUH), who according to the biblical narrative had a thousand wives. The entire Song of Solomon is a poem between Solomon and his lovers detailing their feelings towards one another and their sexual acts. Here are a few verses for the purpose of demonstrating:
How beautiful are your sandaled feet, princess!
The curves of your thighs are like jewelry,
the handiwork of a master.
Your navel is a rounded bowl;
it never lacks mixed wine.
Your waist is a mound of wheat
surrounded by lilies.
Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
Your stature is like a palm tree;
your breasts are clusters of fruit.
I said, “I will climb the palm tree
and take hold of its fruit.”
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes,
and the fragrance of your breath like apricots.
Your mouth is like fine wine—
flowing smoothly for my love,
gliding past my lips and teeth!
I belong to my love,
and his desire is for me.
It also states:
As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my beloved among the young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
In the book of Ezekiel, God Almighty is even more sexually explicit in His description of Samaria and Jerusalem as He compares them to two prostitutes who lust over foreign men:
Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.
They call Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) an ungodly man who is obsessed with sex and yet they forget what the first Kings of the Jews and the predecessors of Jesus (PBUH), Saul and David did. Saul had asked David (PBUH) for a dowry in exchange for his daughter’s hand in marriage. He did not ask for gold nor silver, but he asked for 100 Philistine foreskins, that is penis skins. David brought him back more than he asked for.
Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’ ” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines. When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
Since the Mahdis (PBUT) are inheritors of the Prophets and the Messengers (PBUT), and they rule by the rules of the Prophets and the Messengers (PBUT), all those matters which applied to Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) could apply to the Mahdis (PBUT), as it applied to all the Prophets and Messengers (PBUT) and there would not be a valid reason why anyone could object or reject the faith based on that. In fact, if they wrote sexual poetry, spoke in a sexually explicit manner or asked for the severed foreskins of their enemies, all that too would not be a valid reason for anyone to object to their rule or reject their religion. Because if the person accepts this from one Messenger of God, then he must accept it from all Messengers of God. The Christians, if they accept that David and Solomon (PBUT) were from God, then they cannot reject Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) for simply doing as their Prophets did. We can also expect that just as they threw accusations against Joseph (PBUH) and Mohammed (PBUH & His Family), they will also accuse some of the Mahdis (PBUT) of the same and none of it will be a valid reason to doubt, disbelieve or apostatize. We cannot use our own preconceived notions of right and wrong, good and bad to judge the Prophets and Messengers (PBUT) so long as they fulfill the three criteria; the Will, Knowledge, and calling towards the Supremacy of God.
¶ The Righteous Father
Just as Moses (PBUH) had his journey with the Righteous Servant, I had my journey with Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace). It was a journey in which he took me and disciplined me and taught me. I will highlight a small part of my journey with Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace).
One day I said to Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace), “My Father, I have come to hear your knowledge and these matters which I asked you of, their secret is with you and no one other than you. And I am ready to hear anything from you and accept it and there is nothing that you can say that I won’t handle, enlighten me with the truth.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “God bless you son.”
After a while, and on one particular night the Imam (From Him is Peace) came to me while I least expected it and he said to me a speech which caused me to go silent and on the inside shake and sweat began to drop from my body.
I said to the Imam (From Him is Peace), “Ok, but what is going to happen?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) replied, “You are not a believer.”
I felt suddenly ill and even though I accepted what he had told me, I was disturbed by what I heard. A large patch of my beard went white, and I could not stomach any food. My organs were refusing to accept food or water and I could barely force my lungs to take in air. I became extremely ill and remained as such, barely eating or drinking a thing for a month. The Imam (From Him is Peace) left me during this time and did not speak to me. I was losing weight rapidly and was struck with a fever for the entire month and I felt as if I was dying.
One day at the end of the month, I said to the Imam (From Him is Peace), “I think I am dying, please help me Father.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “I shall tell you something, God had ordained that you die tonight, in exactly 20 minutes from now, but I shall lift it off you. Go to the hospital.”
I went to the hospital and the doctors ran all the tests that they could on me. They could not find anything wrong with me. They did X-rays, blood tests, everything that they could think of and all of the results were normal. They fed me sugar water through an IV to give my body much needed energy since I could not eat anything or drink. I felt better and the fever went away.
I said to the Imam (From Him is Peace), “What happened? I went to the hospital, and they couldn’t find anything wrong with me.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “And they will not find anything wrong with you because there is nothing wrong with you physically. It was God.”
I said, “My Father, Adam told me that you said that the Ansar in Iraq, most of them, their faith is about 70 percent.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes son, I said that.”
I said, “Is that in Iraq only or all the Ansar?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Most of them are like that.”
I said, “And what about me, Father?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “You are 90 percent.”
I said, “There is no power nor strength except through God, what is that 10 percent? Is it doubt or what?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “It is not doubt, rather it is just non-submission in some matters.”
I said, “Is there anyone who has a higher percentage?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Those with me are 100 percent. You can be 99 percent or are supposed to be 99 percent.”
I said, “So it’s not possible to be like that now?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “One thing will make you reach that.”
I said, “What is that which will make me reach that?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “To remove all love which is higher than the love of God from your heart. Do so and you will not only be 99 percent but you will be Ahmed Al-Hassan.”
I said, “My Father, this is about that test? All of this because I just asked, ‘What will happen?’, knowing that I did not refuse, then you said I was not a believer?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, don’t ask, my son, don’t ask if you trust in me. You are supposed to trust in me blindly. Your trust in me should have no limits.”
I said, “My Father, I don’t know what to say. I did not see the matter as such.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Say what you want but don’t say what you do not do.”
I said, “I have sinned. When I asked I only… Nevermind, there is no need for making excuses in front of you, I am guilty and you have already issued your judgment. So shall I ever reach or is it done for me like this at 90 percent?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “The matter is in your hands, you can reach completion right now or you can stay as you are and you can also go backwards.”
I said, “And what would happen then, would I die and everything be over?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “That shall not happen, God-willing.”
I said, “You said before that I could not be replaced or die or else you would die?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, I said that.”
I said, “Does that mean that I shall reach completion?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Why do you even put in your mind that possibility, the possibility of going backwards?”
I said, “I am not, because I know that I shall never repeat my mistake, God-willing. Ever. Every day I wish that I could go back in time. That day does not go away from my mind and I never forget the pain.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “My son, rip out every old tradition which you learned from your heads. You are above the jurisprudence and are not subjected to it. You are from another world in which the permissible there is different than this hallal here, and the impermissible there is different than the haram here. Understand, I beg you. Understand what I want. Understand and be free. Be free, son, be free.”
I said, “Teach me then, my Father. Teach me the hallal and the haram. I want to be.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “My son, are you going to be able to handle it? Will you be patient?”
I said, “I swear I will be patient, but just tell me.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) taught me many things after that and I accepted them. I also made up for the matter which he had not liked. I had still been very shaken by the incident of God attempting to kill me. I knew that it was written that God had tried to kill Moses (PBUH) and others before,
“At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him.”
It was a very big shock to my system and was disturbing to me. One day I decided to talk to my Father (From Him is Peace) about it. It was on his birthday, in the very early years of the Call.
I said, “I need to confess something to you, but I did not like that this confession be my birthday gift to you.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Welcome, my son. It shall be the best present because it [confession] is a preference.”
I said, “Something has disturbed me and worried me. I ask from you forgiveness and pardon in advance.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “I forgive you before you say anything, and I pardon you before you say anything.”
My tears were falling down my face and I said, “Thank you, my Father. In the beginning I thought that God was with me and protecting me, and I could feel His presence everywhere and He would give me signs and speak to me on the tongues of the people, and I could speak to Him night and day and I would see Him in the moon and sun and the stones and the stars.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “And your thoughts are true.”
I said, “But when I fell ill and you told me that God was wanting to kill me at 2 a.m., I became filled with the feeling that God was willing to give me up, and perhaps He would kill me over anything.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “God does not give up his righteous servants, verily God disciplines and brings you to the edge of death and does not kill you, then suddenly He brings you back in order that He shows you what is right and corrects your path. Have certitude in one thing, and safeguard it until the end of your life, rather until the last moment.”
I said, “Yes Father.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Even if God killed you, He is true.”
I said, “Yes.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Noah (PBUH) for example, reached the edge of death and Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) too and many of the Prophets and vicegerents.”
I said, “Why Father?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Because they are not normal humans, and their mistakes were counted against them. God did that to them in order that He teach them and discipline them and strengthen their resolve.”
I said, “But wasn’t Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) in that time inherently infallible without any mistakes?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “He did not have a mistake which would lead the servants astray, and he was infallible in the sense that he could not lead anyone astray, but he did make mistakes in his personal life, but don’t think that they are big mistakes. They are very small and simple mistakes, perhaps you wouldn’t even think twice about them, but for Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) they were big and should not come out of a man like him. Perhaps he only had one real mistake and he learned a lot from it. Noah too, and other than them, like Job, but they differ from Mohammed (PBUH & His Family).”
I said, “What happened, my Father, made me question many things, and made me wonder if God killed me, where would I go? To hellfire or where?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “These questions come from a conscience which is alive but be sure, God is disciplining you and shall not kill you, He shows you the bitterness and pain of death, but He does not put that into effect with you, He shows you hellfire and does not throw you in it.”
I said, “It seems this happens with me a lot. It happened with Jeremiah and with Enoch.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, I told you it happened with many Prophets and vicegerents, my dear son, this is a large sea, and you shall learn in every hour that passes something new, until your bones are harder than rocks.”
That chapter had ended for me, and I understood the type of submission that was required, absolute submission and trust, and I continued to walk on my path with the righteous Father. On one particular day, I had wanted to learn from my Father what I considered to be the greatest miracle ever performed by one of the greatest Prophets (PBUT), Jesus (PBUH). That miracle was the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
I said, “When Abraham (PBUH) asked God in the Qur’an to show him how He gave life to the dead, did he do that using the Greater name of God or something else?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “No my son, that is a great knowledge but whoever has the Greater name of God is able to do that, and this is something easy for them to do.”
I said, “How did he do it, my Father? Can you teach me?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “If I teach you this then there shall remain nothing for your brother Jesus (PBUH) that you don’t have.”
I said, “Teach me, Father.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “You can raise the dead through your certitude.”
I said, “I want to do so; I want to see the power of the Lord and the power of the mind.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Ok, I shall teach you under one condition, I shall tell you something on Friday to do, if you can do it, then I shall teach you afterwards and if you are unable to do it, then I shall not teach you, do we have a deal?”
I said, “Yes.”
Friday came and I approached him (From Him is Peace) about what he had promised.
I said, “My Father, what is the matter that you wanted to know if I could do it?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Do you know that my heart cannot bear that I tell you.”
I said, “Why Father?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “You want to learn how to raise the dead.”
I said, “Yes.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “That shall not be except that you have absolute faith that there is no power nor strength except through God.”
I said, “Absolute faith in God or in myself that I can or what?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “In God and in yourself that you are capable of doing it through ‘there is no power nor might except through God’ and at the same time you must believe that you are unable to do anything without the mercy of God upon you. When you reach that, there will be something which you can take from me. But the pillar is, that there is no strength nor power except through God, the Most High, the Most Great.”
I said, “And how do I know if I reach?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “I shall know that you reached that before you do.”
I said, “There is no power nor strength except through God, what does that mean, my Father?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “My son, I shall say it to you bluntly.”
I said, “Please do, my Father, make me understand.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “When you believe that if you kill Maleeka and cut her into pieces and believe that God can return her, it shall be then that I shall say to you, O Abdullah the poor, now there is no fear upon you nor shall you grieve, and I, your Father Ahmed, shall say to you a matter. You are capable of this and one day you shall reach this.”
I learned here what the meaning of certitude was, and I understood that absolute certitude was required and what it felt like and how it must be if we were to accomplish a Divine Just State and if we were to perform the miracles of the previous Prophets and Messengers (PBUT). If we were truly believers, then we should be able to have no fear of anything and absolute trust in God. I continued to walk my path with the righteous Father.
One day I said to the Imam (From Him is Peace), “I want to be complete.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “I want you to go and set a fire, a large fire, and feed it so that it is so big that a group of people could stand in it, and so hot that if you were to throw iron into it, it would melt and become liquid.”
I said, “Yes, I shall do it.”
I gathered a few of my companions and we set a giant fire and we continued to feed it with pieces of furniture and other items until it was so hot that we could barely stand around it. We would feel the flesh on our faces burning and the hair of our arms and faces burning.
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Now go into it, you and your companions.”
I was shocked and I looked at the fire as it was burning. I knew that this was it, unless a miracle happened, it would be instant death. I shut my eyes and said: “Yes Father, your will shall be done.” Me and my companions dashed forward into the flames and reached the center of the fire. We were in shock, but we did not feel any heat. It was cool and calm. We were not burning. We were not dead. We were standing still calmly watching the flames engulf everything around us. I saw visions in the flame, I saw my past burning and who I was and used to be. I could see all alternative future timelines burning to the ground. I could see that by this choice to enter into the flames, I had set myself on fire and allowed for no other possibility to remain but the one He chose for me. My body was not burning, but my will and my doubts and my fears, and my desires all burnt into the ground. The only thing that remained was Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace), his voice within me. Blessed are those who were in the fire and those around it. At that moment, the Imam (From Him is Peace) stepped into the flames.
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Today your companions proved to you that they believe in you, and today you proved to yourself that you can do anything.”
I cried tears of joy and said, “Thank you, my Father!”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “This is a proof for you. As for me, I do not need the likes of this to be a proof for me, for I know the hidden matters of the hearts, I look in it whenever I will, and I know what is in it. I love you, my son.”
I said, “Forgive me all my shortcoming in your right. I love you Father.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Upon you and your companions is a thousand greetings and peace.”
¶ Sources
- Kitab Al-Ghayba (Book of Occultation), Al-Numani, Vol. 1, p. 210
- Kitab Al-Ghayba (Book of Occultation), Al-Numani, Vol. 1, p. 212
- Kitab Al-Ghayba (Book of Occultation), Al-Numani, Vol. 1, p. 213
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 2, pp. 193-194
- Kitab Al-Ghayba (Book of Occultation), Al-Numani, Vol. 1, p. 211
- Kitab Al-Ghayba (Book of Occultation), Al-Numani, Vol. 1, p. 215
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 28, p. 47
- Mizan Al-Hikmah (Scale of Wisdom), Mohammed Al-Reyshahri, Vol. 3, p. 2621
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 11, pp. 326-328
- Mikyalul Makarim, Mirza Mohammed Taqi Al-Isfahani, Vol. 2, p. 161
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 37 (Al-Saffat), Verse 102
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 37 (Al-Saffat), Verse 105
- The Holy Bible, Book of Genesis, Chapter 9, Verse 6
- Sharḥ al-akhbār, Qadi Nu’man al-Maghribi, Vol. 3, p. 365
- Mizan Al-Hikmah (Scale of Wisdom), Mohammed Al-Reyshahri, Vol. 1, p. 186
- Kamāl al-dīn wa tamām al-niʿma, Al-Shaykh Al-Saduq, Vol. 1, p. 354
- The Holy Bible, Book of Luke, Chapter 22, Verses 31-34
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 22, p. 343
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 22, p. 374
- The Gospel of Thomas, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures, Marvin Meyer, p. 139
- Mizan Al-Hikmah (Scale of Wisdom), Mohammed Al-Reyshahri, Vol. 1, p. 655
- Sharḥ Nahj Al-Balāgha, Ibn Abi Al-Hadid, Vol. 2, p. 298
- Al-Tarekh Al-Islami (Islamic History), Mahmud Shakir, p. 355
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 23 (Al-Mu’minun), Verse 14
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 22, p. 34
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 22, p. 34
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 22, p. 34
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 22, p. 34
- Al-Qasim ibn Zakariya ibn Dinar said: Ahmad bin Mufaddel spoke to me and said: Asbat spoke to us and said, Z’am Al-Suddi narrated on the authority of Musab ibn Saad, on the authority of his father, he said: “On the day of the conquest of Mecca, the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, granted people safety except for four men and two women, and he said: ‘Kill them, even if you find them hanging onto the curtains of the Kaaba.’”
- As-Sunan al-Kubra, Al-Nisai, Vol. 2, p. 302 - The following was narrated about this incident: “And the Messenger of God (PBUH & His Family) ordered his killing, and when it was the day of the conquest, Uthman took him by the hand to the Messenger of God (PBUH & His Family) in the mosque, and said: ‘O Messenger of God, forgive him’, so the Messenger of God (PBUH & His Family) remained silent. So he repeated what he said and the Messenger of God (PBUH & His Family) remained silent. So he repeated what he said to which the Messenger of God (PBUH & His Family) replied: ‘I have granted you your request.’ ” - Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 22, p. 34
- Sahih Al-Bukhari, Al-Bukhari, Book of Merits, Hadith No. 3617
- Tafsir al-Mizan, Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai, Vol. 3, p. 380
- Tafsir Al-Qurtobi, Al-Qurtobi, Vol. 14, pp. 212-213
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 33 (Al-Ahzab), Verse 6
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 4 (Al-Nisa), Verse 36
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 18 (Al-Kahf), Verse 86
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 36, p. 11
- The Holy Bible, Song of Songs, Chapter 7, Verses 1-3
- The Holy Bible, Song of Songs, Chapter 7, Verses 7-10
- The Holy Bible, Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 23, Verses 19-21
- The Holy Bible, Book of 1 Samuel, Chapter 18, Verses 25-27
- This question came in the context of a command that Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan gave to Aba Al-Sadiq (From Them is Peace). Aba Al-Sadiq (From Him is Peace) immediately accepted, then asked this question.
- Aba Al-Sadiq’s (From Him is Peace) question is similar to a great extent to the words of Abraham (PBUH) when he said: “Yes, but just so my heart can be reassured.” However, what Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) wants is complete and absolute trust in his words without the need for reassurance.
- The Holy Bible, Book of Exodus, Chapter 4, Verse 24