¶ Door Number Forty-Two
¶ The Peacock Angel
¶ “I shall not forget his obedience.”
One morning in June of 2019, I awoke from my sleep in which I had a vivid dream. I had seen in the dream that Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) was driving a car and I was sitting next to him. We were speaking as he was driving. It was as if we were returning home from a long day’s work. I had asked the Imam (From Him is Peace) in the dream about the interpretation of the verse from the Qur’an:
“And verily, My Curse is on you till the Day of Recompense.”
When I awoke, I was thinking all day about the dream which I had. When I spoke to Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace), I immediately asked him about it.
I said to my Father (From Him is Peace), “I saw you in a dream this morning, you were driving a car and I was sitting next to you, and we were speaking on the way. I was asking you about the interpretation of the verse: ‘And verily, My Curse is on you till the Day of Recompense’ and I asked you, what is the Day of Recompense, and you replied: ‘It is the day of granting the payment and penalty.’ I then said, ‘In the verse it states that the curse upon Iblis is to a certain time and not forever.’ You then smiled and were happy and you looked at me and said, ‘Yes, after the Day of Recompense, he is no longer cursed.’ I then asked you, ‘May I speak about this?’ and you said, ‘Bring your computer tomorrow and we will work on it together.’ After that you told me that you loved me and are proud of me.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) remained silent.
I said, “My Father, can I ask you a question?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, go ahead son.”
I said, “My Father, what is the Day of Recompense, Owner of the Day of Recompense, is it the day of the Rise of the Qaim?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “The Day of Recompense, the word day means hour, it means the time.”
I said, “Yes.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “The Companion of the Time, the Companion of the Recompense, the Owner of the Day of Recompense. It means the Owner of the Time.”
I said, “So when God said to Iblis (May God’s curse be upon him) that the curse is upon him until the Day of Recompense, what does it mean?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “It means until the day of the Rise of the Qaim.”
I said, “And then what happens after that?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “After that the cursed one shall be killed by the sword of the
Qaim.”
I said, “And then he remains cursed forever?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “He remains cursed until the Day of Recompense.”
I said, “And after he is killed, he is forgiven? As you said to me in the dream? Or does it have another meaning?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “It is as I said to you in the dream.”
I said, “God is Great! God is Great! God is Great! Glory be to God whom there is no God but Him. What immense mercy is that?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “God does not forget his obedience.”
I said, “Glory be to Him. I remembered this narration today, Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said: ‘If the sun rises from the West, Iblis shall fall into prostration and call out: ‘O my Lord, command me to prostrate to whoever You will!’ And his companions shall gather to him and say: ‘O master of theirs, what is this supplication?’ He shall say to them: ‘I only asked that God grant me respite until the Day of Recompense, and this is the Day of Recompense, then the Beast of the Earth shall emerge…”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, but as I have told you, the Qaim shall kill him as a punishment for what he has done.”
I said, “And this Qaim is you, right my Father? Or is it Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) as you have mentioned in the book of Monotheism?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “I shall not respond to this question now, but it is neither I nor Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). (This conversation had taken place before my Father revealed to me that I was the Qaim.) Let us leave this topic for now for a day that is better than this day, and I shall teach you many of the hidden matters.”
I said, “Thank you, my Father and reason for existence.”
As we conclude this great Gospel of truth, we see that God is not eager to punish nor condemn, but rather He is the Most Merciful. His Mercy is beyond comprehension. As God says in the hadith Qudsi:
“O son of Adam, if you came to Me with all the sins of the Earth and then come to Me without associating anything with Me, I will come to you with My forgiveness.”
God is willing to forgive all sins except for one, and that is association, or shirk, or polytheism, to take partners alongside God. When explaining the meaning of association or shirk, Imam Al-Sadiq (From Him is Peace) said:
“O Sufyan, do not ever go after rulership, nobody asks for it except that they are destroyed.” He was asked: “May I be your ransom, then we are all destroyed, for there is not one of us except that he likes to be mentioned and be sought after and taken from.” Imam Al-Sadiq (PBUH) said: “It is not what you are saying that I meant, rather, what I mean is that you appoint a man besides the vicegerent (from God) and believe him in everything that he says and call the people towards him.”
Imam Al-Sadiq (From Him is Peace) also said:
“Shirk is to obey the devil without realizing it, so you commit shirk.”
He (From Him is Peace) also said:
“It is shirk through obedience and not shirk through worship.”
And He (From Him is Peace) also said:
“Shirk is that their prayer and sacrifice and supplication is for other than God.”
Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said:
“ ‘And they took their priests and rabbis as Gods besides God.’ And so someone said: “But we don’t worship them.” So, he (PBUH & His Family) said: “Do they not make forbidden what God made permissible and thus you make it impermissible? And they make permissible what God made impermissible and thus you make it permissible?” It was said: “Yes.” The Prophet said: “That is their worship.”
It is thus that shirk is the obedience of a human being in anything when he is not appointed by God. Thus, the first question that any of us should ask a person who speaks in the name of religion, or a person who claims to be a ruler over our lives, or a person who sets down any sort of religious or political laws or rules, would be: “Are you appointed by God?” If the answer is no, we should reject them. If we obey those laws, or recognize them or believe in them or recognize or believe that scholar or ruler, then we are associating with God, because God did not appoint them as He appointed Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed and the rest of the Prophets and Messengers. They have no authority to rule over us. God can forgive all sins, but not that we sell ourselves into slavery and serve someone who has no authority over us. That was the mistake of Iblis which caused him to be cursed. He refused to obey and take as a guardian the one whom God appointed. He rejected God’s Will. In the end, however, he says:
“O my Lord, command me to prostrate to whoever You will!”
Thus, he dies at the hands of the Qaim in retribution for his sins, but he dies not as a Mushrik but as one who had faith in only the authority of God, he recognized the Supremacy of God.
Iblis knew God’s Mercy more than anyone. He had faith in God’s Ability and Mercy. And thus, he won His Mercy. Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said:
“By the One in whose hands is my soul, God shall forgive the people on the Day of Recompense such a forgiveness that even Iblis shall have hope that the mercy of God shall reach him.”
And his opinion of God comes true. As God said:
“I am as My believing servant thinks of Me.”
But those who thought there was no God or who died having sold themselves of their own free will to a man or system or god other than the Almighty Creator and died serving that ruler who was not appointed by God, shall be given to that ruler to save them on the Day of Judgment. Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said regarding the verse from the Qur’an:
“ ‘On the day that we call every people with their Imam, so whoever was given their book in their right hand, those are the ones who read their book and are not wronged.’ Whoever took the righteous as an Imam is resurrected with them and whoever took the hypocrites as an Imam is resurrected with them, the individual is resurrected with whomever he loves, Abraham (PBUH) the Prophet said: ‘Whoever follows me is from me.’ ”
The Goal of the Wise is to find God in creation….
That man who veils the Spirit of God….
That Ruler, Imam, King, appointed by God….
¶ Sources
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 38 (Ṣād), Verse 78
- Mo’jam Ahadeeth Imam Al-Mahdi (AS), Al-Shaikh Ali Al-Korani
- Riyad Al-Salihin, The Book of Miscellany, Hadith No. 442
- Mizan Al-Hikmah (Scale of Wisdom), Mohammed Al-Reyshahri, Vol.2, p. 1007
- Mizan Al-Hikmah (Scale of Wisdom), Mohammed Al-Reyshahri, Vol. 2, p. 1438
- Mizan Al-Hikmah (Scale of Wisdom), Mohammed Al-Reyshahri, Vol. 2, p. 1438
- Mizan Al-Hikmah (Scale of Wisdom), Mohammed Al-Reyshahri, Vol. 2, p. 1438
- Tafsir Noor Al-Thaqalayn, Al-Shaikh Abdul Ali Aroussi Al-Howayzi, Vol. 2, p. 209
- Mushrik is the Arabic term for one who committed shirk or association.
- Majmaa Al-Zawa’id, Al-Haithami, Vol. 67, p. 366
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 67, p. 366
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 66, p. 81