Question 14 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 1

Ahmed al-Hasan Response:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Brother Abu Maryam: I-and I seek refuge in Allah from the ‘I’-am the poor, destitute, submissive servant before his Lord. I invite you, and everyone who seeks the truth, to carry an axe as Abraham (a) carried one and shatter every idol worshipped instead of Allah, including the idol between your sides, which is the ego. Increase your remembrance of Allah, and know that however much you increase it, you will remain among the heedless until you give allegiance to the guardian of Allah and become one of those who prostrate. Make your visits to this world fewer, and know that however much you abstain from it, you remain eager for it until you undertake the steep path and free your neck from the fire of this world and the Hereafter. Aban ibn Taghlib narrated from Abu Abdullah (a): ‘I said to him, “May I be your ransom, concerning His words, ‘But he has not undertaken the steep path.’” He said, “Whoever Allah honors with allegiance to us has crossed the steep path, and we are that steep path: whoever undertakes it is saved.”’ He said: ‘Then he became silent and said to me, “Shall I not teach you a word that is better for you than the world and all it contains?” I said, “Yes, may I be your ransom.” He said, “His words: ‘freeing a neck.’” Then he said, “All people are slaves of the Fire except you and your companions, for Allah freed your necks from the Fire through allegiance to us, the Ahl al-Bayt”’ (^[9]). And Jesus (a) said, ‘Blessed is the one who does not stumble because of me.’ Slaughter yourself before your Lord so that today and tomorrow you may win a cup after which you will never thirst: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful: ‘Indeed, We have given you al-Kawthar. So pray to your Lord and sacrifice. Indeed, your enemy is the one cut off.’ Imam al-Rida (a) said: ‘I heard my father Musa ibn Jafar say: I heard my father Jafar ibn Muhammad say: I heard my father Muhammad ibn Ali say: I heard my father Ali ibn al-Husayn say: I heard my father al-Husayn ibn Ali say: I heard my father, the Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abi Talib (a), say: I heard the Prophet (s) say: I heard Allah, Mighty and Majestic, say, “There is no god but Allah is My fortress. Whoever enters My fortress is safe from My punishment.”’ He said: ‘When the mount passed us, he called out, “With its conditions-and I am one of its conditions”’ (^[10]). In truth I tell you: I too am one of its conditions. I have come to you in the name of Imam al-Mahdi (a). I did not seek my will, but the will of the one who sent me. Whoever does not accept me does not accept my father who sent me. The truth is that whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. I will not complain of you to Allah. Rather, my grandfather, the Messenger of Allah (s), will complain of you because he made a testament concerning me and mentioned my name, lineage, and description. My fathers, the Imams (a), will complain of you because they mentioned me by my name, lineage, description, and dwelling place. The blood of al-Husayn (a), shed in Karbala for Allah, for my father (a), and for me, will complain of you. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and John the Barbarian will complain of you because they clarified my affair to the people of the earth long ago. After all this, will you forsake me? I desire your life and salvation, so help me against your own selves. Blessed is the one who slaughters himself before his Lord. Blessed is the one who does not stumble because of me. Blessed are the strangers who are mad in the sight of the people of the earth and wise in the sight of heaven. If you want to see Imam al-Mahdi (a), recite this supplication for forty nights after midnight: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. ‘O Allah, You are the guide of the bewildered, the refuge of the distressed, and the aid of those who seek aid. I have no god other than You whom I might call upon, and You have no partner whom I might hope in. Bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad; make for me relief in my affair and guide me to the course nearest to right guidance in this. I have knocked at Your door and set down my mount in the courtyard of Your sanctity and at Your threshold, seeking Your testimony. I am the base and humbled servant, and You are the Mighty and Majestic Lord. Clarify for me the affair of Ahmed Alhasan with the clearest clarification and the most eloquent tongue. If he is Your guardian, I will believe him, pledge allegiance to him, and support him; and if he is Your enemy, I will deny him and fight him. O You who revealed to the disciples and bore witness for them that Jesus (a) is Your messenger: “And when I inspired the disciples: Believe in Me and in My messenger, they said: We believe, and bear witness that we are Muslims” (^[11]); bear witness for me and clarify this affair for me. My hair, skin, flesh, blood, bones, all of me borne by the earth, and my spirit have borne witness that Your testimony is the greatest testimony: “Say: What thing is greatest in testimony? Say: Allah is witness between me and you” (^[12]). O You who offered Yourself as witness to those who disbelieved in the message of Muhammad (s), saying: “Those who disbelieve say, ‘You are not a messenger.’ Say: Allah is sufficient as witness between me and you” (^[13]); “Or do they say, ‘He fabricated it’? Say: If I fabricated it, you possess no power to protect me from Allah. He knows best what you engage in concerning it. He is sufficient as witness between me and you, and He is the Forgiving, the Merciful” (^[14]); “Say: Allah is sufficient as witness between me and you. Indeed, He is ever Aware of and Seeing His servants” (^[15]). They turned away from Your testimony. Bear witness for me, my Lord, for I do not turn away from Your testimony. I bear witness that visions are truth from You, the forerunners of Your revelation, and Your words with which You favored the worlds. O You who praised Abraham and placed prophethood in his progeny because he believed the vision, You said-Glory be to You: “We called to him: O Abraham, you have fulfilled the vision. Indeed, thus do We reward the doers of good” (^[16]). You praised Mary and said: “And Mary, daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into it from Our Spirit, and she believed in the words of her Lord” (^[17]). O You who addressed Muhammad (s), saying: “We relate to you the best of narratives through what We have revealed to you in this Quran, although before it you were among the unaware, when Joseph said to his father: O my father, indeed I saw eleven stars, and the sun and the moon; I saw them prostrating to me” (^[18]). Thus You called the vision the best of narratives in Your Noble Book, praised those of Your guardians, prophets, and messengers who believed it, and condemned those who denied it and called it confused dreams. You said-and Your word is truth: “The reckoning of the people has drawn near while they turn away in heedlessness. No renewed reminder comes to them from their Lord except that they listen to it while playing, their hearts distracted. Those who wronged conferred secretly: Is this anything but a human being like you? Will you then approach magic while you see it? He said: My Lord knows every word in heaven and earth, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing. Rather, they said: Confused dreams; rather, he fabricated it; rather, he is a poet. So let him bring us a sign as the former ones were sent” (^[19]). Pharaoh’s chiefs and his henchmen said: “Confused dreams, and we do not know the interpretation of dreams” (^[20]). Joseph believed the vision and interpreted it, so You praised him and said-Glory be to You: “Joseph, O truthful one” (^[21]). O Allah, make me like Your guardians, prophets, and messengers: I believe the vision-the forerunners of Your revelation, Your words with which You favored the worlds, and the best of narratives in Your Book-and I neither break Your covenant nor fail Your promise.’ Then say: ‘Come to my aid, my Lord, by the right of Fatima. Have mercy on me, my Lord, by the right of Fatima. Guide me, my Lord, by the right of Fatima.’ Ahmed Alhasan