Question 60 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 2
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Question 60
This verse occurs in the Noble Quran: ‘Indeed, I am your Lord, so remove your sandals. You are in the sacred valley of Tuwa.’ What is meant by this verse? Sender: Fadel
Ahmed al-Hasan Response:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, the Imams and the Mahdis, and grant them abundant peace. The Exalted said: ‘Indeed, I am your Lord, so remove your sandals. You are in the sacred valley of Tuwa’ ([33]). A sandal on the foot of any person protects it, but it also slows the speed of his walking. Allah, Glorious and Exalted, did not intend only the two material sandals that slowed the speed of Moses’s (a) walking toward the tree from which he was addressed. He also wanted Moses (a) to remove from himself everything that hindered it in its journey to Allah, Glorious is He. He wanted Moses (a) to remove his love for anything other than Allah and to remove his fear of anything other than Allah. He should not protect himself by fear and caution, but by Allah, Glorious and Exalted, and his love for any person should be through Allah and through his love for Allah, Glorious and Exalted ([34]). Fear of tyrants-such as Pharaoh-is among the qualities of scholars who do not act. Their hearts are filled with fear of the tyrant, or, as Allah calls them in the Noble Quran, donkeys. The Exalted said: ‘The example of those who were charged with the Torah and then did not bear it is like the example of a donkey …’ ([35]), ([36]). The Exalted said: ‘Indeed, the most disagreeable of sounds is the sound of donkeys’ ([37]). The Exalted said: ‘As though they were startled donkeys’ ([38]), ([39]). It is narrated from al-Sadiq (a), in his interpretation of this divine address to Moses (a), ‘So remove your sandals’: ‘Because they were made from the hide of a dead donkey’ ([40]). Al-Sadiq (a) intended only to clarify this quality: fear for oneself from the tyrant, which is among the qualities of scholars who do not act ([41]), or donkeys. Al-Sadiq (a) did not mean that fear of the tyrant remained in Moses’s heart after he entered the courtyard of divine holiness. Thus Allah, Glorious and Exalted, says to Moses (a): You have reached the courtyard of divine holiness-‘You will not fear being overtaken, nor will you be afraid’-because the one defending you is Allah. You are now in the courtyard of His holiness, the sacred valley of Tuwa. After Moses (a) reached the courtyard of divine holiness, there was no fear of tyrants in his heart. Rather, in this divine address is instruction from Allah, Glorious and Exalted, for every person who wishes to reach the sacred courtyard-the sacred valley of Tuwa: first, and in order to be worthy of entering this sacred courtyard, he must remove from his heart fear of tyrants such as Pharaoh and be certain that the one who defends him is Allah, Glorious and Exalted, who is capable of all things, as opposed to those who are capable of nothing. What is required of Moses (a), now as he enters the courtyard of holiness, is that he remove from his heart fear of anything other than Allah, even if it is the weight of an atom, and then fill his heart with fear of Allah, Glorious and Exalted. As for Moses’s (a) words, ‘They have a charge against me, and I fear that they will kill me’ ([42]), Moses (a) meant fear for the divine message, not for himself. He feared that they would kill him before he completed conveying the divine message with which he was charged. When Allah, the Exalted, answered him by saying, ‘No. Go, both of you, with Our signs; indeed, We are with you, listening’ ([43]), Moses went swiftly to the tyrant, conveyed the message to him, conveyed it to the Children of Israel, and completed conveying the message by the grace of Allah, who is capable of all things.
Source: The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 2; Author: Imam Ahmed Al-Hasan; Question 60; Page Not available; AL-JAWAB-AL-MUNIR-V2-Q060. View Arabic source · Open the original Arabic source ↗
Source footnotes
Footnotes are kept separate from the main question and answer and preserve their source-record association.
↑ [33] Ta Ha 20:12.
↑ [34] Sheikh al-Saduq-may Allah have mercy upon him-said: It is narrated concerning the words of the Mighty and Majestic, ‘Remove your two sandals,’ that they mean your two fears: your fear that your family will be lost and your fear of Pharaoh. Kamal al-Din wa-Tamam al-Nima, p. 151. Imam al-Mahdi (a) said in a long hadith: ‘… Moses communed with his Lord in the sacred valley and said, “My Lord, I have devoted my love sincerely to You and washed my heart of anyone besides You”-although he intensely loved his family. Allah the Exalted said, “Remove your two sandals,” meaning: remove the love of your family from your heart if your love for Me is sincere and your heart has been washed of inclination toward anyone besides Me.’ Kamal al-Din wa-Tamam al-Nima, p. 460. (Commentator.)
↑ [35] Al-Jumua 62:5.
↑ [36] The Messenger Muhammad (s) said in a long hadith: ‘… Allah the Exalted says: “The likeness of those who were charged with the Torah and then did not bear it is like a donkey carrying books.” O Ibn Masud, a time will come upon the people when one who patiently holds to his religion will be like one grasping an ember in his palm. It will be said of that time: in that time, be a wolf, otherwise wolves will eat you. O Ibn Masud, their scholars and jurists are treacherous and immoral. Indeed, they are the worst of Allah’s creation, and likewise their followers and those who go to them, take from them, love them, sit with them, and consult them are the worst of Allah’s creation. He will admit them into the fire of Hell: “Deaf, mute, and blind, so they will not return.”’ Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 47, p. 98. Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Qummi said in his Tafsir, vol. 2, p. 366: ‘Then He set forth an example concerning the children of Israel and said, “The likeness of those who were charged with the Torah and then did not bear it is like a donkey carrying books.” He said: The donkey carries books but does not know what is in them and does not act upon them. Likewise, the children of Israel bore it like the donkey but did not know what was in it and did not act upon it.’ Sheikh al-Tusi-may Allah have mercy upon him-said in Al-Tibyan, vol. 10, p. 5: ‘Ibn Abbas said: Asfar means books, its singular being sifr, because they disclose the meaning by revealing its condition. It is said that a man uncovered his turban when he removed it, and a woman uncovered her face when she appeared unveiled. They were likened to the donkey because a donkey that carries books of wisdom upon its back does not know what is in them and does not perceive them. It is like one who memorizes the Book but does not act upon it. On this basis, whoever recites the Quran without understanding its meaning and turns away from that as one who has no need of it is included in this likeness. But one who memorizes it while seeking its meaning, though memorization came first, is not among the people of this likeness.’ (Commentator.)
↑ [37] Luqman 31:19.
↑ [38] Al-Muddaththir 74:50.
↑ [39] We find that the Imams (a) repeatedly likened scholars who do not act to donkeys. Here we find Imam al-Sadiq (a), in his discourse with Yunus, applying the words of the Exalted, ‘As though they were startled donkeys,’ to the scholars who opposed and resisted him and were highway robbers blocking the way to the true Imamate represented by Imam al-Sadiq (a). He said: ‘… This is the description of one who does not know Allah as He truly deserves to be known and does not love Him as He truly deserves to be loved. Do not be deceived by their prayers, fasting, narrations, and knowledge, for they are startled donkeys.’ Then he said, ‘O Yunus, if you desire correct knowledge, it is with us, the Ahl al-Bayt. We inherited it and were given the foundation of wisdom and decisive speech.’ Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 63, p. 404. Here Imam al-Sadiq (a) states that the reason for the soundness of the Imams’ knowledge and their superiority over others is that they inherited that knowledge from their grandfather, the Messenger of Allah (s), unlike the rest of the people. This indicates that the description ‘heirs of the prophets’ is exclusive to the Ahl al-Bayt (a), and that anyone other than them who describes himself by it is a thief of what does not belong to him, whoever he may be. (Commentator.)
↑ [40] Ilal al-Sharai, vol. 1, p. 66.
↑ [41] Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Qummi said in his Tafsir, vol. 2, p. 366: ‘His words, “Say: O you who are Jews, if you claim that you are allies of Allah to the exclusion of the people, then wish for death, if you are truthful.” He said: It is written in the Torah that the allies of Allah wish for death.’ Al-Majlisi said in Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 6, p. 125: ‘“Then wish for death”: although the address is outwardly directed to the Jews, it is a general allusion to everyone who claims allegiance to Allah while disliking death.’ (Commentator.)
↑ [42] Al-Shuara 26:14.
↑ [43] Al-Shuara 26:15.
References
- ↑ Ahmed Al-Hasan. The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 2. Question 60; Page Not available. AL-JAWAB-AL-MUNIR-V2-Q060. View Arabic source
Cite this page
Ahmed Al-Hasan. The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 2. Question: 60. Page: Not available. AL-JAWAB-AL-MUNIR-V2-Q060. https://ahmedalhasan.org/ar/Library/BookContent/52