Question 67 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 2

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: ‘O reassured soul, return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing’ (^[67]). The reassured soul is the one in which faith has dwelt and become firmly established, so it has found stability through it. These are the souls of the prophets, vicegerents, and the guardians of Allah who believed in them and supported them. Opposite the reassured souls are the unsettled souls: the souls of believers whose faith is interspersed with some doubt, even if it is slight. Faith has dwelt in these souls, but it has not become firmly established in them because doubt remains within them. Faith is therefore held on deposit in them: either faith remains in them by the grace of Allah, or doubt and darkness increase in them until faith and light depart from them, leaving them dark and unsettled, with no stability. Such are souls ‘like layers of darkness in a deep sea, covered by a wave, above which is a wave, above which are clouds-layers of darkness, one above another. When one puts out his hand, he can hardly see it. Whoever Allah does not grant light has no light’ (^[68]). Through this it becomes clear that His words, the Exalted, ‘It is He who brought you into being from a single soul, then there is a place of settlement and a place of deposit. We have made the signs clear for a people who understand’ (^[69]), mean that faith is either firmly settled or held on deposit. As for His words, the Exalted, ‘There is no creature on the earth except that its provision is upon Allah, and He knows its place of settlement and its place of deposit. All is in a clear Book’ (^[70]), by ‘its place of settlement and its place of deposit’ He meant the souls. The believer should therefore supplicate frequently so that his faith becomes firmly settled and his soul becomes reassured. In the supplication for the Day of Ghadir narrated from al-Sadiq (a), he said: ‘… Our Lord, You commanded us to obey those vested with Your command, and You commanded us to be with the truthful. You said, “Obey Allah, obey the Messenger, and those vested with authority among you,” and You said, “Be mindful of Allah and be with the truthful.” We have heard and obeyed. Our Lord, make our feet firm and cause us to die as Muslims who affirm Your guardians. Do not cause our hearts to deviate after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from Yourself; indeed, You are the Bestower. O Allah, I ask You by the truth that You placed with them and by that through which You favored them above all the worlds: bless us on this day of ours, on which You honored us; complete Your blessing upon us; make it firmly settled with us and never take it away from us; and do not make it a deposit, for You said, “then there is a place of settlement and a place of deposit.” So make it firmly settled and do not make it a deposit. Grant us the support of Your religion alongside a guiding, supported guardian from the Household of Your Prophet, and make us with him and beneath his banner as truthful martyrs in Your path and in support of Your religion’ (^[71]). It is narrated from Abu al-Hasan (a) that he said: ‘Allah created the prophets upon prophethood, so they can only be prophets; He created the believers upon faith, so they can only be believers; and He lent faith to a people-if He wills, He completes it for them, and if He wills, He takes it away from them.’ He said: ‘It is concerning them that “then there is a place of settlement and a place of deposit” applies.’ He said to me: ‘So-and-so’s faith was held on deposit, and when he lied about us, that faith was taken away from him’ (^[72]). It is narrated from Abu Abdullah (a) that he said: ‘Allah formed the prophets upon their prophethood, so they never turn back; He formed the vicegerents upon their vicegerency, so they never turn back; and He formed some believers upon faith, so they never turn back. Among them are those to whom faith was lent; if such a person supplicates and persists in supplication, he dies upon faith’ (^[73]). It is narrated from al-Bazanti that he said: Abu al-Hasan al-Rida (a) arranged to meet us one night at the mosque of the house of Muawiya. He came and greeted us, then said: ‘The people exerted themselves to extinguish the light of Allah when Allah, Blessed and Exalted, took His Messenger (s), but Allah refused except to perfect His light. Ali ibn Abi Hamza exerted himself to extinguish the light of Allah when Abu al-Hasan (a) passed away, but Allah refused except to perfect His light. Allah has guided you to a matter of which the people are ignorant, so praise Allah for what He has bestowed upon you. Jafar (a) used to say, “then there is a place of settlement and a place of deposit”: the settled is the faith that has become firm, and the deposited is that which is lent. Allah has guided you to a matter of which the people are ignorant, so praise Allah for what He has bestowed upon you’ (^[74]). It is narrated from Abu Basir, from Abu Jafar (a), that he said: ‘I said, “It is He who brought you into being from a single soul, then there is a place of settlement and a place of deposit.” He said, “What do the people of the town in which you live say?” I said, “They say: settled in the womb and deposited in the loins.” He said, “They have lied. The settled is the one whose faith has become settled in his heart and will never be taken from him; the deposited is the one with whom faith is deposited for a time and then taken away. Al-Zubayr was among them”’ (^[75]).