Question 74 - 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. Yes, it is the will of Allah, Glorious and Exalted, concerning which He, Glorious and Exalted, said: ‘His command, when He wills a thing, is only to say to it, “Be,” and it is’ (^[117]). But the realization of this divine will in this verse-‘Allah only desires to remove defilement from you, O People of the House, and to purify you completely’ (^[118])-does not occur by coercing or compelling them to obey and to abandon disobedience. Rather, it occurs by realities being unveiled to them after their sincerity toward Him, Glorious and Exalted, and by His making them infallible after they sought protection through Him, Glorious and Exalted. If the reality of this world is unveiled to a person and he comes to see it as carrion fought over by dogs, and as the sweat of a pig in the hand of a leper (^[119]), how could he turn toward it? This example may clarify infallibility and its meaning for you: If a blind person wants to cross a road safely despite its obstacles, he must seek the help of a sighted person. He must then surrender his wrist to the sighted person so that the sighted person can take him by the wrist and help him cross the road safely. In this example, the blind person seeks protection through the sighted person; thus the blind person in this example is protected, and the sighted person is the one who protects the blind person. The prophets and vicegerents (a) are those who sought Allah’s help so He would take them by their hands to the shore of safety, and they are those who extended their hands to Allah so He would take them by their wrists (^[120]). If a servant in the East or the West did as they did and sought protection through Allah, Allah would protect him. But many people have fallen short in turning to Allah for refuge and extending their hands to Him, Glorious is He. Rather, they claim that they know and see the road clearly. Allah’s hand, Glorious and Exalted, is extended to all people continually. There is no kinship between Him and any of them; rather, He is their Creator, but the people, by their own will, keep their hands closed away from Him, Glorious is He (^[121]).