Question 108 - 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. This description is reported in more than one narration from them (a), which means that they (a) emphasized its importance. These are some of the narrations: It is narrated from Isa al-Khashshab that he said: I said to al-Husayn ibn Ali (a), ‘Are you the Master of this Matter?’ He said: ‘No, but the Master of the Matter is the expelled, displaced one, whose father’s blood is unavenged, who is given a teknonym after his uncle. He will place his sword upon his shoulder for eight months’ (^[206]). It is narrated from Abd al-Ala ibn Husayn al-Thalabi, from his father, that he said: I met Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Ali (a) during a pilgrimage or umra and said to him, ‘My age has advanced and my bones have become frail. I do not know whether I will be granted another meeting with you, so entrust me with a covenant and tell me when relief will come.’ He said: ‘The displaced, expelled, solitary, unique one, separated from his family, whose father’s blood is unavenged and who is given a teknonym after his uncle-he is the Master of the Banners, and his name is the name of a prophet’ (^[207]). It is narrated from Abu al-Jarud, from Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Ali (a), that he said: ‘The Master of this Matter is the expelled, displaced one, whose father’s blood is unavenged, who is given a teknonym after his uncle and separated from his family. His name is the name of a prophet’ (^[208]). What is meant by the teknonym here is ‘Abu so-and-so,’ and the uncle intended in the narration is al-Abbas ibn Ali (a). People ordinarily give a man a teknonym after his eldest son, while they (a) look to the most important son-that is, the Mahdi or Proof who succeeds him, meaning the one who comes after him. The explanation of this teknonym appears in a sermon delivered by the Commander of the Believers (a) in Kufa and transmitted by both Shia and Sunnis. He (a) said: ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Originator and Fashioner of the heavens …’ Then he said: ‘If I wished, I could load seventy camels with the interpretation of the Opening of the Book. “Qaf. By the glorious Quran” … Glory be to the Ancient. He opens the Book and reads the answer. O Abu al-Abbas, you are the Imam of the people. Glory be to the One who gives life to the earth after its death, and the authorities return to their houses. O Mansur, proceed to the construction of the forms. That is the determination of the Mighty, the Knowing’ (^[209]). Amit was the Muslims’ slogan at Badr, by which they recognized one another. Amt means elevation and depression. The Exalted said: ‘You will see in it neither crookedness nor unevenness’ (^[210]). What the slogan means is leveling elevation with depression and straightening the path through the death of falsehood and establishment of truth. Amit is a supplication to Allah to cause falsehood to die and establish truth, and an exhortation to the believers to cause falsehood to die and establish truth. When sitting in prayer after prostration, you set your right foot upon the left. The meaning of this sitting is: O Allah, establish truth and cause falsehood to die.