Question 158 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 2

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↑ [308] It is deeply regrettable that some of Sayyid Ahmed Alhasan’s enemies began clamoring that Sayyid Ahmed Alhasan abolishes the role of intellect entirely and sees no role for it in the human being’s perfection, advancement, and elevation. These people misunderstood and therefore answered badly. Sayyid Ahmed abolished the role of intellect in legislation and issuing rulings without reliance upon the Quran and Sunna, and abolished making intellect a scale over the Two Weighty Things, such that the people accept whatever agrees with intellect and reject and cast against the wall whatever contradicts their deficient intellects. This contradicts the Quran and the pure Sunna. The Exalted said: ‘You have been given only a little knowledge.’ The Exalted said: ‘That is the extent of their knowledge. Indeed, your Lord knows best who has strayed from His path, and He knows best who is guided.’ The Exalted said: ‘Above every possessor of knowledge is one more knowing.’ The Exalted said: ‘Perhaps you dislike something while it is good for you, and perhaps you love something while it is bad for you. Allah knows and you do not know.’ The Exalted said: ‘Perhaps you dislike something and Allah places much good within it.’ The Exalted said: ‘They know an outward aspect of worldly life, while of the Hereafter they are heedless.’ The Exalted said: ‘Judgment belongs only to Allah. He commanded that you worship none but Him. That is the upright religion, but most people do not know.’ The discussion is lengthy, and this is not its proper place. What matters is that Sayyid Ahmed Alhasan did not abolish intellect entirely. Rather, he prohibited its use in legislation and judgment without reliance upon the Quran and Sunna, or reliance upon it to establish rational principles for deriving religious rulings. Otherwise, without intellect no one can distinguish black from white or red from yellow. Without intellect, a person cannot distinguish the truth of Imam Ali (a) from the falsehood of Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan-may Allah curse him-or distinguish the wisdom of Allah the Exalted and the wisdom of His messengers and guardians from the satanic cunning, foolishness, and sophistry of Iblis and his guardians among human beings and jinn. Intellect is therefore a faculty of discernment through which one is guided to distinguish truth from falsehood, but it is not a legislator or an inventor of truth, because it is deficient and does not encompass everything that brings welfare or corruption to the lands and servants. It may imagine that something is most beneficial, only for it to become clear that it is most corrupting. Many narrations have been reported that praise intellect and rational people and condemn ignorance and ignorant people. Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Daylami narrated from his father: I asked Abu Abdullah (a), ‘What do you say of so-and-so’s worship, religion, and merit?’ He said, ‘How is his intellect?’ I said, ‘I do not know.’ He said: ‘The reward is commensurate with the intellect. A man from the children of Israel worshipped Allah upon an island in the sea that was green and flourishing, with many trees and visible water. An angel passed by him and said, “My Lord, show me the reward of this servant of Yours.” Allah the Exalted showed it to him, and the angel considered it little. Allah the Exalted revealed to him, “Keep him company.” The angel went to him in human form and the man asked, “Who are you?” He said, “I am a worshipping man. News reached me of your place and your worship in this place, so I came to worship Allah with you.” He remained with him that day. When morning came, the angel said to him, “Your place is delightful and suited only for worship.” The worshipper said, “This place of ours has one defect.” The angel asked, “What is it?” He said, “Our Lord has no animal. If He had a donkey, we could pasture it in this place, for this grass is going to waste.” The angel said to him, “Your Lord has no donkey?” He replied, “If He had a donkey, grass like this would not be wasted.” Allah revealed to the angel, “I reward him only in proportion to his intellect.”’ Al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 11. The Messenger of Allah (s) said: ‘Allah allotted nothing to the servants better than intellect. The sleep of the rational person is better than the night vigil of the ignorant person, the remaining of the rational person is better than the going forth of the ignorant person, and Allah sent no prophet or messenger until his intellect was complete and his intellect was better than all the intellects of his nation. What the Prophet conceals within himself is better than the striving of those who strive by opinion. A servant does not fulfill Allah’s obligations until he understands them from Him. All the worshippers together do not attain in the merit of their worship what the rational person attains. The rational are those possessed of understanding, concerning whom Allah the Exalted said: “None takes heed except those possessed of understanding.”’ Al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 12. It remains for us to know what intellect is and what its effects and results are. Is everyone called a human being rational? Is the rational person the one who has the greatest insight into the affairs and adornment of this world-trade, prestige, and so on? Or do the family of Muhammad have another concept of the rational person that differs from what is commonly known among the children of this world? Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan was one of the most cunning Arabs. In the view of Ali ibn Abi Talib (a), was he among the rational or the ignorant? Come with me and hear what the best of the vicegerents (a) determines for us. It is narrated from Abu Abdullah (a): ‘I asked him, “What is intellect?” He said, “That by which the Most Gracious is worshipped and the gardens are attained.” I asked, “What, then, was that which Muawiya possessed?” He said, “That was wicked cunning! That was satanic cunning. It resembles intellect, but it is not intellect.”’ Al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 11. Thus, in the scale of the Commander of the Faithful (a), Muawiya, the cunning one of the Arabs, was not rational. What he possessed was wicked and satanic cunning, which resembles intellect but is not intellect. In the scale of the Divider of the Fire and Paradise, one who does not worship the Most Gracious and attain the gardens is not rational. Indeed, Satan cannot be described as rational, nor can his followers be described as rational, such as George Bush, the Nasibis, their followers, and those content with their deeds, because they ruined their Hereafter and built up their worldly life. In reality, they even ruined their miserable, cheap worldly life that was built upon the skulls and blood of innocent human beings. Likewise, none who fought the prophets, messengers, vicegerents, and righteous people (a) can be described as rational, such as the tyrants and the affluent evil scholars who do not act and who say what they do not do, and who in every age are shields and a media apparatus for tyrants and rulers. Since the rational person is one who worships the Most Gracious and attains the gardens through his intellect, how can ordinary human beings know him? Achieving that is harder than stripping thorns from tragacanth. Indeed, how can one who does not know what he will earn tomorrow or in what land he will die recognize the rational person who attains the gardens through his intellect? The choice of the caliph is therefore confined to the hand of Allah the Exalted, who knows the treachery of the eyes and what the breasts conceal, because the leader and legislator for human beings cannot be a devil or beast, even relatively. Legislation and leadership must therefore be entrusted to the truly rational person, and none but Allah the Exalted knows the truly rational person, so it can only be through divine appointment. Those of deficient intellect, who do not know whether they are among the people of the Fire or the people of Paradise, cannot legislate rulings and laws through their intellects when they do not know whether those intellects are wicked and satanic cunning or the praiseworthy intellect before Allah the Exalted through which the gardens are attained. The outcome is unknown and is known only to Allah the Exalted and to one whom Allah informs of it. Entrusting the reins of the divine religion to people whose reality and end are unknown is an unforgivable gamble with this upright religion, which is the product of the sacrifices, toil, and blood of the prophets, messengers, Imams, martyrs, and righteous people (a). O you who call yourself rational, are you content that the person whom you follow and who legislates your fasting, prayer, pilgrimage, and zakat should be seen tomorrow on the Day of Resurrection among the people of the Fire, struggling in chains with the devils, tyrants, and hypocrites, because he sought the world through religion and his concern was prestige, position, and numerous followers? I do not think you can say that the one you follow is not of this kind, because none knows what is in hearts except the Knower of all unseen things. How many people have reality and history exposed who claimed religion and knowledge, only for it to become clear that they were devils and rebels. If my words accord with the innate disposition upon which Allah fashioned you, I ask you not to dispute and not to let blind fanaticism seize you. Truth is more worthy of being followed. The slogan of the righteous is ‘shame rather than the Fire,’ while the slogan of the wicked is ‘the Fire rather than shame.’ Choose what you will do. Then come with me so that we may hear Imam al-Kadhim’s (a) description of the rational, their qualities, where sound intellect leads them, and where their aspiration, desire, and striving are concentrated, so that you may know that one who does not possess their qualities is not among the rational. What he possesses resembles intellect but is not intellect itself; rather, it may be the wicked and satanic cunning that Muawiya possessed, or he may even be Satan himself or someone from whom Satan learns. Imam al-Kadhim (a) said: ‘O Hisham, patience with solitude is a sign of the strength of intellect. Whoever understands from Allah withdraws from the people of this world and those who desire it, and desires what is with Allah. Allah is his intimate companion in estrangement, his companion in solitude, his wealth in poverty, and his source of might without a clan. O Hisham, truth was established for obedience to Allah. There is no salvation except through obedience, obedience comes through knowledge, knowledge through learning, and learning is embraced through intellect. There is no knowledge except from a divine scholar, and knowledge is recognized through intellect. O Hisham, the little action of a scholar is accepted and multiplied, while the abundant action of the people of desire and ignorance is rejected. O Hisham, the rational person is content with little of this world together with wisdom, but is not content with little wisdom together with this world; therefore, their trade is profitable. O Hisham, the rational abandoned the superfluities of this world, so how much more sins? Abandoning this world is a virtue, while abandoning sins is an obligation. O Hisham, the rational person looked at this world and its people and knew that it can be attained only through hardship. He looked at the Hereafter and knew that it can be attained only through hardship, so through hardship he sought the one that endures longer. O Hisham, the rational abstained from this world and desired the Hereafter, because they knew that this world seeks and is sought, and that the Hereafter seeks and is sought. Whoever seeks the Hereafter is sought by this world until he receives his provision from it in full. Whoever seeks this world is sought by the Hereafter until death comes to him and ruins both his worldly life and his Hereafter. O Hisham, whoever desires wealth without possessions, the heart’s relief from envy, and safety in religion should implore Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in his request to perfect his intellect. Whoever understands is content with what suffices him; whoever is content with what suffices him is free of need; and whoever is not content with what suffices him will never attain freedom from need.’ Al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 17. I have prolonged the discussion of this subject because of its importance and because the enemies of Sayyid Ahmed Alhasan tried and continue to try to confuse the matter for the people, deceive them, and treat them like donkeys. Let them know that the most ignorant of the ignorant is one who does not follow the most knowing of the learned and seek direction from Him in matters small and great-and He is Allah, Blessed and Exalted. Intellect in its entirety is security through the unseen, reliance upon Allah alone, and estrangement from the people; ignorance in its entirety is reliance upon oneself and being deluded by it. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers upon the teachers of human beings and jinn, Muhammad and his family, the Imams and the Mahdis. (Commentator.)