Question 234 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 3

Ahmed al-Hasan Response:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, as He is worthy and as befits the generosity of His countenance and the might of His majesty. May Allah send prayers upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, the Imams and the Mahdis, the guiding and purified ones, and grant them abundant peace. I testify that there is no god but Allah alone, without partner: one God, One, Singular, Self-Sufficient, who has taken neither consort nor child. I testify that my master and guardian Muhammad ibn Abdullah is His servant and His messenger to the worlds. I praise Him, Glorious and Exalted, for bestowing upon me from His bounty, which none knows but He, Glorious and Exalted: He made me His servant, honored me by making me one of those who prostrate, and recorded me among those who remember. In truth, I find myself only heedless and undeserving of this generosity that He, Glorious is He, poured upon me. But He is the Generous One who recompenses with much. By Allah, I do not find that I have offered even a little so that I could say He recompensed me with much for the little I offered. Then it was His will, Glorious and Exalted, to gather me among my masters, the family of Muhammad-the Imams and the Mahdis, upon whom be my Lord’s prayers-so He recorded me among them and gathered my blackened face among their faces that shine with His light, Glorious is He. I found myself between His command, Glorious is He, which restrained me, and my knowledge of myself, which troubled me. What He willed, Glorious is He, was to test creation with a stone blackened by sins, which neither harms nor benefits. Thus, what I said to you-‘Do not be supporters of Ahmed Alhasan, the servant who dies and has no power over anything. Rather, be supporters of the Living One who does not die and has power over everything’-means: do not let the qiblah distract you from the reality you seek. Let your hearts be attached to Him, Glorious and Exalted, not to one of His servants, even if that servant is Allah’s successor upon His earth. Obey Allah’s successor because Allah commanded you to do so, and let your sacrifices be with Allah’s successor because Allah commanded you to do so-not because you love this human being whom Allah made His successor upon His earth. For this is a form of associating others with Allah that prevents the righteous believer from ascending through the paths of the heavens: ‘Most of them do not believe in Allah without associating others with Him’ (^[47]). Know that Allah has placed affection and love for us in the hearts of those who believe: their hearts soften at our remembrance and their tears flow from longing for us. You are tested by this as well, so do not let it distract you from Allah. Do not be like one whom the mirror distracts from the image within it, when the mirror exists only to bring you to the image. Know-may Allah have mercy upon you-that Allah’s successors upon His earth are only guides: those who know them recognize them, and through them Allah is known. Your ultimate end is Allah, and your purpose is to know Him, Glorious and Exalted. So beware, and beware again, of becoming occupied with the guides-may Allah’s peace be upon them all-to the neglect of the goal to which they pointed and continue to point. I will summarize my words in two phrases; place them as obligations upon your necks: Beware of becoming distracted from the qiblah, for it is a qiblah through which you were commanded to turn; and beware of becoming occupied with the qiblah, for it is a qiblah through which what lies beyond it is intended. I warn you against neglecting anything of Allah’s successor upon His earth, for he is your qiblah toward Allah. And I warn you against becoming occupied with Allah’s successor to the neglect of remembering Allah, Glorious is He, for Allah’s successor is only a qiblah toward Allah. Then let your concern be to set relations among yourselves right, and be merciful toward the believers so that Allah may have mercy upon you. Allah willing, there is none among you who believes that Allah, Glorious is He, has a partner. Nor is there anyone among you who believes that Allah, Glorious and Exalted-who is light with no darkness in Him-indwells a world among the worlds of creation, which are darkness mixed with light and subsist through His light, Glorious is He; exalted is Allah far above that. I also believe you know that Allah addresses whoever among His creation is sincere to Him: ‘I am Living and do not die, and I have made you living so that you do not die. I say to a thing, “Be,” and it is, and I have made you say to a thing, “Be,” and it is’ (^[48]). The Exalted said: ‘They will not taste death therein except the first death, and He will protect them from the punishment of Hellfire’ (^[49]). These do not die and know nothing of death except their departure from this world. The Exalted said: ‘The trumpet will be blown, and whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth will fall senseless except whom Allah wills. Then it will be blown another time, and at once they will be standing, looking on’ (^[50]). These do not die; indeed, they are not even surprised and do not fall senseless when Israfil blows the trumpet. The Exalted said: ‘The face of your Lord, Possessor of Majesty and Honor, remains’ (^[51]). These do not perish because they are the face of Allah-that is, through them Allah faced the rest of creation. But where is the one who lives and does not die through another compared with the One who lives and does not die through Himself? And where is the one who says to a thing, ‘Be,’ and it is through the might and power of another-and who even needs another’s permission-compared with the One who says to a thing, ‘Be,’ and it is through His own might and power? ‘… Allah said, “O Jesus son of Mary, remember My blessing upon you … and when you fashioned from clay the form of a bird by My permission, then breathed into it and it became a bird by My permission”’ (^[52]). So abandon argument and disputation-may Allah have mercy upon you-and speak to people according to the measure of their intellects. I advise you to convey the truth to those who seek it with gentleness, mercy, and compassion. You carry the food of Heaven to them, so do not follow your charities with reminders and injury: ‘O you who believe, do not nullify your charities with reminders and injury’ (^[53]). If you have no need for guiding them, then at least have a need to assist us in the courtyards of the Resurrection. Be among those in whom the Majestic One takes pride before His angels. Help us with knowledge, action, sincerity, and setting relations among yourselves right. Be the best nation brought forth for people. If the Companions of the Cave are not a wonder, then be a wonder yourselves to those before you and those who come after you. The Exalted said: ‘Or did you think that the Companions of the Cave and the Inscription were a wonder among Our signs?’ (^[54]). The head of al-Husayn ibn Ali (a) was heard reciting from it only: ‘that the Companions of the Cave and the Inscription were a wonder among Our signs.’ That is, the Companions of the Cave among the latter ones: they are the companions of the Riser who avenge him and adhere to the religion for which al-Husayn was killed, namely the governance of Allah. You have held fast to the whole religion, which is the governance of Allah. Nothing will harm the one who comes on the Day of Resurrection with the governance of Allah, and nothing will benefit the one who neglected it. The truth is that those who neglected the governance of Allah are recorded among the enemies of Muhammad even if they claim to follow him, recorded among the enemies of Ali even if they claim to be his Shia, and recorded among the enemies of al-Husayn, who sacrificed even the infant and had his head raised upon spears in order to establish the governance of Allah. By Allah, other than whom there is no god, they are the bearers of al-Husayn’s head upon spears in this age. It is sufficient disgrace and shame for them that they ultimately find themselves understanding nothing of the divine religion or of the uprising of al-Husayn (a). For many long years you have heard them upon the pulpits loudly proclaim that al-Husayn did not rise for the sake of rule. They believe they are exalting al-Husayn (a) by this, whereas Allah’s successor demanding divine governance is a virtue for him to the same degree that it is shame and a deficiency for another. By demanding divine governance, Allah’s successor implements Allah’s will, whereas another person’s demand for the governance of the people opposes Allah’s will. Allah does not accept that one whom He appointed as an Imam should refuse the Imamate or abandon its duties of guiding people to the straight path. So how can they suppose that al-Husayn did not demand Allah’s governance and did not demand rule, when creation is tested through it and people in every age are consequently divided into two groups: some, like Iblis, say, ‘I’ or ‘we’; others, like the angels in their prostration, say, ‘He.’ Then look at the misfortune of those who formerly considered that al-Husayn did not rise to demand rule and who, in their claim, considered this a virtue of al-Husayn (a). Do they today adhere to what they formerly considered a virtue? I leave judgment to you and to the people, while you see them leaping upon the seat of rule like monkeys. O beloved ones, O supporters of Allah, you have recognized their ignorance and the loss in which they are. They have gone astray and led others astray, so be gentle with those whom they caused to go astray, in the hope that they may be guided: ‘Call to the path of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and dispute with them in the best manner. Indeed, your Lord knows best who has strayed from His path, and He knows best those who are guided’ (^[55]). Peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you. Ahmed Alhasan