Question 242 - 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, and may Allah send prayers upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, the Imams and the Mahdis, and grant them abundant peace. ‘By the Lord of heaven and earth, it is certainly true, just as surely as you speak’ (^[82]). The Exalted said: ‘Proclaim the pilgrimage among the people; they will come to you on foot and on every lean mount, coming from every distant pass’ (^[83]). This is what Abraham (a) was charged with, and what every prophet (a) and commissioned successor was charged with: the proclamation, meaning calling people to the truth. They were not charged with guiding them, nor were they charged with presenting proofs and signs except in circumstances in which Allah, Glorious and Exalted, willed to disgrace the disbelievers and save the heedless through His favor, Glorious is He. The fact that people polluted their innate nature, deafened their ears to hearing the voice of truth, and covered their hearts with the rust of matter and desire is their sin, which they must first expiate in order to hear the statement and voice of truth. For this reason, the Exalted said: ‘There is no compulsion in religion. Right guidance has become distinct from error. Whoever disbelieves in al-Taghut and believes in Allah has grasped the firmest handhold, which never breaks. Allah is Hearing and Knowing’ (^[84]). Disbelief in al-Taghut provides, at the very least, the suitable environment of freedom for hearing the voice of truth and the voice of Allah. Sheep recognize their righteous shepherd by his voice. Those who are from Allah hear Allah’s voice and recognize Allah’s voice, words, and wisdom, distinguishing them well from Satan’s foolishness. This is everything: ‘Whoever disbelieves in al-Taghut and believes in Allah.’ Whoever disbelieves in al-Taghut necessarily recognizes its voice and ugly image, which is renewed in every age. It was Nimrod and the scholars of religion who did not act in the time of Abraham (a); Pharaoh and the scholars of religion in the time of Moses (a); Pilate, Herod, Caesar of Rome, and the Jewish scholars who did not act in the time of Jesus (a); Khosrow, Caesar, the rulers, the scholars of the Hanifs, the Christian scholars, and the Jewish scholars in the time of Muhammad (s); these people and the Muslim rulers and scholars in the time of the Imams (a); and all of these, together with the Shia scholars who do not act, in this age. Do you see how broad and vast the circle of al-Taghut is and how numerous the tyrants are? Thus the Exalted said: ‘You worship nothing apart from Him but names that you and your fathers have named, for which Allah sent down no authority. Judgment belongs to Allah alone. He commanded that you worship none but Him. That is the upright religion, but most people do not know’ (^[85]). The circle of al-Taghut includes all those who do not believe that judgment belongs to Allah, and even those who acknowledge with their tongues that judgment belongs to Allah while opposing it through their conduct and deeds. All of them and those who follow them are tyrants, followers of tyrants, and servants of tyrants who do not worship Allah. If they prostrate, their prostration is to Satan; if they perform the pilgrimage, their pilgrimage is for Satan; if they fast, their fasting is for Satan. This is because, by their words or deeds, they affirm what belongs to Satan, and by their words or deeds, they deny what belongs to Allah. Their outward worship therefore has no value with Allah. Rather, His angels see them standing and mocking Him, Glorious and Exalted-Allah forbid. How ugly is their stance, which He, Glorious is He, described: ‘Their prayer at the House was nothing but whistling and clapping, so taste the punishment because you disbelieved’ (^[86]). Those who are from Allah hear Allah’s words, and the true Shia of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad (a) recognize the righteous shepherd’s voice well. Can a human being lose the sound of his Imam’s voice? Can a son fail to recognize the voice of the father who raised him merely because he heard many voices amid the world’s crowd? Is this possible? Ahmed Alhasan