Question 270 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 3

Supporters 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 his good and purified Household, and grant them abundant peace. The Mahdi (a) bears a divine call and calls people to the truth. He is like the Messenger (s): infallible and does not err in any small or great matter. As for the claim that he was distant from the teachings of Islam, this is incorrect, because the Messenger is Islam itself. Islam is not acts of worship such as prayer and fasting; these are laws whose command is in Allah’s hand and which differ according to the message. Rather, Islam is the religion of all the prophets and messengers. Before being sent, the Messenger was a Hanif who worshipped Allah, withdrew from the world, and turned entirely toward Allah. This is Islam. As for miracles, I ask you: what, for example, was Noah’s miracle? What were the miracles of Jonah, John, and Zechariah (a)? It is not a condition that Allah, Glorious and Exalted, support whomever He chooses with miracles. Here is some of what the Yamani Sayyid and First Mahdi wrote concerning how Allah’s successor upon His earth is recognized in every age: (The most important ways to recognize Allah’s successor upon His earth are: The first way is that by which the angels recognized Adam (a), namely the designation. Allah, Glorious and Exalted, designated Adam (a) and declared that he was His successor upon His earth: ‘When your Lord said to the angels, “Indeed, I am placing a successor upon the earth,” they said, “Will You place upon it one who spreads corruption and sheds blood, while we glorify You with praise and sanctify You?” He said, “Indeed, I know what you do not know”’ (^[104]). After Adam (a), designation was also the way to recognize Allah’s successor upon His earth, but this time the divine designation became known through the previous successor. By Allah’s command, he designates in a testament to his nation the successor after him. He is not the one who appoints the person after him; rather, Allah, Glorious and Exalted, appoints His successor upon His earth in every age. The previous successor’s role is only to convey this divine designation through the testament. For this reason, Allah’s successors upon His earth among the prophets and messengers were called successors, because the predecessor makes a testament concerning the successor. There is no prophet (a) or Imam (a) who was not designated by the one before him. Abraham (a), Isaac and Jacob-peace be upon them-and the prophets among the children of Israel (a) designated Moses and made a testament concerning him. Moses and the prophets (a) made a testament concerning Jesus (a). Jesus made a testament concerning Muhammad (s), and Muhammad (s) made a testament concerning Ali (aa), the Imams (a), and the Mahdis from his descendants. There is no vacancy for anyone besides them them (a) to fill. But the nations departed from them, so among them appeared scholars who act and guide people to return to the path of the successors (a), and to the necessity of following and taking only from them. Scholars who do not act also appeared and tried to assume the successors’ role (a), just as Ibn Abi Quhafah assumed it. The Commander of the Believers (a) said: ‘By Allah, Ibn Abi Quhafah indeed put it on like a shirt, although he knew that my position in relation to it was like the axle to the millstone. The floodwater descends from me, and the bird cannot ascend to me. I therefore drew a curtain over it and turned my side away from it. I began considering whether to attack with a severed hand or remain patient through a blind darkness in which the old grow decrepit, the young turn gray, and the believer toils until he meets his Lord. I saw that patience in this was wiser, so I remained patient with a thorn in the eye and a bone in the throat, seeing my inheritance plundered …’ (^[105]). The second way to recognize Allah’s successor upon His earth is the weapon of the prophets and successors, namely knowledge and wisdom. This is known from their speech and their treatment of problems and occurring matters. A person must free himself from desire and the ego so that their wisdom and knowledge (a) become clear to him. Through this Allah, Glorious is He, argued against the angels: ‘He taught Adam all the names, then presented them to the angels and said, “Tell Me the names of these, if you are truthful”’ (^[106]). It is therefore the best proof of Allah’s successor upon His earth. The third way to recognize Allah’s successor upon His earth is the banner-‘Allegiance belongs to Allah,’ or ‘Sovereignty belongs to Allah.’ Allah, Glorious is He, demanded it for His first successor, Adam (a): ‘When I have fashioned him and breathed into him from My spirit, fall down in prostration before him’ (^[107]); that is, obey him and carry out his command because he is My successor. The Exalted said: ‘Say, “O Allah, Owner of sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and take sovereignty from whom You will”’ (^[108]). The Exalted said: ‘Owner of the Day of Judgment’ (^[109]). And in the pilgrimage response: ‘Sovereignty is Yours; You have no partner.’ They do not flatter anyone at the expense of this reality, even though they are accused because they bear it. In the past, it was said of Jesus (a) that he coveted the sovereignty of the children of Israel, which the scholars who did not act had squandered by flattering the Romans. It was said of Muhammad’s call (s): ‘There is no Garden and no Fire; it is only sovereignty,’ meaning that Muhammad (s) came to seek sovereignty for himself and his son. It was said of Ali (a): ‘He is eager for sovereignty,’ although they heard him say, ‘What has Ali to do with a sovereignty that does not remain?’ and saw his renunciation and turning away from the world and its adornments. This is also the unmistakable condition of Jesus and the condition of Muhammad (s). The prophets and successors give no consideration whatsoever to people’s accusations, unlike scholars who do not act and who seek people’s satisfaction through the Creator’s wrath. Thus, people follow scholars who do not act and fight the prophets and successors who demand Allah’s governance upon His earth, both at the level of legislation and implementation-that is, the constitution and the ruler. The constitution must be divine, and the ruler must be appointed by Allah, Glorious and Exalted. This does not suit most people, who follow desires and desire well-being in this world at the expense of well-being in the Hereafter. The Knowing, the Aware informed us more than sufficiently of the majority’s condition: ‘If you obey most of those upon the earth, they will mislead you from Allah’s path’ (^[110]). ‘But most people do not believe’ (^[111]). ‘Most people, however eager you may be, will not be believers’ (^[112]). ‘Most of the earlier peoples certainly went astray before them’ (^[113]). ‘We created them only in truth, but most of them do not know’ (^[114]). ‘Say, “Praise be to Allah.” But most of them do not know’ (^[115]). ‘Say, “Praise be to Allah.” But most of them do not reason’ (^[116]). ‘They said, “If we follow guidance with you, we will be snatched from our land.” Have We not established for them a secure sanctuary to which the fruits of all things are brought as provision from Us? But most of them do not know’ (^[117]). People do not need more than these three mechanisms to recognize Allah’s successor upon His earth, for their conjunction occurs only in Allah’s successor upon His earth. But they divided just as the first assembly Allah tested divided: the angels believed and prostrated, while Iblis disbelieved, acted arrogantly, and refused to have an intermediary between himself and Allah-Allah’s successor upon His earth. These three mechanisms are a complete proof from Allah, Glorious is He, pointing to His successor upon His earth. Nevertheless, through His vast mercy Allah, Glorious and Exalted, supported the prophets and successors with many signs, including miracles, visions seen by believers, and other matters I am not presently seeking to enumerate or discuss. Refer to what the brothers, the supporters of Imam al-Mahdi (a), wrote-may Allah preserve them and grant them success in every good in this world and the Hereafter. I will discuss only one aspect of the miracles with which the prophets were supported because of its importance and people’s heedlessness of it: the matter of ambiguity in a miracle and its purpose. People know that one of Moses’s miracles (a) was the staff that became a serpent, at a time when magic was widespread; one of Jesus’s miracles (a) was healing the sick, at a time when medicine was widespread; and Muhammad’s miracle (s) was the Quran, at a time when eloquence was widespread. Here, one who does not know the reality explains the miracle’s similarity to what was widespread at that time as being only so that it would surpass the magicians, physicians, or eloquent speakers and establish the miracle. But the reality hidden from the people, although mentioned in the Quran, is that the physical miracle also came in that manner to create ambiguity for those who know only matter. Allah, Glorious is He, does not accept faith that is material; rather, it must be faith in the unseen. ‘Those who believe in the unseen, establish prayer, and spend from what We have provided them’ (^[118]). ‘You warn only one who follows the Reminder and fears the Most Gracious in the unseen. So give him glad tidings of forgiveness and a noble reward’ (^[119]). ‘Whoever feared the Most Gracious in the unseen and came with a heart that turns back’ (^[120]). ‘We certainly sent Our messengers with clear proofs and sent down with them the Book and the balance so that people might uphold justice. We sent down iron, in which there is mighty force and benefits for people, and so Allah may know who supports Him and His messengers in the unseen. Indeed, Allah is Strong, Mighty’ (^[121]). Faith in the unseen is therefore what is required and what Allah, Glorious is He, desires. A miracle He sends, Glorious is He, must leave something for faith in the unseen; for this reason, it contains some ambiguity, and for this reason it often resembled what was widespread at the time it was sent: ‘Had We made him an angel, We would have made him a man and would have confused them with that in which they confuse themselves’ (^[122]). Thus, the people of matter, who know only matter, found in the similarity an excuse for their fall: ‘When the truth came to them from Us, they said, “Why was he not given the like of what Moses was given?” Did they not previously disbelieve in what Moses was given? They said, “Two works of magic supporting one another,” and said, “Indeed, we disbelieve in both”’ (^[123]). The similarity became an excuse for them to say, ‘Two works of magic supporting one another,’ and, ‘Indeed, we disbelieve in both.’ The Commander of the Believers (a), describing one of the hypocrites, said: ‘… He made ambiguities an excuse for his falls’ (^[124]). But if a miracle is overpowering and contains no similarity, no space remains for faith in the unseen. The matter then compels and forces faith. This is not faith and is not Islam, but submission under compulsion, which is not pleasing, desired, or accepted by Allah. ‘We carried the children of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh and his soldiers pursued them in oppression and aggression. When drowning overtook him, he said, “I believe there is no god except the One in whom the children of Israel believe, and I am among those who submit”’ (^[125]). Pharaoh believed and submitted-or rather, surrendered-before he died, but Allah does not accept this faith and Islam. Allah, Glorious is He, answers him: ‘Now? When you disobeyed before and were among the corrupters?’ (^[126]). This is because faith came as a result of an overpowering miracle that left those who know only this material world no room to interpret it or cast doubt upon those who believed in it. No room remained for the unseen in which and through which Allah desires belief. At this boundary faith is not accepted, because it is compulsion and force, not faith: ‘Do they await anything but that the angels come to them, or your Lord comes, or some of your Lord’s signs come? On the day some of your Lord’s signs come, no soul will benefit from believing if it did not believe before or earn good through its faith. Say, “Wait; indeed, we are waiting”’ (^[127]). ‘Say, “On the day of the opening, the faith of those who disbelieved will not benefit them, nor will they be granted respite”’ (^[128]). Had Allah wanted to compel and force people to believe, He would have sent overpowering miracles with His prophets that left no one room to say, ‘Two works of magic supporting one another,’ or, ‘Jumbled dreams; rather, he fabricated it; rather, he is a poet. Let him bring us a sign like those with which the earlier ones were sent’ (^[129]). The Exalted said: ‘Had your Lord willed, everyone upon the earth would have believed, all together. Will you then compel people until they become believers?’ (^[130]). The Exalted said: ‘If their turning away is grievous to you, then, if you are able, seek a tunnel into the earth or a ladder into the sky and bring them a sign. Had Allah willed, He would have gathered them upon guidance, so do not be among the ignorant’ (^[131]). Praise be to Allah, who accepted faith in the unseen and made faith be in and through the unseen, and did not accept faith in matter or make faith be in and through matter, so that the people of living hearts and penetrating inner sight are distinguished from those whose inner sight is blind and whose hearts are sealed. In truth, although much remains to be discussed concerning this subject, I suffice with a little and with opening the door, leaving the rest for the believers to expand upon) (^[132]). Here ends the statement of Sayyid Ahmed Alhasan. As for your statement that the Mahdi (a) is from Ahl al-Sunnah, where did you obtain this, and what is your proof? ‘It is not according to your wishes or the wishes of the People of the Book. Whoever does evil will be recompensed for it and will find no guardian or helper besides Allah’ (^[133]). It is more fitting for you first to be guided to the Mahdi (a), and he will acquaint you with the reality of the schools that are in people’s hands and make known to you the true school among them. The Scientific Committee Supporters of Imam al-Mahdi (may Allah establish him upon the earth)