Question 304 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 4

Ahmed al-Hasan Response:

I offered them the oath of disavowal on the basis that I would swear it to their senior figures-their religious authorities-if they asked me to do so, on condition that they affirm the Call. This would certainly be fulfilled if they believed in the oath of disavowal and in punishment descending upon the liar, especially when the matter is the claim to the Imamate, regarding which it is narrated that destruction is the share of one who falsely claims it, even if after a while and even without his swearing, because granting him respite would entice people, especially when he presents proofs and the conclusive proof. Therefore, the Exalted said, confirming this matter: ‘Had he fabricated against Us some statements, We would surely have seized him by the right hand, then We would surely have severed his aorta’ (^[7]). If Allah destroys one who falsely claims a divine position when he is a fabricating liar, then what of his swearing the oath of disavowal? This is what we sought to make them understand as a proof of the truth and the possessor of the truth. Despite the intensity of their pursuit and the many who aid them-and it is known that even America is with them, may Allah disgrace them-Allah has saved us from the wrongdoing people by His grace. By Allah, I swear by the might and majesty of my Lord that meeting my Lord is the most beloved thing to my heart, and death to me is like a drink of cold water in intense heat and thirst. This is what I intended by the oath, or specifically the oath of disavowal: that I would swear it to them. An oath is ordinarily given by one who claims a matter and whom the people deny, so he swears to them that he is truthful. Thus Allah, Glorious is He, swore to the people concerning the truthfulness of the message of the Messenger Muhammad (s), saying: ‘So by the Lord of the heaven and the earth, it is surely true, just as surely as you speak’ (^[8]). As for a person coming to deny and belie a call and making his oath evidence of its falsity, this is foolishness itself. The correct course is for him to examine the proofs of the call and consider whether they are complete and constitute a conclusive proof or not. If he decides to deny it, he must bring decisive evidence for his denial and rejection, because he needs to refute the proof. Otherwise, he stands refuted before reasonable people and before Allah, Glorious is He, for he has belied that which he did not encompass in knowledge despite the complete proof that he did not refute. Some of them may even deny without hearing the complete proof. The Exalted said: ‘Rather, they denied that which they did not encompass in knowledge and whose interpretation had not yet come to them. Thus did those before them deny; so see how the end of the wrongdoers was’ (^[9]). We have brought to them-the non-working Shia scholars-what is in their books, but they disbelieved in the will of the Messenger of Allah Muhammad (s) and the narrations of the Imams (a). Thus the words of the Exalted apply to them: ‘And when a messenger from Allah came to them confirming what was with them, a group of those who were given the Book cast the Book of Allah behind their backs as though they did not know’ (^[10]). I say to them: even if the believer in this Call knew nothing but the will of the Messenger of Allah (s), it would suffice him as a complete proof before Allah, Glorious and Exalted. It is enough for him to write it upon his shroud so that it will be a proof before Allah. Do you deny the proof of one who adduces the will of Muhammad (s)? What then when the proofs for this Call from the narrations of the Messenger and the Imams (a), in the books of all Muslim sects, are exceedingly numerous, such that Shia, Sunni, Wahhabi, Ismaili, Alawite, and others have believed? It is more fitting for the deniers-if they hold the true belief that is pleasing to Allah, as they claim-to answer the proofs brought by the Call of truth and establish the soundness of their belief, which this Call has demolished and shown with complete clarity to be manifest error-manifest even to livestock. But what can we do about those whom the Exalted described in His words: ‘Or do you think that most of them hear or reason? They are only like livestock; rather, they are further astray from the way’ (^[11]). In any case, if they believe in punishment and destruction when it befalls one who swore an oath or invoked mutual imprecation, then let them believe because of the destruction of Haidar Mushtat. But how could they, when they are devils whom devils incite, leaping like monkeys whenever they hear of this Call, so that Allah may expose their transformation into monkeys to every reasonable person who comprehends the signs of Allah: ‘So when they insolently persisted in what they had been forbidden, We said to them, “Be despised monkeys”’ (^[12]). Ahmed Alhasan 7 of the blessed month of Ramadan, 1429 AH