Question 306 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 4

Ahmed al-Hasan Response:

This verse is connected to the verse before it. The Exalted said: ‘That is what Allah gives as glad tidings to His servants who believe and do righteous deeds. Say, “I ask of you no reward for it except love for the near relatives.” And whoever acquires a good deed, We increase its goodness for him. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving, Appreciative. Or do they say, “He has fabricated a lie against Allah”? If Allah willed, He could seal your heart. Allah effaces falsehood and establishes the truth by His words. Indeed, He knows what is within the breasts’ (^[18]). His words, the Exalted: ‘Say, “I ask of you no reward for it except love for the near relatives.” And whoever acquires a good deed, We increase its goodness for him,’ mean the family of Muhammad (a). Allegiance to them is a good deed, and the increase is allegiance to those who preceded. Whoever gives allegiance to the Proof of Allah in his time from the family of Muhammad (a) is given the reward of deeds performed with the companions of the previous holders of divine authority among the prophets and sent successors (a). Likewise, whoever denies the Proof of Allah in his time is recorded among those who denied the previous proofs. The Exalted said: ‘And the people of Noah-when they denied the messengers, We drowned them and made them a sign for the people, and We have prepared a painful punishment for the wrongdoers’ (^[19]). Although they denied Noah, Allah considered them deniers of all the messengers (a). The hypocrites accused the Messenger of Allah (s) of wanting to reserve the station of the Imamate-which to the hypocrites was only worldly rule-for his household. Thus they began disparaging the Messenger of Allah (s) in their gatherings and accusing him-may Allah’s prayers be upon him-of being the one who wanted his household and fabricated against Allah these verses concerning them, or of singling out Ali and Fatimah-peace be upon them-and their infallible descendants on his own initiative, such as the words of the Exalted: ‘Allah only desires to remove defilement from you, O People of the House, and to purify you completely’ (^[20]). This was to be expected from the hypocrites when they saw the Messenger of Allah (s) stand every day at the door of Ali and Fatimah-peace be upon them-and recite this verse, and when they heard the Messenger of Allah (s) say, ‘Ali is to me as Aaron was to Moses.’ These sacred words in the Noble Quran were therefore a response to the hypocrites’ movement and fabrications: these verses that confined pleasing the Messenger, thanking the Messenger, and loving and showing affection to the Messenger (s) to showing affection to his household (a): ‘Say, “I ask of you no reward for it except love for the near relatives.”’ He then made clear the condition of the hypocrites: they do not fundamentally believe that Muhammad is a messenger from Allah, Glorious is He. How then can they outwardly claim belief in Muhammad (s) and then accuse him of fabricating against Allah, Glorious and Exalted, that which He does not approve? Rather, they think that Allah, Glorious and Exalted, is incapable of establishing truth and eradicating falsehood, and they accuse Him-the One who knows what is within the breasts-of ignorance (exalted is Allah, far above that) concerning the condition of the one He sent to them: ‘Or do they say, “He has fabricated a lie against Allah”? If Allah willed, He could seal your heart. Allah effaces falsehood and establishes the truth by His words. Indeed, He knows what is within the breasts.’ ‘If Allah willed, He could seal your heart’: sealing the heart is of two kinds. One kind prevents it from receiving, as in the words of the Exalted: ‘Allah has sealed their hearts and their hearing, and over their eyes is a covering; and for them is a great punishment’ (^[21]). The other kind prevents it from issuing forth toward a particular direction or toward every direction, as in the words of the Exalted: ‘If Allah willed, He could seal your heart.’ What is meant here is preventing it from issuing forth toward a particular group: those who confronted him and those who followed them in rejecting his household (a) and rejecting their station and office in which Allah appointed them. This was realized when he (s)-may my soul be his ransom-passed to the Highest Assembly. ‘Allah effaces falsehood and establishes the truth by His words’: through the family of Muhammad (a), who are the words of Allah, Allah effaces falsehood and establishes the truth despite your scheming, planning, and attacks upon their divine appointment. Whether you wish it or refuse it, O you who object to Allah’s appointment, Allah will efface falsehood and establish the truth through the family of Muhammad (a)-the words of Allah-and through their Riser. The Exalted said: ‘Muhammad is only a messenger; messengers passed away before him. If he dies or is killed, will you turn back on your heels? Whoever turns back on his heels will never harm Allah at all, and Allah will reward the grateful’ (^[22]). Their apostasy and their attempt to eradicate the truth and establish falsehood ‘will never harm Allah at all,’ because Allah, Glorious and Exalted, has decreed that He will efface falsehood and establish the truth through the family of Muhammad (a) after Muhammad (s): ‘Allah effaces falsehood and establishes the truth by His words.’ Therefore, the deeds of the hypocrites have no effect upon the outcome Allah desires-the establishment of truth in the end-no matter how great their scheme: ‘They devised their scheme, and with Allah is their scheme, even if their scheme were such that mountains should be removed by it’ (^[23]). From Jamil ibn Darraj, who said: I heard Abu Abdullah (a) say: ‘“Even if their scheme were such that mountains should be removed by it”: even if the scheme of the Abbasids against the Riser were such that the hearts of men should be removed by it’ (^[24]). ‘Indeed, He knows what is within the breasts’: take heed, perhaps you will remember, and so that the proof against you may be complete and conclusive. The one who appoints must know what is within the breasts, and that is Allah, Glorious and Exalted, not the people. Know that Muhammad (s) does not speak from himself, nor is he the one who appoints: ‘It is only a revelation revealed’ (^[25]). Ahmed Alhasan