Question 331 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 4

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. Regarding sins, Allah, the Exalted, said: ‘Those who, when they commit an indecency or wrong themselves, remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins-and who forgives sins except Allah?-and do not knowingly persist in what they did’ (^[78]). The Exalted also said: ‘Say: O My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of Allah’s mercy. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful’ (^[79]). Therefore, beseech Allah to forgive your sin and bestow His mercy upon you. Recite Imam Zayn al-Abidin’s supplication for Monday and, after the night prayer and the dawn prayer, this supplication: ‘My God, I ask You to bear on my behalf every debt upon my neck toward one of Your servants, and to resurrect me on the Day of Resurrection with no debt or injustice upon my neck that any of Your servants demands from me, until I meet You while You are pleased with me. O Compassionate, O Merciful, O Munificent, O Generous, forgive me all my sins together through Your munificence and generosity. O Allah, O Most Gracious, O Most Merciful, forgive me the grave sin, for none forgives the grave sin except the Almighty. O Almighty, I have no god other than You whom I may call upon and no partner with You in whom I may hope. Send prayers upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad and, through Your hidden gentleness, deliver me from what I am in and from what I fear and dread.’ I ask Allah to bestow upon you sincere repentance and forgiveness from Him that leaves no liability for which you can be called to account, and to bestow upon you righteous offspring. He is my Guardian, and He takes charge of the righteous. Peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you. This is a question and its answer from The Allegories that contains benefit for you: Q: The Exalted said: ‘Say: O My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of Allah’s mercy. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful’ (^[80]). The Exalted also said: ‘O our people, answer the caller of Allah and believe in him; He will forgive you some of your sins and protect you from a painful punishment’ (^[81]). The first verse promises forgiveness of all sins, while the second promises forgiveness of some sins. How are the two reconciled? A: 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. Sins between you and other servants are not forgiven except by returning rights to their owners and obtaining release from liability from them. This is a general law: ‘He will forgive you some of your sins’; that is, Allah forgives the sins between you and Him. As for sins involving other servants, you must obtain release from liability and return rights to their owners. In Imam Zayn al-Abidin’s supplication for Monday: ‘… And I ask You concerning the injustices against Your servants for which I am liable. Whichever male servant of Yours or female servant of Yours has a claim against me for an injustice I committed against him concerning his person, honor, wealth, family, or child; or for backbiting I committed against him; or for a burden I imposed upon him through inclination, desire, pride, zeal, ostentation, or partisanship-whether absent or present, living or dead-and then my hand fell short and my capacity became too narrow to return it to him and obtain his release: I ask You, O One who owns all needs, which respond to His will and hasten to His desire, to send prayers upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, satisfy him with me however You will, and grant me mercy from You. Forgiveness does not diminish You and giving does not harm You, O Most Merciful of the merciful’ (^[82]). That is, forgive what is between you and the servants through supplication and beseeching Him, Glorious is He, so that He is the one who returns rights to their owners ‘when my capacity becomes too narrow and my hand falls short.’ This is the specific law, ‘and through it forgiveness of all sins becomes possible.’ There is an easy path for the forgiveness of all sins. The Exalted said: ‘Who is it that will lend Allah a good loan, so He may multiply it for him many times over? Allah withholds and extends, and to Him you will be returned’ (^[83]). From the People of the House (a), it is ‘maintaining connection with the Imam.’ From them (a), it is ‘maintaining ties of kinship, and the kinship is specifically the kinship of the family of Muhammad’ (^[84]). Allah, Glorious and Exalted, calls maintaining connection with the Imam a loan to Him, Glorious is He, and He is the one who repays it. Maintaining connection with the Imam takes various forms, including connection through wealth, working with him, and striving before him with tongue and spear to establish his right (a). Certainly, working with the Imam is better than giving him wealth, because work exhausts the human body and may result in the destruction of his body if he strives before the Imam with tongue and spear. How great is mercy when the Proof is among the people, for this immense gate has opened: by maintaining connection with the Imam (a), the human being has lent Allah a loan. On the Day of Resurrection, he stands before Allah and Allah repays him this loan. If this servant came with sins equal to the number of grains of sand on land, they would be forgiven, because he has a loan with Allah, the Judge of the Day of Judgment. He gives much for little, and His giving is without reckoning. Thus Allah settles all this servant’s debts and his sins involving the servants, and enters him into the Garden without reckoning. Ahmed Alhasan Dhu al-Qidah, 1430 AH