Question 535 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 6

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 peace. ‘Allah was certainly pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you beneath the tree. He knew what was in their hearts, so He sent down tranquility upon them and rewarded them with a near victory’ (^[64]). ‘The first forerunners among the emigrants and the supporters, and those who followed them with excellence-Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him. He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein forever. That is the tremendous triumph’ (^[65]). Both verses above concern the rule of Allah and explain Allah’s pleasure with those who pledge allegiance to Allah’s vicegerent upon His earth in their time, praising them for this blessed action. They are not as some Sunnis understand them in an inverted manner, imagining that the verses declare everyone who attended the pledge pure regardless of what he did afterward. The words of the Exalted, ‘Allah was certainly pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you beneath the tree. He knew what was in their hearts, so He sent down tranquility upon them and rewarded them with a near victory,’ praise those who pledged allegiance at the time of their pledge. Allah was pleased with them because they pledged allegiance to His vicegerent upon His earth in their time. The pleasure is therefore conditional upon the pledge to Allah’s vicegerent upon His earth, Muhammad (s): ‘when they pledged allegiance to you beneath the tree.’ Allah was pleased with them because they pledged allegiance to Allah’s vicegerent upon His earth in their time. If they were to turn back from this divine law-pledging allegiance to Allah’s vicegerent in their time-there would be no pleasure with them; rather, the matter would turn into Allah’s wrath upon them. Therefore, those who remained alive after Muhammad (s) were required to seek Allah’s vicegerent and pledge allegiance to him, so that their faith and faithfulness to the covenant and pledge would continue, and so that they would not turn back against the law of divine appointment stated with complete clarity in the Quran: ‘When your Lord said to the angels, “Indeed, I am placing a vicegerent upon the earth”’ (^[66]). Then the Quranic verse would apply to them after the death of Muhammad (s) as well: ‘Allah was certainly pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you.’ The Exalted said: ‘Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you only pledge allegiance to Allah. The hand of Allah is above their hands. Whoever breaks his pledge only breaks it against himself, and whoever fulfills what he covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a tremendous reward’ (^[67]). The least that can be clearly understood from this verse is that the pleasure in the preceding verse is a pleasure conditional upon the pledge, its continuation, and faithfulness to Allah’s covenant-not upon the pledge alone: ‘Whoever breaks his pledge only breaks it against himself, and whoever fulfills what he covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a tremendous reward.’ Consequently, there is no absolute, eternal, or permanent pleasure. Rather, it is pleasure connected to and conditioned upon a specific event. Faithfulness to the covenant must be maintained and the pledge must not be broken. After the death of the preceding vicegerent of Allah, this is achieved only by pledging allegiance to the succeeding vicegerent, so that the one pledging allegiance truly fulfills the covenant and does not break the pledge. The Exalted said: ‘Is one who knows that what has been sent down to you from your Lord is the truth like one who is blind? Only those possessed of understanding take heed-those who fulfill Allah’s covenant and do not break the pledge; those who join what Allah has commanded to be joined, fear their Lord, and dread an evil reckoning … But those who break Allah’s covenant after pledging it, sever what Allah commanded to be joined, and spread corruption upon the earth-for them is the curse, and for them is the evil abode’ (^[68]). The words of the Exalted, ‘The first forerunners among the emigrants and the supporters, and those who followed them with excellence-Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him. He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein forever. That is the tremendous triumph,’ are evidence that Allah’s vicegerency upon His earth continues after the Messenger of Allah (s). Following the emigrants and supporters does not mean following their persons, because they are not infallible, nor does it mean following all their actions. Certainly, some of their actions are severely condemned and must be avoided, such as some of them worshipping idols before faith and some drinking wine after faith. What is meant, therefore, is following them in the most important matter that bestowed upon them these names-the first forerunners among the emigrants and supporters-namely, their faith in Muhammad (s) as Allah’s proof in their time and Allah’s vicegerent upon His earth. They are praised with regard to their deed: believing in Allah’s proof in their time and preceding others in believing in him. They have no advantage over those created after them merely because of precedence, for their precedence is only over the people of their own time. Praising them as forerunners is a comparison with the people of their time, because preferring them absolutely over those created in later generations is an injustice to those who came after them. Indeed, it is a statement contrary to divine justice and to the natural disposition upon which man was created, which always enables him to be among the best of creation and to surpass those who preceded him. It is natural to say of two people who lived in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (s) and believed in him one after the other that one preceded the other in believing in Muhammad (s). But it is not correct to say of two people created in two different times that one preceded the other in believing in Muhammad (s), because one of them preceded the other in existing in this world, whether one lived in the Messenger’s time or both lived after his time. Praiseworthy precedence comes through competition and through surpassing others in action and sincerity, not merely by chronological priority. Consequently, what is meant by the words of the Exalted, ‘and those who followed them with excellence-Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him. He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein forever. That is the tremendous triumph,’ is following them in belief in Allah’s vicegerent in every age. Those who followed them with excellence are all people who believe in Allah’s vicegerent in their own time and support him until the Day of Resurrection. They also have their own merit according to their precedence, action, and sincerity. This quality-being forerunners-does not end. Nor do the qualities of emigration and support end until the Day of Resurrection. The followers are not a group in the first, second, or third century. Rather, the followers are the saved group until the Day of Resurrection. As for the claim that they are a specific group restricted to one, two, or three centuries, this is injustice and a denial of the right of believers in later times, who may be better than the early ones through their sincerity. ‘The first forerunners among the emigrants and the supporters’ is a description of the sincere believers in Allah’s vicegerent in every age. With Muhammad (s), they are those who believed in him, and each has merit according to his precedence, action, and sincerity. They are likewise with Ali (a), and so the matter continues: every age has its first forerunners, emigrants, and supporters. Peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you. Ahmed Alhasan Muharram al-Haram, 1432 AH