Question 651 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 7

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. ‘So she conceived him and withdrew with him to a distant place. Then the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said, “Would that I had died before this and had been something forgotten, utterly forgotten.” Then he called to her from beneath her, “Do not grieve; your Lord has placed a stream beneath you. And shake toward yourself the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you ripe, fresh dates. So eat, drink, and be comforted. If you see any human being, say, ‘Indeed, I have vowed a fast to the Most Gracious, so today I will not speak to any human being.’” Then she came to her people carrying him. They said, “O Mary, you have certainly brought an outrageous thing. O sister of Aaron, your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother unchaste.” So she pointed to him. They said, “How can we speak to one who is an infant in the cradle?” He said, “Indeed, I am a servant of Allah. He has given me the Book and made me a prophet. He has made me blessed wherever I may be and has enjoined upon me prayer and zakat as long as I live, and dutifulness to my mother, and He has not made me an overbearing wretch. Peace is upon me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I am raised alive”’ [Maryam 19:22–33]. Mary (a) was a woman, and ordinarily it is difficult for a woman to shake a small tree, so what of a palm tree, whose trunk is firm and which is difficult for a man to shake, let alone a woman? Add to this that Mary had just given birth, and consequently she was exhausted and needed rest and someone else to care for her and prepare the food she needed. For this reason, we normally find that people show mercy to a woman who has just given birth: some of her female relatives come and attend to her needs. How, then, could people show mercy to their women while Allah did not show mercy to Mary, who had devoted herself to worshipping Him, and instead charged her with shaking the trunk of the palm tree? Could Allah not have caused the dates to descend from the palm tree by any cause He might bring about? And why did what used to occur with Mary not continue, when she was previously in the house of worship and her food came to her without any work, whereas now she was physically and psychologically exhausted and in the greatest need for her food to come to her without her having to work? The truth is that the reason Allah commanded Mary to shake the trunk of the palm tree is that she had left the house of worship and her devotion to Allah and entered the world of people. She therefore had to exert effort to obtain her food; she had to exert effort to protect Allah’s vicegerent, Jesus (a); and she had to exert effort to preserve herself. She now had to act through the means. This is the message that reached Mary (a) through shaking the trunk of the palm tree. As for whether she exerted effort in shaking the trunk, and why Allah did not show her mercy and bring her food as He had previously, its answer is simple: we must know how Mary shook the trunk of the palm tree. She did not need to shake it with her own strength. Rather, as soon as she complied with Allah’s command and placed her hand upon the trunk of the palm tree, the palm tree began to shake forcefully and the dates fell. This matter contained the utmost wisdom. In addition to what has preceded, it occurred in this form so that it would be smooth and acceptable, and so that Mary (a) would not be startled and afraid as a result of this event, as happened with Moses (a): ‘And cast down your staff. But when he saw it moving as though it were a serpent, he turned in flight and did not look back. “O Moses, do not fear. Indeed, the messengers do not fear in My presence”’ [al-Naml 27:10]; ‘And cast down your staff. But when he saw it moving as though it were a serpent, he turned in flight and did not look back. “O Moses, come forward and do not fear; indeed, you are among the secure”’ [al-Qasas 28:31]. If Mary (a) had sat beside a palm tree and that palm tree had shaken forcefully without her knowing why, she certainly would have been startled and afraid. But if the matter occurred as Allah, the Exalted, explained it, it would not be startling. Mary was commanded to shake the trunk of the palm tree, not merely to place her hand upon the palm tree. Allah did not say to her, ‘Place your hand upon the palm tree,’ and then the palm tree shook, because this too would have startled her and perhaps frightened her. Rather, He said to her, ‘Shake toward yourself.’ So she took hold of the palm tree with her hands while knowing that she intended to shake the palm tree and that the palm tree would shake because Allah wanted this. Thus, she would not be startled by the palm tree’s shaking and would never be afraid, because she fully knew what she intended to do and what Allah intended to occur. In this way, the cause of the palm tree’s shaking would be known to Mary as being from Allah. It would therefore be something that increased her reassurance, not her fear. It would also be a manifestation to Mary (a) of the divine power that surrounded Mary (a), so that Mary (a) would know that angels surrounded, guarded, and protected her from the plotting of those who would say, ‘O Mary, you have certainly brought an outrageous thing.’ Thus, this event-‘shake toward yourself the trunk of the palm tree’-was a divine stone that accomplished matters Allah intended. When Mary (a) was commanded to shake the trunk, she knew that from that day she had to rely upon the means and act through the means to raise and bring up Allah’s vicegerent until the time of his commissioning arrived. Mary (a) was not startled by the shaking of the palm-tree trunk as Moses (a) had been startled by the shaking of the staff when it turned into a serpent. Mary (a) was tired and exhausted from giving birth, so Allah treated her with the utmost mercy and did not will that she be startled even by the shaking of the palm-tree trunk. From the shaking of the palm-tree trunk, Mary (a) knew that a tremendous power surrounded her. This power shook the palm-tree trunk, which is difficult to shake; indeed, it shook it forcefully and made the dates fall from it with complete ease. In this way, Mary’s (a) psychological reassurance increased and her resolve was strengthened to face those who would say, ‘O Mary, you have certainly brought an outrageous thing.’ So she brought the newborn to those who had been awaiting him and who were supposed to support him. She did not bring him to the obstinate Jews; rather, she brought him to those who had previously been awaiting his birth and had been surprised when the newborn was female-Mary (a). Now Mary brought them the newborn whose birth they had awaited and anticipated. Indeed, they had been awaiting his birth specifically from Mary’s parents. That is, no major change had occurred: instead of the newborn being Mary, the awaited newborn became the son of Mary (a). Their words directed at Mary (a) were the filthiest accusation that could be levelled against a woman: sexual immorality. ‘O Mary, you have certainly brought an outrageous thing’-meaning that Jesus (a) was something fabricated, meaning an illegitimate son. These were the words of the awaiting believers who had believed that their awaited savior would come specifically from Mary’s parents! So what could Mary (a) have expected from the other group of Jews, who were the scholars of the Temple and their followers? Even before this event they detested Mary (a) and lay in wait for calamity to befall her. Thus came the miracle that was indispensable for Mary to escape their plotting: the infant’s speech in the cradle. Allah willed that a number of those before whom this miracle occurred would believe. They believed because they believed in the unseen. Those who wanted an overpowering miracle did not believe; they said, ‘This is sorcery,’ they said, ‘A devil from the jinn spoke upon his tongue,’ and they said, ‘Delusions.’ Thus, they were never without an argument by which to disbelieve in him, as is always the condition of most people, unfortunately. Jesus (a) returned to his natural state as an infant, so that he might enter the world of the test and attain its result in the test deservedly, and so that Allah’s justice might be realized. He forgot what occurred of his speaking in the cradle, just as he forgot his state in the world of the particles when he was veiled by the body. Mary took Jesus (a) and withdrew from them in order to raise and protect him until Allah commissioned him and he delivered his message. At the same time, this event also caused the awaiting to continue among the believers, even though their number was small. When Jesus (a) was commissioned, he found those who had been awaiting him and who had prepared themselves during his occultation, which lasted from his birth until his commissioning. They rose with him and supported the religion of Allah. Yazid al-Kunasi said: I asked Abu Ja‘far (a), ‘Was Jesus son of Mary (a), when he spoke in the cradle, Allah’s proof over the people of his age?’ He said: ‘At that time he was a prophet and Allah’s proof, but not yet a messenger. Do you not hear his words when he said, “Indeed, I am a servant of Allah. He has given me the Book and made me a prophet. He has made me blessed wherever I may be and has enjoined upon me prayer and zakat as long as I live”?’ I said, ‘Was he, at that time and while he was in the cradle, Allah’s proof over Zechariah?’ He said: ‘Jesus, in that state, was a sign for the people and a mercy from Allah to Mary when he spoke and expressed on her behalf, and he was a prophet and a proof over whoever heard his words in that state. Then he fell silent and did not speak until two years had passed for him. Zechariah was the proof of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, over the people during the two years after Jesus fell silent. Then Zechariah died, and his son John inherited from him the Book and wisdom while he was a small boy. Do you not hear His words, Mighty and Majestic: “O John, take the Book with strength,” and, “We gave him judgment while still a boy”? When Jesus (a) reached seven years of age, he spoke with prophethood and the message when Allah, the Exalted, revealed to him. Jesus was then the proof over John and over all the people. The earth, O Abu Khalid, does not remain for a single day without a proof of Allah over the people, from the day Allah created Adam (a) and settled him upon the earth.’ I said, ‘May I be your ransom, was Ali (a) a proof from Allah and His Messenger over this nation during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (s)?’ He said: ‘Yes, from the day he established him before the people, appointed him as a standard, called them to his authority, and commanded them to obey him.’ I said, ‘Was obedience to Ali (a) obligatory upon the people during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (s) and after his death?’ He said: ‘Yes, but he remained silent and did not speak alongside the Messenger of Allah (s). During the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (s), obedience to the Messenger of Allah (s) was incumbent upon his nation and upon Ali (a). After the death of the Messenger of Allah (s), obedience to Ali (a), from Allah and from His Messenger, was incumbent upon all the people. Ali (a) was wise and knowledgeable’ (^[1]).