Question 657 - 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. ‘Allah would not lead a people astray after He had guided them until He made clear to them what they should guard against. Indeed, Allah is Knowing of all things’ [al-Tawbah 9:155 as printed; the quoted verse is 9:115]. ‘Allah would not lead a people astray after He had guided them’: Allah guided His creation from the first day by appointing a vicegerent for Himself in His earth, revealing to them the appointment of His vicegerent in His earth, and identifying him for them so that they might be mindful of Allah by obeying His vicegerent in His earth. Allah would not abandon the people after guiding them from the first day. Rather, in every age He makes the path of God-consciousness clear to them-‘until He made clear to them what they should guard against’-by sending among them a vicegerent for Himself in His earth and designating him through the testament of the preceding vicegerent. Allah also reveals to His accountable servants and identifies His vicegerent in His earth for them: ‘Say, “Allah is sufficient as a witness between me and you. Indeed, He is All-Aware and All-Seeing of His servants”’ [al-Israʾ 17:96]. That is, He testifies for His vicegerent before the accountable people and makes him known to them through revelation in visions during sleep and wakefulness: ‘until He made clear to them what they should guard against.’