Safinah al-nejaten.safinahmagazine.ir/pdf/nejat4.pdf‘Ali ibn al-Husayn, the forth true successor...

Safinah al-nejat

An International Quarterly Journal of Islamic Studies

Vol.1, No.4, 2016

Published by: Naba Cultural Organization

Chief Executive Officer: Muhammad H. Shahri

Chief Executive Editor: Hasan Taroumi

Associate Chief Executive Editor: Hamid Farnaq

Chief Adviser: Abdulhusayn Taleie

Managing Director: Mina Oskouei

Editorial Board (alphabetical order):

Riza Berenjkar, Tehran university (Iran)

Muhammad-Riza Fakhr-Rohani, Qum University (Iran)

Muhammad Hadi Qandehari, Azad University (Iran)

Ahmad-Riza Rahimi-Riseh, FU University (Germany)

Narges Shahri, Azad University (Iran)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EDITORIAL ............................................................................................................................................. 5

THE WILL OF ALLAH AND OUR DESTINY/ VAHID MAJD ......................................................... 7

ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURE OF STATEMENTS ASKING FOR REPENTANCE IN THE

QURANIC VERSES AND IMAM SAJJAD’S (A.S) WORDS IN SAHIFAH SAJJADIYAH/

MANSOOREH SHAHSAVAN .............................................................................................................. 25

TRANSCENDENTAL PERFECTIONS AND DIVINE RULES IN QURAN/MOHAMMAD

HUSSEIN IMAMIJOO .......................................................................................................................... 35

GROWING UP A RELIGIOUS YOUNG ADULT/ NARGES SHAHRI ........................................... 60

ETHICAL CODE IN SAHIFAH SAJJADIYAH/MANSOOR PAHLAVAN .................................... 65

MARTYRDOM IN THE SHIA CULTURE/ABDUL JAVAD FALATURI ...................................... 73

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT/AYATULLAH SHAMSUDDIN ................ 79

QADA, QADAR, AND FREE WILL/ REZA BERENJKAR .............................................................. 83

REVIEW OF NAJAF: THE GATE OF WISDOM/ FAKHR ROHANI ........................................... 90

Transliteration:

Long Vowels

a, ā –ا آ ‘ - ع ’ -ء

u - و gh - غ b - ب

i - ي f - ف t - ت

q - ق th - ث

k Short Vowels - ك j - ج

a - ــ l - ل h - ح

u - ــ m - م kh - خ

i - ــ n - ن d - د h - ه dh - ذ

w Diphthongs - و r - ر

aw - ــ و y - ي z - ز

ay – ــ ي s - س

sh – ش

s – ص

d - ض

t - ط

z - ظ

ah; at - ة

5

Editorial

Human beings are desperately in the need

of having relationship with God. Because

all blessings that they are endowed with

are from God Who does not need anyone

or anything. God gives life to everything

out of His Kindness and Majesty. He does

not ask for anything in return unless

human being’s taking the true path

towards Him. Mankind would not reach

this goal unless he connects God in each

and every moment of his life to overcome

inside and outside enemies by the help of

God; then he can put aside hindrances on

his way of perfection. It is apparent that

men have no way to reach sanctuary of

God (as our reason declares God’s

Greatness is so high that is above the

limitations of our thought, logic, and

imagination, even elites’ thought and

understanding.).

According to reason, God Almighty is

Unique and Unmatched. On the other

hand, people are living among those who

are similar to themselves, so imagining a

God who has no parallel is difficult for

them. This is the very truth human beings

can find in themselves.

Now, how can human beings who feel the

need of talking to God, can talk to a Being

whom has no imagination of? In addition,

God has ordered people to pray:

ادعوني أستجب لكم

Pray to Me for I shall answer your

prayers (40:60)

Safinah al-nejat. Vol.1, No.4

6

قل ما يعبأ بكم ربي لول دعاؤكم

Say: 'My Lord cares little for you if it

was not for your supplication,(25:77)

And He announces if people do not pray,

they will have no place before Him.

Then what should we do?

The very God who brings human beings

from non-existence into existence and is

aware of their need, and also orders them

to pray, opens the way of talking for them.

He orders His Prophets and their true

successors to teach people how to pray.

For this, a lot of prayers from Prophets

and infallibles reached us; they form the

fundamentals of our knowledge regarding

prayer. In addition to prayers mentioned in

Quran from different prophets, there is a

chapter in most books about traditions

titled “a chapter of pray”.

One of the books specifically allocated to

prayers is “Sahifah Sajjadiyah” which

includes 54 prayers from Imam Sajjad ,

‘Ali ibn al-Husayn, the forth true

successor of Prophet Muhammad. He is

the grandson of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib and

Fatimah, the daughter of Prophet. In this

collection there are prayers for different

states of men.

It also includes an ethical code for human

beings’ relationship with different groups

of people. A look at the titles of prayers

can give us a view of this vast garden of

spirituality.

Sacred groups: prophets, angels, and

followers of prophets.

Times and conditions of life: for days and

nights, in hardship, for sickness, for

poverty, midnights after night prayer,

thanking God, remembrance of death,

reciting Quran.

Requests: asking for good temper, happy

end of life, overcoming Satanic

temptations, health, repentance, hiding

weak points.

Relationship with other groups: parents,

children, neighbors, friends, border

guards.

Special occasions: advent and end of

Ramadan, Fitr and Adha, ‘Arafah Day.

We are honored to allocate some parts of

our Journal to Sahifah. We hope, we can

find more opportunities to pick a bunch of

flower of this garden to offer to you.

7

The Will of Allah and Our Destiny

Part IV: Revisions to the Will of Allah (Bada)

Vahid Majd

Associate Professor of Tarbiat Modares University

Article acceptance date: Dec. 2016

Abstract: In this article, the phenomenon of changes in the will of Allah and His

decisions, known as Bada, is discussed in the light of the tokens of the holy Quran and

the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HF) and the divinely appointed members

of his house. Some examples of this divine phenomenon as well as their significance are

explained. Finally, a more intense form of this action, called Taraddud, is elucidated.

Keywords: Bada, Taraddud, knowledge of unseen, volition.


8

1 Formation of a New Will (Bada)

1.1 The meaning of al-Bada by Allah

From the time that Allah creates a “will”

for a specific action—be it His action or

ours—until the time that the action is

executed, Allah may withdraw His

permission for the occurrence of that

action. He may cancel His will, intention,

detailed planning, and what He has

decreed to happen, and may initiate a new

planning sequence. This concept is called

al-Bada. These changes only occur in the

created information (i.e., the five steps

mentioned earlier) and do not imply any

change in Allah’s Eternal Knowledge, or

equivalently His Essence. In other words,

the novelty occurs in Allah’s action—

which is His creation—and not in Allah’s

Essence which is eternal.

However, al-Bada is not limited to what

was explained above. The Bada originally

means “origination or initiation of

something new”1. Thus, creation of

anything at any time has been due to

Allah’s Bada since neither the creation nor

the will of Allah for it, was eternal, and

Allah initiated to mention it in His will

when nothing existed concerning it.

Moreover, when Allah changes a will, it

actually means He deletes or makes

disappear (Mahw) the previous will, and

then He originates a new will just as He

originated the previous will. Hence,

Allah’s creation is entirely due to al-Bada.

As stated in several Hadith2, Allah has

made Bada in everything.

1.2 Evidence from holy Quran and sacred Hadith

As the Bakri’s consider the will of Allah

eternal and claim it to be His Essence,

they cannot admit any change in it. This is

contrary to numerous tokens in the Quran

that prove Allah’s hands are open to

originate or change anything in His

creation. For instance:

مغلولة غلهت أيديهم و لعنوا بما قالوا و قالت اليهود يد للاه

بل يداه مبسوطتان

And The Jews said, “The hand of Allah

is tied up.” Be their hands tied up and be

they accursed for what they uttered. Nay,

His hands are wide open (to alter

anything in His creation). (5:64)

ما يشاء و يثبت و عنده أم الكتاب يمحوا للاه

Allah deletes whatever He wills (from the

records) and establishes (likewise), and

with Him is the Mother-Book. (13:39)

و ربك يخلق ما يشاء و يختار ما كان لهم الخيرة سبحان

و تعالى ا يشركون للاه عمه

Your Lord creates whatever He wills, and

He chooses. No choice have they (in

creation or in leadership as interpreted

by the divinely assigned saints). Allah is

pure and far above the partners they

ascribe! (28:68)

The Will Of Allah And Our Destiny

9

إن يشأ يذهبكم و يأت بخلق جديد و ما ذلك على للاه

بعزيز

If He so wills, He removes you and

brings in a new creation. Nor is that (at

all) difficult for Allah. (14:19-20; 35:16-

17)

كله يوم هو في شأن

Every day His (decision) is concerned

with a (originating a new) matter. (55:29)

Referring to the above token, it is reported

that the Commander of Faithful, Imam Ali

(PBUH) said the following in one of his

sermons:

الهذي ل يموت و ل تنقضي عجائبه ألنهه كله يوم الحمد لله

...في شأن من إحداث بديع لم يكن

“... Praise be to Allah who does not die

and His wonders do not terminate, for,

certainly, every day He is in the matter of

originating an unprecedented thing that

was not before...”3

In another token of the Quran, we recite:

علىيزيد في الخلق ما يشاء إنه ء قدير كل شي للاه

He increases in the creation what He

wills, for Allah is powerful to do

everything. (35:1)

In this connection, several traditionists

narrated that Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH) said:

خلق من القضاء و القدر خلقان إن للاه يزيد في و للاه

.الخلق ما يشاء

“al-Qadhaa (passing decree) and al-

Qadar (Planning) are two creations among

the creations of Allah, and Allah increases

in the creation what He wills.”4

Thus, whenever Allah plans a new thing,

He has added something to His creation.

No new thing happens unless Allah first

creates a will for it.

Once, Ma’mun, the shrewd Abbasid

Caliph, organized a debate between Imam

al-Ridha (PBUH) and Sulaiman al-Maruzi,

known then as the greatest dialectic

theologian (Mutakallim) of the Eastern

Iran (Khurasan). Sulaiman used to believe

that the will of Allah and His intention are

eternal (not created) and that Allah never

initiates any change in His will. Below is

but a small part of the interesting

discussion between Imam al-Ridha

(PBUH) and Sulaiman in the presence of

Ma’mun. Al-Hasan Ibn Muhammad al-

Nufili narrated:

ضا ع لسليمان المروزي ما أنكرت من البداء يا قال الر

نسان أنها عزه و جله يقول سليمان و للاه أ و ل يذكر ال

و هو عزه و جل و يقول خلقناه من قبل و لم يك شيئا

بديع السهماوات و و يقول يبدؤا الخلق ثمه يعيده الهذي

و يزيد في الخلق ما يشاء و يقول عزه و جل األرض

نسان من طين يقول و و يقول عزه و جل و بدأ خلق ال

ا يتوب عليهم بهم و إمه ا يعذ إمه و آخرون مرجون ألمر للاه

ر و ل ينقص من و يقول عزه و جل ر من معمه ما يعمه

يت فيه عن آبائك عمره إله في كتاب قال سليمان هل رو

ع أنهه قال يت عن أبي عن أبي عبد للاه شيئا قال نعم رو

عزه و جله علمين عل ما مخزونا مكنونا ل يعلمه إله إنه لله

هو من ذلك يكون البداء و علما علهمه ملئكته و رسله

فالعلماء من أهل بيت نبيك يعلمونه قال سليمان أحب أن

عزه و جله تنزعه لي من كتاب للاه عزه و جله قال قول للاه

أراد إهلكهم ثمه بدا فقال فتوله عنهم فما أنت بملوم لنبيه

كرى ر فإنه الذ قال سليمان زدني تنفع المؤمنين و ذك

ضا ع لقد أخبرني أبي عن آبائه أنه جعلت فداك قال ال ر


10

عزه و جله أوحى إلى نبي من ص قال إنه للاه رسول للاه

أنبيائه أن أخبر فلن الملك أني متوفيه إلى كذا و كذا

الملك و هو على سريره فأتاه ذلك النهبي فأخب ره فدعا للاه

لني حتهى يشبه رير و قال يا رب أج حتهى سقط من السه

عزه و جله إلى ذلك طفلي و أقضي أمري فأوحى للاه

أني قد أنسيت أجله و النهبي أن ائت فلن الملك فأعلمه

يا رب زدت في عمره خمس عشرة سنة فقال ذلك النهبي

عزه و جله إليه إنهما أكذب لم أني لتعلم إنهك قط فأوحى للاه

أنت عبد مأمور فأبلغه ذ ا يفعل لك و للاه ثمه ل يسئل عمه

التفت إلى سليمان فقال له أحسبك ضاهيت اليهود في هذا

من ذلك و ما قالت اليهود قال قالت الباب قال أعوذ بالله

مغلولة قد فرغ من األمر اليهود يد للاه يعنون أنه للاه

عزه و جل غلهت أيديهم و لعنوا فليس يحدث شيئا فقال للاه

و لقد سمعت قوما سألوا أبي موسى بن جعفر ع بما قالوا

عن البداء فقال و ما ينكر النهاس من البداء و أن يقف للاه

إنها قوما يرجئهم ألمره قال سليمان أ ل تخبرني عن

ء أنزلت قال يا سليمان في أي شي أنزلناه في ليلة القدر

ر للاه نة إلى ليلة القدر يقد عزه و جله فيها ما يكون من السه

ره نة من حياة أو موت أو خير أو شر أو رزق فما قده السه

في تلك اللهيلة فهو من المحتوم قال سليمان الن قد فهمت

ال يا سليمان إنه من األمور أمورا جعلت فداك فزدني ق

م منها ما يشاء و تبارك و تعالى يقد موقوفة عند للاه

ر ما يشاء... يؤخ

... Imam Ridha (PBUH) said to Sulaiman,

“Why do you deny al-Bada, O Sulaiman,

while Allah, the mighty and the majestic,

states, ‘But does not man call to mind

that We created him before, and he was

nothing?’ (19:67) and He, the Lord of

might and majesty states, ‘It is He who

initiates the creation, and then returns

it,’ (30:27) and He states, ‘The Originator

of the heavens and the earth,’ (2:117;

6:101) and He, the Lord of might and

majesty states, ‘He increases in the

creation what He wills.’ (35:1) He says,

‘And He began the creation of man from

clay,’ (32:7) and also says, ‘There are

others, held in suspense for the command

of Allah, whether He would punish them,

or would turn to them in mercy.’ (9:106)

He, the glorious, also states, ‘Nor is an

individual’s life prolonged, nor does

anything decrease from his life span,

except that it is (made appear) in a book.’

(35:11)”

Sulaiman asked, “Do you have any

narrations from your ancestors on this?”

The Imam (PBUH) replied, “Yes. It is

narrated to me that Abu Abdillah (Imam

al-Sadiq (PBUH)) said, ‘Surely for Allah,

the mighty and the majestic, there are two

(types of created) knowledge. One is the

hidden and the reserved knowledge (i.e.,

the knowledge of al-Ghaib) that no one

knows but He, and from that comes al-

Bada. The other is the knowledge that He

has taught it to His angels and His

messengers, and thelearned individuals

from the House of your Prophet

(PBUH&HF) know it.’“

Sulaiman asked, “I would like you to

further derive (al-Bada) from the Book of

Allah, the mighty and the majestic.” He

(PBUH) replied, “Consider the saying of

Allah to His Prophet (PBUH&HF), ‘So

turn away from them, and you are not

blameworthy’ (51:54) (by which) He

intended their destruction. Then, Allah

made Bada (i.e., initiated a new will) and

said, ‘And remind, for reminding benefits

the believers.’ (51:55)”

Sulaiman said, “Increase my (knowledge),


11

may I be sacrificed for you.” Imam al-

Ridha (PBUH) said, “Indeed my father

informed me from his ancestors that the

Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HF) said,

‘Certainly Allah, the Lord of might and

majesty, revealed to one of His prophets

(referring to Prophet Hizqil (PBUH) as per

another Hadith) that he should inform a

certain king that Allah would take his soul

in such and such time. That Prophet went

to him and informed him of that. (Out of

anxiety) the king fell down from his

throne and prayed to Allah, ‘O Lord!

Postpone my (death) so that I could raise

my infant and I conclude my matter’.

Next, Allah revealed to that Prophet to go

back to the king and to inform him that

Allah has caused his (previous) appointed

time of death to be forgotten (i.e., He has

made that information disappear) and

extended his lifetime 15 years. That

Prophet said to Allah, ‘O Lord! You know

that I have never been known as a liar.’

Allah revealed to him that he is just an

appointed servant, and should deliver (the

message) to him, and that Allah ‘is not

questioned for what He does.’ (21:23)”

The Imam (PBUH) again turned to

Sulaiman and said, “Are you emulating

the Jews on this issue?” He replied, “No! I

seek refuge in Allah from (doing) that.

What did the Jews say in this regard?” He

(PBUH) said, “They said, ‘the hand of

Allah is tied up.’ (5:64) They meant Allah

has concluded the matter and therefore He

no longer originates anything. Hence,

Allah said, ‘Be their hands tied up and be

they accursed for what they uttered.’

(5:64)” The Imam (PBUH) continued,

“Indeed, I witnessed people asking my

father, Musa Ibn Ja’far (PBUH), about al-

Bada, and he (PBUH) replied, ‘Why

should people deny al-Bada when Allah

has held in suspense some people who

wait for His command?’” (Referring to the

token: ‘There are others, held in suspense

for the command of Allah, whether He

would punish them, or would turn to

them in mercy.’ (9:106))

Sulaiman asked, “Could you inform me

about the token, ‘We have indeed sent it

down in the Night of Qadr’ (97:1)? What

was sent down?” Imam al-Ridha (PBUH)

replied, “O Sulaiman! In the Night of

Qadr, Allah makes the detailed planning

of what He allows to happen until next

year regarding any life, death, goodness

(Khair), evil (Sharr), and sustenance.

Whatever Allah measured and arranged on

that night is of definite matters (al-

Mahtum).” Sulaiman said, “Now I

understand it. But, increase my

(knowledge), may I be sacrificed for you.”

Imam al-Ridha (PBUH) said, “O Sulaiman!

Surely among the matters are the pending

issues (Mawquf) that are with Allah, the

Glorious. Of them, He advances what He

wills and delays what He wills...”5

The definite matters are matters about

which either Allah has chosen not to

change His permission or Allah changes

His will very unlikely. Notice that when

Allah makes Bada on a previously decreed


12

matter that was announced by His Prophet

(PBUH), His previous message or His

Prophet (PBUH) are not disproved or

falsified. Rather, Allah supports His

Prophet (PBUH) by some signs to prove

for people that the previous decreed matter

was a real matter that was supposed to

happen, and was not a fake one, rather a

new decree has taken the place of the

previous one by will of Allah. These

changes show Allah’s volition on

initiating a new decision on what he

already knew of voluntary actions of

people. Changes in Allah’s decisions

despite His knowledge, disproves

compelling cause and effect relationship

between people’s and Allah’s actions.

The following piece is a part of an

interesting long discourse of the

Commander of Faithful, Imam Ali (PBUH)

regarding al-Bada:

ا من أنكر البداء فقد قال ... و أمه فتوله عنهم -في كتابه للاه

سبحانه أراد أن يهلك فما أنت بملوم و ذلك أنه للاه

األرض في ذلك الوقت ثمه تداركهم برحمته فبدا له في

كرى -هلكهم و أنزل على رسوله ر فإنه الذ تنفع و ذك

و ما كان تعالى قوله و مثله المؤمنين بهم للاه و أنت ليعذ

بهم و هم يستغفرون معذ و ما ثمه بدا له فيهم و ما كان للاه

بهم للاه ون عن المسجد الحرام لهم أله يعذ و و هم يود

إن يكن منكم عشرون صابرون يغلبوا مائتين و كقوله

ثمه بدا له إن يكن منكم مائة يغلبوا ألفا من الهذين كفروا

عنكم و علم أنه فيكم ضعفا فإن الن خفهف تعالى فقال للاه

يكن منكم مائة صابرة يغلبوا مائتين و إن يكن منكم ألف

ابرين مع الوه و للاه و هكذا يجري يغلبوا ألفين بإذن للاه

و المنسوخ و هو يدل على توحيح األمر في النهاسخ

ما يشاء و يثبت و عنده أم -البداء و قوله يمحوا للاه

فهل يمحو إله ما كان و هل يثبت إله ما لم يكن و الكتاب

عزه و جله ... مثل هذا كثير في كتاب للاه

“As for he who denies al-Bada, (it would

suffice that) Allah said in His Book, ‘So

turn away from them, and you are not

blameworthy’ (51:54) (by which) Allah,

Who is pure (from imaginations), intended

their destruction on earth at that time.

Then, Allah rectified for them by His

mercy, made Bada (i.e., changed decision)

regarding their destruction, and revealed

to His Messenger, ‘And remind, for

reminding benefits the believers.’ (51:55)

A similar case is His saying, ‘But Allah is

not to punish them while you are among

them; nor is He to punish them while

they ask for forgiveness.’ (8:33) Then

Allah made Bada (by revealing): ‘But

what plea have they that Allah should not

punish them when they keep out

(believers) from the Sacred Mosque?’

(8:34) Similarly, it is His saying, ‘If there

exist twenty tolerant individuals among

you, they will overcome two hundred, and

if there are a hundred (like them) among

you, they will overcome a thousand of

those who disbelieve.’ (8:65) He then

made Bada and said, ‘Now, Allah

lightened your (burden) for He knew that

there is a weakness in you. Thus, if there

are a hundred tolerant people among

you, they will overcome two hundred, and

if there are a thousand (like them) among

you, they will overcome two thousands by

leave of Allah, and Allah is with those

who are patient.’ (8:66) In this manner,

the command of Allah is carried out on the

abrogating (Nasikh) and the abrogated


13

(Mansukh) issues. They sll show the

reformation of Bada. Furthermore, it is

His saying, ‘Allah deletes whatever He

wills (from the records) and establishes

(likewise), and with Him is the Mother-

Book.’ (13:39) Thus (tell me), does He

delete (anything) except that which

existed, and does He record (anything)

except that which did not exist? And there

are many examples (of Bada) like them in

the Book of Allah, the mighty and the

majestic...”6

1.3 Allah’s canceling a sign

In the last part of the previous Hadith, the

Commander of Faithful, Imam Ali (PBUH)

pointed to an important issue. When Allah

erases, it means either the object or its will

should have been existent so that Allah

would eliminate it. Similarly, when Allah

records, it means the object or its will

should have been non-existent so that

Allah establishes it and makes it a

knowable reality. In this manner, Allah

may modify what is to happening future

(Ma Yakun) or what has happened in the

past (Ma Kan). An example of the latter is

the act of abrogation of a previously

revealed commandment. Allah, the

Glorious, says in the Quran:

ما ننسخ من آية أو ننسها نأت بخير منها أو مثلها أ لم

على ء قدير كل شي تعلم أنه للاه

Neither do We cancel any sign nor do We

cause it to be forgotten, except that We

bring better than it or similar to it. Don’t

you know that Allah has power over all

things? (2:106)

To cause a sign to be forgotten means to

make its knowledge disappear (Ghaib).

Moreover, Allah states:

و لئن شئنا لنذهبنه بالهذي أوحينا إليك ثمه ل تجد لك به

علينا وكيل

If willed so, We would take away that

which We have revealed to you, and then

you would find no support for yourself

over Us in that matter. (17:86)

Once Allah decides to remove the

knowledge of a certain matter, nothing can

be found to testify to the early existence of

what is now non-existent. Again, in

another token, Allah states:

إنهه يعلم ال سنقرئك فل تنسى جهر و ما إله ما شاء للاه

يخفى

Soon shall We teach you (the Message),

so you shall not forget unless what Allah

willed (otherwise), for He knows what is

manifest and what is hidden. (87:6-7)

1.4 Bada in the records of human

actions

Another example of change in the

knowledge of what existed (Ilm Ma Kan)

is when Allah pardons a sinner on the Day

of Judgment. When Allah covers

(Ghafara) the sins of a sinner, it means

that He made all the records of his sin

disappear (becomes Ghaib). The

previously counted sinner will enter


14

Paradise while nothing will be found to

testify against his sins. More amazing than

this, Allah may replace his sins with good

deeds so that in the view of the people of

Paradise and even in the view of the

prophets and the Imams, peace be upon

them all, who have access to the

knowledge of what existed, it will be as if

such a person has really performed those

good deeds. This is because the evident

knowledge concerning his sins has been

replaced with that of some good deeds.

Allah states:

إله من ل للاه تاب و آمن و عمل عمل صالحا فأولئك يبد

غفورا رحيما سيئاتهم حسنات و كان للاه

Unless he repents, believes, and works

righteous deeds, for Allah will change the

evil deeds of such persons into good

deeds, and Allah is the perfect concealer

and the most merciful. (25:70)

Notice that Allah does not say that He will

only forgive him, or will just grant him the

reward of the good deeds that he did not

perform. He rather states He would change

his bad deeds into good ones. This is a real

change in the knowledge of what existed

(Ilm Ma Kan). On the commentary of the

above token, it is narrated that Imam Baqir

(PBUH) said:

عبده المؤمن أوقفه على إذا كان يوم القيامة و حاسب للاه

با ذنوبه ذنبا ذنبا ثمه غفرها له ل يطلع على ذلك ملكا مقره

و ل نبيا مرسل قال عمر بن إبراهيم و أخبرني عن غير

يوقفه أن ما يكره ذنوبه من واحد أنهه قال و يستر عليه

عليها قال و يقول لسيئاته كوني حسنات قال و ذلك قول

تبارك و تعالى سيئاتهم حسنات و للاه ل للاه فأولئك يبد

غفورا رحيما .كان للاه

Imam al-Baqir (PBUH) said, “When the

Day of Judgment comes and Allah calls to

account His faithful servant, He shall

make him aware of all his sins and shall

cover them for him so that no close angel

and no sent prophet shall become aware of

them... He shall then say to his bad deeds,

‘Be good deeds’. And this is the saying of

Allah, Whose name is holy, Whose

remembrance is high, ‘Thus Allah will

replace the evil deeds of such persons

with good deeds, and Allah is the perfect

concealer and the most merciful.’

(25:70)”7

In another Hadith, Mu’awiya Ibn Wahab


نيا فستر عليه في الد إذا تاب العبد توبة نووحا أحبهه للاه

و الخرة فقلت و كيف يستر عليه قال ينسي ملكيه ما

نوب و يوحي إلى جوارحه اكتمي عليه كتبا عليه من الذ

ذنوبه و يوحي إلى بقاع األرض اكتمي ما كان يعمل

حين يلقاه و ليس شي نوب فيلقى للاه ء يشهد عليك من الذ

نوب .عليه بشي ء من الذ

“When a servant repents a loyal

repentance, Allah loves him and covers his

(deficiencies) in this world and the

Hereafter.” I asked, “How does He cover

his sins?” He (PBUH) replied, “He causes

the two angels to forget what they have

recorded against him of the sins. He then

reveals to the servant’s organs, ‘Conceal

his sins’, and reveals to the places of the

earth (where he committed sin), ‘Conceal

what he acted on you of the sins’. Thus, he

meets Allah while there is nothing to


15

witness against him about any of the

sins.”8

It is narrated from the Prophet

(PBUH&HF) as well as many of our

Imams (PBUT) that:

نب و نب كمن ل ذنب له و المقيم على الذه التهائب من الذه

.هو مستغفر منه كالمستهزئ

“He who repents (his) sin is like the one

who has not committed a sin at all. He

who stays on sin and asks for forgiveness

is like a mocker.”9

Allah states in the Quran:

و قولوا قول سديدا يـولح يا أيها الهذين آمنوا اتهقوا للاه

ذنوبكم لكم أعمالكم و يغفر لكم

O you who believe! Be mindful of Allah

and state sound words so that He may fix

for you your deeds, and cover you your

sins. (33:70-71)

In fact, the Arabic word “Ghafara,” which

is usually translated as “to forgive,”

originally means “to cover” or “to

conceal”. Thus, what is meant by “Allah’s

forgiveness” on the Day of Judgment is

Allah’s concealment of the evident

knowledge concerning the servant’s sin,

which means transferring this information

to the knowledge of unseen Ilm al-Ghaib).

1.5 Bada in life opportunities

Another case for which Allah may make

Bada is when one acts upon good deeds.

For instance, if one gives charity, then

Allah may decide to delay the time of his

death and brings for that person a new

opportunity that was not decreed before

the charity was given. Although Allah has

the foreknowledge of our future tendency

to give charity under certain permitted

situations, He may decide not to make its

worldly benefits effective until the

occurrence of the action. The amounts and

the types of the benefits are decreed

according to Allah’s choice and may

involve Bada for each specific case.

Hence, the fact that Allah has the

foreknowledge of all our future actions

under any circumstances, does not imply

that Allah has concluded the matter. In an

interesting token of the Quran, Allah

states:

ر و ل ينقص من عمره إله في كتاب ر من معمه و ما يعمه

يسير إنه ذلك على للاه

Nor is an individual’s life prolonged, nor

does anything decrease from his life

span, except that it is (made appear) in a

book. Verily, all that is easy for Allah.

(35:11)

The above token clearly proves change in

the death time, which implies a change in

the previously decreed time of death.

These changes in the will of Allah

instantly appear in the book of creation,

which is observed by the divinely

appointed saints as well as the angels.

Regarding the appointed time of death,

Allah states:

ى من طين ثمه قضى هو الهذي خلقكم أجل و أجل مسم

عنده ثمه أنتم تمترون


16

He is who created you from clay, and

then decreed (Qadhaa) an appointed time

(of death) and a definite appointed time

(which is) with Him (6:2)

The above token proves that Allah’s

decree (Qadhaa) is His creation (not

eternal) due to the phrase “then” used in

the sequence of actions. Furthermore, the

above token states that there are two types

of appointed death time. Mas’ada Ibn

Sadaqa and Hamran both narrated:

ععن أب ى ثمه قضى في قوله ي عبد للاه أجل و أجل مسم

ى الهذي قال األجل عنده م موقوف غير مسم منه ما يقد

ا األجل المسمهى فهو الهذي ر منه ما شاء و أمه شاء و يؤخ

ا يريد أن يكون من ليلة القدر إلى مثلها من قابل ينزل ممه

فإذا جاء أجلهم ل يستأخرون ساعة و ل فذلك قول للاه

.يستقدمون

About the token, “He then passed decrees

(Qadhaa) on an appointed time (of death)

and a definite appointed time (that is)

with Him,” (6:2) Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH)

said, “The non-definite appointed time is

the one that is pending (Mawquf), of

which He advances as He wills and

postpones as He wills. However, the

definite time is the one that is sent down

among the things He intended to happen

from a night of divine arrangement and

planning (Lailat al-Qadr) until a similar

night in the next year. And that is the

saying of Allah, ‘(He gives them respite

towards a definite appointed time.) But,

when their appointed time comes, they

would be able to neither postpone (it) for

a single moment, nor advance (it).’

(16:61)”10

It is narrated that Imam Baqir (PBUH)

said:

دقة ينفيان يدفعان العمر و في الفقر و يزيدان البر و الوه

وء. تسعين ميتة السه

“Beneficence and charity dismiss poverty,

increase lifespan, and avert seventy bad

and unpleasant (types of) death (by will of

Allah).”11

1.6 Bada due to imploring Allah

Another example that changes in Allah’s

decision may occur is when we pray to

Him. If Allah chooses to respond to our

supplication, He initiates real change in

the world and may re-plan our future.

Allah, the Glorious, states in the Quran:

ادعوني أستجب لكم.

Call on Me so that I answer you. (40:60)

قل ما يعبؤا بكم ربي لو ل دعاؤكم.

My Lord would have not concerned

Himself with you if it were not for your

call (upon Him). (25:77)

There are sayings from the Imams (PBUT)

indicating that Allah may cancel a

decisive and confirmed decree (Qadhaa

al-Mubram) regarding a worldly

punishment that is about to take place,

merely due to the supplication (Du’aa) of

His servant. For instance, it is narrated that

Imam Musa al-Kadhim (PBUH) said:

عزه و جله عاء و الطهلب إلى للاه عاء فإنه الد عليكم بالد

ر و قضي فإذا إله إمضاؤه يبق فلم يرد البلء و قد قد


17

و سئل صرف البلء صرفا . دعي للاه

“I advise you to supplication (towards

Allah as instructed only by His appointed

saints). Certainly, prayer and request

towards the Lord of might and majesty

drive away an affliction that was planned

and passed, and all that was remaining of

it was its execution (Imdhaa). When Allah

is called upon and is implored, He (may)

avert the affliction in an amazing way.”12

Although Bakri scholars claim that al-

Bada is impossible for Allah, we find

many Hadith in their collections that

suggest otherwise. For instance, the

following is a widely narrated Hadith,

which is authentic (Sahih) according to the

Bakri’s criteria of authenticity:

، وإن البر يزيد في قال النبي ص: الدعاء يرد القضاء

الرزق، وإن العبد ليحرم الرزق بالذنب يويبه

The Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HF) said,

“Supplication (to Allah) averts the decree

(al-Qadhaa), and doing good (to others)

increases the sustenance. Verily the

sustenance of a servant may be shortened

due to committing sin.”13

Besides, Allah reveals in the Quran:

ا فلو ل كانت قرية آمنت فنفعها إيمانها إله قوم يونس لمه

نيا و آمنوا كشفنا عنهم عذاب الخزي في الحياة الد

حين متهعناهم إلى

Why had not there been a single

township (among those We decreed to

destroy) whose people would accept faith

so that their faith should have profited

them (before Our decree is carried out),

except for the People of Jonah (Yunus)?

When they believed, We lifted the

chastisement of ignominy from them in

the life of this world, and permitted them

to enjoy (their life) for a while. (10:98)

The above token points to a clear example

of al-Bada that took place for the people

of Prophet Yunus (PBUH) whose calamity

was kept off and prevented. Due to their

rejections of the messenger of Allah and

disbelief to Allah’s commandments, they

became subject to a severe wrath of Allah

in this world. At the time that the

punishment was about to manifest,

Prophet Yunus (PBUH) distanced himself

from them and went far away. Upon his

departure and appearance of some signs of

the heavenly punishment, people came to

their senses and suddenly changed their

behavior and became mindful of Allah.

They pleaded for mercy to the almighty

Allah from the depth of their hearts.

Subsequently, Allah decided to avert the

calamity that was about to inflict them all

just as His Prophet had informed them

earlier. Allah, the mighty and the majestic,

revealed:

آمنوا و اتهقوا لفتحنا عليهم بركات من و لو أنه أهل القرى

السهماء و األرض و لكن كذهبوا فأخذناهم بما كانوا

يكسبون

If the people of the towns had faith and

were mindful (of Allah concerning His

commandments and prohibitions), We

would indeed have opened out to them

the doors of blessings from the heaven


18

and the earth; but they rejected (the

Prophets and their sayings), and thus We

caught them for what they earned (of evil

deeds). (7:96)

1.7 The significance of al-Bada

As we have seen, there are massive pieces

of evidence in the Quran that clearly

disprove the Bakri doctrine which states

“the pen has dried up having written down

all future events”. In contrast, the

followers of Ahl al-Bait (PBUT) do not

emulate the Jews who considered that

Allah had concluded the matter. We

believe Allah’s hands are open to do as He

wills. Nevertheless, Allah does not act

without purpose. The changes in decree

have educational purposes for people

including the prophets and the Imams,

peace be upon them all. Although people

may usually be unaware of the details of

all such changes in the world, by realizing

the general concept of al-Bada, one will

truly understand that everything is in the

hands of Allah and He is able to do all

things at any time, and that it is never too

late for Him to do anything He wills. It

demonstrates the independent freedom of

the will of Allah, the mighty and the

majestic, in all His actions and that He is

never restricted by His own creations,

including His Own previous will.

Moreover, it removes the sense of

compulsion and irrevocable

predestination, giving sinners hope that

Allah may totally revise their past and

future. It encourages them to strive hard,

supplicate to Allah, and act upon good

deeds with the hope that Allah may fix

their deeds and may change their fate.

Zurara Ibn A’ayun and Hisham Ibn Salim


د بن عيسى عن د بن يحيى عن أحمد بن محمه محمه

ال عن أبي إسحاق ثعلبة عن زرارة بن أعين عن الحجه

بشي ء مثل البداء و في أحدهما ع قال ما عبد للاه

رواية ابن أبي عمير عن هشام بن سالم عن أبي عبد للاه

بمثل البداء ع ما عظم للاه

“Allah was not worshipped to the extent

that He was worshipped due to al-Bada.

Allah was not glorified as much as He was

glorified due to al-Bada.”14

1.8 Invariancy of Allah’s Eternal

Knowledge

It should, however, be noted that,

according to several pieces of Hadith,

Allah knew (in His Eternal knowledge)

what He would change later, keeping in

mind that by His Eternal knowledge, we

only mean He is purified from ignorance.

Thus, the change happens only to the

created information. Abdullah Ibn Sanan

narrated:

ر ما يشاء و يمحو ما يشاء و م ما يشاء و يؤخ يقد إنه للاه

و عنده أم الكتاب يثبت ما يشاء و قال فكل أمر يريده للاه

ء يبدو له إله و قد مه قبل أن يـونعه ليس شي فهو في عل

إن علمه في كان .جهل من ل يبدو له للاه

Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH) said, “Certainly

Allah advances what He wills, postpones

what He wills, erases what He wills,


19

confirms what He wills, and with Him is

the Mother-Book. Whatever Allah intends

was in His knowledge before He makes

and creates it. No new decision appears

(by) Allah except that it was certainly in

His knowledge. Verily, no new decision

appears (by) Allah out of ignorance.”15

Abu Basir narrated that Imam al-Sadiq

(PBUH) said:

عزه و جله يبدو له يعلمه ء لم شي في من زعم أنه للاه

فابرءوا منه. أمس

“Keep aloof from a person who maintains

that a new decision appears (by) Allah

today that He did not know yesterday.”16

Another aspect and interpretation of this

issue is that all possible changes in the

sequence of decisions of Allah have been

created and exist in His knowledge of

unseen (Ilm al-Ghaib), and Allah knows

about all His unseen creations which are

not allowed to manifest yet.

2. Frequent Change of Decision

(Taraddud)

2.1.The meaning of Taraddud by Allah

Taraddud means hesitation in concluding

a will and frequent change of decision. It

can be viewed as the continual Bada on an

issue. Both the Shia and the Bakri’s have

reported multiple frequent (Mutawatir)

and authentic (Sahih) Hadith that state

Allah makes Taraddud in some of His

actions.

Change of decision or hesitation may

occur for human being due to other

influencing powers or because of

ignorance. Allah is free from all attributes

of His creation. Taraddud for Allah only

shows His absolute volition. This

phenomenon is the greatest manifestation

of exercising independent freedom of

choice by Allah. It clearly demonstrates

the fact that Allah, the Sublime, is not

compelled by His previous decisions and

actions, and that He does as He chooses,

and may change His decision as He wills

new things. The Taraddud and Bada also

have educational purposes for His

believing servants, which develops in

them supreme levels of faith, submission

and trust in Allah and relinquishing all

their affairs to Him.

2.2.The Shia and Bakri Hadith on

Taraddud

Both the Shia and the Bakri narrators have

reported independent multiple (Mutawatir)

and authentic (Sahih) Hadith that state

Allah makes Taraddud in some of His

actions. As for the Shia, Ibn Abi Ya’fur


عزه و جله إنه العبد من عبيدي المؤمنين ليذنب قال للاه

نيا و ا يستوجب به عقوبتي في الد نب العظيم ممه الذه

ل له الخرة فأنظر له فيما فيه صلحه في آخرته فأعج

ر عقوبة نب و أقد نيا ألجازيه بذلك الذه العقوبة عليه في الد

ى و نب و أقضيه و أتركه عليه موقوفا غير ممض ذلك الذه

في لي في إمضائه المشيئة و ما يعلم عبدي به فأتردهد

ذلك مرارا على إمضائه ثمه أمسك عنه فل أمضيه كراهة


20

ل عليه لمساءته و حيدا عن إدخال المكروه عليه فأتطوه

فح محبهة لمكافاته لكثير نوافله اله تي بالعفو عنه و الوه

ب بها إليه في ليله و نهاره فأصرف ذلك البلء عنه يتقره

رته و قضيته و تركته موقوفا و لي في إمضائه و قد قده

خره المشيئة ثمه أكتب له عظيم أجر نزول ذلك البلء و أده

و أوفر له أجره و لم يشعر به و لم يول إليه أذاه و أنا

حيم ءوف الره الكريم الره للاه

Allah, the Lord of might and majesty said,

“(It may happen that) a faithful servant of

Mine commits a great sin, for which he

deserves retribution in this world and in

the Hereafter. I am concerned about his

interest and his benefit in the Hereafter,

and hence, I advance his punishment to

this world so that I penalize him for that

sin. I plan the (worldly) punishment for

his sin and pass it but I leave it suspended

without carrying it out, and there is a will

for Me in its execution (Imdhaa) while My

servant is not aware of it. Then I

repeatedly change My decision

(Ataraddudu Mirara) on allowing its

execution, and I may finally refrain from it

and may not carry it out due to My

reluctance on his dislike (of such

retaliation) and My withdrawal from

putting him into trouble. I give him respite

by excusing and forgiving him because I

would like to recompense for his

numerous supererogatory deeds by which

he tries to draw himself near to Me in the

nights and days of his life. Thus, I avert

from him the affliction that I had planned

and passed it, but left it in suspense

(Mawquf), and had had a will in its

execution (Imdhaa) previously. However,

(sometimes, I do not yet consider it

sufficient and), I write for him the great

reward of (tolerating) the affliction that

was to be sent down. I reserve that for his

(Hereafter) and increase his rewards while

he did not become aware of it, nor did its

harm reach him. And I am Allah, the

generous, the compassionate, the

merciful.”17

The above Hadith, besides all interesting

aspects that contains, demonstrates the

importance of acting upon the

supererogatory deeds. Such acts bring the

pleasure of Allah, and He may decide to

waive the punishment that a servant truly

deserves.

In a widespread Hadith through multiple

independent authorities (Mutawatir), it is

narrated from Imam Ali Ibn al-Husain

(PBUH), Imam al-Baqir (PBUH), and Imam

al-Sadiq (PBUH) who all said who all

narrated from the Messenger of Allah that

the Lord of might and majesty said:

من أهان لي وليا فقد بارزني بالمحاربة و أنا أسرع

دت عن شي شي ا فاعله ء أن ء إلى نورة أوليائي و ما ترده

دي عن وفاة المؤمن يكره الموت و أكره مساءته كترد

...

“He who belittles My faithful servant has

indeed challenged Me to combat, and I am

the quickest to aid My friends. And I did

not frequently change My decision

(Taraddud) on the things that I do as much

as I changed My decision (Taraddud) on

taking the soul of My faithful servant who


21

dislikes death and I dislike his dislike

…”18

In fact, a faithful servant enjoys such a

great status in the eyes of Allah that Allah

does not take his soul without his

satisfaction, and will let him die by his

choice. Allah says in the holy Quran:

ربك راضية يا أيهتها النهفس المطمئنهة ارجعي إلى

مرضيهة

O confident soul! Return to your Lord

well pleased and well pleasing. (89:27-28)

The believer mentioned in the above

Hadith is just a regular believer who may

have some fear from death due to his

previous sins. Even for an unwavering

believer who does not fear death at all, he

still loves his faithful dependents (i.e., his

believing wife and children) for the sake

of Allah, and it is hard for him to leave

those with whom he is acquainted. He

may also have some unfinished sacred

activities that he wants to accomplish

before death. The above Hadith points to

such natural reluctance and dislike.

Imam Sadiq (PBUH) narrates from Imam

Sajjad (PBUH) who said:

عزه و جله ما من شي ق دي عن ال للاه د عنه ترد ء أترده

ته فإذا قبض روح المؤمن يكره الموت و أنا أكره مساء

ر فيه بعثت إليه بريحانتين من حضره أجله الهذي ل يؤخه

ا الجنهة تسمهى إحداهما المسخية و األخرى المنسية فأمه

ا المنسية فتن سيه أمر المسخية فتسخيه عن ماله و أمه

نيا. الد

Allah, the Lord of might and majesty

said, “And I did not frequently change My

decision (Taraddud) on the things that I do

as much as I changed My decision

(Taraddud) on taking the soul of My

faithful servant who dislikes death and I

dislike his dislike. Thus, when his (final)

appointed time that is not (further)

postponed comes, I shall dispatch to him

two sweet basils from Paradise, one is

called Muskhiya (transformer) and the

other one is called Munsiya (amnesic).

The Muskhiya liberates him from his

belongings, and the Munsiya causes him to

forget the affairs of the world.”19

Moreover, Imam Sadiq (PBUH) narrates

from the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HF)

who said:

نه مؤمنا أقسم على ربه أن ل يميته ما أماته أبدا و لو أ

عزه و جله لكن إذا كان ذلك أو إذا حضر أجله بعث للاه

إليه ريحين ريحا يقال لها المنسية و ريحا يقال لها

ية ا المسخ ا المنسية فإنهها تنسيه أهله و ماله و أمه فأمه

نيا حتهى يختار ما عند ي نفسه عن الد ية فإنهها تسخ المسخ

للاه

“If a believer swears by his Lord that He

never impose death on him, He will not

cause him die (in such a state) at all.

However, if he does (swear that he does

not wish to die) and his appointed time of

death arrives, the Lord of might and

majesty shall dispatch to him two types of

scented breath (from Paradise), one breeze

is called Munsiya and the other one is

called Muskhiya. The Munsiya shall cause

him to forget his family and his properties,

and Muskhiya shall liberate him from the


22

world, so that he shall finally choose what

is with Allah (i.e., the Hereafter).20

It is quite amazing that the Bakri’s have

reported numerous narrations that are

authentic based on their own criteria

testifying the fact that Allah makes

hesitation and frequently changes His

decision in some of His actions, and yet

they continue to believe that Allah’s will

and decision are eternal! Abu Hurayra,

Aisha, Maimuna, Anas Ibn Malik, Ibn

Abbas, among others narrated that Allah’s

Messenger (PBUH&HF) said:

قال: من عادى لي ولي ا فقد آذنته بالحرب وما إنه للاه

ب إليه عبدي ا افترضت عليه وما تقره بشيء أحبه إليه ممه

ب إليه بالنهوافل حتهى أحبهه فإذا أحببته يزال عبدي يتقره

كنت سمعه الهذي يسمع به وبوره الهذي يبور به ويده

له الهتي يمشي بها وإن سألني الهتي يبطش بها ورج

دت عن شيء ألعطينهه ولئن استعاذني ألعيذنهه وما ترده

دي عن نفس المؤمن يكره الموت وأنا أكره أنا فاعله ترد

مساءته.

“Allah said, ‘I will declare war against

him who shows hostility to a pious

worshipper of Mine. And the most

beloved things with which My servant

comes nearer to Me, is what I have

enjoined upon him. My servant continues

to come closer to Me by performing

Nawafil (supererogatory prayer or any

other good actions beyond obligations)

until I love him. When I love him, I

become (i.e., I assign My created spirit to

become) his sense of hearing by which he

hears, and his sense of sight by which he

sees, and his hand by which he grips, and

his leg by which he walks. If he requests

from Me, I shall grant him, and if he asks

My protection and seeks refuge to Me, I

shall protect him and shall give him

refuge. And I do not hesitate (Taraddud)

to do anything as much as I hesitate

(Taraddud) to take the soul of a believer

who dislikes death and I dislike his

dislike.”21

Notice that in all traditions only the term

Taraddud is attributed to the action of

Allah, not Tardid. The meaning of

Taraddud is slightly different from

Tardid. Tardid or indecision of a believer

might be due to ignorance or fear. On the

other hand, Taraddud of Allah is due to

knowledge of the shaky situation of the

servant. In Arabic language, Taraddud is

the accepting to act according to Tardid.

Thus, Taraddud is the action of changing

decision by Allah when Allah sees the

Tardid or perplexity of the believer, for

instance, concerning death.

Conclusion

In this article, we provided some evidence

to prove that the Creator of the worlds has

power to cancel His previous will,

intention, planning, and decree, making a

total new revision on His decision.

Moreover, He may frequently revise His

will on a certain matter. As we discussed

in the article, unlike the changes in the

decision of human beings, such an action

of Allah is not due to ignorance, rather it

shows the absolute freed of the will of


23

Allah. Moreover, knowing the general

notions of Bada and Taraddud serves as

educating His servants to understand that

it is never late to implore Allah for better

future. This issue also proves that the will

of Allah is the creation of Allah and is not

eternal.

END NOTES:

1 The word al-Bada (البداء) that we discuss here is an infinitive and has a Hamza at the end. The root of al-Bada is B-D-Hamza (بدأ) with the past and present tense in the form of ( يبدأ - بدأ ), which means: to begin, to start, to originate, and to initiate. It is commonly confused with another root B-D-W (بدو) with the past and present tense in the form of ( و - بدا يبد ), which means: to appear. As the root of the former suggests, al-Bada implies a new decision by Allah, which follows a real change in His creation. We can say that by al-Bada Allah makes a new decision as to which one of the invisible (Ghaib) things that had not willed to happen, wills to appear. In this sense, al-Bada inherits the meanings of both roots.

2 Hadith refers to sayings of the divinely assigned saints who are either the prophets or their successors and executors that Allah assigned as the spiritual leaders and the authorized interpreters of the holy scriptures, and made their statements His statements as they only utter what Allah pleases and commands them to say.

3Al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 141, Hadith 7.

4Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 5, p. 111, Hadith 36, cited from al-Tawhid.

5Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 4, pp 95-96, Hadith 2, cited from ‘Uyun Akhbar al-Ridha (PBUH).

6Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 90, pp 83-84, cited from Tafsir, al-Nu’mani.

7Bihar al-Anwar, v 7, p. 260, Hadith 5, cited from al-Zuhd; A similar narration from the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HF) is found in ‘Uyun Akhbar al-Ridha (PBUH), v 2, p. 33, Hadith 57.

8Al-Kafi, vol. 2, p. 430, Hadith 1; p. 436, Hadith 12.


10Tafsir, al-‘Ayyashi, vol. 1, pp 354-355, Hadiths 5, 6, & 7; Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 4, p. 116, Hadith 44.


12Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 90, p. 296, cited from Makarim al-Akhlaq.

13Jami’ al-Saghir, al-Suyuti, vol. 3, section “A-D”, Hadith 4262 (He said this Hadith is Sahih); al-Mustadrak Ala al-Sahihain, al-Hakim, narrated from Thawban; Similar multiple Hadith are narrated in Sahih, al-Tirmidhi, vol. 3, Chapter on “Qadar is not averted except by Du’a”, Hadith 2225 (Al-Tirmidhi said the Hadith is Hasan); Kanz al-‘Ummal, vol. 2, Hadith 3118 & 3148.


15 Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 4, p. 121, Hadith 63, cited from Tafsir, al-‘Ayyashi.

16Kamal al-Din, p. 69; Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 4, p. 111, Hadith 30.


18Al-Kafi, vol. 2, pp 352-354, Hadith 7, 8, & 11; p. 246, Hadith 6 with slightly various wordings; The Margin of Mafatih al-Jinan, Under supplication for longevity.


24

19Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 6, p. 152, Hadith 5, cited from al-Amali, al-Tusi.

20Al-Kafi, vol. 3, p. 127, Hadith 1; Ma’ani al-Akhbar, p. 142, Hadith 1; Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 6, p. 153, Hadith 7.

21Sahih, al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 76, Hadith 509; Musnad, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, vol. 6, Chapter of the Ahadith of ‘Aisha; Jami’ al-Saghir, al-Suyuti, vol. 2, Chapter of the complement of letter Alif, Hadith 1752 (He said the Hadith is authentic); Kanz al-‘Ummal, vol. 1, Part 3 in the Complementary of the Book of Faith, Hadith 1156, 1157, 1160, 1161, & 1680; Other Bakri traditionists such as Tabarani, Ibn Asakir, Ibn Mardawaih, Ibn Abi al-Dunya, Abu Nu’aim have reported this Hadith as well.

25

Analysis of Structure of statements asking

for Repentance In The Quranic Verses And

Imam Sajjad’s (A.S) Words In Sahifah

Sajjadiyah

Professor Gholam-Hosein A’arabi

Mansooreh Shahsavan

Ph.D. student of Quran And tradition science, Qum university


Abstract

In this research, our goal is to explain lingual structure of repentance in the Quran

and theological texts, in particular imam Sajjad’s (A.S) word. The language of

Quran and theological texts is the very method of divine messaging to the people

which intends to explain a collection of beliefs, ethical codes and laws, which the

Almighty God sent through His prophets and divine books for managing human’s

individual and social life; This language should be understandable for everyone. It

is because of the fact that the Holy Quran is a guidance book for all human beings

and prophets’ only aim, which was commanded by God, was to guide human beings

to salvation.

Key words

Sahifah Sajjadiyah, Lisan, repentance


26

Introduction:

Before discussing the language structure

of the Holy Quran and Sahifah

Sajjadiyah about repentance, it is

essential to discuss the word “Lisan”

:which has two meanings ,[ لسان ]

language the means to speak1or tongue a

member of body and its power.2 Also it

is literally defined as a movable organ

inside mouth and the most important

tool for speech. And also it is used to

refer to the language spoken by a nation,

for English.3 Language is one of the

mental abilities of human being's mind

to communicate and convey messages.

Speech is the vocal realization and a

manifestation of this ability.

Application of the word "lisan" in

Quran:

Ability to speak is one of the mysterious

aspects of human being's existence, in a

way that even when he is alone,

thinking, he has this ability without

producing a word.

So it is better to note that language is an

ability of creating signs, a kind of

special talent spread among all. But

speech has a kind of individual aspect.

Observation of Quranic applications of

this word indicates that the word

"Lisan" and its equivalents have been

used in these meanings:

1- It is a fleshy organ in mouth. It helps

human being to speak by its soft strings

of muscles: "And a tongue and pair of

lips" (the holy Quran; 90:9)

2- It means "language" which each a

nation has: "And we send all prophets

to their nation by the language of their

own nation" (the holy Quran; 14/ 4)

Or

"We know that they will say just a

human being teaches the Quran to

him. The language of the person to

whom they refer is not Arabic and the

language of this word is clear Arabic

(the holy Quran; 16/103).

And “We made this Quran fluent for

you (you can recite it fluently) in order

to give glad tiding to the pious and to

frighten the hard-headed by it.” (the

holy Quran;19/ 97)

3- In Quran, the third meaning used for

the word "Lisan" is "speech" : “And my

brother Haroon is more eloquent. Send

him with me in order to confirm me. I

am afraid of their denial (the holy

Quran;19/97).

Or the verse:"And make me Eloquent"

(the holy Quran; 20: 27)

and “David and Jesus cursed the

people from the Bani Isreal who

became infidel.” (the holy Quran; 5: 78)

After clarifying the meanings of the

word(s) "lisan", now it is proper to

study the structure of language which

God in Quran (which presents us a

Analysis Of Structure Of Statements Asking For Repentance In Quranic Verses

27

comprehensive program named

religion) and Imam Sajjad (A.S) in

Sahifah Sajjadiyah have used talking

about repentance? In other word, one

should observe that whether "The

language of religion" is the same as

"religious language"? Or they are

different meaning-wise? Answering

these questions, it should be said that

some scholars believe that they are

different. They say that “the language of

religion” is the language by which the

religion has been transferred to people;

whereas “religious language” is

something beyond that; This is the

language by which one speaks about

religion, its concepts or spiritual

experiences. It also includes people's

prays and supplications. According to

this explanation, the quality of the

language of praying and speaking to

God should be noticed.

Lingual structure of Quran about

repentance:

In holy Quran, "repentance" has been

used in numerous situations. In holy

Quran for many times, God has invited

human being to repent. He discussed

some issues including the concept of

repentance, its position, the process of

its fulfillment, its reasons, obstacles

ahead of it, etc. in Quran. But the style

of speaking in Quran is not similar to

philosophers’, mystics' and logicians'. In

fact, the style of the language of Quran

regarding repentance is the way of

explanation which wise and ordinary

people use in their communications. To

convey His message, God has used the

common lingual system, vocabularies

and correct grammatical structures,

which are common in people's daily

conversations. It is because of the fact

that the language of Quran is the

language of (human's) nature which is

manifested in ordinary language.

As Quran is an eternal miracle for all

people in all times, and all of its

messages are to guide people aiming at

assisting human beings to get to

salvation, it used the language common

among people to talk about repentance.

It is because of the fact that God knows

the best that, although people's language

and regional and tribal culture have less

in common, their natures have common

unchangeable tendencies.

Quran addresses this very nature of

people and its mission is to flourish

natures. Due to this, its language is

familiar to all human beings and its

comprehension is easy for all.4.

Therefore, God states: “O’ believers!

All of you repent to God.” (the holy

Quran; 24:31). We know that going

through right path (divine path) and

doing good deeds is in nature of human

beings. However, sometimes, some

satanic elements deviate human beings

from divine path, and encourage human

beings to commit sins. This is called

rebellion. In fact, rebellion is standing


28

up against God obedience and freeing

oneself from God's obedience. It is a

type of an alteration in nature. It is

originated from deviation first nature

human beings are created with; the fact

is any disobedience of God is neglecting

the need of our soul. To repent, first

human beings should have a real return

to his pure nature; the very nature on

which God has created all people. "So,

turn to monotheistic religion, which is

in accordance with the nature on

which God created human being. And

there is no alteration in God's

creation". (The holy Quran; 30:30).

Lingual structure of repentance from

imam Sajjad's viewpoint:

After noticing God’s high position and

necessity of obeying Him and be afraid

of the outcomes of sins and side effects

of sins in our life while being hopeful

about God's Kindness and Mercy, the

spiritual feeling of asking God for

repentance will form in human beings.

In this situation, one should know how

to speak to his God if he desires his

prayer be accepted by God. The verse

eight of sura Tahrim and other verses in

which God universally invites all of His

servants towards Himself, indicate that

if a sinner returns towards his God in

anyhow, He will accept him.

“O’ believers! Repent to your Lord

purely. In this way, perhaps your Lord

cover your sins and enter you in

heavens under whose trees stream

flow. All of these will happen in a day

that your Lord would not make the

prophet and his believers abject. Their

lights are moving ahead of them. Their

lights move by their sides. They say: O’

Lord perfect our light and bless us.

You are able to do everything.” (the

holy Quran; 66:8). "So, ask your lord's

forgiveness and then, return to Him.

My Lord is merciful and loving (about

the servants who repent).” (the holy

Quran;11: 90).

Although God is awaiting His servants

and is eager to give them great reward

for their little effort of returning to Him,

the repentance code necessitates that

one uses "supplicatory" language when

speaking to God as it is observed in

Imam Sajjad's (A.S) prayers; this

language has its own special

characteristic and it is formed based on

human's understanding of his inability,

natural poverty and his intense need to

Almighty God. This comprehension

paves the way for receiving divine

mercy. It is proved that all creatures

including human beings are absolute

need towards the Absolute rich.5 This

poverty is not something extrinsic and

temporary. It is something, which exists

in his nature. This issue has been

stipulated and explained in holy Quran

thoroughly. God states: "O' people! You

are in need of God and He is the only

existence who is free from need and is

glorified.” (the holy Quran; 35:15).


29

It is obvious that repenting to God is a

sort of prayer. It is a prayer which is

done in order to wipe out sins. It causes

the sinful servants turn into one who is

blessed by God’s Grace. In fact, the

language of a sinful person is the

language of prayer, even if he is not

aware of this fact. In addition to this,

when God created every creatures, He

set a natural force in them. By the use of

this natural force, the creature answers

Lord's call. Like other creatures, human

always answers this call. But because

man is not able to have perfect

understanding of God's essence and

attributes, in his relation with Him, he

has to negate imperfections from these

attributes and then attribute them to

God. To understand (divine issues),

speaking to God and repenting, we have

to use those limited concepts. These

concepts do not convey the reality of

divine attributes.

By explaining the fact that concepts

which we use to speak to God are made

by our limited and incomplete mind and

cannot indicate the reality of God's

essence and attributes, imam Baqir

(A.S) stated: “whatever (about God's

Essence and Attributes) you have

perceived by the help of your thought in

their most correct meaning is a creature

just like yourself which will be returned

to you.”6.

In fact, it should be said that the

language of prayer, repentance and

speaking to God is not a set of signs that

convey some concepts, but it is an

explanation of the states of human

beings; in the language of repentance

the addressee (indeed) is Transcendent

God, so the words are not important. In

prayers of Sahifah Sajjadiyah, Imam

Sajjad (A.S) has pointed to this fact

many times. He introduced it as

essential impact of God's Grace: “O' my

lord! And before offering their devotion

to you, you have been controlling their

affairs, you have prepared their reward,

before they start obeying you. It is

because of the fact that your (God’s)

manner is to forgive and expand

grace.”7

"O' my Lord! Praise belongs to you.

You have hide many of my defects (from

people) and you did not disgraced me

(about people). You have covered many

of my sins and not made me notorious.

And you have not defamed me in public

eye".8

It is important to mention that asking

God for repentance orally and its

verbalization are more effective.

Therefore, the divine leaders of Islam

recommended us to verbalize our needs,

repent orally, and decide not to commit

sins after repentance. Anyway, this type

of speaking, "supplicatory" language, is

special way of speaking between sinful

servants and Forgiving God. Infallible


30

imams (A.S), in general, and imam

Sajjad (A.S), in particular, taught this

form of praying to people in order to be

able to attract God's Grace. Speaking

with supplicatory language is an art,

which attracts people's heart to God.

God's Grace will result in giving one the

opportunity of worshipping God with

deep love. It also takes the obstacles

away from the course of human's life.

Therefore, a servant who committed

many sins is also capable of being

surrounded by God's Grace. And by

hope of being blessed, he speaks with

God by the use of supplicatory

language. He would say: O' my Lord!

You have forgiven many sinners. My

sins are not more than theirs are, but

they acted more fearless (towards God)

and their sins were more.

This kind of repentance and confessing

to sins will result in God's Grace. Thus,

this sinner servant says: "This

forgiveness and those sins show that

your criteria, in forgiving, are not that I

am worthy of your forgiveness, but it is

because you are able to do anything.

People expect you nothing but bounty

and forgiveness. So, O' Bountiful God! I

know that I do not deserve it, but your

Great Grace gives this hope to me."

There are many of these themes in

infallibles' prayers which are handed

down to us. Indeed, one would be

surprised by the strong supplication of

imams (A.S), particularly imam Sajjad

(A.S). In fact, what is the secret of this

repentance and supplication? They

(imams) repented, whereas they did not

have any sin and they had the highest

level in the world. Maybe the secret of

this matter is that they are indeed the

people who pray and their prayer was a

true one. Therefore, the language of

such person is full of supplication,

repentance and crying. When a person

understands his poverty -it means that

when he understands that in comparison

with Absolutely Rich God, he does not

have anything, which belongs to

himself, and he has many defects, he

becomes frightened. This fear results in

tears. After that, the fear will go away

and the supplication and repentance will

be expanded. Therefore the innate

characteristic of supplicatory language

is repentance and crying. And it is

concluded that a person who prays

without repentance lacks prayer

language. So, in this case, he just prays

with his physical tongue: this person

and his prayer are not sincere.

Imam Sajjad’s and other imams’ (A.S)

prayers are full of continuous

repentance, crying, confession to

poverty and deficiencies, ignorance,

inabilities and shortcomings. However

no wise person allows himself to

assume that those holy imams had sins

or deficiency. Their levels are so high

that even Loyal Gabriel cannot reach

the world of their perfection and

nearness to God. In a part of his prayer,

imam Sajjad (A.S) stated: “this is the


31

position of the one who has been played

by sins and the harness of faults brought

him forward and the one to whom

Satan became dominated, so, because of

negligence he did not perform your

commands properly. And because he

was deceived, he performed what you

had forbidden”9.

“O’ Lord! I apologize you because of

my ignorance and my bad behavior.10

“O’ Lord! I ask you (whatever I want)

like the one who is in intense need and

whose power is weakened and who has

many sins. I ask you like the one who

does not know anyone for fulfilling his

needs, empowering him and forgiving

his sins, but you”.11

“and just crying about you set me free

(from your torture”.12 Imam Sadiq (A.S)

also stated: whenever God’s servant

prays to Him, He knows what the

servant wants. But He likes it when the

servant verbalizes his prayers and

supplications. Therefore, whenever you

pray, verbalize what you want.13

In this regard, infallible imam (A.S)

stated:

“O’ my Lord! If I do not deserve your

Grace, You deserve to be generous.”14

In book Bihar Al-Anwar, the repentance

with its special language, is mentioned:

“O’ Lord! I ask you forgiveness for an

ashamed person (who is I )[and also

true for the followings). And I ask you

forgiveness for a hopeful person. And I

ask you forgiveness for a returning

person (towards you). And I ask you

forgiveness for an enthusiastic person

(towards you). And I ask you

forgiveness for a frightened person

(from your anger). And I ask you

forgiveness for an obedient person. And

I ask you forgiveness for a faithful

person. And I ask you forgiveness for a

person who acknowledges (his sins).

And I ask you forgiveness for a devoted

person. And I ask you forgiveness for

an abject person (about you). And I ask

you forgiveness for a pious person. And

I ask you forgiveness for a person who

trusts you. And I ask you forgiveness for

a person who is abject (about you). And

I ask you forgiveness for a person who

performs good deeds and does not do

bad deeds because of you, the person

who escapes from you to you. Then,

praise to Mohammad and his

progeny.”15

So, taking a look at the language used

by imam Sajjad (A.S), we understand

that for repentance and obtaining

endless divine blessing, a sinner servant

should ask Transcendent God for the

opportunity of praying and speaking to

Him. He should also ask God to bestow

him purity of intention in his prayers. It

is because of the fact that many of those

who pray whom ask for the opportunity

of repentance, are not true prayers. It

means a person who does not pray from

the depth of his hearth his prayer is not

true prayer. And we know that untrue


32

prayers would not be accepted. It is the

reason of why many people’s prayers

are not accepted. Prophet (A.S) believed

that this kind of pray is the prayer of

negligent. Imam Sadiq (A.S) Also

called it in the same way and stated that

this type of prayer, does not deserve to

be accepted; “And know that the

Almighty God would not accept prayer

of a negligent heart.”16 Imam Sadiq

(A.S) stated: “indeed, God would not

accept a prayer of a person who prays

with a forgetful hearth. Therefore,

whenever you call Him(pray to him),

turn to Him with your heart. Then, be

sure that it would be accepted.”17.

Finally, the sinner servant should know

this: if he goes towards God one-step

while have a good intention and pray

God in true way, God moves towards

him two steps. And if he goes towards

Him slowly, He moves towards him

quickly. In a narration from Almighty

God, it is stated: If the people who turns

away from me, knew how much I am

enthusiastic to see them return, they

would die of delight. Thus, one should

turn his face to God and tell Him: O’

God! You yourself have called us and

promised your forgiveness to us. You

have told us: “And your Lord stated:

call me, I will answer you. Indeed, the

people who disobeyed me will soon be

brought to the Hell and they are abject

at that time.” (the holy Quran;40:60).

“How could it be possible that God calls

his servant and wants him to repent in

order to be blessed, but He does not

keep His promise?”18 Undoubtedly,

having such belief about transcendent

God is not right. If He called us towards

Himself and promised to include us in

His blessing, surely He will keep His

promise. At the time of praying and

supplicating, we should verbalize this

belief. We should say: O’ God, we are

sure that you will accept our repentance

and forgive us. It is impossible for you

not to keep your promise and also

impossible to disappoint us from

yourself and send us to the Hell because

of your Wrath.

This fact is manifested in the leader of

the pious ones, imam ‘Ali’s word: “O’

my Lord! Will you torture and burn

faces which bow down about you? And

will you torture the tongues which

praise you, thank you and acknowledge

your uniqueness truly? And will you

torture the hearts which believe that you

are God, or the sprits that have true

gnosis of you and as a result they

became humble about you? Or will you

torture those body parts which go to the

places for worshipping you

enthusiastically? And will you torture

these parts which ask your forgiveness

by true belief? one can never has the

idea that you burn such servants. And as

we know that you are generous, we do

not believe in torturing these servants

(the servants who are described in this

prayer).”19


33

(“O’ Lord of the universe! Amen! You

have great grace and you are able to do

everything.” (the holy Quran; 66: 8))20.

Conclusion:

1-the language of pray is a common

language among human beings. It is

rooted in nature (fitrah) and it can be the

common pivot of human beings’

unification. It also can be ground of

talks between religions.

2- The language of pray is something

different from physical tongue. This

tongue is a body part which verbalizes

something about human’s existence. So,

in prayer language, no special rule of

physical language is involved. But

physical tongue can translate the

language of prayer.

3- In true prayer, there is a special

language. And if the person does not

pray by making use of it, he does not

pray truly and his prayer is not true

prayer. Not only is not his prayer

enjoyable, but also it does deserve of

being accepted though God promised to

accept true prayers.

4- Religious leaders’ prayers, in

particular Islam’s religious leaders,

specially mentioned prayers of imam

Sajjad in Sahifah Sajjadiyah and

analysis of their characteristics inform

us of the (true) characteristics of prayer

language. These characteristics pave the

path for more familiarity with the truth

of the language of pray.

References:

Holy Quran

‘Ali Ibn Husayn, forth imam (A.S), Al-Sahifah

Ah-Sajjadiyah- Qum, first edition, 1376 solar

year.

1-Ibn Tavus, ‘Ali Ibn Musa, Eghbal Ala’amal

(Al-Qadimah)- Tehran, second edition,1409

AH

2-Ibn Fars, Mu‘jam Al-Maqais Al-lughah,

Beirut, Dar Al-Jalil, 1410 AH

3-Ibn Manẓur, Muhammad Ibn Mukarram,

Lisan al-Arab, Beirut, Dar Ehya’a Attorath

Al’Arabi, 1416 AH, fourth edition

4-Javadi-Amoli, ‘Abdullah, Tafsir Tasnim,

first edition, Qum, Esra’a, 1378 solar year

5-Dehkhoda, ‘Ali Akbar, Loghatname

Dehkhoda, first edition, Tehran, Daneshgah

Tehran publication, 1373 AH

6-Sadrul Moteallehin, Muhammad Ibn

Ibrahim, Al-Hikmah Al-Mute’aliyah fi al-

Asfar Al’Arba’ah, Beirut: Dar Ehya’a

Attorath Al’Arabi, 1981

7-Sadrul Moteallehin, Muhammad Ibn

Ibrahim, Al-Shavahid Al-Robubiyyah, edited

by Ashtiani, footnotes also are written by

Ashtiani. Tehran: university publication

center 1360

8-Tusi, Muhammad Ibn Al-Hasan, Misbah

Al-Mutahajjid va Silah Al-Muta’abbid-

Beirut, first edition, 1411 AH

9-Feyd Kashani, Molla Muhsen, Al-Mujjah

Al-Bayza’ Fi Tahdhib Al-Ahya’, Maktabah Al-

Saduq, Tehran, 1342.


34

10-Kaf’ami, Ibrahim Ibn ‘Ali ‘Amili, Al-

Misbah Lel-Kaf’ami (Jannah Al-Aman Al-

Vaghi‘ah)- Qum, second edition, 1405 AH

11-Kulayni, Muhammad Ibn Ya’aqub, Al-Kafi

(Al-Islamiyah)- Tehran, fourth edition, 1407

AH.

12-Majlisi, Muhammad Baqir Ibn

Muhammad Taqi, Bihar al-Anwār – Beirut,

second edition, 1403 AH.

13-Raghib Isfahani, Husayn ibn Muhammad,

Mufradat alfaz al-Qur'an, Beirut, Damascus,

first edition1412 AH.

END NOTES:

1Ibn Fars, Mu‘jam Al-Maqais Al-lughah, entry "lasun" and Ibn Manẓur, Lisan al-Arab, vol.13,p.385. 2Mufradat, Raghib,p.740.

3Dehkhoda,p.11130,1373

4 Javadi-Amoli, Tafsir Tasnim, p.32

5Sadrul Moteallehin, 1981, vol.2, p.131 and vol.8, p.110 and Sadrul Moteallehin, 1363, p.139.

6 Majlisi, 1403, vol.69, p.292

7Imam Sajjad (A.S) prayer no.37, Sahifah Sajjadiyah.

8 Imam Sajjad (A.S), prayer no.16.

9Imam Sajjad, Sahifah Sajjadiyah, prayer no.31).

10 ibid

11 ibid

12 ibid

13 Kulayni, vol.4, p.225.

14Ibn Tavus, 1409, vol.2, p.686; Kaf’ami , 1405, p.374.

15 Majlisi,1403, vol.99, p.56.

16 Feyd Kashani,1383, vol.2, p.294.

17 ibid

18 Tusi,1411, vol.2, p.846.

19 Komeil prayer

20 Sahifah Sajjadiyah, prayer 14

35

Transcendental Perfections and Divine

Rules in Quran

Mohammad Hossein Emamijoo,

Guest professor, Quran and Hadith University


Abstract

The core of this study is to examine the transcendental perfections of divinely

privileged people (messengers of God or elite people) in Quran. Topics such as

super humanity, fundamental divine rules in selecting certain privileged people,

objects, time and places, and miracles examined in historical narrations, e.g. stories

of the Musa, Dawood, Sulaiman, Jesus, the mother of Musa, and the holy Prophet

Mohammed addressed in Quran are discussed in this paper. It is aimed to prove

that the transcendental perfections are addressed in a great number of Quranic

verses.

Key Words

Super Humanity, Superhuman, exaggeration, transcendental perfections


36

Definition of the Problem

God is the creator of all creatures and

guidance is made by Him. No creature

is in the position to claim a comparative

relation with God; God is in no way

comparable to those created. It is

because everything in the existence of

creatures originates from God and hence

they should thankful and obedient to

God. Such an absolute dominance of

our Lord on the world of existence is

commensurate with the fact that He

grants any of those created any

capability or merit upon His supreme

will and that none of the created may

take fault (1) with or raise objection (2)

against such an effusion of Dominical

grace toward certain other creatures.

The bounty and blessing granted to

creatures may be divided into two

categories: A huge population of those

created have been granted with the

features that are abundant among their

species and a very small population of

creatures enjoy the features that are not

only hard to find but also unique. They

have super group features in fact. A

review of the past and present status of

the existence and organisms may clearly

indicate the fact that some creatures

enjoyed/enjoy super group and super

species features. However one finds

nowadays that some trend of thought

denies the possession of transcendental

perfection and superhuman capabilities

by prophets and saints of Allah. Without

any discussion of theological issues they

claim (3) that the verses in the Holy

Quran imply such a denial and believe

that the fact that the Holy Quran

introduces prophets as human beings

just the same way as are others, is in

discrepancy with the claim that prophets

possess superhuman capabilities (4) one

frequently finds that the aforesaid trend

of thought is based on a historical

comment. The proponents of this

viewpoint hold, "The idea that the Holy

Prophet was superhuman in nature, was

developed immediately after the prophet

passed away. Such an idea was first

rejected by Moslem population.

However, it was propagated and

expanded within the frameworks of

ideas of Ghassanids (5) within a few

decades in the way that an attitude

emerged early in the second century that

was based on attribution of superhuman

capacity to Imamah. Although rejected

by scholars of Shiism such an idea

continued to exist in the form of a

preferred reading and however rejected

point of view(6). A group of extremists

showed face among Shiite population in

the third and fourth decades of the

second century Hejira who considered

the Imams of the Holy Prophet's family

as superhuman beings and believed that

they had the knowledge of the unseen

and the power of having some control

over the universe(7)."

Transcendental Perfections And Divine Rules In Quran

37

The final words of the aforesaid

discussion read, "The belief in

superhuman specifications that had

originally been nonexistent in religious

literature and dialog and that was

devised by extremists in the second

century, has been developed to take the

form of a public idea and an intrinsic

requirement of Imamah in the recent

millennium."(8).

Following the trend taken in the words

quoted herein above we have in this

article refused to arrive in exact

theological discussions and we have

instead taken help from the Quran as the

most important and acceptable Islamic

and historical reference (9).

At the beginning we have discussed the

term "Superhuman". This is the term

that has abundantly been used in such

texts as quoted herein above and

however, a discussion of the concept

has been broadly ignored. What we

intend to indicate and establish here is

the fact that the Quran does specifically

and against the aforementioned claims,

tells us about the existence of a special

divine system of the grant of perfect

features and attributes and that any

argument either emphasizing on

nonexistence of such perfections or

relating the extraordinary exaltation of

prophets and saints of Allah to fake

ideas in the centuries that followed early

Islamic days is an idea developed with

an ignorance of Islamic and historical

realities. We shall discuss the system in

some various aspects :

The fact that God has specially granted

to his prophets some perfect

specifications and capabilities

The fact that God has also granted to

those with no responsibility of prophecy

some extraordinary capacities and

merits

The point that God has, in some cases,

provided for a different treatment of

prophets by the objective world of

realities

The reality that the grant of special

advantages by God is not limited to

prophets and saints of Allah and that

objects also have in some cases been

subject to such a grant of advantage.

With the requirement arising here, now

let us briefly discuss the term

"Superhuman" or "transhuman" as they

are so abundantly used in discussion of

transhuman capabilities :

What is the Meaning of

Superhuman?

The Quran and the related teachings tell

us about a divine system of choosing of

certain individuals to whom are

bestowed special capabilities,

knowledge and power. This system of

grunt of supergroup, superspecies and

transcendental power and perfection is


38

the fact that has been defined as

superhuman perfections by some.

Of course, it seems that the term used to

describe the fact described herein is not

a carefully selected term and that the

term implies some kind of prejudgment.

No certain location or time goes by

definition beyond the rules and limits of

location or time merely because of the

fact that God granted it some advantage.

There is much difference between a

transcendental location and a sacred

place and the same also applies between

a transcendental time and a

distinguished time. The story should be

extended to the term "superhuman" as

well. We consider prophets and saints of

Allah as distinguished people who enjoy

special favor of God and however, none

of them is a "superhuman". Giving

explanations on this concept, we shall

avoid repeating such an erroneous

terminology in the remaining part of this

article.

Common Definition of Superhuman

Does "Superhuman" imply one who has

capabilities that are superior to the mean

capability of a population. i. e, should

we determine the average capabilities of

the individuals in human society and

consider as "superhuman" anyone who

has capabilities exceeding or superior to

such an average potential? Then, the

witty and those with a genius shall

certainly be defined within the limits of

"Superhuman". With such an attitude,

those with the capabilities beyond the

common scope of abilities, those with a

proven and strong sixth sense, the yogis

staying in a grave, making a train stop

or telling you about your secret savings

and the like can be a "superhuman"

each. The interesting fact is that no

typical individual from among the

general population can claim such

capabilities. Not everyone can possess

the intellectual power of Einstein, the

physical strength of a known weight

lifter, or the special capabilities of a

yogi. The point is that so rare are those

with such powers that any one more

individual who acquires such properties,

will also be defined as "Superhuman".

Rational Interpretation of

Superhuman

The outlook discussed above was based

on commonly accepted norms.

However, one may consider the term

"Superhuman" from a rationalist point

of view. Common sense considers as a

"Superhuman" act anything that is taken

impossible to be done by a human being

with typical qualities and capabilities of

mankind. It is clear that a human being

can neither be God nor create

himself/herself nor bring changes to the

world independently. Reason rejects the

possibility of a partnership, in the exact

meaning it denotes, between the creator

and the created. However, this same

reason does not reject the possibility of


39

the grant of a huge, broad knowledge of

every discipline to an individual by

God, the Omnipotent and therefore, any

denial of extraordinary capability and

knowledge is wrong and without a

scientific face.

Moreover, many impossibilities of the

past days are nowadays considered as

possibilities. This is because reason

classifies them within the category of

"possible". They are considered as

"impossible" by the short-sighted only.

Many are the concepts that would some

day in the past be taken as impossible

from the standpoint of such people and

are gradually included by the scope of

the possible. We are to accept the fact

that reason takes extraordinary

capabilities as possible.

The Quran also provides a rational

discussion. In the Quran, God warns

mankind of the fact that He may Grant

the domination over the kingdom to

anyone He determines absolutely upon

His own will (10) and that His blessing

comes down to any of His servants who

is selected to be blessed by Him(11).

God has subjected the bestowal of His

mercy(12), knowledge and insight (13),

guidance (14) and even of all

perfections to His own will only.

Nothing is an impediment to God(15)

and God is Omnipotent(16). The

repeated assertions in the Quran of the

unending power of God are not to be

considered prescriptive. Instead, they

are based on a recommendation of

rational reasoning.

A Review of Historical Superhumanity

Historical reports give many examples

of supergroup and superhuman features

of some people. It can be said with

sufficient confidence that there has been

a consensus among many populations

about the existence of transcendental

powers. It is no exaggeration to claim

that the abundance of transcendental

specifications through the history makes

impossible for one to negate all such

example. However, one may evaluate

any single report of this kind from the

viewpoint of quotation.

In spite of the fact that such reports have

been given as frequently as acceptable

historical reports, some have taken a

doubtful attitude toward them. They

argue, "Superstitions have had their

influence in such reports and

considering that people in the past had

no measures of determining true or false

nature of historical narrations, they

couldn't be relied upon and some of

those reports are even in the shade of a

serious doubt. The major problem is that

historical reports are not based on

observation and principally they are less

reliable than observations."

We do not intend here to confirm true

nature of mythology; neither is our

discussion based on such reports.

Therefore, we shall leave the discussion


40

of the usual historical research and the

methods commonly adopted for this to a

separate article. The fact remains here

that with the Quranic verses giving the

report of occurrence of superhuman

specifications there is left no ground for

elongation of the discussion because the

Quran is a reliable source in this area.

There are many reports of superhuman

affairs in Quranic verses and

superhuman affairs form a considerable

part of historical report in the Quran.

This is while part of the faith based on

narrations is to be sought in superhuman

capabilities of prophets and saints of

Allah.

Divine Grace

All acts of God original from a pure

wisdom. Although such a wisdom is

unknown to us, we have no doubt

toward the wisdom behind the acts of

God. Anything winning the grace of

God becomes distinguished in some or

other way. The night winning the

special grace of God become "the

blessed night": the night that carries the

value of over one thousand months(17).

And as He makes a place distinguished

and in which his revelation comes down

to a prophet, the place becomes blessed

as "Mount Sinai"(18), "The Valley of

Right Hand"(19), or "The Sacred

Land"(20); the land entry into which is

permitted only with bare feet(21). He

makes the two mounts, Safa and

Marvah, the place of rituals (22) and

Haj pilgrimage includes the formalities

one should make on those mounts. He

puts his mark on places to make "The

blessed Edifice"(23), "Kaaba", "God's

Sanctuary"(24), and "The Safe Divine

Estuary"(25). Even a piece of stone

becomes blessed as "The Black Stone"

(Hajar-ul-Aswad) and a piece of wood

used in a coffin enjoys an advantage

over other objects because of His favor.

The interesting fact is that God makes

the place of which was the footprint of

Ibrahim, the prophet, a place of prayers

(27)

Sometimes, God creates special and

extraordinary effects. Makes the bone of

a cow (28) the cause of reanimation of a

murdered young man and endears a

camel to a degree that relates it to His

own exalted position (29). It is in this

way that the drinking water available is

divided in two halves (30); one half to

be used by the camel and the other by

the people. He determines that divine

punishment shall come down to those

who force the camel to go away(31).

Various degrees of divine favor toward

certain phenomena in the world of

existence are significant in nature. He

has favored the night in which prophet

revelation descended down to prophet

of Islam and hence it has always been

regarded as "The Blessed Night" while

another point in time was considered as

the time of chastisement and was

followed by some days of bad omen.


41

The Quran and religious teachings have

always indicated the fact that anything

winning the favor of God has a special

advantage and hence becomes

distinguished from the group or species

to which it belongs.

Divine tradition has been based on a

special choice from the very beginning

and as we have already discussed such a

divine selection has included day and

night, the moon, stone, wood, and tree,

mountains, lands, water (Zam-Zam; the

sacred well at Mecca), food (33) and the

like. Even a certain camel slaughtered

as a sign of sacrifice to God was

included by this divine selection.

Historical system of Divine Selection

God may send down His divine verses

in various ways. None of those ways

and methods distinguishes a prophet

from the others. He can make intrinsic

of every individual His divine rules

while no superiority is given to one

person over the others. He can also send

His revelation to every individual.

However, He has chose the second way

i. e, sending and providing his guidance

by His prophets.

God made our reasoning power, an

inner proof (35) that helps us determine

and distinguish the wrong from the

right. Anyone without reasoning power

has been considered insane. God might

make us aware of all religious

requirements through the expansion of

our instinctive power of inference and

our capacity for reasoning in the way

there would be no requirement of

sending His messengers. It is evident

that neither of the aforesaid acts would

hard to take by God. However, He didn't

chose to act in those two methods. The

solution taken by God has been

selection of certain people as receivers

of His revelation. In this way the person

who is selected to be addressed by God,

becomes highly distinguished though he

has the same physical conditions and

specifications as we do. Thus, one finds

that under the circumstances where God

Almighty could direct everyone through

inspiration and without selecting certain

people as prophets, He sent His

guidance by selecting them. Divine

tradition has always been in accordance

with descent of revelation to prophets;

the specially selected and distinguished

people (36).

Numerous Examples of Divine

Selection

A rather brief review of history leads us

to the truth of divine tradition of choice.

Prophets are selected specifically. Even

the angels bringing the message of

prophecy are selected by God (37). He

distinguishes Adam from others (38)

and makes him the most superior and

highly distinguished among those on the

Earth (39). The Quran tell us about the

preferred position of prophets and saints

of Allah. It takes the form of a general


42

description (40) in some cases and the

form of a particular account in the

others. Noah (P. B. U. H.) (41), Ibrahim

(P. B. U. H.) (42), Joseph ((P. B. U.

H.)(43) and Moses (P. B. U. H.) (44) are

among the prophets about whom the

Quran provides detailed stories. God

specially reminds Moses of his

preferred position and tells him that He

has created him for the sake of Himself

(45).

Mary, the mother of Jesus the prophet

((P. B. U. H.) is among the selected (46)

and the same story applies to Saul as

well(47). Their families also enjoy such

a preference in the way that the Quran

tell us about the selected status of both

the family of Ibrahim and the family of

Imran(48). The grace from such a

selection includes both divine

preference and salutation (49). This

selection is followed by perfection,

superhuman advantages and special

support ad protection by God that will

be discussed in detail. To be brief,

divine tradition is best described by the

words of God and by those who provide

guidance i.e the Quran, the tradition,

and the words of the Holy Prophet's

family.

The Claim of Prophecy; A Claim of

Transcendental Relations

The claim of prophecy is in principle a

claim beyond Ordinary measures. It is a

transcendental in nature. The first claim

by any prophet is transcendental in that

a prophet claims to be in a relation with

God and to be receiving His messages,

orders etc. Even the claim by a person

that he/she knows something of the

unseen and that he/she has a power

beyond those of others is in nature

minor by so many degrees to the claim

of being in a relation with God and of

receiving the message of God either on

an immediate and direct basis or by

mediation of an angel.

Miracle Is Transcendental As Well

To have a miraculous power is also

transcendental- the terms "miracle"

prophetic sign", and "manifest sign" are

used for the evidences and proofs

provided by a prophet and by

observation of which the others

acknowledge the divine origin of his

claim. They consider such dements to

be unavailable to ordinary people (50).

The Egyptian sorcerers who had spent a

life in learning magics and witchcraft,

were so experienced and crafty whose

magic with some pieces of wood and

wire made Moses (P. B. U. H) anxious

at the first glance (51). Of course, his

anxiety was for the fear of the fact that

the mob wouldn't distinguish between

the magic with some pieces of wood

and wire from the divine miracle and

that they wouldn't form a firm belief in

his prophecy(52). At the same time, the

sorcerers all acknowledged and


43

accepted upon finding the great miracle

of Moses that it wouldn't be possible

unless by the will of God, the

Omnipotent and that they were

extremely different from their

knowledge that had its origins in

ordinary world of human beings and

was accessible after all. Jesus Christ

reanimated the dead, recovered patients

from their diseases by his miracle and

could tell about the reserves in the

houses of others (53). Salih, the prophet

(P. B. U. H.) made a camel appear from

inside a mount with the purpose of

giving a proof of his prophecy (54). The

Quran is itself a miracle of the Holy

prophet of Islam (P. B. U. H.)(55). The

Holy Prophet of Islam had some other

miracles such as making the moon be

divided in two halves, making a tree

move and the like. A review of miracles

and the way they were presented shall

clearly reveal the fact that the claims of

having miracles and of performing the

same in practice are superhuman claims.

It is Within the Scope of Control of a

Prophet to Perform a Miracle :

It is sometimes held that miracles are in

fact the acts of God and that prophets

have no authority or control over

practice of miracles. Those who take

such a position toward the case, are

reasoning in circles actually. Prophets

claim to be in relation with God and

provide miracles to prove the truth of

their claims. Jesus Christ (P. B. U. H.)

introduced his miracles by holding that

he could reanimate the dead, recover

patients and tell about the reserves that

people kept in their homes (57). A

reasonable interpretation of such

statements shall reveal that they

represent an optional capability; a

power that was within the scope of

control and authority of the person who

said those words. Grammatically also

they represent the capability that is

always there; that is a stream of

capability. This means that a prophet

may perform the miracles whenever he

deems expedient to do so. We have no

other measure for determining the

optional nature of an act. The fact that a

person says that he can do and actually

does, shall be sufficient for us to

consider it as an optional act. There are

those of course who deny superhuman

capabilities of prophets at first and as

they come to a point where remains no

options for them but to accept that

prophets had their own miracles, then

hold, without any proof to support their

claim, that the practice of miracle was

beyond the scope of control and

authority of prophets. What's more,

anyone developing a belief in prophets

and surrendering to their miracles, has

inevitably accepted their transcendental

nature and anyone not establishing a

belief in prophets, shall naturally deny

their claims.


44

Miracles & Virtues of Prophets

God has granted such powers, spiritual

capabilities and transcendental

authorities to His prophets that deserve

to be contemplated. Miraculous power

is needed by a prophet only to the extent

and as far as he has not proved his

prophetic capabilities yet. Therefore, a

prophet does not need repeat his acts of

proving his prophetic powers. However,

one finds that some prophets showed to

have many miracles even after they had

proven their rightfulness in claiming

prophet hood. The attention that God

imparted toward prophets and some

selected believers was also exclusive.

God made fire a safe element without

any hazard or undesirable effects on

Ibrahim (58) (Prophets chapter 69 (21)).

He made the Children of Israel mistake

Jesus Christ in the matter of killing

Jesus and took Him up toward His

heavens. He provides a special

protection to them. The favor of God

toward prophets was not of the category

necessarily needed in the establishment

of righteousness of prophets in their

claims of Prophethood. Such a favor

was only because of the special

kindness and love of God for His

prophets. It will be proper here to

provide two examples from among

many instances given in this area by the

Quran :

Moses (P. B. U. H. ); The Interlocutor

There are nine verses telling us about

Moses (P. B. U. H.) in the Quran. He

showed many examples of His

extraordinary powers and capabilities

to, the children of Israel within the

period of his Prophethood. It is evident

that only one miraculous act would be

sufficient for Moses to prove his

rightfulness in claiming prophecy.

However, God grants nine miracles to

him from the very beginning (60). In

case it was right to say that prophets are

just the same humans as we are and that

God has not granted them anything

other than the truth of prophecy, then

why did God consider one of the

greatest categories of revelation to come

down to Moses and spoke to him?. He

could simply inspire on him or send an

angel to give him the message. But He

spoke to Moses immediately and

without any mediary element in order to

honor Moses with the position of a

prophet speaking to God. Of course,

there are degrees of virtue for everyone

and even for prophets. But, this is the

virtue and the position that was granted

to him by God; he did not acquire it.

The core of question here is "why did

God honor Moses with the position of

the prophet speaking) to God in case

divine tradition is based on granting the

prophets with merely the position of

Prophethood?"


45

Ezra (P. B. U. H. )

The Quran describes a strange event

attributed to Ezra (P. B. U. H.), the

prophet. This is the story “Ezra was

passing by an abandoned village with a

graveyard. He wondered “how does

God reanimate this population of the

dead?” God took the life of Ezra and

reanimated him again after one hundred

years to show His ability and to give a

good example to human beings. After

such a reanimation an angel asked Ezra

how long it was from when he passed

away. Ezra answered it was about a day

or half a day. The angel told him that it

had been one hundred years. It showed

him his food and drink that had

remained sound and without any

degradation. Then it told Ezra” Now,

look at your horse and behold how we

join its bones together and put flesh on

them”. Now, the question remains “why

did God made Ezra distinguished with

such an advantage in case it is not the

tradition of God to grant advantages to

some people against others? Why did

God favor Ezra with such an

exceptional advantage? Is it the tradition

of God to treat in the same way all those

who ask Him about various elements of

His creation?

Jonah (P.B.U.H.)

It shouldn’t be supposed that the

treatment of prophets by God has

always been the same as his treatment

of others. We are witnesses to the fact

that despite the reality that they were

physically like any other individual in

this world, God treated them in a

different way. As Jonah (P.B.U.H.)

witnessed the opposition of his people

to God, he cursed them. As he had not

been patient and had nastily cursed his

people, God subjected him to a hard

test. As Jonah was taking a voyage in

the sea, he was thrown into the stormy

sea and was taken into the belly of a big

fish. Unlike what is expected under

those conditions, his body was not

disintegrated and digested; but instead

he remained alive there for a long time.

God, the compassionate says Jonah

would remain there in the belly of the

fish for ever wasn’t he among those

who frequently pray God and that it was

a great favor of God that his injured

body was thrown back to the shore.” It

is evident that remaining alive under

such an abnormal condition, being

thrown back to dry land and the

subsequent favors of God toward Jonah

are all extraordinary and transcendental.

The interesting fact is that such

miraculous events took place by the will

of God but not with the purpose of

providing evidence of miracle to prove

rightfulness of Jonah in his claim of

Prophethood. The question against rises

here “Why did God provide for Jonah to

go victoriously through all those

ultimately strange conditions in case it

is the tradition of God not to make


46

prophets distinguished from others and

in case it is right to say that prophets

have just the same conditions as others

except that they have been assigned to

give the message of God to others? Isn’t

there the possibility that some people

raise the objection that they would never

have repeated a wrong deed in case God

had warned them the same clearly as he

did in respect of Jonah?”

David (P.B.U.H.)

The Prophethood of David (P.B.U.H)

was a great virtue by itself. However,

the fact that God granted him the

capability of softening iron in his hands

and that he made armors because of

such capability, is considered

metaphysical in nature. God saved the

lives of others from the hazards created

by enemies. He did this by David. Such

a way of saving the lives of people is in

no way a tradition of God. (68). David

asserted his own God-given knowledge

and said “God has given superiority to

me and Solomon over many of His

believing servants” (69).

God granted David, the prophet, many

capabilities. He granted him even the

sense for speaking to birds (70).

Solomon (P.B.U.H.)

Solomon (P.B.U.H.) was extremely

different from the viewpoint of his

Prophethood with the other prophets.

Solomon (P.B.U.H.) was given the

special kingdom the other prophets were

never given (71). However, it was a

kingdom that was not managed in the

same way as others and involved

metaphysical issues. It was the kingdom

under which Jinns acted as economic

agents and constructed buildings and

palaces (72). He had armies of Jinns and

birds (73). Winds were under his

command (74) and moved him, Just in a

few moments over a distance that would

otherwise be covered within a month.

His Jinn workers provided molten

copper to him (75). Once God returned

the Sun to the Sky just because

Solomon had lost the right time for the

afternoon prayers and the sun had gone

down(76). As he decided to bring the

Queen of Sheba to the center of his

kingdom (in Palestine) from Yemen,

one of his agents told him that he would

do that before Solomon left his seat.

However, another agent brought the

Queen of Sheba to Solomon only within

a wink. It appears that the agents were

competing in the practice of their

supernatural (77). The aforesaid

wonders are only part of metaphysical

powers of Solomon, the prophet. It is

evident that such capabilities and

authorities are far beyond the ordinary

miracles intended for the establishment

of a rightful claim of Prophethood.

Miracles are defined only within the

limits of proofs of prophecy. Speaking

to birds (78) is not an act within the

scope of cognition and inference of the


47

public based on which to distinguish

false claims from true claims of

prophecy. The fact that when moving on

a road accompanied by his army

Solomon (P.B.U.H.) heard an ant

speaking about the army of Solomon

and the disturbance that they could

bring to the ants and Solomon

described, while laughing, to his men

how the ant was warning the other ants

about the disturbance, is an

extraordinary power that God granted to

Solomon (P.B.U.H.)(79). Then, how do

some people hold that God didn’t grant

any metaphysical power to his prophets

and saints? How do they call it

exaggeration? They are not exaggerated

words, but instead the clear words and

teachings of the Quran. It should be

noted here that even the death of

Solomon was exceptional. He passed

away while standing on his feet (80).

His workers were still working with the

supposition that Solomon was watching

them and hadn’t been there the small

creatures that gradually ate up the stick

in his hand, they would perhaps never

have found that Solomon passed away

(81). Is such kind of death a normal

even or something beyond ordinary

trend of events in the life of mankind?

Jesus Christ (P.B.U.H.)

There is no doubt that having the

knowledge of future events is among the

most important virtues and being aware

of a desirable and is one of the most

important branches of such a

knowledge. The reason is that

knowledge of future events is a

knowledge of worldly destination while

awareness of a desirable end is

awareness of salvation and good record

in the last world. God tells us in the

Quran that the knowledge of what men

will do in the future and what a

destination they will have, is the

knowledge exclusive to God only

(Lugman Chapter 34/(31)).

At the same time, God makes Jesus

aware of his own desirable and says that

he is saluted in the last world (82).

Appointment to prophecy was not

something without any records and

backgrounds among the children of

Israel. Jews are warned in the Quran

because of killing prophets (83). This in

itself indicates that there were many

prophets among Jews. In case God

determined to send a prophet to them,

he could do this helping such a prophet

prove his rightfulness in claiming

prophecy with a miracle. However, the

birth of Jess without a father, cannot be

defined within the implications of the

term “miracle”, because it is not part of

the miracles which are confirmed and

acknowledged through observation. God

granted Jesus this invisible virtue (84)

just the same way as he did in respect of

Adam (84) and told the people to

believe it without even a bit of

hesitation (85). Moreover, wasn’t Mary


48

to experience the delivery of a fatherless

child, she should most probably have no

need for going away from the people

and staying under a dried pine tree.

Neither would there be the requirement

for the creation by God of a stream of

water beside Mary (85) for bringing

dates down from a tree for her (87).

Moreover, there would be no need for

the infant to speak in his cradle (88).

It seems here that divine tradition is

based on selection of special people and

grant of special virtues to such people.

The interesting point is that this special

favor continues to be there in the way

that God makes Jesus a source of

blessing (89) and grants him with the

miracle and wonders far beyond the

miracles needed as the people of

Prophethood. At the end God made the

destination of Jesus a further wonder

about which people have some

suppositions only (91).

The prophet of Islam (P.B.U.H.)

Prophet of Islam (P.B.U.H.) also

experienced the special favor of God of

a degree that is in no way attributable to

ordinary and habitual experiences of

human beings. Neither can such favors

be attributed to the ordinary aspects and

capabilities related with prophecy, in

case we are right to say that prophets are

simply the messengers of God and they

have no special position other that the

position of Prophethood, then why did

God move the prophet of Islam to “The

Most Distant Mosque” from “The

Sacred Mosque” (92); took him up to

“The Loftiest Track” and had him pass

through the paradise (93)? Why are such

positions granted to certain people only?

The prophet of Islam is not merely

prophet sent to human beings; he is the

prophet to Jinns as well (94). Prophecy

to Jinns and the responsibility of

settlement of their religious

disagreements requires having relation

and communication with a providing

responses to their questions. It was

possible for God to send a prophet to

Jinns who was of the same quality,

specifications and identity as they were;

but He did not. Why did God took the

way that required the grant of special

metaphysical capabilities to the prophet

and that made him far distinguished

from others?

Some people suppose that God

shouldn’t have granted any special and

distinguished capability to prophet of

Islam because he is a perfect model of

humanity. They hold that as human

beings we would have the right to object

and argue that in case we had also been

given such special capabilities, then we

would also have acted the same way as

the prophet and the saints of Allah did.

They consider that the prophet’s being

an example or model negates possession

of superhuman and metaphysical

capabilities. We do not intend to

consider the contradiction alleged to


49

exist between having metaphysical

capabilities and being a model. We

believe that a chronological review of

events and the points mentioned in the

Quran may provide a clear answer to

such a question. The verses of the Quran

given as references herein indicate that

such an agreement is not acceptable to

the position that the Quran. Takes

toward this matter. It clearly describes

the special favors of God to His

specially selected servants while

speaking of the position of the Holy

prophet of Islam as an example and

model. The fact that God speaks to His

prophet either by mediation or in

immediate way and the points that he

moves the prophet to “The Most Distant

Mosque” from “The Sacred Mosque”;

takes him to the skies and shows him

the phenomena and the events that may

be visible to some of His servants after

death only, are in no way up to such a

doubt as above and the acts of God are

the best reasons in rejection of such an

argument.

He took the prophet of Islam (P.B.U.H.)

under His special protection when the

prophet was a child. He gave him

refuge, directed him, and provided his

maintenance (95) while the prophet was

a child having lost his parents(95). It is

clear that God is actually is speaking of

His own special favor toward the

prophet when he gives detailed

descriptions both generally and

especially of such a favor. Yes; it is He

who has removed the burden of

problems from the prophet and has

made his good reputation go to every

point of the world(96). It is He who has

given him the unending goodness to

which there is no match(97) and to

whom he has finally promised to grant

so much of goodness and blessing that

will satisfy him:

“O, you the prophet; your God shall

soon grant you so much that satisfies

you!”.

God gives him the title of “witness to

the Ummah” (99) and tells the propel

that the presence of the prophet is an

element of preventing the descent of

pain and punishment (100) and

expelling the prophet shall bring pain

and chastisement to them. It is the

tradition of God that takes with divine

punishment the people who expel a

prophet form their place of living (101).

God has protected the prophet of Islam

extraordinarily from the hazards posed

by unbelievers and enemies in many

cases. Such a help is not a simple and

universal act. It is God who gives him a

special peacefulness when he is

surrounded by his enemies and none of

his followers and proponents is

available. It is God who helps the

prophet by the men who are not visible

(102) under the circumstances that the

prophet has only one companion and

that only companion of the prophet is in

a sorrow for some events of the past.


50

It is also God who puts a fear in the

hearts of the fighters of the Quraish

(103) and helps the prophet by three

thousand angels (104).

It is not merely the thousands of angels

who help the prophet. The fear that God

creates in the hearts of his enemies is

also a helper.

The Quran tells the people that it was by

the will of God that the unbelievers

were prevented from defeating the

followers of the prophet (105).

God has such a love for His prophet that

while He Himself and His Angels salute

the prophet, He orders the believers also

to salute the prophet of God and his

family (106). It is not solely the direct

treatment by God of the prophet that is

accompanied by much kindness and

compassion (107) but also His judgment

of the acts of believers that is based on

the attitudes of believers toward the

prophet that is why so determines God

that the presence of the prophet among

the people prevents them from being

overtaken. By torture and chastisement

(108).

Seeking forgiveness of God by the

prophet actually result, in God’s

forgiveness toward the people (209) and

any hostile treatment of the prophet by

people certainly entails divine

chastisement (110).

All the aforesaid verses clearly indicate

that God made the prophet a model of

humanity while granting him special

advantages what is even more surprising

is the fact that the prophet of Islam

(P.B.U.H.) disclosed a secret, that was

seemingly not of a religious nature, to

his wife and as the wife disclosed the

secret to others, God immediately

informed the prophet of such an act and

even made such a disclosure known to

everyone by inclusion of the same in the

Quran(111). Now, the question arises

why doesn’t God inform others of the

disclosure of their secrete in case we are

right to say that God does not grant the

prophet any advantage that implies a

favor over and above his favors toward

others? Wasn’t the story narrated here a

sign of special favor of God toward his

prophet?

Positions of Those other than

prophets:

The grant of metaphysical perfections

and advantages is principally not

exclusive to prophets and God honors a

group of people by the grant of such

extraordinary virtues and perfections

whenever He deems expedient to do so.

Here are some examples:

Speaking to Angels

Saint Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ,

is a unique example of those having

enjoyed the special favors of God.

Whenever the divine messenger,

Zacharias found Mary praying in the


51

altar, he found her divine nourishment

beside her as well and as he asked her

about it, she told him in response that

God gives countless and abundant

maintenance to anyone whom He

endears (112). The fact that God

selected Saint Mary (Divine Choice);

that He considered her as a pure, highly

dignified woman with superiority over

all the women in the world represents

the fact that she was granted an

extraordinary perfection(113). The

interesting point is that God does not

wait for the events of birth and death of

others and makes Mary aware of her

God-granted advantage beforehand

(114). What an ordinary trend of human

life is represented by the fact that angels

speak to Mary; that they inform her

beforehand of the birth of her pure

child, Jesus and that they put such a

child only in the womb of Mary? By the

way, why should Mary give birth to

such a child? Why should the divine

inspiration give peace to Mary? (115).

Why should she take dates from a dry

three? (116).

God tells Mary to have the fresh dates;

to drink the water running there by the

will of God and to enjoy meeting her

child, Jesus. God even tells Mary how

to treat the people; tells her to say that

she is fasting; that she is having a fast of

silence; and to point at her child in the

cradle (118) so that the child begins to

speak (119). However, more interesting

is the story of seeing and speaking to

angels. Mary speaks to angels; receives

mice divine inspirations and gives birth

to Jesus; but Sarah, the wife of Ibrahim,

who has no dialog with the angels , can

hear the conversation of Ibrahim, the

prophet (P.B.U.H.) with the angels and

this makes her laugh, then, the angels

give her the good news that she will

give birth to two children, Isaac and

Jacob; and she is surprised at this

because she is old and can no more give

birth to a child while her husband is also

of an old age(120). These all support the

fact that divine tradition is not based on

treating ordinary people and

exceptionally endeared people the same

way. It is of course against the Quranic

teachings to claim that God treats the

two groups of people in just the same

way.

The Revelation Unto the Mother of

Moses

God sent the revelation unto the mother

of Moses (121) to breast feed her child

and to put him in the Nile river when

she found that his life is threatened and

not to regret the past as God would

return the child again to make him a

prophet (122). The kind of inspiration

that made mother of Moses aware of

those many things of future is not of the

kind we find in the process of our

ordinary lives. It represents special

favor of God instead. the interesting

point is that God not only teaches her

how to sure the life of her child, but also


52

makes her aware that her child will be

returned to her and that he will be a

prophet in future. This indicates the

difference between taking news by

revelation and finding some facts by

common inspirations.

The Seven Sleeper and Elijah (A.S.)

The serious question arising here is “ In

case it is not the divine tradition based

on granting special virtue to some

people and in case the treatment by God

of all people is the same, then why did

He provide for the Seven Sleepers to

remain sleeping for more than three

hundred years (123) and why did he

give a special knowledge to Elijah(124)

and sends him on the missions and tasks

which even Moses cannot bear (125).

Dhool Karanain

God addresses Dholl Karnain openly

and explicitly in the Quran (126) while

he was not a prophet (127). God gave

him such a material power and

knowledge taking use of which he was

able to build an iron barrier (a dam)

between the people and Gog and Magog

in the way their way to pass was

obstructed for long and in which they

would never make an opening. The

Quranic style of description of this case

represents the grant of a capability for

beyond what was described herein

above. God says that he was given cause

to dominate everything (128). The

Quran quotes Dhool Karnain’s assertion

that this is a blessing of God directed to

him (129).

Asif (Prime Minister of Solomon)

God granted the knowledge to Asif by

which he took the throne of the Queen

of Sheba to the palace of Solomon just

in a wink (130). Even nowadays it is not

practicable to do such a thing in spite of

then huge advancements in technology.

In brief, the grant of special and

metaphysical capabilities to special

people including prophets and saints of

Allah is a historical tradition and God

has always given advantage to some

people over the others through the grant

of special knowledge, virtue and

capability.

The Position of Calamities In the

Grant of Virtues

It is noteworthy here that all the

capabilities, virtues and perfections

described herein are granted within a

sphere of divine wisdom. There is no

doubt that the grant of superhuman

capabilities and virtues does not

necessarily lead in striving to get new to

God. Many are those who will have a

keen regret in the last day for the fact

that they have had a bad record of acts

in spite of the great capabilities and

potentials God granted them. This can

be explained by the fact that God has

based the life in this world based on the

fact of testing human beings with the

hardships and calamities and anyone


53

granted with special capabilities and

virtues shall be subject to a harder test.

Jonah, the prophet (P.B.U.H.)

experienced a terrible period of hardship

just because he had been somewhat

hasty in praying God to bring a divine

punishment to his people (131). This

represents nothing but the fact that

enjoying a greater favor of God shall

result in becoming more responsible and

in having to go through a harder test.

Sending down a divine nourishment to

disciples God warns them that their

ungratefulness shall bring a special

chastisement to them (132). Asif, the

minster of Solomon, who brought the

throne of the Queen of Sheba to

Solomon only in a wink, asserted that

such a knowledge and power had been

given to him by God with the purpose of

testing him (133).

A study of the Quran shall reveal not all

those who enjoyed such favors could

come to a good end. The Folk of Lot

who met the angels developed bad

intentions toward the angels instead of

having regard of such a divine favor and

it was in this way that they received a

bitter punishment (134).

The Samaritan confirmed that he gained

knowledge of the thing of which the

others were negligent. He took the trace

of the horse of Gabriel or the trace of

Gabriel that was the elixir of life and

took use of the same to have the calf

give off sound (135). Balaam Ibn-e-

Baora whose prayers were granted, was

tempted by this same God-given

capacity (136).

Therefore, the grant of high virtues and

metaphysical capabilities is a means of

testing of those who are granted with

those powers and it cannot be said with

a certainty that mankind will be grateful

against such a divine favor and that he

will not make the favors means of

his/her own decline.

External World Treatment of

Prophets

Religious reports are clearly indicative

of the fact that God has provided for a

different treatment of prophets by

external world in some cases. Of course,

this does not mean that the world of

existence has always treated prophets

with a benevolence and that they were

never damaged. We know that Abel was

killed (137); Noah was subject of much

insult (138);

John, the Baptist was also killed (139);

Jacob suffered much disturbance (140);

and these were the hard tests that

prophets and saints of Allah went

through. They broke the teeth of prophet

of Islam (141) and threw the bowels of a

slaughtered camel at him (143). The

enemies were so harsh and cruel toward

Zahra (P.B.U.H.), the great daughter of

the prophet of Islam and killed her child

(143). The highly dignified grandson of

the prophet of Islam Aba ‘Abdellah Al-


54

Husayn (P.B.U.H.) faced the most

prominent disaster in history (144). The

point to be noted here, is that with all

those disasters, they were even treated

differently in some cases by the external

world in the way that this can be

considered as part of their special

condition.

God put Adam (P.B.U.H.) in paradise

and provided him with an extremely

easy and smooth life (145) while He

even ordered the angels to prostrate him

(146). This treatment is in no way like

the treatment of the people of later

periods in creation. The verses in the

Quran and many other evidences

indicate that all the creatures on the

Earth and in the sky worship God; but

that we cannot have a clear perception

of their worship (147). They continue to

worship and there is no need for them to

conform their workshop to any other

phenomenon or man. What is important

however, is that they did coordinate

their worship with David, the prophet

(P.B.U.H.). the Quran tell us that among

the virtues of David the prophet (148)

was the fact that mountains and birds

coordinated their worship with him

(149). This means that objects do not act

on a coordination with living creatures

and however, they coordinated their

most important act i.e., worship of God,

with David, the prophet the respectful

treatment of prophets by other creatures

is sometimes to a degree that the dead

body of Solomon, the prophet

(P.B.U.H.) was not disintegrated for a

long time and it was only the stick in his

hand that was eaten up in some way

(150).

Conclusion

We said that a group of people have the

idea that prophets and saints of God are

exactly the same as others and that they

enjoy no special favor and endearment

by God. Without providing an exact

classification and without giving

denotations of their newly devised terms

such as superhuman and the life, they

hold that prophets and saints of God

have no special virtues and capabilities

beyond those of ordinary human being

and believe that a claim of metaphysical

capabilities and virtues of prophets and

distinguished people is an exaggeration

only. Providing a discussion of the point

that principally the acceptance of the

concept of prophecy in itself negates

and contradicts with the aforesaid point

of view we gave evidences and proofs

supporting that the wording of the Holy

Quran is in conformity to this idea and

the Quran provides detailed descriptions

of metaphysical capabilities and special

virtues of those endeared by God. It is

evident that God has a special favor

toward prophets, saints and

extraordinarily gifted people in the way

that it is not just the same as His favor

and attention He has toward others.

They are utterly different both in their

supernatural, exclusive and


55

metaphysical capabilities and in their

endearment by God. He has neither

considered for them the same religious

responsibilities assigned to others nor

ordered the worldly phenomena to treat

them in the same way as they are to

treat others (151).

What we stated here, were based on tens

of verses of the Quran and of course,

there are many other Quranic verses to

support the idea. Unlike the claims of

those who deny the superhuman and

metaphysical capabilities, the divine

tradition is based on the special and

exclusive favors and virtues were

discussed here. Therefore, it is not

surprising that the words quoted from

the family of the Holy prophet also

include many agreements in support of

the special favor of God and exclusive

virtues and capabilities of prophets and

saints of God.

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9-Al-Kafi, By: Muhammad Ibn-e-Yaqub Al-kulayni Al-Razi (907 A.D.), The Research made on the Book By ‘Ali Akbar Al-Ghaffari, Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyah, Tehran, Fifth Ed.1984

10-Kashf al-Ghamah, ‘Ali Ibn-e-Isa Arbali (1271 A.D.), Maktabah Bani Hashemi Publications, Tabriz, 2002

11-Kamaliddin, Muhammad Ibn-e-Al Ibn-e-Husayn Ibn-e-Babiveih Ghomi Saduq (1059 A.D.), Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyah, Qum, 2nd Ed. 1973

12-Al-Lahouf Fi Qatli-el-Tafoof, Al-seyed Ibn-e-Tavus (1342 A.D.), Anwar al-Huda Publication, Qum, 1st Ed- 1995

13-Majmaʻ al-Bayān Fi Tafsir al-Quran; Fadl Ibn-e-Hasan Tusi (Twelfth Century A.D.), Research made on the book by :


56

Muhammad Javad Balaghi, Naser Khosro Publication, Tehran, 3rd Ed. 1993

14-"The Thought School In the process of Evolution" A Review of the Evolution of Ideas In Shiism within the First Three Centuries, By : Seyed Husayn Modarresi Tabatabaei, Translated By Hashem Izad Panah, Kavir, Publication, Tehran, 3rd Ed. 2007

15-Nahj al-Balāghah, Seyed Radi, A Research made on the book by Sobhi Saleh, Dar al-Hejra, Qum

16-Vasa’il al-Shia, Muhammad Ibn-e-Hasan Hur ‘Amili (1682 A.D.), Alul-Bayt Le-‘Ihyaul Tarath Inst. Qum: 1st Ed- 1987

17-Al-hujum Ala Bayt-e-Fatimah (P. B. U. H.) (An Attack To The Home of Fatimah, the Great Daughter of the prophet of Islam), Abdul Zahra Mahdi, Barg-e-Rezvan Publication. Tehran, 1st Ed. 2003

END NOTES: (the number in paranthesis

refers to the Sura number in Quran)

1-Ale ‘Imran Chapter 26/(3)

2-Anbiya Chapter 23/(21)

3-The School of Thought In the Trend of Evolution, P. 22

4-Ditto , P.58

5-Ditto, P. 58.60

6-Madraseh Quarterly, The Third issue, May 2006, "The Forgotten Reading": A Review of the notion of "Olamaye Abrar".

7-The School of Thought In the Trend of Evolution, P. 61 (Consider how they take some ideas of Imamah as some kind of exaggeration without a thorough theosophical study in such works).

8-Madraseh Quarterly, the 3rd issue, May 2006, The Article "The Forgotten Reading" : A Review of the notion of " ‘Ulamaye Abrar".

9-We attempted in this work to take the most possible use of the wording of the Quranic verses and take only little use of the reports coming down to us through the history

10-Baqarah 247/(2); A’raf 128/(7)

11-Ale ‘Imran 73/(3); Ma’ideh 54/(5).

12-Baqarah 269/(2)

13-Baqarah 269/(2)

14-Baqarah 213/ and 142/(2)

15-Ma’ideh 64/(5)

16-Nahl 77/(16) ; Haj 6/(22): Noor 45/(24) ; Ahzab 28/(33); and many other verses

17-Ghadr 3/(97).

18-Taha: 80/(20) ; Toor 1/(52).

19-Qisas 30/(28)

20-Nazi’at 16/(79)

21-Taha: 12/(20)

22-Baqarah 158/(2)

23-Nazi’at 16/(79)

24-Ma’ideh 1/(5).

25-Baqarah 125/(2); Ale ‘Imran 97/(3).

26-Baqarah 248/(2); The Coffin of the Children of Israel was a chest box in which placed him the mother of Moses (P. B. U. H.). The box remained in the place of Pharaoh and it was later made available to the family of Moses and Aaron. Moses (P. B. U. H.), the Interlocutor, placed in it the tablets, armor, and the evidences of prophecy before he passed away. He


57

entrusted it to his executor , Joshua. Placed in that box were also some part of the legacy of Moses (P. B. U. H.) and Aaron. Children of Israel considered the box as a source of blessing and it became a cause of peacefulness and a symbol of kingdom. Cf. Bihar al-Anwār, Vol 13, P 443, and Vol 78, P. 110

27-Baqarah 125/(2); Ale ‘Imran 97/(3)

28-Baqarah 73/(2)

29-The came of God ; A’raf 73/(7) ; Hood 64/(11)

30-Shu‘ra : 155/(26)

31-Hud 64/(11) – 65; Shu‘ra: 156/(26)

32-Fusillat 16/(41); Qamar 19/(54)

33-Ma’ideh 112/(5)- 115 ; Divine Food was sent to the Apostles and God, the Almighty, warned them that if any of them became an unbeliever after that event, He would take him with a painful chastisement; such a punishment with the example of which He would never take someone else.

34-Ma’ideh 2/(5); Haj 36/(22)

35-Kafi, Vol 1. P. 16

36-Ale ‘Imran 179/(3) ; Haj 75/(22)

37-Haj 75/(22)

38-Ale ‘Imran 33/(3)

39-Nahj al-Balāghah, Sermon No 91, P 133

40-Haj 75/(22)


42-Bag Baqarah harah 130/(2)

43-Yousif 6/(12)

44-A’raf 144/(7)

45-Taha 41/(20)


47-Baqarah 247/(2)


49-Naml 59/(27)

50-Letter of Theosophy of the Holy Prophet (P. B. U. H.) (In Persian) Vol. 3, P 492

51-Taha 60/(20)

52-Nahj al-Balāghah, Sermon No 4, P. 51

53-Ma’ideh 110/(5)

54-A’raf 73/(7); Hud 64/(11)

55-Baqarah 23/(2) ; Hud 13/(11)

56-Nahj al-Balāghah, Sermon 192, P. 301

57-Ma’ideh 110/(5)

58-Anbiya 69/(21)

59-Nisa 157/(4)- 158

60-Asra 101/(17); Naml 12/(27)

61-Shura 52/(42)

62-A’raf 143/(7)-144 ; Taha 21/(20)- 47

63-Some have attributed it to Ermiah, the prophet, Cf. Kanz al-Daqayiq, Vol.2, PP 415-426

64-Kamal al-Din, Vol 2, P.226

65-Baqarah 59/(2)

66-Saffat 139-146/(37)

67-Qalam 48/(68)-50

68-Anbiya 80/(21)

69-Naml 15/(27)

70-Naml 16/(27)

71-Sad 35/(38)


58

72-Sad37/(38)-38; Saba : 12/(34)-13; Anbiya: 82/(21)

73-Naml 17(27)

74-Anbiya: 81/(21): P 36/(38); Saba : 12/(34)

75-Saba : 12/(34)

76-Sad 31/(38)- 33; There are two interpretations of this verse one of which gives the implication that we have discussed herein, Cf. Majmaʻ al-Bayān, (Vol. 8, P.74)

77-Naml 38/(27)-40

78-Naml 15/(27)-16

79-Naml 19/ (27)

80-Qumi's Interpretation, Vol. 1 , PP 54-55

81-Saba : 14/ (34)

82-Maryam 33/(19)

83-Baqarah 91/(2); Ale ‘Imran 181/(3); Nisa: 155/(4)


85-Baqarah 2/ (2)

86-Maryam 22/ (19)-25

87-Qumi's Interpretation, Vol.2, P.49; Bihar al-Anwār, Vol. 14, P. 209, N. 6

88-Ale ‘Imran 46/(3); Maryam 30/(19)

89-Maryam 31/(19)

90-Ale ‘Imran 49/(3); Ma’ideh 110/(5)

91-Nisa 157/(4)-158

92-Asra : 1/(17)

93-Najm 5/(53)-18

94-Jinn 18/(72)-1

95-Zuha 6/(93)-8

96-Inshirah 1/(94)-4

97-Kawthar 1/(108)

98-Zuha 5/(93)

99-Nisa: 41 (4)

100-Anfal 33/(8)

101-Asra : 76/(17)-77

102-Towbah 40/ (9)

103-Ale ‘Imran 151/(3)

104-Ale ‘Imran 124/(3)

105-Fath 20/(48) and 24

106-Ahzab 56/ (33)

107-Nisa 113/(4)

108-Anfal 33/ (8)

109-Nisa 64/(4); of course the hypocrites who do not take a step toward the ideas of prophet and are critic in respect of this specification of the prophet, are excluded from this argument.

110-Ahzab 56/(33)

111-Tahrim 1/(66)

112-Ale ‘Imran 37/(3)

113-Ale ‘Imran 42/(3)

114-Ale ‘Imran 42/(3)

115-Maryam 17/(19)-21 ; Ale ‘Imran 45/(3)

116-Qumi's Interpretation, Vol.2, P. 48; Bihar al-Anwār, Vol 14, P.209, No 6

117-Maryam 24/(19)-25

118-Maryam 26/(19)- 29

119-Ale ‘Imran 46/(3)

120-Hud 71/(11); If it be this way, then the Sermon "Qasi’ah" ; The fact that Imam Ali (P. B. U. H.) heard the revelation descending down to the prophet; and the point that


59

angels addressed Zahra : (P. B. U. H.), the great daughter of the prophet of Islam, are in complete conformity with the Quranic tradition and culture.

121-Taha 38/(20)

122-Qisas 7/ (28)

123-Kahf 9/(18)-25

124-Elijah (P. B. U. H.) was not a prophet based on some of the historical arguments. Cf. Kafi, Vol.1, P. 269; Kamal al-Din, Vol.2, P. 357, Sec.33

125-Kahf 60/(18)-82

126-Kahf 86/(18)

127-Kafi, Vol. 1, P. 269 ; Bihar al-Anwār, Vol. 26, P. 73

128-Some have even held that this is a divine means and not from the category of worldly means. Cf Al-Imamat al-Kubra Val-Khilafat al-‘Uzma, Vol.2, PP 13-19

129-129- Kahf 83/(18)-98

130-Naml 40/(27)

131-Saffat 139/(30)-146

132-Ma’ideh 112/(5)-115

133-Naml 40/(27)

134-Dhariyat 24-30/(51); Hud 77- 80/(11); Hujr 71/(15)

135-Taha 96/(20)

136-A’raf 175/ (7)

137-Ma’ideh 27/ (5)-31

138-Hud 25/(11)-38

139-Wasa’il al-Shia, Vol.11, P. 354. No. 14999 ; Tabari's History, Vol.1, 5.588; Al-Bedayah Val-Nehayah, Vol. 2, P.53

140-Cf. Yousef Chapter

141-Tabari's History, Vol.2, P. 515

142-Kashf-ul-Ghamah, Vol.1, P. 8; Bihar al-Anwār, Vol. 16, P. 116; Dalayil al-Nabuwah Va Ma’rifat Ahval Sahib al-Shari’ah, Vol.2, P. 279.

143-Cf. Al-hujum Ala Bayt-e-Fatimah

144-Cf. Al-Lahouf Fi Qatli-el-Tafoof

145-Taha 118/(20)- 119 ; E:ra:f 19/(7)

146-Sad 72/(38) ; Hujr 29/(15) ; Baqarah 34/(2) ; E:ra:f 11/(7); Kahf 50/(18) ; Ta: ha 116/(20).

147-Asra 11/(17)

148-Saba 10/ (34)

149-Anbiya 79/ (21) ; Sad 18/(38) ; Saba : 10/(34)

150-Saba 14/(34)

151-Cf. Hujurat Capter.

60

Growing Up A Religious Young Adult

Narges Shahri

Article acceptance date: Nov. 2016

Abstract

The most difficult period of life in terms of training is young adulthood. This

period which is from 12 to 18 is the same age of junior and senior high

school. The most problems happen in this period and usually this period

causes loss or success for future life. Some crisis a youth should tackle with in

this period of time are outlined in this article.

Key words

identity crisis, maturity crisis, personality crisis

Growing Up a Religious Young Adult

61

1. Identity Crisis

After going through childhood, human

beings will face a crisis in life which is

identity crisis. Various questions obsess

minds of people, looking for their answer.

A youth asks himself, what is life? Who

am I? What should I live for? Where will I

go to? How and why will I go? Is there

any life after this life? If yes, what is it

like?

He is worried if his parents accept him as

he is? Do they like him? Do they respect

him? What is my role in society? Am I

important? What does this society expect

me?

He finds himself doubtful about all his

belief, traditions and ideas. He asked why

should I be a Muslim? What do I need to

be a Muslim? Who is a Muslim? If God is

Just, what does bad events happen? These

kinds of question can reach to the point

that ruin and depress a young person.

Identity crisis is in fact to find proper

answers. If he could not find the answers,

he will feel depressed, Alienation,

loneliness, … which are dangerous for a

youth and will cause identity crisis.

2. Maturity Crisis

Maturity like an earthquake shakes a

young person, puts him in a new and

unfamiliar situation. As if a young person

in teen ages faces a completely new world

and horizons towards a new world opens

up in front of his eyes. The hand of

creation by puberty pushes the person

through childhood to adulthood and makes

him ready for growth and perfection. As if

he is born again and treads in a new path.

But this birth is not painless.

With a little attention, it can be understood

that what hurricane strikes inside the

youth. From one hand, intrinsic

motivations topped by sex drive and also

emotional motivations each moment draw

her to one side; imbalance him

psychologically , and from other hand, all

types of doubts and dilemmas find their

way to his hearts. Among these strange

feelings what is felt most is the vague

feeling of baffling. This is the first time

that he feels disorientation and could not

find the necessary power inside himself to

face this inside conflict.

Because of this instability young adults

become volatile and loss their equilibrium

by the tiniest pinch, goes to the extremes

uncontrollably. They are too worried

about their peer’s ideas and people around

about themselves, and their behavior and

judgments can easily affect their

physiological states. These persist

changes some of which are so deep bother

and wear them out. They are sensitive to

any discomfort or problem and take them

out on any related or not related factor.

Therefore being stubborn, discomfort and

baffling are common features of this

period of life.

This period takes already three years. In

boys it is about 13 to 16 years old and in


62

girls one or two years sooner. This period

of life is the most critical period of life. At

this period a youth needs more attention to

pass through it unharmed.

3. Personality Crisis

Human beings during their childhood is

always attached to their parents and under

their custody. But at the time of puberty

and physical changes they tend to be

independent and be different from others.

They expect others do not look at him like

a child and respect his personality, action

and mind.

Any action which is a sign of lack of

respect will have some psychological

effect on them, hidden or apparent. Even

these actions or improper behaviors can

result in harsh reaction or anti social.

If a youth realizes he is not regarded as an

independent and grown up person, it is

possible that to prove his independence

and character embarks on a bad action to

attract other people’s attention to himself.

This feeling among youth who are

suffering from a kind of inferiority feeling

can be found more.

NECESSITY OF RELIGIOUS

TEACHINGS IN THIS PERIOD

As young adults in their puberty feel to be

in the depth of the ocean of bafflement,

losing their equilibrium, and on the other

hand because of the importance of

psychological calmness at this special

period of life, religious growth can play a

special role in this regard.

A young person can save himself from all

these vague, I-don’t-know baffling

situations of young hood , find a clear

ideology for his life, and find the answers

to the basic questions of his life which

help to direct his life towards a good

direction in the shade of good religious

training. In the light of this training, he

can find his place in the world of creation,

realize his values, honors it and does not

tolerate sins and vices.

In addition to it, having faith can help

young people to reach psychological

calmness which is of needs of this period

of life and can lessen his stress.

Parenting

The base of religious and ethical trainings

is in childhood at home. Therefore,

infallible imams advised parents to

supervise and monitor their kids before

mischiefs mislead them out of right path.

Imam Sadiq said,

قبل ان يسبقکم اليهم المرجئه بادروا احداثکم بالحديث

Teach Islamic traditions to your youth

before Murji’a1 proceed you.

Parents should not leave their children to

themselves but they should help them

confronting crisis of their puberty time,

prepare the ground for their religious

growth. It is suitable to observe the

following points in religious teachings of

young adults.

Growing Up a Religious Young Adult

63

1. Celebrating the age of being grown

up enough to do religious practices: In

this period in addition to awakening

sexual drives and psychological needs,

this tendency towards religious affairs

activates in young person, gets him to

contemplate on the spirituality and

religion.

This time is very valuable and should be

noticed as a great opportunity. Therefore,

it is proper for parents not to neglect this

occasion to have a celebration to make

this day memorable for him.

The late Sayyid ibn Tawus knew this day

a kind of Eid and warned those who don’t

care:

Why is this day of reaching puberty is so

worthless for this weak human beings this

much that it is vague and forgotten among

people? I do not remember anyone to get

prepared for this very important day or to

be sad because of forgetting this day? I

advise my children and relatives to

remember and celebrate this great day.

2. Encouraging elder children to do

religious practices like prayers, fasting,

etc. parents should care for their children

and encourage them to pray and fast;

parents should be aware not to order

tyrannically to bother children; in the

opposite, they should be kind and honor

their children’s effort to perform pray or

when they fast.

Prayer is the connection between hearts of

people and God and has a very

constructive role in training young adults

psychological-wise and spiritual-wise.

Those young adults who are familiar with

prayers, have a good access to the spring

of spirituality. Young people are in need

of this spiritual shelter. Those young

adults who pray in case of committing

wrong actions by relying this spiritual

support can turn back to the right path and

cleanse themselves.

3. Explaining the true meaning of

religion for young adults: Of duties of

parents is to get their children familiar

with religion in true sense and explain for

them religion is not just prayer, fast, or

likewise but the soul of religion embraces

all aspects of our life and should fill the

body of our life.

Any attempt to reach knowledge, making

a livelihood, joining people, serving

people, etc are parts of religion and if they

are accomplished by the intention of

God’s satisfaction and as they are advised

in holy teachings of religion they are

regarded as worship. Therefore, all life of

a religious and faithful person even his

eating or sleeping is a kind of worship.

Parents should notice to this very

important aspect and warn their children

of them; otherwise they will think religion

is summarized in a series of actions. But

they should know as they pay attention to

pray and fast, they should pay attention to

honesty, kindness, … .


64

4. Do not leave young adult to himself:

Parents should not leave their children

alone in his problems but should help him

to find proper answers to his questions.

Parents can introduce good books to him

or if they can not, they should connect

their children to knowledgeable people

who can answer their questions. Teachers

are of good choices in this regard.

5. Friendship: If friendly relationship

extends between parents and children,

parents can influence their children and

have a role in fate of their children. Young

adults due to the changes of puberty age

and lack of equilibrium need more

attention in comparison with other periods

of their life. If parents can not do their

duty properly, children will go out of

family’s attention and will be absorbed by

environmental factors. When children are

tied to families by the strong rope of love

they will remain more safe from harms

and will have better ground to learn about

religion.

6. Accepting young adults: Parents

should respect and value personality and

thought of their children and their

independency should be observed. They

should be consulted and trusted otherwise

a kind of inferior complex will form in

them.

7. Leisure time activity: Parents should

benefit from leisure time and fill them

with suitable activities such as sport.

8. Joining religious ceremonies: Taking

young adults with parents to religious

gatherings can grow religious feeling in

them.

END NOTES:

1 Murji’a was a misled group at the time of infallible imams who said faith is sufficient solely. Anyone who confesses to be Muslim by his tongue is faithful. Action is not needed, and no sin can harm faith. This group are named Murji’a as they postponed punishment or rewards of harm doers or benefactors till the Day of Doom till God judge about them. They believed God will forgive every sin in hereafter so they thought sins did not ruin faith.

65

Ethical Code in Sahifah Sajjadiyah

Mansur Pahlavan

Professor of Tehran University


Abstract

Eexplaining fundamental Islamic ethics based on teachings of Sahifah Sajjadiyah is the

core of the present article. The author after giving essential basic information regarding

Sahifah Sajjadiyah, introduced Tuhid (the Unity of God) as the source of all ethical

codes and outlined six points in this regard: the gnosis of God, God’s Mercy to all

regardless of people’s derivability, Fear and Hope, Hope in God’s blessings, relying on

God’s special opportunities given to mankind (Tufigh), and trusting God.

Key words

Islamic ethical codes, principles/ ethics, Sahifah Sajjadiyah / Tuhid, Sahifah Sajjadiyah/

khuf and raja, Sahifah Sajjadiyah/ God’s Mercy, Sahifah Sajjadiyah/


66

1. Introduction

1.1 A great deal of teachings of

infallible imams consists of ethics.

Teaching properethics, which cause

prosperous life in this world and hereafter,

is one of the missions of holy religions. In

a tradition from holy Prophet of Islam we

read,

1الخلق فان للا عزوجل بعثنی بهاعليکم بمکارم

It is on you to embellish yourselves with

the best of ethical codes because God has

appointed me for this.

This tradition emphasized on the highly

regarded place of ethics in the teachings of

holy infallibles specifically Prophet

Muhammad. Quran praises virtues like

being honest, being trustworthy, being

calm and forgiving, being generous, etc.

and hates dishonesty, betrayal, oppression,

backbiting, hypocrisy, etc.

1.2. The holy Prophet was a role model.

God, the Almighty, praises his morality

and says,

وإنهك لعلى خلق عظيم

Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of

a great morality.(68:4)

The holy Prophet’s morality was a cause

of people’s attraction to Islam. In holy

Quran, we read,

وا من حولك ولو كن ت فظ ا غليظ القلب لنفض

Had you been harsh and hardhearted,

they would have surely deserted you. (3:

159)

Shia imams who are the real successors of

holy Prophet were all the great role

models in terms of ethics and in fact, this

is a sign of true successors of Prophet.

However, this characteristic of holy

leaders is less referred to.

1.3. One of the oldest Islamic books

written in the first century is the book al-

Sahifah al-Kamilah or al-Sahifah al-

Sajjadiyah by Imam Sajjad. This book is

also famous as Zabur ale Muhammad.

This book is transferred through three

sects of Zeidiyah, Ismailiyah, and

Imamiyah. It consists of imam’s prayers

but what we learn regarding good morality

in these prayers is not inferior to other

contents of it. In this valuable book, along

with prayers, the best morality social–wise

and individual-wise have been taught, and

anyone who reads it will confess to this

truth.

1.4. In the prayers of Sahifah Sajjadiyah ,

imam Sajjad while talking to God,

indirectly pointed out to the virtues. For

example, in a pray for border guards, he

asked God to keep front of Muslim

countries stay safe, ask God to sharpen

their sword, and increase their number

(pray 27); it is obvious that sharpening

swords is one of border guard’s duties and

God does not sharp swords but a physical

instruments does. In fact, this prayer is a


67

point for border guards to be prepared for

any fight and this is the order of Quran

who says,

وا ة وأعد لهم ما استطعتم من قوه

And prepare against them what force you

can (8:60)

Or in neighbor prayer, he says, Oh God,

help them to visit their sick neighbors.(26)

it means visiting sick neighbors is of

virtues and imam indirectly reminds

neighbors of their duties.

1.5. The prayers of Sahifah Sajjadiyah is

generally colored by praising God. These

praises which are of the nicest spiritual

phrases which can only be expressed by

infallible imams, holy people and great

ones, contain the highest and deepest

teachings about Unity of God. The

teaching about Unity of God gives a

specific excellence to this collection in the

way that nothing else can be compared

with, especially because the prayers are

wrapped by the eloquence of Imam which

is derived from the mine of Ahlul Bayt’s

oratory.

For some examples refer to the 22nd prayer

of Sahifah Sajjadiyah about Ownership of

God while rights of human beings are

saved, prayer 5th and 32nd about inability

of human beings to know God, prayer 13

about God’s endless Mercy or prayers 32 ,

47 and 52 about the Unity of God,

Praising God and thanking Him.

These eloquent remarks, which are

emanated from Vahi (revelation of God)

source, are among the best theoretical

sources about Unity of God, which

deserves to be studied separately.

Here, as an example, we point to the issue

of Ownership of God. Imam Sajjad in

prayer 22nd of Sahifah Sajjadiyah begins

like this:

اللهم انک کلفتنی من نفسی ما انت املک به منی، و

قدرتک عليه و علی اغلب من قدرتی"

This explicitly explains two points: the

first one points out to this fact that human

beings and his power are real not

imaginary. This crosses out all sayings

believing human beings a reflection and

imaginary pictures in a mirror.

In the words of Imam Sajjad we face

power and responsibility of human beings.

It proves will-power of human beings and

negates predestination (Jabr) but this

negation of Jabr does not end up in

conferment (Tafwid). Jabr and Taswis are

two ends of a line which adhering to each

end will result in misunderstanding.

The interesting point is anyone can feel

these realities in his life; it means he can

realize Hand of God and his own power

together present in his life which the first

one rejects Jabr and the second rejects

Tafwid.

This kind of answering to the old problem

of Jabr of Tafwid is the art of Imam Sajjad

who is familiar with the secret of creation


68

and is on the zenith of knowledge about

Unity of God. Here we aim to explain

some bases of Islamic moral codes based

on Sahifah Sajjadiyah.

2. The Unity of God, the base of

ethics

According to Imam Sajjad, Unity of God

is not a mere rigid useless theoretical

discussion, but it has practical results

especially in the realm of ethics. We count

some of these results to find a criterion to

evaluate claims of anyone who pretends to

believe in Tuhid.

2.1. Gnosis of God, the base of

humanity

Gnosis of God is the base and true

meaning of humanity. God does not cut

off realizing His Praise from people

otherwise if they do not thank Him, they

would think they own all blessings and

would manipulate them as they like, so

they would degrade from humanity to the

level of animals.(pray 1)

Paying attention to this point is an answer

to the question of why and how do human

beings can degrade to the level which is

inferior than animals as Quran says in

Furqan, 44. Thanking bless-giver for what

he gives us is the first and the most

important duty of people: logically it is

obligatory and it is the strongest deterrent

against sins, as imam ‘Ali said, even if

God did not warn people about sins, still it

would be obligatory for people to avoid

sins to thank Him.2

2.2. Blessings of God and people’s

eligibility

God out of His Mercy and Kindness

creates everything and gives life to them.

He transformed nothing into a being and

the name of “Creator” is for this.

Therefore, talking about eligibility of a

thing, which used to be nothing, is

meaningless. In addition, for this reason

God does not owe anyone. Anytime that

He wills, He can get back whatever He

gives. Because when He gives away, it is

not because He owes to anyone but as He

desires. This is justice. If we put it another

way, we can say human beings during

their lifetime are enjoying various

blessings of God to the extent that they

can not count them.3Therefore no matter

how much they thank, they can not thank

even one blessing of Him.

Imam Sajjad drew our attention to this

truth in various prays of Sahifah

Sajjadiyah. For example, this phrase at the

start of Ramadan entrance pray:

Thou art kind without the servants’ having

done anything to deserve your kindness.

Thy kindness is a new beginning,

Thy pardon gratuitous bounty,

Thy punishment justice, Thy decree a

choice for the best! If Thou bestowest,

Thou stainest not Thy bestowal with

obligation, and if Thou withholdest,

Thou withholdest not in transgression.

Thou showest gratitude to him who thanks

Thee, while Thou hast inspired him to


69

thank Thee. Thou rewardest him who

praises Thee, while though Thou hast

taught him Thy praise.

Thou coverest him whom, if Thou willed,

Thou wouldst expose, and Thou art

generous toward him from whom,

if Thou willed, Thou wouldst withhold.

Both are worthy of Thy exposure and

withholding, but Thou hast founded Thy

acts upon gratuitous bounty, channeled

Thy power into forbearance.

(45th supplication)

Throughout the 37th supplication on giving

thanks he is talking about this truth

eloquently. Its brief is like this:

* O God, no one reaches a limit in

thanking Thee without acquiring that

of Thy beneficence which enjoins upon

him thanksgiving

* nor does anyone reach a degree in

obeying Thee, even if he strives,

without falling short of what Thou

deservest because of Thy bounty.

* The most thankful of Thy servants

has not the capacity to thank Thee,

and the most worshipful of them falls

short of obeying Thee.

* To none of them is due

Thy forgiveness through what he

himself deserves or Thy good pleasure

for his own merit.

* When Thou forgivest someone, it is

through Thy graciousness, and when

Thou art pleased with someone, it is

through Thy bounty.

* Thou showest gratitude for the

paltry for which Thou showest

gratitude and Thou rewardest the

small act in which Thou art obeyed,

so that it seems as if Thy servants'

thanksgiving for which Thou hast

made incumbent their reward and

made great their repayment

is an affair from which they could

have held back without Thee,

and hence Thou wilt recompense them,

and whose cause is not in Thy hand,

and hence Thou wilt repay them.(37th

supplication)

Similar to this content has come in prayers

7, 10,13,16,51.

2.3. Fear and hope

The exact meaning of fear (khuf) - against

its usual translation- is lack of security.

The word khuf has never been used as an

antonym of bravery which we can

translate it as fear; it is generally used

against security and it is the antonym of

Rija (hope).

In its explanation we say, it becomes clear

that God does not owe anyone anything so

at any moment He desires, He can forfeit

whatever He gives. Therefore, a wise


70

person should see himself subject to this

forfeiting. Anyone who enjoys the

sweetness of God’s blessings is always

fearful and feels unsecured so he is serious

in the way of worship. On the other hand,

kindness of God is a truth which keeps the

door of hope opened in front of human

beings even when he is on the way of sin.4

Bearing this in our mind will keep us

wandering between these two feelings

which both are signs of being servant of

God. The constructive results of this

attention in training of human beings are

significant.

Imam Sajjad in supplication 39 about

asking forgiveness said that human beings

should not be hopeless of salvation which

is from Qunut (absolute hopelessness)

which is of cardinal sins and should not be

hopeful of salvation due to his good deeds;

a good worshipper finds his good deeds

worthless comparing his bad actions,

especially in front of God whose faithful

servants are not arrogant by looking at

their good deeds ,and vicious people

should not be hopeless by looking at their

black report card.(prayer 39)

It is important to say the words like bad

action or crime in these expressions do not

mean cardinal sin or minor sin, but any

shortcoming in thanking God, which

human beings even the most pious one

has, is a kind of sin in front of God’s

Greatness and Might. Prophet’s and

imams’ seeking forgiveness from God is

due to this.

2.4. Hope in God’s blessing in all

situation

According to what has been said, there is

no ray of light except the blessing of God,

“the God whose forgiveness is more than

His Torture, and His Satisfaction is above

His Rage.” (prayer 12) God whose

“blessings outspeeds His Anger and His

giving is more than His forbiddance, and

creatures all are in His territory.”(prayer

16)

God who “thanks the tiniest good deed

done for Him and gives great reward for

it. He gets very close to anyone who takes

a step towards Him, the One who invites

those who are running away from His

threshold, the One who fulfill good deeds

but ignores bad deeds of His servants and

forgives them.(prayer 46)

2.5. Trusting divine grace

The helping Hand of God always helps

human beings to support him against great

enemies like Satan and his army from

outside, and lust and sinful wishes from

inside. In this way, the blessing of divine

grace can surround human beings. Now

this is human being who can choose divine

grace willingly to move towards

perfection or ignore it and rush towards

lust and carnal soul. God always blesses

human beings and ignores his evil actions.

But in some cases He withholds this kind

of help to make human beings fight the

mentioned enemies by the help of inside

warnings of ‘Aql (reason), Prophets and


71

infallibles. In this case, i.e. the situation of

blessing-stoppage, human beings will be

subjected of خذلن (i.e. God refers him to

the primary warnings, the warnings which

anyone is not deprived of. The point is this

blessing is an extra favor, added to two

inside and outside proofs. This extra favor

due to the strength of enemies’ power is

essential to follow path of perfection. It is

inferred from imam Sajjad who said, if

God leaves mankind with himself and his

desire, naturally, he chooses carnal

desires, and these desires will go towards

wrongness unless God blesses mankind

with guidance.(prayer 9)

This expression is an explanation on the

verse

وء إله ما رحم ربيإنه النهفس ألمه ارة بالس

Surely, the soul incites to evil except to

whom my Lord has mercy (12:53)

Which opens doors to training of human

beings which they should always be

hopeful meanwhile do not see themselves

needless of God as Quran states openly

نسان ليطغى كله إنه ال

أن رآه استغنى

Indeed, surely the human is very

insolent, that he sees himself

sufficed.(96: 6,7)

Rebellion of human beings is the result of

feeling needlessness of God while pure

relying on God’s blessing and divine grace

prevent mankind of falling into this abyss

of nullity.

2.6. Trusting God

The eternal call of Quran is this:

فليتو ل المؤمنون على للاه كه

In Allah believers put all their

trust.(3:122)

لون ل المتوك فليتوكه على للاه

In Allah, let all who trust place their trust.

(14:12)

As we have seen no one has anything from

himself. All are what God gives them for a

short time and anytime He wants, he can

get them. Therefore all people are poor

and needy:

هو الغني وللاه الحميديا أيها النهاس أنتم الفقراء إلى للاه

إن يشأ يذهبكم ويأت بخلق جديد

بعزيز وما ذلك على للاه

“People, it is you who are in need of

Allah. He is the Rich, the Praised. He

can put you away, if He will, and bring a

new creation this is not a great matter for

Allah.” (35:15-17)

This view point towards creatures draws

our attention towards the Creator, it causes

mankind does not put his hope in creatures

but stares at the spring of all abilities ,

all contents of prayer 28 of Sahifah


72

Sajjadiyah include this meaning. This

prayer talks about:

Servants of God and in fact all creatures

are in continuous need of God and are not

needless of His blessings. Therefore

hoping in the help of a needy person

(other creatures) is far from sound mind

and is out of ignorance.

It is because of the previously mentioned

reason that anyone who asks for grace and

prosperity from anyone except God will

end up in humiliation. Witnessing

examples in this regard is the best eye

opening lesson which helps choosing the

best way in life.

No one should be as equal as God in our

eyes in putting our hope in. Our prayers

should not be addressed to anyone but

God.

The result of faith in the Unity of God is

this; we should see any ability from Him.

A servant who is blessed sometimes and

who is punished sometimes and goes

through various states of feeling does not

deserve to have the same place as God

deserves. As God is far from any partner,

any counterpart, etc.

The expressions of this prayer enjoy their

special combinations which are emotional

and logical at the same time. They are

similar to the wheels of an exact and

useful system, leading us to the meaning

of true worship. Due to this Imam Sajjad

asked God to donate him with “honesty in

his trust”, the assurance of assured people

of the presence of God”, and “the trust of

true faithful ones in God”. (Prayer 54)

END NOTES:

1Bihar al-Anwar 66: 375

2 Nahj al-Balaghah, words of wisdom, n. 290

3 Surah Ibrahim, 34; Nahl, 18.

4 Bihar al-Anwar, vol.70, pp.323-401

73

Martyrdom in the Shia Culture

Abdul Javad Falaturi

Summarized and translated by Hamid Farnagh

Abstract

In the Shia tradition there is a continuous legacy of martyrdom, from the belief that

Islamic history was derailed when political power passed out of the hands of the holy

Prophet Muhammad’s family (p.b.u.t) in the 7th century.1

The Shias believe that Imam Ali b. Abi Talib (p.b.u.h), the cousin, companion, and son-

in-law of the holy Prophet (p.b.u.h) was the only rightful successor to him, and that

Imam Ali’s specified descendents were the rightful heirs to the leadership of the Muslim

community.

Key word

Martyrdom (shahadat)


74

During the Umayyad and Abbasid

Dynasties, Islamic scholars and

intellectuals who supported the rights of

the holy Prophet’s family and descendants

(p.b.u.t), were frustrated at their treatment

and frequent assassination and tended to

expand upon their martyrdom. These

works became very important in the Shia

literature and helped to delineate it as

distinct from Sunni conceptions of

martyrdom.

An excellent example of this veneration of

Shia martyrs is found in the writings of

Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (d. 967), which

captured the suffering of the Prophet’s

descendants. Although he himself was not

a Shia, his martyrology of the descendants

of the Prophet included the stories of 189

family members killed by the time of its

publishing.2 The power conveyed by the

stories of these martyrs has provided

significant propaganda for the Shia

community throughout the centuries and

ensured that martyrdom is an essential part

of their belief system and history. It is

difficult for a non-Muslim to grasp the

power and depth of feeling shahadat

(martyrdom) wields in Shia Islam, so

perhaps it is best to let one of them

attempt to describe it:

The story of shahadat and that shahadat

challenges is so sensitive, so exciting

that it pulls the spirit toward the fire. It

paralyzes logic, It weakens speech, It

even makes thinking difficult. Shahadat

is a mixture of a refined love and a

deep, complex wisdom. One cannot

express these two at the same time and

so, one cannot do them justice.3

The first great martyr venerated in Shia

Islam is Imam Ali b. Abi Talib, who

became the fourth Caliph (656–61) after

the assassination of ‘Uthman. Imam Ali

(p.b.u.h) won many battles as Caliph, but

when the battle of Seffin in 657, against

the Syrians ended in a draw, he had to

agree to a process of arbitration. This

greatly angered those who would become

known as the Kharijites (Khawarij), who

believed that by agreeing to a process of

arbitration, Imam Ali had denied God’s

will to be expressed on the battlefield.

Imam was forced to fight the Khawaraj at

the Battle of Nahrawan in 658, where he

defeated them. Relatives of the Kharajites

who were killed by Imam Ali’s forces at

Nahrawan, longed for revenge against

him, and the daughter of one of the

deceased convinced a man to assassinate

Imam ‘Ali (p.b.u.h) in return for her hand

in marriage. In 661, the new husband

assassinated Ali with a poisoned sword

while Imam was leading a worship service

in Kufa (present day Iraq). The symbolism

of Ali’s death is very powerful ,with his

being assassinated as he was praying and

reciting from the Quran at the time of his

attack.4

The assassin is said to have recited Quran

2:207 as he killed ‘Ali: “And of the people

is he who sells himself, seeking means to

the approval of Allah. And Allah is kind to


75

[His] servants.” The assassin’s quote of

this particular verse is worth noting

because this same verse is used in modern

times to help justify suicide bombing

attacks.

As significant as the martyrdom of Imam

Ali is the martyrdom of his younger son,

Imam al-Husayn in Karbala, in Iraq in

680. After Ali’s death in 661,his elder son,

Imam al-Hasan (p.b.u.h), agreed to let the

governor of Syria , Mu‘awiya b. Abi

Sufyan, take the caliphate and the

unchallenged political rule of the Muslim

world. Although those who would later

become Shia considered Imam al-Hasan to

be their true Imam.5

Imam Al-Hasan died a short time later and

the Shia recognized his younger brother,

Imam al-Husayn, as their new Imam.

Imam Husayn remained mostly quiet in

Medina, until Mu‘awiya’s death in 680.

Before his death, Mu‘awiya, proclaimed

his son, Yazid, as the new Caliph .Yazid

had many problems including being a

womanizer, prone to corruption, and

publicly drinking alcohol. Accepting an

invitation from the citizens of Kufa to

organize forces to overthrow the

problematic Yazid, Imam Husayn

(p.b.u.h) left Medina with his family and

only a small band of supporters despite

warnings of the extreme danger from

many, including surviving Companions of

the Prophet. Husayn was very aware of the

dangers. He publicly stated to the Muslims

in Mecca that he knew he would be

martyred and that they should also offer

their lives in “the path of God.”6

The Umayyad governor, viewed this

relocation as a threat and dispatched

troops to find Imam Husayn’s party. The

Umayyad troops found him and his party

on the Euphrates River in Karbala, Iraq,

on the 10th of Muharram, or Ashura in the

Muslim hijri calendar) and prevented them

from getting water. Slowly dying of

dehydration, the Ummayad troops killed

members of Imam Husayn’s group ,one by

one, including all of his family except one

son. Imam (p.b.u.h) was witness to all of

this, as he was one of the last to die,

fighting nobly to the end, to obtain water

for the women and non-combatants and

caring for his fallen children.7

According to the Muslim historian Tabari,

the night before his death, Imam Husayn

gave the following speech:

You see what this matter has come to.

Indeed, the world has changed, and it

has changed for the worse. Its goodness

has retreated, and it regards good as

bitter. There remain only the dregs, like

the dregs in a jar, sordid nourishment

like unhealthy fodder. Can you not see

that truth is no longer something that

men practice, and falsehood is no longer

desisted from? So that the believer

rightly desires to meet God? I can only

regard death as martyrdom, and life

with these oppressors as a tribulation.8


76

Husayn’s belief that martyrdom was his

only option in the face of the oppression

and tyranny of the corrupt Yazid defines

how Shias came to view jihad and

martyrdom. Imam Husayn (p.b.u.h) was

not a battlefield dead; he knew he was

going to be killed before he left Medina,

but risking death was something he

thought long about, and decided to do

anyway because it was the righteous thing

to do. Once surrounded and under siege,

he rejected the offers of compromise by

Yazid’s governor that would have allowed

him to live, as compromising with evil

was not an acceptable option. Husayn and

all of his fighters were massacred, their

bodies trampled by horses, and their heads

severed and mounted on lances in a grim

procession that left Karbala for Kufa.

Eventually, his head was delivered to

Yazid in Damascus.

Navid Kermani eloquently describes the

humiliating effect the brutal murder of

Husayn and the desecration of his body

had on the Shia:

The humiliation of the murdered son-in-

law of the Prophet, perpetrated –out of all

people – by the leader of the Umayyads,

the most fervent opponents of the Prophet,

constitutes more than a shame to those

defeated [by the Umayyads]. It represents

the restoration of the pre-Islamic rule of

the nobility that Islam seemed to have

done away with. The fact that, in the

following year, Yazid ordered a three-day

massacre in Medina, and a year later the

destruction of the Kaba, completes the

picture of the usurpation…To the Shia, the

betrayal of everything that Muhammad

represented by divine decree…is the

original event upon which they interpret

the entire subsequent and failed history of

Islam, which has been stolen by the

Sunnis—the Fall of man as a historical

event.9

While virtually all Muslims are horrified

at what happened to al-Husayn and his

family, among Shias the horror is

transformed into guilt, sorrow, and an

extreme focus on mourning that is

reminiscent of how some Christians view

the death of Jesus.10

The Shias often refer to Husayn as As-

Sayyid al-Shuhada (The Master of the

Martyrs) and use Husayn as a baseline to

compare all other acts of martyrdom.11

This obsession with mourning for the

martyrdom of al-Husayn, and the rituals

associated with its commemoration during

the ‘Ashura, form a part of the chasm that

divides the two main sects of Islam.

Another theological difference between

Shia and Sunni Islam that affects their

understanding of martyrdom is regarding

when and how to wage jihad. Specifically,

Shias believe that jihad can only be

doctrinally launched under the leadership

of the rightful (infallible, Ma’soum)

Imam. Since the twelfth Imam entered

occultation in 873, this poses a problem,

since only the Imam was infallible enough

to judge when jihad should be waged. But


77

this ideology has not always been adhered

to; for example, some prominent Shia

‘Ulama during the Safavid Empire (1502–

1779) supported the Safavid kings’ claims

that they had authority to reign as just

kings, and that all of the judicial functions,

including declaring a defensive military

jihad, could be performed by the ‘Ulama.

This was a little change from the previous

Shia tradition of withdrawal, which was

only made possible by Shia Islam

becoming the official religion of the

Safavid Empire.12

Later, during the Qajar period in Iran,

Shaikh Ja’far Kashif al-Ghita (1812)

proclaimed that the mujtahids (scholars

authorized to infer legal rulings) had the

duty to defend Islam by declaring

defensive jihad during the occultation.13

The ‘Ulama declared a defensive jihad in

1804 against the invading Russian army,

but after that, the ‘Ulama practiced

quietism and mostly avoided politics until

the 1960s. However, there was not, nor

has there ever been consensus amongst

Shia scholars on who has the authority to

declare jihad. Though the predominant

contemporary view is that no one may

fulfill the whole responsibilities of the

Imam in his absence (including the

declaring of jihad).It is interesting to note

that during the Iran-Iraq war, the leaders

of Iran, who were prominent Shia

scholars, avoided using the term jihad,

even though it was clearly a defensive

war.14

The specific differences in Shia martyrs

like Imam Husayn (p.b.u.h) are

informative for illustrating why the

concept of martyrdom developed

differently over the centuries in Sunni and

Shia Islam. For Sunnis, who form the

majority population and historically were

in charge of the Muslim caliphate,

martyrdom was typically a choice to fight,

a victory and death in a fight against non-

Muslims. For Shias, a persecuted

minority, martyrdom was usually imposed

upon them, and almost always by other

Muslims! These historical

differences may help explain critical

contemporary differences in how Sunnis

and Shias views. While contemporary

Sunni literature and videos go to great

lengths to quantify and glorify the rewards

for martyrdom, validating an individual’s

choice, there are no comparable materials

in the Shia Islam. In Shia history,

martyrdom was not an option but

something that was imposed, so there was

no need to justify an individual’s choice.

These differences will be important during

the analysis of the most common

contemporary expression of martyrdom in

Isis suicide bombings.


78

References

1- Martin Kramer, "Hizbullah: The Calculus of Jihad," in Fundamentalisms and the State, eds. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1993), 540.

2- Cook, Martyrdom in Islam, 52–43.

3- Shari’ati ‘Ali,Kavir , 154.

4- Cook, Martyrdom in Islam,p.5

5- Cook, Martyrdom in Islam,p.55.

6- Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai, Shia Islam 197–200 (Sayyid Hossein Nasr ed.& trans., 2d ed., State University of New York Press 1977) (1975), as quoted by Freamon, Martyrdom, Suicide, and the Islamic Law of War: A Short Legal History, 329. 7- Cook, Martyrdom in Islam,pp.56–57.

8 Tabari, The History of Tabari: The Caliphate of Yazid b. Mu’awiya ,96 (I.K.A. Howard ed. & trans., 1990), as quoted by Freamon, Martyrdom, Suicide, and the Islamic Law of War: A Short Legal History, 329–30.

9- Dynamit des Geistes: Martyrium, Islam und Nihilismus (Gottingen, Germany: Wallstein Verlag, 2002), 12. German Translated by Moghadam, in "Mayhem, Myths, and Martyrdom: The Shia Conception of Jihad," 130.

10- Cook, Martyrdom in Islam, 58.

11- ‘Ali Shari'ati, "A Discussion of Shahid," in Jihad and Shahadat, eds. Mehdi Abedi and Gary Legenhausen (North Haledon,

NJ: Islamic Publications International, 1986), 230–243., 239.

12- Freamon, Martyrdom, Suicide, and the Islamic Law of War: A Short Legal History, 333.

13- Moghadam, Mayhem, Myths, and Martyrdom: The Shia Conception of Jihad, 131.

14- Abedi et al, Jihad and Shahadat: Struggle and Martyrdom in Islam, 19. Moghadam, Mayhem,

Myths, and Martyrdom: The Shia Conception of Jihad, 125–143, 132.

79

Commercial and Financial Management

Ayatullah Mohammad Mahdi Shamsuddin

Abstract

The general ideas of Islam is respecting freedom in commerce as long as it is in the

framework of religion and in accordance with non interference of rulership excepting the

forbidden issue.

Prophet of Islam in his time while controlled the market but never interfere it and

respected free market.

Key words

National ownership, controlling market, Prohibiting hoarding


80

Islam sets the following principles for

commercial and financial affairs:

1. Respecting private ownership as long as

they are legal.

2. Free market, freedom in producing, and

freedom in trades.

3. Commitment to promises and treaties

4. Forbiddance of unpayed-laborship and

respecting labors.

Islam also sets laws and regulations for

private ownership and trades usual in

business, farming and etc.:

1.Forbiddance of some activities and some

financial trades

2.Forbiddance of buying and selling some

goods

3.Forbiddance of usury

4.Forbiddance of hoarding

NATIONAL OWNERSHIP:

Land, water, farm, jungle, mines, seas, …

are controlled by central authority, i.e. the

Prophet.

The general ideas of Islam is respecting

freedom in commerce as long as it is in the

framework of religion and noninterference

of rulership (except for the forbidden

issues which government should interfere

to stop them). But in exceptional cases or

catastrophic events like war or natural

disaster society and Islamic nation should

be supported by government or public

associations to prohibit more economical

and social tragedies.

Surely the lifestyle of Prophet in terms of

Islamic management and financial issues

at his time was in accordance with

economical freedom, and supply and

demand rules.

The holy Prophet did not leave

economical activities of his time

uncontrolled. From Prophet’s traditions it

becomes clear that Islamic management

controlled two domains in commerce.

1.Controlling market

2.Prevention of hoarding

First: controlling market:

Tabarani said, Prophet chose a place for

market of Medina and said,

1نعم سوقکم هذا، فل ينقض، و ل يضربن عليکم خراج.

It seems that the word خراج (kharaj= tax)

refers to tax on the profits. It can be

understood from this tradition that market

is one of the public places and all society

benefits from it gratuitously, also it can be

concluded from this tradition that Islamic

management should be directed to

encourage commercial trades and

comfortable access to goods without

adding heavy taxes to the price of goods.

From different traditions it can be realized

that in some situations even Prophet

controlled the market.2

Prophet’s biography recorders wrote that

the Prophet of God appointed ‘Umar as his

Commercial and Financial Management

81

agent for Medina’s markets and Said ibn

Said ibn al-‘As for Mecca’s markets.3

In the book “al-Isabah”, in the biography

of Al-Shifa, the mother of Sulayman ibn

Abi Hatmah, it is written, the holy Prophet

gave control of a part of market to Shifa.4

It seems that Prophet appointed women to

control women sellers to prohibit any

abuse of them.

Bukhari narrated from Salim who said,

those who sold food with expensive price

were punished physically…5 from these

traditions we can understand that market

was supervised by government lest trades

be unfair. In case of necessity, opponents

were warned or punished. …

Second: Prohibiting hoarding

Regarding hoarding, its forbiddance, and

in its blame, quite a few number of

traditions reached us. The issue of

hoarding was common from post-

prophethood in Medina and other Islamic

cities. It happened during Prophet’s life

time several times; for example Hakim ibn

Hazam was one of the hoarders.

Population growth due to migration and

centrality of Medina was occurred;

therefore, the increase in number of people

paved the way for hoarders to hide food

supplies like oil, date, wheat, etc. Scarcity

of food supplies helped hoarders to sell

them with expensive prices. But any seller

who hesitated to sell food supplies in real

price was sued by Prophet. For example in

the letter of Imam ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib to

Malik Ashtar, his agent in Egypt, we read,

Avoid hoarding that the holy Prophet

prohibits it…Try do trade justly and prices

wouldn’t harm seller or shopper. Anyone

who hoards after your warning, punish

him but do not exceed limitations of

punishment.6

It seems that managing market was useful

at that time; because there is no news

shortage of something or economical

problems at his time.

It is mentioned in Sirah of Prophet that

people asked him to suggest prices. Four

traditions have been narrated in this

regard,

1.Mursalah Saduq said, I told Prophet, I

wish you give us the prices, because the

prices fluctuated a lot. He answered,

ما کنت للقی للا ببدعه لم يحدث الی فيها شيئا ، فدعوا

عبادللا ياکل بعضهم من بعض، و اذا استنوحتم

فانوحوا

I would not visit God while I made a

change in His religion while He did not

tell me anything about it. Let the servants

of God be free to earn daily bread,

(trading) each other.[ he did not choose

the price]

2.Tradition of Abu-davood from Abu-

hurayrah,

A man came to Prophet and said, oh the

holy Prophet of God, choose the price!

The holy Prophet said, I will pray.


82

Someone else came and said the same

thing. Prophet said, I hope in the day I

meet God no one is oppressed by me.

3.Tradition of Abu-davood from Anas ibn

Malik. He said, people told oh Prophet!

Prices go up, you give us price. The holy

Prophet said, God is giver, giving relief or

difficulty, He is Supplier, I hope I meet

God while no one of you is oppressed by

me ….

4.Tradition by ibn Majeh from Abu sa’id,

Prices went up at the time of Prophet.

People told, oh the holy Prophet of God, it

could be so good if you price goods. He

replied, I hope the time I depart, none of

you is oppressed by me.

Stance of Prophet about pricing declares

two things:

First: the Islamic decree on free market,

trading and respecting private ownership

and legality of sound competition in usual

conditions.

The Islamic divine law necessitates less

interference of government in social and

individual affair of society.

Second: there is no divine law about

pricing, so it should be decided upon

common sense and to give a price,

economical situation of society,

production cost, and other related

elements should be regarded.

END NOTES:

1 Al-Taratib al-Dariyah, 2/163

2 Tirmidhi from Abu Hurayrah narrated Prophet touched a jug which contained food, his finger got wet; he said, what is inside of it? … Can’t you put it in a bowl where people can see what is inside? Anyone who tricks in trade is not from us. Al-Taratib al-Dariyah, 1/ 284,285

3 ibid, 1/ 286, 287, also Ansab al-Ashraf, 1/251, Sirah ibn Hisham, 1/250, 251

4 Al-Taratib al-Dariyah, 1/285 narrated from al-Isti’ab

5 Al-Taratib al-Dariyah 1/ 55

6 Nahaj, 3/100

83

QADA, QADAR, AND FREE WILL

Reza Berenjkar

Full professor, the University of Tehran


Abstract

Believing in Qada and Qadar and being satisfied with them are of the prerequisites of

being a faithful person; of course human beings are not capable of understanding the

reasons and secrets behind Qada and Qadar. It is obvious that Qada and Qadar discard

Jabr (force) and also do not reject Tafwid. In holy verses of Quran and traditions, Qada

and Qadar have been used in various meanings. Actions of God have procedures of

which are Qadar and Qada. Qadar means determining limits and geometry of something

from different aspects like length, width and persistence. Qada is the decree of God in

fulfilling what He predetermined. Qada and Qadar sometimes have legislative meanings

and sometimes developmental meanings. Legislative Qadar is a religious destination of

human beings deeds and put these actions under 5-fold Ahkams. Creational Qada is

commanding to the religiously ordered Ahkams and also judging good deeds and bad

deeds and giving suitable rewards or punishment. Qadar and developmental Qada in

actions of human beings done willingly mean ability and talents of each person is defined

and is donated to him.

Abstract

Qadar, Qada, taqdir, Legislative Qadar, Takwini (creational) Taqdir


84

From infallible imams’ view points

forcing human beings to commit sins and

then punish them for those very sins is an

oppression. Therefore, we should not

accuse God of forcing human beings to do

actions; in this way, God is not accused of

being unjust.

How is this compatible with Qada and

Qadar? God determines people’s destiny

and deeds. Qada and Qadar include every

thing such as human deeds. Then how can

we reject force (jabr) and know human

beings free? Generally, what do they mean

and are they traceable in human beings

actions?

The present article aims at finding the

answer of this questions in traditions of

infallibles. Of course what we mean here

regarding God’s decision for our lives

limits to human beings actions and not

creating the world and other creatures but

mankind. First it is better to mention some

points about Qada and Qadar.

FAITH AND BELIEF IN QADA AND

QADAR

Infallible leaders introduce believing

Taqdir (predetermined destiny) as one of

the obligatory principles and forbid its

denial. They said this belief is the

prerequisite of believing in God and the

Unity of God and anyone who does not

have this belief, should seek another God.1

Imam ‘Ali said in this regard,

اليمان اربعه ارکان: الرضا بقضا للا، و النوکل علی

للا، و تفويض المر الی للا، و التسليم لمر للا.

“Faith has four pillars: be satisfied with

God’s Qada, trusting Him, leaving affairs

to God, and be submissive towards God’s

order.”2

After facing a catastrophic event, Imam

Sadiq stated,

انا لنحب ان نعافی فی انفسنا و اولدنا و اموالنا. فاذا

ليس لنا ان نحب ما لم يحب للا لنا.وقع القضا ، ف

“We like health for our children, and

ourselves and also security of our wealth.

But when Qada has happened against our

will, we can not desire anything than that

God does not want for us.”3

In a tradition from God, God has said,

من لم يرض بقضايی و لم يومن بقدری، فليلتمس الها

غيری.

“Anyone who is not satisfied with my

Qada and does not believe in my Qadar,

seek a god rather than me.”4

Someone told imam Husayn, Abadhar had

told, “ I like poverty more than wealth and

diseases more than health.” Imam said,

“May God bless Abadhar. But I say,

anyone, who believes in benevolence of

God’s Will, does not like to be in a

situation or state other than what God

wants. To be like this is to be satisfied with

God’s Qada. “5

In brief, in traditions narrated from Ahlul

Bayt the issue of Qada and Qadar is

undeniable and unquestionable issue and

Qada, Qadar and Free Will

85

believing it is obligatory. To be satisfied

with Qada and Qadar is connected to some

concepts like trusting God and being

surrounded in front of Him. This truth is

one of the bases of religious and Islamic

morality, which has ethical and spiritual

impacts.

FORBIDDANCE OF SEARCHING

ABOUT QADA AND QADAR

In some traditions we read that Qada and

Qadar have been described as “God’s

secret”, “ a dark way”, a deep sea”.

Imam ‘Ali was asked about Qadar. Imam

answered,

طريق مظلم فل تسلکوه و بحر عميق فل تلجوه و سر

للا فل تتکلفوه

“It is a dark way, do not put steps in it. It

is a deep sea, do not enter. It is a secret of

God, do not bother yourself to decode it.”6

In a tradition from imam Sadiq we read,

“Anyone who contemplates on Qadar is

similar to one who stares at the sun. The

more he stares, the greater his wonder.”7

Someone asked imam ‘Ali about Qadar.

Imam warned him do not think about it

but he kept insisting, imam said,

“Now that you are insisting, be aware that

Qadar is not forced upon us and [

deciding for all affairs of our destiny does

not ] delegated to us but it is something in

the middle of them.”8

From these traditions, we can conclude

that the depth of Qada and Qadar are not

understandable. Therefore, it should not be

searched about. In addition to it, if it was

necessary to talk about it, they should be

explained in a way that they do not end up

at complete freedom or absolute force.

These two are of things that anyone can

witness in his actions and feels in his

heart.

From the other hand, human beings by

contemplating on his life and actions can

realize there is no absolute freedom. If

human being by relying on his thoughts

only wants to scrutinize this issue,

inevitably he will lean towards force or

freedom.

Imam Sadiq made a good example in this

regard. He said, each person can see the

sun and feel it. But when he stares at it to

see more, he will have headache and feel

dizzy.

THE MEANING OF QADA AND

QADAR

Qada (قضا) literally means fasten, fixing

and finishing something.9 The literal

meaning of Qadar (قدر ) is size and

amount. تقدير [taqdir] means to clarify and

determine amount and limitations of

something.10

In the verses of Quran and traditions, these

two words “Qada and Qadar” have been

used in different meanings.

In a tradition from Imam ‘Ali ten

meanings for Qada and Qadar mentioned

in Quran have been introduced.11 Here that


86

meaning of Qada and Qadar is focused

which is related to human beings actions.

Anything which is made should go

through procedures and prerequisites.

And two significant steps of these

prerequisites and procedures are Qada and

Qadar. Imam Musa Kazim was asked

about Qadar. He replied,

لشی من طوله و عرضه.تقدير ا

“Qadar is measuring width and length of

something.”12

هو الهندسه من الطول و العرض و البقا.

“Qadar is measuring width, length and

durability of something.13

Imam Rida said in this regard,

هو وضع الحدود من الجال و الرزاق و البقا و الفنا.

“It is determining limitations of something

in terms of end points, daily bread, the

extent of lifetime and death point.”14

Therefore, before God takes an action and

creates something, He determines the

features of His creation from all aspects.

All creatures have their own specific

limitations. God states in holy Quran,

إنها كله شيء خلقناه بقدر

“Indeed, We have created all things

according to a measure.” 54:49

ا لكل شيء قدر قد جعل للاه

“Indeed, Allah brings about whatever He

decrees. Allah has set a measure for all

things.” 65:3

كل شيء عنده بمقدار

“And everything with Him has its

measure.” 13:8

Each creature has its own limitations. In

fact having limitation is in the essence of

being a creature. But determining Qadar,

i.e. creatures’ limitations from various

aspects like length, width, height,

durability, is of God’s Acts which is called

Taqdir (تقدير). Qada means God’s

Command to get something done or

creates something. When God determines

limitations and size of everything, creates

it and eventually that thing finds existence.

As we can infer Qadar is prior to Qada. It

means God firstly determines size and

features of something and then creates it.

Therefore, Qadar should be studied before

Qada. It is better to say “Qadar and Qada”

instead of “Qada and Qadar”. In the

following, we will talk about them and

their relationship with free will of human

beings.

TYPES OF QADAR AND QADA

Qadar and Qada, when are mentioned

regarding human beings free will, both are

used in legislative meaning and creational

meaning. Therefore, we have four issues

ahead: legislative Qadar, creational-bound

Qada, legislative Qada, creational Qadar.

LEGISLATIVE QADR AND QADA

Legislative Qadar for deliberate actions of

human beings means God has determined

and measured actions religious-wise ( has


87

determined what they should do and not

do if they are religious). According to this,

all actions done due to free will can be

divided into these groups: obligatory

([wajib]واجب) , Forbidden ( حرام [ haram]),

recommended (مستحب[mustahab]),

discouraged ( مکروه[ makruh]), permitted (

Another aspect of this kind .([mubah ]مباح

of Qadar says this is God Who determines

amount of human beings rewards or

punishments.

Legislative Qadar means judging upon

those determined legislative laws and

setting suitable reward or punishment in

return for people’s deeds. A person asked

imam ‘Ali about Qadaand Qadar; he

answered,

المر بالطاعه و النهی عن المعويه ... الوعد و الوعيد

و الترغيب و الترهيب

“Qadaand Qadar mean ordering to obey

God and forbidding sins, glad tidings of

reward, and threatens of being tortured,

[they mean] encouragement and

warning”.15

Imam Rida explained about Qada,

الحکم عليهم بما يستحقونه علی افعالهم، من الثواب و

العقاب، فی الدنيا و الخره

“Qada means judgment in order to give

rewards or punishment which human

beings deserve in return for their deeds in

this world and hereafter.”16

Therefore, accepting Qadar and Qada

means accepting prophethood and divine

law. In another word, God has sent

prophets to convey law of God, clarify

does and don’ts, and lead the path to

salvation. And He (God) in return for

human beings actions determines rewards

and punishment.

It is clear that this meaning of Qada and

Qadar do not force human beings to take

action. Accepting this truth is of

necessities of each religion including

Islam. Because in all divine religions we

have laws, obligatory duties, forbidden

issues, punishment and rewards.

Against belief in Qadar and Qada, there is

another belief which is Tafwid. It means

all deeds of human beings are allowed and

God leaves mankinds to themselves

without setting laws for them. in another

words, tafwid is denying any

responsibility. Tafwid in divine legislation

means humankind are responsible and

they do not need any law or regulation.

Accordingly, Tafwid regarding divine

legislation will result in denying

prophethood. And in the opposite, divine

legislation-Qadar and Qada will result in

accepting divine regulations and divine

religions.

TAKWINI QADAR AND QADA AND ITS

RELATIONSHIP WITH FREE WILL OF

HUMAN BEINGS

Takwini (creational) Taqdir

(predetermined destiny) regarding human

beings free deeds means God has given

this free will (of choosing his actions and

performing them) to human beings. This


88

potentiality is limited by some issues and

to a pre-determined extent.

Human beings have limitations like

personal, situational or social limitations

which is due to Takwini (creational)

Taqdir (predetermined destiny). Making

these limitations and setting them are

resulted from Takwini (creational) Qada

of God.

On the other hand, this limited power and

freedom do not delegate to human beings

in price of God’s powerlessness over

human beings’ affairs, as God is the

Owner. Therefore, whenever He wants He

could take it back, limit its impacts, or

increase or decrease it.

In fact, human beings can not put their

free will into action unless by God’s

permission. Human deeds can put into

practice if God does not hinder its

happening and signs it. If God allows then

human beings could act freely in the realm

of his given freedom and in return for his

actions, they will be punished or praised.

Thus Takwini (creational) Qadar and

Qadawill reject total freedom in the

creation system. It regards God’s

overcome in all affairs. This is not,

though, in contrast with human beings free

will.

Now we refer to some proofs from Quran

and traditions:

God Almighty states in Quran,

رب العالمين وما تشاءون إله أن يشاء للاه

“But you shall not, unless Allah wills, the

Lord of all the Worlds.” (81:29)

Imam Sadiq said,

فما امرهم به من شی ، فقد جعل لهم السبيل الی الخذ

به. و ما نهاهم عنه من شی فقد جعل لهم السبيل الی

ترکه. و ل يکونوا آخذين و ل تارکين، ال باذن للا.

“[ If someone does not want to do what

God has ordered, or if someone wants to

do according what God has ordered ] God

opens a way towards them [ to do or not

to take God’s order] but human beings

can get things done or left by His Will.”17

Imam Rida said,

ان للا عزوجل لم يطع باکراه، و لم يعص بغلبه، و لم

يهمل العباد فی ملکه. هو المالک لما ملکهم، و القادر

علی ما اقدرهم عليه. فان ائمر العباد بطاعته، لم يکن

للا عنها صادا و ل منها مانعا. و ان ائتمروا بمعويه،

فشا ان يحول بينهم و بين ذلک، فعل. و ان لم يحل و

وه، فليس هو الذی ادخلهم فيه. فعل

“God does not force His servants to obey

Him. Disobedience of servants also does

not mean their domination to God. God

does not leave His servants to themselves.

He Himself is the Owner of whomever He

gives ownership to. He has power to

whatever He gives its power to people. If

people decide to obey God, he would not

stop them. But if they decide to disobey, it

depends on God’s decision. If He wants,

He will hinder, but if he doesn’t and

people commit sins, [it was not Him Who

force them ] He does not force them to

commit sin.”18


89

In a tradition from imam Sadiq, it is

narrated,

“People hold three views regarding

Qadar. A group who thinks God forces

them to act wrongly. This group knew God

as an Oppressor so they are Kafir

(pagan). A group who thinks everything is

at their control. They know God weak in

His kingship, so they are kafir (pagan). A

group who believes God expects them to

do what they have ability and power for.

So if they carry out good deeds, they thank

God and if they perform wrongly, they ask

for forgiveness. These are the men of

submission ( to God) who find God.”19

In conclusion we can say, the most

important issue regarding Qadar and Qada

are as follows: the freedom of human

being in his actions, and God’s decision

regarding amount of his daily bread, his

longevity, and death time can be changed

by God’s Will and it does not mean when

something is predetermined it is

unchangeable.

END NOTES:

1Tuhid Saduq, p.279; Al-Khisal, vol.1, pp.198,203,338-350; Kanzul Ummal, vol.1, p.139, no.661

2Usul Kafi, vol.2,p.56

3Usul Kafi, vol.3, p.226

4Tuhid Saduq, p. 371; ‘Uyun Akhbar al-Rida, vol.1, p.141

5Ta’liqat Ihqaq al-Haq, vol.11, p.591

6Nahjul Balaghah, hikmah, 287

7Jami’ Bayan al-‘Ilm, p.418

8Kanzul ‘Ummal, vol.1, p.349, no.1567

9Al-Sihah, vol.6, p.2463; Mu’jam Maqaiis al-Lughah, vol.5, p.62

10Al-Sihah, vol.2,p.786; Al-Misbah al-Munir, p.492; Mu’jam Maqaiis, vol.5,p.62

11Bihar, vol.93,p.18; refer to Bihar, vol.5, p.124, no. 73

12Usul Kafi, vol.1,p.150

13Al-Mahasin,p.380

14Tafsir Qumi, vol.1,p.24

15Al-Ihtijaj, vol.1, p.492, no. 121; refer to. Tuhid Saduq, p.384; Musannafat al-Sheikh al-Mufid, vol.5, p.56

16 ‘Uyun Akhbar Al-Rida, vol.1, p.124, no.17

17Tuhid Saduq, p.359

18 Ibid, p.361

19 Ibid, p.360

90

Review of

“Najaf: The Gate of Wisdom”

Y. Tabbaa, and S. Mervin, (Paris: UNESCO, 2014).

By Dr. Muhammad-Reza Fakhr-Rohani

University of Qom

Article acceptance date: Nov. 2016

The book “Najaf: the gate of Wisdom” which is about one of the most sacred cities in the

world includes 120 pictures and is written by the individuals who have the first-hand

experiences about this city.

The review of this precious book has been carried out by one of the knowledgeable

people in the realm of Islamic works. Following you can find the review.


91

Throughout the Muslim shrine cities,

Najaf is outstanding in that it has since

enshrined the body of the first Infallible

Imam Ali. Certainly Najaf has had many

other things that have made it so

prominent in the world.

The present writer, in fact reviewer, has

recently conducted an interview in Najaf

with Dr. Sayyid Hasan al-Hakim, a

prolific historian of Najaf who is

mentioned in the book. The story goes

back to a time when he delivered a couple

of talks in Paris where the French expert

of Shiite world, Dr. Sabrina Mervin, was

prompted to follow up the line. "One day I

noticed Dr. Sabrina Mervin at the gate of

my house in Najaf." said Dr. al-Hakim.

The result of a series of academic

investigations found expression in a book

published simultaneously in Arabic and

English.

The book under review deals with Najaf

from various perspectives. It tackles the

history of Najaf in Islam, and the

significance of its unique status in Islamic

history. To do so, the story starts with

Kufa, now adjacent to Najaf. It gives a

thorough topographical description of the

region in general and Najaf in specific.

The book also deals with the centuries-

long academic status of Najaf. Since the

migration of Sheikh al-Tusi from Baghdad

to Najaf, the city has been the main seat of

Shiite religious scholarship and has

attracted scholars from here and there.

Although the ex-Ba‘athist regime proved a

hard blow on it, it has gained momentum

to acquire its former religio-academic

prominence.

The book also deals with the fervent Shiite

rituals held in Najaf, especially during

Muharram. Not that different from similar

rituals held in Karbala, Najaf shows the

full vigor and zeal of ardent Shiites who

make the populace of the city. The city has

also been a focal point for Iranian and

other pilgrims who take pride in spending

a few days there in their pilgrimage to

Iraqi shrine cities.

Thought not an encyclopedia of Najaf, the

book under review proves a good point of

departure for those who wish to gain

considerable knowledge of the main gate

of Shiite world. This is a promising step,

and it is necessary for other Shiite shrine

cities, mainly in Iraq and Iran, to receive

such worthwhile contributions.

92

Safinah al-nejat 1 EDITORIAL ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5

THE WILL OF ALLAH AND OUR DESTINY/MAJD ................................................................................................................ 7

A LOOK AT THE MIRACULOUS ASPECT OF QURAN/PAHLAVAN ..................................................................................... 23

BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP/MARDANSHAHI .................................................................................................. 31

AN APPROACH BY NAHJ AL-BALĀGHAH/SABOUHI ........................................................................................................ 42

IMĀMAT AND NAHJ AL-BALĀGHAH/QANDEHARI ......................................................................................................... 49

DU’Ā/BIABANI OSKOUEI ................................................................................................................................................ 58

TRANSLATION OF THĀR AND THĀR ALLĀH/FAKHR ROHANI ......................................................................................... 67

RAḤMAT-I WĀSIʽAH: BAYĀN-I RAḤMAT-I WĀSIʽAH-YI KHUDĀ, ḤAḌRAT-I SAYYID AL-SHUHADĀ’ ʽALAYH AL-SALĀM/FAKHR

ROHANI .......................................................................................................................................................................... 73

ḤIKMAH/BERENJKAR ..................................................................................................................................................... 78

RELIGION AND GLOBALIZATION/FALATURI ................................................................................................................... 87

Safinah al-nejat 2

EDITORIAL ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5

THE WILL OF ALLAH AND OUR DESTINY/ VAHID MAJD ................................................................................................... 7

THE ROLE OF INFALLIBLES’ TRADITIONS IN QURAN INTERPRETATION/ ALI NAQI KHODAYARI .................................... 22

QURANIC CULTURE AND FINANCIAL SUBJECTS/NAHLA GHARAVI NAEENI ................................................................... 42

THE ESSENCE OF LOGIC;LOGIC AND VAHI DISCREPANCY/RIZA BERENJKAR .................................................................. 56

THE VERSES OF SURAH TAHRIM USED IN SAHIFAH SAJJADIYAH/MANSOUREH SHAHSAVAN ...................................... 64

THE RELIGIOUS CHILD-REARING PRACTICES/ NARGES SHAHRI ..................................................................................... 81

DIVINE PROMISE, DIVINE MAN AND DIVINE DAY/ ALI RIZA GHAVIDEL ........................................................................ 87

Safinah al—nejat 3

EDITORIAL ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5

THE WILL OF ALLAH AND OUR DESTINY/VAHID MAJD ..................................................................................................... 8

THE LOGIC OF EXPRESSING “SALAAM” UNTO IMAM AL-HUSAYN/MUHAMMAD-RIZAFAKHR-ROHANI……………………….20

IBN SA’AD, AHL HADITH’S VIEW POINT TO THE HISTORY OF THE BEGINNING OF ISLAM/MUHAMMADALI KAZIM BEYKI/

MUSTAFA GUHARI FAKHRABAD ...................................................................................................................................... 23

EFFECTIVE FACTORS IN RELIGIOUS CHILD REARING/ NARGES SHAHRI .......................................................................... 35

AN EXPLANATION ON THE 42ND SUPPLICATION OF SAHIFAH SAJJADIYAH/AHMADRIZA GHAEE ................................... 47

A REFLECTION ON ZIYARAH OF HOLY SHRINES AS A LOGICAL RELIGIOUS MANNER/HASAN TAROUMI ....................... 60

PROPHET’S BRUTALITY ACCUSATION/YAQUBALI BURJI ................................................................................................. 64

HIKMAH/REASON AND REASON GNOSIS FROM IMAM ALI VIEW POINT/RIZABERENJKAR…………………………………………72

Safinah al-nejat 4

EDITORIAL ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5

THE WILL OF ALLAH AND OUR DESTINY ........................................................................................................................... 7

ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURE OF STATEMENTS ASKING FOR REPENTANCE IN THE QURANIC VERSES AND IMAM SAJJAD’S (A.S)

WORDS IN SAHIFAH SAJJADIYAH ................................................................................................................................... 25

TRANSCENDENTAL PERFECTIONS AND DIVINE RULES IN QURAN ................................................................................. 35

GROWING UP A RELIGIOUS YOUNG ADULT ................................................................................................................... 60

ETHICAL CODE IN SAHIFAH SAJJADIYAH ........................................................................................................................ 65

MARTYRDOM IN THE SHIA CULTURE ............................................................................................................................. 73

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ............................................................................................................. 79

QADA, QADAR, AND FREE WILL ..................................................................................................................................... 83

REVIEW OF NAJAF: THE GATE OF WISDOM .................................................................................................................. 90

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