لطفا منتظر باشید ...
SERMON 226
About a companion who passed away
from this world before the occurrence of troubles.
May Allah reward such and such man (1)
who straightened the curve, cured the disease, abandoned mischief and established the
sunnah. He departed (from this world) with untarnished clothes and little shortcomings. He
achieved good (of this world) and remained safe from its evils. He offered Allah's
obedience and feared Him as He deserved. He went away and left the people in dividing ways
wherein the misled cannot obtain guidance and the guided cannot attain certainty.
(1).
Ibn Abi'l-Hadid has written (in Sharh Nahj al-balaghah, vol. 14, pp. 3-4) that the
reference here is to the second Caliph Umar, and that these sentences have been uttered
in his praise as indicated by the word 'Umar' written under the word 'such and such' in
as-Sayyid ar-Radi's own hand in the manuscript of Nahj al-balaghah written by him. This is
Ibn Abi'l-Hadid's statement, but it is to be seen that if as-Sayyid ar-Radi had written
the word 'Umar' by way of explanation it should have existed, as other explanations by
him have remained, in those versions which have been copied from his manuscript. Even now
there exists in al-Musil (Iraq) university the oldest copy of Nahj al-balaghah written by
the famous calligraphist Yaqut al-Mustasimi; but no one has afforded any clue to this
explanation of as-Sayyid ar-Radi. Even if the view of Ibn Abi'l-Hadid is accepted it would
be deemed to represent the personal opinion of as-Sayyid ar-Radi which may serve as a
supplementary argument in support of an original argument but this personal view cannot be
assigned any regular importance.
It is strange that two and a half
centuries after as-Sayyid ar-Radi namely in the seventh century A.H., Ibn Abi'l Hadid
makes the statement that the reference here is to Caliph Umar and that as-Sayyid ar-Radi
himself had so indicated, as a result of which some other annotators also followed the
same line, but the contemporaries of as-Sayyid ar-Radi who wrote about Nahj al-balaghah
have given no such indication in their writings although as contemporaries they should
have had better information about as-Sayyid Ar-Radi's writing. Thus, al-Allamah Ali ibn
Nasir who was a contemporary of as-Sayyid ar-Radi and wrote an annotation of Nahj
al-balaghah under the name of Alam Nahj al-balaghah writes in connection with this
sermon:
Amir al-mu'minin has praised one of
his own companions for his good conduct. He had died before the troubles that arose after
the death of the Prophet of Allah.
This is supported by the
annotations of Nahj al-balaghah written by al-Allamah Qutbu'd-Din ar-Rawandi (d. 573
A.H.). Ibn Abi'l-Hadid (vol. 14, p. 4) and Ibn Maytham al-Bahrani (in Sharh Nahj
al-balaghah, vol. 4, p. 97) have quoted his following view.
By this Amir al-mu'minin refers to
one of his own companions who died before the mischief and disruption that occurred
following the death of the Prophet of Allah.
Al-Allamah al-Hajj al-Mirza
Habibu'llah al-Khu'i is of the opinion that the person is Malik ibn al-Harith al-Ashtar on
the ground that after the assassination of Malik the situation of the Muslim community was
such as Amir al-mu'minin explains in this sermon.
al-Khu'i adds that:
Amir al-mu'minin has praised Malik
repeatedly such as in his letter to the people of Egypt sent through Malik when he was
made the governor of that place, and like his utterances when the news of Malik's
assassination reached him, he said: "Malik! who is Malik? If Malik was a stone, he
was hard and solid; if he was a rock, he was a great rock which had no parallel. Women
have become barren to give birth to such as Malik." Amir al-mu'minin had even
expressed in some of his utterances that, "Malik was to me as I was to the Holy
Prophet." Therefore, one who possesses such a position certainly deserves such
attributes and even beyond that. (Sharh Nahj al-balaghah, vol. 14, pp. 374-375)
If these words had been about
Caliph Umar and there was some trustworthiness about it Ibn Abi'l-Hadid would have
recorded the authority or tradition and it would have existed in history and been known
among the people. But here nothing is found to prove the statement except a few
self-concocted events. Thus about the pronouns in the words "khayraha" and
"sharraha" he takes them to refer to the caliphate and writes that these words
can apply only to one who enjoys power and authority because without authority it is
impossible to establish the sunnah or prevent innovation. This is the gist of the argument
he has advanced on this occasion; although there is no proof to establish that the
antecedent of this pronoun is the caliphate. It can rather refer to the world (when Amir
al-mu'minin says, "He achieved good [of this world] and remained safe from its
evils.") and that would be in accord with the context. Again, to regard authority as
a condition for the safeguarding of people's interest and the propagation of the sunnah
means to close the door to prompting others to good and dissuading them from evil,
although Allah has assigned this duty to a group of the people without the condition of
authority:
And that there should be among you
a group who call (mankind) unto virtue and enjoin what is good and forbid wrong; and these
are they who shall be successful. (Qur'an, 3:104)
Similarly it is related from the
Prophet:
So long as people go on prompting
for good and dissuading from evil and assisting each other in virtue and piety they will
remain in righteousness.
Again, Amir al-mu'minin, in the
course of a will, says in general terms:
Establish the pillars of the Unity
of Allah and the sunnah, and keep both these lamps aflame.
In these sayings there is no hint
that this obligation cannot be discharged without authority. Facts also tell us that
(despite army and force, and power and authority) the rulers and kings could not prevent
evil or propagate virtue to the extent to which some unknown godly persons were able to
inculcate moral values by imprinting their morality on heart and minds, although they were
not backed by any army or force and they didn't have any equipment save destitution. No
doubt authority and control can bend heads down before it, but it is not necessary that it
should also pave the way for virtue in hearts. History shows that most of the rulers
destroyed the features of Islam. Islam's existence and progress has been possible by the
efforts of those helpless persons who possessed nothing save poverty and discomfiture.
If it is insisted that the
reference here should only be to a ruler, then why should it not be taken to mean a
companion of Amir al-mu'minin who had been the head of a Province such as Salman al-Farisi
for whose burial Amir al-mu'minin went to al-Mada'in; and it is not implausible that Amir
al-mu'minin might have uttered these words after his burial by way of comments on his life
and way of governance. However, to believe that they are about Caliph Umar is without any
proof. In the end, Ibn Abi'l-Hadid has quoted the following statements of (the historian)
at-Tabari in proof of his hypothesis:
"It is related from
al-Mughirah ibn Shubah that when Caliph Umar died Ibnah Abi Hathmah said crying.
"Oh Umar, you were the man who straightened the curve, removed ills, destroyed
mischief, revived the sunnah, remained chaste and departed without entangling in evils.'
(According to at-Tabari) al-Mughirah related that "When Umar was buried I came to
Ali and I wanted to hear something from him about Umar. So, on my arrival Amir
al-mu'minin came out in this state that was wrapped in one cloth after bathing and was
jerking the hair of his head and beard and he had no doubt that the Caliphate would come
to him. On this occasion he said, "May Allah have mercy on Umar." Ibnah Abi
Hathmah has correctly said that he enjoyed the good of the Caliphate and remained safe
from its evils. By Allah, she did not say it herself but was made to say so."
(at-Tabari, vol. 1, p. 2763; Ibn Abi'l-Hadid, vol. 12, p. 5; Ibn Kathir, vol. 7, p. 140)
The relater of this event is
al-Mughirah ibn Shubah whose adultery with Umm Jamil, the Caliph Umar's saving him from
the penalty despite the evidence, and his openly abusing Amir al-mu'minin in Kufah under
Muawiyah's behest are admitted facts of history. On this ground what weight his
statements can carry is quite clear. From the factual point of view also, this story
cannot be accepted. Al-Mughirah's statement that Amir al-mu'minin had no doubt about his
Caliphate is against the facts. What were the factors from which he made this guess when
the actual facts were to the contrary. If the caliphate was certain for any one, it was
Uthman. Thus, at the Consultative Committee Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf said to Amir
al-mu'minin: "O' Ali! do not create a situation against yourself for I have observed
and consulted the people and they all want Uthman." (at-Tabari, vol. 1, p. 2786; Ibn
al-Athir, vol. 3, p. 71; Abu'l-Fida', vol. 1, p. 166)
Consequently, Amir al-mu'minin was
sure not to get the caliphate as has already been stated on the authority of at-Tabari's
History, under the sermon of the Camel's Foam (ash-Shiqshiqiyyah), namely that on seeing
the names of the members of the Consultative Committee, Amir al-mu'minin had said to
al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib that the caliphate could not be given to anyone except
Uthman since all the powers had been given to Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf and he was
Uthman's brother-in-law (sister's husband) and Sad ibn Abi Waqqas was a relative and
tribesman of Abd ar-Rahman. These two would join in giving the caliphate to him.
At this stage, the question arises
as to what the reason was that actuated al-Mughirah to prompt Amir al-mu'minin to say
something about Umar. If he knew that Amir al-mu'minin had good ideas about Umar, he
should have also known his impression; but if he thought that Amir al-mu'minin did not
entertain good ideas about him then the purpose of his asking Amir al-mu'minin would be
none other than that whatever he may say he would, by exposing it, create an atmosphere
against him and make the members of the Consultative Committee suspicious of him. The
views of the members of the Consultative Committee are well understood from the very fact
that by putting the condition of following the conduct of the first two Caliphs in
electing the caliph they had shown their adherence to them. In these circumstances when
al-Mughirah tried to play this trick Amir al-mu'minin said just by way of relating a fact
that Umar achieved the good (of this world) and remained safe from its evil. This
sentence has no connection with praise or eulogy. Umar did in his days enjoy all kinds of
advantages while his period was free from the mischiefs that cropped up later. After
recording this statement Ibn Abi'l-Hadid writes:
From this event the belief gains
strength that in this utterance the allusion is towards Umar.
If the utterance means the word
uttered by Ibnah Abi Hathmah about which Amir al-mu'minin has said that they are not her
own heart's voice but she was made to utter them, then doubtlessly the reference is to
Umar, but the view that these words were uttered by Amir al-mu'minin in praise of Umar
is not at all established. Rather, from this tradition it is evidently shown that these
words were uttered by Ibnah Abi Hathmah. Allah alone knows on what ground the words of
Ibnah Abi Hathmah are quoted and then it is daringly argued that these words were uttered
by Amir al-mu'minin about Umar. It seems Amir al-mu'minin had uttered these words about
someone on some occasion, then Ibnah Abi Hathmah used similar words on Umar's death and
then even Amir al-mu'minin's words were taken to be in praise of Umar. Otherwise, no mind
except a mad one can argue that the words uttered by Ibnah Abi Hathmah should be deemed a
ground to hold that Amir al-mu'minin said these words in praise of Umar. Can it be
expected, after (a glance at) the sermon of the Camel's Foam, that Amir al-mu'minin might
have uttered these words. Again, it is worth consideration that if these words had been
uttered by Amir al-mu'minin on Umar's death, then at the Consultative Committee when he
refused to follow the conduct of the (first) two Caliphs it should have been said to him
that only the other day he has said that Umar had established the sunnah and banished
innovations, so that when his conduct was in accord with the sunnah what was the sense in
accepting the sunnah but refusing to follow his conduct .
.Forward to Sermon 227.Back to Sermon 225.
