Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

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SERMON 90


This sermon is known as the Sermon of Skeletons(1) (Khutbatu'l-Ashbah) and it holds one of the highest positions
among the sermons of Amir al-mu'minin. Masadah ibn Sadaqah has related from al-Imam
Jafar ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq (p.b.u.t.) saying: "Amir al-mu'minin delivered this
sermon from the pulpit of (the mosque of) Kufah when someone asked him, 'O' Amir
al-mu'minin! describe Allah for us in such a way that we may imagine that we see Him with
eyes so that our love and knowledge may increase about Him.' Amir al-mu'minin became angry
at this (request of the questioner) and ordered the Muslims to gather in the mosque. So
many Muslims gathered in the mosque that the place was over-crowded. Then Amir al-mu'minin
ascended the pulpit while he was still in a state of anger and his colour was changed.
After he had praised Allah and extolled Him and sought His blessings on the Prophet he
said:

Description of Allah

Praise be to Allah whom refusal to give away and
stinginess do not make rich and Whom munificence and generosity do not make poor, although
everyone who gives away loses (to that extent) except He, and every miser is blamed for
his niggardliness. He obliges through beneficial bounties and plentiful gifts and grants.
The whole creation is His dependants (in sustenance)(2). He
has guaranteed their livelihood and ordained their sustenance. He has prepared the way for
those who turn to Him and those who seek what is with Him. He is as generous about what He
is asked as He is about that for which He is not asked. He is the First for whom there was
no 'before' so that there could be anything before Him. He is the Last for whom there is
no 'after' so that there could be anything after Him. He prevents the pupils of the eyes
from seeing Him or perceiving Him. Time does not change over Him, so as to admit of any
change of condition about Him. He is not in any place so as to allow Him movement (from
one place to another).

If He gives away all that the mines of the mountains
emit out or the gold, silver, pearls and cuttings of coral which the shells of the ocean
vomit out, it would not affect his munificence, nor diminish the extent of what He has.
(In fact) He would still have such treasures of bounty as would not decrease by the
demands of the creatures, because He is that generous Being Whom the begging of beggars
cannot make poor nor the pertinacity of beseechers make miser.

Attributes of Allah as described in
the Holy Qur'an

Then look on questioner, be confined to those of His
attributes which the Qur'an had described and seek light from the effulgence of its
guidance. Leave to Allah that knowledge which Satan has prompted you to seek and which
neither the Qur'an enjoins you to seek nor is there any trace of it in the actions or
sayings of the Prophet and other leaders (Aimmah) of guidance. This is the extreme limit
of Allah's claim upon you. Know that firm in knowledge are those who refrain from opening
the curtains that lie against the unknown, and their acknowledgement of ignorance about
the details of the hidden unknown prevents them from further probe. Allah praises them for
their admission that they are unable to get knowledge not allowed to them. They do not go
deep into the discussion of what is not enjoined upon them about knowing Him and they call
it firmness. Be content with this and do not limit the Greatness of Allah after the
measure of your own intelligence, of else you would be among the destroyed ones.

He is Powerful, such that when imagination shoots
its arrows to comprehend the extremity of His power, and mind, making itself free of the
dangers of evil thoughts, tries to find Him in the depth of His realm, and hearts long to
grasp realities of His attributes and openings of intelligence penetrate beyond
description in order to secure knowledge about His Being, crossing the dark pitfalls of
the unknown and concentrating towards Him He would turn them back. They would return
defeated admitting that the reality of His knowledge cannot be comprehended by such random
efforts, nor can an iota of the sublimity of His Honour enter the understanding of
thinkers.

About Allah's creation

He originated the creation without any example which
He could follow and without any specimen prepared by any known creator that was before
Him. He showed us the realm of His Might, and such wonders which speak of His Wisdom. The
confession of the created things that their existence owes itself to Him made us realise
that argument has been furnished about knowing Him (so that there is no excuse against
it). The signs of His creative power and standard of His wisdom are fixed in the wonderful
things He has created. Whatever He has created is an argument in His favour and a guide
towards Him. Even a silent thing is a guide towards Him as though it speaks, and its
guidance towards the Creator is clear.

(O' Allah) I stand witness that he who likens Thee
with the separateness of the limbs or with the joining of the extremities of his body did
not acquaint his inner self with knowledge about Thee, and his heart did not secure
conviction to the effect that there is no partner for Thee. It is as though he has no
heard the (wrongful) followers disclaiming their false gods by sayings "By Allah, we
were certainly in manifest error when we equalled you with the Lord of the worlds."
(Qur'an, 26:97-98). They are wrong who liken Thee to their idols, and dress Thee with
apparel of the creatures by their imagination, attribute to Thee parts of body by their
own thinking and consider Thee after the creatures of various types, through the working
of their intelligence. I stand witness that whoever equated Thee with anything out of Thy
creation took a match for Thee, and whoever takes a match for Thee is an unbeliever,
according to what is stated in Thy unambiguous verses and indicated by the evidence of Thy
clear arguments. (I also stand witness that) Thou art that Allah who cannot be confined in
(the fetters of) intelligence so as to admit change of condition by entering its
imagination nor in the shackles of mind so as to become limited and an object of
alterations.

A part of the same sermon

About the greatest perfection in
Allah's creation

He has fixed limits for every thing He has created
and made the limits firm, and He has fixed its working and made the working delicate. He
has fixed its direction and it does not transgress the limits of its position nor fall
short of reaching the end of its aim. It did not disobey when it was commanded to move at
His will; and how could it do so when all matters are governed by His will. He is the
Producer of varieties of things without exercise of imagination, without the urge of an
impulse, hidden in Him, without (the benefit of) any experiment taken from the
vicissitudes of time and without any partner who might have assisted Him in creating
wonderful things.

Thus the creation was completed by His order and it
bowed to His obedience and responded to His call. The laziness of any slug or the
inertness of any excuse-finder did not prevent it from doing so. So He straightened the
curves of the things and fixed their limits. With His power He created coherence in their
contradictory parts and joined together the factors of similarity. Then He separated them
in varieties which differ in limits, quantities, properties and shapes. All this is new
creation. He made them firm and shaped them according as He wished and invented them.

A part of the same sermon, containing
description of the sky

He has arranged the depressions and elevations of
the openings of the sky. He has joined the breadths of its breaches, and has joined them
with one another. He has made easy the approach to its heights for those (angels) who come
down with His commands and those (angels) who go up with the deeds of the creatures. He
called it when it was yet (in the form of) vapour. At once the links of its joints joined
up. Then Allah opened up its closed door and put the sentinels of meteors at its holes,
and held them with His hands (i.e. power) from falling into the vastness of air.

He commanded it to remain stationary in obedience to
His commands. He made its sun the bright indication for its day, and moon the gloomy
indication for its night. He then put them in motion in their orbits and ordained their
(pace of) movement in the stages of their paths in order to distinguish with their help
between night and day, and in order that the reckoning of years and calculations may be
known by their fixed movements. Then He hung in its vastness its sky and put therein its
decoration consisting of small bright pearls and lamp-like stars. He shot at the
over-hearers arrows of bright meteors. He put them in motion on their appointed routine
and made them into fixed stars, moving stars, descending stars, ascending stars, ominous
stars and lucky stars.

A part of the same sermon, containing
description of Angels

Then Allah, the Glorified, created for inhabiting of
His skies and populating the higher strata of his realm new (variety of) creatures namely
the angels. With them He filled the openings of its cavities and populated with them the
vastness of it circumference. In between the openings of these cavities there resounds the
voices of angels glorifying Him in the enclosures of sublimity, (behind) curtains of
concealment and in veils of His Greatness. And behind this resounding which deafens the
ears there is the effulgence of light which defies the approach of sight to it, and
consequently the sight stands, disappointed at its limitation.

He created them in different shapes and with diverse
characteristics. They have wings. They glorify the sublimity of His Honour. They do not
appropriate to themselves His skill that shows itself in creation. Nor do they claim they
create anything in which He is unparalleled. "But they are rather honoured creatures
who do not take precedence over Him in uttering anything, and they act according to His
command." (Qur'an, 21: 26-27). He has made them the trustees of His revelation and
sent them to Prophets as holders of His injunctions and prohibitions. He has immunised
them against the waviness of doubts. Consequently no one among them goes astray from the
path of His will. He has helped them with the benefits of succour and has covered their
hearts with humility and peace. He has opened for them doors of submission to His Glories.
He has fixed for them bright minarets as signs of His Oneness. The weights of sins do not
burden them and the rotation of nights and days does not make them move. Doubts do not
attack with arrows the firmness of their faith. Misgivings do not assault the bases of
their beliefs. The spark of malice does not ignite among them. Amazement does not tarnish
what knowledge of Him their hearts possess, or His greatness and awe of His glory that
resides in their bosoms. Evil thoughts do not lean towards them to affect their
imagination with their own rust.

Among them are those who are in the frame of heavy
clouds, or in the height of lofty mountains, or in the gloom of over-powering darkness.
And there are those whose feet have pierced the lowest boundaries of the earth. These feet
are like white ensigns which have gone forth into the vast expanse of wind. Under them
blows the light wind which retains them upto its last end.

Occupation in His worship has made them carefree,
and realities of Faith have served as a link between them and His knowledge. Their belief
in Him has made them concentrate on Him. They long from Him not from others. They have
tasted the sweetness of His knowledge and have drunk from the satiating cup of His love.
The roots of His fear have been implanted in the depth of their hearts. Consequently they
have bent their straight backs through His worship. The length of the humility, and
extreme nearness has not removed from them the rope of their fear.

They do not entertain pride so as to make much of
their acts. Their humility before the glory of Allah does not allow them to esteem their
own virtues. Languor does not affect them despite their long affliction. Their longings
(for Him) do not lessen so that they might turn away from hope in (Allah) their Sustainer.
The tips of their tongues do not get dry by constant prayers (to Allah). Engagements (in
other matters) do not betake them so as to turn their (loud) voices for Him into faint
ones. Their shoulders do not get displaced in the postures of worship. They do not move
their necks (this and that way) for comfort in disobedience of His command. Follies of
negligence do not act against their determination to strive, and the deceptions of desires
do not overcome their courage.

They regard the Master of the Throne (Allah) as the
store for the day of their need. Because of their love (for Him) they turn to Him even
when others turn to the creatures. They do not reach the ending limit of His worship.
Their passionate fondness for His worship does not turn them except to the springs of
their own hearts, springs which are never devoid of His hope and His fear. Fear (of Allah)
never leaves them so that they might slacken in their efforts, nor have temptations
entrapped them so that they might prefer this light search over their (serious) effort.

They do not consider their past (virtuous) deeds as
big, for if they had considered them big then fear would have wiped away hopes from their
hearts. They did not differ (among themselves) about their Sustainer as a result of
Satan's control over them. The vice of separation from one another did not disperse them.
Rancour and mutual malice did not overpower them. Ways of wavering did not divide them.
Differences of degree of courage did not render them into divisions. Thus they are
devotees of faith. Neither crookedness (of mind), nor excess, nor lethargy nor languor
breaks them from its rope. There is not the thinnest point in the skies but there is an
angel over it in prostration (before Allah) or (busy) in quick performance (of His
commands). By long worship of their Sustainer they increase their knowledge, and the
honour of their Sustainer increases in their hearts.

A part of the same sermon, in
description of earth and its spreading on water

Allah spread the earth on stormy and tumultuous
waves and the depths of swollen seas, where waves clashed with each other and high surges
leapt over one another. They emitted foam like the he-camel at the time of sexual
excitement. So the tumult of the stormy water was subdued by the weight of the earth, when
the earth pressed it with its chest its shooting agitation eased, and when the earth
rolled on it with its shoulder bones the water meekly submitted. Thus after the tumult of
its surges it became tame and overpowered, and an obedient prisoner of the shackles of
disgrace, while the earth spread itself and became solid in the stormy depth of this
water. (In this way) the earth put an end to the pride, self conceit, high position and
superiority of the water, and muzzled the intrepidity of its flow. Consequently it stopped
after its stormy flow and settled down after its tumult.

When the excitement of water subsided under the
earth's sides and under the weight of the high and lofty mountains placed on its
shoulders, Allah flowed springs of water from its high tops and distributed them through
plains and low places and moderated their movement by fixed rocks and high mountain tops.
Then its trembling came to a standstill because of the penetration of mountains in
(various) parts of its surface and their being fixed in its deep areas, and their standing
on its plains. Then Allah created vastness between the earth and firmament, and provided
blowing wind for its inhabitants. Then He directed its inhabitants to spread all over its
convenient places. Thereafter He did not leave alone the barren tracts of the earth where
high portions lacked in water-springs and where rivers could not find their way, but
created floating clouds which enliven the unproductive areas and grow vegetation.

He made a big cloud by collecting together small
clouds and when water collected in it and lightning began to flash on its sides and the
flash continued under the white clouds as well as the heavy ones He sent it raining
heavily. The cloud was hanging towards the earth and southerly winds were squeezing it
into shedding its water like a she-camel bending down for milking. When the cloud
prostrated itself on the ground and delivered all the water it carried on itself Allah
grew vegetation on the plain earth and herbage on dry mountains. As a result, the earth
felt pleased at being decorated with its gardens and wondered at her dress of soft
vegetation and the ornaments of its blossoms. Allah made all this the means of sustenance
for the people and feed for the beasts. He has opened up highways in its expanse and has
established minarets (of guidance) for those who tread on its highways.

On the Creation of Man and the
sending of the Prophet

When He has spread out the earth and enforced His
commands He chose Adam (peace be upon him) as the best in His creation and made him the
first of all creation. He made him to reside in Paradise and arranged for his eating in
it, and also indicated from what He had prohibited him. He told him that proceeding
towards it meant His disobedience and endangering his own position. But Adam did what he
had been refrained from, just as Allah already knew beforehand. Consequently, Allah sent
him down after (accepting) his repentance, to populate His earth with his progeny and to
serve as a proof and plea for Him among his creatures.

Even when He made Adam die He did not leave them
without one who would serve among them as proof and plea for His Godhead, and serve as the
link between them and His knowledge, but He provided to them the proofs through His chosen
Messengers and bearers of the trust of His Message, age after age till the process came to
end with our Prophet Muhammad - Allah may bless him and his descendants - and His pleas
and warnings reached finality.

He ordained livelihoods(3)
with plenty and with paucity. He distributed them narrowly as well as profusely. He did it
with justice to test whomever He desired, with prosperity or with destitution, and to test
through it the gratefulness or endurance of the rich and the poor. Then He coupled plenty
with misfortunes of destitution, safety with the distresses of calamities and pleasures of
enjoyment with pangs of grief. He created fixed ages and made them long or short and
earlier or later, and ended them up with death. He had made death capable of pulling up
the ropes of ages and cutting them asunder.

He(4) knows the secrets
of those who conceal them, the secret conversation of those who engage in it, the inner
feelings of those who indulge in guesses, the established certainties, the inklings of the
eyes, the inner contents of hearts and depths of the unknown. He also knows what can be
heard only by bending the holes of the ears, the summer resorts of ants and winter abodes
of the insects, resounding of the cries of wailing women and the sound of steps. He also
knows the spots in the inner sheaths of leaves where fruits grow, the hiding places of
beasts namely caves in mountains and valleys, the hiding holes of mosquitoes on the trunks
of trees and their herbage, the sprouting points of leaves in the branches, the dripping
points of semen passing through passages of loins, small rising clouds and the big giant
ones, the drops of rain in the thick clouds, the particles of dust scattered by whirlwinds
through their skirts, the lines erased by rain floods, the movements of insects on
sand-dunes, the nests of winged creatures on the cliffs of mountains and the singing of
chattering birds in the gloom of their brooding places.

And He knows whatever has been treasured by
mother-of-pearls, and covered under the waves of oceans, all that which is concealed under
the darkness of night and all that on which the light of day is shining, as well as all
that on which sometimes darkness prevails and sometimes light shines, the trace of every
footstep, the feel of every movement, the echo of every sound, the motion of every lip,
the abode of every living being, the weight of every particle, the sobs of every sobbing
heart, and whatever is there on the earth like fruits of trees or falling leaf, or the
settling place of semen, or the congealing of blood or clot and the developing of life and
embryo.

On all this He suffers no trouble, and no impediment
hampers Him in the preservation of what he created nor any languor or grief hinders Him
from the enforcement of commands and management of the creatures. His knowledge penetrates
through them and they are within His counting. His justice extends to all of them and His
bounty encompasses them despite their falling short of what is due to Him.

O' my Allah! thou deservest handsome description and
the highest esteem. If wish is directed towards Thee, Thou art the best to be wished for.
If hope is reposed in Thee, Thou art the Most Honoured to be hoped from. O' my Allah! Thou
hast bestowed on me such power that I do not praise any one other than Thee, and I do not
eulogise any one save Thee. I do not direct my praise towards others who are sources of
disappointment and centres of misgivings. Thou hast kept away my tongue from the praises
of human beings and eulogies of the created and the sustained. O' my Allah! every praiser
has on whom he praises the right of reward and recompense. Certainly, I have turned to
Thee with my eye at the treasures of Thy Mercy and stores of forgiveness.

O' my Allah! here stands one who has singled Thee
with Oneness that is Thy due and has not regarded any one deserving of these praises and
eulogies except Thee. My want towards Thee is such that nothing except Thy generosity can
cure its destitution, nor provide for its need except Thy obligation and Thy generosity.
So do grant us in this place Thy will and make us free from stretching hands to anyone
other than Thee. "Certainly, Thou art powerful over every thing. " (Qur'an,
66:8).
(1). The
name of this sermon is the Sermon of "al-Ashbah". "ashbah" is the
plural of shabah which means skeleton, since it contains description of angels and other
kinds of beings it has been named by this name.
The ground for being angry on the
questioner was that his request was unconnected with the obligations of shariah and
beyond limits of human capacity.
(2).
Allah is the Guarantor of sustenance and Provider of livelihood as He says:
No creature is there crawling on
the earth, but its provision rests on Allah...(Qur'an, 11:6)
But His being guarantor means that
He has provided ways for everyone to live and earn livelihood, and has allowed every one
equal shares in forests, mountains, rivers, mines and in the vast earth, and has given
everyone the right to make use of them. His bounties are not confined to any single
person, nor is the door of His sustenance closed to any one. Thus, Allah says:
All We do aid, these and (also)
those out of the bounty of thy Lord; and the bounty of thy Lord is not confined. (Qur'an,
17:20)
If some one does not secure these
things through languor or ease and sits effortless it is not possible that livelihood
would reach his door. Allah has laid the table with multifarious feeds but to get them it
is necessary to extend the hand. He has deposited pearls in the bottom of the sea but it
requires diving to get them out. He has filled the mountains with rubies and precious
stones but they cannot be had without digging the stones. The earth contains treasures of
growth but benefit cannot be drawn from them without sowing of seed. Heaps of edibles lie
scattered on all four sides of the earth but they cannot be collected without the trouble
of travelling. Thus, Allah says:
... Traverse ye then its broad
sides, and eat ye of His provision . . .(Qur'an, 67:15)
Allah's providing livelihood does
not mean that no effort is needed in searching livelihood or no going out of the house is
required for it, and that livelihood should itself finds its way to the seeker. The
meaning of His being the provider of livelihood is that He has given earth the property of
growing, He has sent rain from clouds for germination, created fruits, vegetables and
grains. All this is from Allah but securing them is connected with human effort. Whoever
will strive will reap the benefits of his efforts, and whoever abstains from strife would
face the consequences of his idleness and laziness. Accordingly Allah says:
And that man shall have nothing but
what he striveth for. (Qur'an, 53:39)
The order of universe hinges on the
maxim "Sow and reap." It is wrong to expect germination without sowing, to hope
for results without effort. Limbs and faculties have been given solely to be kept active.
Thus, Allah addresses Mary and says:
And shake towards thee the trunk of
the palm-tree, it will drop on thee dates fresh (and) ripe. Then eat and drink and refresh
the eye... (Qur'an, 19:25-26)
Allah provided the means for Mary's
livelihood. He did not however pluck the dates from the tree and put them in her lap. This
was because so far as production of food goes it is His concern. So he made the tree
green, put fruits on it and ripened the fruits. But when the stage arrived for plucking
them He did not intervene. He just recalled to Mary her job namely that she should now
move her hand and get her food.
Again, if His providing the
livelihood means that whatever is given is given by Him and whatever is received from Him,
then whatever a man would earn and eat, and in whatever manner he would obtain it would be
permissible for him, whether he obtains it by theft, bribery, oppression or violence,
because it would mean Allah's act and the food would be that given by Him, wherein he
would have no free will, and where anything is out of the limits of free action there is
no question of permissible or forbidden for it, nor is there any liability to account for
it. But when it is not
actually so and there is the
question of permissible and forbidden then it should have bearing on human actions, so
that it could be questioned whether is was secured in lawful or unlawful manner. Of
course, where He has not bestowed the power of seeking the livelihood, there He has taken
upon Himself the responsibility to provide the livelihood. Consequently, He has managed
for the feeding of the embryo in the mother's womb, and it reaches him there according to
its needs and requirements. But when this very young life enters the wide world and picks
up energy to move its limbs, then it can't get its food from the source without moving his
lips (for sucking).
(3). In
the management of the affairs of this world Allah has connected the sequence with the
cause of human acts as a result of which the power of action in man does not remain idle,
in the same way He had made these actions dependent on His own will, so man should not
rely on his own power of action and forget the Creator. This is the issue of the will
between two wills in the controversy of "free will or compulsion". Just as in
the entire Universe nature's universal and sovereign law is in force, in the same way the
production and distribution of food also is provided in a set manner under the dual force
of Divine ordainment and human effort. And this is somewhere less and somewhere more
depending on the proportion of human effort and the aim of Divine ordainment. Since He is
the Creator of the means of livelihood, and the powers of seeking food have also been
bestowed by Him, the paucity or plenty of livelihood has been attributed to Him because He
has fixed different and separate measures for livelihood keeping in view the difference in
efforts and actions and the good of the creatures. Somewhere there is poverty and
somewhere affluence, somewhere distress and somewhere comfort, and some one is enjoying
pleasure while some one else is suffering the hardships of want.
Qur'an says:
...amplifieth He their sustenance
unto whomsoever He willeth and straiteneth; Verily He knoweth all things. (Qur'an, 42:12)
In sermon 23 Amir al-mu'minin has
referred to this matter and said:
The Divine command descends from
the sky towards the earth with whatever is ordained for every one, whether less or more,
just like rain drops.
So just as there is a fixed process
and manner for the benevolence of rain namely that vapours rise from the sea with the
store of water, spread over in the sky in the shape of dark clouds and then ooze the water
by drops till they form themselves in regular lines. They irrigate plains as well as high
lands thoroughly and proceed onwards to collect in the low areas, so that the thirsty may
drink it, animals may use it and dry lands may be watered from it. In the same way Allah
has provided all the means of livelihood but His bounty follows a particular mode in which
there is never a jot of deviation. Thus Allah says:
And there is not a thing but with
Us are its treasures, and We do not send it down but in a known measure. (Qur'an, 15:21)
If man's greed and avarice exceeds
its bounds, then just as excess of rain ruins crops instead of growing and bringing them
up, so the abundance of the article of livelihood and necessaries of life would make man
oblivious of Allah and rouse him to revolt and unruliness. Consequently, Allah says:
And should Allah amplify the
sustenance unto his servants, they would certainly rebel in the earth, but He sendeth it
down by measure as he willeth; Verily of His servants, He is All-aware, All-seeing.
(Qur'an, 42:27)
If He lessens the food then just as
stoppage of rain makes the land arid and kills the animals, in the same way, by closure of
the means of livelihood, human society would be destroyed and so there would remain no
means of living and livelihood. Allah accordingly says:
Or who is that who can provide you
with sustenance should He withhold His sustenance?...(Qur'an, 67:21)
Consequently, Allah, the Wise the
Omniscient has put the organisation for livelihood on moderate and proportionate lines,
and in order to emphasise the importance of livelihood and sustenance and to keep them
correlated with each other has introduced differences in the distribution of livelihood.
Sometimes, this difference and unequal distribution owes itself to the difference of human
effort and sometimes it is the consequence of overall arrangement of the affairs of the
Universe and Divine acts of wisdom and objectives. This is because, if by poverty and want
He has tested the poor in endurance and patience, in affluence and wealth there is severe
test of the rich by way of thanks-giving and gratifying the rights of others, namely
whether the rich person gratifies the claims of the poor and the distressed, and whether
he takes care of the destitute or not. Again, where there is wealth there would also be
dangers of all sorts. Sometimes there would be danger to the wealth and property and
sometimes fear of poverty and want.
Consequently, there would be many
persons who would be more satisfied and happy for lack of wealth. For them this
destitution and want would be far better than the wealth which might snatch away their
comfort and peace. Moreover sometimes this very wealth which one holds dearer than life
becomes the cause of loss of one's life. Further, it has also been seen that so long as
wealth was lacking character was above reproach, life was unblemished, but the moment
property and wealth changed into plenty the conduct worsened, character became faulty and
there appeared the vice of drink, crowd of beauties and gathering of singing and music. In
such a case the absence of wealth was a blessing. However, being ignorant of Allah's
objectives, man cries out and being affected by transitory distress begins complaining but
does not realise from how many vices which could have accrued owing to wealth he has
remained aloof. Therefore, if wealth produces conveniences, poverty serves as a guard for
the character.
(4). The
eloquence with which Amir al-mu'minin has thrown light on Allah's attributes of knowledge
and the sublime words in which he has pictured the all-engrossing quality of His knowledge
cannot but impress the mind of the most die-hard opponent. Thus, Ibn Abi'l-Hadid has
written:
If Aristotle, who believed that
Allah is only aware of the universe and not of its particulars, had heard this speech, his
heart too would have inclined, his hair would have stood on end and his thinking would
have undergone a dramatic change. Do you not see the brightness, force, vehemence,
sublimity, glory, seriousness and ripeness of this speech? Besides these qualities, there
is sweetness, colourfulness, delicacy and smoothness in it. I have not found any utterance
similar to it. Of course, if there is any utterance matching it, that can be the word of
Allah only. And there is no wonder in it, because he is an off-shoot of the same tree (of
the Prophet Ibrahim, who set up the Unity of Allah), a distributory of the same river and
a reflection of the same light. (Sharh Nahj al-balaghah, vol.7, pp. 23-24)
Those who regard Allah to possess
only over-all knowledge argue that since details undergo changes, to believe Him to have
knowledge of the changing details would necessitate changes in His knowledge but since
knowledge is the same as His Being, His Being would have to be regarded as the object of
change the result of which would be that He would have to be taken as having come into
existence. In this way He would lose the attribute of being from ever. This is a very
deceptive fallacy because changes in the object of knowledge can lead to changes in the
knower only when it is assumed that the knower does not already possess knowledge of these
changes. But since all the forms of change and alteration are crystal clear before Him
there is no reason that with the changes in the objects of knowledge He too should be
regarded changeable, although really this change is confined to the object of knowledge
and does not affect knowledge in itself.
.

Forward to Sermon 91.

Back to Sermon 89.

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