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SERMON 1
In this sermon he recalls the
creation of Earth and Sky and the birth of Adam.
Praise is due to Allah whose worth cannot be
described by speakers, whose bounties cannot be counted by calculators and whose claim (to
obedience) cannot be satisfied by those who attempt to do so, whom the height of
intellectual courage cannot appreciate, and the divings of understanding cannot reach; He
for whose description no limit has been laid down, no eulogy exists, no time is ordained
and no duration is fixed. He brought forth creation through His Omnipotence, dispersed
winds through His Compassion, and made firm the shaking earth with rocks.
The foremost in religion is the acknowledgement of
Him, the perfection of acknowledging Him is to testify Him, the perfection of testifying
Him is to believe in His Oneness, the perfection of believing in His Oneness is to regard
Him Pure, and the perfection of His purity is to deny Him attributes, because every
attribute is a proof that it is different from that to which it is attributed and
everything to which something is attributed is different from the attribute. Thus whoever
attaches attributes to Allah recognises His like, and who recognises His like regards Him
two; and who regards Him two recognises parts for Him; and who recognises parts for Him
mistook Him; and who mistook Him pointed at Him; and who pointed at Him admitted
limitations for Him; and who admitted limitations for Him numbered Him.
Whoever said in what is He, held that He is
contained; and whoever said on what is He held He is not on something else. He is a Being
but not through phenomenon of coming into being. He exists but not from non-existence. He
is with everything but not in physical nearness. He is different from everything but not
in physical separation. He acts but without connotation of movements and instruments. He
sees even when there is none to be looked at from among His creation. He is only One, such
that there is none with whom He may keep company or whom He may miss in his absence.
The Creation of the Universe
He initiated creation most initially and commenced
it originally, without undergoing reflection, without making use of any experiment,
without innovating any movement, and without experiencing any aspiration of mind. He
allotted all things their times, put together their variations gave them their properties,
and determined their features knowing them before creating them, realising fully their
limits and confines and appreciating their propensities and intricacies.
When Almighty created the openings of atmosphere,
expanse of firmament and strata of winds, He flowed into it water whose waves were stormy
and whose surges leapt one over the other. He loaded it on dashing wind and breaking
typhoons, ordered them to shed it back (as rain), gave the wind control over the vigour of
the rain, and acquainted it with its limitations. The wind blew under it while water
flowed furiously over it.
Then Almighty created forth wind and made its
movement sterile, perpetuated its position, intensified its motion and spread it far and
wide. Then He ordered the wind to raise up deep waters and to intensify the waves of the
oceans. So the wind churned it like the churning of curd and pushed it fiercely into the
firmament throwing its front position on the rear and the stationary on the flowing till
its level was raised and the surface was full of foam. Then Almighty raised the foam on to
the open wind and vast firmament and made therefrom the seven skies and made the lower one
as a stationary surge and the upper one as protective ceiling and a high edifice without
any pole to support it or nail to hold it together. Then He decorated them with stars and
the light of meteors and hung in it the shining sun and effulgent moon under the revolving
sky, moving ceiling and rotating firmament.
The Creation of the Angels
Then He created the openings between high skies and
filled them with all classes of His angels. Some of them are in prostration and do not
kneel up. Others in kneeling position and do not stand up. Some of them are in array and
do not leave their position. Others are extolling Allah and do not get tired. The sleep of
the eye or the slip of wit, or languor of the body or the effect of forgetfulness does not
effect them.
Among them are those who work as trusted bearers of
His message, those who serve as speaking tongues for His prophets and those who carry to
and fro His orders and injunctions. Among them are the protectors of His creatures and
guards of the doors of the gardens of Paradise. Among them are those also whose steps are
fixed on earth but their necks are protruding into the skies, their limbs are getting out
on all sides, their shoulders are in accord with the columns of the Divine Throne, their
eyes are downcast before it, they have spread down their wings under it and they have
rendered between themselves and all else curtains of honour and screens of power. They do
not think of their Creator through image, do not impute to Him attributes of the created,
do not confine Him within abodes and do not point at Him through illustrations.
Description of the Creation of Adam
Allah collected from hard, soft, sweet and sour
earth, clay which He dripped in water till it got pure, and kneaded it with moisture till
it became gluey. From it He carved an image with curves, joints, limbs and segments. He
solidified it till it dried up for a fixed time and a known duration. Then He blew into it
out of His Spirit whereupon it took the pattern of a human being with mind that governs
him, intelligence which he makes use of, limbs that serve him, organs that change his
position, sagacity that differentiates between truth and untruth, tastes and smells,
colours and species. He is a mixture of clays of different colours, cohesive materials,
divergent contradictories and differing properties like heat, cold, softness and hardness.
Then Allah asked the angels to fulfil His promise
with them and to accomplish the pledge of His injunction to them by acknowledging Him
through prostration to Him and submission to His honoured position. So Allah said:
"Be prostrate towards Adam and they prostrated
except Iblis (Satan)." (Qur'an, 2:34; 7:11; 17:61; 18:50; 20:116)
Self-importance withheld him and vice overcame him.
So that he took pride in his own creation with fire and treated contemptuously the
creation of clay. So Allah allowed him time in order to let him fully deserve His wrath,
and to complete (man's) test and to fulfil the promise (He had made to Satan). Thus, He
said:
"Verily you have been allowed time till the
known Day." (Qur'an, 15:38; 38:81)
Thereafter, Allah inhabited Adam (p.b.u.h.) in a
house where He made his life pleasant and his stay safe, and He cautioned him of Iblis and
his enmity. Then his enemy (Iblis) envied his abiding in Paradise and his contacts with
the virtuous. So he changed his conviction into wavering and determination into weakness.
He thus converted his happiness into fear and his prestige into shame. Then Allah offered
to Adam (p.b.u.h.) the chance to repent, taught him words of His Mercy, promised him
return to His Paradise and sent him down to the place of trial and procreation of progeny.
Allah chooses His Prophets
From his (Adam's) progeny Allah chose prophets and
took their pledge for his revelation and for carrying His message as their trust. In
course of time many people perverted Allah's trust with them and ignored His position and
took compeers along with Him. Satan turned them away from knowing Him and kept them aloof
from His worship. Then Allah sent His Messengers and series of His prophets towards them
to get them to fulfil the pledges of His creation, to recall to them His bounties, to
exhort them by preaching, to unveil before them the hidden virtues of wisdom and show them
the signs of His Omnipotence namely the sky which is raised over them, the earth that is
placed beneath them, means of living that sustain them, deaths that make them die,
ailments that turn them old and incidents that successively betake them.
Allah never allowed His creation to remain without a
Prophet deputised by Him, or a book sent down from Him or a binding argument or a standing
plea. These Messengers were such that they did not feel little because of smallness of
their number or of largeness of the number of their falsifiers. Among them was either a
predecessor who would name the one to follow or the follower who had been introduced by
the predecessor.
The Prophethood of Muhammmad
In this way ages passed by and times rolled on,
fathers passed away while sons took their places till Allah deputised Muhammmad (peace be
upon him and his progeny) as His Prophet, in fulfilment of His promise and in completion
of His Prophethood. His pledge had been taken from the Prophets, his traits of character
were well reputed and his birth was honourable. The people of the earth at this time were
divided in different parties, their aims were separate and ways were diverse. They either
likened Allah with His creation or twisted His Names or turned to else than Him. Through
Muhammmad (p.b.u.h.a.h.p.) Allah guided them out of wrong and with his efforts took them
out of ignorance.
Then Allah chose for Muhammmad, peace be upon him
and on his progeny, to meet Him, selected him for His own nearness, regarded him too
dignified to remain in this world and decided to remove him from this place of trial. So
He drew him towards Himself with honour. Allah may shower His blessing on him, and his
progeny.
The Holy Qur'an and Sunnah
But the Prophet left among you the same which other
Prophets left among their peoples, because Prophets do not leave them untended (in dark)
without a clear path and a standing ensign, namely the Book of your Creator clarifying its
permission and prohibitions, its obligations and discretion, its repealing injunctions and
the repealed ones, its permissible matters and compulsory ones, its particulars and the
general ones, its lessons and illustrations, its long and the short ones, its clear and
obscure ones, detailing its abbreviations and clarifying its obscurities.
In it there are some verses whose knowledge (1) is obligatory and others whose ignorance by the people is
permissible. It also contains what appears to be obligatory according to the Book (2) but its repeal is signified by the Prophet's action (sunnah)
or that which appears compulsory according to the Prophet's action but the Book allows not
following it. Or there are those which are obligatory in a given time but not so after
that time. Its prohibitions also differ. Some are major regarding which there exists the
threat of fire (Hell), and others are minor for which there are prospects of forgiveness.
There are also those of which a small portion is also acceptable (to Allah) but they are
capable of being expanded.
In this very sermon he spoke about
Hajj
Allah has made obligatory upon you the pilgrimage
(hajj) to His sacred House which is the turning point for the people who go to it as
beasts or pigeons go towards spring water. Allah the glorified made it a sign of their
supplication before His Greatness and their acknowledgement of His Dignity. He selected
from among His creation those who on listening to His call responded to it and testified
His word. They stood in the position of His Prophets and resembled His angels who surround
the Divine Throne securing all the benefits of performing His worship and hastening
towards His promised forgiveness. Allah the glorified made it (His sacred House) an emblem
for Islam and an object of respect for those who turn to it. He made obligatory its
pilgrimage and laid down its claim for which He held you responsible to discharge it.
Thus, Allah the glorified said:
". . . And (purely) for Allah, is incumbent
upon mankind, the pilgrimage to the House, for those who can afford to journey thither.
And whoever denieth then verily, Allah is Selfsufficiently independent of the worlds"
(Qur'an, 3:96).
(1). "The foremost
in religion (din) is His knowledge." The literal meaning of din is obedience, and its
popular sense is code, whether literal sense is taken or the popular one, in either case,
if the mind is devoid of any conception of Divinity, there would be no question of
obedience, nor of following any code; because when there is no aim there is no point in
advancing towards it; where there is no object in view there is no sense in making efforts
to achieve it. Nevertheless, when the nature and guiding faculty of man bring him in
contact with a superior Authority and his taste for obedience and impulse of submission
subjugates him before a Deity, he finds himself bound by certain limitations as against
abject freedom of activity. These very limitations are din (Religion) whose point of
commencement is knowledge of Allah and acknowledgement of His Being.
After pointing out the essentials of Divine
knowledge Amir al-mu'minin has described its important constituents and conditions. He has
held those stages of such knowledge which people generally regard as the point of highest
approach to be insufficient. He says that its first stage is that with the natural sense
of search for the unknown and the guidance of conscience or on hearing from the followers
of religions an image of the Unseen Being known as Allah is formed in the mind. This image
in fact is the forerunner of the obligation to thinking and reflection and to seeking His
knowledge. But those who love idleness, or are under pressure of environment, do not
undertake this search despite creation of such image and the image fails to get testified.
In this case they remain deprived of Divine knowledge, and since their inaccess to the
stage of testifying after the formation of image is by volition they deserve to be
questioned about it. But one who is moved by the power of this image goes further and
considers thinking and reflection necessary. In this way one reaches the next stage in the
attainment of Divine knowledge, namely to search for the Creator through diversification
of creation and species of creatures, because every picture is a solid and inflexible
guide to the existence of its painter and every effect to the action of its cause. When he
casts his glance around himself he does not find a single thing which might have come into
existence without the act of a maker so much so that he does not find the sign of a
footstep without a walker nor a construction without a builder. How can he comprehend that
this blue sky with the sun and the moon in its expanse and the earth with the exuberance
of its grass and flowers could have come into existence without the action of a Creator.
Therefore, after observing all that exists in the world and the regulated system of the
entire creation no one can help concluding that there is a Creator for this world of
diversities because existence cannot come out of non-existence, nor can existence sprout
forth from nothingness.
The Holy Qur'an has pointed to this reasoning thus:
". . . What! about Allah is there any doubt,
the Originator of the heavens and the earth ?. . ." (14:10).
But this stage would also be insufficient if this
testimony in favour of Allah is tarnished by belief in the divinity of some other deity.
The third stage is that His existence should be
acknowledged along with belief in Unity and Oneness. Without this the testimony to Allah's
existence cannot be complete because if more gods are believed in He would not be One
whereas it is necessary that He should be One. The reason is that in case of more than one
god the question would arise whether one of them created all this creation or all of them
together. If one of them created it there should be some differential to distinguish him
otherwise he would be accorded preferential position without reason, which is unacceptable
to the mind. If all have created it collectively then the position has only two forms;
either he cannot perform his functions without the assistance of others or he is above the
need for their assistance. The first case means his incapability and being in need of
others while the other case means that they are several regular performers of a single act
and the fallacy of both has already been shown. If we assume that all the gods performed
the act of creation by dividing among themselves then, in this case all the creation will,
not bear the same relationship towards the creator since each creature will bear
relationship only to its own creator whereas every creature should have one and the same
relationship to all creators. This is because all the creation should have one and the
same relationship to all the creators as all the created in their capacity to accept
effect and all the creators in their capacity to produce effect should be similar. In
short there is no way but to acknowledge Him as One because in believing in numerous
creators there remains no possibility of the existence of any other thing, and destruction
proves implicit for the earth, the sky and everything in creation. Allah the glorified has
expressed this argument in the following words:
"Had there been in (the heavens and the earth
[other] ) gods except Allah, they both had been in disorder. . ." (Qur'an, 21:22).
The fourth stage is that Allah should be regarded
free of all defects and deficiencies, and devoid of body, form, illustration, similarity,
position of place or time, motion, stillness, incapability and ignorance because there can
be no deficiency or defect in the perfect Being nor can anyone be deemed like Him because
all these attributes bring down a being from the high position of the Creator to the low
position of the created. That is why along with Unity, Allah has held purity from
deficiency of equal importance.
"Say: 'He (Allah) is One (alone). Allah, the needless.He begetteth not, nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him" (Qur'an, 112:1-4).
"Vision perceiveth Him not, and He perceiveth
(all) vision; He is the Subtle, the All-aware" (Qur'an, 6:104).
"So coin ye not any similitudes to Allah;
verily Allah knoweth (every thing) and ye know not." (Qur'an, 16:74).
". . .Nothing whatsoever (is there) like the
like of Him; and He (alone) is the All-hearing and the All-seeing." (Qur'an, 42:11)
The fifth stage of completing His Knowledge is that
attributes should not be put in Him from outside lest there be duality in His Oneness, and
deviating from its proper connotation Unity may fall in the labyrinth of one in three and
three in one, because His Being is not a combination of essence and form so that attribute
may cling to Him like smell in the flowers or brightness in the stars. Rather, He is the
fountain head of all attributes and needs no medium for manifestation of His perfect
Attributes. If He is named Omniscient it is because the signs of his knowledge are
manifest. If He is called Omnipotent it is because every particle points to His
Omnipotence and Activity, and if to Him is attributed the power to listen or to see it is
because the cohesion of the entire creation and its administration cannot be done without
hearing or seeing but the existence of these attributes in Him cannot be held to be in the
same way as in the creation namely that He should be capable to know only after He
acquires knowledge or He should be powerful and strong only after energy runs into His
limbs because taking attributes as separate from His Being would connote duality and where
there is duality unity disappears. That is how Amir al-mu'minin has rejected the idea of
attributes being addition to His Being, presented Unity in its true significance, and did
not allow Unity to be tainted with stains of multiplicity. This does not mean that
adjectives cannot at all be attributed to Him, as this would be giving support to those
who are groping in the dark abyss of negativism, although every nook and comer in the
entire existence is brimming with His attributes and every particle of creation stands
witness that He has knowledge, He is powerful, He hears, He sees. He nurtures under His
care and allows growth under His mercy. The intention is that for Him nothing can be
suggested to serve as an adjunct to Him, because His self includes attributes and His
attributes connote His Self. Let us learn this very theme in the words of al-Imam Abu
Abdillah Jafar ibn Muhammmad as-Sadiq (p.b.u.h.) comparing it with the belief in Unity
adopted by other religions and then appreciate who is the exponent of the true concept of
Unity.
The Imam says:
"Our Allah the Glorified, the Magnificent has
ever had knowledge as His Self even though there was nothing to know, sight as His Self
even though there was nothing to know, sight as His Self even though there was nothing to
behold, hearing as His Self even though there was nothing to hear, and Potence as His Self
even though there was nothing to be under His Potence. When He created the things and the
object of knowledge came into existence His knowledge became related to the known, hearing
related to the heard, sight related to the seen, and potence related to its object."
(at-Tawhid by ash-Shaykh as-Saduq, p.139)
This is the belief over which the Imams of the
Prophet's family are unanimous, but the majority group has adopted a different course by
creating the idea of differentiation between His Self and Attributes. ash-Shahristani says
on page 42 of his book Kitab al-milal wa'n-nihal:
According to Abu'l-Hasan al-Ashari, Allah knows
through (the attribute of) knowledge, is Powerful through activity, speaks through speech,
hears through hearing and sees through sight.
If we regard attributes distinct from Self in this
manner there would be two alternatives; either the attributes must have existed in Him
from ever or they must have occurred later. In the first case we have to recognise as many
eternal objects as the attributes which all will share with Him in being eternal, but
"Allah is above what the people deem Him to have equals." In the second case in
addition to subjecting Him to the alternations it would also mean that before the
acquiring of the attributes He was neither scient, nor powerful, nor hearer nor beholder
and this runs counter to the basic tenet of Islam.
". . . Allah hath decreed trade lawful and hath
forbidden interest. . ." (Qur'an, 2:275)
"And when you have finished the prayer remember
Allah standing, and sitting, and reacting, and when ye are secure (from danger) establish
prayer . . ." (Qur'an, 4:103)
"O' ye men! eat of what is in the earth lawful
and good and follow not the foot-steps of Satan; for verily he is an open enemy unto
you." (Qur'an, 2:168)
"(And) say thou: 'I am only a man like you, it
is revealed unto me that your god is but one God, therefore whosoever desireth to meet his
Lord, let him do good deeds, and associate not any one in the worship of his Lord'."
(Qur'an, 18:110)
"What! enjoin ye upon the people righteousness
and ye forget your own selves? Yet ye read the scripture? What: do ye not
understand?" (Qur'an, 2:44).
(2). About the Qur'an,
Amir al-mu'minin says that it contains description of the permitted and the forbidden acts
such as "Allah has allowed sale and purchase but prohibited usury."
It clarifies obligatory and optional acts such as
"when you have finished the prayer (of fear) remember Allah rising, sitting or lying
and when you feel safe (from the enemy) then say the prayers (as usual)."
Here prayer is obligatory while other forms of
remembering (Allah) are optional. It has repealing and repealed verses such as about the
period of seclusion after husband's death "four months and ten days" or the
repealed one such as "till one year without going out" which shows that this
period of seclusion should be one year. In particular places it permits the forbidden such
as "whoever is compelled without being wilfully wrongful or transgressor, commits no
sins."
It has positive injunctions such as "One should
not add anyone with Allah in worship." It has particular and general injunctions.
Particular is the one where the word shows generality but the sense is limited such as
"I have made you superior over worlds, O' Bani Isra'il."
Here the sense of "Worlds," is confined to
that particular time, although the word is general in its literal meaning. The general
injunctions is one which is extensive in meaning such as "Allah has knowledge of
everything." It has lessons and illustrations lessons such as "Allah caught him
in the punishment of this world and the next and there is lesson in it."
"So seized him Allah, with the chastisement in
the hereafter, and the life before (it)." (Qur'an, 79:25)
"Verily in this there is a lesson unto him who
feareth (Allah)." (Qur'an, 79:26)
"A kind word and pardon is better than charity
that is followed by injury, and verily Allah is Self-sufficient, the Most
forbearing." (Qur'an, 2:263)
"And remember when We made a covenant with you
and raised the 'tur' (the Mountain) above you (saying), 'Hold ye fast that which We have
bestowed upon you with the strength (of determination) and remember that which is therein
so that you may guard (yourself) against evil'." (Qur'an, 2:63)
"So we made it a lesson for (those of) their
own times and for those (of their posterity) who came after them and an exhortation unto
those who guard (themselves) against evil." (Qur'an, 2:66)
"He it is Who fashioneth you in the wombs (of
your mothers) as He liketh; There is no god but He, the All-mighty, the All-wise."
(Qur'an, 3:5)
"Obedience and a fair word; but when the affair
is determined then if they be true to Allah, it would certainly be better for them."
(Qur'an, 47:21)
"O' those who believe! It is not lawful for you
to inherit women against their will; and do not straiten them in order that ye may take a
part of what ye have given, unless they are guilty of manifest lewdness; but deal kindly
with them, and if ye hate them, it may be that ye hate a thing while Allah hath placed in
it abundant good." (Qur'an, 4:19)
"Say thou (unto the people of the Book),
'Dispute ye with us about Allah; whereas He is our Lord and your Lord, and for us are our
deeds and for you are your deeds; to Him (alone) we are (exclusively) loyal?"
(Qur'an, 2:139)
"There is a lesson in it for him who fears
Allah," and illustration as "The example of those who spend their wealth in the
way of Allah is like a grain which grows seven ears each one of which bears hundred
grains." It has unspecific and specific verses. Unspecific is one which has no
limitation on specification such as "Recall when Moses told his people 'Allah
commands you to sacrifice a cow.'"
Specific is one where denotation is limited such as
Allah says that "the cow should be such that it has neither been used for ploughing
nor for irrigation fields." There is clear and obscure in it. Clear is that which has
no intricacy such as "Verily Allah has sway over everything," while obscure is
that whose meaning has complication such as "the Merciful (Allah) occupies the
throne," whose apparent meaning gives the impression as if Allah is bodily sitting on
the Throne although the intention is to press His authority and control. In it there are
brief injunctions such as "establish prayer" and those of deep meanings such as
the verses about which says:
"That the sense is not known except to Allah
and those immersed in knowledge." Then Amir al-mu'minin dilates upon this theme in a
different style, he says that there are some things in it which are necessary to know,
such as "So know that there is no god but Allah" and there are others which are
not necessary to know such as "alif lam mim" etc. It has also injunctions which
have been repealed by the Prophet's action such as "As for your women who commit
adultery get four male witnesses and if four witnesses do appear shut such women in the
house till death ends their life." This punishment was current in early Islam but was
later replaced by stoning in the case of married women. In it there are some injunctions
which repealed the Prophet's action such as "Turn your face towards Masjid
al-haram" by which the injunction for facing Bayt al-maqdis was repealed. It also
contains injunctions which are obligatory only at a particular time after which their
obligation ends, such as "when the call for prayer is made on Friday then hasten
towards remembrance of Allah." It has also indicated grades of prohibitions as the
division of sins into light and serious ones - light such as "Tell the believers to
lower their eyes" and serious ones such as "whoever kills a Believer wilfully
his award is to remain in Hell for ever." It also contains injunctions where a little
performance is enough but there is scope for further performance such as "Read the
Qur'an as much as you easily can."
"Verily your Lord, certainly is He the
All-mighty, the All-merciful." (Qur'an, 26:9)
"Say thou (O' Our Prophet Muhammmad) unto the
believer men that they cast down their gaze and guard their private parts; that is purer
for them; verily Allah is All-aware of what (all) ye do." (Qur'an, 24:30)
"Not equal are those of the believers who sit
(holding back) other than those hurt, and those who strive in the way of Allah with their
wealth and their selves (lives). Allah hath raised the strivers with their wealth and
selves (lives), in rank above those sitting (holding back); Unto all (in faith) Allah hath
promised good; but those who strive, He hath distinguished above those who sit (holding
[by]) a great recompense." (Qur'an, 4:95)
"Verily, thy Lord knowest that thou standest up
(in the Night Prayer) night two-third of the night, and (sometimes) half of it, and
(sometimes) a third of it, and a group of those with thee; and Allah measureth (well) the
night and the day; Knoweth He that never can ye take (correct) account of it, so turneth
He unto you (mercifully) so recite ye whatever be easy (in the prayers) to be read of the
Qur'an; Knoweth He that there may be among you sick, and others travelling in the earth
seeking of the grace of Allah, and others fighting in the way of Allah, so recite ye as
much as it can easily be done of it, and establish ye the (regular) prayers, and pay ye
the (prescribed) poor-rate, and offer ye unto Allah a goodly loan; and whatsoever of good
ye send on before hand for yourselves, ye will (surely) find it with Allah, that is the
best and the greatest recompense; and seek ye the forgiveness of Allah; Verily, Allah is
Oft-forgiving, the Most Merciful." (Qur'an, 73:20)
.Forward to Sermon 2.
