Lessons from Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Sermons
Sermon
90

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.