Sunni Feedback on The Issues of Infallibility and Ahulbayt [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Lessons From the
Prophet and the Imams of Ahlul-Bayt Excerpts from Usul al-Kafi Compiled by Thiqatul Islam al-Kulaini al-Razi Place of Reason in the Religion (Part I) The Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HF) said:

Almighty God has endowed upon mankind nothing
better than reason (wisdom).

Sleep of a wise man is better than the
waking hours of an ignorant.

Rest of a wise man is better than the
movement (journeys for Hajj or Jihad) of ignorant.

God has not send
any prophet or messenger without first perfecting his reason; and his reason
stands superior to all the reasons of (the people of) his community.

What
the Prophet has wished is preferable to all the Ijtihad (striving) of the
Mujtahideen (those who strive).

No creature can ever discharge his obligations to God unless he comprehends
those (obligations).

All the worshippers weighted together can not
reach the height of excellence of a wise man.

The man of reason who
are the possessors of understanding minds about whom Allah said: ..
But
non will grasp the Message except men of understanding.

[2:269, 3:7]

' Shi'ite reference:

Usul al-Kafi, Arabic-English version, part 1, pp 30-31,

Tradition #11 (Part II) Next tradition is Tradition #12 from the Chapter entitled The Book of Reason and Ignorance.

This tradition is pretty large.
So
I decided to randomly select some parts of it, and I will continue to copy the
other parts of this tradition in the next parts of these series.

This
tradition is the conversation of Imam Musa al-Kadhim (AS), and one of his
faithful disciples, Hisham Ibn al-Hakam (RA).

Hisham was well-known
for his exceptional ability in debate with the polytheists and the members of
the heretical groups.

Hisham Ibn al-Hakam (RA) narrated that Imam Musa Ibn Jafar (AS) addressed him, saying:

O' Hisham! Almighty God has given glad tidings to the
people of reason and understanding to this effect:

Glad tidings unto My servants! Those who hear the sayings and follow the
best of it; those are who Allah has guided and those who are thepossessors of
understanding minds.

[39:17-18]

O Hisham! It is through reason and understanding that God has
completed evidence of proof (in respect of Himself and His religion) for
mankind.

He has helped His prophets and His messengers by endowing
them with the gift of eloquence and guided them to comprehend His overlordship
through reason and understanding.

As He himself has said:

And your Lord is one God.
There is no
God but He, the all-merciful, the compassionate.

Surely in the
creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alteration of night and day and
the ship that runs in see with profit to men, and the water God sends down from
heaven by which He revives the earth after its death and His scattering abroad in it all kinds of crawling creatures, and the turning
about of the winds and the clouds suspended between the heaven and
the earth - surely there are signs for the people of understanding.

[2:163-164) .

O' Hisham! Remember that reason
is in alliance with knowledge, as God has said: And those examples we strike for
people, but non comprehends them except those who have knowledge.

[29:43]

Shi'ite reference: Usul al-Kafi, Chapter of Reason and Ignorance,
first part of the Tradition #12 (Part III) In this part the Imam talks about the meaning of heart in Quran.

Imam Musa al-Kazim (AS) continued:

O' Hisham! Almighty God has said
in His book: Surely in that there is a reminder to him who has a heart
[50:37].

Heart means reason.

And God has further said:
Indeed we gave Wisdom to Luqman.

[31:12]

Wisdom means (the capacity of)
understanding and reasoning.

O' Hisham! Luqman the Sage, counseled his son: If
you bow before the Truth and the Inevitable, you will be the wisest among
people, since a wise man treats himself as little before the Truth and
the Inevitable.

O' my son! This world is like an unfathomable ocean in
which many people have drowned.
Make, therefore, the
fear of God as your boat in this ocean, your faith as the main plank of the boat,
the reliance of God as its sails, the reason as its rower, the
knowledge as its Captain, and patience as its anchor.

O' Hisham! Everything has its indicator.
Man's
thoughtfulness is the hall-mark of his reason.
The symbol of
thoughtfulness is silence.

Everything has its climax and the climax of reason is
humility (before Allah's commands).
It is enough to prove you
are ignorant and unwise if you do what Allah has prohibited.

O' Hisham! Almighty God has
mentioned about the people of reason in high terms, and has adorned them with the finest
ornaments as per His own words:

He gives Wisdom to whomsoever He wills, and
whoever is given the Wisdom, has been given much good; yet non will grasp
the message but the possessors of understanding minds.

[2:269] .

And those who rooted firmly
in knowledge say: We believe in it;

all is from our Lord; yet none remembers, but the men
who possess minds.

[3:7]

What? Is he who knows what has been sent down to
you from your Lord is the truth, like him who is blind (void of
knowledge)? Only the possessors of understanding minds will remember.

[13:19]

(O' Muhammad!) A book We have sent down to you,
blessed, that the people of understanding may ponder its signs and so
remember.

[38:29]

Shi'ite reference:

Usul al-Kafi, Chapter of Reason and Ignorance, a part of Tradition #12 (Part IV) Tradition #12 continued:

Imam Musa al-Kazim (AS) added:

O' Hisham! God has appointed His prophets and
messengers to make people wise and mindful of God.
The more they
accept and believe in these messengers, the greater is their
God-consciousness.
The wisest among men is he who knows about Allah most.

He
who is the most perfect in his reasoning enjoys the highest status among people
in this life and the life of hereafter.
O' Hisham! God has given two proofs for the guidance of
mankind - the explicit/external, and the implicit/internal.

The
explicit/external proof is in the form of prophets, messengers, and the
Imams (divinely- appointed guides).
And the implicit/internal
proof is in the form of reasoning and understanding.
O' Hisham! A man of reason does not let his lawful
occupations prevent him from thanksgiving/service to Allah, nor does the
attraction of unlawful acts wear out his patient.

O' Hisham! One who allows three things to be dominated
by another set of three things, has actually destroyed his reason.
The
first thing is to allow the reason to be dominated by excessive hopes
and expectations.
The second thing is to allow
the highest of wisdom to be dominated by excessive utterances.

The third
thing is to allow his admonition light to be extinguished/dominated by carnal
desires.
And the one who destroys his reason (by doing the above
three) also destroys both his worldly life and his faith.

O' Hisham! Truth is a sign of
obeying God (i.
e.
, truth leads to obey God).

And there is NO salvation except
through obedience to God.

Obedience to Him can only be performed by means of
knowledge.
And knowledge is a matter of acquisition, and this
acquisition is only through reason and intellect.

And there can
be NO knowledge except through the learned in divinity (Aalimun Rabbani).

And
the consciousness of knowledge is through reason and
intellect.
O' Hisham! Virtuous conduct of a learned man, though
limited, is acceptable (to God) at many times of its value.

On
the contrary, virtuous conduct of a greedy, lustful, and ignorant
person is totally rejected.

Shi'ite reference:

Usul al-Kafi, Chapter of Reason and Ignorance, a part of Tradition #12 (Part V) Tradition #12 continued:

O' Hisham! Limited material possessions for a man with
sound wisdom are perfectly acceptable to him.

Whereas
unlimited wealth for a man with little wisdom is not at all accepted to him; and
this is why such people have actually earned profit of the trade of
their life (in this world).

(i.
e.
, they will have no
share of profit in hereafter).

O' Hisham! Lo! A man of reason pondered over the world
and its people.
He realized that he could NOT get the success in
worldly life without hard struggle.

Then he pondered over the life
of hereafter and again realized that the success in the life of hereafter
would NOT also be secured without hard struggle.
Thereupon, the
man of reason decided in favor of the struggle which brought eternal success, as
compared with the temporary one of the worldly life.

O' Hisham! The wise people remain detached from the
worldly possessions and its attractions, and they remain
attached to the life of hereafter.
It is because they have
realized that the world attracts/lures and is lured; and also, the life of
hereafter lures and is lured.

But the world itself runs after the
man who struggles for the life of hereafter to the extent that he receives in
full the share which has been allotted to him for this worldly life.

On
the contrary, the one who spends his life and struggles for the
worldly gains will continue till such time as the life of hereafter
demands its own share in the form of death.
It is then that he
realizes that he is the loser of both, this life and the hereafter.

O' Hisham! Whoever seeks comfort without wealth, and
relief free from jealousy, and security for his faith, must implore God
from the bottom of his heart for making his reason perfect.

O' Hisham! Almighty God has
related about a group of virtuous people who used to pray:

Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate after You
have guided us; and grant us mercy from Your own Presence, for surely You
are the Grantor of bounties without measure.

[3:8]

In offering this prayer, they realized that human
hearts could be deflected and could tend towards blindness and
low-ness.

Secondly they also understood that those who do not seek guidance and
reason from God, are the people who are not afraid of God's
(punishments) at all.

And whoever is deprived of reason by God, can never be
firm and steady in God consciousness in a way as to enable him to
realize the truth of God in his own heart.
No one can reach this
stage unless his deeds corroborate his words.

God Almighty
never guides the inside of reason, except what comes out of it through deeds and
the words.

Shi'ite reference:

Usul al-Kafi, Chapter of Reason and Ignorance, a part of Tradition #12 (Part VI) Tradition #12 continued:

O' Hisham! The Commander of Believers, Ali (AS) used to
say: Of signs of a man of reason, one is that he has got three
qualities:

(1) He replies only when he is questioned;

(2) speaks when all others fail;

(3) Advises what is suitable for the good of the person
(who is talking to).

One who has non of these three qualities is stupid.

The Commander of Believers (AS) further added: No one should
preside over a meeting except when he possesses either all the three or at
least one of the above qualities.

If a person presides over a
meeting without having all or (at least) one of the above three qualities, he
is just stupid!

O' Hisham! The Commander of Believers (AS) (i.
e.
,
Imam Ali), used to say:

Of all the observance and devotions offered to
God, the best one is of and by (the people of) reason.

Reason of a
person does not reach perfection unless it possesses some specific
characteristics.

The characteristics (of a perfect reason) is that:

(1) It gives immunity against disbelief (Kufr) and
evil;

(2) Virtue and true guidance is expected to follow from
such a man (of reason);

(3) He exhausts his excessive wealth in good deeds;

(4) He protects himself from irresponsible gossips;

(5) His share in the worldly life amounts to what is
needed for his existence;

(6) He is never fed up with knowledge throughout his
life;

(7) Humiliation in pursuit of (belief, obedience and
favor of) God is dearer to him than any honor in
pursuit of things other than God;

(8) Humbleness is dearer to him than dignity;

(9) He regards the little good of others to him as
much, and regards any good from him to others as
little;

(10)He regards people better than himself, and regards
himself in his heart as of little consequence.

And this is the climax!

O' Hisham! He who has no
generosity, has no religion, and he who has no reason has no generosity.

The greatest
man is he who never deems himself equal in value to the worldly life.
Verily
There is NO lower price for your bodies except to be soled in
exchange for Paradise.

Hence do NOT sell it for anything
less than that.

Shi'ite reference:

Usul al-Kafi, Chapter of Reason and Ignorance, a part of Tradition #12 Majority vs.

Minority (Part VII) Tradition #12 continued:

O' Hisham! God has condemned
majority as criterion of truth with the
And if you obey the majority of those on earth,
they will lead you astray from the path of God.

[6:116] And if you ask them: Who created the heavens and
the earth? Certainly they will say Allah.

Say: All praise belongs
to Allah.

Nay, but the majority of them have no knowledge.

[31:25]

{my comment: the majority mentioned in the above verse
is the majority of believers since the verse mentions that they believe
in Allah} And if you ask them: Who sends down water from
heaven thereby revives the earth after it's death? Certainly they will say
Allah.

Say: All praise be to Allah.

Nay, but most of them
have no understanding.

[29:63]

and He said: .
but most of
them do not know {6:37, 7:131, 8:34, 10:55, 27:61, 28:57, 39:49, 44:39, 52:47] and said: .

and most of them
have no understanding [5:103] and said: .

but most of them
are not thankful [10:60, 27:73] O' Hisham! On the contrary, Allah has praised the
minority, by saying:

Few of My servants are thankful.

[34:13]

and also said:
And how few
they are! [38:24] and said:
and those who
believed, and they did not believed with him (Noah) but a few [11:40]

Shi'ite reference:

Usul al-Kafi, Arabic-English version, part 1, pp 31-49, Tradition #12