The Role of Imams a.s. in the Revival of Religion (2) [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

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The Role of Imams a.s. in the Revival of Religion (2) [Electronic resources] - نسخه متنی

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FIRST PART:
THE CONDITION FOR REFERRING TOTHE PRIMARY SOURCES OF ISLAM


Regarding previous discussions, one can decisively say
that reference to the primary sources of Islam i.e. the
books of hadith, exegesis and biography for the purpose
of writing exegesis or the biography of the Holy Prophet
(S.A.W.A.) and Imams (A.S.) or the story of the Prophets;
and expressing views on them or on the origin (of this
universe), resurrection and all other Islamic beliefs is
like reference to the same books for deriving one divine
decree where the person ref erring so should be an expert
in the Arabic language, hadith of the Immaculate ones.
Since of «Rijal» (biography and criticism of
traditionists), contextual study of hadith and
fundamentals of jurisprudence. Furthermore, he should
have worked for sometime under the guidance of a fully
qualified jurist, well-versed in the manner of making use
of Quran and the Sunnah in deducing the divine decree. In
other words, he should have attended the theological
centers studying the seminary lectures (not based on
regarding textbooks) of the jurists.


Similarly, a person inexpert in the afore-mentioned
sciences, who may not have worked under the guidance of a
jurist is highly unlikely to extract a legal decree or
pass «Fatwa» (judicial decree) from the primary sources
of Islam. An inexpert person in the afore-said sciences
who is untrained and lacks the guidance of a jurist too
cannot extract information about Islamic beliefs, Quranic
exegesis, biography of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) and
Imams (A.S.) and relate them to the Islamic society.


This is really similar to an engineer or doctor in
Physics, Chemistry or Thermodynamics who does not have
the opportunity for referring to the books on medicine
which are taught in the medical colleges however much
that he wishes to cure himself or the patients by
referring to those books. All the scholars, sages and
scientific associations of the world reckon this affair
to be perilous. The reference of an inexpert person in
the afore-said sciences and the Islamic sources and his
writings and opinions too will be perilous for the
beliefs of the Muslims.


Such was the condition for reference to the primary
sources of Islam and the condition for reference to Quran
is as follow:-


SECOND
PART:
THE CONDITION FOR REFERRING TO
THE HOLY QURAN

To examine the condition for reference to the holy
Quran, it is necessary to explain the following:


The holy verses of Quran are divided into two parts:


Definitive and ambigious; and the definitive verses
too speak on the topic of fundamentals of belief and all
other commandments as well as Islamic gnosis.


All the verses which speak on the topic of
fundamentals of Islamic beliefs like:


Tauheed (Monotheism) of the Creator and Tauheed of the
Lawmaking God and the verses which speak about
resurrection, gathering, reckoning, reward and
retribution and the verses which exist with regards to
the appointment of the Prophets - right from Hazrat Adam
till the last Prophet - and the necessity of their
obedience;


and in short, all these fundamentals of beliefs have
been explained with such definite and lucid verses that
anyone possessing a little knowledge of the Arabic
language who wishes to perceive the idea can do so in a
very easy manner.


Now we shall explain a few examples of the verses on
Tauheed:


[Arabic text] 309


[Arabic text] 310


[Arabic text] 311


[Arabic text] 312


[Arabic text] 313


[Arabic text] 314


[Arabic text] 315 [Arabic text] 316


Anyone familiar with the Arabic language can easily
perceive monotheism in Divinity of Lordship from these
and hundreds of other verses.


Verses on Ma'ad (resurrection) like:


[Arabic text] 317


[Arabic text] 318


[Arabic text] 319


[Arabic text] 320


From the previous verses and hundreds of other verses
on resurrection, reckoning and reward the matter becomes
definite, clear and obvious.


About the Prophets, the verses say:


[Arabic text] 321


[Arabic text] 322


About the last of the Prophets, the following verse
says:


[Arabic text] 323


About obedience to him, verses says:


[Arabic text] 324


[Arabic text] 325


[Arabic text] 326


From the entire set of these verses, the idea can be
comprehended in the most simplest manner.


* * *


Such verses which have come down with regards to the
fundamentals of Islamic beliefs are the definitive verses
and anyone familiar with the Arabic language can
understand them fully.


Apart from the previous verses, numerous other
definitive verses too have come down on such topics as
Islamic commandments, ethics and gnosis like:


The verses which have issued commands with the word of
[Arabic text] and its derivatives:


[Arabic text] 327


[Arabic text] 328


On with the use of the word and its derivatives like:


[Arabic text] 329


[Arabic text] 330


And many verses which give commands in the form of the
verb like:


[Arabic text] 331


[Arabic text] 332


[Arabic text] 333


And those verses which by making use of such words as
[Arabic text] and [Arabic text] and their derivatives
have forbidden certain acts like:


[Arabic text] 334


[Arabic text] 335


[Arabic text] 336


On occasions, certain verses have issued forbidden
commands by using the word [Arabic text] like:


[Arabic text]


These and numerous other verses are amongst the
decisive verses on the commandments and all the other
Islamic gnosis.


However, these definitive Quranic verses which are
about lawful, forbidden, permissible, recommendable and
undesirable commandments have expressed the general
decree like: establish the prayers, give the poor tax,
keep fast in the month of Ramadhan and refrain from
backbiting.


The manner and condition of these and numerous other
Islamic decrees and etiquettes whose general commandments
appear in the holy Quran have not been mentioned. In this
connection, God Almighty says:


[Arabic text] 337


«And We have revealed unto thee the Reminder that you
may make clear to men what has been revealed to them.»


Thus, in order to act upon these set of definitive
verses, we should refer to the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) as
he has been the delegate appointed by God to explain to
us the details of the commandments of the Quran.


In order to acquire the detailed account of these
commandments from the Holy Prophet, we are helpless in
following the very primary sources of Islam and for
referring to the original sources of Islam, it is
necessary to follow the very conditions which we have
mentioned before.


* * *


So far, we mentioned the two classes of definitive
verses of the holy Quran. Other than these two classes of
definitive verses in the Quran there are the ambigious
verses and to understand these ambigious verses it is
obvious that one should refer to the one who is
well-versed in the Quran and Sunnah.


Otherwise, the following divine saying will apply to
him:


[Arabic text]


Therefore, as mentioned before, reference to the
definitive verses of the Quran in connection to
monotheism of the Creator and the Law-making God;
knowledge of the day of resurrection, reckoning, reward
and retribution; obedience to the Prophet right to the
last of them - is clear and easy for every person who is
familiar with the Arabic language.


However, in order to act upon the definitive verses
which have pointed out the generalities of the
commandments, it is necessary to learn their details and
conditions from the Holy Prophet. Similarly, with regards
to beliefs - the details of Divine Attributes and the
attributes of the Prophets and Imams - the details of the
condition of resurrection, paradise, hell, intercession,
the fountain of «Kauthar» and other Islamic gnosis; and
the manner of creation of the heavens, earth, angels,
jinn and men should all be learnt from the Holy Prophet.
In other words, one must refer to the original Islamic
sources - books of hadith and seerah. Moreover, reference
to them too necessitates the same conditions which was
mentioned in the first part of our discussion.


Another crucial condition in referring to the holy
Quran is that the person doing so must really be desirous
of acquiring some knowledge and matter from the Quran and
not that he believes in some matters and (then) refers to
the holy Quran and other primary Islamic sources so as to
set up an evidence for his claims. Such a person will
interpret the Quran and hadith according to his own
understanding and whim.


It will be like a person who has brought faith in the
democracy of capitalism or has become devotedly attracted
towards socialism or Darwinian theory or Freud's views
and then refers to the Quran and hadith in search of
proof for his claims and in this process interprets some
of the verses or traditions as per his own views. Such a
person has not wished to acquire knowledge from the Quran
and hadith. Rather, he has pursued to load his views on
the Quran and hadith where this act is unanimously
referred to as [Arabic text] (interpretation by personal
opinion) by scholars.


In order to understand the negative effects of this
act, we shall now set forth a few hadith which reproach
and forbid interpretation by personal opinion.


Thereafter, we shall mention some of the
interpretations exercised through personal opinion by the
exegetists and also by those who had no knowledge of the
Arabic language.


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