Some Disciplines Concerning Testifying Divinity

Know that divinity has many states [maqamat], which are, according to "Collectivity" [jam], explained in two: First: Divinity of Essence. Second: Divinity of Action. If by testifying that divinity is confined to Allah we mean the Divinity of Essence, its truth, with that of takbir, will come close to each other if ilah (divinity) is derived from "aliha fish-shay' ", i.e. 'He became perplexed about it', or derived from "laha", i.e. 'He became lofty' or derived from "laha yaluhu", i. e. 'He concealed himself. In this case its connection to the adhan and the Salat becomes known by referring to the chapter of takbir, and so does its discipline. But to repeat it again, though not void of some advantage, is contrary to brevity. If we take aliha to mean: "He worshipped", and ma'Iuh to mean: "the worshipped", then the salik must make the formal testimony of the confinement of diety to Allah, the Most High, comply with the inner cordial testimony, and he should know that should there be in the heart a diety other than Allah, he would be a hypocrite in his testimony.

So, the salik is to convey to his heart, by whatever austerity, his testimony about divinity, and to smash in his heart the big and small idols which have been engraved by the intruding hands of Satan and the evil-commanding soul, and to sweep them away, so that he may become fit to be in the Presence of His Sacred Essence. As long as the idols of loving the world and mundane affairs are still in the ka'bah of the heart, the salik will find no way to his goal. So, testifying to divinity is to announce to the worldly and heavenly powers that the false dieties and the crooked objectives should be trod upon so as to be able to ascend to Allah's Proximity.

But if the confinement of divinity is intended for Divinity of Action, which is management and effectiveness, the meaning of the testimony will be: I testify that there is no manager and no effective influence in the world of achievement, and in the visible and the invisible save the Sacred Essence of Allah, the Most High. If the salik's heart cherished dependence on any being among the beings, and trusted any individual among the individuals, his heart would be diseased and his testimony false.

Thus, the salik must first strengthen, with judicial proof, the fact that "There is no effecter [mu'aththir] in the (world of) existence except Allah". He must not evade the divine knowledge, which is the objective of sending prophets, and not turn away from remembering Allah and from the affairs of the Essence and Attributes, for the source of all (kinds of) happiness is the remembrance of Allah: "And whoever turns away from remembering Me, his shall surely be a straitened life". [192] After attaining to the truth of this divine delicacy, which is the source of the divine knowledge and the door of the doors of the hidden facts, by way of thinking and reasoning, he is to make his heart, through remembrance and austerity, familiar with them until it believes in them. This would be the first stage of the truthfulness of his words, and it is marked by complete dependence on Allah, and by taking the eye of greed and hope away from all beings, a fact which results in believing in Allah's Unity of Action, being one of the great states of the people of knowledge. Having ascribed all effects to Allah, and closed the eye of greed against all beings, save His Sacred Essence, the salik becomes worthy attending the Sacred Presence, or rather his heart becomes, by nature, attentive to that Presence. Repeating the testimony may be for confirming it, and by the testimony we mean one of the two testimonies, or it may not be a repetition, but one may refer to the Divinity of Essence and the other to the Divinity of Action. In this instance, its repetition at the end may be to confirm them, and that is why it is not mentioned these with the very words: "I testify."

A Gnostic Note

Know that testimony is of many stages, of which we shall be satisfied with referring to a few, as suits these pages.

The first is the Verbal Testimony [shahadat-i qauliyah], which is already known. If the verbal testimony is not accompanied with cordial testimony, even in a lower stage, it will not be a testimony, but a deception and a hypocrisy, as it was mentioned in the hadith concerning takbir, quoted from Imam as Sadiq (AS). [193]

The second is the Practical Testimony [shahadat-i fi'liyah], which means that man testifies through the practices of his organs. For example, he is, in the type and method of his action, to apply the fact that: "There is no effecter [mu 'aththir] in the (world of) existence save Allah", and, as his verbal testimony requires him to think that nobody is effective, he should work out the plan of his acts accordingly. Hence, he should not extend the hand of need to anybody except to the Sacred Presence of Allah, the Most High, nor should he open the eye of expectation at any being. He should show himself rich and in no need, before the weak servants, and keep aloof from weakness, humility and inability.

This is frequently referred to by noble hadiths, as is in a narrative stated in the noble al-Kafi: "A believer's dignity is to manage without the help of the people." [194] Showing oneself well off and prosperous is one of the religious commendable practices, while demanding things from people is undesirable. In short, one must put to practice the divine grace: "There is no effecter in the (world of) existence except Allah" in his external kingdom.

The third is the Cordial Testimony [shahadat-i qalbiyah], which is the source of the practical and verbal testimonies, as without it, these would not come to actuality. And it is that Allah's Unity of Action manifests in the heart, which realizes, by way of its inner secret, the truth of this grace, and separates itself from other beings. Most of the narratives quoted from the infallible Ahlul Bayt (AS) concerning abandoning looking with greed at what is in the hands of the people, and despairing of the servants, and trusting and confiding in Allah, the Exalted and Most High, refer to this situation.

It is in al-Kafi, on the authority of 'Ali ibn al-Husayn (AS) that he said: "I found that the entire goodness is gathered in cutting one's coveting what is in the hands of others, and whoever placed no hope on the people in anything, and entrusted himself to Allah, the Exalted, in all his affairs, Allah would respond to him in all the things." [195] Hadiths of this kind are many.

The fourth is the Essence Testimony (Personal Testimony = shahadat-i dhatiyah), i.e. the existential testimony, and it appears in the perfect holy men. To the holy men, this testimony is present in all beings, in one way or another. Perhaps the ayah :"Allah bears witness that there is no god but He, and (so do) the angels and the possessors of knowledge", [196] is a hint at the Essence Testimony, for Allah, the Exalted, in the state of " the Collective Oneness " [ahadiyat-I dhatiyah] gives Personal testimony to His own Unity [wahdaniyat] , because mere existence by itself denotes the Essence-Oneness [ahadiyat-I dhatiyah], and in the rising of the Day of Resurrection it appears in Complete Unity [wahdaniyat-I tammah]. This Oneness [ahadiyat] appears first in the mirror of the Collectivity [jam], then in the mirror of distinctness [tafsil]. For this reason He said :" ...and the angels and the possessors of knowledge". In this instance there are many states of knowledge [ma'arif] that are out of the obligation of these pages to explain.

Connection:

In the exegesis of Muhammad ibn Mas'ud al-'Ayyashi, quoting 'Abdus Samad ibn Bashir, it is said: "The beginning of the adhan was mentioned to Abu 'Abdullah (Imam as-Sadiq) (AS), and he said: 'The Messenger of Allah (SA) was (once) sleeping in the shadow of the ka'bah, when Gabriel came to him with a bowl of water from Paradise. He woke him up and told him to wash himself with it. Then he (the Prophet) was put in a carriage with a thousand colors of light, and he was taken high up to the doors of the heaven. When the angels saw him, they ran away from the doors of the heaven, exclaiming: 'Two gods, a god in the earth and a god in the heaven!' Allah commanded Gabriel to shout: Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar!' So the angels returned to the doors of the heaven. The door was opened, and he proceeded until he reached the second heaven. The angels ran away from the doors of the heaven. There he said: 'I testify that there is no god but Allah! I testify that there is no god but Allah!' The angels returned, as they realized that he was a creature. Then the door was opened and he went in ..." as the hadith goes on. [197]

A similar concept is stated in a narrative in 'Ilalush-Shara 'i'. [198] These hadiths denote that testifying to Allah's Divinity opens the doors of the heaven and penetrates the barriers, and causes the angels of Allah to gather. The veil which is penetrated through by testifying to His Divinity and by confessing it to be exclusively His, is of the thick veils of darkness, and, as long as the salik is wrapped in it, he will have no way to attend the Presence, and unless this door opens to him, he will not be admitted. That barrier is the veil of the multiplicity of acts, and to fall in this multiplicating veil results in taking the created beings to be effective and influential, which means regarding them to be independent in their action, which is admitting, the impossible and is a great polytheism, while, on the other hand, the result of testifying to the divinity to be exclusively Allah's, is testifying to the Unity of Action and annihilating the multiplicities in Allah's Act, and denying anyone else to have any effect or effectiveness, and believing that independence belongs to Allah, the Exalted. It was by means of this testimony that the angels of the heaven came out of the veil of the multiplicity of "A god in the earth and a god in the heaven", and returned from fleeing away and dispersing to familiarity and gathering, and then the doors of the heaven opened to them. So, the salik must also penetrate through this veil of his darkness by way of this testimony and open the doors of heaven to himself, and step out of the heavy veil of the independence, so that the way of ascension to the mi'raj of His Proximity becomes closer. But this cannot be brought about by mere verbal utterances of remembering Allah, as that is why our acts of worship do not cross the limit of the mundane formality, and, thus, no door will be opened to us and no veil will be pushed off our faces.

Notes:

[192]. Surah Ta-Ha: 124.

[193]. Refer to footnote No. 190.

[194]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 3, p. 218, "Book of Faith and Disbelief', ch. on "Doing Without the People" hadith 1.

[195]. Ibid., hadith 3.

[196]. Surah Al-i 'Imran: 18

[197]. Al-'Ayyashi's Exegesis (on the Qur'an), vol. 1, p. 157, Commenting on Surah al-Baqarah, narrative 530.

[198]. Ilalush Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 312.

 Some Disciplines of Testifying to the (Prophet's) Messengership Implying Testifying to the Guardianship

Be aware that this spiritual journey and faithful ascension cannot be made with this broken leg, ruptured reins, blind eyes and lightless heart: " And whomever Allah has not given light, for him there is no light ". [198a] Therefore, in setting off upon this spiritual road and ascending to this gnostic mi'raj, it is a must to adhere to the spiritual state of the guides along the ways of knowledge [ma'rifat] and the lights [anwar] of the road of guidance, who are the devotees and the attainers to Allah. If anybody tries, depending on his selfishness and without clinging to their guardianship, to tread upon this road, his journey will be to Satan and to the pit (of hell) [hawiyah]. Scientifically speaking, to connect between the novel [hadith] and the Eternal [qadim], the changing and the Unchanging, there should be an intermediate, a connector, with the characteristic of being unchanging and changing, eternal and novel. Without such an intermediate, the Emanation of the Eternal and the Unchanging would not pass to the changing and the novel in the divine law, and the universal and existential connection would not take place. As regards the connector between these two, the scientific opinions of the experts in the evidential knowledge ['ulum-i burhani] are diverse, as the gnostic taste is different, to give the details of which is out of the scope of these papers. In the gnositc taste, the connector is the Sacred Emanation [faid-i muqaddas], the Expansive Existence [wujud-i munbasit], which has the position [maqam] of the big isthmus [barzakhiyat-i kubra] and the great intermediate [wasatiyat-i 'uzma], and it is the very position of the spirituality and the guardianship of the Seal of the Prophets, which is united with the position the Ali's General Guardianship [wilayat-I mutlaqa-I alawiyah]. The relevant details are stated in the Misbahul Hidayah by the writer. [199] Similarly, in the ascending spiritual connection - which is the opposite of the descending existential connection, or in other words, it is "the contraction of existence" [qabd-i wujud] and returning to the Beginning there is need for an intermediate, without which it does not take place, and the connection of the imperfect and the chained hearts, and of the limited descending spirits, with the Complete, Super Complete and the Absolute from all aspects, is not implemented without the spiritual intermediates and the invisible connectors.

If somebody thinks that Allah, the Exalted, is self-subsisting [qayyum] with each being and encompassing each of the entities [akwan] without the intermediation of the intermediates, as is referred to in the noble ayah: "There is no living creature but He holds it by the forelock" [200], he is mixing between the states [maqamat] and is making a mistake in the status [i'tibarat], mingling the state of the multiplicity of the stages of existence with the vanishing [fana'] of the individuations [ta'ayyunat]. This discussion, however, is not so much connected to this paper, and, actually, what has already been said was caused by the overflowing of the pen.

In short, adhering to the masters of graces [auliya '-i ni'am] -who have themselves found the way of ascension to ma'arij and completed their journey to Allah is a must for the travelers to Allah, as is frequently mentioned in the noble hadiths, such that in Wasil'il (Wasil'ilush-Shi'ah) there is a chapter concerning the invalidity of worship without adhering to the guardianship of the Imams (the 12 Imams) and believing in their Imamate. In Wasil'il it is quoted from the noble al-Kafi, on the authority of its writer quoting Muhammad ibn Muslim who said: "I was told by Imam Baqirul 'Ulum (the fifth Imam) (AS) who said: 'Know, O Muhammad, that the leaders of despotism and their followers are isolated from Allah's religion. They are misleading and misled. So, their deeds are like the ashes at which a violent wind blows on a windy day and it disperses them." [201]

In another narrative from Imam al-Baqir, he said:"... If a man spent his nights performing the Salat, spent his days fasting, gave out all his wealth in charity, and went to hajj every year of his life, yet he did not know the guardianship of Allah's friend to follow him and return to him in all his deeds, he would have no right to ask Allah, the Glorious and Almighty, for any reward, nor would he be of the people of faith." [202]

Shaykh as-Saduq, quoting Abu Hamza ath Thamali, says that he said: "Imam 'Ali ibn al-Husayn (AS) asked us: 'Which spot is most preferred?' We said 'Allah, His Messenger and the son of His Messenger know better.' He said: 'The best of spots for us is that which is situated between the rukn and the maqam (two places in the Ka'bah). If some one lives as long as the life of Nuh who lived among his people for a thousand years less fifty and spends it in fasting in daytime and in worshipping at nights in that spot, and then goes to meet Allah without accepting our guardianship, he will not be benefited by it whatsoever." [203]

The narratives on this topic are too many to be contained in this summary.

The discipline of testifying to the Messengership is to convey to the heart the testimony of the Messenger's being sent by Allah, as well as the greatness of the state of the Messengership, especially that of the Last Messenger, since the whole circle of existence, the invisible and visible worlds, are creationally, legislationally, existentially and from guidance point of view living on the crumbs of his table. That great man is the means of Allah's Emanation and the connection between Allah and the creatures. Had it not been for his spiritual status [maqam] and absolute guardianship, no existing being could have been worthy of being benefited by the state of the Invisible Oneness [ghaib-i ahadi], and Allah's grace would not have passed over to any being, and the light of guidance would not have shone onto anyone of the internal and external worlds. He is the light mentioned in the ayah of Nur (Light): "Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth". [204]

When the greatness of the legislator of the religion and of the Messenger of the Lord of the worlds enters a man's heart, the importance of his precepts and rules enter the heart, too. Then, when the heart has comprehended that greatness, the other visible and invisible powers would submit to it, and the sacred Shari'ah would be observed in all the human kingdom. The sign of the truthfulness of the testimony is that its effects will appear in all the invisible and visible powers, and they will keep adherent to it, as has already been stated.

From what has so far been stated, the reason of testifying to the Messengership in the adhan, the iqamah and the salat has become clear, for the traveller on this spiritual road is in need of adhering to that sacred being, so that he may accompany him and have his helping guidance in performing this spiritual ascension.

Another aspect of this testimony is the announcement to the mundane and heavenly powers that the salat, which is the reality of the ascension [mi'raj] of the believers and the source of the knowledge of the people of gnosticism and of faith, is the result of the complete revelation [kashf] of Muhammad (SA), who, with his spiritual journey, divine attractions and the embers of the Beneficent, attained to a position "at the distance of two bows or closer still", [205] revealing its truth, following the Essential, Nominal and Attributive manifestations and intimate inspirations in the Invisible Oneness. In fact, this is a souvenir, a gift, that he brought from his moral and spiritual journey for his ummah, which is the best of the ummahs, and by that he favoured them and overwhelmed them with blessings. When this belief sets inside the heart and is fixed by repetition, the salik will, as a matter of course, understand the greatness of the state and the place, and will proceed, with fear and hope, to cover this stage, and it is hoped, insha 'allah (Allah willing), if he does his best to perform it, that master will assist him and lead him to the state of "the Proximity of the One" [qurb-i ahadi], which is the original innate objective. In the divine sciences it has been proved that the return of all beings is implemented by means of the Perfect Man: "As He brought you forth in the beginning, so shall you also return." [206] "With you Allah started and with you He will end, and the return of the creatures is up to you." [207]

A Gnostic Note

In the honourable hadith in 'Ilalush-Shara'i', which gives details about the salat of the mi'raj and describes it, it is said that when the Messenger of Allah (SA) mounted on the mount of light, which had been sent down by the Lord of Might, and ascended accompanied by Gabriel, and reached the third heaven, the angels ran away, bowed and glorified Allah. Gabriel said: "I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." The angels gathered and greeted the Messenger of Allah, and asked him about Amirul Mu'minin ('Ali). The doors of the heavens opened and the Messenger ascended to the fourth heaven. There, the angels of Allah said nothing. Then the doors of the heaven opened, and the angels gathered, and Gabriel finished reciting the 'iqamah ..." [208] etc.

Al-' Ayyashi, in his exegesis of the Qur'an, relates almost the same context.

From this hadith one may gather that the angels of each of the heavens were incapable of enduring to see the Ahmadan Beauty, and they fell bowing at seeing his sacred light, and dispersed, thinking it was the light of Allah. Then, as they heard the chapters of the adhan and the iqamah they came back to his intimacy, the doors of the heavens opened and the veils were lifted.

Hence, the salik is to come out from these veils by means of the said testimonies -by testifying to the Messengership he is to completely come out from the veil of the creational individuality [ta'ayyun-i khalqi], because the position of Messengership which He assigned to the most honourable of the creatures, is the position of absolute annihilation [fana'] and complete dependence, since the final absolute Messengership is the big divine isthmus khilafat (vicegerency, succession).It is a vicegerency [khilafat] in respect of appearance, manifestation, genesis and legislation. The vicegerent [khalifah] is not to be independent nor to have individuality in any way, as otherwise, the vicegerency becomes the principalship itself, which is not possible for any of the beings.

So, the salik is to convey the great state of the Ahmadan khilafat to the innermost of his heart and soul, by means of which he is to remove the veil and penetrate the barriers, and to completely come out of the veils of the creational individuation. Then, the doors of all the heavens will open to him and he will attain, unveiled, to his objective.

A Juristic Branch and a Gnostic Principal

In some untrustworthy narratives it is stated that after testifying to the Messengership in the adhan one is to say: "I testify that 'Ali is waliyullah (Allah's friend)" twice. In other narratives, one is to say: "I testify that 'Ali is truly Amirul Mu'minin" twice. In some others, one is to say: "Muhammad and his progeny are the best of people". Ash-Shaykh as-Saduq(may Allah have mercy upon him) took these narratives to be invented and he denied them. [209] It is well known among the 'ulama' (may Allah be pleased with them) that these narratives are not reliable. Some narrators regard them among the commendables, due to "the negligence of the proofs of the laws." This opinion, however, is not far from being true, although if "absolute proximity" [qurbat-i mutlaqah] is intended, reciting it is better and more admired, because after testifying to the Messengership, it is desirable to testify to the guardianship and the leadership of the believers. In the hadith of ihtijaj (argumentation) it is said that Qasim ibn Mu'awiyah said: "I said to lmam as Sadiq that the people of the Sunnah relate a hadith about the mi'raj, that when the Messenger of Allah was taken on the mi'raj, he saw upon the :Arsh: 'There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and Abu Bakr as-Siddiq.' He said: 'Glorified be Allah! They changed everything even this'!' He said" 'Yes', Then he continued: 'When Allah, the Exalted, created the 'Arsh, He wrote upon it: 'There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and 'Ali is the Commander (Leader) of the believers. He ordered these to be written on the water, on the Chair (Throne), on the Tablet, on Israfil's forehead, on the two wings of Gabriel, on the shoulders of the heavens and the earth, on the tops of the mountains, on the sun and on the moon.' Then the Imam added: 'When anyone of you says: 'There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah', let him say: ' Ali is the Commander (Leader) of the believers.' [210]

In short, this noble remembrance, after testifying to the Messengership is generally recommendable. In the chapters of the adhan, especially, it is probably commendable. Nevertheless, as the notable 'ulama' have denied those narratives, one may pronounce it by way of precaution and with the general intention of proximity (to Allah), not as a feature of the adhan.

As to the gnostic note concerning "writing these words on all the beings, as from the High :Arsh to the low earth", it is that the truth of the khilafah and wilayah (successorship and guardianship) is the manifestation of divinity, which is the origin of existence and its perfection. Every being which has a share of existence, also has a share of the truth of divinity and its manifestation, which is the truth of the khilafah and wilayah, and the divine grace is fixed on the foreheads of all beings all over the universe, as from the invisible worlds to the end of the visible world. The said divine grace is the truth of" The Expansive Existence" [wujud-i munbasit], "The Breath of the Beneficent" [nafasur-rahman] and "The Created-in Right" [haqq-I makhluqun bihi], which are the very inside of the Last Successorship and of the Ali's General Guardianship. On this, the gnostic Shaykh Shahabadi (may his spirit be sanctified), used to say that the testimony to Messengership implies the testimony to Guardianship, because Guardianship is the inside of Messengership.

The writer says that these two testimonies are both implied in the testimony to His Divinity, and the testimony to Messengership implies the other two testimonies, as well as the testimony to Guardianship implies the other two testimonies. Praise be to Allah at the beginning and at the end.

Notes:

[198a]. Surah Nur: 40.

[199]. Misbahul Hidayah is a book written in the Arabic language by Imam Khomeini (may Allah sanctity his honourable soul), explaining some truths and knowledge concerning the caliphate and guardianship. In the Preface to this honourable book he says: "I like to uncover for you, in this paper, by the help of Allah, the guardian of guidance in the beginning and in the end, and indication of the Muhammadan caliphate, and an exudation of the truth of the , Alawian guardianship (upon them be the greeting from the Beginning to eternity) and how they spread through the invisible and visible worlds ..., or rather it should be named: Misbahul Hidayah to Caliphate and Guardianship. I ask Allah success, as He is the best assistant and company, and I ask His pure guardians their patronage in this world and in the other world ..." The writer finished writing the book in the month of Shawwal, 1349 H.

[200]. Surah Hud: 56.

[201]. Wasai'lush Shi'ah, vol. 1, p. 90 chs. on "Preliminaries to Worship." ch. 29, hadith 1. Usulul Kafi, vol. 1, p. 259," Book of Proof " , ch. on "Knowing the Imam and Returning to Him", hadith 8.

[202]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 3, p. 30. "Book of Faith and Infidelity", ch. on "The Pillars of Islam", hadith 5.

[203]. Iqabul Amal, ch. on "He Who Ignores the Merits of Ahlul Bayt hadith 2. Wasa'ilush-Shi'ah, vol. 1, p. 93, chs. on "Preliminary to Worships", ch. 29, hadith 12.

[204]. Surah Nur: 35.

[205]. Surah an-Najm: 9.

[206]. Surah al-A'raf: 29.

[207]. 'Uyunu akhbarir Rida, vol. 2, p. 272 (Al-Jami'ah ai-Kabirah invocation).

[208]. Refer to footnote No. 191.

[209]. Man la Yahduruhul Faqih, vol. 1, p. 188, "Book of the salat", ch. on "The Adhan, the Iqamah and the Reward of the Mu'adhdhins (Those who call for the sa'lat), comment on the narrative No. 35.

[210]. al Ihtijaj, vol. 1, p. 230.