The terms of BAYAT with IMAMS

God says, "O momins, fulfil the terms of your contracts" "Fulfil your promise; you will be inquired about it" "(O Mohammed) those who enter into a covenant with you make a covenant with God. The hand of God is upon their hands. He who breaks it does harm to himself and he who fulfils the terms of the covenant which he has made with God will be amply rewarded."

These verses make it clear to us that our pledge to the Imams is equivalent to our pledge to the Prophet which is a pledge to God. Just as devotion to the Imams is linked with the devotion to God which under no circumstances can be given up, the fulfilment of our terms of covenant with them is also a sort of devotion from which we cannot break away to the slightest extent. If a devotee is devoted to God but he disobeys His Prophet or belies him, his devotion will not be taken into account and he will be punished for falsifying the Prophet and disobeying him. It needs no further testimony than the following verse of the Quran which speaks of the infidels who believed in God but did not believe in the Prophet and who consequently incurred the wrath of God who condemned them to perdition. The verse runs thus "If you ask them as to who has created them they say God has created us." Since they disbelieve in the Prophet, in spite of their acknowledgment of the Lordship of God they expose themselves to His wrath because of their disbelief in His Prophet.

Similarly, if a devotee believes in God and in His Prophet and does not believe in the Imamat of the "Imams," the successors of the Prophet, even if he were to worship God throughout his life-time he becomes one of those about whom God says, "We shall look to their deeds and treat them as nothing but particles of scattered dust."

Thus, if one is devoted to God and His Prophet but disobeys the Imam of his time or belies him, practically disobeys God who will not recognize his devotion to Him and His Prophet in view of his denial and disobedience of the Imam of his time. This is clear from the fact that God has linked devotion to Him, to the devotion to the Imams so inextricably that none of these three devotions can be separated. Hence, he who fulfils his pledge to God, His Prophet and his "Wasees" i.e. the Imams, entitles himself to be included in the group about which God says, "They will be amply rewarded."

The ample reward stands for "jannat." But he who breaks his pledge to God and disjoins from what God has ordered him to join is one of those losers about whom God says, "They have lost this world as well as the next." They lose the pleasure of the Imams in this world and pleasure of God in the next. They expose themselves to the punishment of God for disjoining the devotion to the Imams from the devotion to God which they have been enjoined upon to join.

In short, fulfil your pledges to them to the fullest extent. Take particular care of the return of the "amanat" to them. You have pledged this to God. You have taken serious vows of your loyalty to them. You have taken upon yourselves the fulfilment of the terms of the pledge and the vows you have made to them. Strive hard to earn the reward of God and see that you do not become losers. Think again and again over the seriousness of the pledges and the vows you have made to the Imams. Keep these vows always fresh in your mind and return "amanat" to God and the Imams. God says, "Secure are the "momins" who pay back the "amanat," fulfil their vows and are particular about their prayers. They are the persons who will inherit "Firdaus" in which they will have a permanent abode." These verses make crystal clear to us that the fulfilment of pledges and the return of the "amanat" carries the "momins" to "jannat" and the breaking of vows and dishonesty in the payment of "amanats" will drag them down to the lowest depth of Hell-fire. You must bear in mind that in keeping up your pledges and vows if no other consideration prevails upon you than the avoidance of disgrace which is involved in your breach of faith, even then it will be worth your while to do so. We know many people who in spite of the fact that they are not necessarily very pious nor strictly honest, are very particular about the fulfilment of their vows and in this matter they act exactly on the lines recommended by God in His holy Book. If any one of them breaks his vows to the slightest extent he atones for what can be atoned for and fulfils the pledge which cannot be atoned for. We must realise that we have voluntarily taken upon ourselves a heavy responsibility and we have no other go than to discharge our obligations by the fulfilment of our vows.

Let us fear God. Let us see that we do not commit a breach of faith in these matters. Let us guard ourselves against the breaking of our vow to God, against transgressing His limits and disobeying His commands and prohibitions. See that you do not die with your vows unfulfilled in your life-time. It must be borne in mind that even if we make a vow not to touch our wives, and not to take food, and not to change the clothing which belong to us, God makes these lawful things unlawful for us unless we atone for our vows by giving something in charity as setting free a slave. Thus if we do not fulfil the vows that we have taken upon ourselves, we indulge in the doing of unlawful things and involve ourselves in the committing of heinous crimes and grave sins. May God forbid us all from this hazardous affair. May He include us all among those "momins" who fulfil their pledges and never break them, and who pay back the "amanats" and respect their word of honour. O momins, may God's mercy be on you, you must remember that you cannot fulfil your pledges and be honest in the discharge of your obligations unless you know well the pledges you have entered into and the obligations you have put yourselves under. Hence, it is necessary for you that you should remind yourselves of the covenants that you have made with the Imam and the terms of the covenant that you have taken upon yourselves to fulfil. If you ignore inadvertently or forget or treat lightly any of those terms, then the moment you realise your mistake you must atone for it by repentance and do what you have omitted to do. If you have forgotten the terms or some part of it then renew them by reviving the terms of the covenant. Admit your guilt and repent to God and to the Imam. If you persist in your mistakes or your ignorance then you will appear before God as one who has ignored His sign on earth and broken his vow with Him. You will appear in His eyes much more degraded and much more miserable than the one who has made no such pledge. For, the misappropriator of the "amanat" is in a much worse position than the one who has refused to deposit the "amanat" with him; and the one who knows the consequences of the breach of faith and still commits the breach is to be blamed more than the one who is ignorant of all this. Although it is the duty of the one who does not know these things to try to know them and it is incumbent on the one who has lost the way to look for guidance, still his guilt is less than that of the one who knowingly commits the breach of faith.

The hypocrites are condemned by God to the lowest depths of the hell fire and their condition is much worse than that of the infidels. It is because, the hypocrites knew the truth and yet they rejected it and the infidels persisted in their infidelism. Both the hypocrites and the infidels will be in hell fire and the lot of the hypocrites will be the worst for they have broken the pledge or ignored it and this is much worse than the refusal to take the pledge.