All the stories to come after, are adopted from “ a commentary on Kumayl supplication” by Professor Hossein Ansarian”. To see refrences and quotations you can refer to this book at the Publication of Erfan research center, Qom, Iran.
Change from the Unlucky Book to the Lucky Book
The author of “exegesis of fatihat Al-Kitab”, which is one of the most important scientific and Gnostic books written by a scholar after the age of al-Fay¤ al-K¡sh¡n¢, narrates that:
In the Israelites, there was a pious worshipper who had secluded from other people, remaining in his own privacy. He had worshipped Allah so devotedly day and night that all the angels befriended him. Gabriel, too, who was the guardian of heavenly secrets, asked the Almighty to be allowed to descend in order to meet the pious man. He was ordered: ‘Look into the Lawhul Mahfuz (Divine memory tablet on which human destinies or deeds are recorded). to see his standing!’
Gabriel looked and found the pious man’s name among the unlucky. He got surprised at the unpredictability of fates, ceased to desire meeting him, and said: ‘O Allah! No one can stand against your verdict and tolerate these peculiarities.’ He was called: ‘Since you have wished to see him for a while, now go and meet him and tell him what you saw.’
Gabriel descended into the pious man’s convent to find a slim and weak individual who was prying enthusiastically and wholeheartedly; sometimes standing in front of the altar and then humbly prostrating on the soil before Allah. Gabriel greeted him and said: ‘O pious man! Do not get yourself into trouble! Because your name is written among the unlucky.’
Hearing this, the pious smiled like a new flower that blossoms with the morning breeze, and as a melodious nightingale seeing the flower began reciting ‘Praise be to Allah.’
Gabriel said: ‘Poor man! How can you call ‘Praise be to Allah’ at this miserable story? You should be gloomy, rather than delighted!’
The old pious replied: ‘Do not speak this way, because I am the servant and He is my Master. A servant would not wish anything beyond his Master’s will. He has the power to do as He is inclined, and take me where he wills. Praise be to Allah that if I do not deserve going to paradise, I am needed as the wood for the hell!’
Gabriel returned to his own position while seeing state of the man excited his pity. Allah ordered him to look at the Divine Memory to see what the painter of “Allah blots out, and He establishes whatsoever He will…” “يمحو الله ما يشاء ويثبت” (13:39).
“ has drawn and what the creator of “And Allah does what He will…” - “ويفعل الله ما يشاء”(14:27).
has painted. Gabriel looked and saw the pious man’s name among the lucky. He was astonished and said: ‘O Allah! What is the secret of this story? And what is the reason for changing the name from unlucky to lucky?’
He was answered: ‘O the trustee of revelation secrets! When you informed the pious of his stance he did not groan, rather he was patient and surrendered himself to My will and his destiny; he said ‘Praise be to Allah’, calling Me with all My praiseworthy names. So I inclined to name him among the lucky instead of the unlucky, out of Mercy.’ (The exegesis of fatihat Al-Kitab: 107).
وَبِقُوَّتِكَ الَّتِى قَهَرْتَ بِهَا كُلَّ شَيٍْء
(And I ask You) by Your Strength, through which You dominate everything.
Allah’s Strength, just as His holy Existence, is infinite. Other abilities and strengths are insignificant before His Strength. No strength is independent from His Strength, but a ray of His Power: “لا حول و لا قوه الا بالله “: “There is no Power but Allah’s.” In the last section, the phrase “كل شيء” was briefly discussed and it was concluded that:
“كل شيء” includes all the creatures and beings, which have been created by Allah’s Mercy, and whose exact quality and quantity no one knows and will not know until the Day of Judgment. Who is aware of the exact number of billions of heavenly germs, galaxies, plants, animals, birds, beasts, reptiles of the earth and sea, and the countless amebas, viruses, microbes, and hidden beings and the angels?
The Compassionate Creator of the world, who has such an unending Power over “everything in the world”, dominates everything, and nothing is out of His embracing Strength.
Allah maintains the heavens and their germs, the galaxies and the stars, the systems and their inhabitants-some of which weight more than billions of tons-which have been floating in a certain orbit, with a definite speed for billions of years now, and He keeps them from falling down.
وَخَضَعَ لَهَا كُلُّ شَيٍْء وَذَلَّ لَها كُلُّ شَيْءٍ
(I ask You) by Your Strength, toward which everything is humble and before which all things are lowly.
Everything in this world, from the hidden to the visible beings, from the largest to the smallest beings, from the most extensive galaxies, stars, and planets to the tiniest atoms that are not observable with scientific tools, is contemptible before Allah. Everything is conquered by His rule and surrendered to His wise fiat and ready to make obedience to Him. All the creatures are unexceptionally capitulated to Allah’s immeasurable Strength.
A phrase from a supplication stated by an infallible Imam’ conscious heart and mind reads: “Surely You are; You are the God to Whose Strength everything is capitulated and humble. You are able to do anything to Your creatures and dominate any of them. You are the One Who created all the things and have control over them. You are the Master of all things. There is no God except You. You are the Generous and the Mighty.”
Granting the exigency of a humble and weeping servant in a Thursday night is very easy for the One Who has dominated everything with His infinite Power, and to Whose Strength everything is capitulated. And it is much effortless for Him to manipulate His various agents in the heavens and the earth to grant His servant’s worldly and heavenly demands.
Is it possible that a heartbroken, who calls Allah by His Mercy and Strength and who knows nothing above Him, become unfortunate? Never! It is not strange from worldly incapable beings to be incompetent in fulfilling others’ demands. But Allah’s All-Sufficient existence, and His infinite Mercy and Strength necessitate the fulfillment of the supplications in accord with the servant’s expediency and His own Wisdom.
We read in the thirteenth supplication of the “Sahifa Sajjadiya”( A book of supplications by the fifth Imam, Imam Sajjad a.s.): “You have attributed Your creatures to poverty and they entirely need You. Therefore one, who asks You to compensate the shortcomings of his life and alter his poverty to richness, has indeed turned to the precise Position and the right One to obtain his need. And one, who asks his exigency from one of Your creatures, has certainly deprived himself and does not deserve Your favor.
I eagerly follow the path toward You and I only hope and believe in You. I know that what I ask You is easy before Your Strength, however difficult it may be to me. And I realize that what I need is so trivial for You, however significant it may be for me. Your Generosity does not become narrow by anyone’s exigency and it is Your Bounty, which is above all other generosities.”
The world and the beings inside it that were once nothing to be mentioned became beings by Allah’s Will. And they continue existence under His Mercy and Strength. They are not independent of Allah; they are basically poor and pitiable and humble before Him.
Human being is not worthy of showing power and pride before Allah’s Strength, since his body is as trivial as a handful of soil, his soul is but a moment of existence, and his mind is incapable of knowing even a tiny atom. Human cannot present himself before Allah Whose Mercy has surrounded all his life; otherwise it causes him loss and deprivation from Allah’s Mercy and doomed punishment.
وَبِجَبرُوتِكَ الَّتِى غَلَبْتَ بِهَا كُلَّ شَيٍْء
(I ask You) by Your Invincibility, through which You overwhelm all things.
Lexically, the Arabic word “جبروت” (Invincibility) is hyperbole; it means Allah compensates for all the shortcomings and inadequacies of the creatures by giving every blessing, necessary tools and equipments to them; a lofty compensation.
All the beings are insignificant before creation; their primary element is an atom, a particle, a seed, or trivial semen. They have inadequacies at first that are made up by Allah’s Invincibility, so that all the creatures reach their full entity and occupy their due position in the living world.
The mercy of Allah (S.W.T.) manifests itself for man. When Allah (S.W.T.) made man the khalifah on earth, He did not leave him without guidance, but rather He sent many messengers to guide him to the straight path, especially the comprehensive and complete Islamic legislation, that would keep him away from hardship and misery.
The mercy of Allah (S.W.T.) manifests itself in His overlooking the sins of the sinner when he unknowingly commits the sin then repents. Allah’s mercy is even beyond that; Allah (S.W.T.) changes the sins of the sinner, after his sincere repentance followed by righteous deeds, to good deeds (hasanat). Allah (S.W.T.) says in surat Al-Furqan, (verse 70), what can be translated as, "…Those who repent and believe, and do righteous deeds, for those, Allah will change their sins into good deeds…" All this is to prevent the sinners from feeling hopeless of the mercy of Allah (S.W.T.).
source : a commentary on Kumayl supplicatio
