It follows from what we have said in the previous parts that Islam is nothing more than the religion of Wilaya (sacred Leadership). The word “Islam” means “submission,” that is, submission to the Creator through His Wali. The Quran is the program of the Wilaya.
The following example can explain this. When a person rules a society, he must have some kind of program to which he will refer: for example, a constitution, a basic law, or some set of rules (names are not important). He cannot just rule without confirming his actions with references to a certain basic law, which is somehow fixed. Therefore, when he makes a decision or acts in one way or another, and they ask him, “Why did you do that?” he says, “Because it is written here like that.”
Therefore, having created the Wali (sacred Leader) of the universe, Allah gave him a program, and this is the Quran where every thing is encrypted. As we have already said, it is not necessary to present the matter in such a way that the Quran was sent down to the Prophet (S) from somewhere outside. The angel draws from the sea of the Prophet’s soul and pours it into the Prophet’s bodily heart. The Quran in our world was revealed gradually. But for the world of the Soul (Malakut), our entire world is one instant, just as for the world of Jabarut, the entire Malakut is one instant, and the Quran has existed there wholly and entirely, as a manifestation of the reality of the Prophet (S).
That’s why Imam Ali (A) says that the entire Quran is collected in the point under the “ba,” and he is this point. “Ba” (ب) is the first letter in the word “bismillah,” with which the Quran begins. The spelling of this letter consists of a horizontal line, which, as it were, symbolizes the stretching of unity along the plane (the multiplicity of worlds), and a point under the line. Imam Ali (A) says that he is a point under “ba” because the point symbolizes structuration and form. Without the point, “ba” is just a horizontal line. So, the point under “ba” is the light in which Fayz of Allah is collected for all His creations, and the reality of the Quran flows from this light as its external expression.
Someone might ask: does this mean that the Quran was revealed only for Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad (S), and not for us? No, it was revealed for everyone: for them and us, just like the constitution is a document for both sides: for the one who rules and those who obey.
Therefore, the text of the Quran is a collection of codes and ciphers for which a decryptor or interpreter is needed. Here, too, one may ask: but doesn’t the Quran itself say it is a clear and understandable book? That is, it seems it should be understandable for everyone. But at the same time, if we turn to the hadiths of the Infallibles (A), we will see that people by themselves cannot understand the Quran. Only Ahl ul-Beit (A) are endowed with this understanding. Imam Baqir (A) says, “There is nothing more distant from the mind of people than the tafsir of the Quran. The beginning of the verse may speak of one thing, and its end may speak of something completely different.” [1]
How can this contradiction be resolved? It is resolved so that there are two sides in the Quran. Let’s take an example again. If an ordinary person starts reading the Constitution of the United States, it seems to be clear to him. And if nothing there was clear to him, then why does this document exist at all? But if he wants to apply the Constitution in practice and draw some conclusions from it, he will not be able to do this. This requires at least a professional lawyer. Therefore, there is a special institution – the Supreme Court, which interprets various controversial aspects of the Constitution. Of course, I am not comparing the Quran with these things; I ask you to understand correctly… This is just an example for bringing thoughts closer to facilitate understanding of the topic.
Therefore, the Quran is a set of codes in which every thing is present in a folded form. It couldn’t be otherwise. How can every thing be folded into such a book of several hundred pages? Only in encrypted form. In the external form of the Quran, there is not even an indication of the number of rak’ats in prayer. But it is in the inside of the Quran. The Quran contains knowledge about everything in the universe. It’s all encrypted and folded there. Imam Baqir (A) says, “If I found someone who is able to bear the knowledge that Allah has given me, I would deduce from the word samad (in Sura ʻIkhlasʼ) all Tawhid, Islam, faith, religion, and Sharia.” [2] From just one word!
But how can we, ordinary people, understand these codes? Only by referring to the words of true interpreters. Only by immersion into the sea of their hadiths. As you know, Allama Majlisi called his great collection of hadiths of Ahl ul-Beit “Bihar al-anwar,” that is, “Seas of Lights.” Only by diving into these seas of lights can we understand something in the Quran.
So, as we have said in previous parts, when Allah wanted to create creation, He made a sea without shores, in which there was an unlimited possibility of all things, corresponding to His unlimited Power. It is just as if you look at an ordinary sea, you will see that its waves can take any form. In the same way, Allah created an endless sea of possibilities, which could take all possible images of any creation. And to this great ocean of imkan, in which all creation was only a possibility, He turned the question, “Am I not your Lord?”
And the first to answer were Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad (S). So, therefore, they became the lamp of Tawhid, from which the Tawhid shone over the whole ocean of possibilities. Just as if you turn on a red lamp, it will illuminate the whole room with all its objects in red light. So they also illuminated the entire universe with the light of Tawhid. That is why in “Dua Rajab,” Imam of the time (A) says, “And You have made them the pillars of Tawhid”; “With them, You have filled Your heavens and earth until it has become obvious that there is no god save You.”
Therefore, the deeper meaning of the mission of rasul (the messenger) is that he delivers the Tawhid and the names (sifats) of God to every thing. And therefore Ahl ul-Beit are the light of the Creator, as we have seen when analyzing the verse “Light”: “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp …”. Their oil caught fire from the Will of Allah and the Tawhid of Allah, and they became the lamp of the entire universe.
Now, the light of being is reflected in the creations in accordance with their qabiliat, that is, the receptive capacity of the creations themselves. Here’s an example: if you put different mirrors under the sun – one straight, another curved, the third white, the fourth green, the fifth split, the sixth curved, etc. – then they all will reflect its light differently, although the sun is the same.
If in front of the mirror stands a person, who is the limit of beauty and perfection, then the less the mirror manifests itself and its own form, the more completely this person will be reflected in it. That is, the task of the mirror is to show itself as little as possible, to reflect this person without imposing its own form on him. Because if there are any flaws, bends, or cracks on the mirror, it will distort the image of this person, and the reflection will not be the same as the original.
The same is the action of Allah: there is no imperfection in it, there is only beauty, goodness, mercy, and all the best and most beautiful qualities in it, but the mirrors of the creations themselves reflect it in such a way that it loses its perfection and even becomes its opposite.
So, there is a side from his Lord and a side from himself in every person – matter and form, being and manifestation, light and darkness. They relate to each other in the same way as a beautiful person standing in front of a mirror relates to the shape of the mirror superimposed on him. And the more a person purifies himself, the stronger is the effect of the Lord’s light in him, the more the side of the light in him expands, and the side of the darkness fades into the background.
Therefore, every evil or imperfection in creations comes from themselves: “What comes to you of good is from Allah, but what comes to you of evil, [O man], is from yourself” (4: 79).
It is as if a very skillful carpenter makes a table out of poor material. The result is a bad table that is about to fall apart, but this is not the fault of the carpenter but the fault of the material. Because the material, due to its imperfection, does not accept the perfect action of the carpenter.
And if someone asks: could not God have made the creatures completely accept His action so that they do not introduce any shortcomings into this action from themselves? To this, we will answer that, yes, He could have done so, but it would be jabr, that is, coercion of creations and violence against them, and He has rejected jabr in His realm because jabr contradicts His wisdom. If the Almighty forced His creations to perfection, then it would not be perfection at all. Allah could have made Pharaoh Musa (A), but that would have been violence and coercion because Pharaoh himself did not want to be Musa (A).
Imam Ali (A) says, “He who praises, let him praise his Lord, and he who blames, let him blame only himself.” [3] Therefore, the believer is constantly between two things: gratitude to the Lord for the light side of himself and asking Him for forgiveness for the side of darkness in him. Whereas usually, people do the opposite: they blame God for their shortcomings and praise themselves for the merits that God has actually given them.
And if you stand in front of a distorting mirror and see yourself there in a disgusting appearance, you will say, “This is not me, I don’t want to be like that, I have nothing to do with this image.” And in the same way, some creations have so distorted the action of Allah in themselves that Allah denied them: “Disassociation, from Allah and His Messenger, to those with whom you had made a treaty among the idolaters …” (9: 1).
And if we take the 30-39th verses of surah “The Cow,” we will see that they contain a code for the entire earthly history of mankind. First, Allah says that He will make a viceroy on earth: “And your Lord said to the angels: Indeed, I will make a viceroy (khalif) on earth” (2: 30). Then He teaches Adam all the names: “And He taught Adam all the names” (2: 31) – that is, what names? All the best names of the action of Allah manifested in Ahl ul-Beit (A). Refer again to what we have said about suras “Star” and “Light,” and it will be quite clear to you what those names are.
Then Quran says: Qala ya adamu anbi-hum bi-asmai-him – “He said: O Adam, inform them (that is, the angels) about their names” (2: 33). Anyone familiar with the Arabic language knows that the fused pronoun ʻhimʼ (asmai-him) is used only in relation to living beings, to people. That is, Allah says, “Inform them about the names of some animate creatures.” If these were the names of inanimate things, it would be necessary to say: anbi-hum bi-asmai-ha, not asmai-him. These are the rules of Arabic grammar. Although all things were also included here because this reality of best names absorbs everything in general, it is clear that this verse is primarily about the bearer or manifestation of these names, and this is Fourteen Infallibles (A). That’s why an animate pronoun is used here.
So, Allah reveals to Adam a description of Himself, and through this, he becomes the khalif of Allah on earth, and through this, the angels bow to him. However, then Adam himself rushes after the position of the Wilaya while wishing, as it were, to climb up the Tree of their knowledge, which was not intended for him. And this is a symbol for those hierarchies of power that people on earth will create – hierarchies of power that deny the Wilaya, deny the sacred leadership of God through the viceroy. This is a complex of power, schizophrenia, and magic, which we have called the “great shirk.”
“Indeed, we offered the Trust (amanat) to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, and they declined to bear it and feared it; but man [undertook to] bear it. Indeed, he was unjust and ignorant” (33: 72). According to all hadiths, “the Trust” (amanat) here is the Wilaya. That is, heaven, earth, and mountains (mountains are a symbol for what is between heaven and earth) – all this refused to accept the Wilaya’s greatness and claim what belongs to Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad (S). “But man [undertook to] bear it” – i.e., he began to claim it without any right – “indeed, he was unjust and ignorant.” It was in the world of Zarr, where heaven, earth, and mountains refused to claim the Wilaya, but some of the people said, “We will bear it.”
All of these are ciphers and codes that illustrate the main plots of human history. Because here, on earth, people are doing the same thing, as we will see later.
And from this, it’s clear why the angels began to object to making the khalif on earth. They knew that in the world of Zarr, there were people who refused to obey the Wilaya and claimed it for themselves. Therefore, they realized that if Allah places on earth this Adam, from whose offspring there will be righteous and unrighteous, this will lead to wickedness, wars, and bloodshed – in a word, to everything that we actually see in the history of humankind. That is why they said, “Will You place on it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?” (2: 30). And they saw that Hussein (A) will be killed, and we have hadiths that the objection of the angels was not really a contradiction to Allah, but a jazaʻa, i.e., a manifestation of sorrow. Because angels are blameless, they do not commit disobedience.
So, Allah told them, “Indeed, I know that which you do not know” (2: 30). That is: you do not know My plan. If Allah destroyed these people who had chosen sins and disobedience in the world of Zarr, then this would not be in accordance with His wisdom. Yes, He could do it. But let’s give an example. Here we see the first sprouts of a tree and know that when the tree grows, it will bear fruit, among which there will be sweet and bitter. Now, would it be wise to cut this tree off the ground without waiting for it to bear fruit, just because of the knowledge that some of the fruits will be bitter and spoiled?
If Allah sent those who in the world of Zarr had chosen disobedience directly to Hell, this would not be in accordance with His justice because they have not yet shown themselves in deeds. Therefore, a world of deeds must be created for their manifestation of themselves, and only after that will the argument be fulfilled over them.
So, Allah created worlds of trials, going one after another, so that none of the creatures would have an argument over Him, and no one could say, “Why did You send him to the abode of eternal bliss and condemned me to eternal suffering?” And after this world of ours, another test will come in the world of Rajaat, where only those whose faith and unbelief was pure will be returned – so that they will be tested again, for their bliss and punishment will be exceptional. And the Quran says that even these worlds will not be enough for them when they are sent to Hell, and they will ask Him to create another world of trial, so that they have a chance: “Our Lord, You made us lifeless twice and gave us life twice (i.e., in the world of our Dunya and in the world of Rajaat), and we have confessed our sins. So is there to an exit any way?” (40: 11).
Therefore, when they say: why is there evil in the world, why is it so imperfect? Why do people suffer? Why do children suffer? Couldn’t God have created a more perfect world? – then, all these objections are the result of ignorance. God can do anything. But to create a world without evil would be inconsistent with His wisdom and justice. Because this would mean that He simply threw the evil creatures into Hell without an argument over them, without them somehow showing themselves and without even giving them the opportunity to correct themselves. We, humans, are such that each of us seeks to destroy his enemies as quickly as possible. But the Creator is not like that because the enemies cannot do Him any harm. He gives them a respite so that they can show themselves in deeds, and He gives them the opportunity to correct themselves; otherwise, He would not be good and just.
And if someone asks, “But couldn’t He have made it so that there were no evil creatures at all?” – then we will answer yes, He could, but to do as you say would not correspond to His wisdom because that would mean that He forced all creatures to obedience and goodness. Then it would not be obedience and goodness, and we could not talk about the good, or about perfection, or about light… All creations would be like lifeless automatons that do what they were forced to do. This would mean that creation as a whole would be imperfect. But a perfect God cannot create an imperfect creation.
And here, by the way, is the answer to those who say: if the usurpers of khalifate after the death of the Messenger of Allah (S) were enemies to him and his family, then why did he not kill them during all these years when they were near him? Didn’t he know what they would do? The answer to this would be: who told you that the task of the Messenger of Allah (S) was generally to kill and destroy someone? Where did you get this from? His job was to separate truth from falsehood. In the end, there was no problem in destroying anyone. One miracle from God is enough for all his enemies to be wiped off the face of the earth. For the Almighty, it is as easy as shelling pears. As we said, He could destroy all unbelievers and sinners even before they came to this earthly world.
But that was not the purpose of prophecy. The task of prophecy is to build an argument over humanity. To make the truth clear. Therefore, he told Imam Ali (A) not to draw the sword from its sheath after his death. Leave Jibt and Taghoot to do what they do so that through this, Kufr would be different from faith, and the people of Kufr would show themselves in this world completely, and believers would be separated from unbelievers… Just like they drop the magnet into the place where the shavings of gold are mixed with iron so that the iron adheres to it, and the gold is purified. Actually, Allah created the temporal world and the history for this separation so that the essence of the righteous people and the essence of the wicked people was realized through their deeds and so that the argument over creations would be fully fulfilled. “With Allah is the perfect argument” (6: 149). If it were not for the patience of the commander of the believers (A), not for the patience of Hasan (A), not for the patience of Hussein (A), then what was in the souls of the enemies of the Most High would not have come out.
And this is also the answer to the question, “How can a merciful Lord throw His creatures into Hell for eternal torment? Isn’t God more merciful to His creatures than a mother to her child? Is it possible for a mother to throw her own child into the fire, and even forever?”
Some people think God torments those who disobey Him because He is offended by their insubordination. This is the transfer of anthropomorphic ideas to the Creator. In fact, there is nothing like this in the Quran, and Islam has never talked about such things. All this has nothing to do with reality. The Creator is not such that He takes offense at His creations and torments them because of this. He does not need creatures, and they cannot harm Him in any way.
The correct explanation for the possibility of an eternal Hell is quite different. This explanation is that God is eternally bestowing upon His creations that corresponds to His eternal and absolute Power. This is His sifat (quality) – fayaz, that is, the One Who grants the bestowing. Fayz is a word that is difficult to translate unambiguously. It is at the same time “mercy,” “good,” “blessing” – and “bestowing,” “gift”…
And since He is eternally bestowing the fayz, the principle is that none of the creatures that once came into being will return to non-being. A thing that once became existing will never disappear, will never return to nothing. The Creator will forever bestow upon it, but He will bestow upon it in accordance with its own qualities.
Let us repeat once more: the bestowing upon creation occurs following the qualities of this very creation. “You shall be rewarded only according to what you did” (66: 7), “And they wronged Us not – but they were only wronging themselves” (2: 57), “He will reward them for their description” (6: 139) – that is, according to how they have described themselves. We have already given the example many times in this book: if light falls on a mirror, it will be reflected from it in accordance with the qualities of the mirror itself. If a beautiful person stands in front of a distorting mirror, he will be reflected in an ugly form. If white light falls on a black mirror, this white light will turn black.
It would not be appropriate for the Lord’s justice and wisdom to bestow upon darkness through light or bestow upon light through the darkness. It’s impossible. The bestowing upon darkness takes place through the darkness, and the bestowing upon light takes place through the light. Therefore, the one who has chosen the path of darkness will be eternally supported through the darkness, and this is Hell. Conversely, the one who has chosen the path of light will be eternally supported through light, and this is Paradise. So, the Fire they will be is the Fire they themselves have ignited for themselves by their deeds and intentions.
Therefore, when they ask: Isn’t God more merciful to His creatures than a mother to a child? – the answer will be yes, this is so, but the point is not in the mother but the child himself. A mother will never throw her child into the fire, that’s right. But what if the child himself becomes someone else? What if his qualities become the opposite of the qualities that a child must have in order to be described as a “child”? Then he will no longer be a child but will become something else.
And if someone asks, “Why will God send people to eternal Hell for temporary sins? Is it fair to punish temporary sins with eternal punishment? And how does this agree with the justice of Allah?” – then the Messenger of Allah (S) answers this in the hadith quoted by Sheikh Saduq in “Tawhid”:
A Jew came to the Messenger of Allah (S) and asked, “If your Lord does not commit injustice, then how will He place (some people) in Hell forever, while their (earthly) sins were only temporary?
The Messenger of Allah (S) replied, “He will place them in Hell according to their intentions (niyat). The one about whom Allah knows that if he stayed in the earthly world until its end, then (all this time) he would commit disobedience to Allah – He will forever place him in the Fire according to his intention. And his intention here is worse than his deeds. And in the same way, he will put a man in Paradise forever because his intention was such that if he stayed in the earthly world from beginning to end, he would not commit disobedience to Allah, and his intention is better than his deeds. ˮ [4]
So, the answer is that in the system of worlds created by the Almighty, the creatures are subjected to sufficient tests and trials to fulfill upon them the perfect argument. And the Creator knows: if this test lasted forever, their disobedience would also be eternal. Therefore, He will send them to Hell forever.
Now, what is the meaning of hellish suffering, and what is its essence? We have said that there are two sides in every creation: a side from the Lord and a side from itself. The first is the side of unity and light, and everything connected with it gives a feeling of greatness and power, absolute security, peace, and immortality. As for the side from creation itself, this is the “nafs” of every thing, its “self,” its form. The side from creation is the source of all plurality because in this side, “I” and egoism dominate. And therefore, this side is the source of all suffering.
After all, what is suffering? All suffering comes from multiplicity and contradiction. For example, where does physical pain come from? From the contradiction that arises between our body and something affecting it. For example, a knife cuts my arm, and it hurts. Why does it hurt me? Because the impact of the knife on the hand is not its normal state. The knife “contradicts” the normal state of the hand. If the knife had originally been something one with the hand, it wouldn’t have hurt me. Or take heartache as an example. A person has lost a loved one and is suffering from this loss. Why is this pain? Because the loss of a loved one is contrary to his normal state of mind. Or, for example, a person has an ugly appearance and suffers because of this. Why? Because his appearance is contrary to what is considered normal or beautiful in this society. All this is clear from ordinary everyday experience. If I have some kind of unity with my neighbor, then neither he nor I will cause each other misery. But if there are any contradictions between us, then we will torment each other. If a neighbor likes to repair his furniture in the morning, and I like to sleep, then it is clear that we will have a conflict. It’s unavoidable.
So, all kinds of suffering stem from contradictions, and contradictions stem from multiplicity. To the extent that creation distances itself from its Lord, it distances from the side of light in itself and sinks into the side of plurality. This means suffering. The one who had turned away from the side of light and followed the passions, thereby immersed himself in suffering. He receives the bestowing from the Lord in this side of suffering, which will increase more and more, and this is Hell. Therefore, Allah says, “Close friends, that Day, will be enemies to each other, except for the righteous” (43: 67).
Conversely, believers will abide in Paradise because the light of unity encompasses their multiplicity and subdues it. Therefore they enjoy each other’s company and closeness to each other. Can’t you see that it is so even in this earthly world? For example, if a number of believers gather together in remembrance of their Lord and the virtues of His viceroys, Ahl ul-Bayt, they take only pleasure in fellowship with one another. But suppose several unbelievers come together, with all the difference in their qualities, thoughts, passions, and desires. In that case, it would be unbearable for them to be near each other, and they would get nothing from each other but misery.
Therefore, Allah says to the angels, “Indeed, I know that which you do not know.” You do not know the wisdom of My plan and program for creation. Right after that, He says, “And He taught Adam all the names” (2: 31), and the meaning of “names” we have already dealt with. That is: do you see what position the righteous of his descendants will occupy? They will become a reflection of My light. I have given them knowledge of the names of My viceroys, which is not given to you. So, bow down to him because of his knowledge of these names!
“And they bowed down, except for Iblis who refused” (2:34). Why refused? Because he wanted to see himself as the bearer of these names, not Adam. “I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from clay” (7: 12). That is: my substance is higher, so give me this light, give me this knowledge…
In the next part, we will analyze the continuation of this story and its reflection on our earthly plane.
[1] “Wasailu shia,” Vol. 27, 204.
[2] “Tawhid” of Saduq, 61.
[3] “Bihar,” Vol. 26, 34.
[4] “Tawhid” of Saduq, 561.
The first volume of Amin Ramin’s “Man in Islam” can be purchased on Amazon at this link.
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