Allah the
merciful says in the Holy Quran, “But without doubt, I am He that
forgives again and again to those who repent, believe and do good, who in fine
are ready to receive true guidanc e”. (Ta Ha: 82)
The above verse is one of many
revealed in honour of Imam Ali. In all they number approximately 300 verses.
The true guidance referred
to in this verse is belief in the vicegerency (wilayat) of Imam Ali and
the chosen Imams from his progeny.
Abu Said Hamadain narrates
from Al Baqir, in reference to the meaning of true guidance referred to in the
above verse. He said, “By
Allah, if a man repents and becomes a believer and does good, but is not guided
to our vicegerency (wilayat), and does not love us or know our superiority then
all his deeds are inadequate”.
And why would we turn away from the guidance of one like Imam Ali, who is likened to a lighthouse that guides the ships in the eerie darkness. He is a beacon that will light our darkened paths. He will illuminate it with the knowledge learned from the Master himself, Rasoolallah.
KNOWLEDGE
Ali’s knowledge left many in
awe, even those that sat in the position that was ordained to him from Allah.
Al Khawarizmi narrates from
his manaqib that Omar one day asked Imam Ali, “How is it that you answer
questions asked off you without hesitation”. Imam Ali lifted his hand and opened it before him and said,
“How many fingers do you see”. Omar said without hesitation, “five”. Ali said, “Why did you not ponder
over it”. Omar replied,
“There was no need to ponder since all five fingers were before my eyes”. Ali then said, “similarly, all
the problems and issues of knowledge are clearly visible to me, I give their
answers without pondering”.
Even though Imam Ali was
deposed from his rightful position as caliph of the Muslim Ummah, he continued
to impart his knowledge during the caliphate of the first three caliphs. It suffices to say that were it not for
the intervention of Ali, many innocent people would have been punished senselessly,
and the Christians and Jews would have laughed at the inadequacies of the
elected leaders of Islam who were supposed to lead from the front.
The second caliph on more
than seventy occasions, stated, “if Ali had not been there, Omar would
have been ruined”. In
order to make a more decisive picture, below are a few of the many narrations
quoted from Sunni sources:
STONING
OF A PREGNANT WOMAN
Narrated by Bukhari, Ahmad
bin Hanbal, ar-Razi and Tabarri, amongst others that a pregnant woman who had
committed illicit sexual intercourse was brought before Omar. Omar ordered her to be stoned. Imam Ali who was present said,
“Your order is applicable to this woman, but you have no authority over her
child”. Omar acquitted the
woman and said, “Women are incapable of giving birth to a man like Ali; if Ali had
not been there, Omar would have been ruined. May Allah not let me live so long as to face a difficult
problem which Ali is not present to solve”.
AMBIGUOUS
BUT TRUE
Narrated Nuru’d-din Maliki that
a man was brought before Omar in an assembly. Omar asked him, “How did
you begin your morning?” The man said, “I got up loving
temptation and averse to the right.
I testified to the truth of Christians and Jews, believed in what I had
not seen and in what had not yet been created”.
Omar ordered that Imam Ali
be brought to him. The statements of the man were put forward before Imam Ali,
who immediately said, “What the man has said is truth. He says he loves temptation, by this he
means wealth and children. Allah
says in the Holy Quran, ‘And you know that your wealth and your
children are a temptation (8:29). By aversion to right, he is referring to death. The Quran says, “And
the stupor of death will come in truth (50:19). By testifying to the truth of the Jews and Christians,
he means what Allah says, “The Jews said the Christians were not on
the right path and the Christians said the Jews were not on the right path
(2:113); They belied each other, so this man agrees with both. As for his belief in what he has not
seen, he means by it Allah, The Al-Mighty. And when he says that he believes in what has not yet been
created, that is, not present, he refers to the Day of judgement, which has not
yet come into existence”.
Omar after listening said, “I seek shelter
from the difficult situation in which Ali is not there to help me”.
FIVE
MEN CHARGED WITH FORNICATION
Hamidi reports in his book
Jam’-e-bainu-Sahihain that during the caliphate of Omar five men, charged with
fornication with a certain woman, were brought before the caliph. Omar ordered that all five be stoned to
death. Imam Ali who was present
said, “Here your order is contrary to Allah’s ordinance”.
Omar said, “but
fornication has been proven, and death by stoning is the prescribed punishment
for this sin”. Ali said, “In
the matter of fornication, there are different orders in different cases. Accordingly in the present cases
different orders should be passed.”
Ali ordered the five men to be
brought before him. He ordered the
first man to be beheaded, the second to be stoned to death, the third to be
given 100 lashes, the fourth to be given 50 lashes and the fifth man to be
given 25 lashes.
Omar surprised and puzzled,
said, “Abu Hassan, how did you decide the cases in five different ways”. The Holy Imam said, “The first man
was an infidel under the protection of Islam, seeing that he committed
fornication with a Muslim, he has lost this protection and is liable to be
killed. The second man has a wife,
so he has to be stoned to death.
The third is unmarried; hence, he was given 100 lashes. The fourth man is a slave who is meted
punishment half that of a free man, thus 50 lashes. And the fifth is an imbecile, so he was given the mild
punishment of 25 lashes.
Omar said, “If Ali had not
been there, Omar would have been ruined, I hope I am not alive when you are not
among us Abu Hassan!”
The above examples are
enough to give a clearer picture of the extraordinary knowledge that Imam Ali
possessed. As it says in the
Quran, “We raise the degrees of Wisdom of whosoever we please and above
everyone possessed of knowledge is the All-knowing One”.
COURAGE
Who is more suitable, as an
exalted role model than Imam Ali, when it comes to courage on the battlefield?
The Americans need their
highly sophisticated stealth bombers and ‘smart’ missiles to destroy Muslims,
but our 12th Imam by the will of Allah will destroy them, using a
sword, the sword of his great grandfather Imam Ali, who used it to humiliate
many a foe, and lifted it in defense of the righteous religion. The Prophet said, “The foundations of Islam were built
from the wealth of Khadija and the sword of Ali”.
Imam Ali participated in many battles. One was the Battle of Khaibar, against the Jews. This battle was different because he did not lead from the outset due to health reasons. The Prophet gave the standard to Abu Bakr who led the army forward to the fortress of Na-im. The khabirites came out and fought the Muslims hard thus forcing them to retreat.
On the following day the
standard was given to Omar who could not do any better.
It must be noted here that
holding a flag, being the standard-bearer, is an honorary position, and making
sure that it is not degraded, lowered and dragged is the greater honour.
So the two retreats on the
previous days distressed the Prophet as it contributed to the despondent
feelings within the ranks of the Muslim army. Confidence of the army was low. After seeing this the Prophet declared, “Tomorrow I
will give the banner to a man through whom God will bring victory. He loves God and His Messenger, and God
and His Messenger love him”.
Tabarri narrates, “at
dawn all put on their military garb and presented themselves before the
Prophet. The Prophet asked, ‘Where
is my brother and son of my uncle, Ali bin Abi Taleb’. They told him, ‘O’Prophet of Allah, he
is suffering so much with sore eyes that he cannot move’. The Prophet asked Salman to call
Ali. Salman took Ali by the hand
and brought him to the Prophet.
The Prophet asked, ‘How are you Abu Hassan’. He replied, ‘Its all well by the grace of Allah. I am suffering from headache and much
pain in the eyes that I cannot see’.
The Prophet asked him to move forward. The Prophet then rubbed saliva from his mouth over Ali’s
eyes and prayed for him. Soon his
eyes were bright and his ailments vanished completely. At that moment he handed the flag to
Imam Ali”.
The Imam took the flag with
pride raising it high, moving forward like a fearless lion after its prey,
never looking back. Salma ibn
al-akwa said, “By God, Ali went out with the banner, running and
panting. We went following him
until, he planted the banner into a pile of stones near the fortress”.
He fought some of the
fiercest khabarite warriors, like Harith, Alqama and Marhab. It was not long before he conquered
Khaibar and returned victorious to the Prophet holding the banner high.
Once again Imam Ali had
removed the dangers which shook the foundations of the Islamic State. And as he had done on many occasions
revived the spirits of the Muslims.
CHARACTER
Where does one start when describing the personality of Imam Ali, who even after attaining his rightful position as caliph and leader of the great Muslim nation rejected all the paraphernalia of pomp and show.
Humbleness
Ibn Atheer, a prominent
Sunni historian reports that during his caliphate, the Imam was visited by
Harun ibn Hamza. Harun found the
imam shivering from lack of warmth, as it was mid-winter. Harun could not bear the sight and
exclaimed, “O’Commander of the faithful, a share has been allotted to you
and your children in the public treasury, why are you undergoing such
suffering? He replied, “
By Allah, I hate to make use of your public treasury, this is the same garment
which I brought with me from Madina.
Piety
With regards to his piety,
an Egyptian historian named George Gordon said, “none can praise Ali to
the extent he deserves. So many
instances of his piety and fear of God are cited that one starts loving him and
venerating him. He was a true,
strict and scrupulous follower of Islam”.
Imam Ali reached the highest
form of ascetesism. During his
prayers he would seem to others to be in a strange physical condition. When asked the reason for this condition,
where his face would be pale and his body trembling. He replied, “I present myself to the All-mighty to
render and account of the various obligations that devolve on me and I do not
know whether I have discharged them dutifully”. His piety and humility before Allah is
one of the many reasons that have earned him the title Prince of the
faithful (Amir al-Moumineen).
Even though Imam Ali didn’t
receive revelation, nevertheless his sublime characteristics put him in line with
some of the greatest Prophets because he never once entertained any doubt in
his belief and endured the sufferings of this world with extreme patience.
Sa’sa came to Imam Ali, who
had earlier said, “Ask me before you miss me”. He asked the Imam whether he was
superior to Prophets like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. The Imam said, “One must not talk
about himself, but yes I am”.
Adam
“Adam had every means of comfort
and mercy and blessings for him in paradise. He was asked simply to abstain from the forbidden tree, but
he could not restrain himself and he ate from the tree”. Imam Ali on the other hand was not forbidden from eating such
things as wheat, but he did so as a form of devotion and it is well known that
the height of piety lies in abstaining even from what is permissible.
Noah
“Prophet Noah
called his men to worship Allah, but they did not obey. They instead cursed and tortured
him. So Noah invoked Allah, “Oh my
Lord! Leave not on earth a single
person of the unjust one”. Imam
Ali, after the death of the Prophet even though the people cursed, tortured and
put him and his family through extreme hardships, he never cursed back or ever
asked Allah to bring down punishment on them. He suffered their torments with patience.
Abraham
Prophet Abraham
said to His Lord, ‘My Lord show me how you give life to the dead. Allah said, do you not
believe. He said, yes but that my
heart may be at ease”. But
Imam Ali’s belief in Allah and the powers of Allah never wavered. He says, “If the veil of the
unseen were lifted, my faith would not increase”.
Moses
“Prophet Moses
was asked by Allah to go to Egypt to invite pharaoh to the belief the one god,
but was afraid and replied, “My lord surely I killed one
of them, so I am afraid that they will slay me”. But Imam Ali on the other hand was ordered by the prophet to
recite the chapter of Bara’a from the top of the Kaaba to the Quraishi
infidels. He obeyed fearlessly the
Prophet’s orders, and alone went to the infidels, even though they were thirsty
for his blood, because as he say, “There are very few people there who
had not lost a near relative by my sword”.
Jesus
When Lady Maryam, Jesus’ mother,
was ready to give birth to Jesus, Allah said to her, “Leave this holy house
for this is a house for prayers not a place for the delivery of children”. But when the mother of Imam Ali felt
labour pains within the precincts of the Kaaba, she clung to the wall and
prayed Allah to lessen her pain.
At that moment a crack opened in the Kaaba’s wall and a mysterious voice
called her into the Kaaba. She
went in and the Imam was born. He
did not only have the honour of being born in the precincts of the Kaaba; he, and he alone, had the honour and
privilege of being born inside the Kaaba.
Many volumes would be needed
to go into depth about the sublime qualities of Imam Ali. It is befitting to
end with what the Prophet said, “Ali was blessed with such individual
traits and distinctions that if a single one of them was possessed by all the
peoples of the world, it would be more than enough for their betterment.”
So as result of such godly
attributes, Allah has made it incumbent on us to follow the guidance of this
magnificent man. In order to receive His mercy, as per the verse, “But
without doubt, I am He that forgives again and again to those who repent,
believe and do good, who in fine are ready to receive true guidance”.
(Ta Ha: 82), we have to accept without doubt the leadership and guidance that
comes with it from the Holy Progeny.
It is only after we take guidance from the Imam and his Holy Progeny; it
is only then that Allah will decide whether to forgive our sins. Fasting, praying, doing pilgrimage,
those deeds before Allah will all be of no consequence, null and void, if they
are not accompanied with the receiving of guidance and acceptance of Ali as the
righteous guide.
Pre-condition for complete
faith in Allah is belief in His Prophet and also the brother and wazir of His
Prophet, Imam Ali. So simply
saying, “I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, has no bearance, it
becomes just wiggling of the tongue void of essence and body, because it is
through these holy personalities that we truly come to know Allah’s greatness.