A Mercy Case

اللهم صل على محمد و آل محمد

In a previous post, I spoke of longing to know more about Imam ‘Ali b. Muhammad al-Naqi, upon him peace. In my subsequent reading, I found much wisdom, and thought I should share some of it.

• On the Nature of God: “O my Lord, thoughts of thinkers went astray, sights of seers fell short, descriptions of describers dissipated, sayings of fabricators vanished before the wonders of Your affair, or the reach to Your highness, for You are in the unreachable place, and no eye can fall upon You with a glance or expression. How far, and how far! O You the First, the Only, the Unique!…” [taken from a hadith of Imam al-Naqi related in Kitab al-Tawhid of al-Shaykh al-Saduq]
• On Sin: “Allah the Almighty says: ‘O son of Adam, you are not fair to Me. I endear Myself to you through blessings and you make yourself hated through sins. My good comes down to you and your evil comes up to Me. Every day and night an honorable angel comes to Me bringing ugly deeds from you. O son of Adam, if you hear your description from other than you, while you do not know who the described one is, you will soon hate him…” [taken from a hadith of Imam al-Naqi related in al-Amali of al-Tusi]
• On Spiritual Loneliness: “Amir al-Mu’minin (upon him peace) said, ‘He who busies himself thinking of the afterlife, will be rich with no money, feel at ease with no family, and feel mighty with no fellows.'” [taken from a hadith narrated by Imam al-Naqi and related in al-Amali of al-Tusi]
• On Muslim Unity: “The nation has agreed unanimously with no disagreement between them that the Qur’an is the truth that has no doubt in it for Muslims of all sects. Their agreement is the proof of the Book and that they are right and guided due to the saying of the messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and on his progeny), ‘My nation does not agree on deviation.’ He told that what the entire nation agreed on is truth when no group disagrees with another. The Qur’an is the truth that there is no difference between them (Muslims) in its revelation and truthfulness. So when the Qur’an witnesses the truthfulness of some news but a group of the nation denies it, they should acknowledge it as a necessity, for basically the nation has agreed unanimously on the truthfulness of the Qur’an, and if they deny, this requires them to be out of the (Muslim) nation. The first news that is proved, witnessed, and confirmed by the Book is the saying of the messenger of Allah, ‘I leave to you the two weighty things; the Book of Allah and my household. You shall not go astray as long as you keep to them. They shall not separate until they shall come to me at the pond (in Paradise).’ We found the evidences of this tradition in the Book of Allah where Allah said, ‘Only Allah is your wali and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the poor-rate while they bow. And whoever takes Allah and His messenger and those who believe for a guardian, then surely the party of Allah are they that shall be triumphant.’ All Muslim sects narrated traditions that Amir al- Mu’minin (upon him peace) had given his ring as charity while he was bowing in prayer and Allah praised him for that and revealed this verse. We found the messenger of Allah saying, ‘whoever I was his guardian, ‘Ali is to be his guardian’ and (addressing Imam ‘Ali), ‘you are to me as was Aaron to Moses but there will be no prophet after me’…” [taken from a letter of Imam al-Naqi to the people of Ahvaz, a city in Iran]
• On Death: “…It was said to Imam al-Sadiq (upon him peace), ‘Some people say that death is bitterer than sawing, cutting with scissors, stoning, and turning of millstones on the pupils of eyes.’ Imam as-Sadiq said, ‘Yes, it is so for some unbelievers and sinners. Do you not see that some of them suffer these severities? What they will meet after that will be much more severe. It is the torment of the afterlife which will be much more severe than the torment in this life.’ It was said to him, ‘Then, why do we see some unbelievers die easily while talking and laughing, and some believers too, and we see some believers and unbelievers suffer much when dying?’ He replied, ‘The easy death of a believer is an early reward for him, and when he suffers at death, he is purified from his sins in order to be pure and then to deserve the eternal reward in the afterlife. The easy death of some unbelievers is that they are given the reward of their good deeds in this world and in the afterworld they will have torment. And if some unbelievers suffer at death, it is the beginning of the torment of Allah on them. Allah is just and He does not wrong.'” [taken from a hadith narrated by Imam al-Naqi as related in ‘Uyun Akhbar al-Rida of al-Shaykh al-Saduq]

اللهم صل على محمد و آل محمد