Marefat of Imam and Imamat

With the passing of month of Shabaan we heard many times the word Marefat of Imam. Specially the famous tradition of Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.)

 من مات ولم يعرف امام زمانه مات ميتة جاهلية 

This tradition is such repetitively narrated in our books that just Allama Majlisi (r.a.) in his book Behaar al Anwaar has brought it from 40 different sources and it is narrated in more than 80 different sources in the books of Ahle Sunnat. Thus, there remains not an iota of doubt for someone to object to this tradition. As for someone who is away from Imam e Zamana (a.t.f.s.), it is necessary to recognize him and become close to him as this is the aim of our lives for which Allah has created us, without his recognition our death will be that of disbelief, hypocrisy and deviation.

Let us today in this small article try and delve deeper on the meaning of the word معرفة. It is very clear to us that معرفة does not imply just knowing the name and lineage and place of birth and martyrdom of the Imams. Let us ask the Holy infallibles (a.s), what is معرفة?

In a tradition from Muawiya bin wahab from Imam Sadiq (a.s) it is narrated that

وأدنى معرفة الامام أنه عدل النبي إلا درجة النبوة، ووارثه، وأن طاعته طاعة الله وطاعة رسول الله، والتسليم له في كل أمر، والرد إليه، والاخذ بقوله، ويعلم أن الامام بعد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله علي ابن أبي طالب، وبعده الحسن، ثم الحسين، ثم علي بن الحسين، ثم محمد بن علي، ثم أنا، ثم بعدي موسى ابني، وبعده علي ابنه، وبعد علي محمد ابنه، وبعد محمد علي ابنه وبعد علي الحسن ابنه، والحجة من ولد الحسن 

"...and the minimum Marefat of Imam is that he is equal to Prophet (s.a.w.s.) except that he does not have the position of Prophethood, and that his obedience is the obedience of Allah and the obedience of the messenger of Allah and it is necessary to submit in front of him in all the affairs and to turn towards him and to take his words and to know that Imam after Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) is Ali ibne Abi Talib, and after him Hassan then Hussain then Ali ibne Hussain then Muhammad ibne Ali then I then after me Musa my son, and after him his son Ali and after Ali his son Muhammad and after Muhammad, Ali his son and after Ali, hassan his son, and The Hujjat from the son of Hassan…(peace be on all of them)"

From the above tradition we can conclude that to qualify with minimum معرفة of Imam e Zaman (a.t.f.s.) we should have the following attributes:

1.   Believe that he is equal to the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) in status (Hujjat of Allah)

2.   Consider his obedience as the obedience of Allah & His messenger (whatever he says is Haq)

3.   Submit to his orders (without any excuse)

4.   To turn towards him (a slave has no place to turn except to of his master)

5.   To take (life instructions) from his words (traditions)

6.   And to know all the 12 Imams (a.s) who are from the progeny of Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.)

 In yet another tradition Hazrat Amir (a.s) indicates to the believers the right of their معرفة thus:

عن أمير المؤمنين (عليه السلام) في حديث معرفته بالنورانية ، مخاطباً سلمان وأبا ذرّ عليهما الرحمة ، فقال (عليه السلام) : إعلم يا أبا ذرّ أنا عبد اللّه عزّ وجلّ وخليفته على عباده ، لا تجعلونا أرباباً ، وقولوا في فضلنا ما شئتم ، فإنّكم لا تبلغوا كنه ما فينا ولا نهايته ، فإنّ اللّه عزّ وجلّ قد أعطانا أكبر وأعظم ممّا يصفه واصفكم أو يخطر على قلب أحدكم ، فإذا عرفتمونا هكذا فأنتم المؤمنون.

"Know oh Aba Zar! I am the servant of Allah and His Caliph upon His servants, do not appoint for us Divinity and then say in our praise whatever you wish, then for surely you shall not reach the essence of our reality and neither shall you reach to its peak. For surely Allah has certainly bestowed us with much greater and higher position than what you characterize us with or even think concerning us, If you recognize us in this manner, you would be considered as true believer."

We can conclude from this tradition following points:

1.   It is incorrect to ascribe Ahle Bayt (a.s) to Divinity

2.   Whatever praise we do for Ahlebayt (a.s) is less than what their position is

3.   It is not possible even for our thoughts to reach the essence and peak of the معرفة of Ahle Bayt (a.s.)

4.   To be qualified as believers, we should recognize Ahle Bayt (a.s) thus.

Thus, if it is said that the whole universe which includes seven heavens, whose first heaven comprises of more than 100 billion galaxies, each of which have more than 100 billion solar systems in it, is like a walnut in the hands of our master, one should not doubt in it.

أنّ الدنيا ممثّلة للإمام كفلقة الجوزة 

"...certainly this world for Imam is like one half of the walnut…"

 For surely their affairs are difficult to understand and they themselves have affirmed it thus:

ان أمرنا صعب مستصعب لا يحمله إلا عبد مؤمن امتحن الله قلبه للايمان

Surely our affairs (recongnition & marefat) are extremely difficult. None can understand it except a believing servant whose heart Allah has examined for faith…

At times even for the likes of Qambar it became difficult to comprehend the lofty status of Ahle Bait (a.s.), as marefat has different levels. Let us conclude our discussion on معرفة with this final incident of Janabe Qambar (a.r.) and Janabe Fizza (a.r.):

In a tradition from Marhoom Qazi Saeed Qummi in the book Share Arbaeen, narrates from Sayyed Murtaza that once Qambar who was the slave of Hazrat Amir (a.s) came to the house of Hazrat Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) and did not find Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) in the house, he enquired from Janabe Fizza (s.a.) about Ameerul Momineen (a.s.), she replied to Qambar that

 إن المولى عرَجَ إلى السماء ذات البروج لتقْسيم أرْزاق العباد 

Surely my master has gone to the heavens for distributing sustenance…

Janabe Qambar got astonished on hearing this and thought that Janabe Fizza was joking or had made a mistake, and he departed towards the palm groves. He saw Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) there and with a sigh of relief complained to him about the statement of Janabe Fizza (s.a.), upon which Imam replied:

                                                                           

مَهْ يا قَنْبرُ. ولعلّك لمْ تُؤْمِن بولايتنا حقَّ الإيمان 

"Keep quite oh Qambar as if you have not believed in our Wilayat as it aught to be believed"

Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) then passed his hand over the eyes of Janabe Qambar and asked, what do you see O Qambar?

He said:

رأيت السماوات والأرض كجوزة في يد المولى 

I see the heavens and the earth like a walnut in the hand of my master

(Sharhe Arbaeen page 566, narrated from Hablul Mateen of Ayatullah Ziyabadi volume 2 page 176)

We conclude from this incident that the marefat of Janabe Fizza (s.a.) was greater than the marefat of Janabe Qambar, and why would it not be as Janabe Fizza (s.a.) was the internal khadema of Ahle Bayt (inside the house) and Qambar was an external Khadim (outside the house), and thus Janabe Fizza (s.a.) benefitted from two sources of noor while Qambar was limited to just one. As Hazrat Amir (a.s.) made Qambar see the position of wilayat of the proof of Allah we request Allah that He also by His infinite Lutf make us see the position of wilayat of Hazrat Hujjat ibne Hassan (a.s) and enumerate us amongst his true servants.