Q. Is man
helpless in his actions that Allah compels him to do whatever He
wants?
A.
Allah is Just. How is it possible that He
should compel one to do something and then punish him for it?
Q. Is man completely free in his actions?
A.
How is it possible that Allah should
create the people and remove His law from over them completely,
leaving all their affairs to them? Neither has Allah made the people
absolutely helpless nor gave them free will. Rather it is an affair
between the two (extremes).
Q.
What does this tradition
mean, ‘The reward of saying: LAA ILAAHA ILLALLAH (There is no god
but Allah) is equal to that of looking at the face of Allah? Does
the Almighty have a face or a shape?
A.
It is infidelity to attribute shape or
face to Allah. The faces of Allah are infact His prophets and their
legatees through whom ones attention is guided to Allah. That is why
they are the face of Allah. Looking at their faces carries great
rewards and to remain deprived of their visitation (Ziyaaraat)
causes loss.
Q. What does this tradition mean that the
believers in Paradise would sit in their homes and continue to see
their Lord?
A.
The Almighty has bestowed superiority to
Prophet Muhammad al-Mustafa (saww) over all the prophets. He
ordained his obedience as His obedience, his allegiance as His
allegiance and his visitation as His visitation. Thus he (saww)
said, ‘One who visited me in my lifetime or after I pass away, he
has (as though) visited Allah. Thus the tradition means that the
believers in Paradise would be seeing the Messenger of Allah (saww).
Q. Are the Paradise and Hell already
created?
A.
Indeed they are already created. Those who
say that they are not created are not from us. Rather they deny us
and are the deniers of our Wilayah (Mastership)…the Almighty Allah
says: ‘This is that very Hell that
the people used to deny, the inmates of Hell will go about in it in
boiling water’.
Q. Why are men allowed four wives and women are
prohibited more than one husband?
A.
If a woman has more than one husband it
would not be determined whose seed it was and in such circumstances
it would be impossible to prove the paternity of the child. But in
case of multiple wives, this danger is absent. In addition to this,
men are allowed four wives because in comparison to men, the
population and births of females is much more than that of males.
Q. Why is fornication made unlawful?
A.
Because the lineage is broken. The
inheritance goes away. The woman does not know by whom she has
become pregnant and neither the child knows who its father is.
Abstracted from
Akhlaaq al-Aimma (as) by Maulana Sayyid Zafar Hasan Amrohi (t.s.)
mulla@almahdi.org.uk