AlMujtaba Islamic Articles

We have just gone through the new year’s celebrations for the year 2006. Soon we will be entering the Islamic new year of 1427 come the month of Muharram. Some young Muslims born and raised in the west generally and those living in the USA specifically ask: Why don’t we celebrate the beginning of the Islamic year? One group of Muslims actually get together during the first ten days of Muharram and commemorate the great sacrifice given at Karbala in the 61^st year of Hijra (some 1,366 years ago). Those gatherings are somber in nature and consist of serious lectures on history, religious ideology and the recital of dirges and lamentations and other devotional poetry.

We will be writing a series of articles on this topic in the coming days to explain the various aspects of this commemoration. This is the first of that series.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE TRUE IMAM BY THE PROPHET

(May Allah’s peace and our salams be unto him, his holy progeny and his faithful companions)

The holy Qur’an established in the story of Hazrat Ibarheem that IMAM is a viable concept in Islam. There is a group of Muslims who accepted that Qur’anic concept as such, there are others who denied that the notion exists. A third group asserts that the presidents, prime ministers and even dictators in various countries that are installed today, are those IMAMS that the Qur’an introduced.

Those people in those three groups are all Muslims, because they confess to LA ILAHA ILLA ALLAH, MUHAMMADAN RASOOL ALLAH.

People in all those three groups will, one day, according to the holy Qur’an, face their Creator Lord and will have to answer to Him for their beliefs and for their deeds in this world.

What are the responsibilities of the Muslims falling in those groups that we mention above, in the meantime that we exist side-by-side in this world?

Is any one group authorized to ridicule, throw abuse, torture and kill another group for that difference of opinion?

Everyone of us has to answer that question honestly, both as a Muslim as well as a human beings. People living in such places as Pakistan and Iraq have taken it upon themselves to decide that anyone belonging to the group which is not their own, does not deserve to live in this world and they are actively involved in torturing and killing the people in other groups.

People in these forums are busy trying to prove that their concept is the correct one. Some have the excellence in them due to their education and upbringing to do that with patience, dignity and civilized writings, others are doing it crudely. INTERNET is a free world. No one can stop the other guy from posting his/her message however crude or uncivilized it may appear (except for an odd moderator in a forum).

On those same lines, I would like to go on further elaborating on the Qur’anic concept of an IMAM, without addressing any particular individual, but for everyone who is interested in this topic.

After having declared in 2:124 that Allah had appointed Hazrat Ibraheem an Imam, the Qur’an puts a condition on that. Allah would bestow that exclusive honour on others in Ibraheem’s progeny except for those who would be ZALIM.

The Qur’an then declared the exclusive attributes of a true IMAM in other verses:

21:73 They guide people in accordance with Allah’s commandments, work righteousness, establish the law of SALAT and ZAKAT, and, they are Allah’s devoted worshipers.

28:5 Being (economically, politically and socially) oppressed on earth is irrelevant to being an IMAM. The Imam is the inheritor (WAARITH, another Qur’anic term) of Allah’s legacy in this world.

32:24 Allah alone appoints Imams, who guide in accordance with His commandments, they do SABR with full belief in Allah’s AYAAT.

Now, does this leave any room for presidents, prime ministers and sundry dictators to qualify as Imams, the IMAM that was defined by the Qur’an?

Qur’an does not want to leave any gaps in information, so it announces:

Allah allowed Zalimeen dictators and kings in the world to become leaders who eventually led their people to the Hellfire. Qur’an terms those too as Imams, but the bad Imams. Nothing is left unexplained after this.

Now the question is how would Allah appoint Imam- the good Imam? The only way for Allah to announce such decrees is through his prophets who brought all other commands from Him to mankind and those who received WAHY from Him.

Those who uphold the Qur’anic notion of IMAM, believe that the Prophet of Islam, in keeping with Allah’s commands announced Ali bin Abi Talib as IMAM after him. That was in response to the Qur’anic command:

The Prophet announced that famous declaration that we know as the Khutba of Gahdeer. A brief description follows:

It is recorded by a number of early historians that the Prophet went to his first Hajj after migrating to Madinah in the 10th year of Hijra. This was also his last Hajj and the last few days of his life. He delivered a long sermon in the Grand mosque in which he completed those areas of the Islamic law which required finishing touches, specifically rights of women over men. No mention was made of his succession at that point. Then on his way back from Makkah to Madinah he ordered the caravan to stop at a place called Ghadeer‑e‑Kum, an oasis situated a short distance away from Makkah. The significance of the location is that it was at this point that the caravans used to turn to various directions when leaving Makkah. It was mid‑afternoon (so extremely hot in the desert sun). He ordered a makeshift dias (pulpit) to be erected. He mounted the pulpit and said:

" I am leaving in your midst two valuable things, the holy book, Qur'an and my Ahlul‑Bayt. They will not separate from each other until they meet me at the Pond. So, if you attach yourselves to these two, you shall never go wrong after me."

Then he asked the crowd (an estimated 120,000 Muslims) who was the supreme authority over them after Allah, to which the crowd replied in unison:

"You of course, O! Apostle of Allah "

Then he held Ali by the hand and raising him said:

" To whomever am I the Mawla (supreme authority) so is this ^‘Ali the Mawla. "

This report, with some minor differences has come down to us through various historians. Some of the names are given below.

1. AL‑KHASAA'IS by Ahmad b.Sho'ayb An‑Nisai (2nd c.Hijra)

2. SAWA‑IQ MUHARRIQA by Ibn Hajar Makki (10th c.Hijra)

3. RAWDHATUL‑AHBAAB by Jamal‑ud Din Ataullah (11th c.Hijra)

4. MUSNAD by Ahmad B. Hanbal ( 3rd c. Hijra)

This is only a sample. The Indian scholar Mawlana Hamid Husayn Moosawi compiled a book in 34 volumes titled ABAQAAT‑UL‑ANWAAR which lists all the historians, scholars, commentators of Qur'an and jurists who have reported this tradition with the full chain of transmitters and their antecedents (RIJAAL). Other recent works are: Amini's Al‑Ghadeer in 18 volumes and Taarikh ash‑Shi'a by Husayn 'Ali Mahfuz. This last work has enunciated that the tradition of Ghadeer‑e‑Khum has been transmitted by at least 110 Companions of the Prophet, 84 Taabi’oon ( those who were born after the Prophet but had met the Companions), 355 ^cUlema, 25 historians, 27 traditionists, 11 commentators of Qur'an, 18 theologians and 5 philologists.

Hafiz Ibn Mardwayh and Ibn Wadhih Y^caqoobi have added in their works that after this announcement at Ghadeer the last verse of the Qur'an (in chronological order) was revealed:

5:3 …………….. AL YAWMA AKMALTU LAKUM DEENAKUM….

(Today have I perfected your religion for you)

Of course, there are Muslims scholars who denied outright that any such event took place and this hadeeth is just a fabrication by the sectarian groups. Another group of Muslims scholars accepted the hadeeth but tried to explain it away by first discussing the meaning of the word MAWLA and then by trying to undermine the prophetic declaration to something very trivial.

According to those Muslims who believe in the Qur’anic concept of IMAM, this is the beginning of the IMAMAT. After Imam Ali there are eleven other Imams as follows, in that chain.

2. Hasan bin Ali al-Mujtaba

3. Husayn bin Ali Sayed-ush-Shuhada

4. Ali bin Husayn Zayn al-Abideen

5. Muhammad bin Ali al-Baqir

6. J’afar bin Muhamamd as-Sadiq

7. Moosa bin J’afar al-Kazim

8. Ali bin Moosa ar-Ridha

9. Muhammad bin Ali al-Jawwad

10. Ali bin Muhammad al-Hadi

11. Hasan bin Ali al-Askari

12. Muhammad bin Hasan al-Mahdi

There are numerous hadeeth reports by the Prophet about the twelve IMAMS that are to come after him and the last one being the MAHDI.

Of course, the deniers of hadeeth would not want to have any of that. As we said, everyone is going to their graves with their respective beliefs.

The faithful believe that the last one of the twelve Imams, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is in occultation and he will, one day, re-appear on Allah’s command, to fill this world with justice and equity as it is filled today with injustice and oppression. INTEZAR (preparation in anticipation for the re-appearance) is therefore, a part of their basic belief.