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Chain of the Light of Imamat - Wasiyyat (Testament) of the Prophet of God
Wasiyyat (Testament) of the Prophet of God
The last testament of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.) was: "I am leaving two heavy things (thaqalayn) among you, the Book of Allah, and my progeny, my Ahl al-Bayt, (i.e. the Imam)". The words of God and His Prophet are always full of wisdoms. Some of the wisdoms of this Hadith are:
- Of these two things, one is an extremely difficult Book (to understand) and the other is the one who eases every difficulty. When with difficulty is given the solver of difficulties too, we should know that the difficulty can be solved only by the solver of difficulties. That is, it is the Imam who is responsible for the ta'wil of the Qur'an.
- In the context of these words, first comes the Book and then the Imam. This implies that first you should read the Qur'an in the form of tanzil, then you will receive the ta'wil of it from the Imam.
- The Holy Prophet calls both the Qur'an and the Imam "heavy things". But physically speaking, the Qur'an is so light that even a small child can lift it and the Imam, too, weighs only as much as others do. The term "heavy" thus cannot be applied to either of them in any physical sense. Then, we send our simple and weak particular intellect to the presence of the Imam of the time in order to examine this heaviness, but it returns unsuccessful, for by heaviness here is meant nothing but that the human intellect, by itself, can neither attain the ta'wil of the Holy Qur'an, nor recognise the Imam of the time. And this is the meaning of the word "thaqalayn" (two heavy things) in this Hadith.
- From our examination of the word "thaqalayn", it is evident that the Holy Qur'an and the Imam of the time both have two positions, one physical and the other spiritual. It has also been shown that initially the human intellect cannot reach their spirituality. Thus, according to the injunction of the Holy Prophet, first we must accept them physically. That is, we must obey the Imam of the time completely. If a wise seeker of the truth studies this Hadith, he will realise to some extent the limitless power of the Imam of the time from the fact that he, in addition to being able to guide billions of people spiritually and physically, also knows all the secrets of the wisdom-filled speech of God, the Holy, the Sacred. It is also important to note, in what respect the Holy Prophet calls them heavy simultaneously using the same word for both of them. Since their power and heaviness is spiritual, hence only the spiritual can be compatible with the spiritual. It is therefore not correct to say that they are heavier even than the earth and the heaven, for they are also borne by the soul. God says: "Say: Verily, though mankind and the jinn should assemble to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like of it though they were helpers one of another" (17:88). This shows that neither jinn nor mankind know the real ta'wil of the Wise Qur'an. Thus it is this spiritual and intellectual compatibility in relation to which the Qur'an and the `Ali of every age are called heavy. From this verse we learn that none of the jinn or mankind knows the entire reality of the Qur'an. Thus the one who God testifies to be the knower of the Qur'an is neither from the jinn nor from mankind. If he is neither from jinn nor from mankind, then he is not only a jamali angel, but is a jalali angel, about whom God says: "Say: Allah is sufficient as a witness between me and you and he with whom is the knowledge of the Book" (13:43). This jalali angel with whom is the knowledge of the Book is the Imam of the time, who, according to the needs and exigencies of the time ordains for his followers the way which accords with the deep wisdom of the Holy Qur'an, so that they remain very close to the ta'wil.
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