Chain of the Light of Imamat - Furu`-i Din (Branches of Religion)

Furu`-i Din (Branches of Religion)

Tags: Jadd, Fath, Khayal, Imam, Hujjat, Da`i, Mustajib, Ma'dhun

There are six branches or furu` (sing. far`) of religion: Jadd, Fath, Khayal, Imam, Hujjat and Da`i. The first three are spiritual and the last three are physical. Jadd, Fath and Khayal are also called Israfil, Mika'il and Jibril, respectively. By the Imam is meant the Imam of the time, by the Hujjat is meant the Supreme Hujjat from the twenty eight Hujjats, namely, the Bab or that son of the Imam who is the Lahiq of the light (of Imamat), and by Da`i is meant the one among the 360 Da`is, who is the Lahiq of the Supreme Hujjat.

Jadd: Jadd is the name of Israfil as mentioned in the Glorious Qur'an: "And exalted is Jadd of our Lord, who has taken neither a wife nor a son" (72:3). Similarly, the Holy Prophet mentions the exaltedness of Jadd in the prayer of Qunut (submission): "Subhanaka allahumma wa-bi-hamdika wa-tabaraka'smuka wa- ta`ala jadduka wa-jalla thana'uka wa-la ilaha ghayruka, Allahu akbar" (O Allah! You are free from all attributes, Your praise is possible through the first hadd, and Your recognition is possible through the second hadd, who is Your name, and through the third hadd, who is Your Jadd, is affirmed Your exaltedness, and through the fourth hadd is manifest Your praise and through the fifth hadd is accepted Your worship. And Allah is greater than the spiritual and physical hudud). The main point here is the mention of Jadd.
Since Jadd is the highest branch among the spiritual branches and is also the angel of true love, he is considered to be the supreme branch. Although the branch depends on the trunk, it is higher than the trunk. Thus in the sense in which these three angels are considered to be the branches of religion it is clear that, Jadd is exalted. The gift of this angel to human beings is the faculty of speech.
Fath: Fath is the name of Mika'il. Fath literally means "opening", i.e. to open any closed thing, and here it means the spiritual opening, as mentioned in the verse: "Say: Our Lord will gather us together and then He will open (yaftahu) between us with truth. And He is the Opener, the Knowing" (34:26). Here by gathering together is meant entering the religion of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and by opening is meant the explanation of the tanzil through the ta'wil. Thus the ta'wil is from the hadd of Fath, namely Mika'il. Thus it is a well known saying that Mika'il is the angel who distributes provision among the people of the world. It is true that this provision is of two kinds, the physical and the spiritual. The spiritual provision is ta'wil and the ultimate end of ta'wil is Fath, namely Mika'il. In the ordinary state, the gift of this angel to human beings is the faculty of understanding.
Khayal: Khayal is the name of Jibril. He is the angel of tanzil or revelation. He is called Khayal because his spiritual function takes place in the human imagination. The act of this angel is to remove the veil of darkness from the imagination of the seeker of spirituality. Just as in the order of the human senses, after the five external senses, comes the imagination, which is the first of the internal senses, similarly, after the five physical hudud is the angel Khayal, who is the first hadd of the five spiritual hudud. That is, spirituality begins from Khayal. Regarding Khayal or Jibril, more description can be found in this blessed verse: "Say: Who is an enemy to Jibril! For he it is who has revealed it (the Scripture) to your heart by Allah's leave, confirming that which was (revealed) before it, and a guide and glad tidings to believers" (2:97). In this verse are mentioned the spiritual losses resulting from enmity with Jibril. Physically, enmity with Jibril is not possible. For instance, it is not correct to say that unbelievers are enemies of Jibril because he brought revelation to Hazrat Muhammad from God, since in the revelation is the affirmation of the existence of God and the receiving of revelation by Hazrat Muhammad through Jibril. Thus logically, those who do not accept the existence of God cannot be considered enemies of God. For, affirmation of existence is necessary, before friendship or enmity with someone. For instance, Zayd said: Bakr is my enemy or I am the enemy of Bakr. In this sentence, first of all Zayd affirms the existence of Bakr, then his act and finally the enmity.
Thus it is not possible to have enmity with Jibril in a physical sense, rather enmity with Jibril means to commit such acts due to which Jibril's spiritual acts do not take place in that person's heart, whatever the reason may be for his actions. In these cases Jibril will avoid and remain far away from such people. To avoid and remain far away from someone is due to enmity. Enmity consists of "to be unpleasant, to dislike, to consider someone an opponent, to try to finish someone off or to make him a subordinate, to have every kind of bad thought in the heart", etc. The angels are free from such things. The act of angels is as pure as the pouring of light by the sun from the heaven. The sun casts light on every thing which does not hide itself from it. But if a thing makes a veil and remains behind it, then due to being an enemy of itself, it also becomes the enemy of the sun. For it remains far away from the sun and hence all those meanings which enmity comprises are applicable to it.
The condemnation of having enmity with Jibril before any other angels is mentioned by God in a wisdom-filled way. This shows that God wants mu'mins to have friendship with Jibril through their actions. Among other reasons for this is that, the first door of spirituality and recognition of the soul which is also the recognition of the Lord, is Khayal, namely Jibril. It is therefore necessary for mu'mins to accept the existence of spirituality at least once in their lifetime to benefit practically from the friendship of Jibril. And this is not impossible. Rather, the possibility of this is implied in the words "guidance" and "glad tidings" in this verse. Further, in saying that Jibril has brought the revelation to "your heart" is alluded the reality of the heart and to keep it pure from all impurities. For instance, if a king or other dignitary is to visit someone's house, then necessarily the house owner will try to clean and decorate his house and will be careful that there is nothing there which could displease the honourable guest. Moreover, in order to attain this kind of spirituality, God says: "Verily in the Messenger of Allah you have a good example for him who looks unto Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah abundantly" (33:21). That is, the way the Messenger used to lead you in spirituality, it was good for you to learn to follow his example and this is necessary for him who looks unto Allah and hopes for spirituality and remembers Allah abundantly. Here the Last Day is interpreted as spirituality, for it is spirituality which is the Last Day. In this verse also are mentioned the possibility of attaining spirituality and the conditions for this.
The Imam: Among the physical hudud, the Imam comes first. Imam has many major and minor ranks which will be explained in detail in a separate chapter in this book. Imam means guide, chief, the origin of everything and the one who leads in religious matters. Although the Universal Intellect, the Universal Soul, Natiq and Asas are considered the roots of the tree of religion and the Imam its branch, it is also a fact that the fruit is attainable only from the branch. The branch definitely depends on the trunk and the roots, but it is the branch which bears the fruit, i.e. the result of the collective action of the tree and its value appear on its branch. Similarly, it is the Imam of the time through whose knowledge of ta'wil, that the nobility and glory of the Universal Intellect, the Universal Soul, Natiq and Asas can be estimated. Further, as the act of fruition of the tree appears in its branch, the spiritual act of the four roots of religion, the Universal Intellect, the Universal Soul, Natiq and Asas appears from the Imam of the time, for he is always living and present in this world and guides people spiritually and physically according to their different grades. It is difficult to benefit from the spiritual hudud i.e. Jibril, Mika'il and Israfil directly, therefore, it is necessary to obey the Imam of the time so that through this, spirituality may be attained easily and in which first the opening of the door of knowledge of hudud and then that of the knowledge of Tawhid is possible. As the Holy Qur'an says: "O you who believe! fear God, and seek the means to Him, and struggle in His way so that you may succeed" (5:35).
Hujjat: Hujjat means proof, i.e. an argument which is used in a dispute or debate to negate or affirm a thing in order to establish the truth, for as God says: "Then Allah's is the ever-reaching (profound) argument" (6:149).
Hujjat is so called because of the fact that he knows all the arguments of negation and affirmation completely. He is never defeated in a debate, because he knows the knowledge of ta'wil. Another meaning of hujjat is the battle of knowledge, that is, disputation or debate. A third meaning is a person who is responsible to answer on behalf of another person. The example of the second meaning is the verse: "There is not contention (hujjat) between us and you" (42:15), and the example of the third meaning is the verse: "Many Messengers, the givers of glad tidings and warners, in order that mankind might have no argument against Allah after the Messengers. And Allah is Mighty, Wise" (4:165). That is, this act continues in every age. In this verse is meant the third meaning of hujjat.
The above-mentioned verse signifies that on the Day of Resurrection, no one will have a complaint that in their time there was no Messenger or Guide to guide them according to the time. In fact, in this verse, God has shown that He provided all means which were necessary for mankind in religion and in the world. That is, He has hujjat or proof against the people, that there is always the Imam of the time in this world, so that people may not have an argument against Him.
Thus it is evident that the Hujjat or the one answerable to the people on behalf of God and the Prophet is the Imam of the time. And it is up to the Imam of the time to administer the system of religion by himself or through Hujjat and Da`is. Here the subject is the Hujjat, who comes after the Imam. There are altogether twelve Hujjats in the sense that the world is divided into twelve regions and each one is called jazirah. In every jazirah or region there are two Hujjats, one is of the day and the other of the night. In addition, there are four Hujjats in the presence (huzur) of the Imam of the time. They are also divided into day and night, i.e. two Hujjats of day and two of night. Among these four, the supreme one is called Hujjat-i a`zam or Bab, who is that son of the Imam of the time, who is going to be Imam after him. Bab means the door. The Holy Prophet has said in this connection: "I am the city of knowledge (of tawhid) and `Ali is its gate". Mawlana `Ali was the Bab of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, because in the time of Natiq, his Bab or Hujjat-i a`zam is the Imam himself.
It should be known that the twenty-eight Hujjats are called the twenty-eight mansions of the world of religion. The twelve Hujjats are the twelve signs of the zodiac in the sense that in each of the twelve jazirahs or regions, there is a Hujjat and hence they become the twelve signs of the zodiac of the world of religion.
In order to estimate the spiritual status and knowledge of the Hujjats, suffice it to say that the miraculous Pirs and luminaries, such as Salman-i Farsi, Shams-i Tabriz, Hakim Nasir-i Khusraw, Pir Sadru'd-Din, Pir Hasan Kabiru'd-Din were the Hujjats in their respective times. Other Hujjats were also like them in knowledge, miraculous power and eminence. However, it is a different matter that some of them, according to the exigency of the time, revealed their knowledge and miraculous power and some of them concealed it. See the spirituality of the Hujjats in this verse of a dignitary of religion:
Az dil-i Hujjat ba-Hazrat rah buwad
Ou ba-ta'yid-i dilash agah buwad

There is a (spiritual) path from the heart of the Hujjat (i.e. Pir) to the Imam of the time, Who is aware of inspiring ta'yid in his heart.
Hujjat is that limit of spiritual elevation where all the sciences and ma`rifats of the realities of things are. This is the sublime place where the reality of the universe is clearly seen by the inner eye of the one who ascends to it. The recognition of the soul which is the recognition of God is attainable perfectly in the rank of Hujjat. The ta'wil of the heavenly Books and different Shari`ats is also completely available to the Hujjat. Hujjat and Fath, namely Mika'il, are counterparts.
Da`i: Da`i means the inviter or summoner, i.e. the one who invites to true religion, as God says: "And as a summoner unto Allah by His permission, and as a luminous lamp" (33:46). In this verse the Prophet is called a Da`i because he himself used to do da`wat and others used to do it under his supervision. In the time of the Prophet there were definitely Da`is to invite on his behalf, for the main function of Prophethood and da`wat is carried on under his supervision. Thus it is evident that according to the belief of the Isma`ili Tariqah the Da`i is after the Hujjat. There are thirty Da`is in every jazirah and in all twelve jazirahs, they total three hundred and sixty, which are the days of an average year.
With respect to knowledge and excellence, the Da`is also have ranks. Generally the Da`is are of two kinds, the absolute Da`i (Da`i-yi mutlaq) and the limited Da`i (Da`i-yi mahdud or makfuf). The difference between the two is that the former is spiritually mingled with the superior ranks, but physically works as a Da`i. The latter, both spiritually and physically is only worthy of the hadd or rank of da`wat. All these Da`is receive knowledge and ma`rifat spiritually and physically from the Hujjats of their respective jazirahs. Da`i and Khayal are counterparts. The Holy Qur'an says: "Indeed the number of months with Allah is twelve months in the Book of Allah the day He created the heavens and the earth. Four of them are sacred; that is the right religion" (9:36).
The hudud of religion start from the Mustajib. Mustajib is the name of the follower who accepts or responds to the da`wat. This is the hadd of the follower or murid who only benefits and learns, as it is mentioned in the Glorious Qur'an : "Only those accept (yastajibu) who listen; and (as to) the dead, Allah will raise them, then to Him they will be returned" (6:36). When the Mustajib becomes capable of doing da`wat, he is given idhn (permission) and is called Ma'dhun. After accomplishing the duties of two kinds of Ma'dhunship, he can reach the rank of limited Da`i, then the absolute Da`i and then the Hujjat of jazirah. In this life the ultimate limit of the spiritual elevation of a mu'min is the rank of Hujjatship only.

Correspondence of the Ranks of Hudud-i Din with Months

1.	Mustajib	Muharram
2.	Ma'dhun-i mahdud	Safar
3.	Ma'dhun-i mutlaq	Rabi` I
4.	Da`i-yi mahdud	Rabi` II
5.	Da`i-yi mutlaq	Jumada I
6.	Hujjat	Jumada II
7.	Bab	Rajab
8.	Imam	Sha`ban
9.	Asas	Ramazan
10.	Natiq	Shawwal
100.	Universal Soul	Dhu'l-Qa`dah
1000.	Universal Intellect	Dhu'l-Hijjah

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