Du`a – Essence of `Ibadat Part Four - For true Bay`at, the presence of the Prophet or the Imam of the Time is necessary
For true Bay`at, the presence of the Prophet or the Imam of the Time is necessary
Tags: Bay`at
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
“Inna'lladhina yubayi`unaka innama yubayi`una'llaha yadu'llahi fawqa aydihim, fa-man nakatha fa-innama yankuthu `ala nafsihi, wa-man awfa bi-ma `ahada `alayhu'llaha fa-sayu'tihi ajran `azima = Verily those who give bay`at (oath of allegiance) to you (O Prophet), they verily give bay`at to Allah. Allah's Hand is on their hands. So whoever breaks his bay`at, does so to his own soul's loss, and whoever fulfils his covenant with Allah, He will soon grant him immense reward” (48:10).
The word bay`at is derived from bay`, which literally means 'buying and selling'. Technically, it means mu'mins making a covenant with God through the Prophet or his successor that, in order to attain the pleasure of God and salvation, they are pleased and ready to offer any kind of sacrifice of life and wealth. Further, in order to truly obey God, the Prophet and the ulu'l-amr, they [are pleased and ready to] abandon unlawful desires. This is the meaning of bay`at in the verses mentioned in the Qur'an: (48:10, 48:18; 60:12).
Here it is essential to mention the fact that, with respect to the Prophet's expediency and choice, there are two kinds of commands in the holy Qur'an. One kind of command is that which God issued out of His own will or out of the desire of the Prophet and then they were acted upon. The other kind of command is that which was alluded to by God or that the Prophet acted upon out of his choice according to the expediency of time, then God endorsed those acts through revelation. Bay`at-i ridhwan (bay at of happiness) is one such act, in which, on the occasion of the treaty of Hudaybiyyah in 6 A.H., the Prophet took bay`at from fourteen hundred companions and which was endorsed by God later on in the two verses of the surah of Fath (48:10, 48:18).
Thus, to act upon the true bay`at and its conditions is a final test of Islam (surrender) and Iman (true faith) and for which the presence of the Prophet of God or the Imam of the time is necessary. For, in order to take bay`at from mu'mins there must be someone present in the world whose bay`at amounts to God's bay`at, and his blessed hand represents God's Hand with respect to his personality, so that mu'mins will always remember their covenant. That is, they remember that they have given bay`at to God and in His presence they have made the covenant of true obedience.
“Allahumma'ghfir lana dhunubana = O our Lord! Forgive our sins”; Wa'rzuqna wa'rhamna = Grant us spiritual and physical sustenance and have mercy on us”; “Bi-haqqi rusulika'lmuqarrabina wa-a'immatika'l-mutahharina = for the sake of Your close Prophets and pure Imams”; “Wa-bi-haqqi mawlana wa-imamina Shah Karimi'l-Husayni = and for the sake of our lord and our Imam Shah Karim al-Husayni”; “Allahumma laka sujudi wa-ta`ati = O Allah! my prostration and obedience is for You”.
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