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Eight Questions Answered - Dwelling Place of the Imam
Dwelling Place of the Imam
How can Shah Karim, the Imam of the Isma`ilis, truly be the true Imam when in Europe he leads a western way of life?
- This question should be your fundamental question about Isma`ilism, for through a single answer proving or disproving the right of the Imam the whole discussion can be ended. If it is proved that he is indeed the true Imam, then no one has the right, inspite of accepting him as the true Imam, of raising any objections against him; and if it is proved that he is not the true Imam then there is no need to take the trouble of asking any further questions. But nonetheless, the questions have been repeated here. However, isn't the purport of your question such that if we prove that the residence of the Imam in Europe is permissible and lawful, then you will accept Shah Karim al-Husayni as the true Imam?
- If according to you the western way of living is un-Islamic, and it is for this reason that you have posed this question, then it is necessary for you to have referred to the Qur'anic ordinance in the light of which you could have justified your asking of this question. We therefore ask you: 'Is there in the Qur'an any such verse which ordains the present-day Islamic society and its requirements in a fixed form?' If there is no such verse, then can anyone prove from the Qur'an that Muslims should eat, dress and live in houses or tents in the manner which Muslims used to during the time of the Holy Prophet? It is obvious that even an ordinary person cannot accept such a notion, let alone to have proven such a notion from the Qur'an.
- It seems that there is no particular logic underlying your question except that your reasoning is based on the material condition of the Muslims during the time of the Prophet, despite the fact that it was only the beginning of the religion of God; for how would it have been possible to have materialized all the potential economic and social development within Islam of the entire period, i.e: dawr-i Muhammadi (Muhammadan Period) in the short time of only twenty-three years? In short, you think that the present- day economical condition of Islam should be the same as it was at the advent of Islam. But alas! this mode of your thought is opposed first by the Arab Muslims, for their economical condition is far better now than it was previously. Apart from that, the very mode of your thinking is very dangerous, for you do not like the worldly and material progress of Muslims, to the extent that in the present Islamic world none among the emperors, kings, governors, leaders, heads or rich and well-to-do people can escape your objection. Nor do you leave any hope of progress in the future. In any case, let us look at what the Holy Qur'an says as regards this matter.
The Qur'an says:
"Say: Who has forbidden the adornment of Allah which He has brought forth for His servants, and the good things of His providing? Say: They are, in the life of this world, for those who believe, and purely for them on the Day of Judgement (i.e. the period of qiyamat)".(7-32)
This Qur'anic ordinance clearly shows the fact: that your question is baseless. For Allah, the Most High, has created the good things of adornment and sustenance for His servants, and in the period of qiyamat these things will be in a special form for the believers. Thus this fact is proved, that our Lord Shah Karim al-Husayni is the true Imam, for he through his way of living announces the glad tidings that very soon the promise of God mentioned above, which He has made for His faithful servants is going to be fulfilled. - Our Lord Shah Karim al-Husayni is the true Imam, and in proof of this most important fact we have thousands of arguments which no truth-loving person can reject. You should study the subjects regarding the proof of Imamat in Isma`ili literature. In Islam the concept of caliphate is a well-accepted fact. And it is our belief that the vicegerent of God and His Messenger are ever-existent in this world and during our time that vicegerent of God and His Messenger is our Lord Shah Karim al-Husayni. If it is possible to refute this fact then one should say: "No! The vicegerent of God is such and such a person from such and such a family, and who is living not in Europe, but in such and such a place." Or he should say that there is no caliphate as such in Islam, or he should say, well in Islam the caliphate was there in the beginning, but later on according to such and such an ordinance God took it back into His own hands or abrogated it. Such a refutation is impossible, however, and therefore one has to accept the fact that Shah Karim is the true Imam.
- We say that our Lord Shah Karim al-Husayni is the true Imam, for he is the light of guidance from God. If it is possible to refute this fact, then one should say that at present the light of guidance and beacon of divine authority is such and such a person, who for the sake of the spreading and propagation of Islam has chosen the way of poverty and privation and is running away from worldly progress; whose genealogy goes back to the Messenger of God, and whose ancestors were for their times the light of guidance from God. I am sure that such a refutation cannot possibly be made. Hence it is evident that at present, only Shah Karim is the real successor of the chain of Imamat, and he is the true imam and no one other than he is in this position.
- In this world there is no scarcity of people who falsely claim a grand religious position and some even succeed in holding this claim for some time. Nonetheless, it should be remembered that falsehood cannot stand for a long time and vanishes away while the truth stands for ever. As the Qur'an says:
"And say (O Messenger!): Truth has come and falsehood has vanished away and falsehood is ever bound to vanish."
In this verse, in the language of wisdom, it is said that the divine vicegerency (khilafat-i ilahiyyah) and supreme leadership (imamat-i `aliyyah) which the Prophet possessed, was the real truth and therefore it will continue to be in this world for ever.
Similarly the Prophet was the light of guidance from God. Since the light from God is itself the truth (nur-i haqq hi haqq hay) and the Truth stands for ever, then now where is that Truth (light of guidance) if it is not the true Imam who is Shah Karim al-Husayni (peace be upon him)? It is said therefore that the divine light despite the attempts of the opponents to extinguish it never becomes extinguished; for it is Truth and not falsehood. If it is proved that my Imam is the source of guidance on behalf of God and of His Messenger, then what more illuminating argument than this one is needed in proof of his being the Truth itself; and it is in Islam a truth for such a source and centre of guidance to exist, as it existed in the time of the Prophet and continued to exist after him.
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