Fruit of Paradise - The Divine Sunnat
The Divine Sunnat
The word sunnat stems from the Arabic root letters sin, nun, nun and means way, course, rule, habit, custom or law. By Divine sunnat (sunnatu'llah) is meant the custom and wisdom of God. As the Wise Qur'an says: "It is the custom of Allah which has taken course aforetime; and you will never find any change in the custom (sunnat) of Allah." (48:22). It is also said: "And you will never find any alteration in the custom of Allah" (35:43). That is, although the shari`ats of the Prophets prior to the Holy Prophet contained different forms with respect to secondary or accidental matters, their essential or primary purpose was the same, namely the recognition of God, obedience to Him and the attainment of eternal salvation which can be obtained by acting upon the spirit of Islam.
The plural of sunnat is sunan which is mentioned in the Holy Qur'an in this way: "Indeed, before you there have already passed ways (sunan); so travel in the earth and see what was the end of those who belied (Allah's Prophets)." (3:137). Here by sunan are meant the ways or systems of conduct of all people, both believers and non-believers. Travelling in the earth can mean two things: to travel on the planet earth and to travel in the earth of spirituality. The earth referred to in the command to travel means the earth of spirituality which is the earth of the personal world. This is because the purpose of observing the end of unbelievers cannot be achieved merely by looking at a ruined city destroyed as a result of the disobedience of a people. The destruction of unbelievers is not confined only to physical destruction, for the real meaning of the end is spirituality and the next life. This explanation shows that the observation of the end of those who belied the Prophets and the Awliya' is at the place of spirituality.
Another use of the word sunan is in the verse: "Allah intends to explain to you and guide you on the ways (sunan) of those before you and turn to you." (4:26). By explaining is meant the ta'wil and by "the people before you" is meant the Prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous ones (4:69) referred to in verses (1:5-6): "Guide us on the right path, the path of those whom you have favoured." This verse shows that although pre-Islamic shari`ats were different from an exoteric viewpoint, they were one esoterically and that change and alteration is not possible in the sunnat or way of God in the fundamental and esoteric matters of religion.
In the light of the above verses we are absolutely certain that according to His sunnat, He continued the light of guidance from before the advent of Islam in the time of the Holy Prophet and that similarly, this guidance continues now. Because this is one of the fundamental matters of religion, as God promised the believers in verse (2:150) that He would complete His favour (ni`mat) upon them and explained the nature and benefits of this favour in verse (2:151) and then revealed this proclamation at Ghadir Khumm: "Today I have perfected your religion for you and have completed My favour on you, and have chosen for you Islam (as your) religion." (5:3). It is obvious that this refers to the day when, in accordance with God's will and sunnat, the Holy Prophet appointed Mawla `Ali as his successor and Imam, because if the Imam has continued to be here from the beginning, then his presence becomes even more necessary after the death of the Prophet. As God says: "This was Our way (sunnat) with those Messengers whom We sent before you, and you will not find any alteration in Our way." (17:77). That is, just as guidance continued in the cycle of Prophethood, so in the same way it will continue in the cycle of Imamat and there will be no change in His sunnat of always appointing a vicegerent on earth.
One can see then that God's sunnat covers the past, the present and the future for there is no change or alteration in it. For, according to His sunnat, He has revealed to mankind the light of guidance and a clear Book (5:15). About the Book (the Qur'an) Muslims could have no doubts, so about the light He said that nobody would be able to extinguish it and that it will continue and last forever, splendid and shining (9:32, 61:8), for the ultimate purpose of the light is to guide mu'mins in the stations of spirituality and the stages of Resurrection (57:12).
In verse (40:85) God says: "Allah's sunnat is that which has continued in His servants, and the disbelievers are ruined." The ultimate meaning of "in His servants" is in the spirituality of His chosen servants, or in other words, in the blessed personality of the Prophets and Imams. For although the human habit changes according to his circumstances, God's habit or sunnat never changes and remains the same. His sunnat is according to His attributive names and His word and act which first appears in the mirror of the heart (spirituality) of His mazhar. Thus those who understand this secret benefit abundantly and those who do not are in great loss.
According to the custom of God, the Wise, we should note the principle that He always chooses for the task of guidance from the family of Prophethood, just as He chose Hazrat Adam, Hazrat Nuh, the progeny of Hazrat Ibrahim and the progeny of Hazrat `Imran above all the people of the world (3:33), as he granted the progeny of Hazrat Ibrahim the Book, wisdom and the great kingdom (4:54) and as in accordance with this Divine law Hazrat Ibrahim prayed for this special mercy that the Imamat may remain in his progeny until the Resurrection (2:124).
In verse (13:38) there is a wisdom-filled farman of God that explains this Divine sunnat: "And indeed We sent Messengers before you, and We gave them wives and offspring (dhurriyyat)." The word dhurriyyat means offspring or children both son or daughter, for in the Wise Qur'an it is used for both son or daughter. As the Qur'an says: "When your Lord brought forth from the children of Adam, from their loins, their offspring (dhurriyyat) and made them bear witness over themselves (saying): Am I not your Lord? Indeed, they said: Yes, we bear witness." (7:172). You can see here that the word dhurriyyat is used for both men and for women. Thus the saying of God to the Holy Prophet that "We gave wives and dhurriyyat to the Messengers before you" means that the Prophet too has a family and dhurriyyat and that dhurriyyat is Hazrat Fatimatu'z-Zahra salawatu'llahi alayha. It is in view of this magnificent concept that the word dhurriyyat is used in an extremely wisdom-filled way in the Holy Qur'an "one from another" (3:34) to mention the Perfect Men and the pure women and their children. For it is the case that when the origin and nobility of someone is praised, in reality it is because of their parentage.
In the Glorious Qur'an Hazrat `Isa is mentioned twenty-two times as "son of Maryam". It is not without wisdom that a name is mentioned repeatedly in a heavenly book such as the Wise Qur'an. Thus there are five wisdoms hidden in this:
- It alludes to the fact that just as the paternal kinship of the Prophet and Imam is important, in the same way the maternal kinship is also important.
- The Perfect Man receives family virtues and excellence from both the father and the mother.
- It provides an example in that every perfect spiritual mother or a mother like Maryam can give birth to a spiritual son like Hazrat `Isa.
- It provides a living proof of the Holy Imams being from the progeny of Muhammad (s.a.s) through Hazrat Fatimatu'z-Zahra.
- It provides a proof of the eminence and greatness of women.
The sunnat of God has continued (to happen) in the holy personality of every Prophet and the ulu'l-amr and from this centre it affects others. You can verify this fact from two topics in the Wise Qur'an which are "the Divine sunnat" and the "stories of the Prophets". Just as one verse is explained by another, so in the same way one topic is explained by another. Thus to say that the exegesis and ta'wil of the sunnat of God is the story of the Prophets, is an elaboration of the meaning, but if it is condensed then in fact the Prophets and the Imams themselves are the sunnat of God, for they embody His sunnat.
Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai,
6th February, 1984.
Notes:
1For the word sunnat in the Wise Qur'an refer and reflect on verses (3:127; 4:26; 17:77; 33:38,33:63; 35:43; 40:85; 48:23) and the verses immediately preceding and following them.
2For further information about "Divine Sunnat", see Pearls of Knowledge, p.35.
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