Fruit of Paradise - Jama`at Khanah Part 1

Jama`at Khanah Part 1

House of God - House of Jama`at

(Khanah-i Khuda - Khanah-i Jama`at)

Tags: House of God, Jama`at Khanah, Ka`bah

Islam, in its spirit, is a perfect and complete religion and it abounds in rectitude, guidance, knowledge and wisdom. Every word and deed and everything of it is enriched with intellectual and spiritual beauties and is full of allusions of certitude and recognition (ma`rifat) both exoterically and esoterically. Thus today we would like to discuss the subject (House of God - House of Jama`at) and would like to know whether God really needs a house or whether it is the people of faith who need it? The answer is that God, Who is the Creator of the universe, is free from and above space and non-space, therefore, it is needed by the people of faith. In the latter case, other questions arise: If the House of God is to fulfil the needs of the people of faith, what benefits do they attain from it and what are the secrets hidden in assigning a house in the name of God? The detailed answer to this question is:

With respect to place and direction or place and time, the concept of God is based on three levels: Firstly, God dwells in a particular house as is the concept of the House of God mentioned in the verse 22:26; secondly, He is everywhere as mentioned in verse 2:115 and thirdly, He is free from and above space and non-space, because He is Subhan (free from attributes), Quddus (Holy) and Samad (i.e. He Himself is independent and everything depends on Him). It is an irrefutable fact that Islamic teaching and guidance is in a gradual form, and therefore it becomes incumbent upon every Muslim to, first firmly believe in the House of God and attach himself to it so that he may recognise from here the oneness of God. If someone does not understand the wisdom of this fundamental concept and ignores it, he cannot attain the treasures of the second and third concepts. For, to go against Divine law leads to failure.
The way Islam presents the concept of the Supreme Throne is also the centre of all the wisdoms of the true religion. For it establishes not only the eminence and grandeur of the House of God, but also the eminence of those mu'mins who are engaged in work for the prosperity and progress of the House of God on earth. They are like the pure angels of the higher world, who are attached to or circumambulate the Divine Throne. This explanation establishes the fact that, just as human beings benefit from the closeness and recognition of the House of God, the angels attain eminence from the closeness and recognition of the Supreme Throne. But God Himself, may He be hallowed and blessed, is free from and above everything.
God existed when the Ka`bah, the House of God did not exist, and it was constructed when the time came for the descent of Hazrat Adam to the earth. Thus, by the command of God, the angels constructed the House of God, so that Hazrat Adam and his children could have recourse to it to attain spiritual benefit. This shows that the origin and foundation of religion is the House of God and that the same House of God is the house of religion and house of Jama`at also, which in Urdu is expressed as Jamā`at-khānah. To say "House of God" means that there is always the manifestation of His lights and secrets and the revelation of His favours and blessings, so that the mu'mins may go to His House in order to attain them and progress in knowledge and good deeds every day.
The Ka`bah, in which are hidden great ta'wilic secrets, is in its own place extremely important, so that the Muslims of the world by understanding its exoteric and esoteric wisdoms, do not lose the wealth of mutual unity and stay united like the Muslims of the time of Prophethood were united. Simultaneously, it was also important to build a local House of God in every Muslim village, for it was not possible for all the Muslims of far-flung countries to reach the Ka`bah for daily worship. Thus the Holy Prophet built a local House of God called a Masjid (mosque). It was an enclosure, which had doors on three sides. The basic plan of all those mosques which were built after the Holy Prophet remains the same. Gradually, the construction of mosques turned into an art and thus a specific style of architecture developed. (Urdu Encyclopaedia, Firoz Sons).
The Qiblah of Islam has many names, such as Ka`bah, which literally means a square building (5:95); al-Bayt (the House, 2:125); al-Bayti'l-`atiq (the ancient House, 22:29); Baytī (My House, i.e. the House of God or Baytu'llah, 2:125); Baytin wudi`a li'n-nās (a House assigned for mankind, 3:96); al-Bayta'l-haram (the Sacred House, 5:97); al-Masjidi'l-haram (the Sacred Mosque, 2:144), etc.
From the above-mentioned names of the House of God, it is justified without any ambiguity that, just as it is correct to call the place of worship of Muslims, a Masjid, similarly it is also correct to call it "Jamā`at-khānah", i.e. the religious house of the jama`at or community, because the House of God is the religious house of the people for it is built for the people (3:96). In the light of historical research, if we look at the time of Prophethood, the shape of the Masjid and the Jamā`at-khānah appear to be enclosures of the same kind. Thus, according to me, the Holy Prophet's Masjid, which represented the central House of God, that is, the Ka`bah, was the local House of God and the Jamā`at-khānah of the present and of the future.
Masjid means the place of sijdah, (prostration) and the house of worship. It also means worship (`ibadat), the ta'wil of which is the Supreme Name (ism-i a`zam), Asas and the Imam of the time. For the true Supreme Name of God and His living and intellectual House can only be the Imam of the time. As it is mentioned in Da`a'imu'l-Islam, in Kitabu'l-Hajj, Vol. I, p. 292, the angels built the House of God. This means that the angels built the House of God spiritually in the personal world of the Perfect Man, for the real work of angels is spiritual. If it is accepted that they built the Ka`bah then the ta'wilic wisdom of this is that the mu'mins, who are physical angels, built a Jamā`at-khānah in the physical world. And according to the law of "the better the work the greater the reward", they were made to build with their hands a spiritual Ka`bah in spirituality.
Hazrat Ibrahim rebuilt the House of God on its site before the Deluge of Hazrat Nuh. This place was indicated by a wind which God had sent to give peace to Hazrat Ibrahim and it was called Sakinah (giver of peace). This wind had two ends which followed one another. The ta'wil of this wind is the remembrance of God and its spirituality. This reveals the reality that in the background of the physical House of God is mentioned His luminous House. Because every zahir (exoteric aspect) has a batin (esoteric aspect), and as God says: "And He completed His favours on you, both in zahir and in batin." (31:20).
God says: "And when We made the House a place of reward and peace for mankind (saying): Take as the place of prayer where Ibrahim stood." (2:125). The first ta'wil of this verse is that just as, by His command the Ka`bah, the House of God, is the place of reward and peace externally, so internally the Imam of the time as the House of God, is the means of every kind of reward and peace. This means that the Imam is the spiritual Qiblah, towards whom the attention of heart is necessary in every good deed and that this is the way of attaining reward. You can see that the reward is mentioned first and then comes peace. The wisdom in this is that, the mu'mins cross the stages of reward and good first, by obeying the Holy Imam and then, as a result, they enter into the light of his spirituality. And it is he who is God's inner House in which there is only peace and no fear or danger of any kind. Just as in the external world, the station of Ibrahim is in a place where there is a stone, similarly in the internal world, in the luminosity of the Manifest Imam, there is a Pearl of Intellect, which we have been commanded to reach to attain the wisdoms of salat or namaz.
The second ta'wil is that, just as the Ka`bah is the central House of God, similarly, Jamā`at-khānah is the local House of God. Or in other words, just as the Ka`bah is the House of God at the level of shari`at, the Jamā`at-khānah is the House of God at the level of haqiqat. Therefore, the virtues which are mentioned in the Qur'anic verse about the Ka`bah, the central House of God, are also true about this local House of God, which is called Jamā`at-khānah. Thus according to Qur'anic wisdom and the Isma`ili faith, Jamā`at-khānah is the place of reward and peace. This means that the entire reward of all religious commands and prohibitions is centred on the Jamā`at-khānah and this is also true for spiritual peace and satisfaction. Because this religious house of the Jamā`at has double virtues. On the one hand, it is the representative of the Ka`bah and on the other hand, it is the symbol of the true Imam, because the Imam, in accordance with Divine Will, has given the Jamā`at-khānah to his followers to represent his own personality and physical and spiritual closeness. Thus at the first stage, this is the station or place of Ibrahim for the Jamā`at.
In verse (3:96), God says: "Verily, the first house set up for mankind is at Bakkah (Makkah), blessed and a guidance for the entire people of the world." In this blessed verse there are many wisdom-filled allusions. One of them is that "first" is the foundation of the ordinals and it necessitates that it be followed by the second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. This implies that although the first and the central religious house is in Makkah, there will be many secondary and local religious houses (Jamā`at-khānahs) in the time of Prophethood and the cycle of Imamat.
The second allusion is that just as the first religious house was set up in Makkah, the first Imam (Mawla `Ali) was also appointed in Makkah. He is the spiritual and luminous house for people and in which, there are blessings and guidance for those who (actually) become personal worlds.
The third allusion is that one of the meanings of the suggestive recitation of "Bakkah" is giryah-u zari, weeping and shedding tears. So its ta'wilic implication is that the first house of spirituality is built for people from the shining tears of the love of Mawla, which for the lovers of Mawla, is full of blessings and guidance.
The fourth allusion is that the Ka`bah, the Imam and the Jamā`at-khānah are the House of God on the one hand, and on the other hand, they are also the religious houses of the people, because the blessings and guidance which are in these houses are for the sake of the people, and their attribution to God is due to their being His special possessions.
It is said in verse (24:36): "(That light is lit) in houses which God has permitted to be exalted, and His name to be remembered therein. He is hallowed therein in the morning and in the evening." By these houses are meant the Holy Imams and also the Jamā`at-khānahs, in which is lit the lamp of the Divine light, whose observation and recognition is certain.
The Ka`bah is the exoteric sign, symbol and pattern of those verses whose ta'wilic wisdom is linked to the living House of God, the Imam. The recognition of the Imam which is extremely vital, cannot be attained by anyone without obedience to him and the centre of obedience is the Jamā`at-khānah, because it is the place of reward and peace.
Just as everything has a soul, so the Jamā`at-khānah too, has a great soul, and this is the soul or the light of the Imam of the time, in which the soul of the jama`at revives. If you believe that there is the light of the true Imam in the Jamā`at-khānah, then you should know that this same light is the living House of God, for as the Qur'an says: "There is indeed a good pattern (of word and deed) for you in Ibrahim and those with him." (60:4). From this Divine teaching is revealed that, although externally there were many people with Hazrat Ibrahim, it was those who were with him internally who had reached the ultimate degree in obeying him. Otherwise their good pattern would not have joined with the good pattern of Hazrat Ibrahim. The question then is, who were or are these people? They are the progeny of Hazrat Ibrahim, i.e. the Prophets and Imams, whose manifestation in his view was extremely necessary (2:124), and God had given everything to them (the progeny of Ibrahim - 4:54). Thus the Holy Prophet, following Hazrat Ibrahim, not only made the Ka`bah the Qiblah, but also built a Masjid as the local House of God and the holy Imams in their respective times have also built such Houses of God called Masjid or Jamā`at-khānah.
It is said in verse (28:57): "Have We not established for them a secure sanctuary, whereunto the fruits of all things are brought, a provision from Our presence? But most of them know not." If you reflect upon the phrase, "the fruits of all things", they do not come automatically anywhere in the world. But it is true that the place which the Prophet and Imam assign for worship, the spiritual fruits of all things come there automatically and these spiritual miracles are related to the Jamā`at-khānah.

When the Wise Qur'an said "the fruits of all things", then according to this Divine law all things including, minerals, vegetables, animals and human beings, all are considered to be trees so that the fruit of each of them may reach the House of God. But this is only possible spiritually. Thus the Jamā`at-khānah is the place where the magnificent soul (i.e. light) of the Imam of the time works, to which the souls of all things come, for in the Imam-i mubin (manifest and speaking Imam) all the things of the universe are encompassed (36:12). These bright proofs about the eminence and blessings of Jamā`at-khānah are enough for true mu'mins.

Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai,
10th December, 1984.

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