Recognition of Imam Part I - Status of the Imam's Spiritual Children

Status of the Imam's Spiritual Children

In verse (28:5) the word Imam, which is in its plural form (a'immah), is mentioned in the following way: “And We desired to show favour unto those who were deemed weak in the earth, and to make them Imams [of the people] and to make them the inheritors [of the earth].”

In zahir, this verse is about Hazrat-i Musa(`a) and Hazrat-i Harun(`a) and their obedient mu'mins, but in batin it is about all true Imams and all their spiritual children. The gist of this verse is that in this world the exalted Imam and his followers are deemed weak, they are oppressed and attempts are made to efface them from the face of the earth. However, God foils the disbelievers' malicious plans and bestows His favours on the Imam and his followers, provides opportunities for the tree of Imamat to flourish, makes the Imam and his spiritual children the inheritors of the external and internal wealth and kingdom and grants them both the religious and worldly leadership.

By reflecting on this verse, one realises that the true mu'mins, i.e., the Imam's spiritual children, have been included in the rank of Imamat and there is no doubt about it. For instance, when a victorious nation chooses its leader, the leadership belongs to the whole nation, that is, the entire nation is the leader. Secondly if a person succeeds to become a king, his relatives and friends are also included in this success. Thirdly if a father is a king, the son is also going to be a king or he is going to hold an important office, provided he is worthy and obedient.

Question: If a non-Muslim accepts Islam and becomes the true Imam's follower, how can he be the Imam's spiritual child while his soul has been formed by non-Islamic teachings?

Answer 1: He can be the Imam's spiritual child just as Salman-i Farsi had become the Prophet or the Imam's spiritual child, although in the beginning he was a fire worshipper.

Answer 2: If a pool is filled with dirty and impure water, it can be easily cleansed by causing pure water from a stream to flow into it for some time. The fresh and pure water will force the dirty water to flow out through the pool's outlet and only the pure water will remain in it.

Answer 3: It has already been said that souls are also transferred to relations and strangers through the spiritual waves of imagination, attention, love, teaching, benediction, etc. In this process, just as the pure water takes the place of the dirty water in the pool, in the same way the pure souls expel the impure souls and take their place.

Answer 4: It is quite well known that every ordinary human being has three souls and the Perfect Man has four. Nonetheless, the collective particles of these three or four souls are innumerable and except for God, nobody can count them. Among these particles, one particle works at the centre of the “I” of the human being and the rest do the work of the organs to which they are related. However, every particle yearns to control the centre. Thus, as a result of dhikr-u `ibadat each particle gets a chance to control the centre. That is, during dhikr-u`ibadat, the central particle of the soul dissolves in God's light, and the one closest to the centre takes control of it and this process continues. According to the Sufis, this process is called the dissolving (tahlil) of the soul or the purification of the soul.

Chapter Index

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter