Recognition of Imam Part II - Light and the Cycle of Spirituality

Light and the Cycle of Spirituality

In verse (66:8), God says: “O you who believe! Turn unto Allah in sincere repentance! It may be that your Lord will remit from you your evil deeds and cause you to enter gardens underneath which rivers flow, on the day when Allah will not abase the Prophet and those who are with him (due to their obedience to him). Their light will run before them and on their right hands: they will say: Our Lord! Perfect our light for us! Indeed You are Powerful over everything”.

The wisdoms of this holy verse are that the Muslims in general and those in the time of Prophethood in particular, are told: Turn to Allah in sincere repentance. That is to say, 'O you who have accepted Islam abandon the external and internal sins with the utmost repentance and duly rectify your intention, speech and deed'. For, turning unto Allah in sincere repentance means to turn unto Him with heart and soul, which requires the purification of the soul and refinement of the heart.

In the words which follow, the revolutions of the light and the spiritual cycle are prophesied. Regarding the spiritual cycle it is necessary to know that it has two forms: one is internal, which always continues and the other is external, which appears in a fixed time and affects the people of the world.

Here the principle of Qur'anic wisdom should be mentioned that where the holy Qur'an prophesies about the collective condition of the people of the world, the individual condition of the people is also prophesied. For instance, in the verses in which the Resurrection after death is mentioned, the mention of the personal Resurrections of individuals is also included.

Thus after commanding to do sincere and true repentance, it is said: “It may be that your Lord will remove from you your evil deeds”. This verse, on the one hand shows that even after sincere repentance, certain shortcomings remain in the mu'mins, which they themselves cannot remove. On the other hand, it shows that after sincere and true repentance there is the hope of the opening of the door of mercy, through the Imam of the time.

An essential question arises here: What are the evil deeds which a mu'min cannot remove from himself, even after sincere repentance? The answer is that after the utmost sincere repentance the possibility of sensual sins definitely ceases, but false ideas and concepts concerning religion are such that in order to remove them, sincere repentance alone is not sufficient, but special guidance and the knowledge of oneness (tawhid), which can be attained from the Imam of the time, are also needed.

Then it is said: “And He will cause you to enter gardens underneath which rivers flow”. This is the mention of the gardens of the paradise of spirituality, which are related not only to the next life of a human being, but can also be partially observed in the spirituality of this life. In these gardens there are all kinds of favours and pleasures for the human intellect and soul. Underneath these gardens flow the rivers of Divine ta'yid (help). That is, in these spiritual ranks flow the powers of the ta'yid of the Universal Intellect, the takhliq (creation) of the Universal Soul, the tanzil of the natiq and the ta'wil of the asas.

Then it is said: “On the day when Allah will not abase the Prophet and those who are with him [due to their obedience of him]”. This event is related to the spiritual cycle, which is in this world as well as in the hereafter; before the fixed time in an individual case and in the collective form when the time comes. In this cycle God will not abase the Prophet and those mu'mins who are with him with respect to their obedience, devotion and spirituality and with respect to their companionship with the light of the Imam, they are with the Prophet [as the Imam's light is the Prophet's light].

Then it is said: “Their light (mu'mins' light) will run before them and on their right hands”. This means that in the cycle mentioned above, the light of Imamat, which is the light of iman (faith), will also speak to the mu'mins from their right ear and from the forehead and in this speech there will be rectitude, guidance, knowledge and wisdom for them concerning this world and the next. For, in the language of ta'wil, by the right side is meant external, which means this world and by 'before' is meant the hereafter, because it is in the future for human beings.

Then it is said: “They will say: Our Lord! Perfect our light for us, and forgive us”. This means that the mu'mins will then realise that previously, due to lack of knowledge and despite their need for it, they were unaware of this infinite mercy, i.e., the light, therefore, they will pray to God: O our Lord! Perfect our light, i.e., make our individual spirituality merge in the origin of light and forgive us for remaining unaware of this mercy, which was possible to attain before this and forgive our future sins also.

Then it is said: “Indeed You are Powerful over everything”. This means that when the mu'mins will observe the countless miracles and powers of Almighty Allah in the spiritual cycle, they will say with both the spoken and the silent language: Undoubtedly You are Powerful over everything and “Nothing is impossible” in Your power.

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