Recognition of Imam Part III - Key 17 Perishing of Everything
Key 17 Perishing of Everything
Tags: Wajhu'llah, Hazrat `Ali, Perishable
In the end of Sūratu'l-Qasas (28:88), it is said: “Everything will perish save His Countenance (wajhahu). His is the command and unto Him you will be returned.”
“Wajhu'llāh” literally means Countenance of God and its ta'wili allusion is to the Imām of the time, just as Mawlā `Alī(`a) says: “Anā wa'llahi wajhu'llah (By God, I am God's Countenance)”. Also, the holy Prophet has said: “Man ra'ani faqad ra'al-haqq (He who saw me, saw God)”.
God, may He be exalted, has considered the light of Prophethood and Imāmat His Spirit, as the wise Qur'ān says that God breathed His Spirit into Ādam. Also note in the Qur'ānic story of Hazrat-i Maryam(`a) that God considered the Holy Spirit as His Own Spirit. It is then not surprising that God, may He be exalted, may consider the Imām of the time His Countenance, in the sense that the didar (vision) of the Imām is the didar of God and the recognition of the Imām is the recognition of God, as the blessed farman of Amirul-Mu'minin `Alī(`a) says: “I am the Countenance of God (i.e., facing me is facing God); I am the side of God (i.e., reaching me is sitting by the side of God and to reach His extreme proximity); I am the Hand of God (i.e., whatever He does, He does through me; whatever comes from Him, comes through my hand - and my doing is called His Act); I am the Eye of God (i.e., I see the universe through His eye: the world to me is like the pupil of the eye); I am the Speaking Qur'ān, I am the True Proof (i.e., my existence is truth and proof of the existence of Truth); I am the Guarded Tablet (i.e., I am the bearer of the Divine secrets); I am the Supreme Pen (i.e., whatever God has written on the surface of the world of possibility, He has done so through me); I am alif lam mim dhalika'lkitab (i.e., the Book of Action and the Book of Speech, both are my true existence); I am kaf-ha-ya-`ayn-sad; I am taha; I am the ha of hawamim; I am the ta of tawasin; I am the one who is praised in “Hal ata (76)”; I am the dot beneath the ba', (in which the entire Book is gathered)” (Kawkab-i Durri).
When it is not unusual for God to consider the holy Prophet's blessed hand as His Own Hand, although He in no way is a human being with a hand, then it also is not unusual for Him to consider the True Imām as His Countenance, in the sense that Imām is His light.
The holy Qur'ān mentions God's Shin (68:42), although God, the Holy, is above and free from limbs and organs. When it is appropriate for the purpose of example and ta'wil, then it is also true that the Imām of the time is the Countenance of God, because in the concept of Imām are hidden the secrets of God's recognition.
In verse (39:56) of the holy Qur'ān, “janbu'llah” (Side of God) is mentioned literally. When the relation of the Side is acceptable for God, who can doubt about the present and living Imām being His Countenance and His Side?
When it is established that the Imām of the time is the Countenance of God, by God's grace we can now discuss the ta'wil of “perishing of everything”. So, the sacred universal law under discussion was: “Everything is perishable save His Countenance. His is the Command and unto Him you will be returned” (28:88).
It should be noted that there are at least four places of ta'wil of this verse. The first one is that there are certain such selected servants of God, may He be exalted, in whose luminous conception and imagination or before their inner eye, everything of the universe and the existents perishes in the immense theophanies of the secrets of Divine light, as is said in the holy Qur'ān: “And whithersoever you turn, there is the Countenance of God” (2:115). This is the meaning of the perishing of everything, the everlasting of God's light, the coming of the cycle of the Divine Kingdom and the return of a mu'min to God [in his personal world].
The ta'wil of the second place is that in this very world a time is going to come in which spirituality will hold sway; every material object, being subdued under the spiritual forces, will be virtually reduced to non-existence. That spiritual power will be that of God's Countenance, i.e., His light. At that time, there will only be the Kingdom of God on the surface of the earth, and in that state mu'mins will be returned to God. This is the perishing of everything in the collective world of the mu'mins.
The ta'wil of the third place is that when a mu'min, upon having left this world, enters the paradise of the spirituality and luminosity of the Imām of his time, everything perishes before him except the light of the Imām. In the personal paradise of such a mu'min, there is only the Kingdom of God. It is obvious that in this state, he will have returned to God. This is the meaning or the ta'wil of the perishing of everything in the individual resurrection of a mu'min.
The ta'wil of the fourth place is that, at a certain time this material world i.e., the entire universe will perish completely, as has also been mentioned in Key 9. In that case, the servants of God will find themselves alive in the light of God, which is the spiritual world and the eternal paradise. In that state, the Kingdom will be God's and the mu'mins will have returned unto Him. This is the perishing of everything in the collective resurrection.
A clear example of the above-mentioned ta'wil is that, when someone is in the world of dream, everything other than the world of dream is annihilated for him, that is, this material universe along with all its existents and creatures becomes invisible and hidden from his sight, but in his world of dream everything exists under the sway of and has recourse to the dream. This is the example of the individual as well as the collective spirituality and resurrection. However, as the proverb says: chih nisbat khak ra ba `alami pak (So the low bears no comparison to the high), how is comparison possible between the dark and dead world of dreams and the radiant and resplendent world of spirituality and Resurrection, where everything flourishes with the life and wisdom of the Holy Spirit!
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