True Vision - Ahl-i Bayt and the Imam
Ahl-i Bayt and the Imam
Tags: Ahl al-bayt, Panj tan-i pak, Hazrat 'Ali
The Holy Prophet has said about his holy ahl-i bayt (the people of the house): "By Him in Whose hand is my soul, faith does not enter the heart of a person until he loves you for the sake of God and His Messenger." (Miftāhu Kunūzi's-Sunnah on the authority of Tirmidhī and Musnad of Ahmad bin Hanbal).
This Hadīth enjoins not only the friendship and love for ahl-i bayt, i.e. the panj tan-i pāk, but also that of the Imam of the time, because the very purpose of ahl-i bayt after the Prophet is the Imam of the time. Having established the necessity of friendship and love for the Imam of the time, we can also say that its natural consequence is his blessed vision, so that thereby this pure religious love may increase progressively.
Similarly, the Holy Prophet has said about Mawlānā `Alī (a.s.): "Nobody except a mu'min loves him and nobody except a hypocrite hates him." (Ibid., and Ibn Mājah). Here it is necessary to know that just as the Qur'ān is the criterion (furqān) to distinguish between true and false, the exalted Imam `Alī is also the criterion to distinguish between a mu'min and a hypocrite. (Ibid., Musnad of Ahmad bin Hanbal). The Prophet has said: "`Alī loves Allah and His Messenger and Allah and His Messenger love him." (Ibid., Ibn Hanbal). The Prophet has also said: "I am the house of wisdom and `Alī is its door." (Ibid., Tirmidhī).
Thus, it should be known that the status which `Alī (a.s.) had, is held by the Imam of the time, because it is the same light of walāyat which was in Mawlānā `Alī which manifests now in the living and present Imam.
The above-mentioned and many other Ahādīth show that the veneration, excellence and honour of the pure ahl-i bayt and the Imam of the time is unanimously and universally accepted, and they also explain the verses about the walāyat of Mawlānā `Alī. How is it possible then for a mu'min to doubt the consequences and fruits of the friendship and love for the Imam of the time and his holy vision? However, questioning is valid and useful for the sake of knowledge. In any case, al-hamdu li'llāh, the true mu'mins, according to the aim and object of God and His Prophet, befriend and love the Imam of the time and always yearn ardently for his blessed and sacred vision.
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