A103
Surah: 003 - Ayah: 103
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3:103
In the verse (3:103) "asbahtum" has two meanings: "You became; you entered upon the morning", as the verse shows: "And remember Allah's favour on you; when you were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, then by His grace you became brothers." That is, you entered upon the morning in such a state that you became brothers. Thus, the morning is mentioned because of the fact that, in it, after the special bandagi, are shown or felt the decreed matters, for as is said in the verse: "Indeed the bandagi of the morning results in observation (of the decreed matters)." (17:78).
Habli’llah (Rope of God, 3:103): the Rope of God is the Light of Intellect, which is the fountainhead of knowledge and guidance in the form of the Qur’an and the Light of Imamat. It has been said in a Noble Hadith that the Book of God (Qur’an is a rope which extends from the heavens to the earth. This leads to the conclusion that there are no stages of spiritual and intellectual advancement without (the help of) this rope of the Qur’an and the Light of Imamat. Verse (5:15) clearly shows that these two important things have both come from God and that they are always together.
In this world just as there cannot be brothers without parents, similarly, in religion, the Prophet and his legatee (wasi) Mawla Ali, were not only the Rope of God, but also spiritual parents. This is why in the Holy Qur’an, where the Rope of God is mentioned, it also says: “You became brother by His nimat (favour)” (3:103). Here nimat means the milk of the spiritual mother. It is teaching and guidance, by which mumins are threaded together on the string of brotherhood.
Habl Allah (Rope of Allah, Imam of the time)
God has sent the rope of His holy light from the higher world to the inhabitants of the lower world for the purpose that they may all together hold it fast so that they may be lifted to the higher world (3:103). Externally the luminous rope of Allah is the holy personality of the Imam of the time and internally it is his ever-reaching light. The holy light of the Imam of the time comes to you specially through the ism-i aczam (the supreme Name). Thus the Imam within (batin) you is the rope of Allah in the position of the ism-i aczam, to which you have to hold fast in such a way that all faculties of the heart and the mind are turned towards and centred upon it.
Sirat mustaqim (Luminous rope of God)
An alternate example to understand the reality of the straight path is the rope of God, such as in verse (3:103): "And hold fast, all of you together, to the rope of God and do not separate." That is, the blessed and holy personality of the representative of God (Prophet and Imam) is the luminous path of God as well as His luminous rope.
Other than the chain of Imam Ali and his progeny, who else can be symbolized by the Rope of God (hablu 'llah) which is never broken (3:103); who else can be called the Light of God which is never extinguished (9:32; 61:8); who else can be called the Pure Tree (shajarah-yi tayyibah), which is evergreen and which gives fruit in all seasons and whose root is firm in the earth and branch reaches the heaven (14:24-5); and who else can represent God and his Prophet as the possessors of the divine command (wali-yi amr) so that the centre of religious guidance may continue forever (4:59); and through whom the greatness and eminence of the progeny of Hazrat-i Abraham and the progeny of Hazrat-i Muhammad may continue? It is this family upon which God has conferred the excellence of inheritance of the heavenly Book, wisdom and the great kingdom (spiritual kingdom) until the day of Resurrection (4:54).
It should be noted that to love the true and to hate the false is necessary because one has an affinity for and inclines towards and merges with the thing which one loves. Love is the power which unites the scattered hearts, as the Wise Quraan says: “And hold fast, all of you together to the rope of Allah, and do not become scattered. And remember, Allah’s bounty bestowed upon you when your hearts together so that you became brothers by His grace.” (3:103). It should be noted that the Quraan, Islam, Prophethood and Imamat together are the rope of Allah and His bounty as well, by the blessings of which Muslims became brothers.
The fifth proof is: “And hold fast, (itasimu) all of you together, to the rope of God and donot be disunited” (3:103). In this verse the Quraan and the light of Imamat are compared to a rope, one end of which is as if in the hand of God and the other in the hand of mumins, extending from the Supreme Throne to the face of the earth and whichcan reach from azal (Pre-eternity) to abad (Post-eternity).
Thus, such a rope of God can be in the form of the united
knowledge of the Quraan and the light of Imamat. This means that the Quraan has to be acted upon in the cycle of
Prophethood through the Prophet and in the cycle of Imamat
through the Imam. Thus, since the believers in the cycle of Prophethood used to act upon the Quraan through the
Prophet and hence were not disunited, I n the same way
if they had understood the Quraanic realities through his
successor, i.e. the Imam of the time, they would have
never been disunited. This is because the centre of the
unity of the community is the present Imam, in whose obedience there is no room for any kind of disunity.
Q219 Since when has Allah’s rope (3:103) existed and what is meant by it?
A219 The rope of Allah is very strong and very long and has always been there and is eternal. This rope means the chain of the light of the Prophets and Imams, which continues from Hazrat Adam(c).
There are many verses in the noble Qur’an which urge to seek the means of Divine closeness and to hold God firmly. Also there is a verse which says: “And hold fast, all of you together, to the rope of Allah, and do not be divided” (3:103). This Divine command makes it evident to the people of wisdom that, this noble verse regarding the Divine rope, represents and elucidates all those holy verses in which it is emphatically ordered to be attached to Divine guidance, to get closer to it and to hold it firmly. If God could be found without any means and if His holy hem could be touched [directly] it would not have been commanded to hold His rope and the need of a true guide and guidance on the true path would not have been required. Thus it becomes very clear that this wisdom-filled verse regarding Allah’s rope possesses prime importance hence wise people must reflect on its wisdoms.
The intellectual and luminous status of the Qur’an and the Imam is that of God’s rope (3:103) and to hold it fast is to act according to the order and command of the Qur’an and the Imam. It means that the Qur’an should be obeyed according to the teachings and guidance of the Imam because he is well-grounded (rasikh, 3:7) in Qur’anic knowledge.
Allah never asked His rope to encompass the people rather He ordered the people to together hold fast to God’s rope (3:103). In this context, the question why they did not recognize the true Imam should be addressed to the people and the Imam cannot be asked why he did not perform luminous miracles to invite the people.
This verse has been referred 13 times.