By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz

 

“It is obligatory for the people to follow from among the “fuqaha” (erudite jurists) those who abstain from committing wrong, guard their faith, defy carnal desires, and obey Allah’s command.”

This is among the famous instructions of a peerless person whose birthday we have been celebrating these days with enthusiasm for the past millennium, two centuries, and elven years.

He was none other than the Eleventh Infallible Heir of the “Mercy unto the whole creation” – Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) – and the above-mentioned statement is part of the guidelines he bequeathed to the faithful to safeguard them from veering off the straight and unwavering path of meaningful prosperity in the world that leads to the eternal bliss of Paradise.

He meant to specify that a listless life, deviated beliefs, superstition, immersion in wanton pleasures, atheism, political pitfalls, cultural stagnation, and the like are the ways that end up in the eternal inferno, even if for some these erratic attitudes bring temporary joy.

His God-given knowledge and wisdom has continued to inspire the upright ulema in every age and place during the long occultation of his Heir to strive for implementation in society of the dynamic laws of Islam in accordance with the injunctions of the qualified fuqaha, which in our times have culminated in the concept of “Wilyat-al-Faqih” or Governance of the Supreme Jurisprudent to groom people for the eventual reappearance of his son Imam Mahdi (AS), the Promised Saviour of mankind, who will establish the global government of peace, prosperity, equity, and justice.

The identity of the person should now be clear. He is Imam Hasan az-Zaki al-Askari (AS) who was born in the Prophet’s city Medina on the 8th of Rabi al-Akher in the year 232 AH (846 AD) and reposes in eternal peace, along with his father Imam Ali an-Naqi al-Hadi (AS) in the sprawling golden domed mausoleum in the Iraqi city of Samarra, where he was forcibly brought by the usurper Abbasid regime and martyred through poisoning at the young age of 28 years.

Today there is no trace of the tyrants and their graves, let alone their palaces, while Samarra is bedecked with bouquets of fragrant flowers and colourful lights, with pilgrims from all over Iraq and abroad streaming in to pay homage to him, supplicate to God Almighty, recite the “Ziyarah” (standard salutation), and felicitate each other on this auspicious occasion by praying for the advent of Imam Mahdi (AS).

His birthplace Medina, however, is deprived of such joys these days because of its occupation by the heretical Wahhabi cult of the Aal-e Saud clan which is hostile to the Prophet of Islam’s Immaculate Household, the Ahl al-Bayt, despite the fact that God Almighty has vouchsafed the pristine purity of this Chosen Group in the Holy Qur’an (33:33)

Like his forbears, he was a picture of piety and moral perfection, imparting the bezels of wisdom to not only those who came into contact with, but with others that tried to stay away, either because of the suffocated political atmosphere or undue pride in their own limited knowledge. 

An example in this regard is the philosopher of the Arabs, Yaqoub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, who was saved by the 11th Imam’s guidance from falling into the bowels of hell when his fallible mind raised doubts over certain Ayahs of the Holy Qur’an.     Through one of his disciples the Imam conveyed the message to al-Kindi and opened his mind to points that had eluded his supposed philosophical intellect.

When the philosopher, aware of the restricted capability of his student, asked him as to who enlightened him with such lofty points that eluded his own mind, he was told that it was the Prophet’s Infallible Heir, Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS).

Al-Kindi realized his mistake and thus refrained from writing a blasphemous book on the holy Qur’an. He acknowledged the wisdom of the 11th Imam’s words that what had come to his philosophical mind was not necessarily correct since there are other vistas of knowledge well outside the scope of fallible brains.

From this incident, it is crystal clear that without a Divine Guide in society or his representative, that is, the qualified jurisprudent, even the most knowledgeable persons such as philosophers, political scientists, economic experts, and cultural theorists, are at risk of falling into error, let alone those who masqueraded as caliphs and usurped the political rights of the Ahl al-Bayt through treachery, deceit, spurious committees, forced wills in their favour, and by resorting to the sword.

Thus, even though the 6-year period of Imamate or Divinely-designated leadership of Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS) was rather short, he spared no efforts to enlighten the Ummah with the genuine precepts of Islam by braving bouts of imprisonment and house arrest to which he was subjected. 

His knowledge, wisdom, forbearance, forgiveness, generosity, selflessness was a byword, grudgingly admitted by his opponents as well, as could be evinced from the words of the Abbasid vizier, Ahmad ibn Ubaidullah ibn Khaqaan, who when asked by the caliph about the descendants of the Prophet, said: “I do not know anybody among them who is more distinguished than Hasan al-Askari (AS). None can surpass him in dignity, knowledge, piety and abstinence, nor can anybody match him in the point of nobleness majestic grandeur, modesty and honesty”.

If his mother was the impeccably pious lady of North Africa, Saleel (SA), who was also called Sowsan and Hadeetha, his wife was the spotlessly pious lady, Narjis (SA) – a grand-daughter of the Byzantine emperor – who on her mother’s side was descended from Simeon, the disciple and testamentary legatee of Prophet Jesus (AS). This honourable lady was thus the mother of Imam Askari’s (AS) son and successor, the 12th Imam, who will reappear in the end times as Qa’em al-Mahdi (AS) to cleanse the earth of all vestiges of oppression and corruption. Amen 

In conclusion of this brief newspaper column, I refer to an incident when the 11th Imam was asked about the famous hadith “The earth will never be void of the Hujjat (God’s Proof), and anyone who dies without acknowledging the Imam of the Age, dies the death of ignorance,” he replied: “Yes, indeed the matter is as clear and real as daylight.”