Volume 8 of 8

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Part I

The Book — Garden (of Flowers)

H 14449

Muhammad Ibn Yaqub Al-Kulayni has narrated that, ‘Narrated to me Ali Ibn Ibrahim from his father from Ibn FaddAI-from Hafs al-Mu’Adhdhin from Abu Abdullah as well as Muhammad Ibn ‘Ismail Ibn Bazi’ from Muhammad Ibn Sinan from ‘Ismail Ibn Jabir that —

‘Abu Abdullah, wrote this letter to his companions and commanded them to study it, ponder over it, and make a pact by it, and act in accordance with. They used to keep it in their places of Prayer in their homes. So when they were free from their Prayers, they would look into it.’

He said, ‘Narrated to me A-Hassan Ibn Muhammad, from Ja’far Ibn Muhammad Ibn Malik al-Kufiy from al-Qasim Ibn Al-Rabi’ Al-Sahhaf from ‘Ismail Ibn Mukhallad Al-Sarraj from Abu Abd Allah.

He said that, ‘I brought out this letter of Abu Abdullah to his companions —

‘In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Having said that, I ask your Lord to grant you all good health. It is for you all to have tenderness, dignity and tranquility, and it is for you to be bashful and keep yourselves clear, just as the righteous people before you have done. It is for you to be courteous with the people of falsehood. You will bear injustices from them, and beware of disputing with them in what is between you and them. When you sit with them, and are alone with them and argue your differences with them, there is no way out for you but to sit with them and be alone with them, and argue with them by the dissimulation which Allah has Ordered you for, that you should take to it regarding what is between you and them.

So if you are tested with that from them, that they wish to harm you and you can recognise abhorrence in their faces, and if Allah, the High does not Dispel them away from you, they would rob you. And what is in their chests of enmity and hatred is much more than what they display to you. Your gatherings and their gatherings are one and the same, but your spirits and their spirits are different. You will not reconcile with them and you will never lover them, ever, and they will never love you as well. Surely Allah the High has Honoured you all with the truth and Made you to visualise it, and did not Make them to be deserving of it.

Be courteous to them and be patient with them, for they have no courtesy to you nor do they have patience over anything, and some of them are obsessed with tricking the others, for the enemies of Allah have the ability to keep you from the truth. Allah Protects you from that, so fear Allah and hold back your tongues except from the good, and beware of letting your tongues to slip into speaking that which is false, and the slanderous, and the sinful, and the violation. So if you were to hold back your tongues from what is disliked by Allah, from what He has Forbidden you from, it would be better for you with your Lord than letting your tongues slip into what is disliked by Him and what He has Prohibited you from.

There is destruction for the servant, with Allah, and Repugnance from Allah, and there will be deafness, and blindness, and muteness which Allah will Make him to inherit on the Day of Judgement. So they will become just as Allah has said: “[2:18] Deaf, dumb (and) blind, so they will not turn back,” it means that they will not be speaking and will not have the Permission to present their excuses. And beware from what Allah has Prohibited you from doing, and it is for you to remain silent except with regards to what Allah has Benefited you by from the matters of your Hereafter and be Rewarded by Him.

And be frequent in Extolling His Holiness, and Glorification, and the Praising to Allah, and the desires for what is with Him from the Good which cannot be estimated, nor can anyone reach it (imagine), so occupy your tongues with that in order to avoid the false speech which would lead its owners to an eternity in the Fire for the one who dies upon it and does not repent to Allah, and does not keep away from it.

And it is for you to supplicate, for the Muslims cannot be successful in the fulfilment of their wishes with their Lord by any means higher than supplication and desiring from Him, and appealing to Allah, and the asking from Him. So be desirous in what you request to Allah so that He would Answer you to what you have supplicated to Him in order to be successful and be saved from the Punishment of Allah.

And beware of being greedy for yourselves to something from what Allah has Prohibited to you. For the one who violates what Allah has Prohibited to him here in the world, Allah would Place a block between him and the Paradise, and its Bounties, and its enjoyments, and its Prestige which will stand for all eternity for the inhabitants of the Paradise, for ever and ever.

And know that it is an evil misfortune for the one who takes the risk of endangering the obedience to Allah the Blessed, and to be disobedient to Him. So the choosing to violate what Allah has Prohibited from the pleasures of the world would cut its people off from the eternal-Bliss in the Paradise, and its pleasures, and the prestige of its inhabitants.

Woe be unto those! What a frustration they will face when they lose, and evil would be their condition with their Lord on the Day of Judgement. Seek Refuge with Allah that He would Protect you from being in a situation similar to theirs forever, and be in afflictions like their afflictions.

And there is no Might with us or with you except by Him. So, fear Allah, O group of saved people, that Allah will Complete for you what He has Granted you with, for the matter will not be complete until He Makes you to enter into similar of what came upon the righteous ones before you, and until you face tribulation with regards to yourselves and your wealth, and until you hear from the enemies of Allah, a lot of painful words.

So, observe patience and take it in your stride, and even if they humiliate you, and hate you, and even if they burden you with injustices. So bear these from them, seeking by that the Face of Allah and the House of the Hereafter, and until you control your intense anger in the suffering for the sake of Allah Mighty and Majestic. They will incriminate you, and even belie you about the truth, and be inimical towards you with regards to it, and be hateful towards you.

So, observe patience on that from them, and all that has been Ratified in the Book of Allah which Jibraeel as Descended with upon your Prophet, getting your Prophet to hear the Words of Allah Mighty and Majestic: “[46:35] Therefore bear up patiently as did the messengers endowed with constancy bear up with patience and do not seek to hasten for them (their doom).” Then He Said: “[35:4] And if they call you a liar, truly messengers before you were called liars.”

So observe patience on what they lie about and hurt you with, for they had belied the Prophet of Allah, and the Messengers from before him, and hurt them along with the denial of the truth. And if you are happy with the Commands of Allah regarding them whom Allah Created for Himself in the Beginning (beginning of the creation), from the infidelity which has preceded in the Knowledge of Allah that He Created them in the origin and the ones whom Allah has Named in His book in His Words: “[28:41] And We made them Imams who call to the fire.”

So, ponder over this and hold on to it, and do not be ignorant of it, for the one who is ignorant of this and the like of this which Allah has Made to be Obligatory in His Book from what Allah has Ordered for and Prohibited from, has disregarded the Religion of Allah and became disobedient to Him. Therefore he has necessitated (upon himself) the Outrage of Allah, and Allah will Fling him into the Fire upon his face.’

And he said: ‘O you group of Blessed ones, the victorious ones! Surely, Allah Completed for you what He Granted you all from the good, and know that it is not from the Knowledge of Allah, nor from His Commands that any one from the creatures of Allah, should take to opinions or analogies regarding his Religion. Allah Has Sent down the Quran and Made to be in it an explanation of all things, and Assigned for the Quran and the teaching of the Quran, its People.

There is no leeway for the People of knowledge of the Quran whom Allah had Given to them of its Knowledge, that they should take to desires, or opinions, or analogies with regards to it. Allah has Made them to be needless from that by what He has Given them from His Knowledge, and Specialised them by it, and Placed in it Prestige from Allah to Honour them by.

And they are the People of the Remembrance (Ahl Al-Zikr) whom Allah has Ordered the people to ask them, and they are the ones to be asked. And it has preceded in the Knowledge of Allah that they should ratify them, and follow their footsteps. He Guided them, and Gave them from the Knowledge of the Quran with which they guide (others) to Allah by His Permission, and to all the ways of the truth.

And they are the ones that He does not Want them to be released from, and from asking them, and from being taught by them which Allah has Honoured them with and Made it to be with them, except for the one who has preceded in the Knowledge of Allah, as being the miserable one in the origin of the creation underneath the shadow.

So these are the ones who turn away from asking the People of the Remembrance (Ahl Al-Zikr) and the ones to whom Allah has Granted the Knowledge of the Quran and Placed it in their possession, and Ordered for asking them.

These are the ones who act on their desires, and their opinions, and their analogies to the extent that Satan enters them, (as a result) they (try) to revert the believing people, in the Knowledge of the Quran with Allah, as disbelievers, and try to make the misguided people, in the Knowledge of the Quran with Allah, as believer, but to the extent that they declare what Allah has Made Permissible, in many matters as being prohibited, and pronounce what Allah has Prohibited, in many matters as being permissible.

So this is the origin of the fruit of their desires. And the Messenger of Allah had taken an oath from them before his passing away. So they said, ‘After Allah Captures His Messenger, we have the leeway of taking to the consensus of the opinions of the people. After Allah Mighty and Majestic Captured His Messenger, and after his oath which he took from us, and ordered us by, they opposed Allah and His Messenger.

So what is more audacious to Allah, nor any clear misguidance from the one who takes to that, and alleges that it gives him the leeway to do it? By Allah, surely Allah has Obligated His creatures that they should obey Him, and follow His Commands during the lifetime of Muhammad, and after his passing away.

Can those enemies of Allah who are alleging that anyone who became a Muslim with Muhammad, can take to his own words, and his own opinions, and his own analogies? But if he says, ‘Yes, then, surely, he has lied to Allah and has strayed a far straying, and if he says, ‘No, it is not for anyone that he should take to his opinions, and his desires, and his analogies,’ so he has argued against himself, and he is from the ones who allege that Allah has to be Obeyed, and His Orders to be followed after the passing away of the Messenger of Allah.

Allah has said, and His words are true: “[3:144] And Muhammad is no more than a messenger; the messengers have already passed away before him; if then he dies or is killed will you turn back upon your heels? And whoever turns back upon his heels, he will by no means do harm to Allah in the least and Allah will reward the grateful,” and that is something which they knew that Allah is to be obeyed and His Commands are to be followed during the lifetime of Muhammad, and (as well as) after Allah had Made Muhammad to pass away. And if it was not for anyone from the people who were with Muhammad that they would take to their own desires, and their opinions, and their analogies in opposition to the orders of Muhammad, so similarly it is not for anyone from the people after Muhammad that they would take to their own desires, and their opinions, and their analogies.’

And he said: ‘Leave the raising of your hands in the Prayer except for the one time when you open the Prayer, for the people have publicised you all by that, and Allah is the Helper, and there is no Might and there is no Power except by Allah.’

And he said: ‘Supplicate frequently to Allah for Allah Loves the ones from the believing servants that they should supplicate to Him, and Allah has Promised the believing servants for the Answering, and Allah has Destined the supplications of the Believers, on the Day of Judgement, to increase their deeds by it in the Paradise. So, frequently remember Allah in accordance with your abilities in every hour of the hours of the night and the day, for Allah has Ordered for frequent Remembrance (Al-Zikr) to Him, and Allah Remembers the one who remembers Him from the Believers. And know, that Allah never Remembers anyone from His believing servant except Remembering him with Goodness.

So give Allah from yourselves, the struggle in obedience to Him, for Allah does not Accept anything from the good with Him except by obedience to Him, and the avoidance of His Prohibitions which Allah has Prohibited in the apparent of the Quran and in its hidden. Allah Blessed and High has Said in His Book, and His Words are True: “[6:120] And abandon open and secret sin.”

And know that whatever Allah has Ordered you to avoid, so He has Prohibited it, and follow the footsteps of the Messenger of Allah, and his Sunnah, so adhere to it and do not follow your own desires, and your opinions, for you will go astray. The most misguided of the people with Allah is the one who follows his own desires and his opinion without (following the) Guidance from Allah.

And do good for yourselves in accordance with your abilities, for if you do good, it would be for your own selves, and if you violate, it would be against your own selves. And intermingle with the people and do not burden them upon your necks, including along with that the obedience to your Lord. And beware of insulting the enemies of Allah when they are listening to you, for the enemies will insult Allah without awareness, and it is better that you should know the penalty of insulting Allah and what it is.

He who has insulted the friends of Allah is like he has insulted Allah. And the one who is the most unjust with Allah is the one who insults Allah and the friends of Allah, so don’t do it, don’t do it. Follow the Commands of Allah. There is no Might, and no Power except by Allah.

And he said: ‘O you group for whom Allah has Protected for them their affairs! It is for you to follow the footsteps of the Messenger of Allah and his Sunnah, and the footsteps of the lmams of Guidance from the People of the Household of the Messenger of Allah from after him and their Sunnah. So the one who takes to that has been guided, and the one who avoided that and abandoned it, went astray, because they are the ones for whom Allah Commanded (the people) to be obedient to, and for their Wilayah.

And our father the Messenger of Allah has said: The continuation upon the deeds in the following of the footsteps and the Sunnah, even though they may be little, is more Pleasing to Allah and beneficial with Him in the Rewards, than the struggle in the ‘Bittah) heresy, and the desires. Indeed, the following of the desires, and the following of the heresies (innovations) without Guidance from Allah is misguidance, and every misguidance is heresy, and every heretic will be in the Fire. And nothing can be achieved from the good with Allah except by being obedient to Him, and the patience and being agreeable, because the patience and being agreeable is from the obedience to Allah.

And know, that a servant from the servants has not believed until he is happy with Allah with regards to whatever Allah has Done for him, and what he has done for Him in accordance with what He Likes and Dislikes. And Allah does not Do with the one who is patient and happy with Allah except that which he is deserving of, and that which is better for him, from what he likes or dislikes.

And it is for you to “[2:238] Attend constantly to prayers and to the middle prayer and stand up truly obedient to Allah,” just as Allah has Commanded the Believers in His Book which is in front of you.

And beware, and it is for you to love the poor Muslims, for the one who considers them to be lowly due to his own arrogance, so he has slipped from the Religion of Allah, and Allah has for him (a situation of) lowliness and hate. And the Messenger of Allah has said: ‘My Lord has Commanded me to love the poor among the Muslims.’ And know, that the one who belittles anyone from the Muslims will meet Allah having Hatred towards him and lowliness from Him to the extent that the people will hate him and Allah will have intense Hatred towards him.

Fear Allah with regards to your brothers who are poor Muslims, for they have a right over you that you should love them. Allah Commanded His Messenger to love them, so the one who does not love the one whom Allah has Commanded to love, so he has disobeyed Allah and His Messenger, and the one who disobeys Allah and His Messenger and dies upon that, would have died whilst being from the misguided ones.

And beware of (considering for yourself) greatness and arrogance, for the Arrogance is the Robe of Allah Mighty and Majestic, so the one who disputed with Allah for His Robe, Allah will Reduce him and Disgrace him on the Day of Judgement.

And beware of injustices of some of you against the others, for it is not from the characteristics of the righteous. The one who is unjust, Allah will Turn his injustice against his own self, and Make His Help to be for the one who he was unjust to, and the one whom Allah Helps will overcome and be of the group of winners from Allah.

And beware of the envying of some of you against the others, for the disbelief is the origin of the envy.

And beware of helping against an oppressed Muslim, for he would supplicate to Allah against you and He would Answer him regarding you. Our forefather the Messenger of Allah used to say that: ‘The supplication of an oppressed Muslims gets Answered.’ And help each other, for our forefather, the Messenger of Allah used to say that: ‘Helping a Muslim is better and greater in Reward than the Fasting for a month, and seclusion (Al-I’tikaaf) in the Masjid Al-Haraam (The Sacred Masjid).

And beware of creating difficulties for anyone from your Muslim brothers if he owes you anything from before and he is insolvent, for our forefather the Messenger of Allah used to say: ‘It is not for a Muslim to make difficulties for a Muslim, and the one who is considerate to the insolvent will be Shaded by Allah by a shade on the Day in which there will no shade except for His Shade.’

And beware, O group under the Mercy and preferred ones over the others, of withholding the Rights of Allah before you, day after day and hour after hour, for the one who makes haste in (giving) the Rights of Allah which are in front of him, then Allah has the Power over the Hastening to him for the multiplication of the good, either immediately or later on. And the one who delays the Rights of Allah, then Allah has the Power over Delaying his sustenance, and the one from whom Allah Withholds his sustenance, he would not have the ability to sustain himself. So give to Allah the Right from what He has Granted you so that He would Purify for you the remainder of it, and Complete for you from the Multiplication for you, the excessive Multiplication, the count of which is not known to any but Him, or its virtues, the Lord of the Worlds.

And he said: ‘Fear Allah, O group, if you could, and don't be an embarrassment for the Imam, for the one who causes embarrassment for the Imam, he is the one who discredits the righteous people, the ones who follow the Imam of the Muslims for his virtues, the patient ones upon the payment of his rights, the ones who understand his sanctity.

And know, that the one who descends to that level with (respect) the Imam, so he has embarrassed the Imam (by associating himself with him) He would do that by cursing the righteous people the ones who (strictly) follow him from the Muslims for their virtues, the patient ones upon the paying of his rights, the ones who have recognised his sanctity, so his curse against (the pious ones) is for the enemies of Allah, as the Imam converts that curse into Mercy from Allah upon them (the pious ones), and turns the Curse from Allah and from the Angels, and from His Messenger upon them (the deniers). And know, O group, that the Sunnah from Allah has flowed within the righteous ones before.’

And he said: The one who wishes to meet Allah as a Believer, ‘Haqqan’ Haqqan’ (surely and truly), so he should befriend Allah, and His Messenger, and those who believed, and should distance himself from their enemies, and accept whatever that has ended up with him from their virtues, because their virtues cannot be comprehended by the ‘مَلَكٌ مُقَرَّبٌ’ Angels of Proximity, or ‘نَبِيٌّ مُرْسَلٌ ’ the Messenger Prophets, but some among them. Have you not heard what Allah has Mentioned from the virtues of following the Imams of Guidance, and they are the Believers? He Said: “[4:69] And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, these are with those upon whom Allah has bestowed favors from among the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good, and a goodly company are they!”

This is just one perspective from the perspectives of the virtues of following the Imams, so how can others (comprehend) them and their virtues? And the one who wishes that Allah should Complete for him his faith and he becomes a devout and true Believer, he should fulfill to Allah His Conditions which He has Placed upon the Believers. He has Placed the conditions of His Wilayah along with the Wilayah of His Messenger, and the Wilayah of the Imams of the Believers. He should establish the Prayer, and give the Zakaat, and give to Allah goodly loans (Karza e Hasana), and avoid the immoralities, both openly as well as discreetly.

There does not remain anything from the detail of what Allah has Prohibited, except that it is included in its entirety in His Statement. So the one who makes it to be his Religion in what is between himself and Allah, being sincere to Allah, and does not authorise for himself to ignore anything from this, so he is, in the Sight of Allah, in His Triumphant Party, and he is from the true Believers.

And beware of insisting upon something from what Allah has Prohibited in the Apparent of the Quran and its Hidden. And Allah the High has Said: “[3:135] and (who) do not knowingly persist in what they have done” (Up to this point it is the narration of Al-Qasim Bin Rabi’e). It means that the Believers before them, when they forgot something from what Conditions Allah had Placed upon them in His Book, would come to the realisation that they had disobeyed Allah in their avoidance of that thing. So they would seek Forgiveness and would not repeat it. So that is the meaning of the Statement of Allah: “[3:135] and (who) do not knowingly persist in what they have done.”

And know that He has Commanded and Prohibited, so that there should be obedience in what He has Commanded for, and avoidance in what He has Prohibited from. So the one who has followed His Commands has obeyed Him, and has realised everything from the good, which is with Him, and the one who did not avoid what Allah has Prohibited from, so he has disobeyed Him. So if he were to die upon being disobedient to Him, Allah will Fling him upon his face in the Fire.