notifications_active Weekly Meshkat-e Noor Session: Thursdays at 20:30 at Haj Reza Mosque
Peace be upon you.
With respect, and may God grant you strength in your work.
In light of the hadith quoted below:
« قال الباقر علیه السلام :
اتقوا فراسه المؤمن فإنه ینظر بنور الله ثم تلا هذه الآیه إن فی ذلک لآیات للمتوسمین »
“Beware of a believer’s insight, for the believer sees by the light of God. A believer cannot be deceived.”
Can we say that nothing in the universe is unknown to a believer?
A believer’s insight is illumined by God, and its ability to uncover what is hidden depends on the believer’s degree of faith and spiritual discernment. Those endowed with such insight are, first and foremost, Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad (AS), followed by the truly faithful. God grants the Imams (AS) perfect insight and blesses believers with this gift in proportion to their faith.
Those endowed with true spiritual insight are, first and foremost, Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad (PBUH). Next come the true believers who genuinely hold fast to the Two Weighty Things—the true Shi‘a. In proportion to their rank and degree of faith, they uncover what is hidden.
It is narrated from al-Hasan ibn al-Jahm that he said:
One day I attended a gathering of al-Ma’mun, where ʿAli ibn Musa al-Rida (AS) was present. Jurists and theologians from various schools had assembled there. One of them asked him, “O son of the Messenger of God, by what is the claim to the Imamate established?”
He replied, “By an explicit designation and proof.”
The man asked, “In what does the Imam’s proof consist?”
He replied, “In his knowledge and the granting of his prayers.”
The man then asked, “How do you know what is yet to come?”
He replied, “Through a covenant entrusted to us by the Messenger of God (PBUH).”
The man asked, “How do you know what is in people’s hearts?”
He (AS) replied, “Have you not heard the Messenger of God (PBUH) say, ‘Beware of the believer’s insight, for he sees by God’s light’?”
The man said, “Yes.”
He continued, “Every believer has insight by which he sees through God’s light, in keeping with the measure of his faith and the extent of his discernment and knowledge. God has gathered in us, the Imams, what He distributed among all the believers. In His decisive Book, God—Exalted and Glorified—says: إن فی ذلک لآیات للمتوسمین. The first of those endowed with insight was the Messenger of God (PBUH), followed by the Commander of the Faithful (AS), then al-Hasan and al-Husayn, and the Imams from the line of al-Husayn (AS), down to the Day of Resurrection.”
Al-Ma’mun looked at him and said, “O Abu al-Hasan, tell us more of what God has granted you, the People of the Household.”
Al-Rida (AS) replied, “God, Exalted and Glorified, has strengthened us with a sacred, purified Spirit. It is not an angel. It was with no one who came before us except the Messenger of God (PBUH), and it is with the Imams among us, guiding them aright and granting them success. It is a pillar of light between us and God, Exalted and Glorified…”
ʿUyūn Akhbār al-Riḍā, vol. 2, p. 200
It is narrated from al-Hasan ibn al-Jahm that he said:
One day I attended a gathering of al-Ma’mun, where ʿAli ibn Musa al-Rida (AS) was present. Jurists and theologians from various schools had assembled there. One of them asked the Imam, “O son of the Messenger of God, by what can the claim to the Imamate be established?”
He replied, “By an explicit designation and proof.”
The man asked, “What is the sign of the Imam’s Imamate?”
He replied, “His knowledge and the granting of his prayers.”
I asked, “How do you know of things that will happen in the future?”
He replied, “Through a covenant entrusted to us by the Messenger of God (PBUH)—that is, through the document he passed on to us, which records knowledge of all that has been and all that will be.”
I asked, “How do you know what is in people’s hearts?”
He replied, “Have you not heard the Messenger of God (PBUH) say, ‘Beware of the believer’s insight, for he sees by God’s light’?”
I said, “Yes.”
He continued, “Every believer has insight by which he sees through God’s light, in keeping with the measure of his faith and the extent of his discernment, insight, and knowledge. God Most High has gathered for us, the Imams, the insight He distributed among all the believers. In His decisive Book, God Most High says: إن فی ذلک لآیات للمتوسمین.
Indeed, in the destruction of the people of Lot there are signs for those endowed with insight—for the first among those who discern. The Messenger of God (PBUH) is foremost among those endowed with insight, followed by the Commander of the Faithful (AS), then by that Imam, then by Hasan and Husayn, and then by the Imams descended from Husayn (AS), until the Day of Resurrection.
The narrator says: Then Ma’mun turned to him and said, “O Abu’l-Hasan, tell us more about what God has bestowed upon you, the People of the House.” Imam al-Rida (AS) replied: “God has indeed strengthened us with a sacred, purified spirit. It is not an angel, and it has been with none of those who have departed from this transient world except the Messenger of God and the Imams. It supports and assists them; it is a pillar of light between us and God…”
*ʿUyūn Akhbār al-Riḍā*, translated by Āqā Najafī, vol. 2, p. 448
عن أبی عبد الله ع قال: سألته عن الإمام فوض الله إلیه کما فوض إلى سلیمان بن داود فقال نعم و ذلک أن رجلا سأله عن مسأله فأجابه فیها و سأله آخر عن تلک المسأله فأجابه بغیر جواب الأول ثم سأله آخر فأجابه بغیر جواب الأولین ثم قال هذا عطاؤنا فامنن أو أعط بغیر حساب و هکذا هی فی قراءه علی ع قال قلت أصلحک الله فحین أجابهم بهذا الجواب یعرفهم الإمام قال سبحان الله أ ما تسمع الله یقول- إن فی ذلک لآیات للمتوسمین و هم الأئمه و إنها لبسبیل مقیم لا یخرج منها أبدا ثم قال لی نعم إن الإمام إذا أبصر إلى الرجل عرفه و عرف لونه و إن سمع کلامه من خلف حائط عرفه و عرف ما هو إن الله یقول- و من آیاته خلق السماوات و الأرض و اختلاف ألسنتکم و ألوانکم إن فی ذلک لآیات للعالمین و هم العلماء فلیس یسمع شیئا من الأمر ینطق به إلا عرفه ناج أو هالک فلذلک یجیبهم بالذی یجیبهم.
*Al-Kāfī* (Islamic edition), vol. 1, p. 438
Abdullah ibn Sulayman relates from Imam Jaʿfar al-Sadiq (AS): I asked him about the Imam: “Has God entrusted authority to him, as He entrusted it to Solomon son of David?” The Imam replied, “Yes.” The reason is that one man asked him a question, and he answered it. Another asked him the same question, and he gave an answer different from the one he had given the first man. Then a third asked him, and he answered differently from both earlier replies. After that he said: «هذا عطاؤنا فامنن أو أعط بغیر حساب», “This is Our gift; bestow freely or withhold, without reckoning.” This is how the phrase is recited in the reading of Ali (AS.”
The narrator says: I asked, “May God set you right: when the Imam gave them these answers, did he know who they were?” He replied, “Glory be to God! Do you not hear God say: «إن فی ذلک لآیات للمتوسمین»—‘Surely in this are signs for those who discern’? They are the Imams, as mentioned, and «و إنها لبسبیل مقیم»—‘it lies on a well-trodden way’; it never departs from it.”
Then he said to me, “Yes. When the Imam looks at a man, he recognises him and knows his nature—all the qualities within him. If he hears a man speaking from behind a wall, he recognises him and knows what he is truly like: whether he is a believer or a hypocrite.
“God says: «و من آیاته خلق السماوات و الأرض و اختلاف ألسنتکم و ألوانکم إن فی ذلک لآیات للعالمین»—‘Among His signs are the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the diversity of your languages and your colours. Surely in this are signs for the worlds.’ That is, among God’s signs and proofs of His power are His creation of the heavens and the earth, the diversity of your languages—Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hindi, and the like—and the diversity of your colours—red, white, yellow, black, and the like. Surely in what has been mentioned are signs for the worlds.” (Those who read *al-ʿālimīn* with a kasra on the lām understand it to mean “people of knowledge,” who reflect on these things and grasp their deeper truth. The Imam’s appeal to this verse rests on that reading; for after reciting it, he said:) “They are the people of knowledge”—that is, the Imams (AS). “Whatever the Imam hears, whatever the matter or whoever the speaker may be, he knows whether that person will be saved or destroyed. That is why he answers each of them as he does.”
And he (AS) said: “When the Qāʾim from the family of Muhammad (AS) rises, he will judge among people according to the judgment of David. He will have no need of evidence: God Most High will inspire him, and he will judge by his own knowledge. He will inform each people of what they have concluded, and through insight he will recognise his friend from his enemy. God, Mighty and Exalted, says: «إن فی ذلک لآیات للمتوسمین و إنها لبسبیل مقیم».”
In *Majmaʿ al-Bayān* it is reported as soundly transmitted from the Prophet (PBUH) that he said: «اتقوا فراسه المؤمن فانه ینظر بنور الله». “Beware the insight of the believer, for he sees by the light of God.” He said, “God has servants who recognise people through insight,” and then recited this verse.
It is also related from Abu ʿAbd Allah (AS) that he said: “We are those who discern, and the Way abides among us. The Way is the path to Paradise.” Ali ibn Ibrahim mentions this in his commentary.
It is related from Abu Jaʿfar (AS), concerning the words of God, Mighty and Exalted, «إن فی ذلک لآیات للمتوسمین», that he said: “They are the Imams.” The Messenger of God (PBUH) said: «اتقوا فراسه المؤمن فإنه ینظر بنور الله عز و جل», “Beware the insight of the believer, for he sees by the light of God, Mighty and Exalted,” referring to God’s words, «إن فی ذلک لآیات للمتوسمین».