Written transcript of the lecture
The Meshkat-e Noor teachings series🌼🔆🌼“The One Who Splits Open and Brings Forth Knowledge” “Imam Muhammad al-Baqir and the Secrets of the Encounter with God”🌼🔆🌼
🔅🌹“The Baqiri Nature” “The Key to Reading the Book of Existence” An abstract with an addendum: “The Eve of the Birth of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir,” “Secrets Beyond the Means,” “Publisher: The Family of Muhammad, peace be upon them,” and … 1402.10.23 Ali Sa‘i (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903) 🌹🔅
🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹
🔅🌼We are at a loss for words when speaking of the station of Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him.🌼🔅
🌹Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him, is the essence of Sajjad’s soul, the surviving heir of Husayn, a legacy of Karbala, an imam of knowledge, wisdom, light, truth and purity, and glad tidings from the Chosen Prophet.
🌸🔆سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ص يَقُولُ إِنَّكَ سَتُدْرِكُ رَجُلًا مِنِّي اسْمُهُ اسْمِي وَ شَمَائِلُهُ شَمَائِلِي يَبْقُرُ الْعِلْمَ بَقْرا[1]
🌸🔆The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said to Jabir: “You will live to meet a man from my [family] whose name is my name and whose conduct and deeds are like mine. He will split knowledge open”—in a singular way.
🌹All the world is left at a loss trying to fathom the breadth and scope of the Prophet’s words, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, about Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him. What, indeed, does it mean for knowledge to be split open?!
🌹Knowledge itself is what splits open—so what immense event unfolds when knowledge is split open?!
🌹Through the reality of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, peace be upon him, we can raise a mighty storm in the arena of servitude to God. The Imam is the Greatest Means of the Lord of all worlds.
🌹With the Imam, we must perform wonders in pursuit of the aims of servitude to God.
🔅🌼The sun of the encounter with God is seen through devotion to Imam al-Baqir.🌼🔅
🌸🔆… َ وَ مَنْ أَحَبَّ أَنْ يَلْقَى اللَّهَ تَعَالَى قَرِيرَ الْعَيْنِ فَلْيَتَوَلَّ مُحَمَّدَ بْنَ عَلِيٍّ الْبَاقِرَ [2]
🔆Anyone who longs to behold God with clear eyes must be equipped with devotion to Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, peace be upon him.
🌹Meeting the Lord requires clear sight. To approach the Eternal Beloved with blind eyes is the loss of the first and the last. To be deficient in devotion to Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him, is to be blind in sight and heart. Devotion to Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, peace be upon him, is the light that makes the encounter with the Eternal Beloved possible.
🌹If we do not attain devotion to the Imam in the fleeting life of this world, we will be caught in the darkness of the intermediate realm and the Hereafter.
🌹Each of the Imams, peace be upon them, has distinctive qualities of their own; without devotion to their sacred authority, a person will remain incomplete in being.
🌹Devotion to the Imams, peace be upon them, is the furnace of divine love—we must not be deprived of it.
🔅🌼Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him, in the gaze of Imam Sajjad, peace be upon him🌼🔅
🌹Let us look upon Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him, through the eyes of Imam Sajjad, peace be upon him; with a heart like Sajjad’s, we must uncover the secrets of al-Baqir.
🌸🔆عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ قَالَ كَانَ يَقُولُ ص ادْعُوا لِيَ ابْنِيَ الْبَاقِرَ وَ قُلْتُ لِابْنِيَ الْبَاقِرِ يَعْنِي مُحَمَّداً فَقُلْتُ لَهُ يَا أَبَةِ وَ لِمَ سَمَّيْتَهُ الْبَاقِرَ قَالَ فَتَبَسَّمَ وَ مَا رَأَيْتُهُ تَبَسَّمَ قَبْلَ ذَلِكَ ثُمَّ سَجَدَ لِلَّهِ تَعَالَى طَوِيلًا فَسَمِعْتُهُ يَقُولُ فِي سُجُودِهِ اللَّهُمَّ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ سَيِّدِي عَلَى مَا أَنْعَمْتَ بِهِ عَلَيْنَا أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ يُعِيدُ ذَلِكَ مِرَاراً ثُمَّ قَالَ يَا بُنَيَّ إِنَّ الْإِمَامَةَ فِي وُلْدِهِ إِلَى أَنْ يَقُومَ قَائِمُنَا ع فَيَمْلَأَهَا قِسْطاً وَ عَدْلًا وَ إِنَّهُ الْإِمَامُ أَبُو الْأَئِمَّةِ مَعْدِنُ الْحِلْمِ وَ مَوْضِعُ الْعِلْمِ يَبْقُرُهُ بَقْراً وَ اللَّهِ لَهُوَ أَشْبَهُ النَّاسِ بِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ ص قُلْتُ فَكَمِ الْأَئِمَّةُ بَعْدَهُ قَالَ سَبْعَةٌ وَ مِنْهُمُ الْمَهْدِيُّ الَّذِي يَقُومُ بِالدِّينِ فِي آخِرِ الزَّمَانِ.[3]
🔆ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī relates from his father, Ḥaḍrat ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn (peace be upon him), that he would say: “Bring my son Bāqir to me.” I said, “You mean my son Bāqir—Muḥammad.” I asked him, “Father, why did you call him Bāqir?”
He smiled; I had never seen him smile before. Then he performed a prolonged prostration, and I heard him say in his prostration, “My Lord, all praise is Yours for the gift You have bestowed upon us, the Household, in him”—meaning al-Bāqir. He repeated these words several times, then said: “My son, the Imamate will remain among his descendants until our Qāʾim rises and fills the earth with justice and equity. He is an Imam and the father of Imams; he is the wellspring of forbearance and the repository of knowledge, which he will cleave open in a distinctive way. By God, he is the most like the Messenger of God among all people.” I asked, “How many Imams will come after him?” He replied, “Seven, one of whom is the Mahdī, who will uphold the true religion at the end of time.”
Imam Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn spreads the majesty of prostration at the threshold of the Worshipped One, grateful for the blessing of Imam al-Bāqir’s very existence, and offers thanks for this immense gift. The Imam’s response speaks to the indescribable greatness of Imam Muḥammad al-Bāqir.
🌹It is fitting, too, that we Shiʿa, in gratitude for the wilāya and Imamate of Imam Muḥammad al-Bāqir, bow our foreheads to the dust in sincere worship of God and say, “ اللَّهُمَّ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ سَيِّدِي عَلَى مَا أَنْعَمْتَ بِهِ عَلَيْنَا ولایةَ الامام محمد الباقر” “My Lord, all praise belongs to You, my Master, for granting us the wilāya of Imam Muḥammad al-Bāqir.”
🌹Why did Imam Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn prolong his prostration of gratitude for the blessing of al-Bāqir, repeatedly giving thanks at His threshold for this divine gift? Indeed, it is a supreme blessing. The blessing of al-Bāqir is unparalleled, surpassing every sweetness.
🌹The true sweetness of Imam al-Bāqir must be sought in the depths of Imam Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn’s heart.
🌹The greatness of al-Bāqir is revealed through a heart like that of Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn.
🔅🌼To be ungrateful for the blessing of al-Bāqir is to be disgraced on the Day of Judgment. 🌼🔅
🌹One day, we will be questioned about the blessing of al-Bāqir.
🌻🔆التكاثر : 8 ثُمَّ لَتُسْئَلُنَّ يَوْمَئِذٍ عَنِ النَّعيمِ
🔆Then, on that Day, you will surely be questioned about the blessings you enjoyed.
🔅🌼The knowledge of the Household of the Prophet encompasses every field of knowledge. 🌼🔅
🌹We can rank knowledge according to its qualities: the All-Merciful, the Most Compassionate, the Generous, the Wise, the Originator, and so on. Knowledge of the All-Merciful is that from which believer and unbeliever alike benefit equally. The other degrees, however, are reserved for believers, according to the measure of their faith and God-consciousness.
🌹Only believers taste the sweetness of knowledge from the Most Compassionate.
🌻🔆الإسراء : 85 وَ يَسْئَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي وَ ما أُوتيتُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلاَّ قَليلاً
🔆They ask you about the Spirit. Say, “The Spirit is by command of my Lord, and you have been given but little knowledge.”
🌹A person’s poverty of knowledge leaves them trapped in ignorance; the richer their knowledge becomes, the greater their wealth of servitude.
🌹By keeping close to the Imam, recognizing him as the repository and wellspring of knowledge, one can attain every degree of knowledge.
🌹Clinging to the wilāya of Imam al-Bāqir leads a person to knowledge that cleaves open and blossoms.
🔅🌼The Bāqirī nature 🌼🔅
🌹All believers have a Bāqirī heart, but few have a Bāqirī heart that is truly awake. The heart of an heedless believer becomes a prison for its Imam.
🌹All human beings possess a Bāqirī nature, which must be awakened. A believer must kindle and surge with their Imam.
🌹The heart must become a vessel for its Imam’s knowledge: receptive to it and able to retain it.
🌹Our hearts should each bear fourteen active seeds. The wilāya of the Imam means keeping company with the wellspring of knowledge.
🌹The reality of the Imam is the secret of servitude to God.
🌹Only through the mines of knowledge can we reach the hidden mysteries within the stars and the seven heavens.
🔅🌼The computer of the Imamate recites mysteries🌼🔅
🌹We have not yet read the book of the world, nor studied even one of its flowers—let alone the book of all existence.
🌹With our eyes, ears and other senses, we must read the book of creation. We have not yet gone over a single line of it, let alone understood and grasped the truths and meanings contained in the whole book of creation.
🌹Human knowledge is overcome by ignorance because people have turned away from the Imam and become heedless of him.
🌻🔆Al-Māʾidah: 35 يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَ ابْتَغُوا إِلَيْهِ الْوَسيلَةَ وَ جاهِدُوا في سَبيلِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
🔆O you who believe! Be mindful of God, seek the means of drawing near to Him, and strive in His way, so that you may prosper.
🌹Through the supreme means of God, we must see, hear, taste, smell and understand. Through this means, we will experience divine love.
🌹The Imam is the very knowledge by which the book of the heavens and oceans, and of every single being, is read.
🌹Without the Imam, a person is, in the truest sense, blind, deaf and mute.
🌹With every passing moment, the book of creation grows in length; the pace of reading cannot keep up with the pace of creation. 🌹A person must hunt for knowledge alongside the Imam. Only with God’s Proof can our reading of creation keep pace with its unfolding.
🔅🌼Stepping beyond knowledge🌼🔅
🌹Unless we pass beyond decree, commandments, destiny, will and divine volition, we will not reach the realm of knowledge. In that realm, if knowledge is opened up, its very heart and soul will be revealed. If light is opened up, one reaches beyond illumination; if knowledge is opened up, one is granted knowledge beyond knowledge.
🌹Light pierces darkness; what, then, would happen if light itself were opened up?!
🔅🌼Means beyond means reveal mysteries beyond mysteries🌼🔅
🌹Dhu’l-Qarnayn accomplished astonishing things with the means at his disposal!
🌻🔆Al-Kahf: 84 إِنَّا مَكَّنَّا لَهُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَ آتَيْناهُ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ سَبَباً
🔆We established him in power upon the earth and provided him with the means to accomplish everything.
🌹The finest divine means and instruments are the Household of purity and infallibility. The Imam is beyond all means; it is enough for us to be Dhu’l-Qarnayn with the Imams, peace be upon them.
🌹With Imam al-Baqir, storms of knowledge arise.
🌹We, too, are manifestations of God’s knowledge. The one who splits open knowledge will also open us up and bring us to flower.
🔅🌼Imam Muhammad al-Baqir is the promulgator of the Family of Muhammad🌼🔅
🌸🔆… وَ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَلِيٍ النَّاشِرُ وَ …[4]
🌸🔆And Muhammad ibn Ali (al-Baqir) is its promulgator.
🌹Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him, is the promulgator of the Family of Muhammad, peace be upon them. The Imam expands knowledge, wisdom, grace and generosity; he spreads the clouds of beauty and bounty.
🌸🔆… وَ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَلِيٍ عَارِفُهَا وَ … [5]
🌸🔆And Muhammad ibn Ali (al-Baqir) is the knower of the community of Muhammad, peace be upon him.
🌹In truth, to attain the supreme grace of self-knowledge, knowledge of the Messenger, knowledge of God’s Guardian and knowledge of God, we need Imam al-Baqir. Indeed, anyone who claims to possess such knowledge without Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him, is a liar.
🌸🔆يُوقَدُ مِنْ شَجَرَةٍ مُبارَكَةٍ محمد بن علي (عليه السلام)[6]
🌸🔆Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, peace be upon him, is the radiant branch of the blessed olive tree in God’s Verse of Light.
🔅🌼Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him, is the heavenly companion of the people of heaven🌼🔅
🌸🔆وَ كَانَ قَائِدَهُ إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ قَالَ لَهُ أُبَيٌّ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ فَهَلْ لَهُ مِنْ خَلَفٍ وَ وَصِيٍّ قَالَ نَعَمْ لَهُ مَوَارِيثُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ قَالَ مَا مَعْنَى مَوَارِيثُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قَالَ الْقَضَاءُ بِالْحَقِّ وَ الْحُكْمُ بِالدِّيَانَةِ وَ تَأْوِيلُ الْأَحْكَامِ وَ بَيَانُ مَا يَكُونُ قَالَ فَمَا اسْمُهُ قَالَ اسْمُهُ مُحَمَّدٌ وَ إِنَّ الْمَلَائِكَةَ لَتَسْتَأْنِسُ بِهِ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَ يَقُولُ فِي دُعَائِهِ- اللَّهُمَّ إِنْ كَانَ لِي عِنْدَكَ رِضْوَانٌ وَ وُدٌّ فَاغْفِرْ لِي وَ لِمَنْ تَبِعَنِي مِنْ إِخْوَانِي وَ شِيعَتِي وَ طَيِّبْ مَا فِي صُلْبِي فَرَكَّبَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ فِي صُلْبِهِ نُطْفَةً مُبَارَكَةً زَكِيَّةً وَ أَخْبَرَنِي [جَبْرَئِيلُ] ع أَنَّ اللَّهَ تَبَارَكَ وَ تَعَالَى طَيَّبَ هَذِهِ النُّطْفَةَ وَ سَمَّاهَا عِنْدَهُ جَعْفَرا[7]
🌸🔆And ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn will be his guide and leader on the path to Paradise. Ubayy asked, “Messenger of God, will he have a trustee and successor?”
The Prophet replied, “Yes. The inheritance of the heavens and the earth belongs to him.” Ubayy asked,
“What do you mean by the inheritance of the heavens and the earth?” The Prophet replied, “Judging with justice, ruling according to the faith, interpreting the commandments, and revealing what is yet to come.” Ubayy said,
“What is his name?” The Prophet replied, “His name is Muḥammad. In the heavens, he is the companion of the angels, and in his supplication he says:
«اللّهمّ إن كان لي عندك …
(That is: O God, if You are pleased with me and love me, forgive me and my brothers and the Shīʿas who follow me, and purify what is in my loins.) God placed in his loins a blessed, pure and wholesome seed, and … [8]
🔅🌼 A note from the bottom of the pot, 1402.10.23 🌼🔅
🔅🌼 When knowledge buds 🌼🔅
🌹Until a seed opens, its wonders remain concealed. When knowledge unfolds, its inner depths and secrets come to light.
🌹The manifestation and disclosure of knowledge are distinct from knowledge itself, just as the unfolding of knowledge’s manifestations is distinct from knowledge itself.
🌹To describe sight in terms of hearing, or hearing in terms of sight, and so on, is impossible.
🌹Each Imam, besides his shared virtues, has particular distinctions. To overlook any Imam is to be deprived of his unique gifts.
🌹Earnestly beseeching God for knowledge of the Imam as one’s highest need must be strengthened at the same time through following him, loving him, keeping company with his words, and visiting him in heart and body.
🌹The measure of our bond and connection with the Imam determines how much we benefit from the secrets of the Imams.
🌹Humanity’s greatest error is to mistake God’s acts for the reality of His exalted Essence.
🌹The word “dissemination” may mean expansion, multiplication, development, distribution and spreading. In truth, Imam Bāqir, peace be upon him, is the disseminator of knowledge, wisdom, mercy, compassion, and more.
🌹God, the All-Powerful and Exalted, granted Imam Bāqir, peace be upon him, the power to open up knowledge. This has nothing to do with “كن فيكون”.
🌹Only by seeing through the vision of all the Infallibles—that is, through fourteen immense perspectives—can we uncover the truths.
🌹The Imam is a radiating light, and the earth is spread out: a vast, shining and radiant light, and an expanse of earth ready to receive and nurture wonders.
🌸🔆وَ النُّورُ السَّاطِعُ … وَ الْأَرْضُ الْبَسِيطَة
🌼Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141 (903)🌼
[1] Al-Kāfī (Islamic edition), vol. 1, p. 469 Kulaynī, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, Tehran, fourth edition, 1407 AH.
[2] Biḥār al-Anwār (Beirut edition), vol. 36, p. 296 Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Muḥammad Taqī, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, Beirut, second edition, 1403 AH.
[3] Kifāyat al-Athar fī al-Naṣṣ ʿalā al-Aʾimma al-Ithnā ʿAshar, p. 237 Khazzāz Rāzī, ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad, Bīdār, Qom, 1401 AH.
[4] Miʾat Manqaba min Manāqib Amīr al-Muʾminīn wa al-Aʾimma, p. 23 Ibn Shādhān, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, School of Imam al-Mahdi (may God hasten his noble reappearance), Iran, Qom, first edition, 1407 AH.
[5] Miʾat Manqaba min Manāqib Amīr al-Muʾminīn wa al-Aʾimma, p. 24 Ibn Shādhān, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, School of Imam al-Mahdi (may God hasten his noble reappearance), Iran, Qom, first edition, 1407 AH.
[6] Al-Burhān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 4, p. 72 Baḥrānī, Sayyid Hāshim ibn Sulaymān, Muʾassasat Baʿthat, Qom, first edition, 1374 SH.
[7] Biḥār al-Anwār (Beirut edition), vol. 36, p. 206 Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Muḥammad Taqī, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, Beirut, second edition, 1403 AH.
[8] ʿUyūn Akhbār al-Riḍā (peace be upon him), translated by Ghaffārī and Mostafīd, vol. 1, p. 115
