notifications_active Weekly Meshkat-e Noor Session: Thursdays at 20:30 at Haj Reza Mosque
Please give a comprehensive answer regarding these verses, which elevate the Imam to God’s level. There are many people sharing such verses on social media:
When the call to prayer sounds, take me farther from Najaf,
For I fear my face may turn toward him instead of the qibla.
Exaggeration about Imam Ali (AS) leads to a grave misunderstanding of tawhid and his true standing. The Messenger and God’s appointed guide must be known through tawhid; otherwise, neither God nor His Messenger and guide can truly be known. Despite his exalted rank, Imam Ali (AS) always prayed facing the qibla. Excessive praise of him leads to ruin.
Anyone who fails to recognise God as One will also fall into grave errors in recognising His divinely appointed authority. This is the secret behind the supplication:
اللهم عرفنی نفسک فإنک إن لم تعرفنی نفسک لم أعرف نبیک اللهم عرفنی رسولک فإنک إن لم تعرفنی رسولک لم أعرف حجتک اللهم عرفنی حجتک فإنک إن لم تعرفنی حجتک ضللت عن دینی
We must come to know the Messenger and God’s appointed guide by way of divine unity; otherwise, we will know neither God nor His Messenger and guide.
Such excess in devotion does not raise the Imam’s standing; it diminishes it. For if the devotee truly knew him, he would know that the Imam prayed facing the Kaaba, and that his supreme distinction lay in the utter sincerity of his servitude to God. A hadith concerning the Imam beautifully conveys his exalted rank while preserving his status as God’s servant:
قال رسول الله ص- یا علی أنت بمنزله الکعبه تؤتى و لا تأتی.
وسائل الشیعه، ج11، ص: 32
The Messenger of God said: “O Ali, you are like the Kaaba: people come to you; you do not go to them.”
That is, “O Ali, you are the Imam and leader of this community. Through you, they must find the path of guidance and servitude to God. You stand above all others in this community, and they must follow you without reservation.” In truth, Ali is the spiritual Kaaba toward which all people turn in their devotion to God. Yet Ali, with all this exalted rank, would wholeheartedly face the Kaaba, the Sacred House of God, in prayer.
It is fitting to recall these two sayings of the Imam as well:
و قال ع هلک فی رجلان محب غال و مبغض قال
نهج البلاغه (للصبحی صالح)، ص: 489
The Imam said: “Two kinds of people are ruined in their regard for me: a devotee who goes to excess in his love, and an enemy who goes to excess in his hatred.”
و قال ع لرجل أفرط فی الثناء علیه و کان له متهما أنا دون ما تقول و فوق ما فی نفسک
نهج البلاغه (للصبحی صالح)، ص: 482
When a man praised Imam Ali to excess, yet did not reveal all that he held in his heart, the Imam said to him: “I am less than what you have said, and greater than what you hold within yourself.”