Question No. 2922 31 August 2022 Official answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) verified Content level: Intermediate

What Is the Tree of Religion, and What Place Does Certainty Hold?

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Dear questioner, Master Ali Saei

Tracking code: #Q-2922

In today’s session, you cited this hadith, which likens religion to a tree whose root is certainty. Without certainty, it is unstable and can lose its firmness at the slightest slip.
قال أمیر المومنین (AS) : إن الدین لشجره أصلها الیقین بالله و ثمرها الموالاه فی الله و المعاداه فی الله سبحانه غرر الحکم، ص 85
1. What is the seed that grows until its root becomes certainty? What do the other parts of the tree represent?
2. Isn’t certainty the fruit of faith and God-consciousness? If so, how can certainty have to come first for the tree to stand firm? How is that possible? Does one reach certainty through faith, or faith through certainty—or is there no set order at all?

Subject category: Ethics and Spirituality Epistemological

The essence and first answer at a glance (60-word summary)

Divine religion is like a tree whose root is certainty, and certainty itself is a manifestation of a special divine light. This light is expressed in a particular way at each stage of servitude to God, bringing joy. Certainty has a distinct station at each stage of Islam, faith, and God-consciousness.

Answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat)

Teacher and researcher in the intellectual tradition of wisdom and the Ahl al-Bayt | Soroush Bamdadān Cultural Center

Divine religion is a light that illuminates the heart and soul, guiding a person on the path toward beholding God. We may therefore think of the distinctive, particular light of God as a seed from which the tree of religion rises. That light gives rise to a whole order of things—one we can begin to sense and experience through the Verse of Light. It has many manifestations, which together shape the landscape of servitude to God.

الدین نور
الیقین نور

Thus, within the order of divine light, certainty holds the highest rank and authority.

الدین نور، الیقین حبور.

Religion is light, and certainty is joy.

At each stage of servitude, certainty has its own particular manifestation: certainty at the stages of Islam and faith, of God-consciousness, and so on.

At every level of servitude, certainty has stations specific to that stage. A higher station unveils hidden manifestations of certainty.

أسألک‏... یقین المتوکلین علیک‏
و أیدنا بیقین المخلصین

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What Is the Tree of Religion, and What Place Does Certainty Hold?

The essence and first answer at a glance (60-word summary)

Answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat)

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