Commemorating Imam Ali’s Life and His Sacrifices for Islam and Humanity
By: Syed-Mohsin Naquvi
Ramadhan-ul-Mubarak 1426 Hijra
Among other things the holy month of Ramadhan is also an occasion to remember the martyrdom of Imam Ali. When we talk about his martyrdom, it is natural that we would look at other aspects of the life of that august personality.
Scholars have said that there are some five hundred verses in the Qur’an which speak about Imam Ali. Some others dispute that number.
We would like to give only two such verses here. It is agreed by the largest number of commentators of Qur’an that these two verses are definitely about Imam Ali.
(A) The first verse is from Sura Baqara. It is about verse 2:207. And the related story for the revelation of that verse is as follows:
[2:207] And among men is he who sells himself to seek the pleasure of Allah; and Allah is Affectionate to the servants.
When the Quraysh got wind of the fact that the Prophet of Islam was preparing to leave Makkah for Madinah, on Hijra, they decided to kill the Prophet of Islam. Forty men from different families of the Quraysh came together and surrounded the house of the Prophet one night with the intention of killing him with one stroke of their swords. They surrounded his house and waited for the early morning hours.
In the meantime, Jibreel came and informed the Prophet of the conspiracy. The Prophet called Ali bin Abi Talib and told him about the impending danger. Ali asked as to what the Prophet wanted him (Ali) to do. The Prophet asked him if he (Ali) would sleep in his (Prophet's) bed that night while he (the Prophet) was intending to slip out of Makkah towards Madinah in the darkness of the night. Ali bin Abi Talib asked: "If I sleep in your bed tonight, will you be safe?" The Prophet replied: "Yes, I will be safe." Ali bin Abi Talib immediately did a sajdah of shukr (thanks to Allah) and agreed to do that. The Prophet left all the property that he had been keeping in trust in Ali's charge with the instructions to reimburse those goods to their rightful owners.
So, Ali slept in the Prophet's bed and the Prophet walked out of the house and moved towards the cave of THAWR reciting verses from Sura Yaaseen.
While the Prophet was walking in the darkness of the night, Jibreel came and revealed the following verse of the Qur'an.
Wa minan-naasi man-yashree nafsahu-b-tigha'a maradhaati(A)llahi wa Allahu ra'oofun bil-ibaad(Q-2:207)
Trans: And among men is he who sells himself to seek the pleasure of Allah; and Allah is affectionate to the servants.
This has been variously reported by the following scholars:
1. Hakim Nayshapoori in his Mustdarak reports from Ibn Abbas.
2. Muhammad bin Sa'ib Kalbi in his Tafseer Tas-heel al-Uloom at-Tanzeel
3. Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Abi Bakr Ansari in his Tafseer Qurtabi
4. Ibn Atheer in his Usud al-Ghaaba
5. Abu Bakt Nayshapoori in his Tafseer
6. Allama Kanji in his Kifayat- Talib
7. Allama Abdur-Rahman Safoori in his Nuzhat al-Majaalis
8. Muhib-ud-Deen Tabari in his Zakha'ir Uqba
9. Abul Hasan Wahidi in his Asbabb an-Nuzool as a commentary on Tafseer Jaalalayn
10. Allama Shablanji in his Noor al-Absaar
The most interesting commentary on this verse is given by Imam Ghazaali in his Ihya Fi Uloom ad-Deen, under the topic AL-EESAAR AL-AN NAFS.
Ghazaali writes that Allah sent called two of the great angels, Jibreel and Meekaa-eel and said: "I make you two brothers of each other. Now can one of you sacrifice his life for the other." Both declined to do that. Allah then pointed to Ali bin Abi Talib sleeping in the Prophet's bed and said: "There is a brother ready to sacrifice his life for another brother."
MY NOTE: I suppose Allama Iqbal had that story related by Ghazaali in mind when he said:
Farishton se behtar hai insaan ban-na,
Magar ismen lagti hai mehnat ziyada.
Trans: It is better to be a human being than an angel, but it takes a lot of doing.
Allah then commanded the two angels to go down and protect Ali bin Talib from the enemies. Thus the two angels came and Jibreel stood by Ali's headrest and Meekaa'eel by his feet. And they both were saying: "Bravo, bravo, O son of Abu Talib, Allah is taking pride in your act of self-sacrifice and showing your glory over the angels." (end of quote from Ghazali)
(B) The second verse that I have chosen for this discussion is from Sura Ma’ida. It is 5:55.
[5:55] Only Allah is your Vali and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the poor-rate while they bow.
An interesting study of the meaning and application of this verse will be found at: http://www.tafseercomparison.org/study3.asp?TitleText=Study%203:%20Verses%205:55-56
In that discussion three well-known works have been compared and a conclusion drawn from the discussion.
There are two very significant things in this verse. First is the use of the word ‘WALIYY’ and the second is the actual episode in which the giving of ZAKAT has been described while doing Ruku.
The word WALIYY is a term which has been recognized (WILAYAT) as an essential element of the Qur’anic concept of IMAMT. Let us remind the reader that while KHILAFAT is a fact of history, it is not a Qur’anic concept as far as the KHILAFAT-E-RASHIDA is concerned. The word Khalifa is mentioned in the Qur’an, but not in the sense of the deputyship of the Prophet. As we explained in a previous post, Khilafat-e-Rashida was a concept created more than a hundred years after the fact due to political expediency and as an urgent need of the Muslim community. The concept of Imamat is coming directly from the Qur’an. Here is this verse, the line of WILAYAT has been traced right from Allah to the Prophet and to another one gives Zakat while in Ruku. Some commentators have translated the ‘WOW’ as a simple conjunction which gives the meaning of ‘and.’ But does not hold logically in that ruku is a part of the salat. Why would Qur’an mention salat and then additionally one specific act of the salat? The only way to do away with the apparent logical flaw in the expression is to translate the ‘WOW’ as an adverbial conjunction which will give the meaning of ‘while.’ Qur’an has used the ‘WOW’ as an adverbial conjunction in many other verses.
In the explanation of that verse, Allama Fakhruddeen Razi has described the story of Imam Ali giving away his ring while he was in ruku in the mosque, to a beggar who had come in to mosque asking for charity. While Qurtubi finds it quite legitimate for a person in Salat to extend his hand towards a beggar so that he may take the ring away, Razi considers the act as making the Salat doubtful.
One of my elders used to say: If Allah can send a verse in praise of Imam Ali’s salat which (according to Razi became doubtful) then all we have to consider is that whatever more Allah must have given to Imam Ali for all his prayers and salat in which there was no doubt at all.
As usual, those who do not want to accept this FAZEELAT of Imam Ali, have made an effort to discredit all such reports and have tried to divert the Shaan-e-nuzool of the verse to other people and other places.
Discussion on this topic will also be found at: http://home.swipnet.se/islam/books/Shia-faith/04.htm
We would like to leave the readers with these thoughts for them to ponder over them.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Syed-Mohsin Naquvi
Ramadhan-ul-Mubarak 1426 Hijra
Among other things the holy month of Ramadhan is also an occasion to remember the martyrdom of Imam Ali. When we talk about his martyrdom, it is natural that we would look at other aspects of the life of that august personality.
Scholars have said that there are some five hundred verses in the Qur’an which speak about Imam Ali. Some others dispute that number.
We would like to give only two such verses here. It is agreed by the largest number of commentators of Qur’an that these two verses are definitely about Imam Ali.
(A) The first verse is from Sura Baqara. It is about verse 2:207. And the related story for the revelation of that verse is as follows:
[2:207] And among men is he who sells himself to seek the pleasure of Allah; and Allah is Affectionate to the servants.
When the Quraysh got wind of the fact that the Prophet of Islam was preparing to leave Makkah for Madinah, on Hijra, they decided to kill the Prophet of Islam. Forty men from different families of the Quraysh came together and surrounded the house of the Prophet one night with the intention of killing him with one stroke of their swords. They surrounded his house and waited for the early morning hours.
In the meantime, Jibreel came and informed the Prophet of the conspiracy. The Prophet called Ali bin Abi Talib and told him about the impending danger. Ali asked as to what the Prophet wanted him (Ali) to do. The Prophet asked him if he (Ali) would sleep in his (Prophet's) bed that night while he (the Prophet) was intending to slip out of Makkah towards Madinah in the darkness of the night. Ali bin Abi Talib asked: "If I sleep in your bed tonight, will you be safe?" The Prophet replied: "Yes, I will be safe." Ali bin Abi Talib immediately did a sajdah of shukr (thanks to Allah) and agreed to do that. The Prophet left all the property that he had been keeping in trust in Ali's charge with the instructions to reimburse those goods to their rightful owners.
So, Ali slept in the Prophet's bed and the Prophet walked out of the house and moved towards the cave of THAWR reciting verses from Sura Yaaseen.
While the Prophet was walking in the darkness of the night, Jibreel came and revealed the following verse of the Qur'an.
Wa minan-naasi man-yashree nafsahu-b-tigha'a maradhaati(A)llahi wa Allahu ra'oofun bil-ibaad(Q-2:207)
Trans: And among men is he who sells himself to seek the pleasure of Allah; and Allah is affectionate to the servants.
This has been variously reported by the following scholars:
1. Hakim Nayshapoori in his Mustdarak reports from Ibn Abbas.
2. Muhammad bin Sa'ib Kalbi in his Tafseer Tas-heel al-Uloom at-Tanzeel
3. Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Abi Bakr Ansari in his Tafseer Qurtabi
4. Ibn Atheer in his Usud al-Ghaaba
5. Abu Bakt Nayshapoori in his Tafseer
6. Allama Kanji in his Kifayat- Talib
7. Allama Abdur-Rahman Safoori in his Nuzhat al-Majaalis
8. Muhib-ud-Deen Tabari in his Zakha'ir Uqba
9. Abul Hasan Wahidi in his Asbabb an-Nuzool as a commentary on Tafseer Jaalalayn
10. Allama Shablanji in his Noor al-Absaar
The most interesting commentary on this verse is given by Imam Ghazaali in his Ihya Fi Uloom ad-Deen, under the topic AL-EESAAR AL-AN NAFS.
Ghazaali writes that Allah sent called two of the great angels, Jibreel and Meekaa-eel and said: "I make you two brothers of each other. Now can one of you sacrifice his life for the other." Both declined to do that. Allah then pointed to Ali bin Abi Talib sleeping in the Prophet's bed and said: "There is a brother ready to sacrifice his life for another brother."
MY NOTE: I suppose Allama Iqbal had that story related by Ghazaali in mind when he said:
Farishton se behtar hai insaan ban-na,
Magar ismen lagti hai mehnat ziyada.
Trans: It is better to be a human being than an angel, but it takes a lot of doing.
Allah then commanded the two angels to go down and protect Ali bin Talib from the enemies. Thus the two angels came and Jibreel stood by Ali's headrest and Meekaa'eel by his feet. And they both were saying: "Bravo, bravo, O son of Abu Talib, Allah is taking pride in your act of self-sacrifice and showing your glory over the angels." (end of quote from Ghazali)
(B) The second verse that I have chosen for this discussion is from Sura Ma’ida. It is 5:55.
[5:55] Only Allah is your Vali and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the poor-rate while they bow.
An interesting study of the meaning and application of this verse will be found at: http://www.tafseercomparison.org/study3.asp?TitleText=Study%203:%20Verses%205:55-56
In that discussion three well-known works have been compared and a conclusion drawn from the discussion.
There are two very significant things in this verse. First is the use of the word ‘WALIYY’ and the second is the actual episode in which the giving of ZAKAT has been described while doing Ruku.
The word WALIYY is a term which has been recognized (WILAYAT) as an essential element of the Qur’anic concept of IMAMT. Let us remind the reader that while KHILAFAT is a fact of history, it is not a Qur’anic concept as far as the KHILAFAT-E-RASHIDA is concerned. The word Khalifa is mentioned in the Qur’an, but not in the sense of the deputyship of the Prophet. As we explained in a previous post, Khilafat-e-Rashida was a concept created more than a hundred years after the fact due to political expediency and as an urgent need of the Muslim community. The concept of Imamat is coming directly from the Qur’an. Here is this verse, the line of WILAYAT has been traced right from Allah to the Prophet and to another one gives Zakat while in Ruku. Some commentators have translated the ‘WOW’ as a simple conjunction which gives the meaning of ‘and.’ But does not hold logically in that ruku is a part of the salat. Why would Qur’an mention salat and then additionally one specific act of the salat? The only way to do away with the apparent logical flaw in the expression is to translate the ‘WOW’ as an adverbial conjunction which will give the meaning of ‘while.’ Qur’an has used the ‘WOW’ as an adverbial conjunction in many other verses.
In the explanation of that verse, Allama Fakhruddeen Razi has described the story of Imam Ali giving away his ring while he was in ruku in the mosque, to a beggar who had come in to mosque asking for charity. While Qurtubi finds it quite legitimate for a person in Salat to extend his hand towards a beggar so that he may take the ring away, Razi considers the act as making the Salat doubtful.
One of my elders used to say: If Allah can send a verse in praise of Imam Ali’s salat which (according to Razi became doubtful) then all we have to consider is that whatever more Allah must have given to Imam Ali for all his prayers and salat in which there was no doubt at all.
As usual, those who do not want to accept this FAZEELAT of Imam Ali, have made an effort to discredit all such reports and have tried to divert the Shaan-e-nuzool of the verse to other people and other places.
Discussion on this topic will also be found at: http://home.swipnet.se/islam/books/Shia-faith/04.htm
We would like to leave the readers with these thoughts for them to ponder over them.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Syed-Mohsin Naquvi
posted by AlMujtaba at
11:32 AM
