Imamat as the Eternal Sunnah of Allah (Part 2)
Imamat as the Eternal Sunnah of Allah (Part 2)
The Ismaili View of the Continuous Presence of God's Khalifah
In part 1 of “Imamat as the Eternal Sunnah of Allah”, using various Qur’anic ayat and Ismaili commentaries on these verses, it was shown that for Shi‘i Ismaili Muslims, never has there been — nor ever could there be — any fundamental change in God’s custom or way (sunnah) regarding the presence of Divine guidance and the True Guide among the people of the earth. With special attention to the story of Adam it was established that God’s guidance and His recognition is attained through His Khalifah (Vicegerent), the Prophet or Imam of the time, who must, in accordance with God’s sunnah, be divinely appointed and cannot be selected by those who are in need of his guidance. We also learnt with the help of the Qur’an that not only does God select who represents Him on the earth, but He also continues His Khilafat (Vicegerency) in the family or progeny of the one who is chosen to be the Imam.
Before continuing with part 2, one should, if they have not yet already, read part 1 (by clicking here), so that the Ismaili principle of the continuous “Chain of the Light of Imamat” (Silsilah-yi Nur-i Imamah) is well understood. Failure to recognize this principle, or rejecting the divinely appointed Imam of the time and preferring instead to give one’s allegiance (bay‘ah) to someone else (or to no one at all), inevitably leads one to be counted among the mushriks, who, as stated towards the end of part 1, are those who associate others with God’s sunnah of establishing His own Khilafah.
Confirming the Ismaili interpretation of shirk (associating or joining others with God) is Hakim Pir Nasir-i Khusraw, the celebrated 11th century Persian philosopher, poet and teacher of the Imam’s ta’wil, who was elevated to the rank of hujjah (“proof” of the Imam’s esoteric knowledge) under the Fatimid Imam-Caliph, Mawlana al-Mustansir bi’llah⁽ᶜ⁾. “The ta’wīl of associating someone with God”, writes Nasir-i Khusraw, “is to install a false [imam] in place of the true Imam” (Wajh-i Dīn, Discourse 43). Elaborating on the true meaning of being a mushrik, Pir Nasir explains that, in reality, it is not possible for anyone to actually associate anything or anyone with God Himself, Who absolutely transcends even the possibility of being associated with anything or anyone else. Rather, the “unforgivable sin” of shirk has to do with not properly recognizing or accepting the authority of the true Imam and associating other, fallible claimants with the one and only divinely chosen Khalifah of Allah. Sayyidna Nasir-i Khusraw writes:
The ta’wīl of associating someone with God is to consider someone else Imam and to ascribe the truth to him, instead of the Imam of the time, who takes the place of God by His command, and not to know him [i.e. the Imam] as being unique, bearing no resemblance to his adversary. It should be known that this is an unforgivable sin. [It should also be known that] no one [actually] associates someone with God. Rather, [this commandment] is God’s parable for His sincere servants so that they may avoid it [i.e. associating someone else with the Imam of the time].
Ḥakīm Nāṣir-i Khusraw, Wajh-i Dīn, tr. Faquir Muhammad Hunzai, Discourse 43 (draft translation).
It should be noted that shirk, as understood according to Ismaili ta’wil, is not only limited to choosing someone other than the divinely designated Imam of the time as the Khalifatu’llah. It can, and often does, involve choosing oneself (implicitly) as God’s representative, in the sense that one may consider oneself and one’s own opinions to be greater than the guidance and authority of the True Guide of the time. Considering oneself and one’s partial intellect to be all that is needed to properly understand God and His Book and to practice His Religion correctly, one might ignore or doubt the Imam’s teaching and guidance or, even worse, reject and oppose the position and authority of the Imam altogether.
We have seen this occur, as ‘Allamah Hunzai reminds us in his book, Pir Nasir Khusraw and Spirituality, with Iblis, who felt (and argued with God) that he was better than Adam⁽ᶜ⁾. It was this form of shirk that was so grave that he was not forgiven. We witness the same erroneous and arrogant behavior in the mushriks of Noah’s time, which led, as we read in part 1, to their (spiritual) destruction. ‘Allamah Hunzai observes how it is this sinful act — “the greatest shirk” — where one willfully and egoistically rejects Allah’s eternal sunnah of guiding humanity through the True Guide, that causes people to place themselves in the most dire situation of being unable to receive or accept Divine guidance and forgiveness.
The same event happened in the time of Nūḥ (a.s.), that those who were destroyed by drowning were, in reality, mushriks, because they gave preference to their own intellect over the intellect of Allāh’s Khalīfah and did not accept his unique position among the people of the world. Thus they, by rejecting the guidance of the true Guide, were so far away from the right path that it was not possible for them to come back to it. This was the sign of the greatest shirk, after which no means of guidance and forgiveness was left.
‘Allāmah Naṣīr al-Dīn Naṣīr Hunzai, Pīr Nāṣir-i Khusraw awr Rūḥāniyyat, tr. Faquir Muhammad Hunzai, Rashida Noormohamed-Hunzai, Pīr Nāṣir Khusraw and Spirituality, 45.
In addition to disobeying the Lord’s command, when one turns away from the true Imam, one loses the ability or opportunity to have recognition (ma‘rifah) of the Khalifatu’llah’s true, inner reality (haqiqah), just as Iblis, due to his pride and arrogance, was unable to prostrate to and recognize the haqiqah of Adam⁽ᶜ⁾. As a Prophetic hadith indicates, salvation is secured by embarking on the ‘Ark’ of Ahl al-Bayt, which means salvation lies in one’s recognition of the sunnah of Allah within His chosen servants before one loses the chance to do so and is thus ruined. As said in 40:85: “The sunnah of Allah is that which has continued in His servants (fī ‘ibādihi), and the disbelievers (kāfirūn) are ruined [or are in utter loss] (khasira).” The esoteric and deeper spiritual meaning of 40:85 is unveiled when we realize, as does ‘Allamah Hunzai, that