THE MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE
There is no denying the fact that Ahlulbayt were the most knowledgeable of all men ever to be born on earth. We give here a few narrations that confirm the high position of the Ahlulbayt.
Hadees 684 of chapter 49 of al-Kafi states that there was no knowledge that God had given to Prophet that he did not share with Ali.
See the narration:
Indeed (angel) Gabriel brought two pomegranates to the Messenger of Allah ate one of them; then he broke the other into two, and ate one half himself and gave the other half to ‘Ali to eat. Then the Messenger of Allah said: ‘O my brother! Do you know what these two pomegranates were? He said: ‘No.’ He said: ‘The first was the prophethood and you have no part in it, but the other was Knowledge and you are an (equal) partner with me in it.’ I said: ‘May Allah make things well for you, how is this? How did he become a partner with him in it?’ He said: ‘Allah did not teach Mohammad any knowledge, without commanding him to teach it to Ali.
You will be interested to know that a verse from Svetasvatara-Upanishad says:
One ate the sweet fruit and the other looked on without eating.
Not only this, it is evident from the following verses of Svetasvatara-Upanishad that Mohammad and Ali are being talked about. See for yourself:
IV.I
He who is one, without any colour, by the manifold exercise of his power distributes many colours in his hidden purpose and into whom in the beginning and at the end the universe is gathered. May He endow us with a clear understanding.
“He who is one without any colour” here has been used for the Non-Manifest Absolute God when He was alone. It is said that He was without any colour, but through His power He was able to create several powers having myriad colours. Who these several powers with colour are will be described in the next verse. It is stated that all beginning emanates from Him and all end concludes in Him.
IV.2
That indeed is Agni, that is Aditya, that is Vayu and that is the moon. That indeed is the pure. That is Brahma. That is the waters. That is Praja-pati.
This verse talks of the powers that got created out of the Absolute God, the colours that were given by One who Himself was without colour. Note that here again 7 names have been taken.
IV.3
You are woman. You are man. You are the youth and the maiden too. You, as an old man, otter along with a staff. Being born you become facing in every direction.
It is clarified here that the Absolute God alone need to be worshipped. He is the power behind all the Divinities (which included men and women), thereby suggesting that there was atleast a woman in the list of 7 described above. This Absolute God, when His powers became manifest, appeared to look in all directions.
IV. 5
The One Unborn, red, white and black, who produces manifold offspring similar in form (to himself), there lies the one unborn delighting. Another unborn gives her up, having had his enjoyment.
This verse clearly talks of Mohammad, Ali and Fatima. We know now that the one Noor or Self became two and part of one when joined in conjugal relationship with the second of the two led to the creation of remaining Ahlulbayt, viz. the Aswins (Hasan, Husain) and 9 others in Husain’s progeny. It is to be noted here that they are referred to as Unborn, suggesting clearly that the relationship being talked about would be properly understood when they would take birth at a later stage. Mohammad’s saying that all of them were Mohammad and hence identical too is endorsed here when it is said that manifold offspring similar in form were produced. After having had his enjoyment, one Unborn viz. Noor of Mohammad gave his daughter to another Unborn viz. Noor of Ali, who would be producing manifold offspring similar in form (to himself). All would be Mohammad.
We invite you to note that for the first time in these verses, the word ‘her’ has been used signifying that a female is being talked about. That female is none other but Noor of Fatima.
IV.6
Two birds, companions (who are) always united, cling to the self-same tree. (Of these two) the one eats the sweet fruit, and the other looks on without eating.
Now that the three have been talked about, it is clearly stated that in spite of the fact that the two had the same origin (cling to the self-same tree), one ate the fruit of Prophethood, while the other looked on without eating. This is exactly what happened in the real life of Prophet Mohammad and Ali, as the description given in al-Kafi is talking about. Even here in the Upanishad, the word ‘self-same tree’ is remarkable and suggests that the two were related to the same Manifest Self. You are also invited to note the word ‘tree’ as you will find some Upanishads describing the tree in detail. Inverted tree is also mentioned by Krishna in Gita. That tree of Gita, with its roots in heaven and branches coming to the world, is nothing else but these Ahlulbayt or Devatas, who have their roots in heaven, in the Manifest Self, and they take birth on earth as branches.
Is there any doubt that the Upanishad above talks of the Noor that descended in Mohammad and Ali, who are described as always united and who both are produced from the same self. As if continuing with Mohammad’s statement that all the Ahlulbayt are same as Mohammad, this verse too confirms their equality and unity.
Next verse even states Ali’s position when caliphate was denied to him and he was mocked upon, cursed and abused by people. It is narrated that on one occasion, Fatima asked Ali she had heard people have stopped saluting Ali. Ali said not only have they stopped saluting, they have even stopped responding to his salam (salutation). This was despite the fact that responding to salam has been made obligatory on Muslims. Imagine the situation of man who was once the blue-eyed man of Mohammad and within days those who saw Mohammad as their Prophet stopped responding to the salutations of Ali. This shows that a near total social boycott of Ali had been done, within six months of Prophet Mohammad’s death. We can say this because Fatima died within six months of Mohammad’s departure. In spite of this, Ali is happy to see that an increasingly large number of people are worshipping his Lord – the Absolute God - which was the real purpose of all that Mohammad and Ali were aspiring to achieve.
IV.7
On the self-same tree, a person immersed (in the sorrows of the world) is deluded and grieves on account of his helplessness. When he sees the other, the Lord who is worshipped and His greatness, he becomes freed from sorrow.
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There is no doubt that the Ahlulbayt were created prior to all the creation. If they possess highest knowledge, then we should not be surprised.
Commenting on the dimensions of the knowledge of Imams, Imam Musa al-Kazim – the seventh Imam – stated in Hadees 687 of the book al-Kafi:
The extent of our knowledge is of three kinds: that which is madin (lit., past), that which is ghabir (lit. continues) and that, which is hadees (i.e. happening now). As for that which is madin, it has been explained (to us by the Holy Prophet), and that which is ghabir is written down (with us), and that which is hadees (comes to us through) being cast into (our hearts, and through) being spoken (naqr, lit., tapped) into (our) ears. This latter is the most excellent of our knowledge, and there is no prophet after our Prophet.
We must remember that conditions were not suitable for Ahlulbayt to divulge more than this. Whatever they said to highlight their superhuman position was camouflaged, lest the people who did eventually kill them, would have killed them earlier.
In the same manner, Hadees 692 of al-Kafi talks of the narrator who says:
I went into the presence of Husain and I heard him say: ‘Truly Allah, to Whom belong Might and Majesty, has educated his Prophet in moral perfections (Addaba) because of His love for him, and He has said: Surely thou art upon a mighty morality (Quran, Surah al-Qalam, 68:4). Then He delegated (the duty, for example, to educate others) to him, and He to Whom belong Might and Majesty said: Whatever the Messenger gives you, take; whatever he forbids you, give over (Quran: al-Hashr, 59:7); and He to Whom belong Might and Majesty said: Whosoever obeys the Messenger, thereby obeys Allah (Quran: an-Nisa, 4:80).’” He said: “Then he said: ‘Verily, the Prophet of Allah delegated (it) to Ali and entrusted (it) to him. Then you accepted this but the (other) people rejected it. By Allah, we desire that you should speak when we speak, and be silent when we are silent. We are what is between you and Allah, to Whom belong Might and Majesty. Allah has not created any good for anyone against our commands.’
Note the wordings “We are what is between you and Allah” and “Allah has not created any good for anyone against our commands” confirm they were the links between God and us and had a superhuman role as Divinities or Noors. The Upanishads as well as Gita talk of this in exactly the same way. All the beings were created by God because of the Devatas. Gita says the God is to be reached but only through the Self. Upanishads describe that Self comprise of nothing but these Devatas. And in the preceding example, Imam has confirmed once again that the original spirit that was created had a direct relationship with them.
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Hadees no. 694 also states that the entire affairs of the creatures are presented in front of Mohammad, which is exactly what the Upanishads had meant when they said that the animate and non-animate – all were created because of Devatas, when God was pleased of their worship.
See: I heard the fifth Imam Mohammad al-Baqar say: ‘Verily, Allah, to Whom belong Might and Majesty, has delegated to His Prophet the affairs of His creatures, so that He can see how (good) their obedience is.’ Then they recited this verse: Whatever the Messenger gives you, take; whatever he forbids you, give over.”
Affairs would include in which wombs would the spirit be placed, where would the rain come, how much of food would be given, when and where the death would come. We have seen the Upanishads too confirm the same role of Devatas.
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Hadees no. 695 is a long narration from the eighth Ahlulbat Jafar al-Sadiq, which talks of the Holy Spirit (Paramatma) and its relation to Mohammad. Surely there will be people who will find very difficult to digest this. They might say that the Muslims coined all this information to create a link with Paramatma. Such people should know that till now no Muslim has any idea of the true role of Paramatma, neither of Spirit nor of Ahlulbayt. Whereas all this information has remained in their books since several hundred years. See:
I heard Jafar Sadiq say to one of the companions Qays al-Masir: ‘Surely Allah, to Whom belong Might and Majesty, educated His Prophet in moral perfections and made his education excellent, and when He had perfected his education for him he said: Surely thou art upon a mighty morality (Quran: Surah al-Qalam, 68:4). Then he delegated to him the affairs of the religion and the community, so that he might rule over and guide His creatures. And He, to Whom belong Might and Majesty, said: Whatever the Messenger gives you, take; whatever he forbids you, give over (Quran, Surah al-Hashr, 59:7). Verily, the Messenger of Allah was the one who was rightly guided, the one who succeeded, and the one who was confirmed by the Roohu’l-qudus (the Pure Spirit). He neither slipped nor erred in anything by which he ruled and guided the creatures. So he was educated in the moral perfection of Allah.
`In this way Allah, to Whom belong Might and Majesty made the prayer obligatory as two two rakahs, then rakahs (all together, in the daily prayers). The Messenger of Allah added to the two rakahs, two rakahs (i.e., in the prayers of noon, afternoon and night), and one rakah at sunset (maghrib), and these are counted as equal to the obligatory ones. They may not be omitted except while journeying; and he made the additional rakah in maghrib single and made it fixed both while journeying and while at home. And Allah, to Whom belong Might and Majesty, permitted all of this to him, and the obligation became seventeen rakahs. Then the Messenger of Allah actualized the supererogatory prayers as thirty-four rakahs, twice the obligatory (number of) prayers, and Allah, to Whom belong Might and Majesty, permitted this to him. So the obligatory and supererogatory prayers were fifty-one rakahs. Of these are the two rakahs sitting down after darkness (utamah, that is, after obligatory night prayer), which is counted as one rakah to go with (the one rakah of) al-watr. (The supererogatory prayers are: noon, eight rakahs; afternoon, eight; sunset four; after mid-night, eight and two (ash-shaf) and one (al-watr); morning two; altogether thirty three, plus the two maghrib ones sitting counted as one, making a total of thirty-four).
`Allah has made the fast of Ramazan obligatory in every year, and the Messenger of Allah actualized the fasting of Shaban and of three days in each month, twice the obligatory (fast) (i.e., 30 plus (3x10) days, not obligatory, just as the supererogatory prayers), and Allah, to Whom belong Might and Majesty permitted this to him. Allah, to Whom belong Might and Majesty, made wine (khamr) forbidden in its essence, and the Messenger of Allah made any drink, which intoxicates, forbidden, and Allah permitted all this to him.
The Messenger of Allah detested certain things and showed his dislike of them, but he did not forbid them with an obligatory forbidding (haram), instead he forbade them with the forbidding of detestation and dislike. He conceded that they might be done, and the carrying out of what he had conceded became an obligation on the creatures just as the obligation of carrying out what is forbidden and what is ordained (i.e., it became forbidden for them to abstain absolutely from doing that which was only makruh (detested and disliked]). The Messenger of Allah did not concede to them anything which he had forbidden with an obligatory forbidding, nor (allow them not to do) anything which he had commanded by a command which must be obeyed. So he forbade any intoxicating drink with an obligatory forbidding, and did not concede to anyone in this. And the Messenger of Allah did not concede to anyone any reduction in the two rakahs which he had put with what Allah, to Whom belong Might and Majesty, had made obligatory, but rather he ordained them with an obligatory ordaining. He did not concede to anyone anything of these except for the traveller. No one can permit anything unless the Messenger of Allah has conceded it. Thus the command of the Messenger of Allah corresponds to the command of Allah, to Whom belong Might and Majesty, and his forbidding to the forbidding of Allah, to Whom belong Might and Majesty; and submission to him was made obligatory on creatures just as submission to Allah, the Blessed, the Sublime.’
Isn’t it proof of our claim, which is also authorized by the Upanishads, that since the beings were created because God was pleased with the worship of the Devatas, the latter took it upon themselves to lead and show the way towards worship of God? Muslims with their present understanding cannot elaborate on what is being said here. In fact, they have discarded as fake the countless other narrations that have come to us in various books of tradition. But what can they do when whatever was present in their books and which they were finding it hard to believe, is now being endorsed by scriptures of other religion viz. Sanatan scriptures. Imam, in clear words, is saying it is they who have framed the rules and have always desired to have more worshippers of God. The same is said in the Brhad-aranyaka Upanishad which talks of the God’s desire to have a Self and the Self went about worshipping. Then it desired there be more (worshippers) and thus the Manifest Self was given the go-ahead to create more so that there be more worshippers. However, God also created Zulmat and man was left between Noor and Zulmat as two extreme powers.
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Hadees no. 696 further confirms that we all owe obedience to the Messenger of God. Mohammad al-Baqar and Jafar al-Sadiq, the 7th and 8th Ahlulbayt respectively, have both said:
Verily, Allah, the Blessed, the Sublime, has delegated to His Prophet the affairs of His creatures, so that He can see how (good) their obedience is.
Then they recited this Quranic verse:
Whatever the Messenger gives you, take; and whatever he forbids you, give over.
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