Carrying Out the Religious Responsibility

Carrying Out the Religious Responsibility

Islam

The Noblest Prophet (God’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) came to grasp the hand of the humanity and to lift it from the swamps of the Jahiliah [the period before Islam] towards the divine glory and purity; he came to guide the humanity towards the divine light and towards the straight path…

He (God's prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his household) was followed by many of those who had pure natures and whom the breezes of the truth tickled their hearts, so that the dust of slumber and the dirtiness of the sins would be wiped out. Once one of them used to utter the two testimonies: “There is no god but God, and Mohammad is God’s Apostle”, he used to move from the groups of the dwellers of Hell and from the societies of the Jahiliah which were drowning in misery and loss and would enter into a new society which was elevated by The Most High God and was called “Islam”. Then, he used to turn to be one of the Muslims. Yes, “Islam” is a name chosen by The Most High and Glorified God: ﴾Truly, the religion with Allah is Islam…﴿1

Why was this name chosen in particular?

What Is the Meaning of Islam?

The word “Islam” was meant to distinguish the honest worshippers of The Most Glorified and High God from the other human beings who went astray and lost the path after being persuaded by cursed Satan, so their souls weakened in front of him and thus submitted to him. Those latter people can be classified into two groups.

The first group refused the faith from the very beginning to the extent that some of them declared publicly their enmity to The Most High God, His religion, and His prophets. History witnessed many of these people who went so far to the extent of killing the prophets and the authorities…

The second group accepted and abhorred a part of the religion [which was in conformity with their fancies and desires], yet they refused the other part which did not agree with their fancies and desires. They, therefore, accepted what was in harmony with their desires or at least what was in no contradiction with their desires, but they refused everything else. The Most High God regarded those people as atheists and reprimanded them in The Noble Qur'an. The Most High God says, ﴾…saying, “We believe in some but reject the others,” and wish to adopt a way in between * They are in truth disbelievers. And We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating torment.﴿2 On the other hand, God’s honest worshippers are those who submitted to The Most High and Glorified God and to His prophet. The Most High God says, ﴾But no, by your Lord, they can have no faith, until make you (O Mohammad) judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions and accept (them) with full submission.﴿3

The one who submits is the real believer and is the winner on the Day of Judgment. From here came the name of Islam to express the submission of this group to The Most High God. There are also many narratives that indicate this fact. It is ascribed to The Prince of the Believers Imam Ali (God’s peace bestowed upon him) that he said, “Islam is the submission…” It is also ascribed to him (God’s peace bestowed upon him) that he said, “The beginning of Islam is the good submission to God’s Will.”

How Is Submission Fulfilled?

Submission means the abidance to what the sacred doctrine came with from The Most Glorified and High God.

It is to believe in what the sacred doctrine came with and in its goodness; and it is to practically abide by it and execute it whether it is in agreement with or in contradiction to our desires. The continuation of the above mentioned narrative which is ascribed to The Prince of the Believers (God’s peace bestowed upon him) is: “Islam is the submission. And the submission is the belief. And the belief is the conviction. And the conviction is the performance. And the performance is the work.”

How Is Obedience Fulfilled?

Carrying out the religious responsibility can be divided into two parts:

1- The Constant Religious Standards: The Muslims must abide by these standards, such as: praying, fasting, paying out the fifth of one’s money, performing pilgrimage, etc.

2- The Benefits and the Evils: The Muslims must refer to the religious leader who reveals the judgment of The Most High and Glorified God. Also, they must obey him in order to achieve the benefits of Islam and the Muslims and in order to drive the evils away from them. The Most High God says, ﴾O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger (Prophet Mohammad) and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority…﴿4

Who Is the Authority Whom the Muslims Must Obey?

The Most High God points out in the just mentioned verse to the persons who must be obeyed: ﴾…and obey the Messenger and those of you who are in authority…﴿. It is doubtless that The Noblest Prophet (God’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) was the one who used to diagnose the benefits and the evils and to guide the Islamic society at the very start of the Muslims. Next to him, The Prince of the Believers (God’s peace bestowed upon him) carried, being ordered by The Most High God to do so, this mission. Next to him, one Imam after Imam has been the authority in this nation till the period of the absence of our Imam The Waited For Al-Houjja Al-Mahdi (May God hasten his honorable revelation). Then, who is the leader to whom the Muslims must refer to during the period of the absence of The Master of This Time Imam Al-Houjja Al-Mahdi (May God hasten his honorable revelation)?

The Guardianship of the Jurisprudence

The Imams (God’s peace bestowed upon them) determined the guardian whom the Muslims must refer to and to whose orders and forbiddances they must abide. He is the jurisprudence who gathers in himself the requisite conditions. This is clearly indicated in the narratives. It is ascribed to Imam Al-Sadik (God’s peace bestowed upon him) that he said, “I have appointed him [the jurisprudence] a governor over you. If he takes a decision yet you do not abide by this decision, then it is considered an underestimation of God’s judgment and a tergiversation against us. And he who tergiversates against us is a tergiversator against God.”

The sacred doctrine would not impose on us a certain obedience unless it were for our own benefit. It is related in the narrative ascribed to God’s prophet (God’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) that he said, “Listen to and obey whom God appointed as a guardian, for he is the system of Islam.”

In this time, the jurisprudence who gathers in himself the required conditions is Imam Sayyed Ali Al-Khaminaei (May God lengthen his presence among us). Abidance to his guardianship implies the abidance to everybody he appoints in any affair.

Submission Is the Path of Heaven

The believing human being must consider his hereafter and the fruits he is going to gain there as a result of his work in this life. The aim of the believer is, therefore, to win the hereafter before anything else. Henceforth, commitment to religious responsibility has a special value because it is far away from the worldly benefits and impacts. Moreover, it grants, before anything else, a good end for the human being. It is ascribed to Imam Al-Sadik (God’s peace bestowed upon him) that he said, “Everyone who adheres to the firm bond is going to be safe.” He was asked, “What is it [wanting the firm bond]?” he (God’s peace bestowed upon him) answered, “It is the submission.” Salvation, therefore, is attached to submission.

The Path of Victory

The Worldly Impacts

The abidance to one rational and pious leadership has its fruits in this life before in the hereafter. It, on the one hand, unites this nation. Obeying the guardian represents the system which guarantees the interrelation and union and power. On the other hand, it brings about victory and glory. How could it not be so, and The Most High God has granted us victory through the abidance to the order of the guardian whom we must obey. The Most High God says, ﴾…Verily, Allah will help those who help His (Cause)…﴿5 Moreover, The Most High God says, ﴾And whosoever takes Allah, His Messenger and those who have believed as Protectors, then the party of Allah will be victorious.﴿6

For Reading

Such Be the Obedience to the Guardianship

In the Battle of Siffin, Imam Ali’s (God’s peace bestowed upon him) army was confronting Mouaweeya’s army, and the fire of war was enkindled between them. Each army crept into the other army. They threw each other with bows and hit each other with spears and swords. The war went on for thirty six weeks during which the killed from the people of Sham summed up to ninety thousands and those from the people of Iraq to twenty thousands.

The Alawiye army was drawing near to the center of the leadership of the Amaweeyet army, and the victory was appearing from afar. Mouaweeya was endangered, and he could not resist but by means of trickery and cunning. Accordingly, he ordered his companions to tie in the middle of the night the books of Qur’an to the tops of the spears. When the morning broke, there were five hundred books of Qur’an raised over the tops of the spears with them [the Amaweeyet] calling the people of Iraq to stop the war.

The Prince (God’s peace bestowed upon him) said, “It is a word of truth [wanting their saying, 'There is no judgment but for God'] yet meant for falsehood. Lend me your arms and your souls for one more hour, for the truth has reached its critical point, and the only thing remaining is the uprooting of those who oppressed.”

At the same time, about twenty thousand soldiers from the Alawite army who later from the Khawarij came to The Imam (God’s peace bestowed upon him) and said to him, “O Ali, answer those people to God’s Book; otherwise, we will kill you.”

In that hour, Malek Al-Ashtar (May God be pleased with him) was fighting and approaching towards Mouaweeya’s tent. So, those ones [the Khawarij] cried, “O Ali, send to Al-Ashtar to stop fighting.” As a result, The Imam (God’s peace bestowed upon him) sent to him [to stop fighting].

Al-Ashtar would not like to leave the fighting front line. And had they given him one more hour, he would have exterminated Mouawiya along with his entire army. However, because of his commitment to the guardianship, he stopped and came back in spite of his own perception that it would have been better to go on fighting on the contrary to those Khawarej who seceded from the guardianship. To add, had it not been for them, their [The Imams (God’s peace bestowed upon them)] guardianship would have continued till our time.

1- The Noble Qur'an/ Al-Omran [Omran’s Household] Chapter/ Verse 19
2- The Noble Qur'an/ Al-Nisaa [The Women] Chapter/ Verses 150 and 151
3- The Noble Qur'an/ Al-Nisaa Chapter/ Verse 65
4- The Noble Qur'an/ Al-Nisaa [The Women] Chapter/ Verse 59
5- The Noble Qur'an/ Al-Hajj [The Pilgrimage] Chapter/ Verse 40
6- The Noble Qur'an/ Al-Ma’ida [The Table Spread with Food] Chapter/ Verse 56