A Glance at the Fundamentals of - Glance at the Fundamentals of WILAYAT ALFAQIH [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

A Glance at the Fundamentals of

the
Trusteeship of the Jurisprudent (Wilayat al-faqih)

By: Ayatollah Jawadi Amuli

Regarding the worship of the
men, what is understood/derived from the Holy Quran is that the most perfect and outstanding attribute
for the man is to be the servant of Allah, because the perfection of every
being/creature is to move on the basis of its own genetic system. And since he
himself is not fully aware of this route and its aim, Allah should guide him
and clarify the reality of the man and the universe and the mutual relation of
the man and the universe.

The relation/connection of
the man with all the phenomena from the one hand and his ignorance/negligence
to the quality of these relations from the other hand specify the necessity of
a guide that is an absolute knowing.

If the man distinguishes this route properly, in
other words if he is the servant of Allah and accepts His Lordship and His
Awareness about all of these cases, then he will attain the best perfection.

Therefore, the most important perfection that the
Glorious Allah propounds in the Holy Quran is "uboudiyah" that
means servantship or devotion'.

>" All praise is God's' Who sent down upon His servant the Book (the Qur'an)..."
(Quran: XVIII, 1)

Just as isra' and
ascension (urouj)
are based on uboudiyah,
the revelation of the Divine Book and its descent are on the basis of uboudiyah.

The man should fly from the platform of uboudiyah if
he wants to have isra' or ascension (miraj) and likes/wills that his
heart becomes the place of the descent of revelation.

The verses "Glory be to Him Who carried His servant (Apostle Muhammad) by night ... " (Quran, XVII,
1)
and "Then revealed He unto His servant what He did reveal." (Quran: LIII, 10), and the verse >" All praise is God's' Who sent down upon His servant the Book (the Qur'an)..."
(Quran: XVIII, 1) all are on the basis of uboudiyah.

This fact is not special for the religious sciences
[/knowledge if the religion] and the eternal sciences, but also the people who
have wilayee
knowledge and rule of the basis of inwardness guide the others, they too have
attained this position on the basis of uboudiyah.

While mentioning the story of Khidr
(the prophet), Allah the Exhaled says: "Then found they one, from among Our
servants..." (Quran, XVIII, 65).

Moses, the Interlocutor of Allah had already been
appointed to benefit from one of special servants of Allah that has taken some
advantage of intuitive knowledge (ilm ladunni). So both Khidr and
the Holy Prophet [of Islam] have attained this position through uboudiyah and
Allah's Favor.

The nest point is that in order to attain the state
of prophecy, caliphate, Imamate and similar states, uboudiyah is the essential although not
sufficient condition, whereas the Divine Favor and Grace and Allah's knowledge
to the futurity, all have efficient roles.

It is not true that if a person becomes a perfect
servant of Allah, he will become a prophet or an Imam. However, he will become a friend (waliyy) of Allah
and not his prophet of messenger, since "God knoweth best where to place His
apostleship"
(Quran: VI, 124). Furthermore the man himself should possess the
perfection of uboudiyah.

At times Allah grants the knowledge, spirituality
and even greatness to some people but none of them are used properly. As the
holy verse "Relate
unto them the news of him whom We gave Our signs, but
he withdrew (himself) from them..."
(Quran: VII, 175) indicates, Allah grants the vital/key positions
such as prophecy, caliphate, Imamate and so on to particular individuals but it
is possible that He grants some greatness, intuitions and spiritual knowledge
to other people as tentative positions, because the human perfection is through
uboudiyah
and it is exclusively for Allah [/just Allah deserves it (uboudiyah)]. "hAnd> commanded thy Lord hath that thou shalt worship not (any
one) but Him,"
(Quran: XVII, 23) that indicates that nobody deserves to be worshiped
and worshipping other than Allah is not permissible.

Guardianship
of the Saints (Righteous)

If it is proved that the perfection of man is amidst
servantship, and man is exclusively a servant of
Allah, so whosoever other than Allah cannot be the real guardian of anybody so
that we could say that God is the genuine guardian. And whosoever other than
Him, like the prophets and saints are subordinate guardians.

After it became clear that the guardianship of the
prophets and saints is not genuine, the guardianship of jurisconsult
(wilayat al-faqih)
becomes clear and many doubts will be solved.

It is important to make it clear that how many real
guardians in a linear sequence there are for man.

Consider the guardianship of a father or a
grandfather upon the interdicted child. Either of them who executes the guardianship, there will be no opportunities for
guardianship of the latter. Is the guardianship upon the society of this
kind/category? Or is it in a linear sequence? ...

The intellectual argument that is confirmed by Quranic verses necessitates that the perfection of man is
to submit/obey one who is aware of the reality of the man and the
universe and the mutual relation/... between them. He is nobody but Allah;
therefore, the worship and guardianship are exclusively for Him,
that is the only guardian of man is Allah.

So it cannot be true that the man has many guardians
some of them are genuine and the others are subordinate, in other words, some
are close guardians and some are far ones, rather the man has one real guardian
that is Allah.

Considering the lifestyle of the prophets, their
most elegant courtesy is the monotheist courtesy. All their acts are based on
this verse: " Verily> my prayer and my sacrifice, my life and my death,
(are all, only) for God, the Lord of
the worlds." (Quran: VI, 162). Although this verse
addresses the Holy Prophet, however, the life and death of all the prophets and
the Infallible are for the sake of Allah.

While the Holy Quran
ascribes the power, strength, glory/honor, bread and some other affairs to
other than Allah, it concludes that these are exclusively for Allah.

Regarding glory/honor Allah bid: >"But for God is all honor and for His Apostle and
for the believers" (Quran: LXIII, 8) At the same time in another surah He bid: "God's (alone) is all honor..." (Quran: XXXV, 10). Concerning power/might' bid: " (>The Lord
said unto Zachariah's son) O' Yahya! Hold thou the Book fast!" (Quran: XIX, 12). And addressed the children of Israel: >"Hold ye fast that which We
have bestowed upon you with the strength (of
determination) " (Quran: II, 63) and addressed the Muslim
combatants: but at the same time then bid: "And prepare ye against them wgatever (force) ye can" (Quran: VIII, 60).

Then Allah bid: "Unto God belongeth all power"
(Quran: II, 165)

Another instance is sustenance/bread'. Allah is
introduced as the Best Provider', that indicates that there are some other
providers but Allah is the best of them. However, in another verse Allah bid: >"Verily, God He (alone) is the Bestower of sustenance, the
Lord of unbreakable strength." (Quran: LI, 58) According to Arabic rhetoric
in indicates that God is the only provider.

Regarding intercession (shafaah), a number of
intercessors are recognized in the Holy Quran as God
says: " It is denoted that there are many intercessors, however, in other
verses emphasizes that the genuine intercession is only for God >"Who is he that can intercede with Him but with His
permission?" (Quran: II, 255).

It is true for guardianship. In surah
Ma'idah God
says:
>"Verily, your guardian is (none else but) God and His Apostle (Muhammad) and those who believe, - those who establish prayer and
pay the poor-rate, while they be (even) bowing down (in prayer)."
(Quran: V, 57). In this verse by assistance of the traditions the
guardianship is proved for the Holy Prophet and the members of his household (Ahl al-Bayt). The
issue is even clearer in surah Ahzab in which God says:
>"The Prophet (Muhammad)
hath a greater claim on the believers than they have on their own selves"
(Quran: XXXIII, 6). The guardianship of the
Holy Prophet upon the lives and the properties of the individuals is higher
than /prior to their own selves. That is why God says in surah
Ahzab:
>"And it is not for a believer man or woman to have
any choice in their affair when God and His Apostle have decided a matter..."
(Quran: XXXIII, 36). Despite these three verses God underscores in
another surah that guardianship is exclusively for
God: "Or have they taken besides Him
guardians? But God, He is the Guardian..." (Quran:
XLII, 9).

This indicates that the guardianship of the apostle,
the Infallible and the saints are not equal to that of Allah. And since the
guardianship is exclusively for Him,

His guardianship cannot be an intermediary of
affirmation of the guardianship for anybody except Allah.

As a [philosophical] example, if water is placed
beside fire, it really gets warm. This nearness to fire is an intermediary for
getting water warm. In this state the qualification of water to warmth is a
real qualification, and this nearness to fire is an intermediary in affirmation
and not in occurrence. But consider the same fire placed in front of a mirror.
In the mirror you can see the flames of fire rising but it is only the
reflection of fire, so the mirror does not get warm due to the flames reflected
therein.

The verses * and * do not mean that the Glory of God
is an intermediary for affirmation of glory for the Holy Prophet and the
saints. Otherwise the Glory of God will become limited, because if a number of
glories exist, then none of them can be unlimited. The infinite leaves no
opportunities for another individual however limited, rather the Glory of God
becomes the intermediary for occurrence of glory for them. The Holy Quran has an elegant term/statement in this regard that is
that these are signs and tokens/symbols of God, namely if a believer is
glorious, he is a sign and token/symbol of God's Glory. Also if the Holy Prophet
is a guardian, his guardianship is a symbol of God's Guardianship. The saints
of God are symbols of the Divine Guardianship, and they demonstrate the Divine
Attributes, while others are dark and obscure and do not indicate the nominal,
attributive or actual perfection.

Allamah Tabataba'i,
our teacher said frequently: "This fact that the religion has declared that
there is no creature in no conditions that is not the
symbol/token of God, is an elegant expression. Because, if it is a symbol of
God, then it is not independent, since if it was independent, then it could not
reflect/manifest God.

Therefore, * and * are essentially (bi al-dhat),
then * is accidental (bi al-arad). By this explanation the
interpretation of the verses *, * and * becomes clear.

Allah, the Exalted, asked Moses, the interlocutor:

-
"Why didn't
you visit me when I was sick?"

Moses answered: "But You
never become sick."

-
"That believer
servant that was sick is my manifestation (incarnates Me).
If you respected him, you would respect Me."

These are not allusion, trope/allegory, metaphor and
simile, rather they indicate seeing God reflected in the mirror of [the heart
of] a believer. Then one understands that the others (other than Allah) are
nothing, and Allah has not ** in anybody. The same as fire flame or sunshine
that do not **
in the mirror, and do not unite with it. Thus the ** and the unification are
impossible.

By
the assistance of such a sight the divine guardian knows his position properly
and is aware of being the creatures symbols/tokens [of
God].

Guardianship upon the Elite

The
guardianship of the Prophet and the Imam upon the society is not such as the
guardianship upon the fool, the madman, and the interdicted persons.