Salutations to the Imam ar-Raouf
Jul 25, 2018 04:56 UTC
Salaam and heartiest felicitations to you on a very auspicious day.
It is the auspicious 11th of Zil-Qa’dah, the day that marks the climax to the “Dah-e Karamat” or the Ten Days of Beneficence that we have been celebrating since the blessed birth anniversary of Out Innocent Lady of Qom, Hazrat Fatema al-Ma’souma (SA). To be more precise today is the birth anniversary of her Infallible Brother, Imam ar-Raouf or the Most Clement Leader, Imam Ali ar-Reza (AS), the 8th Righteous Successor of the Mercy unto all mankind, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA).
“It is He who sends down manifest signs to His servant that He may bring you out of darkness into light, and indeed Allah is Most Kind and Merciful (Raouf ar-Raheem رَءوفٌ رَحيمٌ) to you.”
What you heard was ayah 9 of Surah al-Hadeed of the Holy Qur’an. As is obvious from the wording of this ayah, Almighty Allah calls Himself “Raouf ar-Raheem”, which means “Most Kind and Merciful”, while directing our thoughts to the manifest signs He has entrusted His Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) for enlightening our minds, souls and hearts in order to remove the stains of darkness that gather because of ignorance and arrogance.
In the holy Qur’an, the All-Merciful Lord has called Himself “Raouf ar-Raheem” on eleven occasions, and in one ayah has used the same phrase in ayah 128 of Surah Towbah to describe His Seal of Messengers, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA):
“There has certainly come to you a Prophet from among yourselves; grievous to him is your distress; he has deep concern for you, and is Most Kind and Merciful (Raouf ar-Raheem) to the faithful.”
Indeed Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), as the “Mercy unto the entire creation”, as is evident by ayah 107 of Surah al-Anbiyah, was entrusted with the universal message of Islam and embodied the most sublime virtues, as reflection of the attributes of the Unseen but Omnipresent Lord Who cannot be encompassed by the eyes of the creatures.
This was necessary for guidance of human societies on the path of perfection, and it means that after the passing away of the Prophet there should be divinely-designated heirs who personify these same God-given virtues of the Messenger of Mercy, including the attribute of “Raouf ar-Raheem” so as to serve as Barometers of Belief for Muslims.
To remove any doubts in this regard and to draw a permanent line between the truth and falsehood, or between the righteous Imams and the imposters, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), towards the end of his 23-year mission, as commanded by the Lord Most High proclaimed his dear cousin and son-in-law, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) as his heir, vicegerent and caliph with that historical sentence:
“For whomsoever I am Master, this Ali is his Master.”
Glory to the Lord Most High. He never leaves mankind without guidance. The Commander of the Faithful throughout his memorable life – during the lifetime of the Prophet, the 25-years he patiently endured on the usurpation of his political right of leadership, and his four-and-a-half rule as head of the Islamic realm – gave a manifest demonstration of all his God-given virtues, including the phrase “the Most Kind and Merciful”.
The Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt after him continued the path of the Prophet as paragons-par-excellence of virtues, even under the most adverse circumstances, as Imam Husain (AS) displayed in Karbala during his tragic martyrdom.
Today on the occasion of the blessed birthday of the Prophet’s 8th Infallible Heir, as devotees from far and near salute Imam Reza (AS) – inside his holy shrine in Mashhad, at mosques and hussainiyyas all over the world, from the privacy of homes, on TV and radio, and in newspaper columns –“Ya Imam ar-Raouf”, we become better cognizant of the Words of Allah the All-Wise in ayah 128 of Surah Towbah of the Holy Qur’an regarding the Seal of Messengers:
“There has certainly come to you a Prophet from among yourselves; grievous to him is your distress; he has deep concern for you, and is Most Kind and Merciful (Raouf ar-Raheem) to the faithful.” (9:128)
This is further proof of the fact that Imamate is the divinely-designated succession to Prophethood, and in every era the Infallible Heirs of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) made manifest their God-given traits for the guidance of Muslims.
Imam Reza (AS) needs no introduction. Born in the Prophet’s city Medina on the 11th of Zil-Qa’dah in the year 148 AH, some two weeks after the martyrdom of his grandfather, Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS), he was named by his father Imam Musa Kazem (AS) as “Ali” in honour of his illustrious ancestor, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). It was clear he was bestowed with Divine Knowledge for which he was respected. As the eldest son, he shouldered a heavy responsibility especially during the intermittent bouts of imprisonment lasting several years to which his noble father was subjected by the self-styled caliphs of the usurper Abbasid regime. Thus, in the absence of his father, he was the beacon of light for guiding all those who called on the threshold of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt.
He was 35-years old, when the mantle of the Divine Trust of Imamate came to rest on his shoulders in 183 AH on the martyrdom of Imam Kazem (AS) through poisoning in the dungeon of Baghdad. For the next twenty years, before his own life was cut short in 203 AH at the age of 55, again by poisoning, he spared no efforts to steer the ship of Islam to the shores of salvation through stormy seas of Abbasid tyranny. So dexterously he discharged his duties that he was hailed by the Ummah as “Reza”, or the person who is completely satisfied with the Will of God and with whom all other people, whatever their jurisprudential denomination, and whether friend or foe, are also satisfied.
For seventeen years in his hometown Medina, if the spiritual leadership of Imam Reza (AS) pleased the masses, it aroused the displeasure of the Abbasid regime, especially the new self-styled caliph, Mamoun, who had made distant Marv in Khorasan, his capital, and to which he forced the Prophet’s heir to come in the year 201 AH. The deceitful Mamoun tried to dupe the people into believing that he was willing to hand over the temporal power of the Islamic realm to the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt by declaring Imam Reza (AS) as “Heir Apparent” and minting coins with the 8th Imam’s name to celebrate the occasion.
The Imam ar-Raouf, however, exposed Mamoun and the entire institution of the caliphate as scandalous and without having any Islamic legitimacy, by expressing those immortal words: “If the caliphate is yours, you cannot give it to others what God has given you, but if it is not yours, you cannot give to others what does not belong to you.”
Imam Reza (AS) thus showed that his position as the Prophet’s Infallible Heir was beyond the grasp of anyone, and whether or not he possessed political powers, real authority belonged to him as God’s representative on earth during his time.
That is the reason when history has erased even the graves of the imposter caliphs, let alone their palaces of pleasure, the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt, whether in the grand mausoleums of Mashhad, Najaf, Karbala, Kazemayn and Samarra, or whether in their roofless resting places in the destroyed Jannat al-Baqie Cemetery, continue to rule the hearts and minds of the faithful, as the divinely-ordained “Raouf ar-Raheem”.
AS/MG
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