Farewell to the father of the barometer of faith

Condolences to you on a sad day in the life of Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny). Today is the 7th of the fasting month of Ramadhan, and we quote the Prophet’s statement of sadness on this day, when he said:

 “O Uncle, may Allah have mercy on you. You nurtured me when I was small, looked after me when I became an orphan, and supported me when I became a grown-up. May Allah reward you manifold.”

As is clear, from the statement of the Prophet, it is the lasting tribute of an aggrieved nephew to a loving uncle, who was indeed a father-figure fully deserving the best of Allah’s rewards.

Who was the uncle and who was the nephew, and what is so significant about them to be remembered in an exclusive article on the front page of a leading English daily?

Today, the 7^th of Ramadhan provides us the answer. It is the anniversary of the passing away of the said uncle, exactly 1442 lunar years ago in the then obscure city of Mecca. His name was “Imran” and as a scion of the monotheist Hashemite clan, he was custodian of Prophet Abraham’s edifice to the One and Only God, the Holy Ka’ba.

But do we eulogize every custodian of the symbolic House of God, since many of them could be persons of dubious character, such as the present day brood of Saudi criminals, who have been styling themselves as ‘Custodians of the Two Holy Shrines’ ever since they seized with much bloodshed the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in 1925, and instead of serving Islam, they shamelessly worship at the altars of Zionism and American imperialism?

No, we Muslims have the sense to sift truth from falsehood, and the reason we continue to commemorate the “Shaikh al-Bat-ha” (Elder Statesman of Mecca), is the fact that Imran was no ordinary custodian of the Holy Ka’ba. He was a person of firm faith in God and flawless character to the extent that Divine Providence had entrusted to him the guardianship and upbringing of the Immaculate Nephew who was the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger to all mankind with the universal message of Islam.

Yes, the person whose departure from the mortal world we are commemorating today was none other than Abu Taleb, the uncle of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), whose divinely-inspired words we quoted at the beginning of the article.

We join the Prophet in his hour of grief on the passing away of his uncle, who never for a moment left his nephew alone, and at every turn protected him from the plots of the pagan Arabs, always instructing his own sons to follow their cousin the Prophet and his message of monotheism.

The gorge known as She’b Abi Taleb outside Mecca, which bears his name is a firm testimony to the faith of Abu Taleb, who for three years provided protection to the Prophet and the fledgling Muslim community during the economic-social boycott imposed by the Arabs.

Then, how come, some Muslims, even those posing as scholars, doubt the faith in Islam of Abu Taleb?

The answer is obvious. It is because of the fact that the designs of their pagan Arab forefathers to harm the Prophet, were frustrated by Abu Taleb, at whose funeral the Seal of Messengers would say: O Uncle, as long as you were alive the Quraysh didn’t dare hurt me.

Moreover, after the passing away of Abu Taleb, it was his Valiant Son, the Leader of the Pious, and the Commander of the Believers, Imam Ali (AS), who protected the life of the Prophet from the murderous plots of the pagan Arabs, starting from the fateful night of Hijra, when he volunteered to sleep on his cousin’s bed so that the latter could safely migrate from to Medina.

So, could the Uncle and Guardian of the “Mercy unto the whole creation” and the Father of the “Barometer of Faith” be a disbeliever?

Once when a certain Aban bin Mahmood wrote a letter to the Prophet’s 8^th Infallible Successor, Imam Reza (AS), asking him whether Abu Taleb was a Muslim, he was given the following reply, starting with Ayah 115 of Surah Nisa:

“Whoever defies the Prophet, after the guidance has become manifest to him, and follows a way other than that of the faithful, We shall abandon him to his devices and We shall make him enter hell, and it is an evil destination”).

Imam Reza then added: “If you do not believe that Abu Taleb was a believer, your destination will be in the fire.”

In this way, Imam Reza (AS) exposed as hypocrites those who accuse Abu Taleb of being an unbeliever.

This gem of a reply of Imam Reza (AS) is poof of the undeniable fact that Abu Taleb was a Hanif or Upright Believer in the One and Only God, and therefore the Primordial Muslim.

In other words, to the chagrin of the malicious offspring of the pagans (who later reluctantly became Muslims) that had opposed him and his nephew, it is Abu Taleb who is the paternal progenitor of the 12 Infallible Imams or Divinely-Decreed Heirs of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny) – and subsequently of all “Saadats” (plural of “Seyyed” or a descendant of the Prophet of Islam.

AS/ME