The Spiritual Message of Shi'ism
The message of Shi'ism to the world can be summarized in one sentence: "To know God." Or in other words, it is to instruct man to follow the path of Divine realization and the knowledge of God in order to gain felicity and salvation. And this message is contained in the very phrase with which the Holy Prophet commenced his prophetic mission when he said: "Oh men!
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Know God in His Oneness (And acknowledge Him) so that you will gain salvation."
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As a summary explanation of this massage, we will add that man is attached by nature to many goals in this worldly life and to material pleasures. He loves tasty food and drink, fashionable dress, attractive palaces and surroundings, a beautiful and pleasing wife, sincere friends and great wealth. And in another direction, he is attracted to political power, position, reputation, the extension of his rule and dominion and the destruction of anything that is opposed to his wishes. But in his inner and primordial God-given nature, man understands that all these are means created for man, but man is not created for all these things. These things should be subservient to man and follow him and not vice versa. To consider the stomach and the region below it as a final end of life is the logic of cattle and sheep. To tear up, cut and destroy others is the logic of the tiger, the wolf and the fox. The logic inherent in human existence is the attainment of wisdom and nothing else.
This logic based upon wisdom with the power which it possesses to discern between reality and the unreal, guides us toward the truth and not toward things our emotions demand or toward passions selfishness and egoism. This logic considers man as a part of the totality of creation without any separate independence or the possibility of a rebellious self-centeredness. In contrast to the current belief that man is the master of creation and tames rebellious nature and conquers it to force it to obey his wishes and desires, we find that in reality man himself is an instrument in the hand of Universal Nature and is ruled and commanded by it. This logic based upon wisdom invites man to concentrate more closely
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1 Editor's note: Slavation ( from the root falaha) in this sense does not mean only salvation in the current purely exoteric sense it has acquired but also means deliverance and spiritual realization in the highest sense of the word.
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upon the apprehension he has of the existence of this world until it becomes clear to him that the world of existence and all that is in it does not issue from itself but rather from an Infinite Source. He will then know that all this beauty and ugliness, all these creatures of the earth and the heavens, which appear outwardly as independent realities, gain reality only through another Reality and are manifested only in Its Light, not by themselves and through themselves. In the same way that the "realities" as well as the power and grandeur of yesterday have no greater value than tales and legends of today, so are the "realities" of today no more than vaguely remembered dreams in relation to what will appear as -realitytomorrow. In the last analysis, everything in itself is no more than a tale and a dream. Only God is Reality in the absolute sense, the One Who does not perish. Under the protection of His Being, everything gains existence and becomes manifested through the Light of His Essence.
If man becomes endowed with such vision and power of apprehension, then the tent of his separative existence will fall down before his eyes like a bubble on the sufrace of water. He will see with his eyes that the world and all that is in it depend upon an Infinite Being who possesses life, power, knowledge and every perfection to an infinite degree. Man and every other being in the world are like so many windows which display according to their capacity the world of eternity which transcends them and lies beyond them.
It is at this moment that man takes from himself and all creates the quality of independence and primacy and returns these qualities to their Owner. He detaches himself from all things to attach himself solely to the One God. Before His Majesty and Grandeur, he does nothing but bow in humility. Only then does he become guided and directed by God so that whatever he knows he knows in God. Through Divine guidance he becomes adorned with moral and spiritual virtue and pure actions which are the same as Islam itself, the submission to God, the religion that is in the primordial nature of things.
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This is the highest degree of human perfection and the station of the perfect man (the Universal Man; ins?n Kamil) namely the Imam who has reached this rank through Divine grace. Furthermore, those who have reached this station through the practice of spiritual methods, with the different ranks and stations that they possess, are the true followers of the Imam. It becomes thus clear that the knowledge of God and of the Imam are inseparable in the same way that the knowledge of God is inextricably connected to the knowledge of oneself. For he who knows his own symbolic existence has already come to know the true existence which belongs solely to God who is independent and without need of anything whatsoever.
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APPENDIX ONE
TAQIYYAH OR DISSIMULATION
By: 'Allamah Tabataba'i
One of the most misunderstood aspects of Shi'ism is the practice of dissimulation or taqiyyah. With the wider meaning of taqiyyah, "to avoid or shun any kind of danger," we are not concerned here. Rather, our aim is to discuss that kind of taqiyyah in which a man hides his religion or certain of his religious practices in situations that would cause definite or probable danger as a result of the actions of those who are opposed to his religion or particular religious practices.
Among followers of the different schools of Islam, Shi'ites are well known for their practice of taqiyyah. In case of danger, they dissimulate their religion and hide their particular religious and ritual practices from their opponents.
The sources upon which the Shi'ites base themselves in this question include the following verse of the Holy Qur'an: "Let not the believers take disbelievers for their friends in preference to believers. Whoso doeth that hath no connection with Allah unless (it be) that ye but guard yourselves against them [tattaqu minhum, from the same root as taqiyyah], taking (as it were) security [tuq?tan, again from the same root as taqiyyah]. Allah biddeth you beware (only) of Himself. Unto Allah is the journeying" (Qur'an, III, 28). As is clear from this sacred verse, God, the Most Exalted, forbids with the utmost emphasis wilayah (meaning in this case friendship and amity to the extent that it affects one's life) with unbelievers and orders man to be wary and have fear in such a situation.
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In another place He says, "Whoso disbelieveth in Allah after his belief—save him who is forced thereto and whose heart is still content with Faith—but whoso findeth ease in disbelief: On them is wrath from Allah. Theirs will be an awful doom" (Qur'an, XVI, 106). As mentioned in both Sunni and Shiite sources, this verse was revealed concerning 'Ammar ibn Yasir. After the migration (hijrah) of the Prophet, the infidels of Mecca imprisoned some of the Muslims of that city and tortured them, forcing them to leave Islam and to return to their former religion of idolatry. Included in this group who were tortured were 'Ammar and his father and mother. 'Ammar's parents refused to turn away from Islam and died under torture. But 'Ammar, in order to escape torture and death, outwardly left Islam and accepted idol-worship, thereby escaping from danger. Having become free, he left Mecca secretly for Medina. In Medina, he went before the Holy Prophet—upon whom be blessings and peace—and in a state of penitence and distress concerning what he had done asked the Prophet if by acting as he did he had fallen outside the sacred precinct of religion. The Prophet said that his duty was what he had accomplished. The above verse was then revealed.
The two verses cited above were revealed concerning particular cases but their meaning is such that they embrace all situations in which the outward expression of doctrinal belief and religious practice might bring about a dangerous situation. Besides these verses, there exist many traditions from the members of the Household of the Prophet ordering taqiyyah when there is fear of danger.
Some have criticised Shi'ism by saying that to employ the practice of taqiyyah in religion is opposed to the virtues of courage and bravery. The least amount of thought about this accusation will bring to light its invalidity, for taqiyyah must be practiced in a situation where man faces a danger which he cannot resist and against which he cannot fight. Resistance to such a danger and failure to practice taqiyyah in such circumstances shows rashness and foolhardiness, not courage and bravery. The qualities of courage and bravery can be
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applied only when there is at least the possibility of success in man's efforts. But before a definite or probable danger against which there is no possibility of victory—such as drinking water in which there is probably poison or throwing oneself before a cannon that is being fired or lying down on the tracks before an onrushing train—any action of this kind is nothing but a form of madness contrary to logic and common sense. Therefore, we can summarize by saying that taqiyyah must be practiced only when there is a definite danger which cannot be avoided and against which there is no hope of a successful struggle and victory.
The exact extent of danger which would make permissible the practice of taqiyyah has been debated among different mujtahids of Shi ism. In our view, the practice of taqiyyah is permitted if there is definite danger facing one's own life or the life of one's family, or the possibility of the loss of the honor and virtue of one's wife or of other female members of the family, or the danger of the loss of one's material belongings to such an extent as to cause complete destitution and prevent a man from being able to continue to support himself and his family. In any case, prudence and the avoidance of definite or probable danger which cannot be averted is a general law of logic accepted by all people and applied by men in all the different phases of their lives.
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APPENDIX TWO
MUT'AH OR TEMPORARY MARRIAGE
By: 'Allamah Tabalaba'i and Sayyid Husayn Nasr
Another of the misunderstood practices of Shi'ism that has often been criticized especially by some of the moderns, is temporary marriage or mut'ah.
It is a definitely established historical fact that at the beginning of Islam, namely between the commencement of the revelation and the migration of the Holy Prophet to Medina, temporary marriage, called mut ah was practiced by Muslims along with permanent marriage. As an example one can cite, the case of Zubayr (the companion of the Prophet) who married Asma", the daughter of Abu-Bakr, in a temporary marriage; from this union were born 'Abdull?h ibn Zubayr and 'Urwah ibn Zubayr. These figures were all among the most famous companions of the Holy Prophet. Obviously, if this union were to have been illegitimate and categorized as adultery, which is one of the most grievous sins in Islam and entails heavy punishments, it would never have been perfumed by people who were among the foremost of the companions.
Temporary marriage was also practiced from the time of the migration until the death of the Holy Prophet. And even after that event during the rule of the first caliph and part of the rule of the second, Muslims continued to practice it until it was banned by the second caliph, who threatened those who practiced it with stoning. According to all of the sources, the second caliph made the following statement: "There are two mut' ahs which existed in the time of the Prophet of God and Abu-Bakr which I have banned, and I will punish those who
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disobey my orders. These two mut'ahs are the mut ah concerning the pilgrimage
1 and the mut ah concerning women. Although at first some of the companions and the followers were opposed to this ban by the second caliph, since that time the Sunnis have considered mut ah marriage to be unlawful. The Shi'ites, however, following the teachings of the Imams of the Household of the Prophet, continued to consider it legitimate as it was during the lifetime of the Prophet himself.
In the Qur'an, God says concerning the believers: "And who guard their modesty—save from their wives or the (slaves) that their right hands possess, for then they are not blameworthy, But whoso craveth beyond that, such are the transgressors—" (Qur'an, XXIII, 5-7). Also, "And those who preserve their chastity; Save with their wives and those whom their right hands possess, for thus they are not blameworthy; But whoso seeketh more than that, those are they who are transgressors" (Qur'an, LXX, 29-31). These verses were revealed in Mecca and from the time of their revelation until the hegira, it is well known that mut' ah marriage was practiced by Muslims. If mut ah marriage had not been a true marriage and women who had married according to it had not been legitimate wives, certainly according to these Qur'anic verses they would have been considered to be transgressors of the law and would have been forbidden to practice mut ah. It is thus clear that since temporary marriage was not forbidden by the Prophet, it was a legitimate marriage and not a form of adultery.
The legitimacy of the mut' ah marriage continued from the time of the Hijra until the death of the Holy Prophet as this verse, revealed after the Hijra, proves, "And those of whom ye seek content [istamta'tum, from the same root as mut 'ah] (by marrying them), give unto them their portions as a duty (Qur'an, IV, 24). Those opposed to Shi'ism contend that this verse from the "Chapter on Women" was later abrogated but the
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1 The Hajj al-Mut'ah is a kind of pilgrimage which was legislated at the end of the lifetime of the Prophet.
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Shi'ah do not accept this view. In fact, the words of the second caliph cited above are the best proof that up to the time of his ban such marriages were still practiced. It is inconceivable that if mut' ah had been abrogated and forbidden, it would have continued to be commonly practiced by Muslims during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet and after his death until the time of the second caliph; that if mut ah had been abrogated, no action would have been taken to forbid it. We cannot accept the claim that the only thing that the second caliph did was to put into action an order of prohibition and abrogation of mut ah given by the Holy Prophet, for such a possibility is negated by the clear words of the second caliph, "There are two mut' ahs which existed in the time of the Prophet of God and Abu-Bakr which I have banned, and I will punish those who disobey my orders."
From the point of view of legislation and the preservation of public interest also, we must consider the legitimacy of temporary marriage, like that of divorce, one of the noteworthy features of Islam. It is obvious that laws and regulations are executed with the aim of preserving the vital interests of the people in a society and providing for their needs. The legitimization of marriage among mankind from the beginning until today is an answer to the instinctive urge for sexual union. Permanent marriage has been continuously practiced among the different peoples of the world. Yet despite this fact, and all the campaigns and efforts at public persuasion that are carried out against it, there exist throughout the countries of the world, in large and small cities, both hidden and public places where illegitimate sexual union or fornication takes place. This in itself is the best proof that permanent marriage cannot fulfill the instinctive sexual desires of everyone and that a solution must be sought for the problem.
Islam is a universal religion and in its legislation takes all types of human beings into consideration. Considering the fact that permanent marriage does not satisfy the instinctive sexual urge of certain men and that adultery and fornication are according to Islam among the most deadly of poisons, destroying the
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order and purity of human life, Islam has legitimized temporary marriage under special conditions by virtue of which it becomes distinct from adultery and fornication and free of their evils and corruptions. These conditions include the necessity for the woman to be single, to become married temporarily to only one man at one time, and after divorce to keep a period during which she cannot be remarried ('iddah) half of the time that is requited after the permanent marriage. The legitimizing of temporary marriage in Islam is done with the aim of allowing within the sacred law possibilities that minimize the evils resulting from the passions of men, which if not channeled lawfully manifest themselves in much more dangerous ways outside the structure of religious law.
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APPENDIX THREE
RITUAL PRACTICES IN SHI"ISM
By: Sayyid Husayn Nasr
The religious rites practiced by Twelve-Imam Shi'ites are essentially the same as those of the Sunnis with certain minor modifications of posture and phrasing which are little more than the differences that are to be found among the Sunni schools (madhhabs) themselves, except in the addition of two phrases in the call to prayer. For Shi ism, like Sunnism, the major rite consists of the daily prayers (sal?t in Arabic, namaz in Persian and Urdu) comprised of the prayers of sunrise, noon, afternoon, evening and night. Altogether they consist of seventeen units (rak 'ahs) divided in the ratio of 2, 4, 4, 3 and 4 for the respective five prayers. The only singular quality of Shi ite practice in this respect is that instead of performing the five prayers completely separately, usually Shi'ites say the noon and afternoon prayers together, as well as the evening and the night prayers.
Shi'ites also perform supererogatory prayers and prayers on special occasions such as moments of joy, fear and thanksgiving, or when visiting a holy place of pilgrimage. In these practices also there is little difference between Shi' ism and Sunnism. However, we can sense a distinction in the Friday congregational prayers. Of course, these prayers are performed in both worlds but they definitely have a greater social and political significance in the Sunni world. In Shi'ism, although these prayers are performed in at least one mosque in every city and town, in the absence of the Imam, who according to Shi'ism is the true leader of these prayers, their importance is
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somewhat diminished and more emphasis is placed upon individual prescribed prayers.
As for the second basic Islamic rite of fasting, it is practiced by Shi ites in a manner that is nearly identical with that of Sunnis and differs only in the fact that Shiites break their fast a few minutes later than Sunnis, when the sun has set completely. All those capable of fasting and above the age of puberty must abstain from all drinking and eating during the month of Ramadan from the first moments of dawn until sunset. The moral and inward conditions that accompany the fast are also identical for the two branches of Islam. Likewise, many Shi'ites, like Sunnis, fast on certain other days during the year, especially at the beginning, middle and end of the lunar month, following the example of the Holy Prophet.
Also, for the pilgrimage (hajj), Shi ite and Sunni practices have only very minor differences. It is the pilgrimage to other holy places that is emphasized more in Shi'ism than in Sunnism. The visit to the tombs of Imams and saints plays an integral role in the religious life of Shi'ites, one which in fact is compensated for in a way in the Sunni world by visits to the tombs of saints or what in North Africa are called tombs of marabouts. Of course, these forms of pilgrimage are not obligatory rites such as the prayers, fasting and hajj, but they play such an important religious role that they can hardly be overlooked.
There are certain religious practices besides the basic rites which are specifically Shi' ite, yet curiously enough found also in certain parts of the Sunni world. There is the rawdah-khani, that combination of sermon, recitation of poems and Qur'anic verses and drama which depicts the tragic life of the different Imams, particularly Imam Husayn. Although the rawdah began to be practiced widely only during the Safavid period, it has become one of the most widespread and influential of religious acts in the Shi'ite world and leaves a profound mark upon the whole community. The rawdah is perfumed most of all during the Islamic months of Muharram and Safar during which the
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tragedy of Karbala' and its aftermath took place. The rawdah does not exist in Sunni Islam in the exact form it has taken in Shi'ism but other forms of elegy (marathi) and dramas depicting the tragedy of Karbala' are seen during Muharram as far away as Morocco.
Connected with the rawdah during Muharram is the passion play (ta'ziyah), which has become an a elaborate art in both Persia and the Indo-Pakistani world. It is no longer directly a religious rite in the sense of the prayers, yet it too is a major manifestation of religious life as it traverses the depth and breadth of society. There are also at this time elaborate street processions in which people chant, cry and sometimes beat themselves in order to participate in the passion of the Imam. In this matter also, equivalences in the Sunni world must be sought in the Sufi processions, which have become rarer in many Muslim countries during the past few years.
On the popular level, there are certain Shi'ite religious practices which must be mentioned because of their wide popularity. These include almsgiving, in addition to the religious tax (zakat) promulgated by the Shari' ah, petitioning God for the acceptance of something asked in a prayer by giving to the poor, arranging special religious tables whose food is given to the poor, and many other practices of the kind which carry religion to the intimate activities of everyday life.
The recitation of the Holy Qur'an is a rite par excellence and it is a basic Shi'ite practice as much as a Sunni one. The Qur'an is chanted during special occasions such as weddings, funerals and the like, as well as at different moments of the day and night during one's daily routine. In addition, the Shi ites place much emphasis upon the reading of prayers of great beauty in Arabic from the prophetic hadith and from the sayings of Imams as contained in the Nahj al-Balaghah, al-Sahifah al-Sajj?diyah, Usul al-Kafi, etc. Some of these prayers, like the Jawshan Kabir and Kumayl, are long and take several hours. They are recited only by the especially pious, on certain nights of the week, particularly Thursday night and the nights of
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Ramadan. Other believers remain satisfied with shorter prayers. But the whole practice of reciting litanies and prayers of different kinds constitutes an important aspect of the rites of Muslims and their religious devotions in both the Shi'ite and Sunni worlds. And in both worlds, these devotional prayers and litanies come from the works of the saints, who in the Shi'ite world are identified with the Imams and the Household of the Prophet and in the Sunni world with Sufism in general.
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APPENDIX FOUR
A NOTE ON THE JINN
By : Sayyid Husayn Nasr
One of the least understood aspects of Islamic teachings in the modern world concerns that class of beings called the jinn and referred to several times in the Qur'an. The reason for misunderstanding comes from the post-Cartesian materialistic conception of the Universe, which excludes the subtle and psychic world, where in fact the beings called jinn belong in the traditional schemes of cosmology. To understand the meaning of jinn, one must therefore go beyond a conception of reality which includes only the world of matter and the mind (this paralyzing dualism which makes an understanding of traditional doctrines impossible) to an awareness of a hierarchic reality made up of the three worlds of spirit, psyche and matter. The jinn can then be identified as beings that belong to the psychic or intermediary world, the barzakh, situated between this world and the world of pure Spirit.
In Qur'anic terminology and the hadith literature, the jinn are usually coupled with ins or mankind and often the phrase al jinn wa ''l-ins (the jinn and men) is used as referring to that class of creatures to which God's commands and prohibitions address themselves. Man was made of clay into which God breathed (nafakha) His Spirit. The jinn in Islamic doctrines are that group of creatures which was made of fire rather than earth, and into which God also breathed His Spirit. Hence, like man they possess a spirit and consciousness and have Divine commands revealed to them. On their own level of existence, they are central creatures just as men are central creatures in
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this world. But in contrast to men they possess a volatile and "unfixed" outer form and so can take on many shapes. This means that they are essentially creatures of the psychic rather than the physical world and that they can appear to man in different forms and shapes.
Having been endowed with a spirit, the jinn, like men, possess responsibility before God. Some are "religious" and "Muslim." These are intermediate angels, the psychic forces that can lead man from the physical to the spiritual world through the labyrinth of the intermediate world as barzakh. Others are malefic forces that have rebelled against God, in the same way that some men rebel against the Divinity. Such jinn are identified with "the armies of Satan" (junud al-Shaytan) and are the evil forces which by inducing the power of apprehension (wahm) and imagination (khayal) in its negative aspect lead man away from the Truth which his intelligence perceives by virtue of the innate light that dwells within him.
In the religious cosmos of the traditional Muslim, which is filled with material, psychic and spiritual creatures of God, the jinn play their own particular role. By the elite they are taken for what they are, namely, psychic forces of the intermediate world of both a beneficent and an evil nature: On the popular level, the jinn appear as concrete physical creatures of different shapes and forms against which men seek the aid of the Spirit, often by chanting verses of the Qur'an. The jinn and all that pertains to them hence enter on the popular level into the domain of demonology, magic, etc., and are a vivid reality for men whose minds are still open towards the vast world of the psyche in its cosmic aspect. The Muslim of this type of mentality lives in a world in which he is aware of God and also of both the angelic forces representing the good and the demonic forces representing the evil. He sees his life as a struggle between these two elements within him and about him. Although the jinn are of both kinds, the good and the evil, most often in his thought he identifies them with the demonic forces that lead men astray. They are personifications of psychic forces that work within his mind and soul. On the theological
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and metaphysical level of Islam, the order of the jinn becomes understood as a necessary element in the hierarchy of existence, an element which relates the physical world to higher orders of reality. The jinn are, moreover, especially akin to men in that, as was mentioned above, into them also was breathed the Spirit of God. And some of God's prophets, like Solomon, ruled over both men and jinn, as attested to by the Holy Qur'an.
For the Western student of Islam, the meaning of the jinn cannot be understood except through an understanding of traditional metaphysics, cosmology and psychology. Only through this understanding do these beings and their function, which in fact have their correspondences in other religions, become meaningful. We cannot reduce the belief in jinn to superstition simply because we no longer understand what they signify.
If a traditional Muslim were asked to give his opinion concerning all the interest in the modern world in psychic phenomena, the exploration of the psychic world through drugs and other means, and the phenomena of a psychic origin that became ever more recurrent nowadays, he would answer that much of this is connected to what he would understand by the jinn. He would add that most of the jinn involved in these cases are, alas, of the malefic and demonic kind before whom there is no means of protection save the grace that issues forth from the world of pure Spirit.
