Session One

الحمد لله ربّ العالمین، والصلاة والسلام علی أشرف الأنبیاء والمرسلین، حبیب إله العالمین، أبی‌القاسم المصطفی محمد (ص) و علی أهل‌بیته الطیبین الطاهرین، واللعنة الدائمة علی أعدائهم أجمعین.

Anniversary of the Destruction of the Graves of the Imams of al-Baqi (a)

Tonight, the eighth of Shawwal, marks the anniversary of the destruction of the graves of the Imams of al-Baqi (a). In 1344 AH, the Wahhabis destroyed the graves of four noble Imams: Imam al-Mujtaba (a), Imam al-Sajjad (a), Imam al-Baqir (a), and Imam al-Sadiq (a). All four graves had domes, shrines, and burial enclosures, and images of them still exist.

They had previously attacked al-Baqi as well, but in this year they completely demolished the domes and burial enclosures. The grave of Lady Umm al-Banin (a), as well as the grave of al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, the uncle of the Noble Prophet (s), also had domes and shrines, which they destroyed.

This event also had widespread repercussions in Iran. The people held demonstrations and protests, and the late Modarres raised a legal objection as well. The Wahhabis intended to leave no trace of the graves. They levelled most of the graves in al-Baqi, such that it is no longer known who was buried in those places. However, they marked the sites of the graves of the Imams of al-Baqi (a) with stones, erected a fence around them, and laid a low stone pavement. Thus, the location of the grave of each of those noble figures is known.

Every year, on the night of the eighth of Shawwal, gatherings and ceremonies are held to commemorate this occasion.

An Introduction to Nahj al-Balagha

The late al-Sharif al-Radi selected the sermons, letters, and short sayings of the Commander of the Faithful (a), according to his own literary taste and expertise in eloquence and rhetoric, and compiled them in Nahj al-Balagha. The number of sermons varies slightly among different editions and methods of enumeration. However, according to the count we mentioned, Nahj al-Balagha contains approximately 239 sermons, 79 letters and testaments, and 480 short sayings.

Of course, the book Ghurar al-Hikam contains approximately ten thousand statements and words of wisdom from the Commander of the Faithful (a), while the contents of Nahj al-Balagha are merely selections from his words chosen by al-Sharif al-Radi. Some prominent scholars have also raised objections to his method of selection, but we will not enter into those discussions here.

The Subjects of the First Sermon

The first sermon of Nahj al-Balagha is approximately three or four pages long and is one of the book’s relatively lengthy sermons. At its beginning, al-Sharif al-Radi introduces the subjects of the sermon as follows: the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth, the creation of Prophet Adam (a), the Hajj, the praise and glorification of God, the creation of the universe and the angels, the selection of the prophets, the mission of the Noble Prophet (s), the Qur’an, and the ordinances of the Sharia.

These phrases are al-Sharif al-Radi’s explanation of the subjects of the sermon, while the words of the Commander of the Faithful (a) begin with the phrase «الحمد لله».

The Beginning of the First Sermon

اَلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي لَا يَبْلُغُ مِدْحَتَهُ الْقَائِلُونَ، وَلَا يُحْصِي نَعْمَاءَهُ الْعَادُّونَ، وَلَا يُؤَدِّي حَقَّهُ الْمُجْتَهِدُونَ، الَّذِي لَا يُدْرِكُهُ بُعْدُ الْهِمَمِ، وَلَا يَنَالُهُ غَوْصُ الْفِطَنِ، الَّذِي لَيْسَ لِصِفَتِهِ حَدٌّ مَحْدُودٌ، وَلَا نَعْتٌ مَوْجُودٌ، وَلَا وَقْتٌ مَعْدُودٌ، وَلَا أَجَلٌ مَمْدُودٌ. فَطَرَ الْخَلَائِقَ بِقُدْرَتِهِ، وَنَشَرَ الرِّيَاحَ بِرَحْمَتِهِ، وَوَتَّدَ بِالصُّخُورِ مَيَدَانَ أَرْضِهِ.

أَوَّلُ الدِّينِ مَعْرِفَتُهُ، وَكَمَالُ مَعْرِفَتِهِ التَّصْدِيقُ بِهِ، وَكَمَالُ التَّصْدِيقِ بِهِ تَوْحِيدُهُ، وَكَمَالُ تَوْحِيدِهِ الْإِخْلَاصُ لَهُ، وَكَمَالُ الْإِخْلَاصِ لَهُ نَفْيُ الصِّفَاتِ عَنْهُ، لِشَهَادَةِ كُلِّ صِفَةٍ أَنَّهَا غَيْرُ الْمَوْصُوفِ، وَشَهَادَةِ كُلِّ مَوْصُوفٍ أَنَّهُ غَيْرُ الصِّفَةِ. فَمَنْ وَصَفَ اللَّهَ سُبْحَانَهُ فَقَدْ قَرَنَهُ، وَمَنْ قَرَنَهُ فَقَدْ ثَنَّاهُ، وَمَنْ ثَنَّاهُ فَقَدْ جَزَّأَهُ، وَمَنْ جَزَّأَهُ فَقَدْ جَهِلَهُ، وَمَنْ جَهِلَهُ فَقَدْ أَشَارَ إِلَيْهِ، وَمَنْ أَشَارَ إِلَيْهِ فَقَدْ حَدَّهُ، وَمَنْ حَدَّهُ فَقَدْ عَدَّهُ، وَمَنْ قَالَ فِيمَ فَقَدْ ضَمَّنَهُ، وَمَنْ قَالَ عَلَامَ فَقَدْ أَخْلَى مِنْهُ.

كَائِنٌ لَا عَنْ حَدَثٍ، مَوْجُودٌ لَا عَنْ عَدَمٍ، مَعَ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ لَا بِمُقَارَنَةٍ، وَغَيْرُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ لَا بِمُزَايَلَةٍ، فَاعِلٌ لَا بِمَعْنَى الْحَرَكَاتِ وَالْآلَةِ، بَصِيرٌ إِذْ لَا مَنْظُورَ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ، مُتَوَحِّدٌ إِذْ لَا سَكَنَ يَسْتَأْنِسُ بِهِ، وَلَا يَسْتَوْحِشُ لِفَقْدِهِ.

The Human Inability to Know the Essence of God

The first subject of this section is the human inability to know the Essence of God. Knowledge of God’s Essence is beyond our capacity, and in the opening sentences of the sermon, the Commander of the Faithful (a) expresses this truth:

«اَلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي لَا يَبْلُغُ مِدْحَتَهُ الْقَائِلُونَ»; no speaker can praise God as He deserves or attain the true extent of His praise.

To explain this point, we may draw upon the distinction between a verbal noun and a noun denoting the act itself. For example, there is a difference between «غَسل», meaning washing, and «غُسل», referring to a particular ritual act. Washing one’s hands, feet, or head is a kind of washing, but not every act of washing is the technical ritual act of ghusl.

Each of our praises of God likewise refers only to one aspect of the divine attributes. For example, we say that God is Powerful, Knowing, and All-Wise. Yet whatever we may say about God’s power, knowledge, or other attributes is exceedingly insignificant in comparison with His infinite reality. No one can bring the praise of God to its utmost extent and perfection. This is the meaning of «لَا يَبْلُغُ مِدْحَتَهُ الْقَائِلُونَ».

The Meaning of Praise

«حمد» means praise and has two characteristics:

1. Praise is given in response to a good deed. An evil deed is not worthy of praise.
2. The good deed must be voluntary. If someone is forced to perform a good deed, that deed is not worthy of praise.

Therefore, someone may be praised if, first, they have performed a good deed and, second, they have performed it through their own choice and will.

All Praise Belongs to God

Another point concerning the word «الحمد» is that its definite article indicates comprehensiveness. «الحمد» does not mean merely one instance of praise; rather, it encompasses all praise. «الحمد لله» means «الحمد کلّه لله»; all praise belongs to God.

If we praise a person, a teacher, a physician, a scholar, a religious authority, or any other human being, that praise ultimately returns to God, because that person is God’s creation and God has granted them the will, ability, and aptitude to perform good deeds.

For example, if someone places some wealth at another person’s disposal and the latter gives charity from that same wealth, the latter person is also praised for giving charity. Yet this praise ultimately returns to the one who placed the wealth at their disposal. All human abilities likewise come from God. Therefore, praise for every good deed ultimately returns to the praise of God.

The Relation of Human Good and Evil Deeds to God

The good deeds of human beings are voluntary, but because God has given them the very basis of their will, power, and aptitude, their good deeds return to God. By contrast, evil deeds pertain to the human being himself, because through his misuse of free choice, he has employed in the wrong way a power that was placed at his disposal for good deeds.

Will is a divine blessing. Through it, a human being can think, speak well, and perform many deeds. God has also given him this ability so that he may use it correctly. It is like a knife placed at a person’s disposal for proper use, including peeling fruit. But if someone uses that same knife to harm another person, he cannot attribute his action to the one who gave him the tool for proper use.

It is true that God has given the fundamental power, but its improper use is not attributed to God, because the human being has misused this power through his own choice. Therefore, human goodness ultimately returns to God, but human evil is the result of the individual’s own misuse of free choice.

God’s Knowledge and Human Free Will

One of the objections raised in the discussion of predestination cites this poem attributed to Khayyam:

God knew from eternity that I would drink wineIf I do not drink, God’s knowledge would be ignorance

According to this statement, because God knew from the beginning that a certain person would drink wine, that person must necessarily drink wine so that God’s knowledge does not prove contrary to reality. This argument is incorrect. God knows from the beginning what a human being will do, but the human being performs that act through his own choice. God knows both those who perform good deeds and those who perform evil deeds, but this knowledge does not cause compulsion.

For example, a teacher may know that one of his students is strong and another is weak. However, the teacher’s knowledge has no effect on whether the student studies or does not study. The teacher’s knowledge belongs to the teacher himself and does not remove the student’s free choice. God’s knowledge likewise exerts no coercive effect upon people’s wills. Therefore, God’s prior knowledge never causes human compulsion.

The Human Inability to Praise God and Count His Blessings

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي لَا يَبْلُغُ مِدْحَتَهُ الْقَائِلُونَ، وَلَا يُحْصِي نَعْمَاءَهُ الْعَادُّونَ، وَلَا يُؤَدِّي حَقَّهُ الْمُجْتَهِدُونَ.

No one has the power to praise God as He deserves. Nor can those who count enumerate God’s blessings. «عَدّ» means counting, and God’s blessings are fundamentally beyond enumeration.

For example, countless blessings are present within the human being alone, let alone within other creatures. I was reading in medical literature that every human body contains at least one quadrillion cells. Each one of these is a blessing, so how can God’s blessings be counted? Neither God’s material blessings nor His spiritual blessings can be enumerated.

A narration relates that the Prophet of Islam (s) asked some of his Companions to enumerate a number of God’s blessings:

The Prophet of Islam (s) asked Abu Bakr to enumerate God’s blessings. He named such things as cattle, sheep, and food. The Prophet then asked Umar and several other Companions the same question, and their answers were also almost identical. He then turned to the Commander of the Faithful (a) and said: Enumerate some of God’s blessings. The Commander of the Faithful (a) said: God created me when I was nothing, and He granted me the power to think and understand. The very fact that I understand that God created me is itself a great blessing.

From this point, the Commander of the Faithful (a) began enumerating the divine blessings in an astonishing manner. Among the greatest blessings are the very creation of the human being and his power of understanding and thought. For this reason, it has been narrated from him:

مَنْ عَرَفَ نَفْسَهُ فَقَدْ عَرَفَ رَبَّهُ.

Whoever knows himself has indeed known his Lord.

To know God, we do not need to begin from somewhere distant; we must begin with ourselves. If a human being knows himself, he will also know God. Therefore, one of the important subjects is «معرفت نفس», self-knowledge and knowledge of the human being.

The Commander of the Faithful (a) then states that no striver, regardless of how much effort he exerts, can fulfil God’s right. Even if all the strivers in the world were to join forces, they would still be incapable of fulfilling the divine right.

The Inability of Minds to Comprehend the Essence of God

الَّذِي لَا يُدْرِكُهُ بُعْدُ الْهِمَمِ، وَلَا يَنَالُهُ غَوْصُ الْفِطَنِ.

This passage indicates that knowledge of God’s Essence is impossible. «بُعد الهمم» refers to the ascending arc; that is, no matter how high minds ascend and reach the summit, they cannot comprehend God’s Essence.

«غوص الفطن» likewise refers to the descending arc. Just as one cannot reach God’s Essence by ascending to the highest levels and travelling into the heavens, neither can one comprehend Him by plunging into the depths of the seas and oceans. The depths of the seas are themselves an astonishing world, but through neither intellectual ascent nor intellectual diving can the human being attain God’s Essence.

The Limitlessness of the Divine Attributes

الَّذِي لَيْسَ لِصِفَتِهِ حَدٌّ مَحْدُودٌ، وَلَا نَعْتٌ مَوْجُودٌ، وَلَا وَقْتٌ مَعْدُودٌ، وَلَا أَجَلٌ مَمْدُودٌ.

This passage contains a profound mystical discussion. The Commander of the Faithful (a) states that God’s attributes have no limit or boundary.

From one perspective, the divine attributes are divided into attributes of Beauty and Majesty, and from another, into affirmative and negative attributes. Affirmative attributes are perfections affirmed of God, such as:

• Knowledge
• Power
• Life
• Glory
• Might
• Forbearance

By contrast, negative attributes are matters that must be negated of God. For example, God is not a body and has no time, place, or location.

The late Khwaja Nasir al-Din al-Tusi discussed these subjects in his theological work Tajrid al-Itiqad. Allama al-Hilli’s al-Bab al-Hadi Ashar is also among the books studied at the beginning of one’s education in theology. In these discussions, it is rationally established that God is the Necessary Being, while all other beings are contingent beings.

The Necessary Being is a being whose entire reality is from Himself and nothing in Him is from another. By contrast, everything other than God, from the angels and human beings to animals and other creatures, is a contingent being and does not possess existence from itself.

﴿

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ أَنْتُمُ الْفُقَرَاءُ إِلَى اللَّهِ ۖ وَاللَّهُ هُوَ الْغَنِيُّ الْحَمِيدُ

﴾

O mankind, you are those in need of God, while God alone is the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy.

All beings are poor and needy, and God alone is rich and self-sufficient. This is the meaning of God being the Necessary Being.

The attributes of all beings are limited, but none of God’s attributes is limited. If God is Powerful, His power is unlimited; if He is Forbearing, His forbearance is unlimited; if He is All-Knowing, His knowledge is unlimited; and if He is Merciful, His mercy is unlimited. Every attribute we ascribe to God is unlimited.

Human beings cannot comprehend the reality of this infinitude, for everyone understands according to the capacity of their own thought. Since a person’s understanding is commensurate with their own intellect, their knowledge will also be limited. Another person may understand more, but they too comprehend only according to their own intellectual capacity. Therefore, no one can know God as He deserves to be known.

Nor can time or lifespan be conceived for God. Of created beings, one can say whether they existed a hundred years ago and what their condition will be a hundred years from now, for every created being has a lifespan. Time, however, is a characteristic of contingent beings, while God Almighty has neither time nor appointed term.

The Creation of Beings and the Role of Winds and Mountains

فَطَرَ الْخَلَائِقَ بِقُدْرَتِهِ، وَنَشَرَ الرِّيَاحَ بِرَحْمَتِهِ، وَوَتَّدَ بِالصُّخُورِ مَيَدَانَ أَرْضِهِ.

God created all creatures through His power and dispersed the winds through His mercy. Winds are among the divine mercies, for were there no wind, many creatures would not come into being, and cultivation and agriculture would not take shape. Winds are of various kinds: some cause destruction, while others play a role in the propagation of plants and the emergence of their successive generations.

The Commander of the Faithful (a) also states that God restrained the movement and agitation of the earth by means of rocks. «وَتَّدَ» means to fasten with pegs; that is, God made the earth firm with rocks and mountains. Mountains are like pegs that reduce the earth’s violent movement. This statement was made centuries before the theories of scholars such as Galileo concerning the movement of the earth.

The Standing of Nahj al-Balagha among Others

One of the sayyids related that, during a journey to Lebanon, he visited a church. At a gathering in which everyone present was Christian, he recited one of the statements of the Commander of the Faithful (a) from Nahj al-Balagha to explain a scholarly point. The church’s senior bishop immediately recited the rest of it from memory.

Astonished, he said, “This passage is from Nahj al-Balagha, not the Gospel.” The bishop replied, “We have memorised Nahj al-Balagha, and we convey these very teachings to the people. All admonitions are found in Nahj al-Balagha.” He even said that the driver who had brought the guest there knew all the short sayings of the Commander of the Faithful (a) by heart.

Others benefit from this blessing, yet at times we are heedless of it. We are like a fish that lives in water but does not appreciate its value; only when it falls out of the water does it realise what a blessing it had enjoyed.

The Beginning of Religion and the Stages of Knowing God

أَوَّلُ الدِّينِ مَعْرِفَتُهُ، وَكَمَالُ مَعْرِفَتِهِ التَّصْدِيقُ بِهِ، وَكَمَالُ التَّصْدِيقِ بِهِ تَوْحِيدُهُ، وَكَمَالُ تَوْحِيدِهِ الْإِخْلَاصُ لَهُ، وَكَمَالُ الْإِخْلَاصِ لَهُ نَفْيُ الصِّفَاتِ عَنْهُ.

Knowledge of God

From the beginning of our seminary studies, we were taught the statement, “The beginning of religion is knowledge of God.” Religion is a collection of beliefs, rulings, ethics, and laws, and the beginning of them all is knowledge of God. If someone knows all the laws of religion but does not know God, their knowledge will be of no benefit. The foundation of religion is knowledge of God, and many afflictions also arise from lacking this very knowledge.

Affirmation and Belief

Is merely knowing God sufficient? No. The Commander of the Faithful (a) states that the perfection of knowing God is affirming and believing in Him. A person knows or conceives of many things but does not believe in them.

There is a difference between conception and affirmation. Sometimes something merely occurs to a person’s mind, and they conceive of its form; at other times, they come to believe in its existence. It is this belief that matters. A person must first know God and, after knowing Him, believe in Him.

Divine Unity

The third stage is divine unity and recognising God as One. First comes knowledge of God, then belief in Him, and thereafter belief in His oneness. All the prophets, from Adam to the Seal of the Prophets, came for the sake of divine unity. Their principal dispute with the people was not over the fundamental knowledge of God or belief in His existence; the central focus of the call of all the prophets was divine unity and the oneness of God.

Innateness here pertains to the fundamental knowledge of God and belief in Him, not to divine unity. Human beings are innately created with knowledge of God. God is that very reality to whom a person turns when every door is closed to them and their hope in everything else is severed.

The Noble Qur’an describes this state through the example of those who are aboard a ship, caught amid the waves, and see every path of deliverance closed:

﴿

فَإِذَا رَكِبُوا فِي الْفُلْكِ دَعَوُا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ

﴾

When they board a ship, they call upon God, devoting the religion sincerely to Him.

When the sea is turbulent, waves surge from every direction, and no one can do anything any longer, all attention becomes focused on a single point. The name of that point is God. In such a state, there is no difference between a Muslim and a non-Muslim; this is the meaning of innate disposition and the manifestation of the innate knowledge of God.

It is here that sincerity becomes manifest. Sincerity means that a person’s hope in everything else is severed and they regard only God as effective. If a person truly considers their sustenance to come from this person or that person and imagines that they provide for them, they are still afflicted by polytheism. All these things are merely means, and a person must regard God alone as the source of all effects.

The prophets did not come to create the fundamental knowledge of God within people, for all human beings know God in the depths of their innate nature. Even those who outwardly deny God turn towards Him in solitude and when every path is closed. God has placed this knowledge within the human being.

The call of the prophets concerned the third stage, namely divine unity. The Messenger of God (s) also called the people to «لا إله إلا الله». The principal issue was not that they should know God or believe in the fundamental fact of His existence, but that God is One.

God’s Oneness and the Rejection of Multiple Gods

Many people accept God but, instead of the one God, believe in multiple gods. For example, some groups conceive of separate gods for sustenance, creation, rain, and other affairs of the world, regarding each as an independent lord and intermediary.

Before interpreting the dreams of his two fellow prisoners, Prophet Joseph (a) also called upon them to refer to the judgment of their innate nature, saying:

﴿

يَا صَاحِبَيِ السِّجْنِ أَأَرْبَابٌ مُتَفَرِّقُونَ خَيْرٌ أَمِ اللَّهُ الْوَاحِدُ الْقَهَّارُ

﴾

O my two fellow prisoners! Are diverse lords better, or God, the One, the All-Subduing?

The human heart can judge this matter: are numerous and diverse lords better, or the one God? The prophets came to call people to the oneness of God.

God Is Not Numerically One

God’s oneness does not mean that He is “numerically one”; that is, one cannot say that God is one in the way that one stands alongside two and three. If we regard God as numerically one, it is as though we have conceived of something alongside Him, such that He is presently one but could also have a second.

God is the Necessary Being and is unique, and none of His attributes are like those of contingent beings. Therefore, He cannot be placed within the series of numbers. He is «احد», and nothing stands alongside Him.

The problem of dualists is not that they deny God. They worship God but believe in two gods, just as some nations have believed in three gods or multiple deities. They all accept the fundamental reality of God but are not monotheists. Thus, the fundamental knowledge of God is innate and becomes manifest when every door is closed and all hopes are severed; but the prophets came to bring human beings to divine unity.

Thus, a person first knows God, then affirms Him, and thereafter believes in His oneness. The perfection of this divine unity is sincerity towards God:

وَكَمَالُ تَوْحِيدِهِ الْإِخْلَاصُ لَهُ

And the perfection of affirming His unity is sincerity towards Him.

وَصَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِ مُحَمَّدٍ