In the Name of Allah, the most Compassionate, the most Merciful

And bless be upon Muhammad and his pure Household, and may Allah's curse be on his enemies from now until the Day of Resurrection! And there is no power or strength except for the Lofty Glorious Allah.

The Wise Allah has stated in His Glorious Book:

النَّبِيُّ أَوْلَى بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَأَزْوَاجُهُ أُمَّهَاتُهُمْ وَأُوْلُو الْأَرْحَامِ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلَى بِبَعْضٍ فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ إِلَّا أَن تَفْعَلُوا إِلَى أَوْلِيَائِكُم مَّعْرُوفًا كَانَ ذَلِكَ فِي الْكِتَابِ مَسْطُورًا. ^[1]

‘… The Messenger is closer to the believers than they themselves, and his wives are [as] their mothers. And the relatives [in receiving inheritance] are closer to one another in Allah’s Book than are believers and the Refugees [who have pronounced the brotherhood formula], except that you should act in a proper manner towards your friends [which in that case they become prior] – this [command] is written in the [Divine] Book, (Qur’an: 33/6).’

Among the matters and religious commands is the Guardianship of the Messenger of Allah and the Holinesses Imams, Upon Them be Peace; and this guardianship is divided in two: the first one is the real guardianship which is explained as ‘the true guardianship’, and the second is the nominal guardianship that is named ‘the legislative guardianship’.

By explaining the meaning of ‘the guardianship’ in the previous lesson and making it clear what it means, now, we should become acquainted with the quality of their guardianships. We should know whether it was by acquisition or they were gifted it – and, above all, how does this fact mean occurring them?

With the assist of Allah, the Praiseworthy, we will deal with this subject in a way that everything to become as clear as crystal to the readers.

There is no doubt that the Fact of the Essence of the Holiness Creator is based upon the Monotheism; from one side, the philosophical and wise reasons, and from the other side, the conscientious witnesses and the inward Gnostic, as well thirdly, the clear concessive verses and narratives are all in the same sole course and all are declaring the Monotheism of the Essence of the Creator, the Holiness, and Exalted.

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The meaning of the Monotheism of Allah, the Exalted

It means, Allah with all His Specifications, Attributes, Names and Actions is only Unique; there is not duality in any of these stages, and nor can it be.

Within the entire universe and the existing world there is only one Independent Essence and free from being bound and related to anyone, and that the Holy Being, the Blessed and Exalted.

And within all universe, every attribute such as: knowledge, power, life and any others; and every name such as: the learned, the powerful, inspiration and any name else are connected to the Rightful Essence, and He is the unique Knowledge, the unique Power and the unique Living. He is also the unique Learned, the Powerful and the Living – He is the Right Essence Who owns these attributes. Therefore, the attribute of knowledge and the noun for knowledge is one and it is for the Essence of the Exalted, Creator.

And within the entire universe and the existing world, the fact of every movement refers to Allah; never has a creature among the whole creatures his own independent activity, except that activity comes from Allah; thus, all activities in the world are a single action and all are the actions of Allah.

These triple Monotheism stages: the unity in essence, the unity in the names and attributes and the unity in actions are the natures of those adhering to the divinity. They believe that any religion, creed or school that is more stable can produce stronger proof to present the Monotheism clearly. And among all those divine people, the Monotheism of the nation of Islam is more stable; it is because the main presenter it is Muhammad bin Abdullah, Upon Him be Peace, who himself has reached the highest degree of the Monotheism, and had presented it to his nation.

The motto of that Holiness was:

اللَهُ اكْبَرُ، و قُلْ هُوَ اللَهُ أحَدٌ، و لَا إِلَهَ إلَّا اللَهُ وَحْدَهُ وَحْدَهُ، و هُوَ الْأوَّلُ وَ الْأخِرُ وَ الظَّاهِرُ وَ الْبَاطِنُ، و هُوَ العَلِيمُ و هُوَ الحَكيمُ و هُوَ الحَىُّ وَ هُوَ السَّميعُ و هُوَ الْبَصِيرُ و الْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ و سُبْحَانَ اللَه.‏

‘Allah is the greatest, and say: ‘He is the One, there is no god but Allah, the Single, the Sole, and He is the First and so is He the Last, He is Manifest and He is the secret, and He is the Knowing, and He is the Wise; He is Alive and He is the Hearing, and He is the Seeing and praise belongs to Allah – and Glorified is Allah.’ And there are more similar statements which all clearly show the Unity of the Holiness, the Exalted.

Therefore, not anyone among all being living in the earth and existing in the heavens, from the angels to men, the foremost monsters and the whole present living relies on its own, but depends on His Essence – they are all following the main Essence and are the beings reflected in the mirror; they are seen by means of Allah.

The beings have not been born from the Holiness Essence to be independent; as a child was born from his mother. He is not born from His as a being; and none of the creatures has its own independence – as it is seen, but its genuineness is from the Holiness, while He does not give birth to a new born. He has assigned for Himself the Unity Element and He is distinction that He is:

 لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُواً أحَد

and there is no comparable unto Him,

فَسُبْحَانَ اللَهِ الْوَاحِدِ الْقَهَّار

‘and Glory be to Allah, the One the Omnipotent.’

The whole process of creation of the creatures, from the incorporeal intellects to the world of material and genesis, are not issued from Essence of Holiness: that is, He has not created them as the independent by His initial will and intention. It is because creating them independently is inconsistent with His Monotheism, but their creation transversal; all of them are the as the shadow of Allah. Therefore, the creation does not mean ‘assigning the creatures as independent’; the word creature does not mean the independent being, but it is producing a being receiving light from the mirror of the Creator. The creature means a shadow forming by the illumination of the Main Source – creatures are the manifestation and creation is manifesting it.

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All Beings are the the Signs and the Manifestation of the Right

The glorious Qur’an considers all the creatures as the signs of Allah, that is: the presenters, the demonstrators and the signs and mirrors. Wherever it discusses of the metabolism and changes, the accidents and material events; or it explains the conditions of the individuals it uses the term ‘the signs’ and proofs.

The creation of the heavens and the earth ^[2], and the contrast between night and day, and the ships which sail the sea with profit to men, so is the water that Allah has sent down from the heavens to revive the earth, after its long death, and scattering all kinds of crawling therein – then directing the winds and the clouds which are driven along between the heavens and the earth [in all of these,] surely there are signs for the sensible people.

And to make the subject shorter, the whole things existing are the signs [of Allah]: whether they are in the horizons or close to the people, all are representing Allah and are His Rays. Allah shows these signs only to prove Him; because a mirror’s reflections approve its being.

How great and beautifully it is explained:  

سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِى الْآفاقِ وَ فِى أنْفُسِهِمْ حَتَّى يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أنَّهُ الْحَقُّ أ وَ لَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أنَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَىْ‏ءٍ شَهيدٌ ألَا إنَّهُمْ فِى مِرْيَة مِنْ لِقَاءِ رَبِّهِمْ ألَا إنَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَىْ‏ءٍ مُحِيط.

‘… soon We will prove Our signs in [different] horizons to them, and within their souls, until it becomes clear to them that it is the Truth. [So] is it not sufficient that your Lord is Witness to everything? There! They are in doubt about meeting their Lord! Behold, surely He encompasses everything, (Qur’an: 41/53-54).’

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The Holiness Light shines within the whole being

As apparently the pronoun إنَّهُ refers to Allah, and the word شَهيدٌ either means ‘the witness’ as the nominative pronoun or it means ‘the witnessed’ and is the objective pronoun. Anyhow, the verse clearly shows that Allah is witnessed in everything, or Allah is present and witnesses everything. Therefore, all things are the reflections of Allah and Allah must be seen in all of them. It is because nothing exists on its own, their existence is by the Holiness Almighty.

However, this subject is unknown to the common people, and they look at the things as the self-governing things and thus they do not see Allah’s being in them. According this theory, they doubt and fail meeting their Creator – how wrong is their guessing and doubt! They should know that He includes everything, everything’s initial being depends on Him and it continues its relation to Him.

The result is that except Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, no one is effective in the whole world; it is but with the power, strength and the presence of Allah; so whatever exists depends on the Glorified and Exalted.

And in this way, it becomes clear that the Guardianship is with all beings, from the tiniest ones to the greatest ones, from the earth to heavens, from the little material to the ancient gigantic animals up to closest veil and the greatest Holiness Spiritual.

It is because if there is no Guardianship, nothing comes to existence – and it is not wise to be.

Because we already stated that the Guardianship is the rotating of two things in a way that there is not any distance or barrier between them other than those two things.

Therefore, every being which comes to existence, between it and its Creator must not be any gap, either on the side of his being or his power, knowledge and life so that to be alive, otherwise it is impossible.

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The differences of Allah’s Guardianship in all being according to their degrees

And we know many different of beings, they are indifferent shapes and kinds, and we see, sense and comprehend them; they all have been created by the Guardianship of the Creator and there is no gap or veil between them and the Holiness Creator – except their own beings and nature. If probably there was anything other than their beings and nature, then the creation was impossible and the connection between Allah and those things were cut.

All beings are with Allah and related to Him, that is, their being is the very existence of them; so this is the real meaning of the ‘Guardianship’. Therefore, the existence of every being is along with the Guardianship and the Holiness Right is the main Being owning the Guardianship. His Guardianship is with every individual. It is here this verse says:

 وَ هُوَ مَعَكُمْ أيْنَمَا كُنْتُم‏

‘… and Allah is with you wherever you may be, (Qur’an: 57/5).’

It is here that we well understand the meaning of:

عَلَى كُلِّ شَىْ‏ءٍ شَهيدٌ و بكُلِّ شَىْ‏ءٍ مُحيط

 [He is] Witness upon everything and He includes everything.

And also we get to know how a Name of Allah’s Names is ‘ولي ’, ‘the Guardian, the Master and the Ruler’; because the necessity of this Name is His Guardianship to be with every individual being: similar to the Names and Attributes of ‘عليم  the Knower, قدير the Powerful, سميع the Hearer, and بصير the Seeing. And we also we learn what those verses in the Holy Qur’an that relate the Guardianship to Allah mean, as this verse:

قُلْ أَ غَيْرَ اللَهِ اتَّخِذُ وَلِيّاً فَاطِرِ السَّمَوَاتِ وَ الْأرْض؟‏ 

[O Messenger,] say: ‘Should I take a Guardianship other than Allah Who is the Originator of the heavens and the earth,   (Qur’an: 6/14)?’

That is the necessity of the creation is the Guardianship, so how does it come in the world of creation and the divine legislation to choose one apart from Allah as the Guardianship!

As we know that the differences of all beings, in the nearness and farness to the Holiness Creator, are due to the differences of their veils: that is, the superfluity and the insufficiency of specification, or in other words, it is due to the amount and quality of their natures, that according to this difference, this existing world has been fashioned so nice and beautifully as it is, therefore, the benefit of all beings from the Guardianship is not the same. Similar to that the benefit of all beings from knowledge, life and power of the Holiness Creator is not the same.

Every being who is closer to the Holiness Creator, and his nature greater, his existing is expanded, his solitude is more so is his veil delicate and his Guardianship in high degree. And every individual whose nature is narrow, his existence is limited and his solitude is less, the chance of his Guardianship is in a smaller amount – for his screen with the creator is thicker. 

Now we know the necessity of the intensity of the Guardianship, the intensity of the light, knowledge, life, power and are the other Names of Allah; on the other hand, the weakness of the Guardianship is the weakness of light, knowledge and the other Names of Allah. Therefore, generally, every being that is closer to Allah, that is: his veil to Allah is lesser, but his Guardianship is stronger, then the ray of his light is more expanded and his knowledge, power and life are more stable. His surrounding is more intense, his overcoming to those others than Allah is more, his plan and competency in the world is vaster; in other word, great many of the creatures are under the control of his light – and the other way round is impossible.

We, in all conscience, see that there occur many activities and changes in this world: some minor but some serious ones, like: the flying of a fly, the movement of a gnat; and some greater ones like: the creation of an elephant. Some of them are little, and some are extremely large such as the sun, the moon, the stars and planets; some are just feeling, sensing and seeing the movement and creeping of the reptiles: such as a worm creeping in the soil; and sensing is like feeling the descendant of Gabriel and the Trusted Spirit that are the closest ones to the Court of the Holiness Exalted. 

Therefore, the knowledge, competency, ability, the expansion of life, and the ray of the spiritual light of those closer to the Creator must be stronger so that to be able to enlighten the world by means of them – contrary to the weak worm who lacks theses, and it should.

Based on this statement, all creatures: from the tiniest and weakest worm up to the Holiness Gabriel, and the Trusted Spirit, whose status is higher than the angels, has his own special rank and degree: they have their own shares in this life. According to this theory, each one is in a certain stage of the Guardianship.

Thus, there is no doubt in whatever we have discussed so far, the wisdom and the wise reasoning of the great scholars are on our side and they confirm this subject sentence by sentence; and many verses and great narratives are supporting us in this way.

Now, it must be considered that where the position and status of man stand in this course and what his share is of this great ocean of sacred law and the Monotheism.     

There is no doubt that a man, no matter what he looks like and where he comes from, and what nationality he holds, has his own special fitness and ability ad by means of that, he can move and prove his active being, and in this way, according to his activities, to increase his knowledge and strengthen his ability.

No one in his birth was a doctor, a scholar, and expert in a certain job, a writer or any other professions; he has attained ability through hard work, study and experiences.

A man’s movement can lead him towards riches, lust and passions, the worldly respect and high degree; and also through his spiritual practice, thoughts and knowledge, the inward purity, peacefulness of the heart he can overpass the trifle material things and reach to the rightful knowledge, power and peaceful life. 

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Man’s travelling in different stages of the Guardianship

The spiritual journey towards Allah, and joining the High Position of the Holiness Creator, is the nature of the human; and reaching to this position is of the nature of a man. And in our previous lessons we proved it that a man can attain the different degrees of perfections by his spiritual journey toward Allah. And he can be annihilated in the Names, attributes and the Essence of his Creator n the course to ‘Annihilating to Allah’ and then to join him – then the path to Gnostic and perfection is wide open to man.

Of course, when we say ‘a man’, we do not mean these limited bodies of ours, one’s body is not natural, it is too miserable and measures less than two meters! What we mean is the engine of the body, the soul, which can take the spiritual journey.

When a man reaches to the position of any Names or Attributes of the Right Holiness, he changes into that Name or Attribute, then that Name or Attribute starts shining within him. For example, if he is the manifestation of the Name of Jamal ""جمال, he becomes ‘beautiful ""جميل; and if he is the manifestation of the Name of Jalal, ‘جلال’ he becomes ‘Glorious’ ‘جليل’. If he is the manifestation of the Name of Alim, ‘عليم’ he becomes ‘Scholar; ‘عالم’ and the name of Ghadir, ‘قدير’ he becomes ‘Powerful ‘قادر’.

And according to the achievement of the manifestation it is also different. A common man, as much as it is seen, becomes the manifestation of the Name of ‘ALIM, HEARER, GHADIR,BASIR and ALIVE’, therefore, according to his achievement of these Attributes he benefits in this world. However, as much as his demand to receive more of these Names and Attributes, he become more talented and attains more perfection. In other word, as much as higher degree he achieves, he becomes more drenched in the vast ocean of the Names and Attributes and naturally gets more benefit out of it.

He goes on until reaches the highest degree and becomes annihilated in the whole Names and Attributes, he annihilates in the Names and Attributes, similar to the Names of: ‘عالم’ the learned, ‘قادر’ the Able, ‘رحمن’ the Compassionate and ‘رحيم’ the Merciful. In this case, the effect of the complete Names and Attributes manifests in the character of a man.

If one becomes annihilated in the position of the Name ‘عالم’ and the attribute ‘علم’ of the Highest and Exalted, he becomes the complete manifestation of the Name ‘عالم’ and the attribute ‘علم’, that means, he becomes aware of everyone, everywhere and all being – the past, present and the future become the same for him.

All the knowledge of abstractions, the knowledge of materials, the knowledge of the world, the knowledge of the Hereafter, all and all are present to him – that is, he feels, senses and see all activities going on.

And if anyone reaches annihilation in the Name and the Attributes of Allah, he becomes the whole manifestation of that Name or Attributes. That is, he is alive with all livings, and finds his existence alongside of all the smallest and the greatest animals on the earth’ surface. And if anyone gets to the position of annihilation in the Name of ‘GHADIR’, of the attribute of ‘POWER’ he becomes the manifestation of that Name or Attribute, then he is able to do anything, for him, the smallest one or the biggest are the same; he has the power doing everything by the endless Power of the Exalted and Great Creator – from life or death, curing and illness, and any changes in the world condition with the permission of Allah.

And if someone reaches the position of annihilation in the Name of ‘Allah’ or in the Pronoun of ‘He’, as the word of ‘Allah’ is comprehensive attribute of the Right, therefore, he becomes the manifestation of every attribute and Noun; then, he achieves the ability of reviving the dead, sending one to death and being able to deal with any event impossible to the common people.

Of course, one must not forget that these actions are through the manifestation and the rays of blessing, as well the permission of Allah. In other word, all these are Allah’s own actions which reflect in his mirror, because apart from the Creator, no one has the absolute independent either in Nouns or Attributes. In this case, it is only the Essence of the Truth who appears is such Nouns and Attributes.

It is the same with all existence, the nouns and attributes are specified to Allah only; at times, it appears in different shapes and qualities. Otherwise, never does the Glorious and Exalted get lower than His Exalted position, and He never donates any independent attributes or nouns to any existing creatures though this donating does not go with His Dignity and Power. He never becomes abject, broken or disable; He is always stable and stronger in His position.

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