Nahjul-Balagha – Amir al-Mu’minin Ali ibn Abu Talib – Sermon 1

In this sermon, he recalls the creation of the earth and sky and the birth of Adam:

Praise is due to Allah Whose worth cannot be described by speakers, whose bounties cannot be counted by calculators and whose claim (to obedience) cannot be satisfied by those who attempt to do so, whom the height of intellectual courage cannot appreciate and the depths of understanding cannot reach; He, for whose description no limit has been laid down, no praise exists, no time is ordained and no duration is fixed. He brought forth creation through His Omnipotence, dispersed winds through His Compassion and made firm the shaking earth with rocks.
The foremost in religion is the acknowledgment of Him. The perfection of acknowledging Him is to testify Him. The perfection of testifying Him is to believe in His Oneness. The perfection of believing in His Oneness is to regard Him Pure. The perfection of His purity is to deny Him attributes because every attribute is a proof that it is different from that to which it is attributed and everything to which something is attributed is different from the attribute. Thus, whoever attaches attributes to Allah recognizes His like. Who recognizes His like regards Him as two. Who regards Him as two recognizes parts for Him, and who recognizes parts for Him mistakes Him, and who mistakes Him points at Him, and who points at Him admits limitations for Him, and who admits limitations for Him numbers Him.
Whoever said in what is He, held that He is contained, and whoever said on what is He held He is not on something else. He is a Being but not through phenomenon of coming into being. He Exists but not of non-Existence. He is with everything but not in physical nearness. He is different from everything but not in physical separation. He acts but without connotation of movements and instruments. He sees even when there is none to be looked at from among His creation. He is only One, such that there is none with whom He may keep company or whom He may miss in his absence.

Creation of the Universe

He initiated creation and commenced it originally, without undergoing reflection, without making use of any experiment, without innovating any movement and without experiencing any mental aspiration. He allotted all things their times, put together their variations, gave them their properties and determined their features. He knew them before creating them, fully realizing their limits and confines and appreciated their propensities and intricacies.
When the Almighty created the openings of the atmosphere, expanse of firmament and strata of winds, He allowed water, whose waves were stormy and whose surges leapt one over the other, to flow onto it. He loaded dashing winds and breaking typhoons, ordered them to shed it back (as rain), gave the wind control over the vigor of the rain and acquainted it with its limitations. The wind blew under it while water flowed furiously over it.
Then, the Almighty created forth wind and made its movement sterile, perpetuated its status, intensified its motion and spread it far and wide. Then He ordered the wind to raise deep waters and to intensify the waves of the oceans. So the wind churned the water like the churning of curd and pushed it fiercely into the firmament, throwing its front status on the rear while the stationary status flowed till its level was raised and the surface was full of foam. Then Almighty raised the foam to the open wind and vast firmament and made therefrom the seven skies. He made the lower one as a stationary surge and the upper one as protective ceiling and high edifice without any pole to support it or nail to hold it together. Then He decorated them with stars and the light of meteors and hung in it the shining sun and effulgent moon under the revolving sky, moving the ceiling and rotating firmament.

Creation of the Angels

Then He created the openings between the high skies and filled them with all classes of His angels. Some of them are in prostration and do not rise. others are in kneeling positions and do not stand up Some of them are in array and do not leave their status. others are extolling Allah and do not get tired. The sleep of the eye or the slip of wit or languor of the body or effect of forgetfulness does not effect them.
Among them are those who work as trusted bearers of His message, those who serve, speaking tongues for His prophets and those who carry His orders and injunctions. Among them are the protectors of His creatures and guards of the doors of the gardens of Paradise. Among them are those whose steps are fixed on earth but their necks protrude into the skies. Their limbs are out on all sides, their shoulders are in accord with the columns of the Divine Throne, their eyes are cast down before it, they have spread their wings down under it and they have rendered between themselves and all else curtains of honor and screens of power. They do not think of their Creator through image, do not impute created attributes to Him, do not confine Him within abodes and do not point at Him through illustrations.

Creation of Adam

Allah collected clay from hard, soft, sweet and sour earth, which He moistened with water till it became pure and kneaded it with moisture till it became gluey. From it He carved an image with curves, joints, limbs and segments. He solidified it till it dried up for a fixed time and a known duration. Then He blew into it out of His Spirit whereupon it took the pattern of a human being with a mind that governed him, intelligence which he made use of, limbs that served him, organs that changed his status, sagacity that differentiated between truth and untruth, tastes and smells, colors and species. He was a mixture of clays of different colors, cohesive materials, divergent contradictories and differing properties like heat, cold, softness and hardness.
Then Allah asked the angels to fulfil His promise with them and to accomplish the pledge of His injunction to them by acknowledging Him through prostration to Him and submission to His honored status. So Allah said: “Prostrate to Adam, so they prostrated except Iblis (Satan). (Holy Quran, 2: 34; 7: 11; 17: 61; 18: 50; 20: 116). Self-importance withheld him and vice overcame him. So that he took pride in his own creation with fire and treated the creation of clay contemptuously. So Allah allowed him time in order to let him fully deserve His wrath and to complete (man’s) test and to fulfil the promise (He had made to Satan). Thus, He said: “Verily you have been allowed time till the known Day(Holy Quran, 15: 38, 38: 81).
Thereafter, Allah placed Adam (x) in a house where He made his life and his stay safe and He cautioned him of Iblis and his enmity. Then
his enemy (Iblis) envied Adam’s abiding in Paradise and his contacts with the virtuous. So he changed his conviction into wavering and determination into weakness. He thus converted his happiness into fear and his prestige into shame. Then Allah offered to Adam (x) the chance to
repent, taught him words of His Mercy, promised him return to His Paradise and sent him down to the place of trial and procreation of Progeny.

Allah Chooses His Prophets

From Adam’s progeny, Allah chose prophets and took their pledge for His revelation and for carrying His message as their trust. Throughout the course of time many people perverted Allah’s trust with them and ignored His status and took associates along with Him. Satan turned them away from knowing Allah and kept them aloof from His worship. Then Allah sent His Messengers and a series of His prophets toward people to get them to fulfil the pledges of His creation, to recall His bounties to them, to exhort them by preaching, to unveil before them the hidden virtues of wisdom and to show them the signs of His Omnipotence. Of these signs He showed the sky which is raised over them, the earth that is placed beneath them, a means of livelihood to sustain, death that makes them die, ailments that turn them old and incidents that successively betake them.
Allah never allowed His creation to remain without a Prophet
(h) deputed by Him, or a book sent down from Him or a binding argument or a standing plea. These Messengers were such that they did not feel little because of smallness of their number or the largeness of the number of their falsifiers. Among them was either a predecessor who
would name the one to follow or the follower who had been introduced by the predecessor.

The Prophethood of Muhammad SWA

In this way, ages passed by and times rolled on. Fathers passed away while sons took their places till Allah deputed Muhammad (h) as His Prophet, in fulfillment of His promise and in completion of His Prophethood. Muhammad’s pledge had been taken from the Prophet (h) s, his traits of character were well reputed and his birth was honorable. The people of the earth at this time were divided in different parties, their aims were separate and ways were diverse. They either loved Allah and His creation or twisted His Names or turned to those other than Him. Through Muhammad (h), Allah guided them out of wrong and with his efforts took them out of ignorance.
Then Allah chose Muhammad (h) to meet Him, selected him for His own nearness, regarded him too dignified to remain in this world and decided to remove him from this place of trial. So He drew him towards Himself with honor. Allah may shower His blessing on him and his progeny.

The Holy Quran and the Sunnah

But the Prophet (h) left among you the same that other prophets left among their people, as Prophets do not leave their people intentionally (in the dark) without a clear path and a standing ensign. He left the Book of your Creator clarifying its permission and prohibitions, its obligations and discretion, its repealing injunctions and the repealed ones, its permissible matters and compulsory ones, its particulars and the general ones, its lessons and illustrations, its long and the short ones, its clear and obscure ones, detailing its abbreviations and clarifying its obscurities.
In it there are some verses whose knowledge1 is obligatory and others whose ignorance by the people is permissible. It also contains what appears to be obligatory according to the Book2 but its repeal is signified by the Prophet’s action (Sunnah) or that which appears compulsory according to the Prophet’s action but the Book allows not following it. Or there are those which are obligatory in a given time but not so after that time. Its prohibitions also differ. Some are major ones for which there exists the threat of fire (Hell) and others are minor ones for which there are prospects of forgiveness. There are also those of which a small portion is also acceptable (to Allah) but they are capable of being expanded.

In this Same Sermon, He Spoke thus about the Hajj:

Allah has made obligatory upon you the pilgrimage (hajj) to His sacred House which is the turning point for the people who go to it as beasts or pigeons go towards spring water. Allah, the most Glorified One, made it a sign of their supplication before His Greatness and their acknowledgment of His Dignity. He selected from among His creation those, who on listening to His call, responded to it and testified to His word. They stood in the status of His Prophets and resembled His angels who surround the Divine Throne securing all the benefits of performing His worship and hastening towards His promised forgiveness. Allah, the most Glorified One, made it (His sacred House) an emblem for Islam and an object of respect for those who turn to it. He made obligatory its pilgrimage and laid down its claim for which He held you responsible to discharge it. Thus, Allah, the most Glorified One, said:
“Allah (purely) for Allah, is incumbent upon mankind, the pilgrimage to the House, for those who can afford to journey thither. And whoever denies, then verily Allah is Self-sufficiently independent of the Worlds” (Holy Quran, 3: 96).
The foremost in religion (din) is His knowledge. The literal meaning of din is obedience and its popular sense is a code. whether the literal sense is taken or the popular one, in either case, if the mind is devoid of any conception of Divinity, there would be no question of obedience, nor of following any code because when there is no aim there is no point in advancing towards it. Where there is no object in view there is no sense in making efforts to achieve it. Nevertheless, when the nature and guiding faculty of man bring him in contact with a superior Authority and his taste for obedience and impulse of submission subjugates him before a Deity, he finds himself bound by certain limitations as against abject freedom of activity. These very limitations are din (religion) whose point of commencement is knowledge of Allah and acknowledgment of His Being.
After pointing out the essentials of the Divine knowledge Amir, al-Mu’minin has described its important constituents and conditions. He holds those stages of such knowledge which people generally regard as the point of highest approach to be insufficient. He says that its first stage is that with the natural sense of search for the unknown and the guidance of conscience or on hearing from the followers of religions an image of the Unseen Being known as Allah is formed in the mind. This image, in fact, is the forerunner of the obligation to thinking and reflection and to seeking His knowledge. But those who love idleness, or are under pressure of environment, do not undertake this search despite the creation of such an image and the image fails to get testified. In this case they remain deprived of the Divine knowledge. Since access to the stage of testifying after the formation of image is by volition, they deserve to be questioned about it. But one who is moved by the power of this image goes further and considers thinking and reflection necessary. In this way one reaches the next stage in the attainment of the Divine knowledge, namely to search for the Creator through diversification of the creation and species of creatures. This is so because every picture is a solid and inflexible guide to the existence of its painter and every effect to the action of its cause. When he casts his glance around himself he does not find a single thing which might have come into existence without the act of a maker so much so that he does not find the sign of a footstep without a walker nor a construction without a builder. How can he comprehend that this blue sky with the sun and the moon in its expanse and the earth with the exuberance of its grass and flowers could have come into existence without the action of a Creator? therefore, after observing all that exists in the world and the regulated system of the entire creation no one can help but conclude that there is a Creator for this world of diversities because existence cannot come out of non-existence, nor can existence sprout forth from nothingness.
The Holy Quran has pointed to this reasoning thus: “What?! about Allah is there any doubt, the Originator of the heavens and the earth? (14: 10)
But this stage would also be insufficient if this testimony in favor of Allah is tarnished by belief in the divinity of some other deity.
The third stage is that His existence should be acknowledged along with belief in Unity and Oneness. Without this the testimony to Allah’s existence cannot be complete because if more gods are believed in, He would not be One. Whereas it is necessary that He should be One. The reason is that in case of more than one god the question would arise whether one of them created all this creation or all of them together. If one of them created it there should be some difference to distinguish him, otherwise, he would be accorded preferential status without reason, which is unacceptable to the mind. If all have created it collectively then the status has only two forms; either he cannot perform his functions without the assistance of others or he is above the need for their assistance. The first case means he is incapable and in need of others while the other case means that there are several regular performers of a single act and the fallacy of both has already been shown. If we assume that all the gods performed the act of creation by dividing it among themselves, all the creation would not bear the same relationship towards the creator. This is so because each creature will bear relationship only to its own creator whereas every creature should have one and the same relationship to all creators. This is so because all the creation should have one and the same relationship to all the creators as all the created in their capacity to accept effect and all the creators in their capacity to produce effect should be similar. In short there is no way but to acknowledge Him as One because to believe in numerous creators allows no possibility of the existence of any other thing and destruction proves implicit for the earth, the sky and everything in creation. Allah, the most Glorified One, has expressed his argument in the following words:
Had there been in the heavens and the earth [other]) gods except Allah, they both (the heavens and the earth would have been) in disorder. (Holy Quran, 21: 22).
The fourth stage is that Allah should be regarded free of all defects and deficiencies, devoid of body, form, illustration, similarity, status of place or time, motion, stillness, incapability and ignorance. This is so because there can be no deficiency or defect in the perfect Being nor can anyone be deemed like Him because all these attributes bring down a being from the high status of the Creator to the low status of the created. That is why along with Unity, Allah has held purity from deficiency of equal importance.
Say: He (Allah) is One (alone). Allah, the needless. He begets not, nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him. (Holy Quran,
112: 1-4).
Vision perceives Him not and He perceives (all) vision; He is the Subtle, the All-aware. (Holy Quran, 6: 104).
So coin you not any similitudes to Allah; verily Allah knows (everything) and you know not. (Holy Quran, 16: 74).
Nothing whatsoever (is the re) like the like of Him, and He (alone) is the All-Hearing and the All-Seeing.(Holy Quran, 42: 11)
The fifth stage of completing His Knowledge is that attributes should not be put on Him from outside lest there be duality in His Oneness. Deviating from its proper connotation, Unity may fall into the labyrinth of one-in-three and three-in-one because His Being is not a combination of essence and form so that attributes may cling to Him like the smell of the flowers or brightness in the stars. Rather, He is the fountainhead of all attributes and needs no medium for manifestation of His perfect Attributes. If He is named Omniscient it is because the signs of his knowledge are manifest. If He is called Omnipotent it is because every particle points to His Omnipotence and Activity. If the power to listen or to see is attributed to him, it is because the cohesion of the entire creation and its administration cannot be done without hearing or seeing. But the existence of these attributes in Him cannot be held in the same way as in the creation. He should be capable to know only after He acquires knowledge or He should be powerful and strong only after energy runs into His limbs because taking attributes as separate from His Being would connote duality and where there is duality unity disappears. That is how Amir al-Mu’minin (x) has rejected the idea of attributes being in addition to His Being, presented Unity in its true significance and did not allow Unity to be tainted with stains of multiplicity. This does not mean that adjectives cannot at all be attributed to Him. This would be giving support to those who are groping in the dark abyss of negativism, although every nook and corner in the entire Existence is brimming with His attributes and every particle of creation stands witness that He has knowledge, He is powerful, He hears and He sees. He nurtures under His care and allows growth under His mercy. The intention is that for Him, nothing can be suggested to serve as an adjunct to Him because His Self includes attributes and His attributes connote His Self. Let us learn this very theme in the words of Imam Abu `Abdillah Ja`far ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq (x) comparing it with the belief in Unity adopted by other religions then appreciate who is the exponent of the true concept of Unity.

The Imam says the following:
Our Lord, the Glorified One, the magnificent One, has knowledge of Himself even though there was nothing to know, sight of Himself even though there is nothing to behold, hearing of Himself even though there is nothing to hear and Power of Himself even though there is nothing under His Power. When He created the things and the object of knowledge came into existence, His knowledge became related to the known, hearing related to the heard, sight related to the seen and Power related to its object. (At-Tawhid by Shaikh as-Saduq, p.139).
This is the belief about which the Imams from among the Prophet’s family are unanimous, but the majority group [of the Muslims,
i.e. the Sunnis] has adopted a different course by creating the idea of differentiation between His Self and Attributes. Shahristani says the following on, p. 42 of his book Kitab al-Milal wal-Nihal: “According to Abul-Hassan al-Ash`ari Allah knows through (the attribute of) knowledge, is Powerful through activity, speaks through speech, hears through hearing and sees through sight.”
If we regard attributes distinct from Self in this manner there would be two alternatives; either the attributes must have existed in Him or they must have occurred later. In the first case we have to recognize as many eternal objects as the attributes which all will share with Him in being eternal, but Allah is above that which people deem Him to have equals. In the second case, in addition to subjecting Him to the alternations, it would also mean that before the acquiring of the attributes He was neither knowledgeable, nor powerful, nor hearer nor beholder, and this runs counter to the basic tenet of Islam.
Allah has decreed trade lawful and has forbidden interest. (Holy Quran, 2: 275)
And when you have finished the prayer remember Allah standing and sitting and reacting and when you are secure (from danger) establish prayer. (Holy Quran, 4: 103).
O you men! Eat of what is in the earth lawful and good and follow not the foot-steps of Satan; for verily he is an open enemy unto you. (Holy Quran, 2: 168).
(And) say: I am only a man like you, it is revealed unto me that your god is but one Allah, therefore, whosoever desires to meet his Master, let him do good deeds and associate not anyone in the worship of his Master. (Holy Quran, 18: 110).
What! enjoin you upon the people righteousness and you forget your own selves? Yet you read the scripture? What?! Do you not understand?! (Holy Quran, 2: 44).
2. About the Holy Quran, Amir al-Mu’minin (x) says that it
contains description of the permitted and forbidden acts such as Allah has allowed the sale and purchase but prohibited usury.
It clarifies obligatory and optional acts such as AWhen you have finished the prayer, remember Allah rising, sitting or lying and when you feel safe (from the enemy) then say the prayers (as usual) (4: 104).
Here, prayer is obligatory while other forms of remembering (Allah) are optional. It has repealing and repealed verses such as about the period of seclusion after the husband’s death: four months and ten days, or the repealed one such as: till one year without going out. This shows that this period of seclusion should be one year. In particular places it permits what is forbidden such as: “Whoever is compelled, without being willfully wrongful or transgressing, commits no sins.”
It has positive injunctions such “One should not add anyone with Allah in worship. It has particular and general injunctions. Particular is the one where the word shows generality but the sense is limited such as: “I have made you superior to other nations of the world, O Banu Isra’il.”
Here, the meaning of “nations of the world” is confined to that particular time, although the word is general in its literal meaning. The general injunction is one which is extensive in meaning such as Allah has knowledge of everything. It has lessons and illustrations such as Allah caught him in the punishment of this world and the next and there is a lesson in it.
So Allah seized him, with the chastisement in the hereafter and the life before (it) (Holy Quran. 79: 25)
Verily in this there is a lesson unto him who fears (Allah). (Holy Quran, 79: 26)
A kind word and pardon is better than charity that is followed by injury and verily Allah is Self-sufficient, the Most forbearing. (Holy Quran, 2: 263)
And remember when We made a covenant with you and raised the Tur (mountain) above you (saying): Hold you fast that which We have bestowed upon you with the strength (of determination) and remember that which is the rein so that you may guard (yourself) against evil. (Holy Quran, 2: 63)
So we made it a lesson for (those of) their own times and for those (of their posterity) who came after them and an exhortation unto those who guard (themselves) against evil. (Holy Quran, 2: 66)
He it is Who fashions you in the wombs (of your mothers) as He likes; There is no god but He, the All-mighty, the al-Wise. (Holy Quran,
3: 5)
Obedience and a fair word; but when the affair is determined then if they be true to Allah, it would certainly be better for them. (Holy Quran, 47: 21)
O those who believe! It is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will, and do not straiten them in order that you may take a part of what you have given, unless they are guilty of manifest lewdness; but deal kindly with them and if you hate them, it may be that you hate a thing while Allah has placed in it abundant good. (Holy Quran, 4: 19)
Say (to the People of the Book):You dispute with us about Allah, while He is our Master and your Master, and for us are our deeds and for you are yours; to Him (Alone) we are (exclusively) loyal? (Holy Quran,
2: 139)
There is a lesson in it for whoever fears Allah, and illustrations such as “The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is like a grain which grows seven ears each one of which bears hundred grains.” It has unspecific and specific verses. Unspecific is one which has no limitation on specification such as “Recall when Moses told his people Allah commands you to sacrifice a cow.”
Specific is one where denotation is limited as Allah says that Athe cow should be such that it has neither been used for ploughing nor for irrigation fields. There is clarity and obscurity in it. The clarity is that which has no intricacy such as “Verily Allah has sway over everything,” while the obscurity is whose meaning has complication such as “… the Merciful One (Allah) occupies the throne” the apparent meaning of which gives the impressions as if Allah is physically “sitting” on the Throne although the intention is to underscore His authority and control. In it there are brief injunctions such as “Establish prayer” and those of deep meanings such as the verses about which says the following: The meaning is not known except to Allah and to those immersed in knowledge. Then Amir al-Mu’minin (x) deliberates on this theme in a different way, saying
that there are some things in it which are necessary to know, such as: “So be informed that there is no god except Allah” and there are others which are not necessary to know such as Aleef, laam, meem, etc. It has also injunctions which have been repealed by the Prophet’s actions such as “As for your women who commit adultery, get four male witnesses, and if four witnesses do appear, shut such women in the house till death ends their life.” This punishment was current in early Islam but was later replaced by stoning in the case of married women. In it, there are some injunctions which repealed the Prophet’s actions such as “Turn your face towards Masjid al-Haram by which the injunction for facing Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) was repealed. It also contains injunctions which are obligatory only at a particular time was repealed. It also contains injunctions which are obligatory only at a particular time after which their obligation ends, such as “When the call for prayer is made on Friday, hasten towards remembrance of Allah.” It has also indicated grades of prohibitions as the division of sins into light and serious ones such as “Tell the believers to lower their gaze” and serious ones such as “Whoever kills a believer willfully, his penalty is to remain in Hell forever.” It also contains injunctions where a little performance is enough but there is scope for further performance such as “Read the Holy Quran as much as you can.”
Verily your Master, certainly is He the All-mighty, the All-merciful. (Holy Quran, 26: 9)
Say (O Our Prophet Muhammad [h]) to the believing men that they should cast down their gaze and guard their private parts; that is purer for them; verily Allah is All-aware of whatever you do. (Holy Quran, 24: 30)
Not equal are those of the believers who sit (holding back) to those who are hurt and who strive in the way of Allah with their wealth and selves (lives). Allah has raised the strivers with their wealth and selves (lives) in rank above those sitting (holding back); to all (faithful) Allah has promised good: but those who strive He has distinguished above those who sit (linger behind and not go out to fight for the faith) a great recompense. (Holy Quran, 4: 95)
Verily, your Lord knows that you stand up (during the night for the night prayers) two-thirds of the night and (sometimes) half of it and (sometimes) a third of it and(so does) a group of those with you, and Allah measures (well) the night and the day; He knows that you can never take (correct) account of it, so He turns to you (mercifully); recite, then, whatever is easy (in the prayers) to be read of the Holy Quran; He knows that there may be among you those who are sick and others traveling in the earth seeking of the grace of Allah and others fighting in the way of Allah, so recite as much as it can easily be done of it and establish the (regular) prayers and pay the (prescribed) zakat and offer unto Allah a goodly loan. Whatsoever good (deeds) you send forth before hand for yourselves, you will (surely) find it with Allah, that is the best and the greatest recompense, and seek the forgiveness of Allah; Verily, Allah if Oft-forgiving, most Merciful. (Holy Quran, 73: 20)