Documents of the Right Word

to rescue them from this sinful position.
Answer: The hundred and sixty-fourth âyat of En’âm sûra and
the fifteenth âyat of Isrâ sûra purport, “No sinner will also have
the responsibility for someone else’s sin.” Supposing, [though
impossible], hadrat Abû Bekr and hadrat ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu
ta’âlâ anhumâ’ and most of Rasûlullah’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ Sahâba
somehow committed a sin, this sin would not have any effect on
hadrat Alî according to this âyat-i-kerîma, and it would still not be
necessary for him to fight on account of it. Then, would it ever be
possible for him to commence a fight that would cause hundreds of
millions of people to be burned eternally in Hell?
This faqîr, [that is, ’Uthmân Efendi ‘rahima-hullahu ta’âlâ],
asked one of the Shi’î scholars, “Hadrat Fâtima’s ‘radiy-Allâhu
anh’ being offended with the As-hâb-i-kirâm for not giving her the
date orchard would mean fondness for the world, which in turn
would be something impermissible.” He replied,“Her being
offended did not originate from fondness for the world. It was
because she did not like a wicked deed.” With this evasive answer
he blemished Rasûlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’ daughter,
who was as clean as pure water. For something done in a manner
compatible with Islam would sound wicked only to the nafs-iammâra.
I remembered this fact and made the following
explanation. He was so stupefied that he could say nothing. My
explanation was: Everyone reading history knows this event: In a
Holy War Imâm-i-Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu anh’ threw an unbeliever
down to the ground and was about to deal him the fatal blow,
when his desperate opponent spat all the foul contents in his
mouth out into his face. His face dirtied all over, the imâm gave up
killing the unbeliever. The unbeliever, who was already out of his
mind, was bewildered all the more. “Why did you give up,” he
asked. “Are you afraid?” Hadrat Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu anh’ let the
unbeliever go, saying, “I was going to kill you with the
commandment of Allâhu ta’âlâ because you would not become a
Muslim. But now my nafs is your enemy because of the foul act
you have done. If I kill you now, I will have done so to do the wish
of my nafs. Thus my killing you will earn me sinfulness instead of
thawâb.” Upon hearing these statements, the unbeliever admired
the superiority of the Islamic religion on which Imâm-i-Alî’s
conscience was based and uttered the word kalima-i-shahâdat with
all his heart, thus becoming a Muslim willingly. The two people,
who were mortal enemies a few minutes earlier, were now
brothers hugging each other.
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