Documents of the Right Word

might insolently perpetrate towards Allâhu ta’âlâ could be more
daring than this and no other statement contrary to His
Attributes of perfection could be more repugnant. This sordid
statement of yours could be refuted by many other answers as
well. This statement of yours means to compare the Creator to
His creatures, to apply the same criterion as we assess them with.
And this, in its turn, is by no means possible. Allâhu ta’âlâ is not
like anything, nor is anything like Him in any respect.
Furthermore, if it were wâjib for Allâhu ta’âlâ to keep a sinless
imâm, then it would be wâjib for Him to send a Prophet in every
century, to keep a sinless imâm in every city, and to make every
Ruler just and true. Yes, any person, whether he is good or bad,
would not like to see an environment where Allâhu ta’âlâ has left
His born slaves to themselves without a guide or an imâm and
where they lead an ignorant and aberrant life tumbling in
darkness.
“To this end, Allâhu ta’âlâ has revealed a book that will guide
to happiness and peace and endowed man with enough mental
capacity to apprehend its value. If you say that Allâhu ta’âlâ has
always sent the sinless imâm, the owner of the time and entrusted
the management of His born slaves’ affairs into his hands, this will
be another senseless and ridiculous assertion. Aside from the
farcicality that this sinless imâm should have stayed alive
throughout these thousand years during which all his children,
grandchildren and kith and kin have died, how could he have been
useful by remaining secret despite the increased number of Shiites,
instead of coming forward to guide people to the right way, to
awaken them from unawareness, and to promulgate Islam? How
could he be said to have had such duties as guiding all people to
the right way, making rights reach their owners, and many others?
What else could be as eccentric and as devious as such a belief? If
Allâhu ta’âlâ does not endow a person with the right way, no one
can guide him to the right way.
“As all these facts show, Allâhu ta’âlâ does not have to do, or
not to do, anything. As is written in your book (Nehj-ul-balâgha),
hadrat Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu anh’ stated this fact plainly in the khutba
he made during the combat of Siffîn. He said, ‘Since I manage
your affairs, I have rights on you. And you in turn have rights on
me and on one another. When there are rights that a person owe
to others, there will also be rights owed to him. Allâhu ta’âlâ is the
only being who does not owe any rights though there are rights
owed to Him. For He can do everything. Everything He does has
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