Some of the Ayahs of the Glorious Qur’an regarding “Amr”
are:
Surah al-A’raf
Ayah 54: “Your Lord is Allah, Who established His dominion over the Throne (of
the realm) after having created the heavens and the earth in six days (period
of time). He made the night darken the day which it pursues at a (considerable)
speed, and He made the sun and the moon submissive to His Command. Is it not He
Who creates and governs all things. Blessed is Allah, the Cherisher of the
universe.”
Surah al-Shu’ra
Ayah 52: “Thus, We have revealed a Spirit (Ruhul Quds) to you, (Muhammad), by
Our Command….”
Surah al-Ya’sin
Ayah 82: “Whenever He decides to create something He has only to say, “Exist”,
and it comes into existence.”
Surah al-Qadr Ayah
4: “On this night, the angels and the spirit descend by the permission of their
Lord with His Decree (to determine every one’s destiny). Question is, on
the Night of Power, where do the angels descend on earth. Can they descend in
the presence of ordinary person or an “Ulil
Amr” which is Imam Mahdi (a.s.), the Awaited One?
Surah al-Dukkhan
Ayah 3-6: “that We have revealed the Qur’an on a blessed night to warn mankind.
On this night, every absolute Command coming from Us becomes distinguishable;
the Command that is from Us which We have been sending as a mercy (for human
being), from your Lord. Your Lord is All-hearing and All-knowing.”
Surah al-Nahl Ayah
2: “He sends the angels with the Spirit to carry His orders to whichever of His
servants He wants so that they would warn people that He is the only “Ilah”
(one deserving to be worshiped) and that people must have fear of Him.”
Surah al-Ahz’ab Ayah
24: “We appointed some of the Israelites as leaders for their exercising
patience to guide the others to Our Commands. They have firm belief in Our
revelations.”
The word “Amr” relates to the world of spirits as stated
in Surah Night Journey Ayah 85: “They
ask you about the Spirit. Say, “The Spirit comes by the command of my Lord. You
have been given very little knowledge.”
In Surah al-A’raf
Ayah 54, the word Amr relates to “Command”- : “…..His, is verily, all creation
and commandment.”
Surah al-Nisa Ayah
59; “Believers, obey Allah, His Messenger, and those vested with authority from
among you. If you have faith in Allah and the Day of Judgment, refer to Allah
and His Messenger concerning matters in which you differ. This would be a more
virtuous and a better way of settling differences.” The obedience demanded of the Ulil Amr being the same as for Allah and
His Messenger, demands the Ulil Amr to be of the conduct and character of
highest order like that of the Messenger of Allah manifesting through their
practical lives the Divine Attributes of Allah.”
Allama Majlisi
(r.a.) narrates in his Hayat-al-Quloob:
“When this Ayah was revealed, Jabir ibn
Abdullah Ansari (r.a.) asked the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.s.) as to who was the
“Ulil Amr”; he replied that his successors were the Ulil Amr. They were the
twelve Imams.”
Some of the translators of the Glorious Qur’an thought
that Ulil Amr are the people in authority. But looking at the history to date,
there were many tyrants, like Yazid, Saddam, evil doers, mischief makers, even
non-Muslim rulers. Allah Who is just can never expect us to obey evil doers.
Imam Ali (a.s.),
Imam Hasan (a.s.), Imam Hussayn (a.s.) did not give up their right to a
non-Ulil Amr person as they themselves were Ulil Amr at their individual time.
After Imam Hussayn (a.s.) to Imam Hasan al-Askari (a.s.), these nine Imams
refused to obey a non-Ulil Amr. Consequently, they were tortured, imprisoned
and ultimately martyred.
Surah al-Ma’idah
Ayah 55: “Verily, your guardian is (none else) Allah, His Messenger (Muhammad),
and the true believers, who are steadfast in their in prayer and pay alms,
while they bow down during prayers, are your guardians.”
Surah al-Ra’ad
Ayah 43: “(Muhammad), the unbelievers say, “You are not a Messenger.” Say, “Allah
and those who have knowledge of the Book are sufficient witness (to my
prophet-hood).” In this Ayah, the person referred by Allah as the one who has
knowledge of the Book, is Imam Ali (a.s.).
Khair-ul-Bariyyah,
as referred to in Surah al-Zilzal Ayah 7: “The righteously striving believers
are the best of all creatures.” Is Imam Ali (a.s.).
Imam Ali (a.s.) is
the Ulil Amr ,who sold his “Nafs” to seek Allah’s pleasure on the decisive
night of Hijrat when the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.s.) migrated to Madinah and Imam
Ali (a.s.) willingly offered to sleep in the Prophet’s bed which was the target
of Quraish’s swords. Surah al-Baqarah Ayah 207 refers.
Who else can be Ulil Amr other than a person who was “Nafs-e-Rasool”
as stated in Surah Al-Imran Ayah 61: “And
unto him who disputes with you therein after the knowledge has come unto you,
Say! (O Our Apostle Muhammad!) Come you, let us summon our sons, and you summon
your sons, and (we summon our women), and (you) your women, and (we summon) ourselves
and (you) your selves and then let us invoke and lay the curse of Allah on the
liars!”
Surah al-Nisa Ayah
54: “Are they jealous of the favors that Allah has done for certain people? We
have given to the family of Ibrahim the Book, Wisdom, and a great kingdom.”
The kingdom, Temporal as well as Spiritual, belongs to the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.s.) and his Pure Progeny. As per the narrator,
Ayyashi, the Infallible Imam Jaffer
al-Sadiq (a.s.): “Great kingdom means, He appointed Great Imams and made their
obedience Allah’s obedience.”
It is narrated that once some people wanted to play a
trick with Imam Ali (a.s.) and persuaded a woman to let her son lie down in the
dead body coffin and request the Imam (a.s.) to recite the Namaz-e-Janazah (prayers
for dead) for her son who was alive but pretended to be dead. The poor lady was
not fully cognizant that she was trapped and unaware of the boundless knowledge
of the Imam (a.s.). Imam Ali (a.s.) came near the coffin and asked her three
times if she permits him to recite the Namaz-e-Janazah of “this body” pointing
towards the coffin in which her son was alive but pretended as dead. She gave
the permission. Imam Ali (a.s.), being
the “Ulil Amr” called the angel of death and ordered to extricate his soul. After the namaz, the Imam
(a.s.) advised her to take away the body for burial. When the cloth was
removed, her live son was found dead.
It can be
concluded that “Amr” and the Power related to it involves everything from heavens
to the earth. Whoever Allah gives this authority will have the Power to control
everything. These selected people or the “People of Command” have got to be infallible, and Ahlul Bayts’s
infallibility is confirmed in Ayah-e-Tatheer Surah al-Ahz’ab Ayah 33 which
says: “….O People of the House, Allah wants to keep away all kinds of
uncleanness from you and to purify you thoroughly.” Hence, the leader of
this “selected people” and one of the Infallible in the Ayah, is the Owner of the
Divine Sword Zulfiqar, the Conqueror of Khyber, the Gate Way of the Knowledge,
the Imam Mazhar al-Ajaib, Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib (a.s.).
Translation of the Glorious Qur’an By S.V.Mir Ahmed Ali &
Agha Pooya Yazdi
By
Muhammad Sarwar
Hayat-al-Quloob By
Allama Muhammad Baqir Majlisi (r.a.)
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