Finally, we may turn to the question (alluded to above) about how Imam al-Mahdi (as) functions as an Imam during his Occultation. Ansar.org’s article is predicated on an entirely distorted and confused idea of Imamate. As for the textual and historical criticisms made therein, they have already been discussed and amply refuted in other works. Here, we will deal with one of the main accusations made with regards to the Safra (the representatives of the Holy Imam (as)): If Imamate lies at the center of Shi’ism, and the world is always in constant need of an Imam, than how is it that the Imam can be in ghaybah, and that the Shi’a can be forced to rely upon the fallible representatives of the Imam?
Firstly, this question demonstrates the author’s disbelief in the Islamic revelation. Many Prophets existed in a state of occultation, and continued to benefit their nations while in that state. It is well known that a large number of such Prophets were required to do so owing to the circumstances of their time. Hazrat Ibrahim (as) kept himself aloof from the people for some time; Hazrat Musa (as) also became screened for some time from his adherents, and during this period of his occultation his followers became annoyed with him. Hazrat Yusuf (as) was concealed and without making himself apparent, and yet kept on providing guidance to his followers, and when his occultation came to an end his true position became apparent to all. These people concealed themselves during their periods of preaching and prophecy and when there was no requirement they became apparent. Many such Prohets, for example Hazrat Ibrahim (as) also had miraculously long lives.
We firmly believe that the earth never remains free from God’s hujjat. According to the order of the Prophet Muhammad (s), acknowledging the presence of any known declaration is compulsory on the earth every time. As such, if Hazrat Imam al-Mahdi is not present at this time on the earth, then who is such divine entity whom we accept as the God’s declaration? Indeed, to state that no such Imam (as) exists is to question the word of Rasulullah (s).
As is often the case with Wahabi authors, the author of “The Myth of the 12th Imam” contradicts many illustrious Sunni ‘ulama. Concerning the Occultation of the Imam, the Sunni Mufti-e-Azam Suleman Hanfi Qundozi writes in his great book Yanabi-ul-Mawaddat, Bombay, page. 370 that Hazrat Mohammad (s) says that Imam al-Mahdi is the Hidden Imam prophesized by the Prophet (s), and the people who endure the occultation of Imam al-Mahdi and those who will be firm in their love for him will be blessed. Allama Hussain Vaaz Kashifi explains that the “eternal word” left by Allah (swt), referred to in the Qur’an, will be Imam al-Mahdi, and that and amongst the Aal-e-Mohammad he is the one who is still present and existing. The author of Noor-ul-Absar documents the appearance and dominancy of Imam-e-Waqat that when he will make appearance by the sanction of God, he will overcome all the religions, and except Islam there will not be any other religion existing in the world. [Noor-ul-Absar, p. 153]. Numerous other major Sunni sources agree that the Mahdi is none other than the Imam Mahdi (as) of the Shia, the Twelfth Imam whose longevity is a miracle. As further examples we can cite, from many, the greatest Sufi saint Ibn Arabi himself, who gives the full lineage of the Imam Mahdi (as) through the Shia Imams that came before him and declares his belief that this is also the Mahdi who will rise as the great Messiah at the end of time. Amongst contemporary scholars, the largest section of Sunni Muslims are the Hanafi fiqa who account for 80% of sunni muslims. Their greatest scholar in south asia (home to the single largest group of Muslims in the world or about 1/3 of all Muslims) is Dr. Tahir Qadri. In his recent work Qadri has extolled the 12 Imams of the Shia, and concurred that the promised Mahdi is the same as the Imam Mahdi (as) of the Shia. Thus the greatest Sufi saint, and the greatest contemporary sunni scholar believes in Imam Mahdi (as) the 12th Shia Imam.
Beyond this, we will see that the answer to the question about how the Imam (as) will function during the ghaybah can only make sense if one understands the spiritual reality of the Imam. During the Occultation, the true believer is still able to maintain a spiritual relationship with the Imam (as), because in his being he transcends the limits of physical reality. He is not merely a man who comes and explains matters of fiqh and usul; rather, he is a being who exists on multiple levels of reality. If one is unable to see his physical body, one may still witness and learn from his being in the spiritual world. This is only possible for the true believer, and to this end Imam as-Sajjad (as) said:
“The light of the Imam in the hearts of the faithful is more brilliant than that of the brilliant day star.”
Al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 276.
It is in this way that the true believer takes guidance from the Imam during the period of his Occultation. We will discuss this more below.
One can only accept the notion of spiritual guidance if one believes in the spiritual reality of the Prophet (s) and the Imams (as), which the people at Ansar.org do not. They reject that the Prophet (s) was anything more than a mere mortal, who lived and died at a certain period, and has no spiritual reality before that or afterwards. Because of their inability to grasp the higher reality of the Prophet (s), because they believe that the Prophet (s) cannot benefit the believers after his death, it is impossible for them to understand how the Twelfth Imam (as) can benefit the believers during his Occultation. Conversely, once it is understood that the Prophet (s) had a higher level of spiritual reality than ordinary people, and that he continues to benefit the believers after his death, the question of how a Hidden Imam can benefit the believers becomes easily understood.
The type of accusation made at Ansar.org is only intelligible when one has completely ignored and misunderstood the true nature of Prophecy and Imamate. The writers at Ansar.org are, unfortunately, the followers of a long pseudo-intellectual trend within Islam: the attempt to reduce Islam to a purely legal, exoteric religion without any spiritual core. Indeed, for the Shi’a of ‘Ali (as), the religion of Islam is much broader and wider. Imam as-Sadiq (as) said that the religion is a secret, within a secret, within a secret, and so plunging to the depths of this great and glorious religion is the task of any mu’min. The belief that Islam is nothing more than the external letter of the Qur’an, with nothing to offer the heart and soul, really stems back to the famous words of ‘Umar (l) during the days of the Prophet’s (s) final illness:
“The Qur’an suffices us.”
All he could see in the holy personage of the Glorious Prophet (s) was a man like himself, presenting some exoteric teachings to be literally understood from a book that, in his eyes, was shallow and devoid of esoteric or spiritual meaning.
It is precisely the spiritual and esoteric side of Islam that the Imams seek to bring out: after the establishment of the basic text (the Qur’an), the Imams come to bring the light of its interior meaning to the believers, knowledge that they, themselves, derive from the Holy Prophet (s), and which he himself did not have the time left in his life to teach to any but his closest human confidante, Imam ‘Ali (as), who said:
“The Prophet opened to me a thousand doors, each door leading to a thousand doors.”
This knowledge, passed from Imam to Imam, was and continues to be transmitted by the 12th Imam to the believers. This was the love and awe that Imam ‘Ali (as) had for the Prophet, and for the inner teachings of Islam for which it was his responsibility to teach and spread after the death of the Holy Prophet (s). As for ‘Umar, it should be clear to any observer that the Prophet (s) did not open any doors to him, that he was cut off from this inner teaching of Islam. But rather than accepting his deficiency and submitting to the Imam of his time and seeking these teachings from the Imam of his time, he rebelled against him, going so far as to murder his Holy and Purified wife, Lady Fatimah Zahra (as).
Imamate, then, holds the keys to this spiritual aspect, this inner aspect of Islam. It is the task of the Prophet to bring the revelation (tanzil); it is the task of the Imam to bring the interpretation ta’wil, and for this the Holy Prophet (s) said:
“Ali will fight for the ta’wil of the Qur’an as I have fought for to establish its revelation.”
It is precisely this ta’wil that blind individuals such as ‘Umar (l) could never bring themselves to accept. The tradition of such spiritual blindness lives on today, and we see it manifested in the types of discussions found at Ansar.org.
With Imamate being the center of the esoteric aspect of Prophethood, being the “secret of Prophecy” (sirr an-nabuwat) as some thinkers have described it, the figure of the Imam is therefore doubtlessly a figure with great esoteric nature. The writers at Ansar.org make the error of viewing the Imam and the teachings which he brings as being entirely exoteric in nature, and that it is impossible for the Shi’a to benefit from his presence if he is in ghaybah. But the reality of the Imam is higher than such people have misunderstood.
In order to understand the exalted position of the Imam in the cosmos, we must first turn to a study of the source of all Imamate and all Prophethood: the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s). Contemporary Sunnis have elevated derogation of the Prophet (s) to a level of faith; indeed, Sunni Islam is founded upon lowering the place of the Prophet (s) to the point where he becomes entirely co-equal with other human beings or, as is often the case with many Wahabbis, worse than most human beings. This is because Sunni Islam is entirely opposed to the idea of Imamate: not just because it oppose the idea that there are infallible Imams after the Prophet (s), but the idea of Imamate as the center of ta’wil and the spiritual exegesis of the revealed law and text. Imamate is the expression of a fundamental truth of Islam: that Islam is not isolated to the mere apparent meaning of the text, nor to matters of fiqh and usul al-fiqh. Rather, alongside of the apparent meaning of the text (which always must be followed and obeyed) and the legal rites laid down by the Holy Prophet (s) and his Imams, there is an inner core of the religion, an inner core which the Imam must bring out and reveal to those believers who are worthy of it. Now, as stated, the Imams do not derive this knowledge on their own: it is their spiritual inheritance and legacy from the Holy Prophet (s), who in his holy personage combines the function of Imam, Prophet (Rasul), and Messenger (Nabi). The esoteric office of Imamate is inherited from the Holy Prophet (s), and so the Prophet (s) can really be described (in a sense) as the Imam before Ali (as). It is only out of reverence to the Seal of Prophets (s) that the Shia speak of 12 Imams who succeded him, the final prophet and also the greatest Imam. To this end Imam as-Sadiq (as) was asked his opinion about a certain matter, to which he said:
“Nothing. We [the Ahl al-Bayt (as)] have no opinions. Everything that we say to you and explain to you comes from the Holy Prophet (s).”
And indicating upon this spiritual inheritance said:
“The first of us is Muhammad, the middle of us is Muhammad, and the last of us is Muhammad.”
Because the Holy Prophet (s) is the source of Imamate, then when Wahabbis want to fight and destroy the spiritual aspect of Islam it becomes incumbent upon them to destroy the esoteric Imamate of the Holy Prophet (s). Denigrating the Holy Prophet (s), then, becomes the firs step in denigrating the Ahl al-Bayt (as). Once it is denied that the Prophet (s) possessed any esoteric knowledge or reality (as ‘Umar did during the Thursday Tragedy, refusing to accept that the Prophet (s) had anything more to offer than the Qur’anic text), then it becomes meaningless to speak about the esoteric teachings of the Imams who followed from him.
In order to understand and prove the existence of the esoteric Imamate and understand how the Imamate of Imam al-Mahdi (as&af) functions during the ghaybah, we must first understand nature and reality of the Prophet Muhammad (s)’s Imamate. The fact is that the Sunni hadith literature bears witness to the exalted status of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s), and the fact that he was not a man like the rest of us. The most important issue here is to understand the nature of the Prophet’s creation and his position in the cosmic order. In the Al-Tirmidhi and the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal (the latter, ironically, written by the founder of the sunni madhab to which Wahhabis affiliate themselves) we read the Holy Prophet (s) saying:
I was a Prophet when Adam was between water and clay.
The Wahabbis will immediately decry such hadeeths as kufr and anybody who narrates them as a kafir. But as Ahmad Ibn Hanbal is considered by many Wahabbis as being their spiritual forefather for his literalist interpretation of the Qur’an and his rejection of all ta’wil, they would have a hard time passing their usual fatwa of takfir (apostasy) on their intellectual progenitor. This single hadeeth already establishes the fact that the Holy Prophet (s) has a level of existence far different and exalted from our own. Before the creation of man, he existed as a Prophet. He is therefore not only the final Prophet, but he is also the first Prophet if pre-existence (pre-Creation) is considered. As this hadeeth appears in the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal, and that Ibn Hanbal (the most literalist and conservative of the Four Sunni Imams) decided to include it in his work, is an indication of its widespread acceptance during his time and the difficulty he would have had in rejecting it.
In any case, it has been learned from long experience that whenever a hadith is presented to the Wahabies that they don’t like, they immediately raise the cry: “This hadeeth is weak!” Never do the Wahabbis provide an explanation as to why it is weak, as to which narrator in the isnad was considered to be unreliable, but none the less this is always the claim made. These are the people whom Allah has described as “taking their desires as their God, and are in clear misguidance,” for rather than making recourse to their own science of rijal (hadeeth narrators) they dismiss any hadeeth they find troublesome without analyzing it. As such, we will turn to the Qur’anic justification for accepting narrations of this nature. The Qur’an cannot be refuted by the Wahabbis, even if they seek to twist its meaning, and so we will now turn to a discussion of those blessed verses which establish the veracity of the aforementioned narrations, and for which these narrations serve as a tafsir.
If anybody seeks to deny that the Prophet Muhammad (s) was the first creation, then they will not be able to explain the following verse:
Say: “Indeed, I am commanded to worship Allah with absolute sincerity, and I have been commanded to be the first of the Muslims.” (39:11-12)
We see here that the Prophet Muhammad (s) is commanded to be the first to believe in the religion of Islam. Yet we read in the Qur’an that all the previous Prophets were believers in Islam:
We have legislated for you the same religion as that which was enjoined upon Noah – that [religion] which we have revealed to you, and that which was enjoined upon Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.
Say: “I am not bringing anything innovated (bid’a) from the Messengers.” (42:13)
As well, we read that it was Abraham (as) who first named the believers as Muslims, as well as the fact that Allah (swt) says:
Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but a true Muslim (hanifan Musliman).
Yet if the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s) was commanded to be the first of the believers, than how can he be the first of the believers? If Abraham was the first to name the believers as Muslims, how can Prophet Muhammad (s) then be the first Muslim? If we are to only understand the Prophet Muhammad (s) on his physical level, and that he was commanded to be the first of the Muslms, we have to accept that he was inventing something new, and that previous Prophets did not believe in Islam. If we are to only understand the reality of the Prophet, the Imams, and the true believers only in terms of their physical being and their temporal existence on Earth, than there is contradiction between the first ayat we cited and the ayats following it. One could argue (as Yusuf ‘Ali does), that the command “be first of the believers” means “be the best of the believers,” but this is contradictory to the explicit use of the word awal (first) in the verses under discussion. If that had been the case, why would Allah (swt) not use the word afdal (best) or something similar to it? Furthermore, it is unintelligible to say that he was ordered to be the best of the Muslims, as he is by his very essence the best of the Muslims. The fact that he is the Final Prophet of Islam already means that he is the best of the Muslims, and so it is not something which he can be commanded to as he is commanded to pray and fast, but is rather something intrinsic to his being. It is would also merely be a repetition of the statement “I am commanded to worship Allah with absolute sincerity,” whereas Allah (swt) is clearly intending to explain something different by joining the second ayat with the first.
However, the question becomes answerable when we accept that the Prophet (s) was in reality the first Muslim, and that he had a spiritual existence before the physical existence known to our history. He was literally the first Muslim because he was the first to be created, and was the first to bow down to his Lord. This is explained explicitly by the hadeeth, quoted by the great literalist Ahmad ibn Hanbal, that “I was a Prophet when Adam was between water and clay.” This hadeeth does not contradict anything in the Qur’an, but rather fits exactly in with the meaning of the verse: “I was commanded to be the first of the Muslims,” and elaborates the meaning of it. In fact, without this hadeeth and others like it, it would be impossible to make sense out of these verses and one would have to resort to the very weak explanation that Yusuf ‘Ali offers. The fact is that the Prophet (s) was the first to be commanded to Islam by being the first creation, and was the first to bow down to the will of his Lord in the religion of Islam.
The Prophet (s), therefore, can clearly be seen to have a higher spiritual reality than what the Wahabbis attribute to him. He was spiritually present before any other being, and therefore benefited creation from its first origins. It was only at the end of the cycle of Prophecy that he became physically manifest in the world, as a physical being walking amongst men and women. But his spiritual presence was always a reality. To this end we find it narrated in many Sunni hadeeths that a condition for the Prophecy of every Prophet and Messenger (as) was that they help and serve the mission of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s). It is not rational to believe that Allah (swt) ordered the Prophets (as) to assist somebody who did not yet exist. Therefore, it is incumbent upon every believer who has faith in the Qur’an to understand that the Prophet (s) is not merely the final Prophet but also, in a very real sense, the first Prophet from whom all the other Prophets derived their Prophecy. Similarly, all of the awliyah (saints) derived their sainthood from him as well.
Because the Prophet (s) was also the first Imam, as discussed above, therefore the spiritual reality of Imamate was also eternally present and is always eternally present. This was united in the Prophet (s)’s pre-cosmic being, and to this end we read in the important Sunni text Riyadat at-Nadirah, narrated by Salman al-Farsi (r):
“I and Ali were created from one Light (nur) 14,000 years before the creation of Adam.”
Riyad an-Nadirah. Vol. 2, p. 108
This is also indicated by those Sunni hadeeths that establish that testifying to the wilayat of Imam ‘Ali (as) is part of faith and that one’s belief system is incomplete without:
No one will be able to cross the bridge on the day of judgment without the wilayat of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib.
Riyad an-Nadirah. Vol. 2, p. 116
The Prophet (s) said about his mi’raj: “I saw written on the pillar and understood [what it said]: ‘There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah, ‘Ali is his Nusrat (help).”
Riyad an-Nadirah. Vol. 2, p. 118
On the same page the author of Riyad an-Nadirah also reports that Ibn ‘Abbas sought help from the wilayat of Imam ‘Ali (as) on his death bed.
This hadeeth is reported and accepted by the author of one of the most important fiqh books used by Sunni madrassas (religious schools) in the sub-continent. According to the standard Wahabi fatwa, this scholar should automatically be declared a kafir, but nonetheless we know that this is not the case. Here, we see Imam ‘Ali (as) representing the aspect of wilayat, while the Prophet (s) represents the aspect of nubuwat. These two realities were united, and so both the Prophet (s) and Imam ‘Ali (as) had this pre-cosmic, luminous, spiritual existence which has radiated throughout history.
Once this has been accepted and understood, the question about how the Hidden Imam (as) can benefit the world during his ghaybah becomes easily answered. If the Holy Prophet (s) could benefit the world before his earthly existence, than certainly his successor (as) can benefit the world during the period of his earthly existence, even though he may be hidden from the physical eyes of men. But he is not hidden spiritually, and to this reason we read the hadeeth: “The hidden Imam may be hidden from the eyes of men, but not from the heart of the believer tested for faith.” Those who seek the Imam with love and sincerity will experience the Light of the Imam (as), that same light which existed before all of creation. But this benefit can only be obtained through spiritual purity and exercise, so that one’s heart may be touched by that light. The Prophet (s) said: “The angels do not enter a house wherein there is a dog,” so it is unintelligible that the light of the Imam could enter into the house of a heart polluted by sin and evil.
This is how knows one’s Imam during his Occultation, and is able to comply with the hadeeth of the Prophet (s): “He who dies without knowing the Imam of his time, dies the death of jahiliyyah.” It is a matter of experiencing this reality inside one’s being, and in this way one knows the Imam of one’s time. If one argues that the Imam of our time is the Prophet (s), this is true in a sense; but implies believing that the Prophet (s) has a reality that transcends the historical event of his physical death, something which the Wahabbis will deny. If they accept that the Prophet (s) does have this transcendent level of reality, then there is no problem in arguing that the Twelfth Imam (as) also has this transcendent level of reality, and if the Prophet (s) may benefit people after his death, than certainly the Imam (as) may benefit people during his Occultation. Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa’i (q) sums this up well when he writes:
We have mutawatir narrations which state that even if he [the Imam] is hidden from the eyes, his Light will still be present in the hearts of the Shi’a. In a reliable narration it is narrated that the Imam benefits the people in ghaybah in the way that the sun benefits the people even when it is hidden beneath clouds. For the day is present insofar as the light of the sun is present, and if the sun’s light is gone, then there can (at least normally) be no day. As such one cannot do without Infallibility, whether this be from the locus of this infallibility [the guide, the Imam] and the light which comes from it, as is the case with the “translator” [the Imam, as discussed above] or the sustainer, or whether it only be through the light, as is the case with the ‘ulama who derive their knowledge from him. If this Infallibility were gone completely, then there would be no path to success, for there would be no light at all, and “he whom Allah does not give light, shall never have light.”
Al-Ahsa’i, Rasa’il al-Hikmah., pp. 203-204.
[The Sheikh is using the word “Infallibility” to refer to the reality of the Imam.]
At this stage one may ask: If the Prophet (s) has this spiritual presence, than what is the need for Imams at all? This question is also based on a misunderstanding of the nature of the world around us. The Prophet Muhammad (s) was not just the first Prophet and the first creation; he was also the source of this creation. The universe was not created separately from the light of the Prophet (s), but was derived from his primordial light. Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa’i discusses this issue in one of his letters:
Allah, may He be glorified, created the Nur of Muhammad (s) before everything, and then created from this light the Nur of the Ahl al-Bayt (as), just as a lantern is created from another lantern, insofar as if you have a lantern, it is possible for you to light with it another lantern. As such, Allah, may He be glorified, created the second lantern from the first lantern, just as ‘Ali (as) said: “I am from Muhammad, as a light from a light,” meaning such as a lantern from another lantern. The lights of the Fourteen Infallibles (s) worshipped Allah and glorified Him and praised Him for a thousand eons (dahr), each eon lasting a thousand years, and there was nothing else in creation besides them. Then, Allah gazed upon this Light with His Divine Eye, and he emanated another 124,000 drops of light, and from each drop he created the Spirit (ruh) of each Prophet. And so these Prophets glorified and praised Allah for a thousand eons, and there was nothing in creation other than them, the Prophet (s), and his family (as). After this, Allah created from the rays of the Prophets light the spirit of the believers.
Al-Ahsa’i, Rasa’il al-Hikmah, page 257
This discussion is in line with several hadeeths from Al-Kafi and other sources. This specific discussion focuses upon the creation of the believers and the Prophets from the Light of the Ahl al-Bayt, but beyond this we have many hadeeths where the primordial nature of the Imam makes him the means by which the existentiating mercy (rahmat al-wujud) of Allah (swt) touches all things. Without the Imam, the world will be destroyed:
Hussain ibn Abi al-‘Ala asked Imam as-Sadiq (as): “Is the Earth every without an Imam?” To which Imam as-Sadiq (as) said: “No.”
Hussain ibn Abi al-‘Ala asked the Imam (as): “Can the Earth survive (yabqi) without the Imam?” To which he said: “No.”
Imam as-Sadiq (as) said: “If the Earth were to last without an Imam, it would be destroyed.”
Imam al-Baqir (as) said: “If the Imam were taken from the Earth for an hour, then its people would be flooded out of its existence along with its people.”
This is because the Imam is only a manifestation of the reality of the Prophet (s), who is the source of creation. If the source of existence is removed, then the universe cannot continue to exist for even a moment. In order for the mercy of existence to reach the universe, therefore an Imam (of which the Prophet was one) must be within that Earth as well. As such, Allah (swt) has not taken the Holy Imam al-Mahdi (as) from the Earth but has merely hidden him. Were he to leave and no other Imam to be appointed afterwards (and we know that he is the last Imam, as the Prophet (s) made clear that there would be twelve Imams after him), then the world itself would be destroyed. Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa’i writes in this regard:
Know that Allah, may He be Glorified, made Muhammad and his family the vessel of His Mercy in the World of Secrets before he created Creation. As such, nothing from His Mercy reaches anything in Creation because it is the right of anything in Creation, or because of any innate goodness of those Created things, or because of any prayer on the part of anything else in Creation. Rather, the Mercy only connects [to Creation] because of the goodness which is connected to them and for which they are a medium.
Al-Ahsa’i, Rasa’il al-Hikmah, page 32
In this way the Imam benefits both the believers and disbelievers. The true believers receive his guidance just as the Earth receives the light of the sun when it is behind clouds. The rest of creation, even the most evil of his creation, take his benefit because they could not exist without his presence. The only thing that is missing during the ghaybah is direct, face to face contact with the Imam, but this is not a necessity for the believer who opens his heart to the Imam’s light, for as Imam al-Baqir (as) has said:
“When someone truly comes to love us, then we will cast the answer to any question he has in his heart.”
This is how Imamate functions during the ghaybah. There will be many who will deny the possibility of such a thing, of a Hidden Imam who gives spiritual guidance even in the midst of his Occultation, but such people only prove their disbelief in the Qur’an. For Allah (swt) mentions the powers of Shaytanin the Qur’an:
Shaytan said to Allah: “Give me respite, until the day of rising.” Allah said: “Indeed, you are given respite!” Shaytan then said: “Because you have cast me out, I will lie in wait for them on the straght path. Then I will assault them from between their hands, and from behind them, and from the right and the left.” (7:14-17)
The Shaytan, then, is given the power to lie in wait against every believer, to unleash every stratagem against them. He may attack a believer anywhere, otherwise we would not be ordered to say in the final surah of the Qur’an:
Say: I take refuge with the Lord of Men
The King of Men
The God of Men
From the evil of the Devil’s [al-khanas, an epithet for shaytan] whispers (114:1-4)
Furthermore, Allah (swt) details some of the nefarious affects that Shaytan has had on the believers:
Those who turned back on the day the two armies met, indeed it was the Shaytan who caused them to slip. (3:155)
If you say to them: Follow what Allah has sent down, they will say: “Indeed, we follow what we found our forefathers doing.” What? Even if it is only Shaytan calling them to the hell fire? (31:21)
Now, can anybody locate the existence of Shaytan? How long is his life? Does he appear physically to misguide or does he do it in Ghaybah? Is his power over reaching? When the powers of longevity, ghaybah, and the ability to misguide a people have been granted to Shaytan, the why can this same power with the attribute of guidance not be given to Imam Mahdi (as)? We read in Bukhari:
Narrated ‘Abdullah: It was mentioned before the Prophet that there was a man who slept the night till morning (after sunrise). The Prophet said, “He is a man in whose ears (or ear) Shaytan had urinated.”
Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 54, Number 492
Can we hazard a guess at the number of times Shaytan urinates in the ears of our Ahle Sunnah brethren? At any one given time there may be hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of Sunni Muslims who fail to read the Fajr prayers, and according to Sahih al Bukhari this has been due to Shaytan urinating in their ears. If Shaytan has the physical power to misguide and urinate into millions of Sunni ears at one time, then why can Allah (swt) not counter this via the voice of guidance in the form of Imam Mahdi (as)? One of the core components of Shi’a aqeedah is that Allah (swt) is adil – and he wants the best for his Servants. When Allah (swt) has given such extreme powers to Iblis that are all encompassing, then it would be against the justice of Allah (swt) that he would allow such evil to prevail over his subjects. Allah (swt) always wants the best of his Servants and He (swt) would never allow an all-conquering evil force that has promised to lead mankind into Hellfire free reign to do whatever he pleases. If Iblis has been granted such powers of misguidance whilst in Ghaybah then Allah (swt) has also provided a counter to this evil, in the form of Imam Mahdi (as) an Imam (as) who has been possessed with the same powers of guidance whilst in ghaybah.
The Wahabbis and other enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt (as) are, of course, blind to such realities. They perceive the Imam as being merely a physical man amongst men without a higher level of reality, just as they perceive the Prophet (s) to be. They can neither understand how the Prophet (s) or the Hidden Imam (as) are able to benefit the creation, and how the Imamate functions during a state of ghaybah. The true believer, however, who reads the Qur’an with care and turns to the teaching of the Prophet (s) and his successors in the Ahl al-Bayt (as) know that the Imam is too high, exalted, and beautiful for his work to be harmed by a purely physical state of Occultation. It is this complete understanding of the Prophet (s) and the Imam which makes ones Islam complete. To this end Imam ‘Ali (as) has spoke the most eloquent truth when he said:
No one’s faith is complete without knowing me in my Essence, by knowing me through my Luminous Reality. If one knows me through this knowledge, then Allah has tested that person’s heart for faith, and expanded his breast to Islam, and such a person has become a Knower (‘arif) and Seerer (mustbsir). Whoever falls short of this knowledge, then he is a doubter and a disbeliever (murtab)…The Luminous Knowledge of me is knowledge of Allah the Exalted and Glorified, and knowledge of Allah is the Luminous Knowledge of me.
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