Repudiation of Philosophical and Irfani (Mystical) Fundamentals in Imam Riza (Salaam Be Upon Him)’s Monotheistic Teachings

Part 4

Is man compelled to do his actions?

The schools of philosophy and irfan and also the school of al-Hikmah al-Muta’aliyah believe in Jabr (determinism) and repudiate Ikhtiyar (free will) of Man in his actions, and have entitled this erroneous belief as “Tawhid Af’aali” (oneness of actions) [meaning that all actions including Allah’s Actions and humans’ actions are one, i.e. what man does is Allah’s action, even all crimes!!!].

[Mulla Sadra in regard to “Tawhid Af’aali” (oneness of actions) states that the entire world is the statuses of Allah; and in the same manner that the existence (wujood) of the world and everything in it are manifestations of Allah, the actions issued from all beings are also the manifestations of the action of Allah. (Asfaar 1/46, 47)

Let us pay attention that in general philosophers believe in “Wahdat al wujood” (unity of existence) which, according to them, it means that the existence of all that exists in the world- humans and animals and plants and stones and …- are a part of and therefore of the same substance of Allah’s Existence, and that the Dhaat ذات of Allah is the Absolute Existence. This means that human’s existence is of the same substance and part of the Dhaat of Allah; this is way beyond Tashbih …

And in general the ‘urafa believe in “Wahdat al mawjood” which means that there only exists one “Being” and that is Allah, and the rest of things- humans and animals and plants and stones and …- are all manifestations of Allah’ i.e. Allah “Himself” manifests in humans and humans are nothing themselves rather the manifestation of Allah … This is waaaaay beyond Tashbih … . It is noteworthy to mention that the word irfan is a profound word itself meaning knowing, and in its true religious sense the Infallible Ones (SBUH) are the true ‘Urafa possessing Allah Bestowed Irfan of Allah. But this man-made irfan in Islam actually originated by the sunni ibn Arabi …

Mulla Sadra mixed philosophy and irfan and in this matter he chose the opinion of ‘urafa. His opinion is some times called Wahdat wujood wal mawjood. Thus as mentioned above he said “the existence of the world and everything in it are the manifestations of Allah”. Then he said- as ibn Arabi said too- that “the actions issued from all beings are also the manifestations of the action of Allah”. This means that Allah manifests as us and does things!!!

Or in other words, philosophically, we and everything else are puppets of Allah, puppets which are a part of the Essence of Allah; and based on irfan, we are actually God Himself manifested in our shape!!! SOBHAANALLAH SOBHAANALLAH … With this doctrine Shemr (La’n (Curse …) of Allah and angels and humans be upon him) did not really oppressively behead Imam Hosain (Salaams and Salawaats Be Upon Him), rather Allah did so Himself!!! It is also noteworthy to mention that many philosophers and ‘urafa still urge the “public” to La’n Shimr and … but in their closed circles …

These are satanic traps which, as we briefly mentioned in part 1 of this writing, human has fallen into after each Prophet of Allah due to the fact that human has every time turned his back to The Allah Chosen Successors of Prophets (SBUT) and thus forsook the Divine and Pure teachings of the Infallible Prophets and Successors- Anbiya and Awsiya- (Salaam Be Upon Them), and instead followed the footsteps of Shaytaan into man-made philosophy, mysticism, Gnosticism … AAAAAHHHHH!

Imam Riza (SBUH) has said that one day Abu Hanifah [the imam of the sunni Hanafi sect] was at Imam Saadeq (SBUH)’s presence and, while leaving, met Imam Moosa Kaazem (SBUH). Abu Hanifah addressed Imam Kaazem (SBUH) as “O boy!” and asked him (SBUH)” Sin is from who? The Imam responded:

It is not out of these three (cases):

1) Either sin is from Allah, and not from man; it is not befitting for the Karim (the Bounteous, Munificent, Merciful … Allah) to torment man for what he has not done.

2) Or the sin is (both) from Allah and from man, which it is not such; for, it is not befitting for the strong partner to oppress the weak partner.

3) Or the sin is from man, which is so; so if Allah punishes him it is due to his sin, and if Allah forgives him it is out of Allah’s Munificence and Generosity.

(Tawhid Sadooq, fifth baab: the meaning of Tawhid and ‘Adl; …)]

While in the school of Ahl al-Bayt (Salaam Be Upon Them), the belief in determinism is explicitly rejected and that which is spoken of is a matter distinguished from the two matters [of either compulsion or abdication by Allah].

[The matter between and distinguish from the two matters of compulsion and abdication means Allah has absolutely neither compelled man to do his deeds, nor has Allah abdicated His Absolute Lordship. It is not compulsion because Allah truly bestows the power and freewill to choose and do upon humankind and thus human by Allah’s Permission truly becomes a possessor of the Allah-Bestowed power and freewill to choose and do; this means that human truly has Allah-Permitted authority over his will and deed, therefore human is truly free to choose and do his deeds himself. And it is not abdication because Prophets and their Successors (SBUT) command and forbid humankind under His command, and Allah is Superior in Ownership and is the Lord of the power and freewill to choose and do which He has bestowed on humankind and thus Allah can take it away if He Wishes …]

Some words of philosophers and ‘urafa (adherents to irfan) about the belief in Jabr (determinism) are as follows:

Mulla Sadra: Know that our selves and other animals’ selves are forced in their actions and movements because the actions and movements of our Selves are dominated and compulsory just like actions and reactions of nature … but the difference between these two is in regard to this point that our self is aware of motives and purposes of its actions but nature is not aware. Essentially, a freewill action is not possible to truly happen except for Wajib al-wujud [God]; and creatures that are not wajib al-wujud and are considered Mokhtar (with freewill) are actually compelled and helpless who are in appearance of mokhtar. (Asfaar 6/312)

In the outside world no action exists except the Action of the Glorious Allah; and this is a fact that reasoning and penchant both imply. (Allame Tabatabai, Rasaa’el Tawhidi 81)

The Doer in every place is He [Allah] and there is no effective one except Him. (Ayatullah Hasanzade Aamoli, Khayr al-Athar dar Rad Jabr wa Qadar, p 199)

Shabestari [a famous adherent to irfan] in Golshan Raz [his collection of irfani poems] says:

Whoever has a creed other than Jabr (determinism);

the prophet said he is like Gabr (disbeliever).

Which freewill?! O’ the ignorant man!

For the essentially vain and worthless man?!

[essentially worthless because according to their doctrine there really is not such a thing as man, it is all Allah’s manifestation …]

Also, Molavi [world famous Persian irfani poet] in his Masnavi, due to his rejection of Ikhtiyar (freewill) for humankind, does not consider ibn Moljam as the murderer of Amir al-Mo’menin (SBUH), rather Molavi  considers God the real murderer for Whose [God’s] Action, ibn Moljam was only the means; and based on this, for killing Amir al-Mo’menin not even  one hair should be reduced from ibn Moljam’s head [i.e. he should not be hurt a bit]!!!

One hair can not be cut from you;

because the Pen drew such a line for you!

(Masnavi, first Daftar (volume), P 74)

But Imam Riza (SBUH) has said:

Whoever believes in Tashbih (regarding the Essence of God …) and Jabr (regarding human’s actions) is an infidel and polytheist, and we detest and detach from him in this world and in Hereafter.

(Ihtejaj Tabresi, V2, P415)

To whoever believing in Jabr do not give anything from Zakat [ordained financial obligations] and never accept his testimony.

(‘Oyun Akhbar al-Riza (SBUH), V1, P143)

Note: We do not intend to accuse of heresy the Muslim philosophers or ‘urafa who have announced that they believe in Jabr and Tashbih without being obligated to the corrupt necessities of this belief; rather our intention is to show the hereticalness of this belief from the viewpoint of Ahl al-Bayt (Salaam Be Upon Them), [a belief] which most Muslim believers in it have not paid attention to its invalidity and have not been obligated to its corrupt necessities.

One of the companions of Imam Riza (Salaam Be Upon Him) said to him: It has been narrated for us from Imam Saadeq (SBUH) that he said:

[The two matters of] Jabr (determinism, compulsion) and Tafwiz (abdication) are void and incorrect, and (amr bayn al-amrayn) the matter bayn [between: distinguishing one from the other (Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary)] the two matters [of Jabr and Tafwiz] is correct.

What does it mean?

Imam Riza (SBUH) said:

Whoever believes that Allah has abdicated the matters of creation and their sustenance to his servants, has believed in Tafwiz … and whoever believes in Jabr and that Allah’s servants have been compelled, has oppressed (insulted …) Allah.

That man says: O’ the son of the Rasool of Allah! So what is the meaning of amr bayn al-amrayn?

Imam (SBUH) said:

The ability (of humans) to do what they have been commanded to do and [the ability] to abandon what they have been prohibited from.

(Behaar al-Anwaar, 78/354)

[In the Arabic Kaafi, first volume, p 161 it is narrated from Imam Saadeq (SBUH) who said:

It is neither Jabr (compulsion) nor Tafwiz (abdication), rather it is amr bayn al-amrayn.

The Imam was asked what it meant? The Imam (SBUH) responded:

Its parable is like if you see someone committing a sin and you forbid him but he does not listen to you and you leave him to himself and he does the sin. The fact that he did not listen to you it does not mean that you commanded and compelled him to do the sin.]

 [It is also noteworthy to mention that philosophers and ‘urafa- in spite of their clear statements repudiating freewill for human- try to make it look as if human is Mokhtaar (with freewill) and thus they try to define some sort of a so called Ikhtiyar (freewill) which does not violate their basic doctrine that human has no freewill!!! In other words they do use words such as Mokhtaar and Ikhtiyaar but their presented concepts do not indicate any freewill at all for human. Thru using twisted and complicated statements they make it hard for many to realize what they are actually saying.

Briefly and in simple terms, what they say is that in order for a deed to be issued from a so called Mokhtar person, certain means and causes have to come about first including human’s knowledge and determination related to the deed; causes and means, all of which, according to their doctrine, the so called Mokhtar person has no control over! And once the last step of the full cause occurs then the so called Mokhtar human has no choice but to do the deed!

Thus the bottom line of their doctrine is as Mulla Sadra has said: We are actually compelled and helpless who appear as if we are Mokhtaar!]

To be continued …