Kitāb al-Ghayba

فإن قيل: لم زعمتم أنه يجب إيجاده في حال الغيبة وهلا جاز أن يكون معدوما. قلنا:إنما أوجبنا (ذلك) من حيث إن تصرفه الذي هو لطفنا إذا لم يتم إلا بعد وجوده وإيجاده لم يكن في مقدورنا، قلنا عند ذلك:أنه يجب على الله ذلك وإلا أدى إلى أن لا نكون مزاحي العلة بفعل اللطف فنكون أتينا من قبله تعالى لا من قبلنا، وإذا أوجده ولم نمكنه من انبساط يده أتينا من قبل نفوسنا فحسن التكليف وفي الأول لم يحسن.

Objection: “Why do you believe that he must exist during occultation, and why is it not possible that he does not exist?” Reply: We will respond that we consider his existence necessary for the following: His administration of the affairs and leadership of the society, which is grace with respect to us, is not possible without his existence. And as his creation is not in our capacity, we said it is obligatory on Allah, or else it would mean that we are not the missing part of the cause of materialization of grace, meaning that, missing the grace is His act and not ours. However, if He creates him, but we do not vest the power of running the society in him, it is our act, and therefore, ordainment of duties is correct, whereas in the previous supposition it would be incorrect.

فإن قيل: ما الذي تريدون بتمكيننا إياه؟ أتريدون أن نقصده ونشافهه وذلك لا يتم إلا مع وجوده. قيل لكم:لا يصح جميع ذلك إلا مع ظهوره وعلمنا أو علم بعضنا بمكانه. وإن قلتم: نريد بتمكيننا أن نبخع لطاعته والشد على يده، ونكف عن نصرة الظالمين، ونقوم على نصرته متى دعانا إلى إمامته ودلنا عليها بمعجزته. قلنا لكم: فنحن يمكننا ذلك في زمان الغيبة وإن لم يكن الامام موجودا فيه، فكيف قلتم لا يتم ما كلفناه من ذلك إلا مع وجود الإمام. قلنا:الذي نقوله في هذا الباب ما ذكره المرتضى رحمه الله في الذخيرة وذكرناه في تلخيص الشافي أن الذي هو لطفنا من تصرف الإمام وانبساط يده لا يتم إلا بأمور ثلاثة.

Objection: What do you mean by saying that we should empower him? Do you mean that we find him and converse with him? Reply: That is not possible without him being existent. You will be told that none of that is possible without him being manifest and without us knowing, or someone of us knowing his place. If you say, “We mean by empowering him that we should submit to his obedience, fight under his command, refrain from helping the tyrants and rise to his support when he calls us to his Imamate and proves it to us through his miracles,” we will say to you it is possible for us to do that during occultation, even if it is a time without an Imam. How do you say then what we have been ordained to do cannot be performed without an Imam? Our response here is what Murtadha has mentioned in Dhakhira and what we have mentioned in Talkhis Shafi.

أحدها: يتعلق بالله وهو إيجاده. والثاني: يتعلق به من تحمل أعباء الامامة والقيام بها. والثالث: يتعلق بنا من العزم على نصرته، ومعاضدته، والانقياد له، فوجوب تحمله عليه فرع على وجوده، لأنه لا يجوز أن يتناول التكليف المعدوم، فصار إيجاد الله إياه أصلا لوجوب قيامه، وصار وجوب نصرته علينا فرعا لهذين الأصلين لأنه إنما يجب علينا طاعته إذا وجد، وتحمل أعباء الامامة وقام بها، فحينئذ يجب علينا طاعته، فمع هذا التحقيق كيف يقال:لم لا يكون معدوما.

The grace that reaches us from the Imam’s running the affairs and administering the society cannot materialize without three elements: One pertains to Allah, and that is that He creates the Imam. The second element pertains to the Imam, which is that he carries the burden of Imamate and performs its duties. The third element pertains to us, and it implies helping, supporting him and submitting to him. The obligation of undertaking the tasks of Imamate is secondary to his existence, for a task cannot be undertaken by a non-existent entity. Therefore, Allah’s creation of him is prior to his obligation of accepting leadership and our obligation of supporting him is secondary to these two elements, because it is obligatory upon us to obey him when he exists and has undertaken to carry the burden of Imamate and perform its tasks. With this reasoning in mind, how can they expect us to be bound to his non-existence and say that His Eminence does not exist?

فإن قيل: فما الفرق بين أن يكون موجودا مستترا (حتى إذا علم الله منا تمكينه أظهره، وبين أن يكون) معدوما حتى إذا علم منا العزم على تمكينه أوجده. قلنا:لا يحسن من الله تعالى أن يوجب علينا تمكين من ليس بموجود لأنه تكليف ما لا يطاق، فإذا لابد من وجوده.

Objection: What is the difference between him being existent and hidden, and being non-existent until Allah knows our determination to empower him and that is when He creates him? Reply: Our answer will be that it is not worthy of Allah, the Exalted, to oblige us to empower someone who is non-existent, for it is an impossible task. Therefore, he must exist.

فإن قيل: يوجده الله تعالى إذا علم أنا ننطوي على تمكينه بزمان واحد كما أنه يظهره عند مثل ذلك. قلنــا: وجوب تمكينه والانطواء على طاعته لازم في جميع أحوالنا، فيجب أن يكون التمكين من طاعته والمصير إلى أمره ممكنا في جميع الاحوال وإلا لم يحسن التكليف، وإنما كان يتم ذلك لو لم نكن مكلفين في كل حال لوجوب طاعته والانقياد لأمره، بل كان يجب علينا عند ظهوره والأمر عندنا بخلافه.

Objection: When Allah comes to know that we are prepared to obey him, He would create him. Like according to your belief He will manifest him during his reappearance? Reply: The imperativeness of supporting him and determination to obey him is required in all conditions, which requires that to support and obey him and to follow his path should be possible in all conditions, or else, imposing this duty would be wrong. The suggestion would be relevant if we were not obliged in all conditions to his obedience and submission to his command and rather it were required of us at the time of his appearance. However, the reality is contrary to this.

ثم يقال لمن خالفنا في ذلك وألزمنا عدمه على استتاره:لم لا يجوز أن يكلف الله تعالى المعرفة ولا ينصب عليها دلالة إذا علم أنا لا ننظر فيها، حتى إذا علم من حالنا أنا نقصد إلى النظر ونعزم على ذلك أوجد الادلة ونصبها، فحينئذ ننظر ونقول ما الفرق بين دلالة منصوبة لا ننظر فيها وبين عدمها حتى إذا عزمنا على النظر فيها أوجدها الله تعالى.

We address our opponent who desires to convince us of the Imam’s non-existence on the grounds of his occultation and ask him why is it not possible that Allah, the Exalted, enacts the obligation of believing in him as a duty without creating signs and reasons for the validation of such belief, since He knows that we will not consider such signs and reasons, and when He discovers from our condition that we intend to consider them and are determined to think, He creates the reasons and proofs of believing in Him.

والمثال الذي ذكره من أنه لو أوجب الله علينا أن نتوضأ من ماء بئر معينة لم يكن لها حبل نستقي به، وقال لنا: إن دنوتم من البئر خلقت لكم حبلا تستقون به(من)الماء، فإنه يكون مزيحا لعلتنا، ومتى لم ندن من البئر كنا قد أتينا من قبل نفوسنا لا من قبله تعالى. وكذلك لو قال السيد لعبده وهو بعيد منه: اشتر لي لحما من السوق، فقال:لا أتمكن من ذلك لأنه ليس معي ثمنه، فقال:إن دنوت أعطيتك ثمنه، فإنه يكون مزيحا لعلته، ومتى لم يدن لأخذ الثمن يكون قد أتي من قبل نفسه لا من قبل سيده.

Query: If Allah had made it obligatory on us to make ablution from water of a specific well that does not have a rope for drawing water, but He declared, “Should you approach the well, I would create a rope to draw water,” this would take away any excuse we may have. And should we not approach the well, the misgiving would be our own doing, not Allah’s. Likewise, a master says to his servant, who is far from him, “Buy some meat for me from the market,” and the servant replies, “I cannot do that, because I don’t have money.” The master replies, “If you come to me, I will give you the money.” This will eliminate the slave’s excuse and if he does not come to take the money, it will be his own shortcoming, not his master’s.

وهذه حال ظهور الامام مع تمكيننا فيجب أن يكون عدم تمكيننا هو السبب في أن لم يظهر في هذه الأحوال لا عدمه، إذ كنا لو مكناه عليه السلام لوجد وظهر.

Same is the case of Imam’s appearance with regard to our duty of providing him help and power. Therefore, it is our lack of providing help and power that is the reason that he has not appeared in these conditions, not his lack of existence. Since if we had provided him help and power, he would have been created and would have appeared.

قلنا: هذا كلام من يظن أنه يجب علينا تمكينه إذا ظهر ولا يجب علينا ذلك في كل حال، ورضينا بالمثال الذي ذكره، لأنه تعالى لو أوجب علينا الاستقاء في الحال لوجب أن يكون الحبل حاصلا في الحال لأن به تزاح العلة، لكن إذا قال:متى دنوتم من البئر خلقت لكم الحبل إنما هو مكلف للدنو لا للاستقاء فيكفي القدرة على الدنو في هذه الحال، لأنه ليس بمكلف للاستقاء منها، فإذا دنا من البئر صار حينئذ مكلفا للاستقاء، فيجب عند ذلك أن يخلق له الحبل، فنظير ذلك أن لا يجب علينا في كل حال طاعة الإمام وتمكينه فلا يجب عند ذلك وجوده، فلما كانت طاعته واجبة في الحال ولم نقف على شرطه ولا وقت منتظر وجب أن يكون موجودا لتزاح العلة في التكليف ويحسن.

Reply: This presupposes that it is obligatory on us to provide him help and power when he appears and not in every condition. Even if we agree to the example he mentions, his argument is not valid, because if Allah, the Exalted, has ordained us to draw out water now, it is necessary that the rope should be existent right now, because that is what eliminates excuse. However, if He says: If you approach the well, I will create a rope for you, obligation is to approach, not to draw out water. Therefore, the ability to approach is what is sufficient at that time, because one is not required to draw out water from the well, yet. It is when he approaches the well that he becomes ordained to draw out water, and then it is necessary that He creates the rope for him. An analogous instance to this would be that if it were not obligatory on us in every condition to obey the Imam and empower him, in such times, his existence would not have been necessary.

والجواب: عن مثال السيد مع غلامه مثل ذلك لأنه إنما كلفه الدنو منه لا الشراء، فإذا دنا منه وكلفه الشراء وجب عليه إعطاء الثمن. ولهذا قلنا: إن الله تعالى كلف من يأتي إلى يوم القيامة ولا يجب أن يكونوا موجودين مزاحي العلة لأنه لم يكلفهم الآن، فإذا أوجدهم وأزاح علتهم في التكليف بالقدرة والآلة ونصب الادلة حينئذ تناولهم التكليف، فسقط بذلك هذه المغالطة.

However, since his obedience is obligatory in the present, and we do not find obedience to him to be stipulated with any condition or a specific time, it follows that he must be existent, so the legitimate excuse of the divinely ordained duties is removed and such duties become fair. The response to the example of the master and his slave is the same, because he ordered his servant to approach him at present, not to buy. And when he approaches him and he requires him to buy, he must give him the money. That is why we said that Allah, the Exalted, has set obligations for all who will come until Judgment Day, and it is not necessary that they should be existent and without legitimate excuses, for He has not set obligations over them now; when He creates them and removes their excuses with respect to the duties by granting them power and instruments and setting proofs, then the duties will be imposed on them. In this way, the misunderstanding of our opponent regarding the existence of the Imam is rendered invalid.