Letters ( revised ) | THE FIFTEENTH LETTER | 70
(68-79)
For both their old religions had been rendered null and void and their old rule and sovereignty, the source of their pride, been swept away. Knowingly or unknowingly,  they were emotionally in favour of seeking vengeance  on Islamic rule. It was therefore said that some clever, scheming dissemblers like the Jews took advantage  of  that  state  of society.  That  is to  say,  it could  have  been  averted  by reforming the society and the various ideas of the time, not by discovering one or two troublemakers.

I f  i t  i s  a s k e d :  Why, with that piercing eye of sainthood of his, didn’t ‘Umar (May God be pleased with him) see his murderer, Firuz, who was with him, although while in the pulpit he said to one of his commanders called Sariya who was a month’s  distance  away,  “Sariya!  The mountain,  the mountain!”,[1]  making Sariya hear it and in wondrous fashion causing a strategic victory – showing how penetrating his sight was?

T h e  A n s w e r : Our answer is that of the Prophet Jacob (UWP). That is, Jacob was asked: “How did you perceive the odour of Joseph’s shirt from Egypt when you did not see him in the well at Cana’an close by?” He replied: “This ability is like lightning;  sometimes  it appears  and sometimes  it is hidden.  Sometimes  we are as though seated on the highest spot and can see everwhere, and sometimes we can’t see even the arch of our foot.”

In Short: Man is free to act as he wills, still, in accordance with the verse, “You do  not  will  it  except  as  God  wills,”(76:30)  divine  will  is  fundamental,  divine determining  (kader)  is dominant.  Divine  will restores  man’s  will.  It confirms  the statement,  “The eye no longer  sees when divine  determining  acts;”[2]  that is, when divine determining speaks, it is beyond human power to speak; man’s will falls silent.

 

THE GIST OF YOUR SECOND QUESTION

 

What was the true nature of the wars that started in the time of ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him)? What should we call those who took part in them, and those who died and those who killed?

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[1] Tabari, Ta’rikh al-‘Umam wa’l-Muluk, ii, 380; Abu Na’im, al-Dala’il, iii, 210, 211; Bayhaqi, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, vi, 370; Suyuti, Ta’rikh al-Khulafa’, 128; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya, vii, 131; al- ‘Asqalani, al-Isaba, ii, 3; Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, al-Sawa’iq al-Muhriqa, 101; Suyuti, al-Durar al- Muntathira, 182, No: 462; al-‘Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa’, ii, 380.

[2] Bayhaqi, Shu’ab al-Iman, i, 233. See also, Musnad, v, 234; al-Haythami, Majmu’ al-Zawa’id, x, 146; Ibn Hajar, al-Matalib al-‘Aliya, iii, 234; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, ii, 405, 406.

No Voice

Letters ( revised )