Introduction to Howzah Studies

1. Introduction to Howzah Studies Lesson Eight by Sheikh Safdar Razi

2. History of Knowledge and the Religious Law (Shari’ah) • Part one • By Sheikh Safdar Razi

3. The First Creation: AL AQL (The Mind) • There are many narrations by the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) that reference the first thing created by Allah (swt) as being the aql or the intellectual mind; the power of the mind. It is through this mental ability that He will judge the creations. There are two kinds of mental ability: • Limited and Unlimited

4. Unlimited Mental Ability • Animals and other creations have limited ability. • Angels and humans have unlimited ability. This means the mental ability can evolve by learning and understanding. • Angels have no desires nor lusts. • Humans were given desires and lusts.

5. Humans Accepted the Challenge إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنسَانُ إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا • (33:72) “Surely We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to be unfaithful to it and feared from it, and man has turned unfaithful to it; surely he is unjust, ignorant;”

6. The result of the test? • لِيُعَذِّبَ اللَّهُ الْمُنَافِقِينَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ وَالْمُشْرِكَاتِ وَيَتُوبَ اللَّهُ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا {73} • (Shakir 33:73) “So Allah will chastise the hypocritical men and the hypocritical women and the polytheistic men and the polytheistic women, and Allah will turn (mercifully) to [the believing men and] the believing women, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.”

7. What Was the Trust? • The trust is to know Allah (swt)--MA’RIFAT. If a human overcomes the challenges of desires and lusts and thereby frees his soul, he will become closer to Allah and have achieved the success. • All humans carry the Ma’rifat of God in the soul. That Ma’rifat is the trust we are carrying; that is the FITRA. With the use of intellect, we can maintain the trust properly and free ourselves from material desires. If the intellect is not used, then we will blindly follow our lusts and ego, and eventually lose the trust which we are carrying. • The trust is knowing Allah (MA’RIFAT).

8. Different Explanations of the Trust of Allah In the explanation of the trust of Allah (swt), there are several interpretations: • Islam is the trust: The main goal of Islam is to bring Muslims closer to Allah so that he may know Allah. By liberating himself from material desires, Islam helps the Muslim to fulfill or secure his trust (Ma’rifat). • Prophets (a.s.), Imams (a.s.), the Qur’an and the AQL or intellect can be titled as trusts because they aim to help the Muslim realize his main trust.

9. When Was This Trust Given? وَإِذْ أَخَذَ رَبُّكَ مِن بَنِي آدَمَ مِن ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَأَشْهَدَهُمْ عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ قَالُواْ بَلَى شَهِدْنَا أَن تَقُولُواْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِنَّا كُنَّا عَنْ هَذَا غَافِلِينَ (7:172) “And when your Lord brought forth from the children of Adam, from their backs, their descendants, and made them bear witness against their own souls: Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes! we bear witness. Lest you should say on the day of resurrection: Surely we were heedless of this.”

10. The Meaning of “Returning” to Allah (SWT) • أَوْ تَقُولُواْ إِنَّمَا أَشْرَكَ آبَاؤُنَا مِن قَبْلُ وَكُنَّا ذُرِّيَّةً مِّن بَعْدِهِمْ أَفَتُهْلِكُنَا بِمَا فَعَلَ الْمُبْطِلُونَ • (7:173) “Or you should say: Only our fathers associated others (with Allah) before, and we were an offspring after them: Wilt Thou then destroy us for what the vaindoers did?” • وَكَذَلِكَ نُفَصِّلُ الآيَاتِ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ • (7:174) “And thus do We make clear the communications, and that haply they might return.”

11. When Did This Happen? • Based on some interpretations of the verse regarding the occurrence taking place before the existence of our physical bodies, there are some who mention this occurrence happened sometime between the creation of our AQL or soul and the creation of our body. • If the above statement is true, then it indicates that the human being’s first knowledge was about Allah (SWT) being our Lord. That knowledge is the trust in our soul and AQL and of which we will be asked about on the Day of Judgment.

12. Life on Earth in the Material Body • After the creation of the soul, Allah created the human on earth. The human intellectual life began on earth starting with the creation of Prophet Adam (a.s.). Allah taught him the knowledge he needed, and then tested him. • The knowledge taught to Adam (a.s.) was then taught to his descendents.

13. The Prophets (a.s.) Served as Reminders • After Adam (a.s.) taught his descendents about knowing Allah (swt) or Ma’rifat, which was Islam in its most basic form, people started to follow their desires and forget the essence of Islam, thereby deviating from it. • So, Allah sent Prophets (a.s.) and Imams (a.s.) who are the successors of the Prophets (a.s.).

14. Duties of an Infallible (a.s.) as a Guide • The infallible (a.s.), either Prophet or Imam, had two main duties: 1. To remind people about Allah (swt) (Ma’rifat) whom they had forgotten. 2. To teach people the duties and responsibilities which enable them to become closer to Allah. (cont.)

15. Islam Began With Adam (a.s.) • Islam went though several modifications based on the circumstances of time and place. There is only one Islam, but in the beginning, was very basic. As humans gradually became prepared to receive more knowledge, the more responsibilities Allah added. This continued repeatedly until the final version of Islam was sealed by the holy Prophet Muhammad (S).

16. The Source of Knowledge • The source of knowledge began with Adam (a.s.), continued through the prophets (a.s.), the infallibles (a.s.), and will end with Imam Mahdi (a.j.). • Between the time when prophets (a.s.) and infallibles (a.s.) left this earth until the return of Imam Mahdi (a.j.), there are pious and God-fearing scholars who devote their entire lives to understanding the resources such as the Holy Qur’an and lifestyles of the Infallibles (a.s.) in order to teach us what is necessary to become close to Allah.