Word 48: The one who thinks about the true meaning of human happiness will realize that the happiness of the human soul is to be placed among the essences that are immaterial with the perfection of its existence so that it does not need matter in issuing its actions like the consistency of its essence.
Amir Al-Mu’minin Ali (A) said, “I swear to God. My arms did not feel it when I removed and threw away forty cubits door of Khaybar. I have not done it by my physical strength but by the strength that I have attained in my soul from the light of my Lord.”
In the forty-seventh word, we discussed the “possession of perfect humans in the matter of the universe”. I explained that perfect humans can possess the matter of the universe without using their bodies. That is, they can affect other substances in the world. They can heal the sick without giving medicine. They can make it rain without using technological devices. To put it briefly, they have the same amount of control over the universe’s substance as we do over the multitude of things we may imagine in our minds.
This is important to explain that “Tasarruf”, or possession, in this book, is the ability to change things outside ourselves at will). This action (“Tasarruf” or the ability to change something at will) is possible for a true mystic outside the world of imagination (Khial world).
Some people might do a series of things by demons. For example, to pass through a wall, walk on fire or water, etc. Therefore, every dignity is not a proof of human happiness and perfection.
Allameh stated, “The happiness of the human soul is to be placed among the essences that are immaterial with the perfection of its existence”. The immaterial essences are like intellectual beings and angels. This means that humans need to be perfected first, and then they can be among angels who possess the material world. Just as angels possess and change or affect the material world without using the physical body, humans can do those things as well.
When it rains, we say that the angels send down the rain. When the wind blows, we say that the angels make the wind flow. Material mediators are indeed involved, so they are material means under the possession of angels. That is, the material means for the rain to come are the material intermediaries that are in the possession of the angels. Therefore, by the permission of the angels, rain falls, wind comes, heat comes, cold comes, night and day pass, trees grow, plants grow, and many more. The whole world is under the tutelage of angels, and they are under the Lordship of the Most High, God Almighty. Therefore, angels become God’s army in a way. Humans, who are the best of creations, can be among them by reaching perfection. When they are among angels, they can act like them. Therefore, they can possess and change things in the universe at will; that is, it does not need the body to do them. For example, they can heal the sick without medication.
Allameh Hassanzadeh continued this word, “so that it does not need matter in issuing its actions like the consistency of its essence”. We do not need matter in the stability of our essence, but we need matter in the emergence of our essence.
There are three theories about the origin of the Nafs:
- The Nafs occurs from matter, and it will survive as matter
- The Nafs occurs immaterially, and it will survive as immaterial
- The Nafs occurs from matter, and it will survive as immaterial
- The Nafs occurs from matter, and it will survive as matter:
It means that the Nafs needs matter in its creation or occurrence and also needs matter in its survival. This is the theory of those who do not believe in the immaterial world at all. The soul is considered a soft substance. Many theologians and thinkers have not thought deeply have such ideas. They believe that with the destruction of the body, the human being is destroyed. Some of them believe in the resurrection, but they say that God will restore this body, collect its particles, and humans will be born again. You are a believer assuming that this theory is true; you will die, and your body will become dust. The soil is combined with water and light, and the plant grows from the ground. A sheep eats the plant, and it becomes a part of the sheep’s body; another person eats that sheep, and it becomes a part of that person’s body. The person is an infidel. Your body has become part of the body of an unbeliever. The question is, on the Day of Resurrection, does God punish this body, or does He reward it? The soil was part of your body for a while; now, it is part of the body of an infidel. This is called “The eater and eaten” uncertainty, which is one of the doubts of resurrection.
Scientists say, “On average, the cells in your body are replaced every 7 to 10 years. But those numbers hide a huge variability in lifespan across the different organs of the body. It means that your current material body is not the same body that you had ten years ago or even last year or last week because at least a large number of its cells have been destroyed and replaced by new cells. The question is, which of these bodies will be resurrected? Will all the bodies of people be buried in the Day of Resurrection? Therefore, this theory is false.
- The Nafs occurs immaterially, and it will survive as immaterial:
The second theory is introduced by Masha’a philosophy, like Avicenna and some other philosophers. It says, “The Nafs occurs immaterially, and it will survive as immaterial”. That is, the soul or Nafs is not dependent on matter for its existence. They believed that when the body is created in this world, the soul comes and belongs to it. In another interpretation, while a body is made, a soul is created according to it and will be attached to the body. They believe that the Nafs have spiritual survival characteristics, which means that when this body is gone, the Nafs will still exist. It does not need the matter to survive.
- The Nafs occurs materially, and it will survive as immaterial:
The third is Mullah Sadra’s theory. It means that the Nafs comes from the body. As a result of material essence evolution, matter reaches a stage where it gets some immaterial characteristics. In its evolution, matter reaches a point where it becomes an immaterial entity. This means that the Nafs becomes the fruit of the body or the Nafs becomes the fruit of matter, not that the Nafs and the body are two separate things like we discussed in the second theory. Unlike the second theory, the Nafs became immaterial with essence perfection (refer to Mulla Sadra well well-known “essence motion” theory). Therefore, the body and the soul are united. They are not two things; they are one thing, and this one thing is partly material and partly immaterial.
In “survival”, when the soul has occurred by matter, it no longer needs matter for its own survival. Unlike material objects, immaterial objects are not perishable. (We have already proved these in the foundations of self-knowledge that immaterial objects are not perishable).
Why did we discuss these theories? Because Allamah said, “The happiness of the human soul is to be placed among the essences that are immaterial with the perfection of its existence so that it does not need matter in issuing its actions like the consistency of its essence”.
It means that as soon as a perfect human wills, he can take possession of the material of the universe and do things that were discussed in previous words in this book. The divine wayfarer must unite his will in one thing, and he should want only one thing. The mystic must not have thousands of wishes in his heart. If someone becomes strong spiritually and focuses on one thing, he can make it happen in the material world.
For example, Prophet Josef (A) was able to open all the locked doors in the story, as stated in the Holy Quran. He wanted to escape from the Zulaikha with all his existence; therefore, all the doors became open for him. “And she, in whose house he was, sought to seduce him (to do an evil act), and she closed the doors and said: “Come on, O you.” He said: I seek refuge in Allah! Truly, he is my Rabb! He made my living in a great comfort! Verily, the wrongdoers will never be successfull” (Yusuf:23).
Of course, a true mystic who reaches this status does not make possession (to change something at will) because he knows that it is impolite to change things in God’s property; the whole universe belongs to God, and we are guests. A guest does not go to his landlord’s house to eat something from the refrigerator without permission. If they put it in front of him, he eats. If God wants something to change, He can do it. The mystic would not do anything on God’s property except with God’s permission. Ibn Arabi narrates that Ab al-Saud was one of the mystics who said at that time: I have been given the power to control the universe for 15 years, but I have never used it.
For example, if a true mystic sees a poor and hungry family, he will not use his power of possession to help them. God sees and is more kind. Many of our feelings are just because we see what is in front of us. We don’t know what is behind the curtain, and we don’t know about the future and the past.
A person had taken a dhikr from his master to heal a sick lady. The guy stated that the patient was almost dead, but she recovered after I recited the dhikr. She is now an elderly woman who dresses up and makes herself up like a doll and goes proudly along the street. That individual remarked, “I wish I hadn’t said the dhikr and the lady had died”.
It was told to Angel Izraeil (A), “Have you ever felt sorry for someone while killing them?” Angel Izraeil said, “Yes, once there was a ship that was sinking. A pregnant woman was on the ship, and she fell into the sea. She gave birth while she was in the sea, and then I was assigned to take the mother’s life and leave the child alone on the sea. I felt bad for the child. Another time that I felt the same was when I took a king’s life. He ordered to make a garden where ornaments and jewels were brought from all over the world. He had built a palace of greatness that had no equal on earth. The pebbles of emeralds, pearls, rubieson the floor. Its trees and degin were so-and-so. When the castle was built, this king came to set foot in the palace; I took his life. He had worked so hard for several years, and he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
God said: This king was the child that you were assigned not to take his life, the one who you were heartbroken to leave alone in the sea. He was claiming to be God.
Prophet Moses (A) saw some children playing by the water; a blind child was sitting aside; these children were jumping and playing in the water. He was very heartbroken and said: I pray for this child to open his eyes. The child’s eyes were healed and opened. The next day, prophet Moses (A) came by the sea and saw that the healed child had drowned one child in the water. He said: God knew something that He did not give you eyes. The true mystic doesn’t perform Tasarruf (changing things in the material world) because he sees the whole world as pure justice and wisdom.
As a result, the satisfaction of the human soul is that, through perfection, it becomes a part of non-material things, similar to God’s angels. Angels perform Tasarruf (create changes in the cosmos) and alter the material world without utilizing the material bodies. As a result, just as his Nafs does not require matter in order to survive, neither do his deeds.
A holy verse of the Quran says, “They shall have all that they will desire with their Lord. That is the reward of the doers of good” (Az-Zummar:34). “Enter you therein in peace and security – this is a Day of eternal life!” (34) There they will have all that they desire – and We have more” (Qaf:34-35). “The Gardens of Perpetuity, which they will enter, beneath which rivers flow, where they will have whatever they desire. Thus, God rewards the pious” (An-Nahl:31). While the desires of the righteous will be granted in paradise, the Awliya Allah are allowed to do Tassaruf; however, they don’t and follow God’s will and path instead by not changing anything. Therefore, we have miracles from many prophets.
For example, Prophet Moses (A) split the sea with the strength of his soul with God’s permission. The important thing is that the prophets did not show miracles to anyone who wanted one. They wanted to say that miracles are not in our hands because we are Fani (mortal in God). They wanted to tell to the people that we got to this status because of God’s worship.
The Messenger of God used to receive a lot of requests from people asking him to bring them a gold chest so they would believe in him. Instead of believing, their goal was to enrich themselves. They also said that in order for us to believe in you, ask God to grant you a large garden full of dates, grapes, and other fruits. The prophets and Awliya Allah refrained from bringing miracles. Although they have the power to take over and change things, they only perform Tasarruf where God’s permission is involved.
The story of the battle of Khaibar is well-known in Shia and Sunni narrations, which is related to Amir Al-Mu’minin Ali (A). For example, Bukhari (the most trusted narration book among Sunni scholars) said, “On the day (of the battle) of Khaibar, the Prophet (S) said, “Tomorrow I will give the flag to somebody who will be given victory (by Allah) and who loves Allah and His Apostle and is loved by Allah and His Apostle.” So, the people wondered all that night as to who would receive the flag and in the morning, everyone hoped that he would be that person. Allah’s Messenger (S) asked, “Where is Ali?” He was told that Ali was suffering from eye trouble, so Prophet (S) applied saliva to his eyes and invoked Allah to cure him. Ali at once got cured as if he had no ailment. The Prophet (S) gave him the flag”. Ahmad Ibn Hanbal narrated from Abi Raf’e that he went with Ali, and the Prophet (S) sent Ali Ibn Abu Talib (A) to fight the enemies of Islam in Khaibar. Ali (A) threw away his shield and removed the door of the Castle of Khaibar and used it as a Shield, and after that, he threw the door. The Muslims used that door as the bridge to enter the Castle, but no one was able to move it because it was very heavy. (Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Volume 6 Page 8.
The Prophet (S) first gave the banner of the Battle of Khaibar to Abu Bakr and the next day to Umar, but they did not succeed and returned. Then the Messenger of God (S) said: Indeed, tomorrow, I will give this flag to a man who loves God and the Messenger (S); God will open Khaibar to him. He never runs away.” So he called Ali (A) and healed him from the eye pain and said, “Take this flag and take it with you so that God will open Khaibar for you.” Ali (A) attacked Khaibar with that flag and conquered it. Abu Rafi, the servant of the Messenger of God (S), says this about the conquest of Khaibar: “We went with Ali bin Abi Talib (A) to one of the forts of Khaibar while holding the flag of the Messenger of God (S). As soon as Ali (A) arrived near the castle, its people came out and started fighting. In the midst of the battle, one of the soldiers hit him, and the shield fell from his hand. Ali (A) removed the door of the castle, fought behind it like a shield. (One of the trusted narrations). Amir Al-Mu’minin Ali (A) in Nahj Al-Balaqa said: “I never removed that door with human power, but I did it in the light of God-given power and with firm faith in the Day of Judgment”.
Of course, they can Tasarruf higher than this. It can even alter planets and stars in the universe like the miracle that the Messenger of Allah did and split the moon for some non-believers. One day, during the revelation, the Holy Prophet’s head was on the feet of the Amir al-Mu’minin. It took so long that the sun had set. When the Messenger of God got up, Amir al-Mu’minin said: I have not prayed; your blessed head was on my lap; I felt sorry to put your head on the ground. The Holy Prophet gave a favor, the sun returned, and Imam Ali (A) prayed his prayer. The holy Quran says: “He brings the night as a cover over the day, seeking it rapidly, and (He created) the sun, the moon, the stars subjected to His command. Surely, His is the creation and commandment. Blessed is Allah, the Lord of all that exists!” (Al-A’raf:54). “And He has subjected the night and the day for you, and the sun and the moon; and the stars are subjected by His command. Surely, in this are proofs for people who understand” (An-Nahl:12).
Muhammad Mahdi Me’marian
All praise is to God to the extent that He deserves it.
