On the Necessity of the Natiq, Asas and Imam.

The necessity of the Natiqs, Asases and Imams is as necessary as the recognition of the Kalima, Aql-e-kul, and Nafs-e-kul. It should be conscious, not merely resting on the authority of others (bi-taqlid). This is because in the creation of the skies and earth, and of whatever lies between them, we see many wise arrangements (hikmat-ha): the straightness or curvedness of the skies and earth, the rotation of the sun which sometimes stands high in the sky, sometimes in the middle of it, and sometimes low on one side of it which causes warmth in the summer and cold in the winter on the earth.

The earth rests in the winter, and brings fruit in the summer. Otherwise, arrangements (hikmat-ha) whose working (athar) we observe in this world prove that, before this universe was created there was a Creator who brought it into existence. It was the Creator who placed all these wise arrangements In the world.

In man, the crowning product of the world, we find proofs of the activities of Nafs-e-kul and Aql-e-kul. From these, we may infer that the world was produced by Nafs -e-kul and supported by Aql-e-kul. When the Lords of the Truth (khudawandan-i haqq) - peace be upon him - had revealed all this to us, our reason understood it, knowing that it was really so. This is because in this world, Aql-e-kul is the true Imam (Imam-i-haqq), while the faithful believers (mu’minan) are in possession of individual (human) reasons (aql-ha-y-i juzwi).

As individual reason receives force (athar) from Aql-e-kul, it is capable of understanding this. If it had no such force, it would be unable to comprehend it. It comprehends the true parts (juzw-ha-y-i rasti) of the object in its genus.

The Quran as it is known to us, contains only symbols or parables (amthal). Reason cannot understand their implications and is bewildered by their contradictions, if their true implications are not revealed by the true Imam (Imam-i-haqq).

As we see such wise arrangements (hikmat-ha) in the world and are powerless to understand them, unless someone explains them to us, God deemed it wise to send someone (yak-tan) from amongst human beings who would explain to people the story of creation, and would call them to follow the right way.

Such a person would occupy in this world, the same position as Aql-e-kul occupies in the higher world. He is the Natiq, peace be upon him !

He has the power to comprehend by his knowledge (ilm) all the powers of Nafs-e-kul, thus becoming an intermediary between the two worlds and deriving his knowledge, through his clean heart (dil-i rawshan-i khwish), from the spiritual (latif-subtle) world.

He delivers it to the material (kathif) world in eloquent (fasih) language, as God says (surah 26, verse193-195): “ The Faithful Spirit (ar-Ruhu’l Amin) came down with it upon your heart in order that you should be of those who warn in plain Arabic language”

Therefore the Natiq in the material (jismani) world is the ultimate limit (Ghayat-i hama’i ghayat-ha) in knowledge and no material being (hadd-i jismani) can be superior to him. His learning of the knowledge of the higher world (alam-i ulwi) was done through his luminous soul (nafs-i- rawshan), and not through his physical ears in the manner in which we hear.

For Nafs-e-kul, which is beyond time, today is just the same as it was at the beginning of being ( awwal-i hasti-ha ). In the material world, however, it gradually reveals in time, that potentiality (quwwat) which it has received from Aql-e-kul.

The Apostle of God, in a similar way, entrusted those powers (quwwat-ha) which he received by his enlightened soul, from the higher world ( alam-i ulwi) to one person (yak-tan). That person was worthy to keep the deposit (wadi’at) of Divine signs and still unrevealed mysteries (ramz-ha-y-i pushida). These were revealed to him in their entirety, without explanation or comment (bi sharh was bi tafsil).

That person was the Asas of the Prophet who had to deliver all this to humanity in the course of time, with necessary explanations; as God says (Surah xvii, verse 170): “And the Quran which We have divided, that you may read it to mankind leisurely, and We have sent it down”, i.e. in order that thy descendants, the imams, by command of God, at their own times should explain thy Book to people, bringing its meaning from the form (of the letter) of the Divine Revelation (tanzil) into that of the revelation of its inner sense (tawil) and spreading it in time amongst humanity.

He, the Prophet, at the end of his life left the command to his descendants, who are the true Imams, Imaman-i-haqq, that they should convey to people its inner meanings : As God says (surah xiii, verse 8) “You are only a warner, and every people has its guide”.

As this world is the product of Nafs-e-kul, supported (tayid) by Aql-e-kul, so the world of religion (alam-i din) is the creation of Asas, acting with the powers (quwwat) received from Natiq- peace be upon him! Of all the principles of the spiritual world (hudud-i alam-i latif) the first is Aql-e-kul which is superior to everything in the higher world. Below it, there are three: jidd, fath and khayal, in the hierarchy of the creation. These (three) are the principles of the higher world, when they are manifested in the lower world (alam-i sufli).

Here, Natiq corresponds to Aql-e-kul (of the higher world), being the highest and finest point in humanity. He occupies, in comparison with other men, the position of the sky which nothing on the earth can ever reach.

Below him there is Asas, corresponding to Nafs-e-kul. He is the Lord of the Tawil and the creator of the explanation of the law (shari’at) just as Nafs-e-kul is the master of the composition (khudawand-i tarkib) of the lower world (alam-i sufli)

Below it, corresponding to jidd, is the Imam; corresponding to fath is the bab of the Imam. And corresponding to the khayal is the hujjat.

These five lower principles correspond to those five higher principles. As the Apostle Of God said “ I took it from the five, and handed it to the five.”

For this reason it is said that the tayid (divine support) does not descend beyond the rank of the hujjat.

These five ranks(hadd) have Divine support (tayid) by the help of which they deliver to people the knowledge of the basic truths (haqai’q) by the order of the Lords of their time (khudawandan-i dawr-i khwish) and Natiq of their time, in order that the world of religion should be kept strong.

Just in the same way those five principles of the higher world convey Divine help (tayid) from the word (kalima) to the lower world, so that it may be strong.

For this reason we say that the human soul which is joined to the human body cannot become separated from the earth which is the ultimate resort of the bodies (ghayat-i kalbad-ha).

Similarly, earth cannot be separated from water which is its ultimate resort, or from the humidity (tari) of which it has been created.

In the same way, water is the ultimate resort of air, and air of fire, being derived from it (az u girifta).

All these as a whole have, become the lower world in which all these things are inseparable from one another.

Even that greatest circle (i.e. the outer celestial sphere) is connected with every tiny principle (nukta) in the body (markaz) of the earth.

Nafs-e-kul is their guardian and guide receiving assistance (tayid) from Aql-e-kul.

In a similar way in the world of religion, the mustajib is in the position of mankind in the material world, his upper limits being the madhun, just as the ultimate limit of the human body is the earth.

Madhuns highest limit (nihayat) is the dai and the dai’s is the hujjat, just as the ultimate limit of water is air.

The limit of the hujjat is the bab, just as that of air is fire. And the limit of bab is the Imam, just as the highest limit of fire, is the firmament (falak).

All these, in their entirety are interconnected with each other.

In the same way, in the world of absolute truth, everything is connected,from the Imam of the Truth (imam-i haqq) down to that weak mustajib who is like one of the smallest particles of earth (kamtar nuqta’i zamin) so that nothing is left out of the system.

The Asas is the guardian and guide (nigahban wa parwardigar) of all these ranks (hudud), by the power of the Divine help (tayid) which he receives without any intermediary, just like the guardianship of Nafs-e-kul of the lower world, which it exercises with the tayid of Aql-e-kul.

Every rank mentioned above occupies the position of the Imam in relation to those ranks which are below him, in the order mentioned.

And God says (surah xvii, verse 73): “The day when we will call all men through their leaders (Imam)” i.e. the mustajib through his madhun, the latter through his dai, the latter through his hujjat and so forth up to the Asas and Natiq.

Similarly, the Apostle of God says : “We are from the Light of God, and our associates (shi’atu-ni) are like a blessed tree which has roots, fruits and leaves, just as every tree has”. By the sense of this hadith every momin who swears allegiance to the Imam of the time becomes one of the descendants of Mustafa (peace be upon him) thus, being of the divine light.

His return therefore will be to that place to which the whole tree shall return, because he has become one of its leaves.

When the momin becomes associated with the true holy family (khandan-i haqq), and accepts the true doctrine (haqq), obeying it explicitly and implicitly (ba-zahir wa batin) ,he, although weak in the world, will come into the circle (da’ira) of the Imam of his time, and will attain a great position on his own merits.

As God says (surah ii, verse 24): “ Verily, God is not ashamed to set forth a parable of a gnat for anything above it “.

The tawil of this is that the gnat, small as it is, has the likeness of an elephant which is the largest animal.

Thus it is potentially not so weak as to be unable to have that likeness in form.

This symbolizes the weak mustajib who spiritually is as small as a gnat.

When he swears allegiance to the Lord of his time and obeys him as much as he can, he, with his weakness, receives a share in the position of his Lord, just as the gnat has the form of an elephant by creation, despite its small size.

Therefore when man who is the crown of creation obeys the ranks of the lower world (hudud-i sufli), he will return to the Creator who is Aql-e-kul and through it he will reach the higher world. He will then, just as Aql-e-kul, offer God the worship of thanksgiving, having no other form of worship to offer.

When the souls of the obedient slaves of God reach the higher world, they have no other form of worship than offering thanks to the creator.

As God says in the story of those who enjoy rest in paradise (surah x,verse 10-11): “And their salutation therein shall be salam (peace). And the last of their invocations will be : praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds !"

Thus we have outlined the principles (maratib) of religion, the higher and the lower, all that every momin is required to know.

The seven high principles (hadd-i ulwi) which are called huruf-i ulwi, or “high letters”, and which are regarded as symbols of predestination (qadar) are seven letters. Briefly, the story is this: You must know that a letter (harf) is a token (kanara) of things. The prophets were standing between these two worlds. By their spiritual (latif) selves they formed the “edge” of the spiritual world, while by their bodies they formed the “edge” of this material world.

Every prophet that came (to humanity) occupied a position on the “edge” of that world, possessing the power to derive advantage (faida-knowledge) from that world, and deliver it to this world.

The Qa’im - may his prayers be upon us! -being the ultimate highest point (ghayatul—ghayat) of the creation, for whose sake Nafs-e-kul has produced this world, has the most perfect share in that (higher) world. It may even be said that the perfection (tamami) of Nafs-e-kul depends on him (ba-d-u’st).

However much we may try to explain (all this), human speech will never be able to convey a complete idea of the (real) properties of spiritual principles (sifat-i hudud-i ruhani).

Speech is material (jism) being composed of letters (and sounds produced by the) palate or tongue and air. But by material things one cannot explain anything except for the material. The intelligent student who reads this chapter will understand that what we have said here is true.

And the (supreme) truth is that we are bound to obey as humble slaves, the Lord of the time,the prayers of God be upon his slaves, the momins !

May God help and assist us !

Ya Ali Madad.