How to obey Allah?

اعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم

يَأَيها الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ أَطِيعُواْ اللَّهَ وَ أَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَ أُوْلىِ الْأَمْرِ مِنكمُ‏ فَإِن تَنَازَعْتُمْ فىِ شیءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلىَ اللَّهِ وَ الرَّسُولِ إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَ الْيَوْمِ الاخِرِ ذَالِكَ خَير وَ أَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلاً )النساء 59(

 4:59

O you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey Rasool, and Olel Amr among you. If you have a dispute concerning any matter, refer it to Allah and His Rasool if you believe in Allah and the Last Day that is better and more suitable for ta'vil.


As you see in this verse OBEYING Allah and OBEYING Rasool(Slaam be upon him & his progeny) and OBEYING Olel Amr came in the same level without any exception for Olel Amr. I.e. Allah has commanded us to OBEY Olel Amr exactly in the same way we must OBEY Rasool(Salaam be upon him & his progeny) and OBEY Allah. It means this Obedience is an ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE. 

But which sound wisdom can accept an ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE for any one (parents, husbands, rulers,…) who are fallible!!! I don't know for you, the reader, who are these Olel Amr but for me as a Shia these are my Olel Amr:

These are the twelve infallible Imams from the pure progeny of the Prophet-selected by Allah and introduced by the prophet (صلي الله عليه و آله و سلم) as his true successors- arranged chronologically as follows: 

* The first is the Commander of the Faithful and the Imam of the pious, the leader of the elite, the master of Muslims and Allah's victorious lion, Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib, Salaam be upon him, the gate of knowledge who challenged the minds, dazzled the hearts, and enlightened the intellect. 

* Second is Imam Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ali, Salaam be upon him, Master of the Youths of Paradise, the fragrant flower of the Prophet in this nation, the ascetic worshipper of Allah, the faithful adviser. 

* Third is Imam Abu Abdullah al-Husayn ibn Ali, Salaam be upon him, the Master of the Youths of Paradise and the fragrant flower of the Prophet in this nation, the master of martyrs and the one who was slaughtered on Karbala and who sacrificed all he had to reform the nation of his grandfather.

* Fourth is Imam Ali ibn al-Husayn Zaynul-Abidin, Salaam be upon him, the master of all those who prostrated to their Lord. 

* Fifth is Imam Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir, Salaam be upon him, who penetrated the knowledge of the early generations and the last. 

* Sixth is Imam Ja`far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq, Salaam be upon him, the like of whom no eyes had ever seen nor anyone had ever heard nor any mind had ever realized with regard to the knowledge of fiqh; none was more learned, or better in deeds, than him.

It is interesting that Abu Hanife himself was Imam Sadeq's student and has said Lawla al sanatan, la halaka al-Nu`man , if those two years (of education) was not Nu'man would perish. And more interesting that Malik is quoted saying, "No eyes have ever seen, nor ears have ever heard, nor anyone was ever impressed by anyone more acquainted with jurisprudence, or more learned, than Ja`far al-Sadiq."

 

Of course those two are not authentic for me to get my belief from them. But by quoting their sayings I just wanted to show that Sunni's Imams themselves have confessed to the great Knowledge of Ahl al-Bayt. History is full of these confessions from the deniers and enemies of the Allah-given status of successorship of the prophet (SBUH&HP) for Ahl al-Bayt.

* Seventh is Imam Musa ibn Ja`far al-Kazim, Salaam be upon him, the descendant of the prophet, the substance of knowledge. 

* Eighth is Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Rida, Salaam be upon him, who was granted wisdom even as a child. 

* Ninth is Imam Muhammad ibn Ali al-Jawad, Salaam be upon him, the Imam of generosity and giving, the Imam of excellent conduct. His debate with the scholars of his time when he was a child is well-known.

* Tenth is Imam Ali ibn Muhammad al-Hadi, Salaam be upon him, the one who received Allah's favors, who was the lighthouse of guidance. 

* Eleventh is Imam al-Hasan ibn Ali al-Askari, Salaam be upon him, the Imam of asceticism and piety. 

* Twelfth is Imam Mahdi , the son of al-Hasan ibn Ali al-Askari , Salaam be upon him, who will fill the world with justice and equity after being filled with inequity and oppression, and the son of Maryam, peace be upon him, will pray behind him, and Allah will complete through him His Light, and through him will the believers be very pleased. 

All of our Imams(SBUT) except the last one, Imam Mahdi(SBUH), were martyred by the oppressors who could not stand them.

This chain of Imamate as some people think is not cut off.  Imam Mahdi, son of Imam Hasan al-Askari(SBUT), is alive and when Allah wants he will appear and with Allah's grace will spread Tawhid and the unique religion of Allah, I.e. True Islam, in all over the world. 

And of course, for a Quranic mind who has read the story of Noah who lived 950 years, having a long life is not a surprise.

While any sect of "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`a," be it Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi`i, or Hanbali, is based on the views of one man who was distant from the time when the Message was revealed and he had no direct link with the Prophet(SBUH&HP) at all, Imam Ja`far al-Sadiq(SBUH), says, "The hadith I narrate is that of my father and grandfather, and the hadith of my grandfather is the hadith of the Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abu Talib who quotes the Messenger of Allah, and the hadith of the Messenger of  Allah is that of Gabriel,salaam be upon him, which is the speech of the Almighty." 

No historian, nor traditionist, nor biographer, has ever narrated saying that one of the Imams from Ahl al-Bayt learned what he knew from some sahaba(companions) or tabi`een as is the case with all the Ummah's scholars and Imams. Abu Hanifah, for example, was a student of Imam Ja`far al-Sadiq(SBUH); Malik was a student of Abu Hanifah; al-Shafi`i learned from Malik and so did Ahmad ibn Hanbal. As for the Imams from Ahl al-Bayt, their knowledge is gifted by Allah, Glory and Exaltation to Him, and they inherit such knowledge son from father, for they are the ones to whom the Almighty specifically refers when He says, "Then We gave the Book for an inheritance to those whom We chose from Our servants" (Holy Qur'an, 35:32).

And, how these Imams now guide us?

In the post-occultation period of the Infallible Imam. We have been referred to follow the learned faqih. Their texts related to the Shari`a are always derived from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah. These have always been their reference. They followed neither analogy nor their own views. One particular mujtahid faqih may be distinguished with prominence over all the rest through the degree of his knowledge. Shias refer to such a mujtahid as al-marji` al-a`la.

Thus the Shi`as in all ages have maintained the two basic sources of Islamic Shari`a: the Book of Allah and the Sunnah, in addition to the texts transmitted by the twelve infallible Imams from the pure Progeny of the Prophet. Hence, their scholars feel no need at all to resort to analogy, or to express a personal viewpoint, because Shi`as have taken pains to record and safeguard the Prophet's Sunnah since the time of Ali ibn Abu Talib(SBUH) and will continue to do so till the Day of Judgment. 

Thanks to Dr. Tijani for his wonderful books and his firm reasoning which texts I used  in my posts.