Ask me before you lose me...

Ask me before you lose me, because certainly I am acquainted with the passages of the sky more than the passages of the earth,[^2] and before that mischief springs upon its feet which would trample even the nosestring and destroy the wits of the people. أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ، سَلُوني قَبْلَ أَنْ تَفْقِدُوني، فَلاَنَا بِطُرُقِ السَّماءِ أَعْلَمُ مِنِّي بِطُرُقِ الاْرْضِ، قَبْلَ أَنْ تَشْغَرَ بِرِجْلِهَا فِتْنَةٌ تَطَأُ فِي خِطَامِهَا وَتَذْهَبُ بِأَحْلاَمِ قَوْمِهَا.

Alternative Sources for Sermon 189 (1) Al-Tha`alibi, al-'I`jaz, 32; (2) al-Saffar, Basa'ir, 31; on p.

202 from (3) (3) Mas`adah ibn Sadaqah, Khutab Amir al-Mu'minin (A); (4) al-Saduq, `Uyun, I, 164; (5) al-Saduq, al-Khisal, II, 164; (6) al-'Amidi, Ghurar, 80, narrated by (7) (7) al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, II, 466; (8) Ibn `Abd al-Birr, Jami`, I, 114; (9) Ibn Hajar, al-'Isabah, II, 509; (10) al-Tabari, al-Riyad, 198; (11) al-Suyuti, Ta'rikh al-khulafa', 124; (12) Dahlan, al-Futuhat, II, 337; (13) al-Qunduzi, Yanabi` al-mawaddah, 224.

[^1]: This is the interpretation of the word "muhajir" and "mustad`af" as mentioned in the Holy Qur'an: Verily those whom the angels take away (at death) while they are unjust to their (own) selves (in sin), they (the angels) shall ask (the sinning souls): "In what state were ye?" They shall reply, "Weakened (mustad`af - and oppressed) were we in the land;" They (angels) will say "Was not the land of Allah vast (enough) for you to immigrate therein?" So these (are those) whose refuge shall be Hell; and what a bad resort it is.

Except the (really) weakened ones from among the men and the women and the children, who have not in their power the means (to escape from the unbelievers) and nor do they find the (right) way. So these, may be, Allah will pardon them; and Allah is the Clement, the Oft-forgiving. (4:97-99) The meaning of Amir al-mu'minin here is that hijrah (migration) was not only obligatory during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet, but it is a permanent obligation.

This migration is even now obligatory for attaining the proof of Allah and the true religion. Therefore, if one has attained the proof of Allah and believed in it, even if he is in midst of the unbelievers of his locality, he is not duty bound to migrate. The "mustad`af" (weakened) is one who is living among the unbelievers and is far from being informed of the proofs of Allah, and at the same time he is unable to migrate in order to attain the proofs of Allah.

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