ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Hadith of Halila Foreword Says Quran: (Allah affirms that there is no god but He; and so do the angels, and those with knowledge, He is established in justice. (3: 19) Such is the claim of the Quran. So when we come across the atheistic people or those who seriously believe in the Theory of Evolution and deny the existence of any Creator of this Universe and its paraphernalia we attribute it to their lack of knowledge either inherent or acquired.

Again, says Quran: Your God is one God. (16: 7) and Allah-there is no deity but He, Living the Eternal. (2: 257) This is the assertion of the last Book of Allah revealed to Muhammad (S). But for an explanation of the verses of the Quran we must refer either to Muhammad (S) himself to whom it was revealed or to those about whom he did direct us to refer to. Said Muhammad (S): I am the City of knowledge and Ali is the gate of it.

After Ali (A) we have a chain of his children and grand children towards whom we must look for inspiration and guidance in all our affairs.

Now in an age when people have either denied the very existence of One God or have lost faith in His attributes such as Omnipotence, Omniscience etc., we present a conversation that took place in the 2nd century of Islamic era between Hazrat Imam Jafar al-Sadiq {A), the sixth in the series of the twelve Imams of the House of Muhammad (S), and a philosopher-cum-physician from India who was a staunch votary of atheism.

Needless to say that the intellectual caliber of the Imam was highest in that age as he had his knowledge from Allah. What needs our close attention is the fact that nearly 1200 years ago the mind of a man like us could argue so forcefully that not many intellectual giants that survived during this long period could have attained that standard.

However the counter arguments of the Imam (A) convinced the atheist about the Existence of Allah, His Oneness and other attributes so much so that he embraced Islam. How true it is: An Imam excels all other persons both in knowledge and piety. The intellectual caliber of an Imam shall always remain the highest irrespective of the age in which he survives.

The reason being simple that he is deputed by Allah to guide the people, and Allah can not depute a person with lesser knowledge to guide those superior in knowledge.