ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Adab as-Salat: The Disciplines of the Prayer Second Revised Edition Chapter 3: Some Disciplines Concerning Testifying Divinity And Its Connection With The Adhān And The Salat Know that divinity has many states [ maqāmāt ], which, according to “collectivity” [ jam' ], are explained in two: First: Divinity of Essence. Second: Divinity of Action.

If by testifying that divinity is confined to Allah we mean the Divinity of Essence, its truth, with that of takbīr , will come close to each other if ilāh (divinity) is derived from aliha fī 'sh - shay' , i.e. “He became perplexed about it,” or derived from lāha , i.e. “He became lofty” or derived from lāha yalūhu , i.e. “He concealed himself.” In this case its connection to the adhān and the Salat becomes known by referring to the chapter of takbīr , and so does its discipline.

But to repeat it again, though not void of some advantage, is contrary to brevity. If we take aliha to mean: “He worshipped,” and ma'lūh to mean: “the worshipped,” then the sālik must make the formal testimony of the confinement of deity to Allah, the Most High, comply with the inner cordial testimony, and he should know that should there be in the heart a deity other than Allah, he would be a hypocrite in his testimony.

So, the sālik is to convey to his heart, by whatever austerity, his testimony about divinity, and to smash in his heart the big and small idols which have been engraved by the intruding hands of Satan and the evil-commanding soul, and to sweep them away, so that he may become fit to be in the Presence of His Sacred Essence. As long as the idols of loving the world and mundane affairs are still in the ka'bah of the heart, the sālik will find no way to his goal.

So, testifying to divinity is to announce to the worldly and heavenly powers that the false deities and the crooked objectives should be trod upon so as to be able to ascend to Allah's Proximity.

But if the confinement of divinity is intended for Divinity of Action, which is management and effectiveness, the meaning of the testimony will be: I testify that there is no manager and no effective influence in the world of achievement, and in the visible and the invisible save the Sacred Essence of Allah, the Most High. If the sālik 's heart cherished dependence on any being among the beings, and trusted any individual among the individuals, his heart would be diseased and his testimony false.