Al-’Ala` bin ‘Abd al-Karim reports...

Al-’Ala` bin ‘Abd al-Karim reports: I heard Abu Ja’far al-Baqir (AS) saying about the verse ‘And Allah calls towards the abode of peace’: Indeed al-Salam is Allah, the Invincible and Magnificent, and His abode that He created for His near ones is Paradise.[^7] Al-janna in the above tradition is prefixed with the definite article ‘al’ which also confers the connotation of a specific kind of paradise.

And since Allah (SwT) principally always calls towards the best, for his grace pours out infinitely, the loftiest paradise one can ever achieve is jannat al-liqa’ (the paradise of meeting Allah). Here the aspirant of paradise yearns for nothing but the proximity and vision of the All-Beloved. And scholars of insight have said that the journey to perfection never ends. Therefore it is very apt to constantly call every one to the abode of the Absolute Peace.

أَلسَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكَ Peace be unto You The definite article ‘al’ in the abovementioned phrase conveys different meanings. It can be taken to allude to something known both to the adressor as well as his addressee.[^8] And because it is clear to all that no kind of perfection comes from anyone save Allah, for He alone is the Principal Cause of the universe, we are only permitted to seek perfection from Him in the independent sense.

Therefore if we employ the phrase al-salamu ‘alayka in the invocative sense, we can translate it as ‘ the peace from Allah be upon you ’. This is when we take the article al to refer to the specific peace that comes from Allah, which is a Divine bestowal and creation. However if we translate al-salam in the phrase al-salamu ‘alayka as “the specific peace that Allah possesses”, then we are seeking Absolute Peace for Imam al-Husayn (AS).

In other words, we are seeking the ultimate state for the Imam (AS). Seeking such kind of peace is not unprecedented. In the well-known supplication of al-Sahar of the Holy month of Ramadhan we seek the Divine Names in their perfect form. In fact the innate nature of every human being has been faishioned to aspire for the Infinite. أَلسَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكَ You are at peace from my side If the za’ir however were to consider ‘al’ to refer to himself, the above phrase can be taken as declarative.

In other words, he is trying to say: سلاَمِيْ عَلَيْكَ Salami ‘alayka (You are at peace from my side)[^9].

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