ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Learnings of the Glorious Quran The Preserved, Tablet Eraseable and the Recordable Tablet We had already hinted at Al-Lawhul Mahfuz [The Preserved Tablet], as a creature which reflects, like a mirror, the other creatures, and in which all the particularities of things, such as time, place, limits, shape etc. are strictly distinguished.

If anybody could get in touch with Al-Lawhul Mahfuz, he would be able to know, beforehand, what event, with what particulars and when it would happen, as well as whether it would be voluntary or compulsory. There are other tablets, besides Al-Lawhul Mahfuz, in which the events with their details are not minutely registered. Actually, they are ambiguous, or only parts and sections of the events and their taqdir are recorded.

Suppose that it is registered in a tablet that so-and-so in such-and-such date would move from such-and-such place, but it is not stated when he would reach such-and-such place. It is gathered from the ayahs and narratives that besides al-Kitab-al-Mubin, Ummul Kitab, or al-Lawhul Mahfuz, in which the inevitable and final destines are registered, there are other Lawhs in which ambiguous or conditional events are reflected.

There are persons who can get in touch with those middle tablets, but not with al-Lawhul-Mahfuz. By way of contacting the middle tablets, they can foretell some events, though there may be some discrepancies in them. As regards the prophets and Imams, probably some of their profecies were based on their contact with those middle tablets, which are called 'the tablets for erasing and recording'.

It is narrated that the Prophet (S.A.) was one day sitting with his companions, when a Jew passed by them. The Prophet said: "This man is going to the desert where a snake will bite him". It happened that in the evening the same man showed up from the distance, carrying a bundle of firewood. The companions told the Prophet that that was the same man. The Prophet said: "Let him get nearer". Then he called the man and told him to undo his bundle.

There they saw a snake coiled in the middle of the bundle. The Prophet said: It was in the taqdir that this snake should bite the man. But, as he left his house he gave alms. The alms protected him against this misfortune. The taqdir which I first told you about was a suspended one, and its normal course was that this snake should bite this man, but there appeared an obstacle, though not a physical one.