Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

The Essentials (Arkan) of Salat

The validity of the salat is dependent upon taharah (purity) - both from hadath and khabath, the time of performing it, facing the qiblah, and wearing sufficient clothing. The fulfilment of these conditions (called shurut) before starting the salat is necessary, and they have been discussed in detail in the preceding sections. Salat also comprises certain essentials (arkan wa fara’id) which are performed as parts of salat.

They are many, and among them are the following:

1. Intention (Niyyah)

The schools -- or rather the legists of each school among themselves -- differ regarding the content of the niyyah (intention) required for salat, that is, whether it is necessary to specify the salat (such as its being zuhr or ‘asr prayer), whether it is obligatory or supererogatory, complete (tamam) or shortened (qasr), in time (ada’) or late (qada’), and so on.

The essence of the niyyah, as mentioned in the chapter on wudu’ (ablution) is the intention to perform an act with the motive of obedience to a command of God Almighty. Specification of a particular salat, whether it is obligatory or supererogatory, ada’ or qada’, is dependent upon the intention of the musalli. Thus if he intends to perform a supererogatory salat at the beginning and performs it with this intention, it will be supererogatory; if he intends to perform an obligatory salat, such as zuhr or ‘asr prayers, it will be so.

But if he does not intend anything it will be a waste of labour, though it is impossible for one not to intend anything. Because any act performed by a sane person cannot be without an intention regardless of whether he expresses it in specific words or not, and irrespective of whether he is attentive to his intention or not. Therefore, all the schools concur that expressing the niyyah in words is not necessary. Similarly, it is also ordinarily impossible for one who knows the difference involved to intend zuhr while performing ‘asr and an obligatory salat while performing a supererogatory one.

However discussions regarding niyyah and its various forms were not in vogue among the pioneering scholars of the shari’ah. It would be good to quote here the observations of two great scholars, Ibn al-Qayyim from among the Sunni legists, and Sayyid Muhammad, the author of al-Madarik, from the Imamiyyah.

The former observes in his Zad al-Ma’ad as quoted in the first volume of Ibn Qudamah’s al-Mughni: "The Prophet (S) used to say ‘Allahu Akbar’ when he stood for prayer and did not say anything before it. He did not expresss the niyyah in words, such as saying: ‘I perform such and such prayer in four rak’ahs facing the qibla as an imam or ma’mum (one who follows the imam). Neither did he mention whether it was ada’ or qada’ nor its time.These ten are later elaborations and no one has ever narrated them from him (S) in either sahih or da’if form. And neither the tabi’un nor the four imams have opted for them."

The latter, in Madarik al-Ahkam (mabhath al-niyyah awwal al-salat) observes: "That which is inferable from the sources of the shari’ah is that niyyah is a simple matter and all that it involves is the intention to perform an act in obedience to God, the Exalted. This is something which no sane person can do without while turning to perform an act of worship (‘ibadah)."

Here some scholars have observed: If God were to enjoin the performance of salat or any other ‘ibadah without a niyyah, it would have amounted to something impossible. Al-Shahid has mentioned in al-Dhikra that our earlier scholars did not mention niyyah in their books on fiqh. They would state: ‘The first wajib in wudu’ is washing the face, the first wajib in salat is takbirat al-ihram’. The reason for this is that that which is essential in regard to niyyah is something inescapable, and anything in addition to it is not wajib. That which confirms this is that niyyah has not been mentioned in the context of any of the ‘ibadat – and particularly not in their case – and the traditions describing the wudu, ghusl and tayammum of the Prophet (S) do not make any mention of it.

2. Takbirat al-Ihram

Salat does not materialize without ‘takbirat al-ihram.’ Its name derives from the statement of the Prophet (S):

مفتاح الصلاة الطهور و تحريمها التكبيرة و تحليلها التسليم

Taharah (purity) is the key to salat; its consecration (tahrim) is the takbirah; and its termination (tahlil) is taslim.

It means that with takbirat al-ihram it becomes haram to speak and perform any act incompatible with salat, and by reciting taslim those acts which were prohibited after reciting the takbir become permissible again.

Its formula is ‘Allahu akbar’, and according to the Imamis, Malikis and Hanbalis no other form is permissible. The Shafi’is observe: Both "Allahu akbar", and "Allahu al-’akbar” (with the addition of alif and lam to "akbar") are permissible. The Hanafis state: Any other synonymous words such as ‘Allahu al-’a’zam’ and ‘Allahu al-’ajall’ will do.

All the schools, excepting the Hanafi, concur that it is wajib to recite it in Arabic, even if the musalli is a non-Arab. If he cannot, it is obligatory for him to learn it; and if he cannot learn, he may translate it into his own tongue. The Hanafis observe: It is valid to recite it in any language even if one can recite it in Arabic.

There is consensus among the schools that at the time of reciting takbirat al-ihram all the conditions necessary for salat (such as taharah, facing the qiblah, covering the body etc.) should be present, and that it should be recited - when one has the ability to do so - while standing stationarily, and in a voice that he can hear. The word ‘Allah’ should precede ‘akbar’, and the reverse, ‘akbar Allah’, will not suffice for entry into qiyam.

3. Qiyam (standing)

The schools concur that qiyam is wajib in the obligatory salats from the beginning of takbirat al-ihram until going to ruku’, and that standing uprightly, stationarily and independently are its requisites.

Hence it is not valid to recline on any support when one is able to stand without it. If one cannot stand, he may perform salat sitting, and if this too is not possible, while laying down on the right side facing the qiblah (in the same position that a dead body is placed in the grave).

This is the opinion of all the schools except the Hanafis, who state: A person who cannot sit will perform salat laying down on his back with his feet pointing towards the qiblah, so that his gestures in lieu of ruku’ and sajdah are made towards the qiblah.

If it is not possible to perform salat while laying on the right side, the Imamis, Shafi’is and Hanbalis permit him to perform salat laying on his back by making gestures with his head. If gesturing with the head is not possible, he will gesture with the eyelids.

The Hanafis say: If his state is as bad as that, the duty of salat will no longer apply to him, though he will have to perform it qada’ when his condition improves and the hindrance is removed.

According to the Malikis, a sick person such as this is not required to perform salat and it is also not wajib for him to perform its qada’.

The Imamis, Shafi’is and Hanbalis state: The duty of salat does not disappear in any situation; if he is unable to gesture by blinking his eyes he will pass the salat through his mind and move his tongue for reciting the qira’ah and dhikr. If he is unable to move the tongue he will imagine it in his mind as long as his mind works. To sum up, salat is wajib upon those who are fully capable and those who are not so capable. It may not be neglected in any situation, and every person must perform it in accordance with his ability.

Hence it is performed while standing, then sitting, then laying down on one’s side, then laying down on one’s back, then gesturing by blinking the eyes, and passing it through the mind, in that order. A fully capable person as well as one not capable will move from the previous state to the new situation which has come into existence. Hence if a fully capable person loses his ability during salat or one not capable regains it, either of them will perform the remaining part in accordance with his ability.

Therefore, if he performs one rak’ah (unit) standing and is then unable to stand, he will complete it sitting, and if he performs the first rak’ah sitting and then regains the strength to stand, he will complete the remaining salat standing.

4. Qira’ah (reciting)

The schools differ whether the recitation of Surat al-Fatihah is wajib in every rak’ah (unit), or in the first two rak’ahs, or in all the rak’ahs without there being any other alternative. They give different answers to the following questions: Is the bismillah an essential part of al-Fatihah or is it valid to omit it? Is it wajib or mustahabb to recite aloud or in a low voice? Is it wajib to recite another surah after al-Fatihah in the first two rak’ahs? Can the tasbih1 replace the surah? Is takattuf (the folding of arms during salat) a sunnah or is it haram? And so on.

The Hanafis observe: It is not compulsory to recite only Surat al-Fatihah in the daily obligatory salats, and anything recited from the Qur’an may take its place, because God the Exalted, says:

فاقرَأوا ما تيَسَّرَ من القُرآن

‘Therefore recite of the Qur’an so much as is feasible’ (73:20) (Bidayat al-mujtahid, vol.1, p.122 and al-Shi’rani’s Mizan, "bab sifat al-salat").

The recital from the Qur’an is wajib in the first two rak’ahs; but in the third rak’ah of the maghrib prayer and the last two rak’ahs of ‘asr and ‘isha’ prayer there is an option between reciting from the Qur’an or saying the tasbih or keeping quiet (al-Nawawi, Sharh al-Muhadhdhab, vol.3, p.361).

Moreover, the Hanafis say: It is valid to skip the basmalah because it is not a part of any surah. Neither reciting aloud nor in a low voice are mustahabb, and a musalli praying alone is free to recite in a voice that he alone can hear or in a voice hearable to others. There is no qunut in salat with the exception of salatal-watr. As to takattuf, it is masnun (a sunnah) but it is not wajib, and its preferable form is for a man to place the palm of his right hand on the back of his left hand below the navel, and for a woman to place her hands on her chest.

The Shafi’is state: Surat al-Fatihah is wajib in every rak’ah, without there being any difference in this regard between the first two rak’ahs and the other rak’ahs and between wajib and mustahabb salats.

The basmalah is a part of the surah and cannot be omitted in any circumstance. The recitation should be aloud in the morning prayer and the first two rak’ahs of maghrib and ‘isha’ prayers; the remaining recitals are to be in a low voice. The qunut is mustahabb only in the morning prayer, and is to be performed after rising from the ruku’ of the second rak’ah. Similarly, it is mustahabb to recite another surah after al-Fatihah only in the first two rak’ahs. Takattuf is not wajib but a sunnah for both the sexes, and its preferable form is to place the right hand palm on the back of the left hand between the chest and the navel and towards the left side.

According to the Malikis, reciting Surat al-Fatihah is necessary in every rak’ah, without there being any difference in this regard between the earlier and later rak’ahs and between fard and mustahabb salats, as observed earlier by the Shafi’is. It is mustahabb to recite another surah after al-Fatihah in the first two rak’ahs.

The basmalah is not a part of the surah and it is mustahabb to omit it altogether. Reciting aloud is mustahabb in the morning prayer and the first two rak’ahs of maghrib and ‘isha’ prayers. Qunut is to be recited only in the morning prayer.

Takattuf is valid in their opinion, though it is mustahabb to keep the hands hanging freely in the fard prayers.

The Hanbalis consider al-Fatihah to be wajib in every rak’ah, and to recite a surah after it in the first two rak’ahs as mustahabb. The morning prayer and the first two rak’ahs of maghrib and ‘isha’ prayers are to be recited aloud. The basmalah is a part of surahs though it will be recited in a low voice and not aloud. Qunut is to be recited in Salat al-watr and not in any other salat. Takattuf is a sunnah for both men and women and its preferable form is to place the right hand palm on the back of the left hand below the navel.

It is evident that takattuf, which the Sunni legists call ‘qabd’ and the Shi’a legists call ‘takfir’ - i.e. to conceal - is not wajib in the opinion of any of the four Sunni schools.

The Imamis state: Reciting Surat al-Fatihah is necessary in the first two rak’ahs of every salat and no other surah can replace it. But it is not wajib in the third rak’ah of maghrib and the last two rak’ahs of four-rak’ah prayers; rather, one has an option between it and tasbih. Tasbih means the recitation of:

سبحان الله و الحمد لله و لا الهَ الا الله و الله اكبر

thrice, though even once is sufficient. It is wajib to recite another complete surah in the first two rak’ahs, and the basmalah is a part of the surahs which cannot be omitted in any circumstance.

It is wajib to recite aloud only the surahs and not the other recitations in the morning prayer and the first two rak’ahs of maghrib and ‘isha’ prayers. The qira’ah in zuhr and ‘asr prayers is to be done, except for the basmalah, in a low voice in their first two rak’ahs and also in the third rak’ah of maghrib and the last two rak’ahs of ‘isha’ prayers.

Qunut is mustahabb in the five daily prayers and its place is the second rak’ah after the recital of the surahs and before ruku’. The minimum level of voice considered ‘loud’ is that a person nearby be able to hear it, and the minimum for ‘low’ voice is that the person himself be able to hear it. The schools concur that reciting aloud is not prescribed for women, nor is reciting in a voice lower than what can be heard by herself. If a musalli voluntarily recites loudly something which is to be recited in a low voice and vice versa, his/her salat will be invalid, if this is not done due to ignorance or forgetfulness.

The Imamis also considers saying "Ammin” (Amen) during salat to be haram and doing so invalidates the salat, irrespective of whether one is praying individually or in group prayer as an imam or ma’mum,because it is something adopted by the people, and nothing adopted by people is capable of being included in the salat.

The four Sunni schools concur that it is mustahabb in accordance with the narration of Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (S) said:

When the imam says, "ghayr il maghdubi ‘alaymhim wa la-ddallin,’ then say: "Ammin."

The Imamis negate the authenticity of the above tradition.

Most Imamis consider takattuf (putting hands over each other) renders the salat invalid (batil) because there is no explicit text (nass) in support of it. However, some of them say: Takattuf is haram and the one who does it has committed sin, though his salat is not invalid. A third group from among them observe: It is makruh (discouraged) and not haram.

5. Ruku’ (bowing)

There is consensus among the schools that ruku’ is obligatory (wajib) in salat but they differ regarding the extent to which it is wajib and the necessity of staying motionless in that position. The Hanafis observe: What is obligatory is to bend down in any possible manner, and staying motionless is not obligatory. The remaining schools consider it obligatory to kneel down until the palms of the hands of the musalli reach his knees and to stay motionless during bowing.

The Shafi’is, Hanafis and Malikis state: It is not obligatory to recite anything during ruku’, though it is sunnah that the musalli say: "Subhana Rabbi al-’azim”.

The Imamis and the Hanbalis consider tasbih to be obligatory during ruku’ and its formula in the opinion of the Hanbalis is "Subhana Rabi al-’azim", and according to the Imamis "Subhana Rabbi al-‘azim wa bi hamdih” or just "SubhanAllah” thrice. It is encouraged (mustahabb) in the opinion of the Imamis to add after the tasbih, a benediction for Muhammad (S) and his Family (Allahumma salli ‘ala Muhammadin wa Ale Muhammad).

The Hanafis say: It is not obligatory to return to the standing position after ruku’, and it is sufficient, though makruh (discouraged), to perform sajdah (prostration) straightaway. The other schools consider it obligatory to return to the standing position and mustahabb to recite the tasmi’, which is to say: "Sami ‘allahu li man hamidah” (God hears one who praises Him). According to the Imamis, it is obligatory to stay motionless in this standing (qiyam).

6. Sujud (prostration)

There is consensus among the schools that sujud (prostration) is obligatory twice in each rak’ah. They differ regarding its details, as to whether itis obligatory to prostrate with all the seven parts of the body touching the ground while performing it or if it is sufficient to lay on the ground only some of them. These seven parts are: the forehead, the palms, the knees and the big toes.

The Malikis, Shafi’is and Hanafis state: It is obligatory to lay only the forehead on the ground in sujud, and laying down the other parts is encouraged (mustahabb).

The Imamis and the Hanbalis observe: It is obligatory to lay on the ground all the seven parts while performing sujud. It has been narrated from the Hanbalis that they add the nose to these seven, thus making them eight. The difference of opinion regarding reciting tasbih and being motionless during sujud is similar to the difference mentioned concerning ruku’. Those who consider them obligatory there, consider them here as well.

The Hanafis do not consider it obligatory to sit between the sajdahs; the remaining schools consider it obligatory.

7. Tashahhud

Tashahhud is at most recited twice in salat; the first, after the second rak’ah of zuhr, ‘asr, maghrib and ‘isha’ prayers, which is not followed by taslim; the second in the last rak’ah of the two-, three-, and four- rak’ah prayers, which is followed by taslim.

The Imamis and the Hanbalis state: The first tashahhud is wajib. The remaining schools consider it mustahabb and not wajib. The second tashahhud is considered wajib by the Shafi’is, Imamis and Hanbalis, and mustahabb by the Malikis and Hanafis (Bidayat al-mujtahid, vol.1, p.125).

The following are the forms of tashahhud observed by the different schools:

The Hanafis

التحيات لله والصلوات والطيّبات، والسلام عليك أيّها النبي ورحمة الله وبركاته، السلام علينا وعلى عباد الله الصالحين، أشهد أن لا إله إلاّ الله، وأشهد أنّ محمداً عبده ورسوله

"attahiyyatu lillahi wassalawatu wattayyibatu wassalamu ‘alayka ayyuhaannabiyyu warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu,assalamu ‘alayna wa ‘ala`abadillahi assaliheena, ash-hadu anna la ilaha illa Allah, waAsh-haduanna Mohammmedan ‘abduhu warasuluhu."

The Malikis

التحيات لله الزاكيات لله الطيّبات الصلوات لله، السلام عليك أيّها النبي ورحمة الله وبركاته، السلام علينا وعلى عباد الله الصالحين، أشهد أن لا إله إلاّ الله وحده لا شريك له، وأشهد أنّ محمداً عبده ورسوله

"Attahiyyatu lillah, azzakiyyatu lillah, attayyibatu assalawatu lillah.Assalamu alayka ayyuha annabiyyu warahmatu allahi wabarakatuhu,assalamu alayna wa ‘ala ‘abadi Allahi assaliheena, ash-hadu anna la ilaha illa Allah, wa ash-hadu anna muhammadan ‘abduhu warasuluhu.

The Shafi’is

التحيات المباركات الصلوات الطيبات لله، السلام عليك أيّها النبي ورحمة الله وبركاته، السلام علينا وعلى عباد الله الصالحين، أشهد أن لا إله إلاّ الله، وأشهد أنّ سيدنا محمداً رسول الله

"Attahiyyatu almubarakatu assalawatu attayyibatu lillah, assalamu ‘alayka ayyuha annabiyyu warahmatu allahi wabarakatuhu, assalamu alayna wa ‘ala ‘abadi allahi assalaiheena.Ash-hadu anna la ilaha illa Allah, wa ash-hadu anna sayyidana muhammadan rasulu Allah."

The Hanbalis

التحيات لله والصلوات والطيبات، السلام عليك أيّها النبي ورحمة الله وبركاته، السلام علينا وعلى عباد الله الصالحين، أشهد أن لا إله إلاّ الله وحده لا شريك له، وأشهد أنّ محمداً عبده ورسوله، اللّهم صلِّ على محمد

"Attahiyyatu lillahi wa-assalawatu wa-attayyibatu. assalamu ‘alayka ayyuha annabiyyu warahmatu allahi wabarakatuhu, assalamu alayna wa ‘ala ‘abadi allahi assalaiheena. Ash-hadu anna la ilaha illa Allah, wahdahu la shareekalah,wa ash-hadu anna sayyidana muhammadan ‘abduhu wa- rasuluhu. Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin."

The Imamis

أشهد أن لا إله إلاّ الله وحده لا شريك له، وأشهد أنّ محمداً عبده ورسوله، اللّهم صلِّ على محمد وآل محمد

"Ash-hadu anna la ilaha illa Allah, wahdahu la shareeka lah,wa ash- hadu anna muhammadan ‘abduhu wa-rasuluhu. Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin wa ‘‘Ali Muhammad."

8. Tasleem

The Shafi’is, Malikis, and Hanbalis observe: Tasleem is wajib (obligatory). The Hanafis do not consider it wajib (Bidayat al-Mujtahid, vol.1, p.126).

The Imamis differ among themselves, a group considers it wajib, while others, including al-Mufid, al-Shaykh al-Tusi and al-’Allamah al-Hilli, regard it as mustahabb.

Tasleem (farewell) has only one form in the opinion of the four Sunni schools, and it is:

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله

"Assalamu alaikum warahmatu allah".

The Hanbalis say: It is obligatory to recite it twice. The others consider reciting once as sufficient.

The Imamis state: Tasleem consists of two formulas; the first is:

السلام علينا وعلى عباد الله الصالحين

"Assalamu alaina wa ‘ala ‘ibadi allahi assaliheen".

The second:

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

"Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatu allahi wa barakatuh".

One of them is wajib. Hence if a person recites the former, the latter will be mustahabb, and if he recites the latter, he will stop at it. As to:

السلام عليك أيّها النبي ورحمة الله وبركاته

"Assalamu alaika ayyuha annabiyyu wa rahmatu allahi wa barakatuhu", it is not a part of tasleem, and is a mustahabb addition to the tashahhud.

9. Sequence (tartib)

Proper sequence (tartib) is wajib between the different parts of salat. Hence the takbirat al-ihram must precede reciting (qira’ah), the qira’ah must precede ruku’, the ruku’ must come before the sujud, and so on.

10. Continuity

Continuity (muwalat and tatabu’, i.e. to occur one after another) is wajib between the parts of salat and between the different portions of a part. Therefore, the reciting (qira’ah) must begin immediately after the takbirah and ruku’ must similarly follow the qira’ah, and so on. The verses, words and letters must not be recited in a manner breaking continuity.

Notes

1. ‘tasbih’ means: saying "subhanallah wal-hamdu lillah wala ilaha illallahwallahu akbar”which is usually recited three times in the third and theforth rak’ahs (units).Also ‘qunut’ means rasing both hands toward the sky and holding them infront of the chest or face and then reciting a supplication, like askingfor forgiveness. It could be some verses of Qur’an or not. However it should be in Arabic for obligatory prayers.

Error and Doubt During Salat

The schools concur that a wilful violation of any wajib act in prayer invalidates it. However mistake (sahw) can be compensated by performing sujud al-sahw as described below.

The Hanafis state: The form of sujud al-sahw is that the musalli should perform two sajdahs followed by the recitation of tashahhud and taslim, prayer and benediction for the Prophet (S). This sujud should be performed after the taslim, provided there is sufficient time (for the salat).

Hence if, for instance, someone makes an involuntary error in al-fajr prayer and finds that the sun has risen before his performing sujud al-sahw, he is not required to perform it any more. The cause necessitating sujud al-sahw is the musalli’s omitting an obligatory part or repeating an essential part (rukn) --such as ruku’ or sujud. If numerous lapses occur (in a single salat), the two sajdahs will suffice for them all, because their repetition is not valid in their opinion. And if there occurs a lapse in the sujud al-sahw it requires no rectification (Majma’ al-’anhur, vol.1, "bab sujud al-sahw").

The Malikis observe: In its form, sujud al-sahw consists of two sajdahs followed by tashahhud without any supplication and benediction for the Prophet (S). As to the place of this sujud, in the event that it is on account of an omission or due to both an omission and an addition, it will be performed before the taslim; but if the cause is only an addition, then after the taslim.

Moreover, sujud al-sahw atones for an involuntary omission of a mustahabb part of salat; hence if the omitted part is a fard (obligatory) part of salat, it cannot be compensated by sujud al-sahw and must be performed.

However, if the mistake is one of involuntary addition -- such as an extra ruku’ or two, or one or two additional rak’ahs -- it is atonable by sujud al-sahw.

The Hanbalis say: It is valid to perform sujud al-sahw before or after the taslim. It consists of two sajdahs followed by tashahhud and taslim. Its causes are involuntary addition or omission as well as doubt. An example of addition is to perform an additional qiyam (standing) or qu’ud (sitting). One who sits where he is supposed to stand or vice versa will perform sujud al-sahw.

Where there is an omission, the following procedure is to be followed in their opinion. If he remembers the omission before starting the qira’ah of the next rak’ah, it is wajib for him to perform the part omitted as well as sujud al-sahw; and if he comes to remember it only after starting the qira’ah of the next rak’ah, the former rak’ah will be annulled and the latter will take its place and sujud al-sahw will also be performed.

To illustrate the same, if a person forgets ruku’ in the first rak’ah and becomes aware of it after performing the sujud (of the same rak’ah), he will perform the ruku’ and then repeat the sujud, and if he becomes aware of it only after starting the qira’ah of the second rak’ah, the former rak’ah will be considered null and void and the second rak’ah will take its place.

An example of doubt necessitating sujud al-sahw is the case when one doubts whether he has performed the ruku’, or has a doubt regarding the number of rak’ahs performed. Here he will consider that portion of the salat he is sure of having performed as the basis and will perform the remaining, and carry out sujud al-sahw on finishing it. Two sajdahs suffice for several mistakes, even if their causes differ, and a lapse committed by someone prone to making mistakes will not be considered a lapse.

According to the Shafi’is, the place of sujud al-sahw is after the tashahhud and benediction of the Prophet (S) and before the taslim. Its mode of performance is like the one prescribed by the above-mentioned schools. The reasons for its performance are: omission of an emphasized (mu’akkadah) sunnah, a little additional recital, the recital of al-Fatihah by mistake, the following of an imam whose salat is vitiated, a doubt in the number of rak’ahs, and the omission of a specific part.

The Imamis differentiate between the rules applicable to cases of doubt and those applicable to errors. They state: No attention will be paid to a doubt arising concerning any act of salat after its completion, or the doubt of a ma’mum regarding the number of rak’ahs if the imam has ascertained their number and vice versa, with each of them referring to the memory of the other.

No significance is attached to the doubts of a person who doubts excessively, and similarly to a doubt with respect to any act of salat arising after entry into its subsequent act. Hence if a doubt occurs regarding the reciting (qira’ah) of al-Fatihah after starting the qira’ah of the subsequent surah, or regarding the surah after having gone into the ruku’, or with respect to the ruku’ after having entered the sajdah, the salat will be continued without heeding the doubt.

But if the doubt occurs before starting the performance of the subsequent act, it is wajib to rectify it. Hence a person who has doubt regarding the recital of al-Fatihah before starting the subsequent surah, will recite it, and similarly the surah if he has a doubt concerning its recital before entering the ruku’.

As to sujud al-sahw, it should be done for every omission and addition, except for reciting aloud instead of in a low voice and vice versa -- as it does not entail anything -- and except for any omission or addition that does not pertain to the essentials (arkan) of salat because their omission or addition invalidates the salat irrespective of its being wilful or by mistake.

The arkan, in their opinion, are the following five: niyyah (intention), takbirat al-ihram, qiyam, ruku’ and the two sajdahs of a rak’ah. It is not obligatory to perform any part omitted by mistake after the salat except sajdah and tashahhud, which are alone required to be performed among the forgotten parts.

These will be performed after the completion of the salat followed by sujud al-sahw, which consists of making two sajdahs and reciting

بسم الله وبالله، اللّهم صلّ على محمد وآل محمد

in the state of prostration, followed by tashahhud and taslim.

The number of sujud al-sahw required is equal to the number of causes entailing it. They consider the mistake of a person committing excessive mistakes and a mistake committed while rectifying one, as no mistake.

Doubt in the Number of Rak’ahs

The Shafi’is, Malikis and Hanbalis observe: If the musalli has a doubt regarding the number of rak’ahs performed, he will consider the number of rak’ahs he is certain of having performed as the base and will complete the salat by performing the rest.

The Hanafis state: If the musalli’s doubt in salat is for the first time in his life, he will repeat it from the beginning. But if it occurs to him that he has doubted in salat earlier as well, he will think for quite a while and will act in accordance with what seems more probable to him. But if the doubt remains (even after thinking), he will consider the number of rak’ahs he is certain of having performed as the base.

The Imamis state: If the doubt concerning the number of rak’ahs performed occurs in a two-rak’ah salat (such as salat al-subh, the salat of a traveler, salat al-jumu’ah, salat al-’idayn and salat al- kusuf, or in salat al-maghrib or in the first two rak’ahs of ‘isha’, zuhr and ‘asr prayers, the salat will become invalid and it will be wajib to start it again from the beginning. But if the doubt occurs in the rak’ahs subsequent to the first two rak’ahs of the four-rak’ah prayers, he will perform salat al-ihtiyat after completing the salat and before performing any act incompatible with salat.

For example, if a doubt arises after the completion of the two sajdahs of the second rak’ah as to whether it is the second or the third rak’ah, he will take the greater number of rak’ahs as his basis and complete the salat. He will then perform as ihtiyat (caution) a single rak’ah while standing or two rak’ahs while sitting. If the doubt concerns his being in third or fourth rak’ah, he will consider it the fourth rak’ah and complete the salat and follow it up with a single rak’ah standing or two rak’ahs sitting by way of caution.

If the doubt concerns his being in second or fourth rak’ah, he will consider it the fourth rak’ah. He will then offer two rak’ahs standing. If there is a doubt regarding its being second, third or fourth rak’ah, he will assume it to be the fourth rak’ah, and offer following it two rak’ahs standing and two rak’ahs sitting.

According to them, the reason for performing these rak’ahs is to preserve the prescribed form of salat and avoid additions and omissions. Their point is illustrated by the example of a person who has a doubt between its being third or fourth rak’ah. He will consider it to be the fourth rak’ah and perform a single rak’ah separately after completing the salat. If his salat has been complete, the additional rak’ah performed separately will be considered as nafilah, and if the salat had been incomplete, the separate rak’ah will complement it.

However, this manner of performing salat al-ihtiyat (cautionary prayer) is particular to the Imamis. They limit this procedure to the obligatory salats, and among them to zuhr, ‘asr and ‘isha’ prayers only. As to the nafilah prayers, the musalli is free to consider the minimum or maximum rak’ahs probably performed as the basis, provided such supposition does not invalidate the salat (such as where he doubts his being in second or third rak’ah with the knowledge that the nafilah comprises only two rak’ahs; here he will consider the minimum number of rak’ahs probably performed as the basis).

It is better in all mustahabb prayers to consider the minimum ascertainable number of rak’ahs as the basis. If a doubt concerning rak’ahs arises in salat al-ihtiyat, the maximum number of rak’ahs probably performed will be made the basis, except where doing so invalidates the salat, in which case the minimum number of rak’ahs will be the basis. Some Imamis observe: One is free to choose as the basis either the minimum or maximum rak’ahs probably performed.

The Friday Prayer

Its Wujub (necessity)

There is consensus among all the Muslims regarding the Friday prayer (salat al-jumu’ah) being wajib in accordance with the words of God, the Exalted:

يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نُودِي لِلصَّلاَةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ

O believers, when proclamation is made for prayer on the Day of Congregation (yawm al-jumu’ah) hasten to God’s remembrance and leave trading aside (Qur’an 62:9)

as well as the mutawatir traditions narrated both by Shi’i and Sunni sources.

They differ as to whether its wujub is conditional to the presence of the ruler or his deputy in it or if it is wajib unconditionally.

The Hanafis and the Imamis state: The presence of the ruler or his deputy is necessary; the Friday prayer is not wajib if neither of them is present. The Imamis require the ruler to be just (‘adil); otherwise his presence is equal to his absence. To the Hanafis, his presence is sufficient even if he is not just.

The Shafi’is, Malikis and Hanbalis attach no significance to the presence of the ruler, and a large number of Imamis observe: In the absence of a ruler or his representative and the presence of a just faqih, there exists an option between performing either the Friday or the zuhr prayer, although preference lies with the performance of Friday prayer.1

Conditions

The schools concur that the requirements for other salats (such as taharah, covering the body, and facing the qiblah) also apply to Friday prayers, that its time is from when the sun crosses the meridian up to when the shadow of an object equals its height, and that it can be performed in a mosque as well as any other place, except in the opinion of the Malikis who don’t consider it valid except in a mosque.

There is also consensus that it is wajib for men and not for women, and that one who performs is not required to perform the zuhr prayer, and that it is not wajib for the blind, and that it is not valid except when performed in jama’ah (congregation).

They differ regarding the minimum number of persons required to form a jama’ah; the Malikis state: Its minimum is 12, excluding the imam. The Imamis consider it to be 4, excluding the imam. In the opinion of the Shafi’is and Hanbalis, it is 40, including the imam; according to the Hanafis it is 5, though some of them say it is 7.

The schools, except the Hanafi, concur in its being prohibited for someone upon whom the Friday prayer has become wajib and its conditions fulfilled, to travel after the sun has crossed the meridian before performing it. The Hanafis allow it.

The Friday Sermons

There is consensus that the two sermons are required for convening the Friday prayer and that they are to be delivered before the salat, though after the setting in of its time and not earlier. They differ regarding the wujub of standing while delivering them. The Imamis, Shafi’is and Malikis require it, but not the Hanafis and Hanbalis.

As to their content, the Hanafis say: The sermon will be considered delivered even by a minimal dhikr, such as uttering "al-hamdulillah” or "astaghfirullah", though such brevity is makruh.

The Shafi’is observe: It is necessary in both the sermons to praise God, invoke blessings on the Prophet (S), to exhort to piety, to recite a verse in at least one of the sermons, though reciting it in the first is better, and to supplicate for the faithful in the second sermon.

According to the Malikis anything considered by custom as a sermon suffices, provided it includes exhortation and announcement of good news.

The Hanbalis consider it essential to praise God, invoke blessings on the Prophet (S), recite a verse and counsel piety.

The Imamis state: It is wajib in each of the sermons to praise and extol God, invoke blessings on the Prophet (S) and his Family (A), preach, and recite something from the Qur’an, and in the second sermon, to implore God’s forgiveness and to pray for the faithful.

The Shafi’is and Imamis observe: It is wajib for the preacher to separate the two sermons by sitting down for a short while between them.

The Malikis and Hanafis consider it mustahabb.

According to the Hanbalis, the sermon should be delivered in Arabic, if possible.

The Shafi’is consider Arabic necessary if the people are Arabs, and if they are non-Arabs, the preacher should preach in their language even if he is well-versed in Arabic.

The Malikis say: It is wajib to preach in Arabic even if the people are non-Arabs and do not understand a word of Arabic. If there is no one among them who knows Arabic, there is no obligation to perform the Friday prayer.

The Hanafis and the Imamis do not consider Arabic a condition for delivering the sermons.

Its Mode of Performance

The Friday prayer comprises two units (rak’ahs), just like the morning prayers. The Imamis and the Shafi’is observe: After Surat al-Hamd of each rak’ah, it is mustahabb to recite Surat al-Jumu’ah in the first rak’ah and Surat al-Munafiqun in the second.

The Malikis state: Surat al-Jumu’ah will be recited in the first rak’ah and Surat al-Ghashiyah in the second. According to the Hanafis, it is makruh to confine to a particular surah.

Notes

1. Al-Shahid al-Thani in al-Lum’ah, vol.1, “bab al-salat”, fasl 6, observes: The wujub of salat al-jumu’ah duing the occultation of the Imam is obvious in the opinion of most ‘ulama’... and if there has been no claim of ijma’ regarding its not being wajib, the opinion that it is wajib ‘ayni would have been extremely strong. Therefore, the least that can be said is that there is an option between it (salat al-jumu’ah) and the zuhr prayer, with the Jumu’ah (prayer) enjoying preference”.

The State Of Affairs : Ali Was Offered

People and the state of affairs Ali had been offered to rule, can not be depicted in this brief work. Readers interested to know about the details of the historic chaos, confusion and turmoil and the unrest that prevailed when Ali was forced to undertake the KALIFATE, may refer to TABARI or the other detailed works on the History of the Muslims after the departure of the holy Prophet. The following quotation from the famous and the popular work the 'Spirit of Islam' by Justice AMIR ALI will suffice to give a rough idea of the situation:

"Under OTHMAN there was complete reversal of the policy and the administration, Merit and faithful services were wholly disregarded. All offices of trust and emolument were seized by the OMAYYIDS. The governorships of the provinces were bestowed on men who proved themselves most inimical to Islam, and the treasury was emptied in their favor". (IS. AA.).

People had mostly been naturalized in corruption and accustomed to bribing bargains. Some of the opportunists were laboring under some false expectations. The corrupt ones thinking Ali to have been disappointed all the while until the Third KALIF, for not getting the chance to rule, and now having got it, expected Ali also to canvas support and the unearned and illegal popularity at a higher scale to maintain his position by the same favoritism and bribes.

To rule a wicked people, strictly by the Word of God with the strict maintenance of the scale of justice, is quoting unpopularity and troubles. Thus Ali had always to face intrigues and revolts against his godly rule with his uncompromising love of truth, pure void of any kind of nepotism or favoritism which were unknown to him, and to every one of the AHLUL-BAIT. Justice AMIR ALI remarks:

"Had Ali been allowed to reign in peace, his virtues, his firmness and his ascendancy of character would have perpetuated the old republic and its simple manners". (IS. AA.).

In fact, if Ali had been allowed to have his own ways in the rule and administration of the affairs of the state and of the people, even after the chaos and the confusion which ruled the state when he received the reigns of the rule after the Third KALIF, the world would have enjoyed the godly kingdom on earth. There would not have been any trouble at all if the OMAYYIDS the declared enemies of Islam and the holy Prophet, had not been given the opportunity to rule over the destiny of the Muslims. The trouble started with MU'AVIAH and was perpetuated by him in the start of the OMAYYID dynasty of the assassins of the holy ones of the AHLUL-BAIT, who also murdered their own kith and kin, and were the debauchees and the drunkards who had broken the records of all kinds of licentiousness.

The first revolt against the KALIFATE of Ali unanimously set up by the people as a whole was MU'AVIAH. The Muslim world very well knows as to who MU'AVIAH was and of what caliber he was. He was the son of ABU SOFYAN the Arch-enemy of Islam, who was the causative factor behind every battle that was forced on the holy Prophet. MU'AVIAH, had gathered strength sufficient to establish his independence in Syria. Thus Ali had to meet MU'AVIAH in a battle at SIFFIN. The treachery and the deceit with which ended this battle, is there in the history.

After MU'AVIAH, Ali was force to meet the army under the command of AYSHA in the battle at BASRA, called the Battle of the Camel (JAMAL). After the battle of JAMAL, Ali had to meet the forces of the hypocrites at NAHRAVAN, in which Ali had prophesied that only none will be killed on his side and only nine will escape death, on the other side and it happened exactly so.

The godly rule of the Muslim empire, by Ali, the Vicegerent of God, was not allowed to continue beyond 40 A.H., (i.e., for about four years).

THE UNIQUE POSITION OF ALI

Ali's departure from this world was actually the departure of the holy Prophet, for both of them, were the personification or the manifestations of one and the same Divine Light. "I and Ali are of one and the same Divine Light". (SM).

The holy Prophet Muhammad had come to conclude the apostleship and Ali was sent to inaugurate the Imamate, i.e., the serial of the divinely commissioned Guides, the Imams, himself being the First of them. Though the apostleship had concluded with the holy Prophet, the guidance from God for mankind is an ever continuous process of the divine grace which has to remain until the end of the world. God had never allowed any gap to be in the continuity of his guidance. Prophets were sent in all parts of the world, one after another; where one Prophet was called back, another one in his place was sent as a prophet or a vicegerent or the WASI of the retiring one.

"We abrogate not a sign or cause it to be bypassed but We bring one better than it or one like it; knowest thou not that God over all things is powerful" [2:106]. The wordings of the above verse of the holy QUR'AN needs a careful study. It clearly says that when one sign of God is removed, another better than it or the like of it is brought in its place. An apostle was sent in the place of the apostle retiring from this world and each succeeding one, came with a superior message and with a higher status:

"And these apostles, We have exalted some of them over the others. Of them are some unto whom God hath spoken and some He hath raised in degrees…" [2:253].

The Last one God's apostles, under the principle laid down in the above verse, must naturally be the one with the superior-most message and with the highest degree in status among the community of the apostles of God. And when the holy Prophet Muhammad the Superior-most and the Best of God's creation, has already come, the one that would be brought under verse (2:106) could not be the better than the Best for the term is meaningless and hence, he would be the equal to his predecessor the holy Prophet, and the verse (2:106) has the provision for it, in its words from the people, Ali the one equal to him in his purity (33:33) and excellence, as of one and the same divine light and the 'NAFSE' or the self or the soul of the holy Prophet shown at 'MOBAHALA' under the command of the verse (5:67), as the 'MAULA', i.e., the Master or the Lord or the Commander or the Ruler or the Governor in the place of the holy Prophet, as was the holy Prophet himself.

What is said above is the truth and it is quite a different thing altogether if any one accepts it or not and truth can never be wiped out even if the human world as a whole jointly endeavors to do it, for it is challenge of the Lord that His Light, the Truth, none shall put out: "They desire to put out the Light of God with their mouths, but God perfected His Light, though the disbelievers may be averse to it" [61:8].

COMPARING ALI TO OTHERS

Before thinking of comparing Ali to any one besides the holy Prophet, one should first get himself informed of the unique position of Ali and the glorious height of his position in divinity identical with the holy Prophet, as depicted by the holy QUR'AN the Word of God and as open declaration by the holy Prophet, about him.

In what sense can any one be compared to the one who was of one and the same Light with the holy Prophet? How could the Brother of the holy Prophet be equal to any one else? What comparison could any one have with the one who was the Head of the Body of Muhammad, who was the Soul to the Body of the Apostle of God, who was of the same blood and flesh of the holy Prophet? "LAHMOKA LAHMI, DAMOKA DAMI".

How could any one be compared to the 'ASADULLAH' i.e., Lion of God who stood fast with the cause of God, along with the holy Prophet on the trying occasions when every one even the closest companions had taken to their heels and disappeared for days together. Ali was declared the Gate of the City of Knowledge. How could the Treasurer of knowledge be compared to the ignorant ones: "Are those who know and who know not, alike…" [39:9].

The holy Prophet had told Ali: "O Ali thou seest what I see and thou hearth what I hear…". How could the one who had the divine sight and insight, as had the holy Prophet, be compared to any one who owns not this gift of the Lord. "Are the blind and the seeing alike? Or, are darkness and light equal?" [13:16]. How could Ali, who, though wrongly, was doubted by some people (the 'NUSAIRIES') to be God Himself, be compare to any one of those whose bonfide about the sincerity of their faith itself is questionable.

To go into the details of the exclusive distinctions of Ali in his excellence which was doubtlessly divine and certainly incomparable with any other mortal save the holy Prophet, will need a separate volume of its own. In short it could be said that to attempt to compare Ali to any one else besides the holy Prophet, will be nothing short of the bankruptcy of the intellect or the betrayal of one's ignorance of the position of this holy one in the human race. The same is the position of Lady FATEMA in her personal excellence, and the divinity of her soul cannot be compared to any other Lady in the world.

Hussain Intercedes For Shimr

It is reported that once, in KUFA, SHIMR was convicted and imprisoned during the rule of Ali. Through the window of the prison, SHIMR saw HUSSAIN passing by, and cried aloud:

"O son of the Apostle of God; I intercede on my behalf to thy Father Ali and get me free from this prison". HUSSAIN went straight to his Father Ali and appealed for mercy for SHIMR:

Ali asked: "Dost thou know, HUSSAIN, that this is SHIMR, he would be the murderer of thine and the Torturer of thy family at KARBALA?". HUSSAIN said: "Father! I am the Son of the Apostle of God who is the mercy unto the worlds and thy Son who is Commander of the faithful and the Reliever of the distressed ones and the Son of FATEMA the Lady of Paradise and the Liberator of the sinners -SHIMR has appealed for mercy through me- Father! I will act as I should, and let SHIMR act as he liketh".

Thus SHIMR was granted mercy and the same SHIMR was the one who severed the head of HUSSAIN in KARBALA and raised it on his lance, and tortured his family and children.

HASSAN RECIEVES THE IMAMAT

When FATEMA had left this world suffering the treachery of the followers of her father, and Ali had shed the blood of his head, in prayer in the niche of the Mosque of KUFA and had departed from this world, HASSAN and HUSSAIN were left alone amidst an atmosphere totally hostile and murderous to the AHLUL-BAIT.

After Ali, HASSAN his eldest son became the Second Imam and along with the Imamate, he received also the KALIFATE or the Rule of the Muslim Empire. But MU'AVIAH the son of ABU SOFYAN the Governor of Syria, appointed by OMAR and strengthened by OTHMAN, had by this time been adding strength to his strength and has firmly established himself as an independent monarch at Damascus, making the place a powerful stronghold to execute his rebellious plans against the central authority, and had assumed for himself the sole indefinable paramount power of a despot.

THE AHLUL BAIT AND THE TEMPORAL POWER

There is the famous saying of Ali which gives out the actual attitude of the holy ones of the AHLUL BAIT towards this world and its enjoyments: "AD-DONYA JEEFATON WA TOLLABOHA KILAB".

"The world is a corpse and its seekers are dogs". Neither the holy Prophet, nor Ali any one of the other holy Imams were ever inclined towards the least enjoyment of this world. They were the rays of one and the same Divine Light destined to enlighten the world during their own respective times, in their respectively assigned ways to guide humanity on the right path to raise itself from the abyss of the material degradation to the glorious heights of the heavenly bliss. None of these holy ones ever thought of any secular power or any worldly kingdom. The God's given kingdom to them, was ever with every one of them. Their throne was the hearts of the believers and they had come to exercise the godly authority over the sincere believers in God. They had nothing to do with any enjoyment on earth. The one and the only object of their life-mission on earth, was service to the Lord in total submission to Him towards the fulfillment of His will.

HASSAN as an Imam received the reins of the godly kingdom of the faith and only as a convention had received the KALIFATE after his father. As Ali, his father, HASSAN had accepted to be a KALIF only in the interest of the people and his being the KALIF was an honor to the KALIFATE and not any additional distinction or honor to his holy self. The real 'KHILAFAT' or the Vicegerency of God, succeeding the holy Prophet, was now with HASSAN and what else could be greater and grander than, the godly office which he now held.

THE AGE OF POLITICAL INTRIGUES AND MURDEROUS PLOTS

With the OMAYYID KALIFATE, started the age of political intrigues tore has made known to us, of what loins MU'AVIAH had come into this world. His father ABU SOFYAN had made a mark and earned a special distinction in the enmity against Islam and the holy Prophet, and MU'AVIAH'S mother HIND was the woman who tore open the corpse of HAMZA and taking out the other internal parts of the corpse, she put them on, around her neck. The factor of heredity both from his father and mother, had its full play in the issue of ABU SOFAYN and HIND, and MU'AVIAH now after the departure of Ali from this world, had become an open enemy of the AHLUL BAIT.

We are not here to go into the dirty details of the political history of the age, and all the intrigues and the crafty moves of the ruling authorities, employed to strengthen their hold of the state and the people. Only a few events directly connected with the miseries of the AHLUL BAIT, are referred to , to indicate the treachery of the people against the House of the Apostle of God and the attitude of the holy Ones during the calamitous age, towards the guidance of the people at the cost of their own lives.

HASSAN was the eldest son of Ali and FATEMA, and the First grandson of the holy Prophet. The Muslims World in Medina had seen HASSAN and HUSSAIN on the shoulders of the Apostle of God on the morn of the festival day, and in the lap of the holy Prophet on the occasion of the historic 'MOBAHALA', had declared 'HASSAN and HUSSAIN are the Chiefs of the youth of Paradise and these were the two for whom had been sent festive robes from heaven. In-spite of all that the holy Prophet had declared about these two holy souls, the world had turned totally hostile to them, and was bent on putting and end to their godly lives on earth.

Not only did MU'AVIAH aim at owning the paramount power of the KALIFATE or the rule of the Muslim empire as a whole, exclusively for himself, but wanted also to have his way cleared off the holy ones of AHLUL BAIT to perpetuate the kingdom in his family, passing the throne of the KALIFATE to his son YAZEED, for which he employed several kinds of crafty means and men. MU'AVIAH now being openly hostile to the House of the Apostle of God, hired mercenaries to cause mischief in the different parts of the empire. The intelligentsia among subjects including the jurists had been purchased by the sate, hence the question of winning over the general masses was not a problem. Corruption began to rule the destiny of man.

People opposing the corruption were plundered and mercilessly massacred. There was no safety or security of life or property particularly of those who were loyal to the House of the holy Prophet, who called themselves the SHIAS or the devotees of the AHLUL BAIT. Preachers were ordered to curse Ali openly in their sermons from the pulpits. The mischievous move from MU'AVIAH became more and more intolerable. The people employed to create mischief, acted as devils in human frames. There was regular bloodshed caused by the agents employed for the purpose.

The holy Imam HASSAN knew full well that all the troubles were for the seat of the KALIFATE which he then most reluctantly occupied. The public which had begged his father AMEERUL MOMINEEN ALI to accept the KALIFATE and rule the state, by the crafty campaign of MU'AVIAH had tuned disloyal, deceitful, hostile and treacherous.

HASSAN the holy Imam, the Vicegerent of God on earth, the Successor to the holy Prophet, whose first concern was the peace and safety of the people, did not need any contested throne to exercise his divine rights. Ultimately in the interest of the welfare of the people, the safety of the public life and property, and the security of the chastity of the gentle womanhood HASSAN relinquished the KALIFATE to MU'AVIAH under a written and a signed treaty with the following terms:

1- MU'AVIAH should rule over the state strictly according to the Word of God the holy QUR'AN as depicted by the traditions of the holy Prophet.

2- The people should be allowed to enjoy perfect peace and security of life and property.

3- The persecution of the SHIAS, i.e., the devotees of Ali, should at once be stopped and they should no more be harassed.

4- MU'AVIAH should not in any way interfere with HASSAN and HUSSAIN or any one of the AHLUL BAIT.

5- The cursing of Ali on the pulpits, be at once stopped.

6- All prisoners, particularly the SHIAS of Ali, the devotees of the House of the holy Prophet who had been unlawfully put into prisons and mercilessly torture therein should at once be released.

7- MU'AVIAH should not appoint any heir to the throne of the KALIFATE but leave it to the decision of the Muslim public.

HASSAN MARTYRED

When the above terms of the treaty agreed to and signed by MU'AVIAH, HASSAN relinquished the rule of the state to MU'AVIAH and retired into complete seclusion, having no concern whatsoever with politics or any affairs of the state and yet he was not left to live in peace even to spend his life in devotion to God and guiding the people to a godly life on earth. MU'AVIAH'S main object was to make the way for his son YAZEED to succeed him to the throne of his monarchical KALIFATE and hence he was devising plans to see that HASSAN is once for all done with by putting an end to his life. Justice AMIR ALI in his famous work the Spirit of Islam, quotes OSBORN in depicting the personality of MU'AVIAH:

"Astute, unscrupulous and pitiless, says Osborn the first KALIF of the OMAYYIDS (MU'AVIAH) shrank from no crime necessary to secure his position. Murder was his accustomed mode of removing a formidable opponent. The grandson of the Prophet he caused to be poisoned. MALEK ASHTAR, the heroic lieutenant of Ali, was destroyed in the like way. To secure the succession of YAZEED. MU'AVIAH hesitated not to break the word he had pledged".

Though the holy Imam had retired into complete seclusion and did not at all interfere in any maters of the people in general, totally unconcerned with the matters of the state, the OMAYYID enmity would now allow him to live even in seclusion. Several attempts on the godly life of the holy Imam was made through poison and somehow the attempts did not prove successful. Ultimately, MU'AVIAH succeeded in hiring a wicked woman who was a wife of HASSAN, tempting her with the promise to get her remarried to his son YAZEED the heir to the throne and with rich presents in cash, to poison HASSAN fatally.

HASSAN'S ADVICE TO HUSSAIN

The poison was administered through the drinking water and it was so strong that no sooner did HASSAN drink the water, than he began vomiting blood and the bits of his liver and knowing the ultimate result of the drink he had, HASSNA called his brother HUSSAIN and advised him saying: "Brother HUSSAIN! I am going. Be thou patient in the will of the Lord being done. Let my body be interred beside my Grandfather lay beside my Mother in the BAQI".

It is said that the departing holy Imam even prophesied as to who will object to his burial beside his Grandfather.

HASSAN'S BODY SHOT AT

As the funeral proceeded towards the grave of the holy Prophet, some OMAYYIDS mounted on horses obstructed and AYSHA appeared, mounting a mule, shouting that the grave of the holy Prophet was in her house and she would not allow the grandson of KHADIJA to be buried beside the holy Prophet. With the shouts from AYSHA a shower of arrows fell on the coffin. HUSSAIN in the fulfillment of the last wish of his departed brother, turned the procession of the funeral towards 'BAQI' and when the body was taken out of the coffin to be laid to rest in the grave, HUSSAIN finding some of the arrows which were showered at coffin, had struck holy body of his martyred brother, cried addressing the body saying:

"I am ashamed of thee O' Brother, that HUSSAIN is alive and seest thy body wounded and cannot do anything". Oakley, the well-known historian Scholar in his famous work the Histroty of Saracents, reports: "MU'AVIAH, therefore, being desirous of leaving the KILAFATE to his son YAZEED, and thinking that he could not bring his design about, so long as HASSAN was alive, determined to get rid of him! 'And at last AYSAH said it was her house and she would not allow him (HASSAN) to be buried there".

THE FATE OF THE DEVOTEES OF THE HOUSE OF THE HOLY PROPHET

MU'AVIAH did not, in the least honor the treaty he had signed. The SHIAS or the faithful devotees of the House of the holy Prophet were vigorously persecuted and mercilessly put to death. Those who professed faith and loyalty to the House of the holy Prophet, particularly to ALIM or any one found reciting any traditions of the holy Prophet in the praise of Ali, were caught and mercilessly killed. MEESAM-E-TAMMAR, for refusing to curse Ali, met a brutal death; he limbs were severed, and his body was put on the trunk of a tree; nailed to it, and when found still praising Ali, his tongue was cut off. When the man came to cut his tongue, MEESAM himself offered his tongue extending it out of his mouth saying that the prophecy about his meeting the calamity and the end of it, had been given to him by Ali, and he was glad that the prophecy of AMEERUL MOMINEEN was being fulfilled. HIJAR-EL-KINDI met a similar fate for his faithfulness to Ali. The fate of poor Muhammad, son of ABU BAKR, for after his murder, his body was packed into the belly of an ass killed for the purpose and the corpse of the poor animal with the body of MUHAMMAD IBNE ABU BAKR in its belly was thrown into a flaming fire prepared for the purpose.

The reign of MU'AVIAH, particularly after the Martyrdom of HUSSAN, had become the age of plunder, pillage, pitiless killing and heartless murders and inhuman or ruthless persecution of the true Muslims and particularly those who were attached to House of the holy Prophet, were mercilessly butchered, and thousands of families migrated to various places outside the jurisdiction of the OMAYYAD rule.

Not only was the praise of Ali and the AHLUL BAIT, totally banned but a the same time a free and uncontrolled manufacture of counterfeit traditions were in full seeing praising the enemies of the House of the holy Prophet.

THE FATE OF THE FAITH

Under the OMMAYYAD desire of establishing an independent OMAYYAD dynasty with the paramount power over the Muslim empire, not only the deceitful intriguers and crafty agents were hired but also the Muslim jurists were purchased to adulterate the doctrines of the faith in favor of the ruling authority and its supporters.

Thus the Islam-Original was left only with the AHLUL BAIT with whom the holy Prophet had left the holy QUR'AN and according to his saying if any one wanted the faith Islam, in its Original form and the holy QUR'AN with its true interpretation, could have only from his AHLUL BAIT about the attachment of his holy House, the holy Prophet had said: "The likeness of my AHLUL BAIT is that of the Ark of Noah. Whosoever got into it, got saved and whosoever turned away from it, got drowned and lost".

It is the same Islam-Original which is called SHIISM, distinguished from the Islam-general corrupted at the hands of the OMAYYIAD fortune hunters. SHIISM is nothing but the Original Islam as preached by the holy Prophet and preserved by his AHLUL BAIT without any unwarranted additions to it or subtractions from it, and nothing else besides the pure, strict and the original QUR'ANIC faith.

HASSAN'S SERVICES AND SUFFERINGS

HASSAN the Second holy Imam was the Fourth of the Martyrs among the holy ones of the House of the holy Prophet, who are popularly called by the Muslim World as the 'PANJETANE-PAK' or the holy Five. (MUHAMMAD, ALI, FATEMA, HASSAN and HUSSAIN). The sufferings of this holy Imam, were of special intensity and the calamitous and the murderous situation he had to face, was peculiar in its gravity and the patience and the fortitude the holy one, displayed was divinely superb and exemplary.

Immediately as the OMAYYIDS gained the paramount power over the Muslim empire, their first effort was to endeavor as much as they could, to find fault with some aspect or the other of the practical lives of the holy members of the AHLUL BAIT and when they could not all succeed in their wicked venture, they hired corrupt scholars of the age, to fabricate traditions in favor of their enemies.

THE TRUTH UNDERLYING THE SEX DIFFERENCE IN THE CREATION

The native endowment of the sex urge in the animated species of the creation, is itself, eloquently evident that the object of the ALWISE Creator of the universe, is to maintain the wheel of procreation going, in the fulfillment of His Omnipotent will to effect the continuation of life on earth for an ever progressive development up to a term unknown to man. The physical world is classified in four commonly realms viz., the Mineral, the Vegetable, the Animal, and the Human. Of these four general classes of the physical existence on earth, excepting the granite of the minerals, every other specie expands itself, either through development in itself or by procreation. The botanist scholars will vouch that sex is not restricted only to the animal and the human realms but it is also found in the vegetable world. Even among the minerals there are species which expand themselves through the process of crystallization.

The sex urge is a native endowment in every living specie, more apparently evident in the animal and the human kinds. The love of multiplication, is enacted through the sex urge as a divinely devised course for the continuity and the development of the specie on earth. The lack of this urge in any individual is a want, not commendable but deplorable. A fruitless tree is first selected for fuel, a barren animal is first chosen for slaughter and an impotent man is not counted among the males for any manly service, and a issueless man or woman always prayerfully longs for an issue.

The commend-ability among the human beings regarding the use of this native endowment is not as to how less it is used or how much it is neglected but how best and how healthily and to what maximum it has been utilized in the fulfillment of the will of the Almerciful Donor of the great gift. The beauty lies not in the total or a partial suppression of this urge but in the maximum desirable use of it, avoiding successfully the misuse of the gift.

If this divine gift is used just for the timely sensual enjoyment, it is a sin and a crime and if the same is used for the healthy procreation of healthy souls to serve the will of the Lord, i.e., for the development and the progress of human life on earth, is a reward-able virtue. The apostles of God, like Solomon, the saints and the sages in the various parts of the earth, had several wives at a time, not for the lust of any sexual enjoyment but to supply the souls desired by the Lord for the continuation and the expansion of humanity on earth. The holy Prophet Jesus, for want of a male partner in the parental process of his advent into this world, might not have been given this urge, for the main purpose of his creation was only to manifest the omnipotent creative power of the Originator of the universe to prove that He is not subject to the laws of nature which are known to man but the same laws being subservient to His Omnipotent will. Our Christian brethren exploit the want of this native endowment in Jesus, to prove his godhead or his being the son of God.

The lack or the absence of this urge, is a want and weakness and a want or a weakness is a defect, and none with any want a defect can ever be imagined to be God Who is the Omnipotent Perfection Absolute, and impotency is a defect in nature and hence unnatural, and anything unnatural or defective, can not be godliness or a commendable virtue.

When God had given the urge for the continuity of His creative will, to restrain the use of it, or to neglect it, or suppress it altogether, can never be righteousness. It will be ingratitude to reject the gift of the Lord and it will be rebellion to act against His object in His vesting the native endowments in the individual. If any one gifted with sight destroys his eyes or spends his life without his using sight, it will be sheer foolishness and not a virtue.

Thus polygamy desired by God if correctly used, will not be a sin but a commendable virtue and monogamy if undesirably restricted defying the will of the Lord, or if Celibacy is unnecessarily imposed, it will he no virtue but a self-imposed deprivation, prone to sinful resorts of unhealthy and criminal outlets for the native urge.

It is some modern adulterous people, to cheat the innocent women, their legal wives, that pretend to be monogamous and condemn polygamy, while in practice, without the knowledge of their wives, that are ultra-polygamous in their private lives, not minding even if their wives also become polyandrous behind them. Whereas the god-fearing righteous ones, who keeping their wives happy and honored, are polygamous only as God has permitted and even that, only when necessary and otherwise remain contentedly monogamous.

It was one of the wicked moves of MU'AVIAH that a talk was set afloat among the public that HASSAN had a large number of wives, frequently marrying the women and divorcing them, and had scores of children. This is such a falsehood that the enemy could easily fabricate but none of them could ever substantiate the allegation through any historic records. This was one of the OMAYYED moves to cast prejudice in the minds of the public against the holy Imam and to divert the attention of the people away from him, and the holy ones of the House of the holy Prophet.

The modern day writers quote the narrations about this allegation about HASSAN from the Great SHIA tradition MULLAH BAQUIR MAJLISI and the others. Before resorting the quote anything on the authority of the great learned MULLAH, one should know that the great MULLAH had never said that whatever he has quoted is a gospel truth. The collection of the traditions, he has made, is a store of food for the thought of those busy in the scrutiny of the traditions of the holy Prophet, and it is up to the seekers of the knowledge of the AHADEES (tradition), to pick out the genuine ones from the collection and from the false ones to know the turn of the minds which effected the counterfeit sayings. It is a fact universally acknowledged by all scholars that the great work of the collection of the traditions by MULLAH BAQUIR-E- MAJLISI named 'BIHAR UL-ANWAR' or the Oceans of Lights, contain in its tradition:

SAHEEH - Correct GHALAT - wrong or false

M'OTABAR - reliable GHAIRA M'OTABAR - unreliable

MUSTANAD - certified GHAIRA MUSTANAND - uncertified

MUSALSAL - continuously related GHAIRA MUSALSAL - not

Continuously related The narration about the number of wives is nothing but a false allegation against the holy Imam to make him unpopular for none of the reports, gives the names of all the wives and the names of all his children. The stories are mere folklore fabricated and purposefully made current to level a calumny against the holy Imam.

If the holy Imam HASSAN had in fact married such a large number of wives, it is also said at the same time that he divorced also a large number. HASSAN being the Vicegerent of God on earth would never have been unjust to have married unnecessarily and to have divorced any women unreasonably. It clearly indicated that as he is reported to resemble his Grandfather the holy Prophet, in having unfaithful wives as had the Apostle of God, whom he had to discard for about a month until the revelation of the SURA-E-TAHREEM (SURA No. 66). The fact that HASSAN was poisoned by none else other than one of his wives hired by MU'AVIAH, proves the kind of women, some of his wives were.

THE SULHI-HUDAIBIAH REPEATED

The historic SULH (or Truce) was concluded at HUDAIBIAH by the holy Prophet, who having gone to Mecca had to return content with the Treaty. People taking it to be a defeat of the purpose of the holy Prophet, doubted even in the bonafide of his claim to the apostleship saying: "Never did I doubt the apostleship of the holy Prophet as I did at HUDAIBIAH".

But the Treaty of HUDAIBIAH later proved to be one of the greatest stratagems which only a divine, like the holy Prophet could have struck, and it proved to be of invaluable worth and value to the establishment and the progress of Islam and without which Islam could not have proceeded further. The same thing happened with HASSAN. People doubted the wisdom in the Truce or the Treaty he had entered into with MU'AVIAH. The Treaty of HASSAN with MU'AVIAH proved of the same value and worth as did the SULHE HUDAIBIAH concluded, by his Grandfather the holy Prophet. Without the SULH or the Truce which HASSAN concluded, the SHIAS of Ali, the devotees of the AHLUL BAIT, the advocates of the Original Islam would been totally wiped out and there could have been no opportunity for the holy Imam and his devotees to preserve the Original Faith and to carry it further, upon this day, which today is identified with the caption of 'SHIA'ISM'. Besides there would not have been the least peace and security in the land for life and the property of the gentle public, and the gentle womanhood would have suffered the worst at the hands of the devilish forces let loose to gain the paramount power of the KALIFATE.

It must be remembered that the aim or the object of the lives of the men of God, particularly the apostles, is not to own any temporal power in earth. Their first and the foremost concern is to guide man on the right path of thought and action, and to do the best possible to establish peace in earth and maintain it. Men of God had been on the earth to act as demanded by the circumstances:

ZUL-QARNAIN:

Was sent to conquer some mischief - mongering and blood -shedding nations

JOB:

To manifest divine patience and submission to the divine will.

DAVID:

To show the standard of justice

SOLOMON:

To own power and dominion as a godly monarch

ZACHARIAH & JOHN:

As the sincere supplicants to the Lord

MOSES:

The National Leader of the Israelites to lead them out of the clutches of Pharaoh and put them on the path of godliness

JESUS:

To re-establish the Mosaic Law and manifest passive resistance to aggression

MUHAMMAD (THE LAST APOSTLE):

To consolidate the religious Truth and give the Final Code for faith and its practice.

ALI (THE FIRST IMAM):

To help the Last Apostle of God in establishing Islam and to dissipate the highest knowledge of the QUR'ANIC Philosophy and the Divine Truth

HASSAN (THE 2nd IMAM):

To preserve the faith by Ideal patience

HUSSAIN (THE 3rd IMAM):

To re-establish Islam with his matchless sacrifice the 'ZIBHE AZEEM'.

A LIAR HAS NO MEMORY

It is a well-known fact that liars cannot remember their own lies. The fabulous stories about the number of the wives HASSAN had married and divorced, prove the truth in the proverb that Liars have no memory. The reports about the number of the wives of HASSAN are so funny and fabulous that even a schoolboy will laugh at the self-contradictory stories, and the ridiculous number reported. One says that HASSAN had married fifteen wives, the other says no, Seventy-five, another one says hundred and seventy, the fourth one says they were two hundred and fifty and the sixth one says three hundred. Any one will only be puzzled and none would ever believe such cock and bull stories. It is quite evident that those who were bribed with a greater sum gave a greater number and those who were given less money gave the lesser number.

HAD WOMANHOOD GONE MAD

It is not difficult but impossible to believe that womanhood as a whole, in KUFA had gone mad to rush to HASSAN continuously in-spite of knowing the fate of the hundreds of the divorced ones of their own sex. Or was it that history repeated the state of affairs with the holy Prophet after the departure of Lady KHADIJA, when though he had crossed the age of fifty, girls of even the tender age of nine and eleven were offered to him and ladies who were far advanced in age coveted to be the wives of the holy Prophet had become the Fourth KALIF and people knew that HASSAN would succeed his father as the Fifth KALIF, was it that women in order to be the wife i.e., the queens of the ruler of the Muslims Empire, coveted to gain the royal positions. In fact all the allegations are merely the vicious fabrications of the corrupt ingenuity employed for the wicked purpose to blackmail the holy Imam.

THE FALSE ALLEGATION AGAINST HASSAN AS WELL AS ALI

The fabrication has gone to the extent of saying that HASSAN had married so many and divorced so many women that Ali preached in the Bazaars of KUFA advising women not to marry hi son HASSNA, for he is the greatest divorcer of the women, and not content with the Bazaar preaching's of his against his own son, Ali even went to the extent of preaching openly from the pulpit the same thing. It must be remembered that Ali was openly cursed from the pulpits and any one who refused to curse Ali was put to death. The heartless treatment meted out to MEESAM has already been given above, and this story of Ali's preaching against his son, HASSAN'S conduct, is only in continuation of the same propaganda against Ali, for an intelligent reasoning mind will say that the preaching of Ali against HASSAN is not in fact so much against HASSAN as it is against Ali himself, for knowing the moral defect in HASSAN and himself making it known to the public his own knowledge of it, Ali handed over the charge of the Imamate to HASSAN.

It is for the readers now to think how far and in what all ways the propaganda against the holy ones of the House of the holy Prophet was carried on and how patiently the holy ones suffered all the calamities against the divine purity of their godly selves. None in the Muslim World as a whole, can deny the fact that HASSAN is one of the holy AHLUL BAIT who have been purified by God (33:33). He is one of those holy Five of the historic mysterious event of the KISA (or the Mantle) whose perfect purity was employed on occasion of the historic MUBAHALA the Spiritual contest with the Christian disbelievers of NAJRAN.

In-spite of all the efforts to do the worst possible to blackmail these holy ones, every attempt failed and only proved like throwing dust to cover the sun, or spitting on the sun which brings back the spit on the face of the spitter himself. Though the people had turned hostile to these holy ones, but the stamp of their personal divinity on the hearts of the people could not be removed. And when HASSAN was martyred, even the worst of his enemies shed tears and were struck with sorrow. But M'UAVIAH on getting the news of HASSAN'S passing away, was jubilant.

HASSNA THE THIRD 'MUHAMMAD'

If the following is in fact the Word of God: "Muhammad is but an apostle" [3:144]. And if the following Word of God bears any truth in it:

"He (the holy Prophet), speaketh not of his own inclination but a revelation revealed (unto him)" [53:3-4]. The holy Prophet's word as well as action, his conduct and character, his love and hatred, his life personal and private as well as social and public, must necessarily and essentially be apostolic and divine, and his word must be the revealed will of the Lord given expression through the words uttered by him.

Similarly, if it is true that the holy Prophet had said that the First, the Middle, the Last and Every one of his 'AHLUL BAIT' was Muhammad, undoubtedly HASSAN was the Third Muhammad and HUSSAIN was the Fourth and son on until the Last of the holy Imams of the holy House. It is certainly true that God has created a wonderful House, of His own chosen ones of the family of Abraham WITH Personalities of amazing purity of body and soul for the guidance of mankind on earth and certainly such perfected ones of His Own, must have been the First and the Foremost of His Creative Will, i.e., the Objects of His creation, in the Arc of Descent and the Last in the Arc of Ascent as the Greatest Luminaries of His Creative Art:

"verily the First House appointed for the guidance of men is the one at 'BAKKA' (Mecca) blessed and a guidance for the world" [3:96]. The next verse identifies the houses of the members of the above House:

"(There are) the houses in which God has permitted to be exalted and His name glorified. Therein do (they) glorify Him in mornings and evenings, the men whom neither merchandise or selling diverts them from the remembrance of God" [24:36-37]. It is about the members of His Own appointed House that God has announced:

".. God only willeth to keep away un-cleanliness from you O' people of the House and to Purify you a (thorough) purification" [33:33]. And certainly none else but only Ali, as belonging to those mentioned in verse 24:37, could keep himself undisturbed in his supplication to the Lord while the JARRAH, i.e., the surgeon cut open his foot and took out the point of the arrow stuck into it. similarly did HASSAN and HUSSAIN remain undisturbed in their godliness while facing the worst persecution and the wholesale murder of their dear ones and their faithful devotees. The holy Prophet had told to Ali:

"Thou hearest whatever I hear and thou seest whatever I see". HASSAN proved his being of the same quality of the caliber of his father and possessed the same divine excellence, for it is reported that HASSAN used to hear what was revealed to his Grandfather the holy Prophet, by the Messenger Angel, and used to come to his mother, the Lady of Light, and would smile and relate it to her father the holy Prophet who would embrace HASSAN and kiss him and say: "He is of me and I am of him". This was HASSAN the Second Imam and the Brother of HUSSAIN.

HASSAN'S PATIENCE: THE REASON FOR IT

If is asked why did not HASSAN handle the sword as did HUSSAIN and why did not HUSSAIN exercise patience as did his elder brother HASSNA? The answer is: That MU'AVIAH though a rebel against the established KALIFATE which was only a temporal power, and to own it, he had played havoc, and though religion was continuously undergoing corruption and adulteration, but the ruling authority had not stopped to the deliberate YAZIDIAN infidelity and the open disbelief in the bonafide of the holy Prophet and the truthfulness of Islam. Be it known that neither the holy Prophet nor the godly AHLUL BAIT had come into the world to wield their swords for any territorial ambition or to own any temporal power by force. The sword and the strength God had given to these the holy ones, was for use in the cause of God, on the occasions divinely destined for the purpose, which they knew beforehand.

As HUSSAIN re-established Islam rescuing it when it was on the verge of being annihilated for ever, HASSAN maintained it, in an equally effective way, from getting wiped out, by avoiding the true and the faithful devotees of the faith the SHIAS being totally wiped out to existence and the faith getting extinct with them. If HASSAN had not pulled on with his ideal godly patience he would have witnessed the end of Islam with his own eyes through the wholesale slaughter of the faithful devotees and the advocates of the faith through whose existence the Islam-Original could be maintained and spread in the world, though it was done under the most hostile and the murderous persecutions.

According to the situations, did act the two holy Imams, HASSAN and HUSSAIN. HASSAN should not have used the sword and HUSSAIN could not remain patient, both the holy ones acted as they did, in the interest, of the Religion of God and godliness on earth.

Ali, the ASADULLAH, the Lion of God, the Ever Triumphant Matchless Hero of Islam, who had no match for his godly strength, prowess and bravery, when occasion demanded it to save Islam, allowed himself to be tied in ropes and dragged by the cowards of the people, HASSNA followed the footsteps of his father to do the same. If any occasion had only demanded it, HASSAN would certainly have risen equal to the occasion as did his father during the time of the holy Prophet.

The holy Prophet being the Apostle of God the greatest godly advocate of Peace on earth who had come to establish peace in the true meaning of the word, had to use the sword when it was unavoidable to save the Religion of God from being wiped out by the disbelievers. HUSSAIN followed the footsteps of his Grandfather in this regard as in any other, to re-establish the same faith when infidelity intended to destroy it for ever and when the Muslim World was being misled and taken far astray from the right path, with the open declaration of the disbelief in the apostleship of the holy Prophet and the holy QUR'AN being the revealed Word of God.

Both the holy Imams, HASSAN and HUSSAIN, had acted duly according to their respective divine assignments. Before doubting in the divine wisdom in HASSNA'S patience and his treaty with MU'AVIAH, one should remember that the people doubted even in the bonafide of the holy Prophet when he concluded the SULHE HUDAIBIAH (the Treaty of HUDAIBIAH). The godly ones only know the will of the Lord they executed and man always criticized it.

HUSSAIN TAKES CHARGE OF THE IMAMATE

Before breathing his last, HASSAN handed the charge of the Imamate to his brother HUSSAIN. HUSSAIN was now the Third Imam, the Vicegerent of God on earth, in the place of the holy Prophet Muhammad. The world was now without the Apostle of God. FATEMA the holy Lady of Light had been martyred. Ali and HASSAN had also left the world. HUSSAIN was left alone in an atmosphere totally hostile, for MU'AVIAH had successfully purchased the public support to execute his plan of placing YAZID on the throne of the KALIFATE, to perpetuate the rule of the Muslim Empire in his family and thus to start the OMAYYID dynasty of the KALIFS. All possible efforts to bring the people and keep them under the complete control of the throne, were employed. Corruption and godlessness ruled the destiny of the people.

As Ali had done during the reigns of the first three KALIFS, and HASSAN after MU'AVIAH usurping the paramount power, HUSSAIN also following the footsteps of his father and brother, had retired into seclusion in Medina. HUSSAIN'S main concern was supplication to the Lord and acting as the heavenly torch of the Divine Light of guidance towards God and godliness.

HUSSAIN was now the godly commissioned guardian of the holy QUR'AN, its teachings and its correct practice. He was the Vicegerent of the Lord holding the Kingdom of God on earth. It is surely ridiculous even to imagine HUSSAIN'S ever thinking of, or aspiring for, any temporal power or authority, when he already held the Imamate divinely assigned to the House of the holy Prophet and as such was God's Deputy on earth, he had nothing to do with the politics of the state or the political affairs of the people.

HUSSAIN had already been informed of every detail of the divine assignment to him and he knew every step of the march of his life up to its end. The holy Prophet had already informed HUSSAIN of all that was in store for him to meet, and when and where each event will take place. It was only with the knowledge of the lot to befall HUSSAIN, his father Ali had desired to have a son like ABBAS. It was only in view of the great task of re-establishing Islam by HUSSAIN with the great sacrifice, i.e., the 'ZIBHE AZEEM', the holy Prophet had said: "HUSSAIN is of me and I am of HUSSAIN". Now waiting for the hour to fulfill his covenant with the Lord to save His Religion Islam and to secure His Final Word to man, the holy QUR'AN, for ever

HUSSAIN passed a quite life of supplication, discharging the duties of the Imam in the place of his Grandfather the holy Prophet.

The State Of Affairs : Ali Was Offered

People and the state of affairs Ali had been offered to rule, can not be depicted in this brief work. Readers interested to know about the details of the historic chaos, confusion and turmoil and the unrest that prevailed when Ali was forced to undertake the KALIFATE, may refer to TABARI or the other detailed works on the History of the Muslims after the departure of the holy Prophet. The following quotation from the famous and the popular work the 'Spirit of Islam' by Justice AMIR ALI will suffice to give a rough idea of the situation:

"Under OTHMAN there was complete reversal of the policy and the administration, Merit and faithful services were wholly disregarded. All offices of trust and emolument were seized by the OMAYYIDS. The governorships of the provinces were bestowed on men who proved themselves most inimical to Islam, and the treasury was emptied in their favor". (IS. AA.).

People had mostly been naturalized in corruption and accustomed to bribing bargains. Some of the opportunists were laboring under some false expectations. The corrupt ones thinking Ali to have been disappointed all the while until the Third KALIF, for not getting the chance to rule, and now having got it, expected Ali also to canvas support and the unearned and illegal popularity at a higher scale to maintain his position by the same favoritism and bribes.

To rule a wicked people, strictly by the Word of God with the strict maintenance of the scale of justice, is quoting unpopularity and troubles. Thus Ali had always to face intrigues and revolts against his godly rule with his uncompromising love of truth, pure void of any kind of nepotism or favoritism which were unknown to him, and to every one of the AHLUL-BAIT. Justice AMIR ALI remarks:

"Had Ali been allowed to reign in peace, his virtues, his firmness and his ascendancy of character would have perpetuated the old republic and its simple manners". (IS. AA.).

In fact, if Ali had been allowed to have his own ways in the rule and administration of the affairs of the state and of the people, even after the chaos and the confusion which ruled the state when he received the reigns of the rule after the Third KALIF, the world would have enjoyed the godly kingdom on earth. There would not have been any trouble at all if the OMAYYIDS the declared enemies of Islam and the holy Prophet, had not been given the opportunity to rule over the destiny of the Muslims. The trouble started with MU'AVIAH and was perpetuated by him in the start of the OMAYYID dynasty of the assassins of the holy ones of the AHLUL-BAIT, who also murdered their own kith and kin, and were the debauchees and the drunkards who had broken the records of all kinds of licentiousness.

The first revolt against the KALIFATE of Ali unanimously set up by the people as a whole was MU'AVIAH. The Muslim world very well knows as to who MU'AVIAH was and of what caliber he was. He was the son of ABU SOFYAN the Arch-enemy of Islam, who was the causative factor behind every battle that was forced on the holy Prophet. MU'AVIAH, had gathered strength sufficient to establish his independence in Syria. Thus Ali had to meet MU'AVIAH in a battle at SIFFIN. The treachery and the deceit with which ended this battle, is there in the history.

After MU'AVIAH, Ali was force to meet the army under the command of AYSHA in the battle at BASRA, called the Battle of the Camel (JAMAL). After the battle of JAMAL, Ali had to meet the forces of the hypocrites at NAHRAVAN, in which Ali had prophesied that only none will be killed on his side and only nine will escape death, on the other side and it happened exactly so.

The godly rule of the Muslim empire, by Ali, the Vicegerent of God, was not allowed to continue beyond 40 A.H., (i.e., for about four years).

THE UNIQUE POSITION OF ALI

Ali's departure from this world was actually the departure of the holy Prophet, for both of them, were the personification or the manifestations of one and the same Divine Light. "I and Ali are of one and the same Divine Light". (SM).

The holy Prophet Muhammad had come to conclude the apostleship and Ali was sent to inaugurate the Imamate, i.e., the serial of the divinely commissioned Guides, the Imams, himself being the First of them. Though the apostleship had concluded with the holy Prophet, the guidance from God for mankind is an ever continuous process of the divine grace which has to remain until the end of the world. God had never allowed any gap to be in the continuity of his guidance. Prophets were sent in all parts of the world, one after another; where one Prophet was called back, another one in his place was sent as a prophet or a vicegerent or the WASI of the retiring one.

"We abrogate not a sign or cause it to be bypassed but We bring one better than it or one like it; knowest thou not that God over all things is powerful" [2:106]. The wordings of the above verse of the holy QUR'AN needs a careful study. It clearly says that when one sign of God is removed, another better than it or the like of it is brought in its place. An apostle was sent in the place of the apostle retiring from this world and each succeeding one, came with a superior message and with a higher status:

"And these apostles, We have exalted some of them over the others. Of them are some unto whom God hath spoken and some He hath raised in degrees…" [2:253].

The Last one God's apostles, under the principle laid down in the above verse, must naturally be the one with the superior-most message and with the highest degree in status among the community of the apostles of God. And when the holy Prophet Muhammad the Superior-most and the Best of God's creation, has already come, the one that would be brought under verse (2:106) could not be the better than the Best for the term is meaningless and hence, he would be the equal to his predecessor the holy Prophet, and the verse (2:106) has the provision for it, in its words from the people, Ali the one equal to him in his purity (33:33) and excellence, as of one and the same divine light and the 'NAFSE' or the self or the soul of the holy Prophet shown at 'MOBAHALA' under the command of the verse (5:67), as the 'MAULA', i.e., the Master or the Lord or the Commander or the Ruler or the Governor in the place of the holy Prophet, as was the holy Prophet himself.

What is said above is the truth and it is quite a different thing altogether if any one accepts it or not and truth can never be wiped out even if the human world as a whole jointly endeavors to do it, for it is challenge of the Lord that His Light, the Truth, none shall put out: "They desire to put out the Light of God with their mouths, but God perfected His Light, though the disbelievers may be averse to it" [61:8].

COMPARING ALI TO OTHERS

Before thinking of comparing Ali to any one besides the holy Prophet, one should first get himself informed of the unique position of Ali and the glorious height of his position in divinity identical with the holy Prophet, as depicted by the holy QUR'AN the Word of God and as open declaration by the holy Prophet, about him.

In what sense can any one be compared to the one who was of one and the same Light with the holy Prophet? How could the Brother of the holy Prophet be equal to any one else? What comparison could any one have with the one who was the Head of the Body of Muhammad, who was the Soul to the Body of the Apostle of God, who was of the same blood and flesh of the holy Prophet? "LAHMOKA LAHMI, DAMOKA DAMI".

How could any one be compared to the 'ASADULLAH' i.e., Lion of God who stood fast with the cause of God, along with the holy Prophet on the trying occasions when every one even the closest companions had taken to their heels and disappeared for days together. Ali was declared the Gate of the City of Knowledge. How could the Treasurer of knowledge be compared to the ignorant ones: "Are those who know and who know not, alike…" [39:9].

The holy Prophet had told Ali: "O Ali thou seest what I see and thou hearth what I hear…". How could the one who had the divine sight and insight, as had the holy Prophet, be compared to any one who owns not this gift of the Lord. "Are the blind and the seeing alike? Or, are darkness and light equal?" [13:16]. How could Ali, who, though wrongly, was doubted by some people (the 'NUSAIRIES') to be God Himself, be compare to any one of those whose bonfide about the sincerity of their faith itself is questionable.

To go into the details of the exclusive distinctions of Ali in his excellence which was doubtlessly divine and certainly incomparable with any other mortal save the holy Prophet, will need a separate volume of its own. In short it could be said that to attempt to compare Ali to any one else besides the holy Prophet, will be nothing short of the bankruptcy of the intellect or the betrayal of one's ignorance of the position of this holy one in the human race. The same is the position of Lady FATEMA in her personal excellence, and the divinity of her soul cannot be compared to any other Lady in the world.

Hussain Intercedes For Shimr

It is reported that once, in KUFA, SHIMR was convicted and imprisoned during the rule of Ali. Through the window of the prison, SHIMR saw HUSSAIN passing by, and cried aloud:

"O son of the Apostle of God; I intercede on my behalf to thy Father Ali and get me free from this prison". HUSSAIN went straight to his Father Ali and appealed for mercy for SHIMR:

Ali asked: "Dost thou know, HUSSAIN, that this is SHIMR, he would be the murderer of thine and the Torturer of thy family at KARBALA?". HUSSAIN said: "Father! I am the Son of the Apostle of God who is the mercy unto the worlds and thy Son who is Commander of the faithful and the Reliever of the distressed ones and the Son of FATEMA the Lady of Paradise and the Liberator of the sinners -SHIMR has appealed for mercy through me- Father! I will act as I should, and let SHIMR act as he liketh".

Thus SHIMR was granted mercy and the same SHIMR was the one who severed the head of HUSSAIN in KARBALA and raised it on his lance, and tortured his family and children.

HASSAN RECIEVES THE IMAMAT

When FATEMA had left this world suffering the treachery of the followers of her father, and Ali had shed the blood of his head, in prayer in the niche of the Mosque of KUFA and had departed from this world, HASSAN and HUSSAIN were left alone amidst an atmosphere totally hostile and murderous to the AHLUL-BAIT.

After Ali, HASSAN his eldest son became the Second Imam and along with the Imamate, he received also the KALIFATE or the Rule of the Muslim Empire. But MU'AVIAH the son of ABU SOFYAN the Governor of Syria, appointed by OMAR and strengthened by OTHMAN, had by this time been adding strength to his strength and has firmly established himself as an independent monarch at Damascus, making the place a powerful stronghold to execute his rebellious plans against the central authority, and had assumed for himself the sole indefinable paramount power of a despot.

THE AHLUL BAIT AND THE TEMPORAL POWER

There is the famous saying of Ali which gives out the actual attitude of the holy ones of the AHLUL BAIT towards this world and its enjoyments: "AD-DONYA JEEFATON WA TOLLABOHA KILAB".

"The world is a corpse and its seekers are dogs". Neither the holy Prophet, nor Ali any one of the other holy Imams were ever inclined towards the least enjoyment of this world. They were the rays of one and the same Divine Light destined to enlighten the world during their own respective times, in their respectively assigned ways to guide humanity on the right path to raise itself from the abyss of the material degradation to the glorious heights of the heavenly bliss. None of these holy ones ever thought of any secular power or any worldly kingdom. The God's given kingdom to them, was ever with every one of them. Their throne was the hearts of the believers and they had come to exercise the godly authority over the sincere believers in God. They had nothing to do with any enjoyment on earth. The one and the only object of their life-mission on earth, was service to the Lord in total submission to Him towards the fulfillment of His will.

HASSAN as an Imam received the reins of the godly kingdom of the faith and only as a convention had received the KALIFATE after his father. As Ali, his father, HASSAN had accepted to be a KALIF only in the interest of the people and his being the KALIF was an honor to the KALIFATE and not any additional distinction or honor to his holy self. The real 'KHILAFAT' or the Vicegerency of God, succeeding the holy Prophet, was now with HASSAN and what else could be greater and grander than, the godly office which he now held.

THE AGE OF POLITICAL INTRIGUES AND MURDEROUS PLOTS

With the OMAYYID KALIFATE, started the age of political intrigues tore has made known to us, of what loins MU'AVIAH had come into this world. His father ABU SOFYAN had made a mark and earned a special distinction in the enmity against Islam and the holy Prophet, and MU'AVIAH'S mother HIND was the woman who tore open the corpse of HAMZA and taking out the other internal parts of the corpse, she put them on, around her neck. The factor of heredity both from his father and mother, had its full play in the issue of ABU SOFAYN and HIND, and MU'AVIAH now after the departure of Ali from this world, had become an open enemy of the AHLUL BAIT.

We are not here to go into the dirty details of the political history of the age, and all the intrigues and the crafty moves of the ruling authorities, employed to strengthen their hold of the state and the people. Only a few events directly connected with the miseries of the AHLUL BAIT, are referred to , to indicate the treachery of the people against the House of the Apostle of God and the attitude of the holy Ones during the calamitous age, towards the guidance of the people at the cost of their own lives.

HASSAN was the eldest son of Ali and FATEMA, and the First grandson of the holy Prophet. The Muslims World in Medina had seen HASSAN and HUSSAIN on the shoulders of the Apostle of God on the morn of the festival day, and in the lap of the holy Prophet on the occasion of the historic 'MOBAHALA', had declared 'HASSAN and HUSSAIN are the Chiefs of the youth of Paradise and these were the two for whom had been sent festive robes from heaven. In-spite of all that the holy Prophet had declared about these two holy souls, the world had turned totally hostile to them, and was bent on putting and end to their godly lives on earth.

Not only did MU'AVIAH aim at owning the paramount power of the KALIFATE or the rule of the Muslim empire as a whole, exclusively for himself, but wanted also to have his way cleared off the holy ones of AHLUL BAIT to perpetuate the kingdom in his family, passing the throne of the KALIFATE to his son YAZEED, for which he employed several kinds of crafty means and men. MU'AVIAH now being openly hostile to the House of the Apostle of God, hired mercenaries to cause mischief in the different parts of the empire. The intelligentsia among subjects including the jurists had been purchased by the sate, hence the question of winning over the general masses was not a problem. Corruption began to rule the destiny of man.

People opposing the corruption were plundered and mercilessly massacred. There was no safety or security of life or property particularly of those who were loyal to the House of the holy Prophet, who called themselves the SHIAS or the devotees of the AHLUL BAIT. Preachers were ordered to curse Ali openly in their sermons from the pulpits. The mischievous move from MU'AVIAH became more and more intolerable. The people employed to create mischief, acted as devils in human frames. There was regular bloodshed caused by the agents employed for the purpose.

The holy Imam HASSAN knew full well that all the troubles were for the seat of the KALIFATE which he then most reluctantly occupied. The public which had begged his father AMEERUL MOMINEEN ALI to accept the KALIFATE and rule the state, by the crafty campaign of MU'AVIAH had tuned disloyal, deceitful, hostile and treacherous.

HASSAN the holy Imam, the Vicegerent of God on earth, the Successor to the holy Prophet, whose first concern was the peace and safety of the people, did not need any contested throne to exercise his divine rights. Ultimately in the interest of the welfare of the people, the safety of the public life and property, and the security of the chastity of the gentle womanhood HASSAN relinquished the KALIFATE to MU'AVIAH under a written and a signed treaty with the following terms:

1- MU'AVIAH should rule over the state strictly according to the Word of God the holy QUR'AN as depicted by the traditions of the holy Prophet.

2- The people should be allowed to enjoy perfect peace and security of life and property.

3- The persecution of the SHIAS, i.e., the devotees of Ali, should at once be stopped and they should no more be harassed.

4- MU'AVIAH should not in any way interfere with HASSAN and HUSSAIN or any one of the AHLUL BAIT.

5- The cursing of Ali on the pulpits, be at once stopped.

6- All prisoners, particularly the SHIAS of Ali, the devotees of the House of the holy Prophet who had been unlawfully put into prisons and mercilessly torture therein should at once be released.

7- MU'AVIAH should not appoint any heir to the throne of the KALIFATE but leave it to the decision of the Muslim public.

HASSAN MARTYRED

When the above terms of the treaty agreed to and signed by MU'AVIAH, HASSAN relinquished the rule of the state to MU'AVIAH and retired into complete seclusion, having no concern whatsoever with politics or any affairs of the state and yet he was not left to live in peace even to spend his life in devotion to God and guiding the people to a godly life on earth. MU'AVIAH'S main object was to make the way for his son YAZEED to succeed him to the throne of his monarchical KALIFATE and hence he was devising plans to see that HASSAN is once for all done with by putting an end to his life. Justice AMIR ALI in his famous work the Spirit of Islam, quotes OSBORN in depicting the personality of MU'AVIAH:

"Astute, unscrupulous and pitiless, says Osborn the first KALIF of the OMAYYIDS (MU'AVIAH) shrank from no crime necessary to secure his position. Murder was his accustomed mode of removing a formidable opponent. The grandson of the Prophet he caused to be poisoned. MALEK ASHTAR, the heroic lieutenant of Ali, was destroyed in the like way. To secure the succession of YAZEED. MU'AVIAH hesitated not to break the word he had pledged".

Though the holy Imam had retired into complete seclusion and did not at all interfere in any maters of the people in general, totally unconcerned with the matters of the state, the OMAYYID enmity would now allow him to live even in seclusion. Several attempts on the godly life of the holy Imam was made through poison and somehow the attempts did not prove successful. Ultimately, MU'AVIAH succeeded in hiring a wicked woman who was a wife of HASSAN, tempting her with the promise to get her remarried to his son YAZEED the heir to the throne and with rich presents in cash, to poison HASSAN fatally.

HASSAN'S ADVICE TO HUSSAIN

The poison was administered through the drinking water and it was so strong that no sooner did HASSAN drink the water, than he began vomiting blood and the bits of his liver and knowing the ultimate result of the drink he had, HASSNA called his brother HUSSAIN and advised him saying: "Brother HUSSAIN! I am going. Be thou patient in the will of the Lord being done. Let my body be interred beside my Grandfather lay beside my Mother in the BAQI".

It is said that the departing holy Imam even prophesied as to who will object to his burial beside his Grandfather.

HASSAN'S BODY SHOT AT

As the funeral proceeded towards the grave of the holy Prophet, some OMAYYIDS mounted on horses obstructed and AYSHA appeared, mounting a mule, shouting that the grave of the holy Prophet was in her house and she would not allow the grandson of KHADIJA to be buried beside the holy Prophet. With the shouts from AYSHA a shower of arrows fell on the coffin. HUSSAIN in the fulfillment of the last wish of his departed brother, turned the procession of the funeral towards 'BAQI' and when the body was taken out of the coffin to be laid to rest in the grave, HUSSAIN finding some of the arrows which were showered at coffin, had struck holy body of his martyred brother, cried addressing the body saying:

"I am ashamed of thee O' Brother, that HUSSAIN is alive and seest thy body wounded and cannot do anything". Oakley, the well-known historian Scholar in his famous work the Histroty of Saracents, reports: "MU'AVIAH, therefore, being desirous of leaving the KILAFATE to his son YAZEED, and thinking that he could not bring his design about, so long as HASSAN was alive, determined to get rid of him! 'And at last AYSAH said it was her house and she would not allow him (HASSAN) to be buried there".

THE FATE OF THE DEVOTEES OF THE HOUSE OF THE HOLY PROPHET

MU'AVIAH did not, in the least honor the treaty he had signed. The SHIAS or the faithful devotees of the House of the holy Prophet were vigorously persecuted and mercilessly put to death. Those who professed faith and loyalty to the House of the holy Prophet, particularly to ALIM or any one found reciting any traditions of the holy Prophet in the praise of Ali, were caught and mercilessly killed. MEESAM-E-TAMMAR, for refusing to curse Ali, met a brutal death; he limbs were severed, and his body was put on the trunk of a tree; nailed to it, and when found still praising Ali, his tongue was cut off. When the man came to cut his tongue, MEESAM himself offered his tongue extending it out of his mouth saying that the prophecy about his meeting the calamity and the end of it, had been given to him by Ali, and he was glad that the prophecy of AMEERUL MOMINEEN was being fulfilled. HIJAR-EL-KINDI met a similar fate for his faithfulness to Ali. The fate of poor Muhammad, son of ABU BAKR, for after his murder, his body was packed into the belly of an ass killed for the purpose and the corpse of the poor animal with the body of MUHAMMAD IBNE ABU BAKR in its belly was thrown into a flaming fire prepared for the purpose.

The reign of MU'AVIAH, particularly after the Martyrdom of HUSSAN, had become the age of plunder, pillage, pitiless killing and heartless murders and inhuman or ruthless persecution of the true Muslims and particularly those who were attached to House of the holy Prophet, were mercilessly butchered, and thousands of families migrated to various places outside the jurisdiction of the OMAYYAD rule.

Not only was the praise of Ali and the AHLUL BAIT, totally banned but a the same time a free and uncontrolled manufacture of counterfeit traditions were in full seeing praising the enemies of the House of the holy Prophet.

THE FATE OF THE FAITH

Under the OMMAYYAD desire of establishing an independent OMAYYAD dynasty with the paramount power over the Muslim empire, not only the deceitful intriguers and crafty agents were hired but also the Muslim jurists were purchased to adulterate the doctrines of the faith in favor of the ruling authority and its supporters.

Thus the Islam-Original was left only with the AHLUL BAIT with whom the holy Prophet had left the holy QUR'AN and according to his saying if any one wanted the faith Islam, in its Original form and the holy QUR'AN with its true interpretation, could have only from his AHLUL BAIT about the attachment of his holy House, the holy Prophet had said: "The likeness of my AHLUL BAIT is that of the Ark of Noah. Whosoever got into it, got saved and whosoever turned away from it, got drowned and lost".

It is the same Islam-Original which is called SHIISM, distinguished from the Islam-general corrupted at the hands of the OMAYYIAD fortune hunters. SHIISM is nothing but the Original Islam as preached by the holy Prophet and preserved by his AHLUL BAIT without any unwarranted additions to it or subtractions from it, and nothing else besides the pure, strict and the original QUR'ANIC faith.

HASSAN'S SERVICES AND SUFFERINGS

HASSAN the Second holy Imam was the Fourth of the Martyrs among the holy ones of the House of the holy Prophet, who are popularly called by the Muslim World as the 'PANJETANE-PAK' or the holy Five. (MUHAMMAD, ALI, FATEMA, HASSAN and HUSSAIN). The sufferings of this holy Imam, were of special intensity and the calamitous and the murderous situation he had to face, was peculiar in its gravity and the patience and the fortitude the holy one, displayed was divinely superb and exemplary.

Immediately as the OMAYYIDS gained the paramount power over the Muslim empire, their first effort was to endeavor as much as they could, to find fault with some aspect or the other of the practical lives of the holy members of the AHLUL BAIT and when they could not all succeed in their wicked venture, they hired corrupt scholars of the age, to fabricate traditions in favor of their enemies.

THE TRUTH UNDERLYING THE SEX DIFFERENCE IN THE CREATION

The native endowment of the sex urge in the animated species of the creation, is itself, eloquently evident that the object of the ALWISE Creator of the universe, is to maintain the wheel of procreation going, in the fulfillment of His Omnipotent will to effect the continuation of life on earth for an ever progressive development up to a term unknown to man. The physical world is classified in four commonly realms viz., the Mineral, the Vegetable, the Animal, and the Human. Of these four general classes of the physical existence on earth, excepting the granite of the minerals, every other specie expands itself, either through development in itself or by procreation. The botanist scholars will vouch that sex is not restricted only to the animal and the human realms but it is also found in the vegetable world. Even among the minerals there are species which expand themselves through the process of crystallization.

The sex urge is a native endowment in every living specie, more apparently evident in the animal and the human kinds. The love of multiplication, is enacted through the sex urge as a divinely devised course for the continuity and the development of the specie on earth. The lack of this urge in any individual is a want, not commendable but deplorable. A fruitless tree is first selected for fuel, a barren animal is first chosen for slaughter and an impotent man is not counted among the males for any manly service, and a issueless man or woman always prayerfully longs for an issue.

The commend-ability among the human beings regarding the use of this native endowment is not as to how less it is used or how much it is neglected but how best and how healthily and to what maximum it has been utilized in the fulfillment of the will of the Almerciful Donor of the great gift. The beauty lies not in the total or a partial suppression of this urge but in the maximum desirable use of it, avoiding successfully the misuse of the gift.

If this divine gift is used just for the timely sensual enjoyment, it is a sin and a crime and if the same is used for the healthy procreation of healthy souls to serve the will of the Lord, i.e., for the development and the progress of human life on earth, is a reward-able virtue. The apostles of God, like Solomon, the saints and the sages in the various parts of the earth, had several wives at a time, not for the lust of any sexual enjoyment but to supply the souls desired by the Lord for the continuation and the expansion of humanity on earth. The holy Prophet Jesus, for want of a male partner in the parental process of his advent into this world, might not have been given this urge, for the main purpose of his creation was only to manifest the omnipotent creative power of the Originator of the universe to prove that He is not subject to the laws of nature which are known to man but the same laws being subservient to His Omnipotent will. Our Christian brethren exploit the want of this native endowment in Jesus, to prove his godhead or his being the son of God.

The lack or the absence of this urge, is a want and weakness and a want or a weakness is a defect, and none with any want a defect can ever be imagined to be God Who is the Omnipotent Perfection Absolute, and impotency is a defect in nature and hence unnatural, and anything unnatural or defective, can not be godliness or a commendable virtue.

When God had given the urge for the continuity of His creative will, to restrain the use of it, or to neglect it, or suppress it altogether, can never be righteousness. It will be ingratitude to reject the gift of the Lord and it will be rebellion to act against His object in His vesting the native endowments in the individual. If any one gifted with sight destroys his eyes or spends his life without his using sight, it will be sheer foolishness and not a virtue.

Thus polygamy desired by God if correctly used, will not be a sin but a commendable virtue and monogamy if undesirably restricted defying the will of the Lord, or if Celibacy is unnecessarily imposed, it will he no virtue but a self-imposed deprivation, prone to sinful resorts of unhealthy and criminal outlets for the native urge.

It is some modern adulterous people, to cheat the innocent women, their legal wives, that pretend to be monogamous and condemn polygamy, while in practice, without the knowledge of their wives, that are ultra-polygamous in their private lives, not minding even if their wives also become polyandrous behind them. Whereas the god-fearing righteous ones, who keeping their wives happy and honored, are polygamous only as God has permitted and even that, only when necessary and otherwise remain contentedly monogamous.

It was one of the wicked moves of MU'AVIAH that a talk was set afloat among the public that HASSAN had a large number of wives, frequently marrying the women and divorcing them, and had scores of children. This is such a falsehood that the enemy could easily fabricate but none of them could ever substantiate the allegation through any historic records. This was one of the OMAYYED moves to cast prejudice in the minds of the public against the holy Imam and to divert the attention of the people away from him, and the holy ones of the House of the holy Prophet.

The modern day writers quote the narrations about this allegation about HASSAN from the Great SHIA tradition MULLAH BAQUIR MAJLISI and the others. Before resorting the quote anything on the authority of the great learned MULLAH, one should know that the great MULLAH had never said that whatever he has quoted is a gospel truth. The collection of the traditions, he has made, is a store of food for the thought of those busy in the scrutiny of the traditions of the holy Prophet, and it is up to the seekers of the knowledge of the AHADEES (tradition), to pick out the genuine ones from the collection and from the false ones to know the turn of the minds which effected the counterfeit sayings. It is a fact universally acknowledged by all scholars that the great work of the collection of the traditions by MULLAH BAQUIR-E- MAJLISI named 'BIHAR UL-ANWAR' or the Oceans of Lights, contain in its tradition:

SAHEEH - Correct GHALAT - wrong or false

M'OTABAR - reliable GHAIRA M'OTABAR - unreliable

MUSTANAD - certified GHAIRA MUSTANAND - uncertified

MUSALSAL - continuously related GHAIRA MUSALSAL - not

Continuously related The narration about the number of wives is nothing but a false allegation against the holy Imam to make him unpopular for none of the reports, gives the names of all the wives and the names of all his children. The stories are mere folklore fabricated and purposefully made current to level a calumny against the holy Imam.

If the holy Imam HASSAN had in fact married such a large number of wives, it is also said at the same time that he divorced also a large number. HASSAN being the Vicegerent of God on earth would never have been unjust to have married unnecessarily and to have divorced any women unreasonably. It clearly indicated that as he is reported to resemble his Grandfather the holy Prophet, in having unfaithful wives as had the Apostle of God, whom he had to discard for about a month until the revelation of the SURA-E-TAHREEM (SURA No. 66). The fact that HASSAN was poisoned by none else other than one of his wives hired by MU'AVIAH, proves the kind of women, some of his wives were.

THE SULHI-HUDAIBIAH REPEATED

The historic SULH (or Truce) was concluded at HUDAIBIAH by the holy Prophet, who having gone to Mecca had to return content with the Treaty. People taking it to be a defeat of the purpose of the holy Prophet, doubted even in the bonafide of his claim to the apostleship saying: "Never did I doubt the apostleship of the holy Prophet as I did at HUDAIBIAH".

But the Treaty of HUDAIBIAH later proved to be one of the greatest stratagems which only a divine, like the holy Prophet could have struck, and it proved to be of invaluable worth and value to the establishment and the progress of Islam and without which Islam could not have proceeded further. The same thing happened with HASSAN. People doubted the wisdom in the Truce or the Treaty he had entered into with MU'AVIAH. The Treaty of HASSAN with MU'AVIAH proved of the same value and worth as did the SULHE HUDAIBIAH concluded, by his Grandfather the holy Prophet. Without the SULH or the Truce which HASSAN concluded, the SHIAS of Ali, the devotees of the AHLUL BAIT, the advocates of the Original Islam would been totally wiped out and there could have been no opportunity for the holy Imam and his devotees to preserve the Original Faith and to carry it further, upon this day, which today is identified with the caption of 'SHIA'ISM'. Besides there would not have been the least peace and security in the land for life and the property of the gentle public, and the gentle womanhood would have suffered the worst at the hands of the devilish forces let loose to gain the paramount power of the KALIFATE.

It must be remembered that the aim or the object of the lives of the men of God, particularly the apostles, is not to own any temporal power in earth. Their first and the foremost concern is to guide man on the right path of thought and action, and to do the best possible to establish peace in earth and maintain it. Men of God had been on the earth to act as demanded by the circumstances:

ZUL-QARNAIN:

Was sent to conquer some mischief - mongering and blood -shedding nations

JOB:

To manifest divine patience and submission to the divine will.

DAVID:

To show the standard of justice

SOLOMON:

To own power and dominion as a godly monarch

ZACHARIAH & JOHN:

As the sincere supplicants to the Lord

MOSES:

The National Leader of the Israelites to lead them out of the clutches of Pharaoh and put them on the path of godliness

JESUS:

To re-establish the Mosaic Law and manifest passive resistance to aggression

MUHAMMAD (THE LAST APOSTLE):

To consolidate the religious Truth and give the Final Code for faith and its practice.

ALI (THE FIRST IMAM):

To help the Last Apostle of God in establishing Islam and to dissipate the highest knowledge of the QUR'ANIC Philosophy and the Divine Truth

HASSAN (THE 2nd IMAM):

To preserve the faith by Ideal patience

HUSSAIN (THE 3rd IMAM):

To re-establish Islam with his matchless sacrifice the 'ZIBHE AZEEM'.

A LIAR HAS NO MEMORY

It is a well-known fact that liars cannot remember their own lies. The fabulous stories about the number of the wives HASSAN had married and divorced, prove the truth in the proverb that Liars have no memory. The reports about the number of the wives of HASSAN are so funny and fabulous that even a schoolboy will laugh at the self-contradictory stories, and the ridiculous number reported. One says that HASSAN had married fifteen wives, the other says no, Seventy-five, another one says hundred and seventy, the fourth one says they were two hundred and fifty and the sixth one says three hundred. Any one will only be puzzled and none would ever believe such cock and bull stories. It is quite evident that those who were bribed with a greater sum gave a greater number and those who were given less money gave the lesser number.

HAD WOMANHOOD GONE MAD

It is not difficult but impossible to believe that womanhood as a whole, in KUFA had gone mad to rush to HASSAN continuously in-spite of knowing the fate of the hundreds of the divorced ones of their own sex. Or was it that history repeated the state of affairs with the holy Prophet after the departure of Lady KHADIJA, when though he had crossed the age of fifty, girls of even the tender age of nine and eleven were offered to him and ladies who were far advanced in age coveted to be the wives of the holy Prophet had become the Fourth KALIF and people knew that HASSAN would succeed his father as the Fifth KALIF, was it that women in order to be the wife i.e., the queens of the ruler of the Muslims Empire, coveted to gain the royal positions. In fact all the allegations are merely the vicious fabrications of the corrupt ingenuity employed for the wicked purpose to blackmail the holy Imam.

THE FALSE ALLEGATION AGAINST HASSAN AS WELL AS ALI

The fabrication has gone to the extent of saying that HASSAN had married so many and divorced so many women that Ali preached in the Bazaars of KUFA advising women not to marry hi son HASSNA, for he is the greatest divorcer of the women, and not content with the Bazaar preaching's of his against his own son, Ali even went to the extent of preaching openly from the pulpit the same thing. It must be remembered that Ali was openly cursed from the pulpits and any one who refused to curse Ali was put to death. The heartless treatment meted out to MEESAM has already been given above, and this story of Ali's preaching against his son, HASSAN'S conduct, is only in continuation of the same propaganda against Ali, for an intelligent reasoning mind will say that the preaching of Ali against HASSAN is not in fact so much against HASSAN as it is against Ali himself, for knowing the moral defect in HASSAN and himself making it known to the public his own knowledge of it, Ali handed over the charge of the Imamate to HASSAN.

It is for the readers now to think how far and in what all ways the propaganda against the holy ones of the House of the holy Prophet was carried on and how patiently the holy ones suffered all the calamities against the divine purity of their godly selves. None in the Muslim World as a whole, can deny the fact that HASSAN is one of the holy AHLUL BAIT who have been purified by God (33:33). He is one of those holy Five of the historic mysterious event of the KISA (or the Mantle) whose perfect purity was employed on occasion of the historic MUBAHALA the Spiritual contest with the Christian disbelievers of NAJRAN.

In-spite of all the efforts to do the worst possible to blackmail these holy ones, every attempt failed and only proved like throwing dust to cover the sun, or spitting on the sun which brings back the spit on the face of the spitter himself. Though the people had turned hostile to these holy ones, but the stamp of their personal divinity on the hearts of the people could not be removed. And when HASSAN was martyred, even the worst of his enemies shed tears and were struck with sorrow. But M'UAVIAH on getting the news of HASSAN'S passing away, was jubilant.

HASSNA THE THIRD 'MUHAMMAD'

If the following is in fact the Word of God: "Muhammad is but an apostle" [3:144]. And if the following Word of God bears any truth in it:

"He (the holy Prophet), speaketh not of his own inclination but a revelation revealed (unto him)" [53:3-4]. The holy Prophet's word as well as action, his conduct and character, his love and hatred, his life personal and private as well as social and public, must necessarily and essentially be apostolic and divine, and his word must be the revealed will of the Lord given expression through the words uttered by him.

Similarly, if it is true that the holy Prophet had said that the First, the Middle, the Last and Every one of his 'AHLUL BAIT' was Muhammad, undoubtedly HASSAN was the Third Muhammad and HUSSAIN was the Fourth and son on until the Last of the holy Imams of the holy House. It is certainly true that God has created a wonderful House, of His own chosen ones of the family of Abraham WITH Personalities of amazing purity of body and soul for the guidance of mankind on earth and certainly such perfected ones of His Own, must have been the First and the Foremost of His Creative Will, i.e., the Objects of His creation, in the Arc of Descent and the Last in the Arc of Ascent as the Greatest Luminaries of His Creative Art:

"verily the First House appointed for the guidance of men is the one at 'BAKKA' (Mecca) blessed and a guidance for the world" [3:96]. The next verse identifies the houses of the members of the above House:

"(There are) the houses in which God has permitted to be exalted and His name glorified. Therein do (they) glorify Him in mornings and evenings, the men whom neither merchandise or selling diverts them from the remembrance of God" [24:36-37]. It is about the members of His Own appointed House that God has announced:

".. God only willeth to keep away un-cleanliness from you O' people of the House and to Purify you a (thorough) purification" [33:33]. And certainly none else but only Ali, as belonging to those mentioned in verse 24:37, could keep himself undisturbed in his supplication to the Lord while the JARRAH, i.e., the surgeon cut open his foot and took out the point of the arrow stuck into it. similarly did HASSAN and HUSSAIN remain undisturbed in their godliness while facing the worst persecution and the wholesale murder of their dear ones and their faithful devotees. The holy Prophet had told to Ali:

"Thou hearest whatever I hear and thou seest whatever I see". HASSAN proved his being of the same quality of the caliber of his father and possessed the same divine excellence, for it is reported that HASSAN used to hear what was revealed to his Grandfather the holy Prophet, by the Messenger Angel, and used to come to his mother, the Lady of Light, and would smile and relate it to her father the holy Prophet who would embrace HASSAN and kiss him and say: "He is of me and I am of him". This was HASSAN the Second Imam and the Brother of HUSSAIN.

HASSAN'S PATIENCE: THE REASON FOR IT

If is asked why did not HASSAN handle the sword as did HUSSAIN and why did not HUSSAIN exercise patience as did his elder brother HASSNA? The answer is: That MU'AVIAH though a rebel against the established KALIFATE which was only a temporal power, and to own it, he had played havoc, and though religion was continuously undergoing corruption and adulteration, but the ruling authority had not stopped to the deliberate YAZIDIAN infidelity and the open disbelief in the bonafide of the holy Prophet and the truthfulness of Islam. Be it known that neither the holy Prophet nor the godly AHLUL BAIT had come into the world to wield their swords for any territorial ambition or to own any temporal power by force. The sword and the strength God had given to these the holy ones, was for use in the cause of God, on the occasions divinely destined for the purpose, which they knew beforehand.

As HUSSAIN re-established Islam rescuing it when it was on the verge of being annihilated for ever, HASSAN maintained it, in an equally effective way, from getting wiped out, by avoiding the true and the faithful devotees of the faith the SHIAS being totally wiped out to existence and the faith getting extinct with them. If HASSAN had not pulled on with his ideal godly patience he would have witnessed the end of Islam with his own eyes through the wholesale slaughter of the faithful devotees and the advocates of the faith through whose existence the Islam-Original could be maintained and spread in the world, though it was done under the most hostile and the murderous persecutions.

According to the situations, did act the two holy Imams, HASSAN and HUSSAIN. HASSAN should not have used the sword and HUSSAIN could not remain patient, both the holy ones acted as they did, in the interest, of the Religion of God and godliness on earth.

Ali, the ASADULLAH, the Lion of God, the Ever Triumphant Matchless Hero of Islam, who had no match for his godly strength, prowess and bravery, when occasion demanded it to save Islam, allowed himself to be tied in ropes and dragged by the cowards of the people, HASSNA followed the footsteps of his father to do the same. If any occasion had only demanded it, HASSAN would certainly have risen equal to the occasion as did his father during the time of the holy Prophet.

The holy Prophet being the Apostle of God the greatest godly advocate of Peace on earth who had come to establish peace in the true meaning of the word, had to use the sword when it was unavoidable to save the Religion of God from being wiped out by the disbelievers. HUSSAIN followed the footsteps of his Grandfather in this regard as in any other, to re-establish the same faith when infidelity intended to destroy it for ever and when the Muslim World was being misled and taken far astray from the right path, with the open declaration of the disbelief in the apostleship of the holy Prophet and the holy QUR'AN being the revealed Word of God.

Both the holy Imams, HASSAN and HUSSAIN, had acted duly according to their respective divine assignments. Before doubting in the divine wisdom in HASSNA'S patience and his treaty with MU'AVIAH, one should remember that the people doubted even in the bonafide of the holy Prophet when he concluded the SULHE HUDAIBIAH (the Treaty of HUDAIBIAH). The godly ones only know the will of the Lord they executed and man always criticized it.

HUSSAIN TAKES CHARGE OF THE IMAMATE

Before breathing his last, HASSAN handed the charge of the Imamate to his brother HUSSAIN. HUSSAIN was now the Third Imam, the Vicegerent of God on earth, in the place of the holy Prophet Muhammad. The world was now without the Apostle of God. FATEMA the holy Lady of Light had been martyred. Ali and HASSAN had also left the world. HUSSAIN was left alone in an atmosphere totally hostile, for MU'AVIAH had successfully purchased the public support to execute his plan of placing YAZID on the throne of the KALIFATE, to perpetuate the rule of the Muslim Empire in his family and thus to start the OMAYYID dynasty of the KALIFS. All possible efforts to bring the people and keep them under the complete control of the throne, were employed. Corruption and godlessness ruled the destiny of the people.

As Ali had done during the reigns of the first three KALIFS, and HASSAN after MU'AVIAH usurping the paramount power, HUSSAIN also following the footsteps of his father and brother, had retired into seclusion in Medina. HUSSAIN'S main concern was supplication to the Lord and acting as the heavenly torch of the Divine Light of guidance towards God and godliness.

HUSSAIN was now the godly commissioned guardian of the holy QUR'AN, its teachings and its correct practice. He was the Vicegerent of the Lord holding the Kingdom of God on earth. It is surely ridiculous even to imagine HUSSAIN'S ever thinking of, or aspiring for, any temporal power or authority, when he already held the Imamate divinely assigned to the House of the holy Prophet and as such was God's Deputy on earth, he had nothing to do with the politics of the state or the political affairs of the people.

HUSSAIN had already been informed of every detail of the divine assignment to him and he knew every step of the march of his life up to its end. The holy Prophet had already informed HUSSAIN of all that was in store for him to meet, and when and where each event will take place. It was only with the knowledge of the lot to befall HUSSAIN, his father Ali had desired to have a son like ABBAS. It was only in view of the great task of re-establishing Islam by HUSSAIN with the great sacrifice, i.e., the 'ZIBHE AZEEM', the holy Prophet had said: "HUSSAIN is of me and I am of HUSSAIN". Now waiting for the hour to fulfill his covenant with the Lord to save His Religion Islam and to secure His Final Word to man, the holy QUR'AN, for ever

HUSSAIN passed a quite life of supplication, discharging the duties of the Imam in the place of his Grandfather the holy Prophet.