Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

The Attraction and Repulsion Of Ali (A.S)

Author: Dr. Murtada Mutahari

www.alhassanain.org/english

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Foreword 7

Law of Attraction and Repulsion 10

ATTRACTION AND REPULSION IN THE HUMAN WORLD 11

MEN WHO HAVE REPULSION BUT NOT ATTRACTION 15

ALI, A PERSONALITY WITH TWO FACULTIES 16

The Forceful Attraction 18

SHI'ITE FAITH: SCHOOL OF LOVE AND AFFECTION 19

THE ALCHEMY OF LOVE 20

BREAKING THE BARRIER 22

CONSTRUCTIVE OR DESTRUCTIVE 23

Love And Devotion With Saints 26

THE POTENTIAL OF LOVE IN SOCIETY 27

THE BEST MEANS FOR SELF-EDIFICATION 28

INSTANCES FROM THE HISTORY OF ISLAM 31

Bases Of Kharijites Doctrine 35

KHARIJITE'S DOCTRINE OF CALIPHATE 35

THEIR BELIEF ABOUT THE CALIPHS 35

ELIMINATION OF KHARIJITES 36

DEMOCRACY OF ALI 39

KHARIJITE'S INSURGENCY AND REVOLT 40

Characteristics Of Kharijites 42

THE NECESSITY OF FIGHT AGAINST HYPOCRISY 50

ALI THE RIGHTFUL IMAM AND LEADER 51

Appendix 52

Introduction

If God is introduced to thy soul constantly gaze at Ali

By God I knew Him only through Ali.

It is difficult to talk of Ali-bin-Abi Talib, the legendary hero of Islamic and human history and the idealpersonified, in fact he is manifestation of the Truth. The magnanimous and multidimensional personality of Ali is too immense to be comprehensively assimilated by one individual. Ali as an individual is no more but as a school he perpetuates. The school of Ali is the school of wisdom and thought and also the school of movement and revolu­tion. It is the school of charm and beauty and of inspiration and activation. His personality, which is the fountainhead of his school, has two faculties and its impact on men is either attractive or repulsive, hence he attracts some of them to, and repels others from himself. The basic thought of this book is an analytical description of this phenomenon, and of the rule, which enjoins to discern the fact from fallacy.

It quotes Ali, saying that Ali has held the Truth itself to be the criterion of truth and not the individuals, the personalities, the authorities or the gray-hair. We should be aware of the fact and the fallacy and not of the persons and personalities. And this is the spirit of the Shi-ite faith, an enlivening ideology adherence to which lends life. Humanity must seek solace from it as human perfection and perpetual bliss lies in it. Solemnity, sincerity, justice and wisdom adhere to and co-exist with it. The under­signed, in this view of the matter and for his anxious commitment with these views, for popularising the basic ideas of the Islamic Culture, for maintaining profound solidarity between two contiguous and co-believer countries Iran and Pakistan and for the benefit of all concerned, decided to get this analytical and peculiar thesis translated into English.

The translation has been carried out by my friend Ayyoob Bukhari, a scholarly personality and well-known advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He accomplished the task from no motive other than his own anxiety, sincerity and a sense of cultural attachment with the thesis. The translation itself is the evidence of its grace, correctness and the pains taken by Ayyoob Bukhari.

This book is the collection of four lectures delivered in Hussainia Irshad during the four days of 18th to 21st Ramzan1364 . Hussania Irshad is one of the main Islamic centers in Tehran. In the days prior to accomp­lishment of revolution it used to be the meeting center of the intelligentsia and the revolutionary minds. They would assemble there to listen to the great philosophers like Dr. Ali Shariati, and others including the author of this book. I have had the privilege of being among most of such gatherings and of having benefited from those discourses. The combatant revolu­tionary youth of Iran by attending such assemblies learnt to rely on the dauntless Oracle of Ali, his encouraging behest and revolutionary phraseology in Nehjul Balagha whence they were inspired and activated to overthrow the cursed Pehlvi Regime. They frustrated the lethargic and ill-based logic of the tyrannical supporters of the regime of evil with the powerful logic of Ali.

The main theme of the book, that is, attraction and repulsion of Ali and other subjects like Ali's concept of a Government, the uprising and insurgency of the Kharijites, and the necessity of combat against hypocrisy have been deAli with in a very scholarly, philosophic, authentic and sagacious manner. From the viewpoint of arrangement, editing, chapterisation, the manner in which the themes have been explored and deAli with and the selection of topics, the book gives a happy look and lends novelty to the subject.

Its author is the late Murtaza Mutah-hari who devoted his life to the sacred cause of Islam. He was with littlematch a high-ranking Islamist well versed in various branches of Islamic knowledge and the Holy Quran. He was a philosopher and a writer, aware of Schools of East and West and a research scholar of fortitude. He was an active and pious personality. With this all he was a logician. He has left behind immense and analytical writings. His works as a whole pursue the course advocated by his school. He was a contemporary pious and combatant thinker. His pen, his pace and his eloquence remained always busy in promoting the cause of revolution and in participating in the teamwork of compatriots. On 12 Behman Mah 1298 H.S. i.e. in Jamadi-ul-Awal of 1338 H.Q he was born in a noble radical cleric's family of village Fareeman near the holy city of Mash-had. He received primary instructions from his father and before attaining majority he joined Hoza-i-Ilmiya-i-Mash-had, which was at that lime richly staffed with teachers ofrenown . After some time he joined Hoza-i-Ilmya-i-Qum.for studying literature, logic at medium and higher level and jurisprudence and fundamentals, thereafter he started basic and research studies from 1322. 1323.

Mutah-hari grasped the lessons of his teachers like Ay-Haj Mirza AH Aqa-i-Sheerazi Asfahani. Ay-Syed Muhammad Taqi Khawn Sari, Ay-Syed Ahmad Khawnsari, Ay-Syed Muhammad Hojjat Koh Kamri,' Ay-Syed Muhammad Damad Ay-Syed Muhammad Raza Gul-pai-Gani and Ay-Haj Syed Sadr-ud-Din Sadr. He has very often and respectfully remembered his.great teachers like Ay-Haairi, Ayat Ulalh Uzma Broojardi Ay-Haaj Syed Muhammad Hussain Taba-Tabaai Tabraizi and Ayat Ullah Uzma Imam Khomeini. It is his peculiar charm that he always mentioned the names of his teachers with respect and gratitude.

After the completion of his research and education he left for Tehran to join the University as a Lecturer. There he developed contacts with Islamic organisations of enlightened combatants. He through lectures and debates with the staff and the students of the University and through literature and platform started political and social activities. His political struggle, shoulder to shoulder with his like-minded clerics, formally started after Imam Khomeinf's revolt and the historic tragedy of 15 Khordad 1342 H.S. and after the materialisation of the revolution in the year 1357 he joined the Revolutionary Council as its permanent member.

He was martyred on 24 Jamadi-us-Sani 1399 H.Q equal to 11-Ardi Bahisht 1358 in a terrorist attack.All the world over the Revolutionary and the Liberation organisations and personalities and his own people were deeply afflicted by his martyrdom.

Ustad Mutah-hari has left many published and un-published and even some un-edited works. His un-edited diary dates back to when he was 14 years old. It starts with his notes recording the preliminaries of Jurispru­dence Arabic etc. and ends in his mature and sagacious notes pertaining to the last few years of his graceful life. In short they cover numerous subjects in various social, cultural and political fields covering history, languages, nationalities, philosophy.Jurisprudence, Mysticism, morals etc. And his writings whether in form of brief essays or long theses, notebooks, detailed commentaries or short annotations on some books are also available. Their list is available in Journal 'Yad-nama' (Memorial Magazine) Published (under the supervision of Dr. Abdul Karim Sarosh) in the memory of the Martyred Scholar in three decent volumes: Alphabetical Notes, Topical notes, and Diaries. He was a voluminous writer. His published books are more than two scores in number. These books cover Sociological, Histori­cal, Economic, Moral, Philosophic, Literary, Critical,Mystical , Spiritual, and Theological subjects. There are his published speeches discourses and lectures on all such topics, which agitate the modern mind:-

1. The principles of Philosophy and Behaviour of Realism, a commentary on Allama Muhammad Hussain Tabatabaai's Text. It is in 5 Volumes.

2. The stories about the Virtuous (Declared to be the Best Book of the year 1366 by UNESCO. Its first of the two volumes has been pub­lished in English as well. It consists of 125 stories of Islamic history).

3. Lyrical Discourses Twenty lectures broad-cast by Radio Tehran from 1338 to 40.

4. The legal Rights of Women in Islam, comprising 32 articles.

5. Man and Destiny (Published in Arabic as well. Its Urdu Edition is under print).

6. Un-seen Supports in Human life.

7. Contributions of Islam and Iran.

8. The Scandal of book Burning in Iran and Egypt, (its Urdu Edition has been published).

9. The Finality of Prophet-Hood.

10. The Issue of (Female) Seclusion.

11. The Unlettered Prophet.

12. Sexual Morality (Urdu Edition has been published).

13. Divine Justice.

14. Ali's Attractions and Repulsions (its English version is the present book).

15. Vilas and Vilayats.

16. The causes of Materialistic Tendencies (its Arabic translation has been published in Beirut).

17. Rambles in Nehj-ul-Balagha (it has been translated in Arabic as well).

18. Logic and Philosophy (Towards Under-standing Islamic sciences).

19. The Letter and the Spirit.

20. The Fundamentals of Jurisprudence.

21. The Revolution of Mehdi.

22. Ten Discourses.

23. Islamic Movements in the last century, (its English translation has been published).

24. Man and Faith (Translated and published in Urdu) (Preface to World view of Islam).

25. The world view.

26. Revolution and Prophet-The Preface to World view.

27. Man as in the Quran.

28. The Eternal Life or the Life Hereafter.

29.About Islamic Revolution.

30. The History and the Society (preface to World view of Islam).

31. Jihad and Justification of its objects in the Quran.

32. Understanding the Quran.

33. The First Hamad and the Second Baqara chapters of the Quran.

34. "Tasheh-wa-tahliq al-tehsil" by Bin Almarzban, the student of Bu Ali Sina.(The correction and annotation of al-tehsil with a preface).

The above is the chronological order of the publication of the books. The books like the following are in manuscript form and have not so far been published.

i) Irfan-i-Hafiz.

ii) Magalat-i-Philosophy.

iii) Man's Social Perfection.

iv) Towards understanding the Quran.

v) Visage of Man in Marxism and Islam.

vi) Economy of Islam.

vii) Human Nature and its Beauties.

viii) Philosophy of History.

ix) Islam and the Challenges of Time.

x) The Issue of Slavery.

xi) The Biography of the Holy Prophet.

xii) The Perfect man.

xiii) Philosophic lectures on Marx and Marxism.

xiv) Lectures about Asfar.

xv) Lectures about Manzooma.

xvi) The Collection of Lectures on Understanding.

xvii) The Chivalry of Hussain.

Likewise numerous articles by him on different subjects have been published, in form of books, and pamphlets for students.

Besides this numerous cassettes containing his speeches in different centers on different topics are left in legacy. The number of those cassettes preserving his unpublished speeches and lectures exceeds 1068.

Foreword

The excellent and magnanimous personality of Amir-ul-Momineen Ali (A.S) is too immense and multidimensional to be conceived in all its aspects and dimensions by a man, let his fancy fly. What, in maxi­mum, is possible for a man is to select for his study and research one or a few specific and defined aspects of personality of Ali and feel contented with the same.

One of this illustrious personality's aspects and dimensions is the positive or negative influence which he had exerted on different classes of humanity, in other words, his active attraction and repulsion which up till now continue to exert their influence. In this book we will deal with this aspect.

For producing reactions on minds and souls, human personalities are not identical. The more pygmean personality the lesser it engages people's mind and produces still lesser excitement and anxiety in their hearts. Whoever is a greater stalwart and more forceful invokes minds more and produces greater reaction, whether the reaction is positive or negative.

The personalities, invoking minds and producing reactions,who are often talked about, become subjects of confrontations and controversies. They become the pride of poetry, painting and other fine arts. They emerge as heroes of stories and legends. In case of Ali, he dominates with excellence all these media and venues of expression. In this respect too he is peerless or has few rivals. It is reported that Muhammad bin Shahr Ashob Mazindrani, who has been amongst the stalwarts of Imamite scholars, while in the seventh century, undertook writing his famous book "Manaqib", had in his library one thousand books with the name of "Manaqib" eulogising Ali. This single instance leads us to observe that in the whole span of history, immense multitudes of minds have been engaged by the inspiring personali­ty of our Master. The basic distinction of Ali and also of all men enlightened by the beam of Truth is that besides engaging the minds and stirring up the thoughts, they illuminate hearts and souls and bless them with faith, satisfaction and determination. Philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Bu Ali Sina and Descartes are also heroes of conquests of thoughts and agitation of minds. Leaders of social revolutions in the last two centuries, besides this have generated prejudices in their followers' minds. The mystic divines lead their followers to such a stage of submission that if so indicated by peer-i-mughan (the spiritual guide) they may soak the prayer mat of liquor. But in none amongst them we see warmth and fervour twin with humility, chastity, purity and tenderness as history reveals amongst Ali's followers. If the Safavides organised an effective combatant force out of dervishes, it was in the name of Ali and not in their own name.

Abstract beauty and charm, which produce love, are from one category. Leadership, advantage and welfare of life, which are the stuff of social reformers, and wisdom and philosophy, which are the stuff of philo­sophers, are from another category. It is well known that one of Bu Ali Sina's pupils said to him, "With this exceptional wisdom and sagacity, which you have, if you proclaim to be a prophet people will rally round you". Bu Ali kept silent till when they were together in a winter journey. During the matutinal hours, Bu Ali got up and waking up the pupil he said, "I am feeling thirsty, bring me some water". The pupil became reluctant and started coining excuses. The more Bu Ali insisted the more he was evasive to leave the cosy bed in that cold winter. In the meantime the call of mo'azzin rose from the booster tower (of the mosque): "Allah is Great, I bear testimony, there is no God but Allah, I bear testimony, there is no God but Allah, I bear testimony Muhammad is his Prophet". Bu Ali availed himself of the opportunity to give a retort to the student, "You were claiming that if I proclaim to be a Prophet people will start believing in me. Now look at this, you who have been my student for years together and have learnt from my lectures, my orders and that also in my immediate presence, do not command so much of the obedience from you so that you may leave the cosy bed for a while to bring me water. But this moazzin four hundred years after the Holy Prophet, submits to his commands, gets out of his cosy bed, climbs the tower and proclaims (at the top of his voice) testimony to Oneness of God and Apostle's Prophethood. See, whence and whereto the roads depart".

Rightly, the philosophers make pupils but not the followers; the social reformers make prejudiced followers but not civilized men. The saints, the mystics and the virtuous people make disciples but no active crusaders.

In Ali the qualities of a philosopher, of a revolutionary leader, of a saint and qualities peculiar to Prophets exist in simultaneous harmony. His school is a school of thought and ideology, a school of revolution and progress, a school of faith and discipline, a school of beauty and a school of emotions and activation too!

Prior to his being a judicious Imam for others, and prior to his having administered justice among the people, he himself was personally a judicious and harmonious personality. He had mustered in himself all the glories of humanity. His thought was deep and penetrating and he had tender and profound tendencies. The physical and spiritual perfection coexisted in him. During his nocturnal prayers, he totally disassociated from all others (except Allah) and in the daytime he was in the thick of the society. The human eyes saw in him in the broad day light fraternity and selflessness and their ears heard his advice, his behest and his wise oracle. During nights, the stars saw his devotional eyes showering tears and the heavens heard his devotional supplications. He was a judge and a sage, he was a saint and a social leader, he was a devout and a soldier, he was an arbiter and an architect, he was an orator and a writer; in short he was a perfect man with all human grace.

. This book is a compilation of four discourses made within 18 to 21 Ramazan 1388 in Hosainiyah Irshad. This book consists of one preface and two parts. In the preface the rules of attraction and repulsion in general and human attractions and repulsions, in particular, have been discussed. In the first part Ali's attraction, which has perpetually been attracting and conti­nues to attract the souls, its philosophy its advantages and its influences have been made subject matter of discussion. In the second part his forceful repulsion, and what elements it forcefully repelled and ousted, have been described and explained. It is confirmed that Ali has been a personality with two faculties and whosoever wants to take discipline in his school must be a person with two faculties. It should always be kept in view that to be of two faculties alone will not be sufficient to establish identity with Ali's school. In this part an attempt has been made to indicate to a possible extent the types of people who were attracted by Ali's attraction and to point out the sort of people his repulsion, repelled.

Pity on some of us!who claim to be followers of Ali's school but repel those whom Ali attracts and attract those whom Ali repels. In the part concerning Ali's repulsion, the discussion has been confined only to the Kharijites, while the fact remains that there are other classes too, which fall to Ali's repulsion. May be at another occasion or at least by the publication of the second edition of this book this defect like others may be remedied.

The great scholar Aga-e-Fath Ullah has under-taken the pains to vet and correct my speeches. Half of the book is in his hand. After transcribing from the recorded cassettes, he has occasionally either corrected them or completed them. The other half of it is either my oral version or an occasional addition in his script.

I hope it will have a wholesome and informing effect. We pray that Allah may make us from amongst the true followers of Ali.

Law of Attraction and Repulsion

It is a generallaw, the entire system of creation is subject to it. All modem human sciences conclusively assert that not a single atom from amongst the atoms of the cosmos lies beyond the jurisdiction of universalattraction, rather all happen to be subservient to it. From the largest organism and bodies of the universe to its smallest atoms, all possess this intrinsic force called attraction, and simultaneously (some­how or the other) they happen to be under its influence.

Man of earlier ages was not cognizant of this all-pervading faculty of attraction. Nonetheless, they did discover it in some of the bodies, and recognized them as symbol of this faculty, e.g. magnet and amber. Till late man did not know that these bodies have relative attraction for everything else also, he had rather presumed a specific co-relation about them, i.e., a co-relation between magnet and iron and grass and amber:

Every atom which is in this atmosphereFor its own genus is a petal as well as amber

But for these (two) we find no mention (in their volumes) of existence of faculty of attraction in the rest of the solid bodies. They have only discussed as to why the earth had hAlied amidst the heavens. They believed that the earth was held in suspension in the middle of the sky and was 3 pulled by the celestial attraction from all its sidesThey thought that as the attraction was comprehensive, so the sphere had to stay where it was, without leaning on any side. Some of them believed that the sky did not attract the earth, it rather repelled the sphere, and as the repulsion was equally comprehensive, so it had to stay on, at a specific point and could not change place.

They believed in the existence of the faculties of attraction and repulsion in plants and animals, in as much as they held them to possess the faculties of nutrition, growth and procreation. In the context of the faculty of nutrition they acknowledged the existence of secondary faculties of (i) attraction (ii) repulsion (iii) digestion and(iv) retention , and said that the stomach had the faculty of attraction, and because of that it pulled the food to itself and, in the same course, it excreted the diet whence it was found improper. In the same stance, they said that liver had the faculty of attrac­tion because it attracted water to itself:

"Stomach pulls food to the point. Liver pulls water to itself".

ATTRACTION AND REPULSION IN THE HUMAN WORLD

In the present context, by "attraction" and "repulsion" we do not mean to talk of sexual "attraction" and "repulsion", which being a special subject is not relevant here, it is rather a subject independent in itself. In fact, here we mean those attractions and repulsions which operate among human beings in sociological life. In human society, co-operation also plays a part which is based on community of interests, but that too is beyond our venue of discussion.

Finer instances of friendships and fraternities, and feuds and animosi­ties are expressions of faculties of attraction and repulsion peculiar to man. These attractions and repulsions may be based either on compatibility and resemblance or on spite and antagonism In fact we must try to find out the basic cause of attraction and repulsion in homogeneity and contrariety, as the philosopher's debate finally evolved the dictum "homogeneity is a cause of integration". Sometimes two persons attract each other with a desire to make friends and companion; and they do so impulsively. This impulse emanates from some sort of homogeneity. But for similitude and homo­geneity, they would not have attracted each other and would not have been keen to make friends. As a general rule, intimacy between two individuals is evidence of existence of some homogeneity and similitude between them.

In the Second Volume of "Masnavi", we find a sweet story about a crow and a mill-hopper: A sage saw a crow having befriended a mill-hopper. Both of them would sit and fly together. The two birds were from two different feathers: the crow having neither the complexion nor the physique of the mill-hopper, it had rather no resemblance with the latter. The sage was astonished to see a crow in the company of a mill-hopper. He went close to them and on scrutiny found that both of them were lame:-

The sage said I have seen,In dialogue a crow with a mill-hopper,I was astonished to observe their conduct,I tried to find a common value between them,I was all the more stunned and astonished when I reached them I saw for myself that both of them were lame.

Their being single-footed brought the two birds, each from a different feather, to flock together. Men also, in the same manner, as they do not offend each other at random, do not befriend each other without a common reason. Some believe that the root of attraction and repulsion lies in necessity and succor. Man is born deficient and dependent; therefore, he perpetually strives to make up his deficiencies and cater for his lacking. These objectives can be achieved only when he enters into alliance with a group and permanently merges in a society. With this contrivance, man benefits from one formation and avoids harm from another, and we find no rebellion or recalcitrance in him except that ripened in the warmth of instinct of self-preservation. In this view of the matter, the biological elements and natural structure have blessed man both with attraction and repulsion, so as to invigorate him to struggle for what he feels is beneficial to himself and to avoid what he finds opposed to his cherished objects, and to be indifferent to whatever is neither harmful nor advantageous to him. In reality, attraction and repulsion are two fundamental pillars of human life. And if these faculties are impaired, the whole life is disturbed, and the disturbance will be proportionate to the degree of damage caused to the faculties; the result would be that he who had the potential to fill up the vacuums would absorb others, and not only will fail to fill up the vacuums but will also aggravate them. He would earn peoples' apathy and would be reckoned just as a stone beside.

DIFFERENCE IN MEN QUA ATTRACTION AND REPULSION:

For the individual attraction and repulsion, all men are not equal to one another; they are rather divisible in various groups: -

Individuals who neither have attraction nor repulsion: They are no body's friends and no body's foes. They do neither excite any body's love, devotion or friendship, nor do they instigate anybody to animosity, hatred, jealousy and vindictiveness; without being acknowledged they move about amidst men as if a stone happens to be afoot.

He is a good-for-nothing and is an infructuous being. A man without any positive point (positive herein is not confined only to virtues, it also covers wretchedness) virtue-wise or vice-wise, is an animal, feeds himself goes to sleep, and moves about amidst men. Like a sheep, he is no body's friend and no body's foe. If men care about a sheep or serve water and fodder to it, it is just as a measure preparatory to its slaughter, as and when so required. He blows neither trade wind nor otherwise. They are a group rightly called: Cheap individuals, vain and shallow. Man needs friends and needs to befriend and vice-versa, we say man needs foes and needs to be offended.

MEN WHO HAVE ATTRACTION BUT NOT REPULSION:

They are fond of every one and warm to all; they make their fans from amongst all classes of people. In their lifetime everyone is their friend and no one disowns them. When they die, the Muslims give them funeral wash with waters of Zamzam and the Hindus bum their cadavers to ashes:

"Urfi so behave with virtuous and vicious both that after your death the Muslims give you wash with Zamzam and the Hindus burn your cadaver to ashes."

As desired by this poet, if you happen to live in a bi-national society, half of which are Muslims and dispose of the dead bodies of the co-believers by respectfully washing the same and as a token of greater respect give them funeral wash with the holy waters of Zamzam, preceeding the ante-burial prayers; and the other half of this society are Hindus who put their dead a-pyre to be burnt to ashes; then in such a society, you should so conduct yourself that after your death the Muslims take you as their co-believer and give you ante-burial wash with waters of Zamzam and Hindus take you to be theirs and burn your dead body on pyre.

Probably they believe that by sweet manners and smooth co-existence or, in today's parlance, by "being social" they can befriend the whole mankind. But from the perspective of a man with principles and conviction, who wants to selflessly pursue the ideas and thoughts in multitude of humanity, it is inevitable to be one-sided, curt and out-spoken; albeit a dual personality is possessed only by a hypocrite.

As all men neither think alike nor feel alike, nor their likes and dislikes are identical, e.g. among men are avengers and offenders, good and bad, society has judges and also aggressors, it has arbiters and criminals; all of them cannot simultaneously be friendly to a man who is pursuing definite goals, because his pursuits are unavoidably detrimental to the interests of one class. Only a liar and a mendacious person can afford to carry on friendship with people of divergent classes and flirt with people of different ideas. He expresses himself in parlance and exhibits in fashion suited to the moment. A straightforward man or a man with principles has to befriend some and to offend others. Those who follow his course rush to him and those who go contrary to his way reject and oppose him.

Some of the Christians, who show themselves of and their religion as the herald of love, contend that a perfect man must he nothing but loving, and that is all. Hence man to have attraction alone. Probably some Hindus have also identical belief

In Christian and Hindu philosophies lot has been devoted to love. They say, "We shouldbe loving to everything and when we love all, nothing will obstruct them from reciprocating with the same to us. The vicious will also love us when they have seen love from us".

Let these gentlemen know!it does not suffice to be lover alone, one must have principles as well, as Gandhi has said, "Our religion lies in love coupled with reality; and if love is blended with reality, it becomes a commitment to principles". Commitment by a man to principles inevitably generates enmity, this, in fact, is repulsion, which instigates some to con­frontation and rejects others.

Islam no doubt is a religion of love and affinity. The Quran introduces the Prophet as a blessing for the universe: "andWe commissioned you but as a blessing for all the worlds", i.e. for the worst of your enemies also you should be a blessing and affectionate.

However, the love preached by the Quran does not mean that we should so behave as to please everyone and to act according to every one's likes and delight, so that everyone is allured by us. To let everyone loose in his own choice or to ditto his likes is of no love with him, it is in fact hypocrisy and deception. Love must be blended with reality; such a love imparts virtue and Lo!the virtue so imparted has not been adulterated with the love of the adversary. Very often, while pursuing his course, such a man comes in contact with many persons, and when they find his likes opposed to their objects, they give him an affront instead of an appreciation. Besides this, the wise and the logical love and friendship embraces the welfare and is in the interest of the whole mankind and not of an individual or a special class. There are many makings of love and deliveries of goods to individuals, which are in effect harmful and antagonistic to the society.

In the annals among reformers, we find many stalwarts who struggled for eradication of evils from society and suffered pains during their struggle, but men rewarded them with injury and vengeance. Hence love is not always anattraction, rather at times it displays the most forceful repulsion and antagonizes hosts of men against such a stalwart.

Abdur Rahman Ibne Moljum was from worst of Ali's enemies. Ali knew well that Ibn Moljum's deep animosity against him was fatal for him. People also often tried to convince Ali to do away with Ibn Moljum as he was a dangerous man. Ali would always refute them by saying: "He is my assassin. I am not his. How could I kill my own killer?" It was about him, that Ali said." I wish him life and virtue while he intends to take my life. I have tender feelings for him while he has become my enemy and nourishes grudge against me".

Finally, love alone is not a panacea for ailments of humanity. For some tastes and temperaments roughness is also needed and so is required a combat, a repulsion and an aversion. Islam too is religion of love and attrac­tion and of hatred and repulsion.

MEN WHO HAVE REPULSION BUT NOT ATTRACTION

They make enemies but do not make friends, they are deficient individuals; and this assertion is based on the fact that they lack positive human qualities, because if they would have possessed such qualities they must have made a group of friends or at least a few ones; needless to say that may be, though, very small in number yet men with virtue do live among the masses. Had all men at a time on globe, been menda­cious and tyrannical, all feuds would have been evaluated as truth and justice. However, at a time all men are not vicious, in the same manner, as all men are not virtuous at a time. Naturally, fault lies somewhere with him to whom all are foes, otherwise how is it possible that a man having merits could not win a single friend? Such persons do not have any positive point in themselves and their negative points are also totallybitter, and bitter for all; they do not have such a single point as might be cherished by any one person.

Ali says, "The weakest of men is he who is too weak to attract a friend; and still weaker is the one who loses friends and gets isolated".

Men who have attraction and repulsion both are men of principle, who struggle for the glory of their own faith and conviction; they attract groups to themselves, they are held in esteem and are loved by many a soul, and along with this they ward off and drive away many from their vicinity. They befriend and offend; they are benevolent friends and noble foes.

Attractions and repulsions have a few categories, in some case attrac­tion .and repulsion both are forceful, in others both are weak, while in the rest of the cases the degrees of the strength of attraction and repulsion are at variance interse. The dignified are those whose attraction and repulsion both are forceful, and this is relative to the strength of positive and negative values in their nature. Of course, the force also has degrees, so that it should reach the point that captivates friends who lay down their lives for his sake and may sacrifice themselves at his pleasure; on the other hand, their enemies are also headstrong and heedless about themselves while acting in their opposition. Their power of attraction and repulsion becomes so predominant that it permeates the vast canvas of the generations for centuries to come and this three dimensional attraction and repulsion is among the special charms of the saints, as to be a three-dimensional mission is the special distinction of the Apostolic missions.

Yet another aspect for us to see is what types they attract and what types they repel, e.g., sometimes the wise are attracted and the fool arc repelled and sometimes vice versa. Sometimes the noble and the virtuous are attracted and the ignoble and the vicious are repelled and sometimes vice versa. Hence the friends and the adversaries of and those attracted and repelled by a man form the irrefutable evidence of his intrinsic faculty Only a person's having attraction and repulsion, or even his faculties being forceful, will not suffice it to say that he has a commendable persona­lity; it is rather an index of the origin of his personality, and nobody's personality alone is evidence of his virtue. All great men and leaders of the world, including the cunning criminals like Changaiz, Hajjaj and Mo'aviyha, were men having both attraction and repulsion. Without some "positive" points, no one can oblige thousands of warriors to submit to him and be subdued to his designs, unless one has the quality of leadership, one in one's time cannot muster the people around oneself.

Nadir Shah is one of such figures. How many men were beheaded and how many eyes were extracted by him from the sockets, but he had an exceptionally powerful personality. From amongst the relics of a defeated and outraged Iran of the last days of Safavide dynasty he raised an army and like magnet attracting fragments of iron, he rallied warriors around him and not only liberated Iran from the foreigners but also conquered the extremes of India. He annexed new territories to Iranian sovereignty.

Hence every person has attraction for his homogeneous and repulsion for the divergent. A personality with grace and righteousness would attract the benevolent and the righteous, to him and would repel the selfish, the mercenary and the hypocrite. A criminal personality would rally the sinners around him and would repel the virtuous. Asalluded to above, another difference lies in the proportion of force of attraction. It is said about Newton's Theory of Gravitation, "Increase in force of gravitation is proport­ionate to the mass of the bodies and lessening of the distance between them". Likewise, amongst men also attraction and repulsion vary propor­tionately to their proximity.

ALI, A PERSONALITY WITH TWO FACULTIES

Ali is from among those who have both the faculties of attraction and repulsion, and both these faculties in him are extremely forceful.

Probably, throughout the bygone centuries and during all the times to come, we may fail to trace an attraction and repulsion as forceful as that of Ali. He has marvelous and historic, devoted and forbearing friends, who in his love aflame like a pyre burn and enlighten. They are fond and proud of laying down their lives for his cause; they in his love have ignored everyone else. Though years, rather centuries, have passed since his demise yet Ali's attraction perpetually intensifies, and bewilders the onlookers.

In his lifetime of his contemporaries who were God loving, devoted and selfless, kind and forbearing, just and philanthropist rallied around him.Everyone of them has left in legacy an inspiring piece of history. After his death, particularly during the rule of Mo'awiyah and the Omayyed dynasty, hosts of such people were put to the worst of victimization, but they never fell short of love and devotion for Ali and stood fast till their last, though invariably they had to lose their lives.

With the death of worldly personalities, all their belongings diminish and their merits are buried along with their dead, but the personalities of the faith, though themselves may die yet their faith and love, which they enkindled, becomes brighter and sublime by afflux of time;We read in history that after Ali's demise, for years, rather for centu­ries, men have been abreast against the darts of his enemies. Twenty years after our Master's assassination, from amongst his devotees and those attracted to him, we see Maisam-i-Teemar reciting atop the gallows hymns of Ali's merit and superiority. Those were the days when whole of the Muslim world was gagged in suffocation, all liberties had been forfeited, souls were stifled in the bosom, dreadful silence like the dust of death had shrouded the faces, but Maisam from the top of the altar cries "Here! Here!For you I say what Ali was" people thronged around him to listen to what he might be allowed to say. The iron-fisted Omayyed government appre­hending jeopardy to its interests ordered to rein his mouth and thus within a few days his life was brought to an end. History has abundant instances of suchlike devotees of Ali. These peculiar sentiments have not worn out by the passage of time. In all the times, these forceful sentiments have been ever more effective.

The dauntless Ibn Sokayyat is from the galaxy of scholars and the stalwarts of Arabic literature and those having literary taste count him never lesser to Saiboya and the likes. He lived in the times of Motawakkil Abbassi, i.e., two centuries after the martyrdom of Ali. Sokayyat was brandished as a Shiah by Motawakkil's spying network, but as he was a distinguished and well-versed scholar, Motawakkil appointed him as tutor of his sons. One day the children came to Motawakkil's court when the tutor was also there. They had fared well in a test held earlier on the same day. Mutwakkil, either on the pretext of appreciation of Sokayyat's services or to fathom his known commitment to Shiah faith, inquired from the tutor as to whether he liked those two (his two sons) more or Hassan and Hussain, the two sons of Ali.

Ibn Sokayyat, on hearing this sentence and formulation of such a comparison, flew into rage; his blood boiled and he said to himself, "This pigmy has inflated himself so much that he compares his sons with Hassan and Hussain! It is my fault that I have undertaken to educate them". He said to Mutwakkil, "By God! I hold Qamber, the slave of Ali, in a far higher esteem than in which I find both of your sons and their father".

Mutwakkil forthwith ordered that Ibn Sikayyat's tongue be extracted through the back of his neck.

History knows many enchanted who spontaneously laid down their lives in course of Ali's love. Wherefrom to find such a forceful attraction. I doubt if the world will ever have a match to it. Likewise, Ali has obstinate enemies: Enemies who bite themselves when they hear Ali's name being mentioned. No doubt, as an individual Ali has left, but as a school he perpetuates. He in the very same manner conti­nues to pull one group to himself and push away the other. Oh! Ali is the personality with Two Faculties.