﷽ (I begin) In the Name of Allah, the All-Kind (or All-Beneficent), the All-Merciful (or All-Compassionate) وقال عليه السلام : الْفَقِيهُ كُلُّ الْفَقِيهِ مَنْ لَمْ يُقَنِّطِ النَّاسَ مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللهِ، وَلَمْ يُؤْيِسْهُمْ مِنْ رَوْحِ اللهِ وَلَمْ يُؤْمِنْهُمْ مِنْ مَكْرِالله Amīrul Muʾminīn, peace be upon him, said: The perfect jurist of Islam is he who does not let people lose hope from the mercy of Allah, does not make them despondent of Allah’s kindness and does not make them feel safe from Allah’s punishment. In Saying 90 of the Nahj al-Balāghah, Imām ʿAlī (ʿa) defines the “Complete Jurist” (Al-Faqīh), not just as a technical expert in law, but as a master of the human heart who knows exactly how to balance the scales of hope and fear. Redefining the “Faqīh” When we hear the word faqīh, we usually think of a scholar of religious rulings. However, the Imām (ʿa) uses it here in its broader, linguistic sense: a religious scholar who is perfect in every respect. The true scholar is one who acts as a spiritual doctor, knowing when to provide the “medicine” of hope and when to apply the “surgery” of warning. The Three Divine Boundaries The Imām’s statement draws from three vital Qur’ānic principles that guide how we should interact with others and ourselves: 1. Never Drive People to Despair We must never make anyone feel that they are “beyond saving.” «قُلْ يا عِبادِيَ الَّذينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلى أَنْفُسِهِمْ لا تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَمَةِ اللّهِ» “Say, ‘O My servants who have committed excesses against their own souls, do not despair of the mercy of Allah...’” (Qur’an 39:53) 2. Never Make Them Lose Hope in Relief While the first point refers to mercy in the Hereafter, this refers to Allah’s relief in this world. We see this in the story of Prophet Ya‘qūb (ʿa): «وَلا تَيْأَسُوا مِنْ رَوْحِ اللّهِ إِنَّهُ لا يَيْأَسُ مِنْ رَوْحِ اللّهِ إِلاَّ الْقَوْمُ الْكافِرُونَ» “...and do not despair of Allah’s mercy [relief]. Indeed no one despairs of Allah’s mercy except the faithless lot.” (Qur’an 12:87)

*And they worship beside Allah what can neither harm them nor profit them, and they say: These are our intercessors with Allah. Say: Do you (presume to) inform Allah of what He knows not in the heavens and the earth? Glory be to Him, and supremely exalted is He above what they set up (with Him). (10:18)* An pre-Islamic idol worshipper’s thought process (Al-Mizan, v.19, pg 132-133): 🗿My worship to my idols makes me draw closer to the chief idol of the smaller idols - and the the chief idols brings us closer to Allah. 🗿The chief idols are Allah’s most beloved creatures. 🗿 Allah has delegated the management of the universe to the chief idols and they do everything (and Allah has retired). 🗿We worship the (lifeless) idols so the chief idol can intercede for us with Allah. 📖 Instead of saying they worship idols, Qur’an says they worship “what can neither harm them nor profit them” - ie. lifeless things they made themselves which can’t even help themselves let alone hear your worship and intercede for you. 📖 Qur’an says: “they say: ‘These are our intercessors with Allah.’ Say: ‘Do you (presume to) inform Allah of what He knows not…’ - i.e, you believe Allah doesn’t know about these idol-intercessors and so YOU are deciding who is your intercessor and YOU are informing Allah of who they are!! 📖 The illogic upon illogic of their thought profess is pointed out: firstly, you worship something lifeless. Next, you say they intercede for you with Allah - but then you also say Allah doesn’t know these intercessors. How can someone be Allah’s beloved who intercedes but Allah doesn’t even know about this beloved intercessor!!!! 📖 In 2:255, Allah tells us in the famous Ayat al-kursi: *“…to Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Who is it that can intercede with Him but by His Permission? He knows what is before them and what is behind them, while they comprehend nothing of His knowledge except what He wills….”* 📖 Allama Tabataba’i explains 2:255 as follows: Intercession means being an intermediary in bringing about a good or averting an evil. There is no doubt that an intercessor has some influence on the affairs of the thing for which he intercedes. Such influence could be contrary to the complete authority of Allah, if it was not been based on the permission of Allah. But every cause is effective only from the decree of Allah. There is no cause and no thing which is independent of the will of Allah. Every cause is a cause, because Allah has made it so. Therefore, whatever effect and influence it has on anything is in fact done by Allah. Ultimately, there is no authority except that of Allah.” (V. 4, Pg. 138)

Surahs and their names

Bismillāh فَلَمَّا أَحَسَّ عِيسَىٰ مِنْهُمُ الْكُفْرَ قَالَ مَنْ أَنصَارِي إِلَى اللَّهِ ۖ قَالَ الْحَوَارِيُّونَ نَحْنُ أَنصَارُ اللَّهِ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَاشْهَدْ بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ When Jesus sensed their faithlessness, he said, ‘Who will be my helpers [on the path] toward Allah?’ The Disciples said, ‘We will be helpers of Allah. We have faith in Allah, and you be witness that we have submitted [to Him]. (Sūrat Āl-i ‘Imrān, No 3, Āyat 52) The above verse quotes Prophet ‘Īsā ‘alayhis salām, towards the end of his blessed life. As the verse says initially, at this stage in his life ‘Īsā (a) realized that the majority of the Banū Isrā’īl were not going to accept his religion. The verb ahassa is not normally used for a matter of the heart like faithlessness (kufr). The fact that Allah has uses it here indicates that their faithlessness was manifested in action. For example, they openly rejected his teachings and even threatened to kill him. Faced with this dire situation, Prophet ‘Īsā (a) made a plan to ensure his message will remain after he is gone. He called out as is quoted in the verse, seeking a group of faithful helpers who would constitute the core group to protect and propagate his faith. These individuals would shoulder the difficult burden ahead. Such a core nucleus is needed in social phenomena such as ideologies and religions. A strong base from which the message will be spread. During the life of the Noble Messenger sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa ālih, the city of Madinah served as this base for the nascent religion of Islam. In modern times for example, the Soviet Union was the base of the communist ideology. An interesting point regarding the Arabic of the above verse that ‘Allāmah Tabātabā’ī mentions is with regards to the particle ilā, meaning towards. Normally the word helper or the verb ‘to help’ doesn’t come with the particle ilā, so why is it used here? ‘Allāmah explains that like other verses that talk about giving a loan to Allah, such language is a way of encouraging those that Prophet ‘Īsā (a) is questioning. He wants them to realize they are helping on the path towards Allah, essentially that they are helpers ‘of Allah’ as they say in their response. The overall question of ‘Īsā (a) is in reality an encouragement, enjoining the listeners to become these elite helpers of Allah. Using this language of helping ‘towards Allah’ further emphasizes this encouragement.

Virtues of Imam Ali(as)