BB00307: Tafsir-i-Hadith al-Jariyya

In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

I say, seeking assistance from God, in the interpretation of certain traditions narrated in Al-Kafi concerning the knowledge of the unseen, from Sudayr who said:

“I was with Abu Basir, Yahya al-Bazzar and Dawud ibn Kathir in the presence of Abu Abdullah when he came out to us in a state of anger. When he took his seat, he said: ‘How strange of people who claim that we know the unseen! None knows the unseen save God. Indeed, I had intended to discipline my maidservant, but she fled from me, and I know not in which of the rooms of the house she is.’”

His purpose in these words was to manifest the loftiness of his station and his majesty in describing his knowledge of Divine Unity that transcends the grasp of minds and imaginations, of which none have a portion save the mystics among those endowed with understanding. I shall mention but a drop from the outpourings of his bounty, as my weak soul has comprehended from his noble words, in response to the questioner and in manifestation of servitude. There is no might nor power save in God.

His words have an inner door wherein lies mercy for the people of knowledge who have recognized the sublimity of his majesty and the greatness of his station, and who seek neither superiority nor corruption in the land of knowledge. Its outer meaning contains punishment for the people of ignorance and transgression who cling to its superficial meaning, thus changing God’s blessing of His knowledge. They shall meet with perdition, and from their hearts shall flow through their tongues the fire of polytheism and the poisons of unbelief, while they reckon they are doing good. Nay, they shall not be sustained, but shall perish by their own deeds, and God is aware of the wrongdoers.

As for his state of anger, it was due to God’s manifestation to him, whereby his inner and outer being were drawn to God at the station of His manifestation. In this station, his identity and overwhelming power tell of none save God alone. Thus he attributed the unseen to God alone, metaphorically indicating that his knowledge of the unseen is God’s knowledge, and there is no account save of God. None knoweth the unseen save God, for in the disclosure of His world within the realm of Divine Unity He abideth in the station of His pure Oneness and absolute Cloud, whereof there is no mention of His Self save through the Sign of God alone. The Unseen is the station of His Identity; and the Knower is God alone, for the unseen is veiled from the world of multiplicity—being the station of unity within the world of the unseen and the unseen itself—and none knoweth the unseen but God.

Whoso asserteth that His anger was on account of the handmaid hath verily disbelieved in his Lord; for anger is a passing from one state unto another, and any change of His station occurreth only by reason of the manifestation of God and the ascendancy made evident thereby unto Him. He is never altered in regard to what lieth beneath His station. In this estate the existence of the handmaid profiteth Him not, nor doth her non-existence harm Him. Exalted is He above the descriptions of the wrongdoers.

And if it be said that in the station of Imamate change were possible, I reply: the station of His Imamate is never bereft of the station of Exposition; and in that station of Exposition He hath ever been and shall ever remain—no change befalleth it at any time. As to His word, “I indeed resolved to strike my handmaid”: by “striking” He intended the Theophany, and by “the handmaid” all the multiplicities that are in the Greatest Depth—for the handmaid denoteth the station of femininity and receptivity, the station of plurality. His saying, “She fled from me,” signifieth that, at the moment of the Theophany, contingencies could not abide: the mountains were leveled and all things fell down in a swoon.

And as to His saying, “I knew not in which of the houses of the dwelling she was” [fa-ma ’alimtu fi ayy buyut al-dar hiya]: by “ma” He intended the “ma” of negation—proclaiming thereby the loftiness of His station—wherein He denieth knowledge of any beside His own Self; for He was recounting the station of His Unity, wherein there is no mention save the mention of God, the All-Glorious, the All-Bountiful. In that Unity and in that station, multiplicity hath no standing in His court. “Would ye inform Him of that which He knoweth not? Or hath He a handmaid in any of the houses of the dwelling?” Hallowed be He! He is the All-Knowing, and there is naught known—neither by mention nor by essence. Yet He knoweth the handmaid in her own loci, which are the stations of the manifold, and that forevermore.

Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and the curse of God be upon the enemies of Muhammad’s followers until our day and the Day of Judgment.