That Noble One (a.s.) was endowed with the Qualities of the Angels
متصف بودن آن حضرت از صفات ملائكه
مقصد دوم: در آنچه آن جناب متصف است به آن از صفات ملائكه و مقصود صفات يك ملك نيست، زيرا كه آن فضيلتي نيست نسبت به آن حضرت، بلكه مقصود آن است كه اگر ملاحظه نمائي جميع ملائكه را كه از تمام مخلوقات بيشتر هستند، و ملاحظه كني عبادتهاي ايشان را به انحاء مختلفه كه به حد و حصر در نيايد از اول خلقتشان تا آخر دهر، هر آينه آن جناب جمع نموده است جميع آن عبادتها را در يك روز، پس گويا آن جناب جميع ملايكه است. [ صفحه 419] پس اول بشنو صفات ملائكه را كه حضرت اميرالمؤمنين (عليهالسلام) در بيان اصناف ايشان ميفرمايد درخطبهي نهجالبلاغه ميفرمايد: بعضي از ايشان هميشه در سجدهاند، و بعضي از ايشان هميشه در ركوع، و بعضي صف بستهاند، و از حال خود منفك نميشوند، و تسبيح ميكنند و خسته نميشوند، چشم ايشان به خواب نميرود وعقل ايشان سهو نميكند، و بدن ايشان سست نميشود، و هيچ غفلت و فراموشي ندارند، و بعضي امين بر وحي الهي هستند كه به سوي انبياء ميآورند، و آمد و شد ميكنند به احكام و اوامر الهي، و بعضي حفظة عبادند، و بعضي خازنان بهشتند، و بعضي در بزرگي به نحوي هستند كه پاهاي ايشان در زمين هفتم است، و سرهاي ايشان از آسمان هفتم گذشته، و اركان ايشان از اقطار خارج است، و دوش ايشان مناسب با قوايم عرش است، يعني از حملهي عرشند. [1312] .مؤلف گويد: هرگاه ملاحظه نمائي حالات امام مظلوم را، مييابي آن جناب را كه عبادت كرد مانند عبادت جميع ملائكه، پس سجود نمود از براي خدا سجدهاي كه ديگر از آن سر بلند ننمود، و ركوع كرد كه از آن قدش راست نشد، و شب عاشورا تا به صبح به عبادت ايستاد، و خواب و سهو بر او راه نيافت، و در روز عاشورا نفس خود را به تعبها انداخت، از اعمال و افعال، و رفتن و آمدن، و حرب و ضرب، و حملات و فرياد، و اغاثهي اصحاب و استغاثه از اعداء، و اصلا از برايش سستي بدن عارض نشد، كه آن بدن شريف از جنس اين اجسام نبوده، و هرگاه ملاحظه نمائي آن جناب را با اصحابش در مقام طاعت خدا، چگونه صف بسته بود، هر آينه خواهي دانست كه ايشان مانند ملائكه صافين هستند، كه از محل خود زايل نشوند. و باز اميرالمؤمنين (عليهالسلام) ميفرمايد در بيان صفات ملائكه چشيدند شيريني معرفت خدا را، آشاميدند از جام محبت او كه سيراب شدند، و در مكنون قلب ايشان ثابت و راسخ گرديد عروق خوف او، پس خم گرديد به طول عبادت و طاعت اعتدال قامتشان، و تمام نمود طول رغبت به سوي او ماده تضرعشان را، و آزاد ننمود بزرگي مقام [ صفحه 420] ايشان بندگي خشوعشان را، و عجب و خودبيني به ايشان راه نيافت، كه اعمال خود را بسيار ببينند، و ملاحظهي حقارت خود در جنب جلال الهي باقي نگذاشت از براي ايشان، نصيبي در بزرگ شمردن حسنات خود، و جاري نيست بر ايشان سستي با وجود زحمت ايشان در عبادت، و شوق ايشان تمام نگرديد تا اينكه از مقام رجاي ايشان تعلقي حاصل شود، و با طول مناجات زبان ايشان نميخشكد، و از كثرت ناله و زاري صداي ايشان نميگيرد، و از مقام اطاعت دوش ايشان سبك نميشود، و گردن ايشان از براي تقصير در امر او خم نميگردد و غفلت به گرد ساحت ايشان راه ندارد. [1313] .
That Noble One (a.s.) was endowed with the Qualities of the Angels
Objective Two: Concerning those qualities of the angels with which that Noble One (a.s.) was adorned.
The intention is not the qualities of a single angel, for that would not be a virtue in relation to that Noble One (a.s.).
Rather, the intention is that if you consider all the angels, who are more numerous than all other creatures, and consider their acts of worship in their various forms, which cannot be limited or counted from the beginning of their creation until the end of time, then that Noble One (a.s.) gathered all of those acts of worship into a single day.
Thus, it is as though that Noble One (a.s.) was all the angels combined.
[ صفحه 419]
First, hear the descriptions of the angels which Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s.) mentions concerning their various classes in a sermon of Nahj al-Balaghah.
He (a.s.) says:
Some of them are perpetually in sujood (prostration), and some are perpetually in ruqu'u (bowing).
Some stand in ranks and never depart from their state.
They glorify Allah and do not become weary.
Sleep does not overcome their eyes.
Their intellects do not fall into error.
Their bodies do not become weak.
No heedlessness or forgetfulness ever reaches them.
Some are trustees of the Divine Revelation (wahy) which they bring to the Prophets.
They go back and forth with the Divine commands and decrees.
Some are guardians of the servants.
Some are the keepers of Paradise.
Some are so immense that their feet are in the seventh earth, their heads have passed beyond the seventh heaven, their limbs extend beyond the horizons, and their shoulders correspond to the pillars of the Throne; that is, they are among the bearers of the Throne. [1312]
The author says:
Whenever you reflect upon the states of the Oppressed Imam (a.s.), you will find that he worshipped with a worship like that of all the angels.
He performed a sujood (prostration) for Allah from which he never again raised his head.
He performed a ruqu'u (bowing) from which his stature never straightened again.
On the night of ʿĀshūrāʾ he stood in worship until morning.
Neither sleep nor forgetfulness found a way to him.
On the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ he subjected himself to hardships through deeds and actions, through going and coming, warfare and striking, assaults and cries, assisting his companions and calling for help from his enemies.
Yet no weakness at all overcame him, for that blessed body was not of the nature of ordinary bodies.
And whenever you consider him together with his companions in the station of obedience to Allah, and how they stood in ranks, you will certainly know that they were like the angels who stand in orderly rows (al-malaaekah al-saaffeen) and do not move from their places.
Again, Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s.) says in describing the angels:
They tasted the sweetness of the ma'aarefah (recognition) of Allah.
They drank from the cup of His love until they were fully satisfied.
The roots of His fear became firmly established and deeply fixed within the hidden recesses of their hearts.
Through the length of their worship and obedience, the uprightness of their forms became bent.
The length of their yearning for Him completed the substance of their supplication and humility.
The greatness of their rank did not free them from the servitude of humility.
Self-admiration and vanity found no way into them, such that they would regard their deeds as great.
Their awareness of their own insignificance before the Divine Majesty left no share for them in magnifying their own good deeds.
No weariness comes upon them despite the hardship of their worship.
Their longing never comes to an end such that they would become attached to the station of hope alone.
Through the length of their intimate conversations with Allah, their tongues do not become dry.
Because of the abundance of their lamentation and supplication, their voices do not become weak.
Their shoulders do not become lightened from the burden of obedience.
Their necks do not bend due to negligence regarding His command.
And heedlessness finds no path to the sanctity of their station. [1313]
مؤلف گويد: اگر نظر كني به چشم حقيقت خواهي يافت، كه شيريني معرفت همان است، كه حسين (عليهالسلام) چشيد، و جام محبت همان است، كه آن جناب نوشيد، چنان شيريني معرفت را يافت، كه مرارت زحماتي را كه بر او وارد گرديد، نيافت، با اينكه تمام مرارت دنيا در آن جمع بود، از قلبي و روحي، و نفسي، و جسدي، و ظاهري، و باطني، و فرمود: خوش است از براي من مرگ. و چنان جام محبت نوشيد كه شدت عطش در قلب او اثر ننمود، با اينكه لبانش و زبانش را خشك ساخت،و كبدش را از هم پاشيد، و روشني چشمش را تمام نمود، ولي قلبش سيراب بود از جام محبت. و اگر تأملي نمائي به ديدهي بصيرت، خواهيد دانست كه قول آن حضرت در اعتدال قامت، اظهر افراد و احق مصاديق آن جناب است، زيرا كه كمر خود را خم نمود در طاعت خدا در ضمن يك ساعت به تحمل تير سه شعبه، كه از قلب شريفش گذشت، و از پشتش بيرون آمد، پس خون مانند ناودان جاري شد، علاوه نمود بر خم نمودن كمر جدا شدن اعضا و جوارح را. و اگر نيكو تدبر كني خواهي يافت آن جناب را اعظم مصاديق آن فقره، كه در شأن ملائكه فرمود كه: طول شوق الهي ماده تضرع ايشان را منقطع نميكند، زيرا كه آن عبارت است از اينكه در تضرع خود ملاحظهي مطلبي ندارند، تا به وصال آن ، يا نااميدي از آن، [ صفحه 421] تضرعشان قطع شود، بلكه مقصود ايشان خود تضرع است لنفسه مادامي كه زندهاند، و تحسين (عليهالسلام) در اين صفت تفوق داشت بر ملائكه، و آن اين است كه نميخواست انقطاع مادهي تضرع را، نه در حيات، و نه بعد از ممات، زيرا كه متحمل شد مصائب را، بعد از وفات به جسد شريفش، به انواع مصائب، و به سر مباركش به انواع بلايا، و به قبر منورش به اقسام ابتلا، و جميع آنها را نيت نموده بود در حياتش، و ملاحظه نموده بود حتي پامال شدن بدن، و بريدن انگشت ، و دست و زدن چوب بر لب و دندان، و گردانيدن سر در شهرها و بازارها، و همهي اينها را از جملهي عبادات خود قرار داده بود، و اين يك ذرهاست از كلام در اين مقام، و مابقي در خزانهي خيال بماند. [1314] .
The author says:
If you look with the eye of reality, you will find that the sweetness of ma'aarefah (Divine recognition) was that which al-Imam Husain (a.s.) tasted, and the cup of love was that which he drank.
He attained such sweetness in ma'aarefah (Divine Recognition) that he did not feel the bitterness of the hardships that came upon him, although all the bitterness of the world had been gathered therein: hardships of the heart, the soul, the self, the body, the outward and the inward.
And he said:
“Death is pleasant for me.”
He drank so deeply from the cup of love that the intensity of thirst left no effect upon his heart, although it dried his lips and tongue, tore apart his liver, and extinguished the brightness of his eyes; yet his heart remained quenched by the cup of love.
And if you reflect with the eye of insight, you will know that the statement concerning the bending of the stature applies most clearly and most truly to him (a.s.).
For within a single hour he bent his back in obedience to Allah through enduring the three-pronged arrow which passed through his blessed heart and emerged from his back, causing blood to flow like a waterspout.
To the bending of his back was added the severing of his limbs and bodily parts.
And if you ponder carefully, you will find that he (a.s.) was the greatest manifestation of that description which Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s.) mentioned regarding the angels:
That the length of their longing for Allah does not cause the substance of their supplication and humility to cease.
For the meaning of this is that in their supplication they do not seek some specific object, such that upon attaining it, or despairing of it,
[ صفحه 421]
their supplication would come to an end.
Rather, their purpose is supplication itself for its own sake, so long as they remain alive.
And al-Imam Husain (a.s.) surpassed the angels in this attribute.
That is because he did not desire the cessation of the means of supplication, neither during his life nor after his death.
For he endured afflictions after his passing through what befell his blessed body in various forms of suffering, his noble head in many kinds of tribulations, and his luminous grave through different forms of persecution.
He had intended all of these during his lifetime and had foreseen them, even the trampling of his body, the cutting of his finger and hand, the striking of his lips and teeth with a rod, and the carrying of his head through cities and marketplaces.
He had regarded all of these as part of his acts of worship.
And this is but a particle of what may be said regarding this station; the remainder shall remain in the treasury of imagination. [1314] .