Discussion of the Narrations

Describing the Divinely Blessed

From the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.): “Say: ‘Guide us to the path of those upon whom You have bestowed Your blessings’...” And he said: “They are those about whom God, the Exalted, said: ‘Whoever obeys God and the Messenger—those will be with the ones upon whom God has bestowed favor of the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of truth, the martyrs and the righteous. And excellent are those as companions.’”(387)

From al-Ṣādiq (a.s.): He said: “God’s statement in al-Ḥamd: ‘The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor’ refers to Muḥammad and his progeny, God’s blessings be upon them.”(388)

Note: What is mentioned in these types of narrations is by way of application (jarī) and correspondence (taṭbīq), not conceptual exegesis (tafsīr) of the verse. Moreover, the infallible household (a.s.) themselves followed the same path that the previous prophets traversed. That is, the noble Messenger of Islam (s.a.w.) and, following him, the household of purity (a.s.) followed the path to which God had guided the previous prophets, not that they followed the previous prophets themselves, as can be inferred from verse 90 of Sūrah al-Anʿām.

The application of “those whom You have favored” (anʿamta ʿalayhim) to the Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.) in narrations is also by way of application (jarā), not exegesis (tafsīr) and explanation of meaning such that exclusivity can be inferred from it.

Inner and Spiritual Blessings

From the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.): “...As for His saying ‘The path of those whom You have favored’ (1:7), that is the blessing that God Almighty bestowed upon those before us from the prophets and the truthful. So we ask God, our Lord, to bless us as He blessed them.”(389)

“...These whom [God] has favored are not [favored] with wealth and bodily health, even though all of this is an apparent blessing from God. Do you not see that these [people] may be disbelievers or transgressors? So you have not been urged to pray that you be guided to their path. Rather, you have been commanded to pray that you be guided to the path of those whom He has favored with faith in God, belief in His Messenger, and allegiance (wilāya) to Muḥammad and his pure progeny...”(390)

“That is, say: ‘Guide us to the path of those whom You have favored’ with enablement to Your religion and obedience to You, not with wealth and health, for they may be disbelievers or transgressors.”(391)

From al-Bāqir (a.s.): “...And we are among God’s blessings upon His creation.”(392)

From the Prophet (s.a.w.): “It means, ‘You have favored them with allegiance to ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib.’”(393)

Note: The most perfect blessing that God bestowed upon the Islamic nation, after clarifying pure monotheism (tawḥīd), is allegiance to the pure monotheists, meaning the infallible Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.). What is mentioned as an instance in this blessed nation will be other than the general or universal conceptual meaning of the verse. Therefore, what has come in these types of narrations is by way of application and instantial application, not conceptual exegesis. The aforementioned narrations are clear evidence that what is meant by the desired blessing in Sūrah al-Ḥamd is inner and spiritual blessing, not material and apparent blessing.

External Unity of Those Who Have Gone Astray and Those Who Have Evoked God’s Anger

From the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.): “Everyone who disbelieves in God has evoked [His] anger and has gone astray from the path of God.”(394)

From al-Riḍā (a.s.): “Whoever exceeds servitude with regards to the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) is among those who have incurred wrath and those who are astray.”(395)

Note: Just as applying the description of perfection to the infallible Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.) is by way of instantiation, not conceptual interpretation, applying the description of deficiency to their opponents, adversaries, and usurpers of their rights is also by way of instantiation, not conceptual interpretation. For the Noble Qur’an considers a group to have incurred wrath and to be astray who passed away before the revelation of the Qur’an.

Establishing wrath and misguidance for the disbelievers and the extremists in these narrations indicates that dividing people into those who have been favored, those who have incurred wrath, and those who are astray in the final verse of Sūrah al-Ḥamd does not necessitate opposition. Rather, everyone who deviates from a truth is both astray and has incurred wrath.

Examples of Those Astray and Those Who Have Incurred Wrath

From Muʿāwiya b. Wahb who said: I asked Abū ʿAbdillāh (a.s.) about the saying of God: “Not of those who have incurred wrath, nor of those astray” (1:7). He said: “They are the Jews and the Christians.”(396)

From the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.): “’Not of those who have incurred wrath’—they are the Jews about whom God said: ‘...those whom God has cursed and with whom He became angry...’” (5:60).

“Nor of those astray”—he said: “They are the Christians about whom God said: ‘...they have certainly gone astray before and have led many astray.’” (5:77)

From al-Ṣādiq (a.s.): “Those who have incurred wrath are the Nāṣibīs, and those astray are the skeptics who do not recognize the Imām.”(397)

Note: Identifying the Jews as those who have incurred wrath and the Christians as those astray in the narrations is by way of instantiation and application, not interpretation. For both groups have incurred wrath and are misguided, even if one of these two attributes is more apparent in each of them. But these two are not separate from each other. Rather, every misguided person is afflicted with divine wrath to the extent of his misguidance, and every person who has incurred wrath is astray to the extent of incurring wrath.

Pure and Mixed Blessings in Paradise

The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “And its mixture is from Tasnīm” (83:27). He said: It is the noblest drink in Paradise, which Muḥammad and the family of Muḥammad drink, and they are the foremost ones brought near: the Messenger of God (s.a.w.), ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, the Imāms, Fāṭima, and Khadīja, God’s blessings be upon them and their progeny...(398)

Tasnīm is the noblest drink in Paradise, which Muḥammad and the family of Muḥammad drink pure, and it is mixed for the Companions of the Right and the rest of the people of Paradise.(399)

Note: Whatever is found in Paradise, whether drink or food, is free from harmful impurities. However, purity, clarity and refinement have degrees, and its degrees are based on the purity of faith, clarity of belief, and refinement of the deeds that the believers succeeded in performing in this world. And since the beliefs, character and deeds of the Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.) were pure in every respect, they partake from the spring of Tasnīm, a portion of which is mixed into the drink of the righteous and the Companions of the Right.

Worldly Blessings Can Lead People Astray

From the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.): We ask God, glory be to Him, to make us and you among those who are not made reckless by blessings(400). So be wary of the intoxications of blessings and beware the sudden onset of vengeance(401). You become intoxicated without drink, but rather from blessings and comfort(402). O people, may God see you as restrained in the face of blessings, just as He sees you fearful in the face of vengeance(403). What have I to do with comforts that perish and pleasures that do not last?(404) Every comfort less than Paradise is despicable.(405)

Note: Apparent blessings, if not accompanied by spiritual blessings and divine grace, will be a suitable tool for stimulating lust and anger on the one hand, and seducing illusion and imagination on the other. Satan, by capturing the stimulating and perceptual faculties of affluent individuals, leads them to extravagance and transgression, corrupting them. Therefore, divine men seek from God the good things of this world, just as they seek the good things of the Hereafter, not just any worldly goods.

And all praise belongs to God, Lord of the worlds.