#prophethood

where to draw the line between the monstrous and the divine?

Code, Scherezade Siobhan | An Oresteia: Agamemnon, trans. Anne Carson,  Aiskhylos | Love and Prayer, Simone Weill | Journal 1970-1986, Andrei Tarkovsky | Martyre de Saint Denis (1874-1888), detail, Léon Bonnat | The War of The Foxes, Richard Siken | Nathaniel Orion G.K. | Ovid at Fifteen, Christopher Bursk | On This Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong | Blue Rotunda, Louise Glück | The Waves, Virginia Woolf | Medusa (c. 1618), Peter Paul Rubens | Denouement, trans. Ellen Dori Watson, Adélia Prado

[ID: A collection of quotes and images from various sources.

1. Some people touch you and it is a form of taking. / Others touch you & it is a way of shaping.

2. And the grace of gods (I’m pretty sure) / is a grace that comes by violence.

3. Attention, taken to it’s highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love. // Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.

4. Why are they all trying to make me into a saint? / Oh God! Oh God! / I want to do things. Stop turning me into a saint.

5. Hera countered: You were born thirsting a mouthful of ichor from any God who would oblige. Suffering follows quench.

6. A close-up detail from The Martyrdom of St. Denis by Leon Bonnat. Saint Denis wears black robes around his waist as he kneels on the steps, reaching for his head. In the place of his head glows a light over the stump of his neck. To the left, a person can be seen recoiling in shock, as another person’s legs lie on the bloodied steps.

7. decompose eventually. We collide with place, which / is another name for God, and limp away with a / permanent injury. Ask for a blessing? You can try, / but we will not remain unscathed.

8. You don’t get to die / and be reborn the same. / You come back, but you come back wrong. / This is the price you pay / for resurrection.

9. One moment you’re ordinary / a son, a brother, / and the next / a god is finding you / so remarkable / there’s no escape / except to turn into a tree.

10. What I really wanted to say was that a monster is not such a terrible thing to be. From the Latin root monstrum, a divine messenger of catastrophe, the adapted by Old French to mean an animal of myriad origins: centaur, griffin, satyr. To be a monster is to be a hybrid signal, a lighthouse: both shelter and warning at once.

11. I am tired of having hands / she said / I want wings-- // But what will you do without your hands / to be human? // I am tired of human / she said / I want to live on the sun--

12. and I said to the star, ‘Consume me.’

13. A painting of Medusa by Peter Paul Rubens. He decapitated head lays on a rock, face frozen in shock and horror as blood pours from the wound. A variety of snakes writhe around her head amongst her hair.

14. I am beginning to despair / and can see only two choices: / either go mad or turn holy.

1) The severed head of Imam Hussain (a) recited Quran and supplications while it was held aloft on the point of lance.  (Al khasaaes al kubra 2/127)

2) Imam Hussain (as) threw his holy blood towards the sky and not a drop of it fell back on the earth. (kefaayah al-taalib, 284) 

3) On the day of the Martyrdom of Imam hussain (as) blood rained from the sky and whatever the people had was smeared with blood and the effect of the blood remained on the clothes till they became old and this redness on the sky was such that anything like it was never seen before. (Maqtal al hussain, 2/89)

4) On the day of the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (as) whenever a stone was lifted gushed out blood underneath it. (Tareekh al islam, 2/349)

5) When the severed head of Imam Hussain (as) reached Daar Al Imaarah (the royal palace) blood could be seen flowing from the walls of the palace. (Tareekh Damishq, 4/339) 6) At the time of the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (as) the sky became deep red, and for several days it seemed that is was smeared with blood and as if it had become sick. (Ehqaq ul Haq 11/464) 7) For seven days after the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (as) when people saw the sun after Asr prayers they use to see the walls red, due to the deep redness like red clothes and the veils, and they used to see that stars are crashing against each other.  (Mo’jam al kabeer, 146)

8) After the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (as) for two or three months, people saw that, as if the walls were smeared in blood from sunrise to sunset. (Al bedaayah wa al nehaayah, 8/171)

9) After the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (as) the horizons of the sky became deep red, and this redness was the weeping of the sky upon the tragedy of Imam Hussain (as): The camel that was looted from them was slaughtered but when it was cut, they saw that its flesh was a fire and its meat was bitter. (Maqtal al Hussain, 2/90)

10) After the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (as) for three days the world was pitch dark and at that time redness appeared, and no one touched the lifeless body of hazrat (as) unless he was burnt. (Tareekh al Kholafa)

11) The sky did not weep for anyone except for two: Yahya Bin Zakariya and Imam Hussain (as). The weeping of the sky is such that it turns red like hot oil. (Tareekh Damishq, 4/339) 12) At the time of the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (as) the sun became eclipsed, and stars became visible in the afternoon. People thought that--Last Day--had arrived!  (Kefaayah al taalib , 296) 13) On the day of the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (as) no stone was lifted in Damascus and Baitul Muqaddas but that fresh blood was found below it. (Zakhaaer Al Uqbaa, 145) 14) On the day of Ashura the fowls refused to eat.  (Maqtal al hussain, 2/91) 15) A beam of light emerged from the furnace containing the holy severed head of Imam Hussain (as) and shot up to the heavens. The white birds were circling it. (Al Kaamil fee taarekh, 3/296) 16) When Imam Hussain (as) was martyred, a bird threw itself in his blood, soaked itself in it, and sat on the high wall of the house of bibi fatima sughra (sa), the daughter of Imam Hussain (as) in Medina.  (Ehqaaq Al Haqq, 11/492-493) 17) After the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (as) the following inscription was found on a stone:

It is a must that Faatemah (sa) will come in Qayamat while her dress is smeared with Hussain (as)’s blood, Woe be to those whose intercessors are their enemies in Qayamat when the trumpet is blown. (Al Tazkerah , 284)

18) A man from Najraan dug into the ground and found a gold plate on which the following was inscribed:

“Does the Ummah that killed Hussain (as) have any hope for the intercession of his grandfather on the day of Accounting?” (miftaah al najaah, 135)

In His Name,

 And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.(17:44) 

[This letter comprises a significant remedy and points out four small gems from the treasuries of four verses.] 

My Dear Brother! The All-Wise Qur’an taught my soul these four different matters at various times. I am writing them now so that those of my brothers who wish may also receive instruction or have a share of them. With regard to subject matter, each is a sample, a small jewel, from the treasuries of four different verses and their truths. The form of each of the four topics is different, and so are the benefits each yields. 

FIRST TOPIC  

Indeed the wiles of Satan are weak.(4:76) 

O my soul which is in despair due to doubts and scruples! The association of ideas and the imaginings or suppositions that occur to one are a sort of involuntary expression or depiction. If they arise from good and luminosity, the qualities and reality they possess are transposed to an extent to their forms and images – just like the sun’s light and heat are transposed to its reflection in a mirror. If such depictions are of something evil and dense, their qualities and requirements cannot pass or spread to their reflections. For example, the reflection in a mirror of something unclean or corrupt is neither unclean nor corrupt. Nor can a snake’s image bite.

In consequence, to imagine unbelief is not unbelief, and to imagine abuse is not abuse. Particularly if it is involuntary or some notion or speculation occurs to one, then it is altogether harmless. Furthermore, according to the Sunni school, the people of truth, if the Shari‘a rules that a thing is  bad or unclean, it is because it is prohibited by God. Since what we are discussing are involuntary associations of ideas and imaginings that occur to one without one’s consent, they are not subject to such prohibitions. However ugly or unclean the form they take, they are not ugly and unclean. 

SECOND TOPIC 

Question: What is the Role of Prophethood and of Prophets?

Prophethood is the highest rank and honor that a man can receive from God. It proves the superiority of that man's inner being over all others. A Prophet is like a branch arching out from the Divine to the human realm. He is the very heart and tongue of creation. He possesses a supreme intellect that penetrates into the reality of things and events.

Moreover, he is the ideal being, for all of his faculties are harmoniously excellent and active. He strives and progresses steadily toward Heaven, waits upon Divine inspiration for the solutions to the problems he faces, and is the connecting point between this world and the Beyond. His body is subject to and follows his heart, figuratively the seat of spiritual intellect, as does his heart. His perceptions and reflections are always directed to the Names and Attributes of God. He goes to what he perceives, and arrives at the desired destination.

A Prophet's perception, developed to the full-seeing, hearing, and thus knowing-surpasses that of all other people. His perception cannot be explained in terms of different light, sound, or some other wavelengths. Ordinary people cannot acquire a Prophet's knowledge.

By conveying the Divine message and guidance, the Prophets give us a limited insight into creation so that we can know some of its meaning. Without them, we would be unable to see or understand the true nature and meaning of things and events, or to deal with our surrounding environment. They also teach us something of God and His Names and Attributes.

Their first mission is to teach the reality, the true purpose and meaning, of this life. Since God is beyond our perception and comprehension, the Prophets have to be the most obedient, careful, conscious, and self-disciplined of people while performing their tasks. If they had not spoken in clear terms about the Creator, we could not think, know, or say anything correct about God.

Everything in the universe tries to exhibit the Names and Attributes of the All-Mighty, All-Encompassing Creator. In the same way, the Prophets note, affirm, and are faithful to the subtle, mysterious relation between God and His Names and Attributes. As their duty is to know and speak about God, they enter into the true meaning of things and events and then convey it directly and sincerely to humanity.

When we are in a new or unfamiliar place, we need a guide to show us around. This analogy applies to the role of Prophets.

Would the One who created everything so that we might know Him not provide guides, in the form of Prophets, to inform us of His Names and Attributes and guide us along the right path? 

To overlook such a need would render the creation useless and futile, yet we know that God does not engage in such activities. Thus, it seems most likely that all people would be informed of such things by a Prophet sent to them by God.

The Qur'an is explicit on this point: 

For We sent among every people a Messenger (with the command): "Serve God and avoid evil" (16:36).