Certainty Uncovered

Preface

In the name of Allah, The most compassionate, the most merciful

All praise is due to Allah, the Eternal, the Subduing, the Great, the Generous, the Concealer, the First, the Last, the Hidden, the Manifest, the Knower of the nature of secrets, the Aware of the unconscious, the Originator of the beings, with no need of any partner or load, the Inventor of all contingent beings with no need of helper or supporter, I praise Him for his bounties, thank Him for His grace. Greeting and peace be upon the master of the former and latter generations, Muhammad, the chosen one, and his dignified progeny, the infallible Imams.

Whereas the royal order of the dignified king, the master of the affairs of the nations, the ruler of the kings of Arabs and non-Arabs, the king of kings, kind and compassionate to the servants, the grace of the providence in the world, the mercy of God upon the world people, the divine mercy on the world creatures, uprooter of oppression and tyranny, having the divine support, the reviver of the prophets’ traditions, administrators of justice in the world, one who has the Grace of God with him, having holy breath, having control of men, a human having reached the zenith of perfection with his special vision, a star shining in the sky of virtues and his sublime thoughts have supremacy over all, his praiseworthy deeds and a model for the world rulers, Oljaytu Khodabandeh Muhammad, the Sultan on the earth, may God prolong his reign till the Day of Judgment and may the banner of his victory be hoisted and may his rule be immune and safe from change and fall—was issued on writing a book about the virtues and merits of the commander of the believers, ‘Ali ibn Abi-Talib, peace be upon him, in compliance with his royal order, I endeavored to carry out this task as quickly as possible and called the book “The certainty Uncovered about the Virtues of Amir al-Mu’minin.” The book is as brief as possible, since the prolongation of the book might cause the readers to be bored. The virtues and merits of the Imam are such that cannot be counted by human beings.

Quoting Ibn Abbas, the great orator of Khawarizm has reported that the Holy Prophet said: Should the sky-touching trees turn into pens, and the seas turn onto ink, and should the Jinn become counters, and humans become writers, they cannot possibly enumerate the virtues and merits of ‘Ali ibn Abi-Talib.

The author says: How can we count the virtues of a person who has been so beautifully described and praised by the Holy Prophet of Islam (S).

A poet of high capability who had kept silent in eulogizing the Imam was blamed for not so doing. In response to those blaming him, the poet composed a poem expressing his inability the general concept of which is as follows:

Blame me not in giving up the idea of eulogizing ‘Ali, for I know better than you the fact that when the inhabitants of heaven and the earth fail to counter the virtues of Qanbar, that is the slave of ‘Ali, how can I possibly speak of ‘Ali’s merits?

The orator of Khawarizm reports: a scholar was asked if he had composed a poem eulogizing ‘Ali and in answer he said: what should I say about a sublime person whose enemies envied his virtues and concealed them and his friends were not able to propagate his virtues out of fear of their lives and despite these two great obstacles, ‘Ali’s virtues and merits were such that they have enlightened the earth and the heaven as well as the east and the west. Nevertheless, in this book, we will refer to parts of his virtues in the hope that we have complied with the order and we have recounted the words of the orator of Khawarizm in “Manaqib.”

Reporting the Holy Prophet (S), Khawarizmi says: God Almighty has assigned innumerable virtues for my brother ‘Ali. Whoever recalls one of his virtues and internalizes it, God will forgive his past and future sins and whoever writes a book about one of his virtues, angels will seek forgiveness for him as long as that book remains. Whoever listens to one of his virtues, God will forgive the sins he has committed through his hearing sense and should he read a book about ‘Ali’s virtues, God will forgive the sins he has committed through seeing. The Holy Prophet has also been quoted as saying: Looking at the face of ‘Ali and remembering him is worship. God will never accept any servant’s faith save by love for ‘Ali and immunity from his enemies.