Hadeeth al-Haqeeqa
To drive home the point that we will never understand the magnanimity of Imam Ali (as), I’ll conclude with the words he gave to Kumayl ibn Ziyad, a close companion of his, when he asked the Imam (as) in the most monumental discussion between the two. It’s a discussion that philosophers have been trying to understand until present day. And until today no philosopher has grasped the meaning. This discussion is known as Hadeeth al-Haqeeqa.
Kumayl narrates that Imam Ali (as) was riding his horse and I was riding behind him. And as we were riding I called out to him asking “Oh Ameeru’l Mu’mineen What is the truth? Who are you really?”
Imam Ali (as) replied to Kumayl and asked him, “What have you got to do with the truth?
Kumayl replied, “When you come to the door of bounties, it is known that you never turn anyone away.”
So Imam Ali (as) said, “What sprinkles in you, overflows in me,”
He (as) continued, “The truth is the revelation of the Splendor of the Divine Majesty without a sign,”
Kumayl said, “I don’t understand what you mean. Tell me more.”
Imam Ali (as) said, “It’s the defacement of the conjectured through the clearing of the known,”
Kumayl said, “I don’t understand; but continue telling me what is the truth,”
He (as) said, “It’s the rendering of the veils by the triumph of mystery,”
He said, “Tell me more,”
“It’s the Divine Attraction, but through the apprehension of the known,”
“Tell me more”
“It’s the light of the morning eternity, that continues to radiate through the unity of the temples and their disunity”
Kumayl, like the rest of us, didn’t have a clue as to what Ameeru’l Mu’mineen had meant, and it goes to show just how well we really know our beloved Ali ibn Abi Talib (as). Kumayl just says He (as) continued riding his horse, and I continued riding mine. This is Imam Ali (as) showing us that we will never, not ever, understand who he is and his relationship with Allah.
Kumayl appropriately says that when he lost Ali ibn Abi Talib he lost the secrets of Allah on earth. Hence Imam Ali (as) constantly saying to the Muslims “Ask me, Ask me, before it’s too late and you lose me!” And the most tragic part is that the non-Muslims, the Jews and the Christians who had read about the successor to the Prophet Muhammad (sawa) named Ali (as) in their scriptures, took more advantage of his knowledge than did the Muslims.
The Muslims used him and abused him, took away his rights, and fought to the death against him, until finally an orphan who he had raised who was bought by Mu’awiya struck the blessed head of Ali ibn Abi Talib (as) on the 19th of Shahr Ramadan while he was coming up from sujood in a voluntary prayer before Fajr.
This is the man who is mentioned in Deuteronomy. This is the man who knew the entire interpretation of the Quran and said the entire meaning of the Quran is contained in Sura Fatihah. And the entire meaning of Sura Fatiha is contained in ‘Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim’, and the entire meaning of ‘Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim’ is contained in the first letter: ‘Ba’, and the entire meaning of the ‘Ba’ is contained in the dot underneath the ‘Ba’, and I am that dot. This is the man in whose lap the Holy Prophet rested his head in his final moments as he left this world. This is the man who could give you an exegesis of the Holy Quran in over 6,999 languages, and even write it in cuneiform script. When the Prophet of Allah (sawa) went on the Night ascension into the levels of Paradise crossing different dimensions, when he finally reached his Lord, the voice Allah communicated to him with was with the voice of Imam Ali (as) because as Allah said, he had no other friends on earth beside Imam Ali (as). I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface.
Salallahu Alayka Ya Ameeru’l Mu’mineen (as)
Salallahu Alayka Ya Ameeru’l Mu’mineen (as)
Salallahu Alayka Ya Ameeru’l Mu’mineen (as)