Ibn al-Muqaffa and ibn Abul-Awja attended the Hajj ceremony to be among the Muslims in order to spread their atheist thoughts. While Imam al-Sadiq (as) was in the Holy Mosque (Kabah), ibn al-Muqaffa said the following, addressing his companions and pointing to the people circulating around the Holy Mosque: “None of these people deserves the title of humanity more than that sitting man,” pointing to Imam Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq (as). Abd al-Karim was astonished and said: “How do you state that he deserves this title more than any other one?”
Ibn al-Muqaffa addressed him saying: “Because I found something with him that I couldn’t find with any other person.”
Ibn Abul-Awja felt envious towards him and went on saying: “There should be an exam, testing what you said about him.”
Ibn al-Muqaffa tried preventing him and said the following: “Do not do that! I fear that you lose what you currently have in your hands.”
Ibn Abul-Awja insisted on his idea, saying: “This is actually not your idea! And you really fear that your idea is weakened here regarding the way you have described him.”
Ibn al-Muqaffa replied him, saying: “If you are doubtful about me, you may freely go ahead and do your best. Also keep in mind to be rigorous with him in your speech. He will lead you to confusion or whatever you’d like to name yourself.”
Ibn Abul-Awja went toward the Imam (as) and there was a debate, which led to the confutation of ibn Abul-Awja. He went out astonished as the Imam (as) filled his heart and sensation. He returned to his tribe describing what happened between him and the Imam (as), addressing ibn al-Muqaffa: “Woe unto you! He is not a human. If there is a spiritual man who likes to be materialized or a man who would like to be spirit, he’ll be undoubtedly this man!!”
Did you see the amount of surprise and glorification expressed by this atheist for the Imam (as) who filled the world with his intelligence and creativity? The companions of ibn Abul-Awja went on asking him about what has happened between him and the Imam (as). He said the following:
“I sat there until there was no one except me. He started and said: ‘If the case goes well their speech, the speech of those people circulating around the Holy House of Allah, then they will be rescued and you’ll be burnt. But if your idea is right and not theirs, you and they will be the same’.”
Ibn Abul-Awja became afraid of the Imam’s (as) knowledge of his intention and the way he started the discussion accordingly. So he went on, saying: “Allah’s mercy be upon you! What do we say? My speech and theirs are the same.”
Imam (as) denied the case that the idea of ibn Abul-Awja would be the same of those monotheists and he said: “How could your idea and theirs be the same? They say that they will have a Hereafter, rewards and punishments. They believe that there is a Allah in the sky where prosperity can be found, while you believe that the sky is havoc and no one is there.”
Ibn Abul-Awja seized the opportunity from the Imam’s (as) speech and went on making doubts about it, saying: “So, if what they, those following monotheism, say are right, what is the problem with him, almighty Allah, showing Himself to His creatures and asking them to pray for him? This way no one would ever enter into an argument. Why does He hide Himself and send his messengers? If He calls people to believe in Him, that will be closer to faith.”
Imam (as) retorted his fancies, saying: “Woe unto you! How could you not see the One whom I believe your power is from; your creation when you weren’t; your maturity after your childhood; your power after your weakness and your weakness after your power; your health after your illness and your illness after your health; your satisfaction after your angriness and your angriness after your satisfaction; your sadness after your happiness and your happiness after your sadness; your liking after your disgust and your disgust after your liking; your determination after your pondering and your pondering after your determination; your love after your abhorrence and your abhorrence after your love; your interest after your dread and your dread after your interest; your request after your hopelessness and your hopelessness after your request; your thoughts that were not in your dreams and the removal of what was in your thought.”
Imam (as) set out to count what happens to manners including the different and various ones, which clearly demonstrate the existence of Almighty Allah who created all these developments, which are similar to waves intermixed with each other. Allah’s mercy be upon al-Samawi who said the following about the variations of the manners:
“O manner! Similar to the Universe, you have both the light and the darkness”.
“You are war and peace as the Universe is war and peace”.
“Whenever an organization becomes common in you, another organization will be destroyed”
The manners of human beings contain strange marks demonstrating the existence of Almighty Allah. One who doubts this, will not be considered a person with straight thinking; his heart is deviated and he is away from the Guided Path.
Anyway, when ibn Abul-Awja heard this strong reason, escaped from continuing the discussion with the successor of the Imam (as). He spent the night without sleeping, hoping to find a reason to be used against the Imam (as). On the second day, he hurried toward the Imam (as) and sat there without speaking even a word. Then Imam (as) told him: “It seems that you came to repeat what we have discussed earlier?”
Ibn Abul-Awja rapidly said: “Do you, the son of the Prophet of Allah, Allah’s blessing and peace be upto him and his family, want this?”
Imam (as) said the following mockingly: “How strange that sounds to me? You deny Allah (SwT) while witnessing that I am the son of the Holy Prophet (S)!!”
Ibn Abul-Awja apologized and said: “The habit forced me to say so.”
Ibn Abul-Awja stayed silent without uttering even a word, then Imam (as) told him: “What prevents you from speaking?”
Ibn Abul-Awja disclosed the secret of avoiding speech and his silence as he said: “This is because of your glory and reverential awe. This is what made my tongue unable to speak. I have seen many scholars and debated with their theologians, but I have never felt having a reverential awe similar to the one I have here.”
Imam (as) began abolishing his doubts and suspicions, addressing him: “Have you been created or not?”
Ibn Abul-Awja insisted on his infidelity, saying: “I have not been created.”
Imam (as) answered him saying: “If you were created, how would you be?”
Ibn Abul-Awja kept silent and could not give an answer. Imam (as) had already closed all the way, but he had a wooden stick beside him. He relied on it and turned up his head to show himself to Imam (as) saying: “Long, wide, deep, short, dynamic and static. These are all among the attributes.”
Imam (as) then hurried saying: “Well! If you do not know the method of creation, consider yourself a creature. There will not be anything of your own invention in these affairs, will there?”
Ibn Abul-Awja became confused and did not know what to say. Then he confessed on his inability and said: “You have asked me about an issue that no one has ever asked me before and no one will ever ask me a similar one in the future.”
Imam (as) set out saying: “Imagine that you are not going to be asked about the past, how can you assure that you will not be asked about the future. You are contradicting your speech on claiming that things are the same from the beginning. So, how come you consider something available from the beginning and consider another thing being created?
“Well! Let me clarify the case for you. Assume that you have a bag with jewels inside, and once one asks you: ‘Are there dinars (e.g. coins) in your bag?’ you’ll deny the existence of dinars. Then he will ask you to describe how dinars look like, but you do not know the characteristics of dinars. Is it acceptable for you to deny the existence of dinars while you do not know what dinars are?”
“No,” Ibn Abul-Awja said.
Then he told him: “The universe is greater, higher and wider than a bag. So there may be a creation, which you may not know about whether it has been created or not.”
Ibn Abul-Awja did not speak any more and confessed the truth of monotheism by his tongue, but he did not actually believe in it in his heart. He returned to the gathering of Imam al-Sadiq (as) on the third day and asked the Imam (as) to allow him to ask a question. The Imam (as) allowed him, so he said: “What is the reason for the fact that things are created?”
Imam (as) answered his question with a precise philosophical response, saying: “I have never seen a thing, either small or large, which becomes larger when something similar is inserted ‘inside’ it as it leads to disappearance and the conversion from the first state, the smaller state. However it exists from the beginning it will not be changed. Because something that disappears and has a state change has the property of being created and being destroyed.
“When something enters to be existent after being non-existent, this means that it is created, because it wasn’t but it is. Existence and non-existence; being available from the beginning and being created are not compatible with each other and no single thing can have both of these properties at one certain time.”
Abd al-Karim went on saying: “Imagine both of the states and times, according to what you mentioned, and inferring the creation of things accordingly. Then if things become small, how can you infer that case through which they were created?”
He said: “We are talking about this world. If we leave this world and talk about another world, that will better demonstrate the fact that this world is created. However I will answer you from the point that you thought you caught us and we say: If things stay small, that will be fancy to say that when something is added to it, it will be larger. Changeability proves the lack of existence from the beginning and from the agelessness, as the fact that changeability proves its being created. Abd al-Karim! Nothing else remained.”
Ibn Abul-Awja left the gathering shamefully and stayed on his atheism and infidelity. The overwhelming reasoning of great inferences of the Imam (as) did not change his wrong ideology. Narrators said: “He returned to debate once again with the Imam (as) for the second year, while Imam (as) was in Holy Kiblah and told him: what is the reason of your coming here?”
Ibn Abul-Awja said: “I came to see the customs of people and to watch their stupidity, baldness and their action of throwing stones.”
Imam (as) scolded him, saying: “Abd al-Karim! You are still on your insolence and darkness.”
Ibn Abul-Awja wanted to speak, but the Imam did not allow him, saying: “There are no arguments in Hajj.” Then he added: “If the case is as you stated and not as we say, then all of us will be rescued. But if the case will be as we stated, as it is actually the case, then we will be rescued but you will be perished.”
Ibn Abul-Awja became extremely angry. His eyes were wide open with anger and at the same time he had a dangerous heart attack and his companions ordered the people to carry him. He did not survive that attack and died. This way, the life of this dangerous infidel came to an end. He was the head of infidelity and atheism in the Islamic world who worked hard to attempt to mislead the Muslims and abolish their ideology by posing doubts and delusions, which were confronted by Imam al-Sadiq (as).
THE LIFE OF IMAM JAF’AR AL-SADIQ (AS) – BAQIR SHARIF AL-QURASHI