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ERMON 78Supplications of Amir al-mu'minin.O' my Allah! Forgive me what Thou knowest about me more than I do. If I return (to the sins) Thou return to forgiveness. My Allah forgive me what I had promised to myself but Thou didst not find its fulfilment with me. My Allah forgive me that with what I sought nearness to Thee with my tongue but my heart opposed and did not perform it. My Allah forgive me winkings of the eye vile utterances desires of the heart and errors of speech. * * * * *SERMON 79When (1) Amir al-mu'minin decided to set out for the battle with the Kharijites someone said "If you set out at this moment then according to astrology I fear you will not be successful in your aim " whereupon Amir al-mu'minin said:Do you think you can tell the hour when a man goes out and no evil befall him or can warn of the time at which if one goes out harm will accrue? Whoever testifies to this falsifies the Qur'an and becomes unmindful of Allah in achieving his desired objective and in warding off the undesirable. You cherish saying this so that he who acts on what you say should praise you rather than Allah because according to your misconception you have guided him about the hour in which he would secure benefit and avoid harm. |
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Then Amir al-mu'minin advanced towards the people and said:O' People! Beware of learning the science of stars except that with which guidance is sought on land or sea because it leads to divining and an astrologer is a diviner while the diviner is like the sorcerer the sorcerer is like the unbeliever and the unbeliever would be in Hell. Get forward in the name of Allah.
(1). When Amir al-mu'minin decided to march towards
Nahrawan to suppress the rising of the Kharijites 'Afif ibn Qays al-Kindi said
to him "This hour is not good. If you set out at this time. then instead of
victory and success you will face defeat and vanquishment." But Amir al-mu'minin
paid no heed to his view and ordered the army to march that very moment. In the
result the Kharijites suffered such a clear defeat that out of their nine
thousand combatants only nine individuals saved their lives by running away
while the rest were killed.
Amir al-mu'minin has argued about astrology being wrong or incorrect in three
ways firstly that if the view of an astrologer is accepted as correct it would
mean falsification of the Qur'an because an astrologer claims to ascertain
hidden things of the future by seeing the stars while the Qur'an says:
Say: "None (either) in the heavens or in the earth knoweth the unseen save
Allah... " (27:65)
Secondly that under his misconception the astrologer believes that he can know
his benefit or harm through knowing the future. In that case he would be
regardless of turning to Allah and seeking His help while this indifference
towards Allah and self-reliance is a sort of heresy and atheism which puts an
end to his hope in Allah. Thirdly that if he succeeds in any objective he would
regard this success to be the result of his knowledge of astrology as a result
of which he would praise himself rather than Allah and will expect that whomever
he guides in this manner he too should be grateful to him rather than to Allah .
These points do not apply to astrology to the extent it may be believed that the
astrological findings are in the nature of effect of medicines which are subject
to alteration at the will of Allah. The competence achieved by most of our
religious scholars in astrology is correct in this very ground that they did not
regard its findings as final.
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