The Muqassir is our Enemy

Narration #1

[Awalim al-‘Uloom, Volume 5, page 60-61]

Imam al-Sadiq tells al-Mufaddal ibn ‘Umar:

O’ Mufaddal, the Nawasib are your enemies, and the Muqassira are our enemies. The Nawasib demand from you that you place Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and Uthman ahead of us while they know nothing of our virtues. As for the Muqassira, they denounce whom I mentioned, and they recognize our virtues and rights, but they denied all of this and renounced it, and they [the Muqassira] said: “This is not for them [the virtues and merits of the Imams] because they are [the Imams] humans like us.”

It is true that we [the Imams] are humans like them [outwardly] but God gave us [the Imams] Tawfeedh regarding commands and prohibitions. We do everything by the permission of God.”

يا مفضّل، النّاصبةُ أعداؤكم والمُقَصِّرةُ أعداؤنا، لإنّ الناّصبة تُطالبكم أن تقدّموا علينا أبا بكر وعُمر وعثمان ولا يعرفوا من فضلنا شيئاً،والمُقَصِّرة قد وافقوكم على البراءة ممّن ذكرنا وعرفوا فضلنا وحقّنا فأنكروه وجحدوه وقالوا: هذا ليس لهم لأنّهم بشرٌ مثلنا، وقد صدقوا أنّنا بشرٌمثلهم إلاّ أنّ الله بما يفوّضُه إلينا من أمره ونهيه فنحن نفعل بإذنه

Evaluation:

The Imam calls the Muqassira their enemies, and differentiates them from the Nawasib.

Meaning, while the Nawasib are from the Non-Shi’a, the Muqassira are a group from within the Shi’a, who have shi’ite beliefs. And this is confirmed by the remaining passage, “they recognize our virtues and rights…”.

Further, the Muqassira consider the Imams as mere humans like themselves and thus proceed to deny their virtues, whereas the Imams are humans only outwardly, and through the Will of God, have an excellence like none other.

Narration #2:

[al-Hidaya al-Kubra]

al-Mufaddal asks Imam al-Sadiq:

“O’ My Master! Who are the Muqassira?”

The Imam replies:

“O’ Mufaddal, the Muqassira are those whom Allah guided to the excellence of Our knowledge and divulged Our secret too, so they doubted in us and denied our excellence and said: ‘It is not possible that God would have granted them His authority and His knowledge.”

قال: يا مفضل المقصرة هم الذين هداهم الله إلى فضل علمنا وأفضى إليهم سرنا فشكوا فينا وأنكروا فضلنا وقالوا: لم يكن الله ليعطيهمسلطانه ومعرفته

Evaluation:

As the Imam clarifies, the Muqassira are those whom are aware of the (narrations regarding) the virtues and excellence of the Imams and their rights, yet they deny it out of lack of Ma’rifa (understanding) of the status of the Imam and say “God would not grant them this status”.

Thus the Muqassir denies the status of the Imam simply through his personal reasoning whereas the Imam’s status, granted to him by God, is above this. 

Ziyarat al-Jami’a al-Kabeera states:

“And it is obligatory to follow you, and the muqassir in your rights is lost, and the truth is with you, and from you, and to you and you are it’s people and it’s center.”

‏واللازم لكم لاحق، والمقصر في حقكم زاهق والحق معكم وفيكم ومنكم وإليكم وأنتم أهله ومعدنه

May Allah protect us from being one of the Muqassira.

Wa Allahu ‘Aalam.