Friday Prayer

اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ بِجَمِیعِ مَحَامِدِه کُلِّهَا عَلَی جَمِیعِ نِعَمِهِ کُلِّهَا… اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ مالِکِ الْمُلْکِ مُجْرِی الْفُلْکِ مُسَخِّرِ الرِّیاحِ فالِقِ الاْصْباحِ دَیّانِ الدّینِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمینَ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی حِلْمِهِ بَعْدَ عِلمِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی عَفْوِهِ بَعْدَ قُدْرَتِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی طُولِ اَناتِهِ فی غَضَبِهِ وَهُوَ قادِرٌ عَلی ما یُریدُ

Praise is to God with all his praises, for all his blessings. . . Praise is to God, the owner of the property, the operator of the orbit, the bender of the wind, the glory of the morning, the religion of the beliefs, lord of the worlds; praise is to God for his dream after his knowledge and thank God for forgiveness after his power, and praise be to God for his long patience in his wrath and he is capable to do what he wills 

و نشهد أن لا اله الا الله وحده لا شریک له، و أَنَّ محمداً عبده و رسوله ارسله بالهدی و دین الحق لیظهره علی الدین کله و لو کره المشرکون اوصیکم عبادالله و نفسی بتقوی الله و اتباع امره و نهیه، و اخوفکم من عقابه

And we bear witness that there is no god but God alone, without partner, and that Muhammad is his servant and messenger, he sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, that he might proclaim it over all religion, even if the polytheists hated it.

The way of Adam, the father of humanity (Abu al-Bashar)

The story of Adam, the father of humanity, begins with the beginning of the creation of human being; with the time God shares His determination and will about creation of man with the angels and says:

وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً قَالُوا أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَنْ يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ قَالَ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

When your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed I am going to set a viceroy on the earth,’ they said, ‘Will You set in it someone who will cause corruption in it and shed blood, while we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your sanctity?’ He said, ‘Indeed I know what you do not know.’ (Baghare: 30)

Notes that are noteworthy in the story of Adam, the father of humanity:

1. Human being is the vicegerent (caliph) of the God

In this verse, the holy Qur’an uses the word ” إنّ” to emphasize the necessity of forging a vicegerent from God. Caliphate means substitution and is realized in a situation where the main person is not present or absent at a specific time or place, so that the caliph can replace him.

If we imagine man apart from God and consider God to be limited and finite, this caliphate and substitution is conceivable, but when we know that the eternal and infinite nature of the almighty God is never limited, but through the chapter “كَانَ اللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ مُحِيطاً” “Allah comprehends all things” (Nisa: 12), God is always surrounded by everything. The temporal or spatial absence of God will not be correct. There is no time or place empty of God’s presence for another creature to replace God. So what does it mean for man to be the caliph of God?

The interpreters answer that the caliph of God is a perfect human being because an essence is the manifestation of another essence and the difference between them is the same privilege between appearance and manifestation, one of which is the principle and the other is its verse and mirror. When man does righteous and godly deeds, it is the hand of God who has done good deeds in this particular manifestation, and in this case man is the caliph of God, as the holy Qur’an says: ” مَا أَصَابَكَ مِنْ حَسَنَةٍ فَمِنَ اللَّهِ” ” Whatever good befalls you is from Allah” (Nisa: 79), but when man is caught in crime and rebellion and becomes the source of evil and ugliness, in this case he is no longer the caliph of God because crime and evil are defects and do not attribute to God, who is the absolute perfection, as the holy Qur’an says: “مَا أَصَابَكَ مِنْ سَيِّئَةٍ فَمِنْ نَفْسِكَ” “and whatever ill befalls you is from yourself” (Nisa: 79)

2. The role of the earth in mankind’s caliphate

Is the perfect man the only caliph of God on earth? What is the meaning of the adverb “in the earth” in the verse of “إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً” “‘Indeed I am going to set a viceroy on the earth,’” (Baghare: 30)?

The interpreters’ answer is that the divine caliph of a perfect human being does not belong to the earth. In the holy verse, the adverb “on earth” is the constraint for forging a caliph, not the constraint of being the caliph of God. Because if the realm of man’s caliphate was limited to the earth, what was the reason for the angels to prostrate before him? If so, the angels of the Caliph of God were in the heavens and man was the caliph of God on the earth.

The perfect man is both the caliph of God and the teacher of all the people of the earth, and the caliph of God and the teacher of all the people of the heavens. Therefore, as God commands the holy Prophet: وَأَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ لِتُبَيِّنَ” لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ” “We have sent down the reminder to you so that you may clarify for the people” (Nahl: 44); He also instructs Adam, the father of human: قَالَ يَا آدَمُ أَنْبِئْهُمْ بِأَسْمَائِهِمْ”” “He said, ‘O Adam, inform them of their names,’” (Baghare: 33).

3. The angels’ question of the almighty God 

According to the holy Quran, the angels asked the almighty God thatأَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا” مَنْ يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ” “When your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed I am going to set a viceroy on the earth,’ they said, ‘Will You set in it someone who will cause corruption in it and shed blood, while we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your sanctity?’ He said, ‘Indeed I know what you do not know.’” (Baghare:30). How did the angels know this state of human bloodshed and corruption?

Some have suggested that they realized that because God said, إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي” الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً” “This caliph on earth is a caliph”; since the earthly nature of this caliph means that he is material and tainted with lust and anger, which is the result of the coercive control of lust and anger which is corruption and bloodshed.

And some have suggested that before the current generation of human beings, there were other human beings living on earth, who were also corrupt and bloodthirsty and perished as a result of this corruption and belligerence, and after them, God has created the current generation of human beings. The angels, knowing the history and destiny of the previous generation of human beings, have asked such a question from God.

In fact, the angels claimed that we are more worthy of the position of the divine caliphate than human beings. Man is a person of corruption and bloodshed, while we are a person of glorifying and sanctifying the holy essence of God.

4. God’s answer

God gives a vague answer to the question of the angels and relates it to His unseen knowledge: “قَالَ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ” “(God) said: I know what you do not know.” And in the following verses it becomes clear that what God means by what He knows and the angels do not know, is the unseen affairs of the heavens and the earth. The holy Qur’an, after reporting on the divine teaching of Adam and the teaching of Adam to the angels, adds:قَالَ أَلَمْ أَقُلْ لَكُمْ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ غَيْبَ” السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ؟” “He said: Did I not tell you that I know the unseen of the heavens and the earth?” (Baqara: 33)

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