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Abandoning the Better (Tark al-Awla): Difference between revisions
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==Abandoning the Better by Prophets and Imams (a)== | ==Abandoning the Better by Prophets and Imams (a)== | ||
The Shiites believe that [[prophets]] and [[Imams (a)]] are [[infallible]], so they never commit [[Major Sins|major]] or [[Minor Sins|minor]] sins;<ref>Sayyid Murtaḍā, ''Tanzīh al-anbīyāʾ'', p. 34.</ref> but they might sometimes abandon the better. The evidence for this is that the [[Qur'an]] refers to mistakes or slippages by prophets or their [[istighfar]] (asking God for forgiveness). For instance, according to [[Quran 2]], the [[Satan]] misguided the prophet [[Adam (a)]]{{enote|Then Satan caused them (Adam and Eve) to stumble from it (paradise), and he dislodged them from what they were in; and We said, ‘Get down, being enemies of one another! On the earth shall be your abode and sustenance for a time.’ (Quran, 2:36) | The Shiites believe that [[prophets]] and [[Imams (a)]] are [[infallible]], so they never commit [[Major Sins|major]] or [[Minor Sins|minor]] sins;<ref>Sayyid Murtaḍā, ''Tanzīh al-anbīyāʾ'', p. 34.</ref> but they might sometimes abandon the better. The evidence for this is that the [[Qur'an]] refers to mistakes or slippages by prophets or their [[istighfar]] (asking God for forgiveness). For instance, according to [[Quran 2]], the [[Satan]] misguided the prophet [[Adam (a)]]{{enote|Then Satan caused them (Adam and Eve) to stumble from it (paradise), and he dislodged them from what they were in; and We said, ‘Get down, being enemies of one another! On the earth shall be your abode and sustenance for a time.’ (Quran, 2:36)}} and then Adam practiced istighfar. Moreover, the [[Prophet Muhammad (s)]] and the Imams (a) have asked [[God]] for forgiveness in [[supplications]] transmitted from them. For example, there is a hadith according to which the Prophet (s) practiced istighfar one hundred times during a day and a night.<ref>Ṣadūq, ''Maʿānī l-akhbār'', p. 383-384.</ref> | ||
According to Shiite scholars, since there are rational arguments for the [[infallibility]] of prophets and the Imams (a), we cannot impute [[sin]]s to them. Thus, the above cases should be construed as abandoning the better.<ref>Subḥānī, ''Manshūr-i jāwīd'', vol. 7, p. 288-289.</ref> They explain istighfars by prophets and the Imams (a) in terms of different categories and degrees of sins. For example, one category of sins is the judicial sin which is referred to in [[fiqh]] as [[forbidden]]. Another category is failure to continuously think of God, which is not a judicial sin. Prophets and the Imams (a) never committed judicial sins because of their infallibility, but they could fail to continuously think of God because of their relationships with other people and the demands of their daily lives, and this led them to practice istighfar.<ref>Sharīfī & Yūsufīyān, ''Pajhūhishī dar ʿiṣmat-i ma'ṣūmān'', p. 184-187, 330</ref> | According to Shiite scholars, since there are rational arguments for the [[infallibility]] of prophets and the Imams (a), we cannot impute [[sin]]s to them. Thus, the above cases should be construed as abandoning the better.<ref>Subḥānī, ''Manshūr-i jāwīd'', vol. 7, p. 288-289.</ref> They explain istighfars by prophets and the Imams (a) in terms of different categories and degrees of sins. For example, one category of sins is the judicial sin which is referred to in [[fiqh]] as [[forbidden]]. Another category is failure to continuously think of God, which is not a judicial sin. Prophets and the Imams (a) never committed judicial sins because of their infallibility, but they could fail to continuously think of God because of their relationships with other people and the demands of their daily lives, and this led them to practice istighfar.<ref>Sharīfī & Yūsufīyān, ''Pajhūhishī dar ʿiṣmat-i ma'ṣūmān'', p. 184-187, 330</ref> | ||
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* '''Killing the Egyptian man by Moses (a)''': "He said, 'My Lord! I have wronged myself. Forgive me!' So He forgave him. Indeed, He is the All-forgiving, the All-merciful".<ref>Qur'an, 28:16.</ref> | * '''Killing the Egyptian man by Moses (a)''': "He said, 'My Lord! I have wronged myself. Forgive me!' So He forgave him. Indeed, He is the All-forgiving, the All-merciful".<ref>Qur'an, 28:16.</ref> | ||
In this [[verse]], the prophet [[Moses (a)]] asks for God's forgiveness because of killing a person, and according to the [[Qur'an]], God forgives him. It is mentioned in Shia | In this [[verse]], the prophet [[Moses (a)]] asks for God's forgiveness because of killing a person, and according to the [[Qur'an]], God forgives him. It is mentioned in Shia exegeses that the person who was killed by Moses (a) was a cruel companion of the [[Pharaoh]] and so he was rightly killed. According to this book, the man was bullying an [[Israelite]] person, and Moses (a) punched him once in order to defend the oppressed person, without the [[intention]] of killing. Thus, what he did was not a sin, but he had abandoned the better (tark al-awla), because it was careless in those circumstances and led him into unnecessary troubles.<ref>Makārim Shīrāzī, ''Tafsīr-i nimūna'', vol. 16, p. 42-43</ref> | ||
* '''Abandoning his People by Yunus (a)''': "And [remember] the Man of the Fish (i.e. Yunus), when he left in a rage, thinking that We would not put him to hardship. Then he cried out in the darkness, 'There is no god except You! You are immaculate! I have indeed been among the wrongdoers!'"<ref>Qur'an, 21:87.</ref> | * '''Abandoning his People by Yunus (a)''': "And [remember] the Man of the Fish (i.e. Yunus), when he left in a rage, thinking that We would not put him to hardship. Then he cried out in the darkness, 'There is no god except You! You are immaculate! I have indeed been among the wrongdoers!'"<ref>Qur'an, 21:87.</ref> | ||
This verse refers to the story of the prophet [[Yunus (a)]] (Jonah). He abandoned his people because of their disobedience and then regretted what he | This verse refers to the story of the prophet [[Yunus (a)]] (Jonah). He abandoned his people because of their disobedience and then regretted what he had done. He took his action to be an oppression of the people and then [[tawba|repented]] to God.<ref>Ṭabāṭabāyī, ''al-Mīzān'', vol. 14, p. 314-315.</ref> According to [['Allama Tabataba'i]], Yunus's (a) action was not an oppression or a [[sin]], indeed, and God punished him only in order to teach him not to do things that are slightly similar to oppression and sins.<ref>Ṭabāṭabāyī, ''al-Mīzān'', vol. 14, p. 315.</ref> Yunus's (a) action was an instance of "abandoning the better".<ref>Makārim Shīrāzī, ''Tafsīr-i nimūna'', vol. 13, p. 485.</ref> | ||
* '''Eating from the forbidden tree by Adam (a)''': "Adam disobeyed his Lord, and went amiss".<ref>Qur'an, 20:121.</ref> | * '''Eating from the forbidden tree by Adam (a)''': "Adam disobeyed his Lord, and went amiss".<ref>Qur'an, 20:121.</ref> | ||