What is 'Irfan'?

What is Irfan according to the words of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (peace be upon him) ?


Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem 

What we're going to approach today is the reality of Irfan, who are the enemies of Allah according to Imam al-Baqir (peace be upon him) and how all of this correlates to the beliefs of the Imamiyyah.

Abu Hamza Thumali reported that Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: "Oh Abu Hamza, he who worships God knows Him. But he who does not know God is as straying as if he were worshipping anothers besides Him."

I said: What is the knowledge of God?

He (peace be upon him ) said: To affirm God and Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family ), by taking Ali (peace be upon him) and the Imams (peace be upon them) after him as leaders, following them and disassociating themselves from their enemies (Abu Bakr and Umar) before God.
This is the exact knowledge of God (Irfan).

I said: "May God protect you, through which thing, that I experience, do I complete the true faith (Imaan)?"

He (peace be upon him) said: "Be faithful to the guardians appointed by God and have hostility towards the enemies of God, and be with the truthful just as God has commanded you."

I said: "May God protect you, who are the enemies of God?

He (peace be upon him) said: "The four idols."

I said: "Who are they?"

He (peace be upon him) said: "The father of the camel's foal (Abu Bakr), the clumsy one (Umar), the old fool (Uthman) and Mu'awiyah, and the ones who imitates their religion. Therefore, he who opposes them is an enemy of the enemies of God."

[Tafsir al-Ayyashi, vol. 2, p. 116, H. 155]

The knowledge of God (Irfan) is as clear as the light of the day, by taking the words of Imam al-Baqir (peace be upon him) we can see that any sincere lover of Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon them) can achieve such thing and it's important to highlight that the Imam (peace be upon him) said "This is the exact knowledge of God..."
And what does it mean? It means that if someone's definition of Irfan is far from what the Infallible (peace be upon him) said, then it's something wrong and they're clearly astray, the exact and only acceptable definition is on the words of Aimmah (peace be upon them), beware of different explanations as it can be a lie being ascribed to the pure household and ascribing a lie to them is the same as doing it to the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and it's a grave sin.

Now, how does it correlates with the beliefs?

The answer to this question is found in the words of Allamah al-Majlisi (r) as you can see below:

"From the affairs which are approved of being among the necessities of Imamiyyah (Shia) belief (one who denies them indeed abandons the religion of the Imams of Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon them) and embraces the madhab of the 'Mukhalifeen'), include the belief in the Imamate and Leadership of the twelve Imams of Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon them), the belief in their divine knowledge, virtues, and merits, the belief in the obligation of their obedience, believing in the merit of their ziyarat and believing in the obligation of their love, affection and respect likewise. For those who deny the obligation of love, affection and respect towards Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon them) like the nawasib and kharijiites are disbelievers (kuffar).

Likewise among the necessities of Imamiyyah is the permissibility of Mutah and Hajj al- Tamattu and to show dissociation (tabarra/baraat) from 'The Three' - Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman - and Muawiyah and Yazid Ibn Muawiyah and to all those who waged war¹ (or stood in opposition to) against the Amirul Mumineen (peace be upon him) and the rest of the Imams (peace be upon them) and also dissociating from the killers of Imam Hussain (peace be upon him) and proclaiming the kalmah 'hayya 'alaa khayril aamal' (come towards the best of deeds) in the adhan (call for prayer)..."

[Risalah of al-Majlisi (r), page 57 and 58]

1: Humayra is upon those who waged war against Imam Ali (peace upon him) so it doesn't fall upon us any obligation of showing respect towards her.
By Imamiyyah standards, denying one of the Imams (peace be upon them) is the equivalent to denying all of them, the conclusion is that the 'Four Idols' and all those who oppressed, denied and still deny their rights are disbelievers.

may Allah bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, hasten the reappearance of al-Qa'im and withdraw his mercy from all those who deny the Ahlul Bayt.

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