{"id":263,"date":"2019-07-31T20:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T19:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/263\/imam-ali-as-divider-of-heaven-and-hell\/"},"modified":"2019-09-01T07:29:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-01T06:29:01","slug":"imam-ali-as-divider-of-heaven-and-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/263\/imam-ali-as-divider-of-heaven-and-hell\/","title":{"rendered":"Imam Ali (as) Divider of Heaven and Hell"},"content":{"rendered":"

“O Ali, you are the divider of heaven and hell”<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n

This statement is a clear indication of the imam`s (as) status before Allah and His messenger
\n(saw), such that his every action and belief is in complete accordance with Islam. The Imam (as)
\nrepresents Islam in such a perfect and complete manner that recognising and being like him is
\nthe only route to heaven, and rejection of who he is – the living embodiment of Allah`s wish for
\nmankind – can only lead to hell. This point is explained in the lines of the hadeeth which follow it.
\n“None shall enter the heaven unless he has recognized you…”
\nThe first point in explanation of this concept is that none can enter heaven unless he has
\nrecognised imam Ali (as). This statement makes it clear that any believer who fasts, prays,
\ngives alms and performs pilgrimage will still not attain true Islam unless he has accepted and
\nacknowledged the role of imam Ali (as). Wilaya of Imam Ali (as) is so introduced to us as a
\nfoundation and requirement of being a good Muslim, and all other good deeds cannot bear fruit
\nwithout it. This idea has been supported in the famous hadeeth, “Whoever dies and does not
\nknow the Imam of his age, he dies the death of Ignorance (Jahiliyya)”, but outlines the
\nspecific role of the first imam, Ali (as) in relation to all believers following the prophet (saw). It
\nshould be noted that the criterion of imam Ali (as) as divider of heaven and hell is not limited to
\na timeframe such as the duration of his life, but is stated in relation to all believers after the
\nProphet (saw) for all time.
\n“…and you have recognized him”
\nThe second point is that imam Ali (As) must also recognise the believers in order for them to
\nenter heaven. It is not enough for the believers to agree to the role of the imam (as), but they
\nmust work hard to learn about him so that they are able to recognise him, and follow his
\nteachings and manifest their beliefs through their actions such that they can be recognised as
\nfollowers of him (as). This mutual recognition – of imam Ali (as) by the believer and of the
\nbeliever by imam Ali (as) – could be accomplished and strengthened if believers gain knowledge
\nabout the imam (as), and build a personal, spiritual relationship with the imam (as) through acts
\nlike supplication, ziyarat and good deeds on his behalf.
\nPoints one and two present to us the importance of knowing and following imam Ali (as)
\nfor all believers, no matter what time they live in.
\n“And none shall enter hell unless he has rejected you and you have
\nrejected him”
\nThe third point is that none shall enter hell unless he has rejected the imam (as), in complement
\nto point one. This completes and strengthens the force of the statement in point one, serving as
\na sharp warning to any who may believe that they can gain entry to heaven while denying the
\nimam (as). Similarly, the fourth point that none shall enter hell unless he has been rejected by
\nthe imam (as) complements point two, in which those who reject a relationship with the imam
\n(as) and manifest this in their actions can never enter heaven.
\nThe following line of the hadeeth states that imam Ali (as) and his descendents will be able to
\nrecognise everyone on the Last Day through their marks, leaving no argument that there is
\nanother group which is not of either the first party (followers of the imam (as)) or the second
\n(those who earn hell). This underlines the status of imam Ali (as) as a complete example of the
\nlaws of Allah`s religion, being the absolute criteria by which men are divided into those reaching
\nheaven and those for hell, and there is no way around this.
\nThe final point made in this hadeeth states that the believers could not be distinguished from
\nothers after the prophet (saw) if it was not for imam Ali (as). In light of the teachings of this
\nhadeeth, none other can take the place of imam Ali (as) as leader of muslims.
\nRecognition of imam Ali (as) and following him truly is guaranteed to lead to success
\nand entry to heaven, and rejection of him is rejection of the laws of Islam and the khalif
\nappointed by Allah over mankind, and can only lead to hell. We must all learn about the
\nimam`s (as) life and become familiar with his deeds and sayings, until we are able to recognise
\nhim as more than just a distant historical figure. We must also strive to follow his example and
\nhis teachings, as they are in complete accordance with what the prophet (saw) brought of
\nAllah`s laws. Our success in this life and the next is subject to our being able to
\nrecognise the imam (as), and making ourselves such that we are recognisable as
\nfollowers of his. There is no middle ground: if we do not try to recognise him and be
\nrecognised by him as believers, we have no other destination but the Fire. For, as given
\nin the last line, the believers are only distinguished from sinners by knowing him.<\/h4>\n

shiastudies.com<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nthe importance of knowing imam Ali (as), based on the famous hadeeth
\n [according to the narration] The Prophet, peace be upon him and his
\n progeny, told Ali, peace be upon him… O Ali, you are the divider of
\n heaven and hell. None shall enter the heaven unless he has recognized<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7453,7758],"tags":[8270,8269,8142,7556],"class_list":["post-263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bank-of-subjects-of-articles","category-prophet","tag-divider","tag-heaven","tag-imam-ali-as","tag-shiastudies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}