Al Ilm : The Noble Heritage

Al Ilm or The Knowledge is from Allah and from Him alone. The term Al Ilm encompasses the entirety of creation and reality. This noble heritage of Ilm has been in the custody of the great Fatemi Daawat which first functioned from Mekkah and Madina and later extended to Tunisia, Aljazaer (Algiers) and Marakesh (Morrocco) in North Africa, then to Selmiyah in Syria and Egypt. From there it went to Yemen and then finally to India, where it has flourished for the past 460 years.

Allah bestowed this Ilm first to Anbiyas (AS) and they in turn passed it on to Aaimmat Tahereen (SA) and on to Doatul Mutlaqeen (RA). Allah says in the Quraan Majeed :

Then from Adam (AS) the ilm descended to subsequent nabis until our last nabi, Nabi Mohammadul Mustafa (SAW) on whom Allah bestowed Al-Quraan-the source of all universal knowledge.

Rasulullah (SAW) had profound ilm through 'wahye' and the interpretation of Al Quraan and used to say :

After the wafaat of Rasulullah (SAW), Maulana Ali (SA) the inheritor of this noble heritage took over the task of spreading the Ilm. Maulana Ali(SA) had so much Ilm that he used to place his hand on his chest and say :

Later Maulana Ali's sermons and sayings were compiled into a kitab called Nahjul Balagha. From Maulana Ali (SA) the Ilm descended to his son, Imam Hassan (AS) and then on to Imam Hussain (AS) who accepted shahadat in Karbala to ensure the continuity of Islam and the noble heritage of Al Ilm.

Imam Hussain's son and successor, Imam Ali Zainul Abedeen (SA) who was in Karbala then became the next custodian of the Ilm. This heritage then passed on to Imam Mohammadul Baqir (SA), and on to Imam Jaaferus Sadiq (SA), who were the fourth and fifth Imams respectively. It was during the reign of these two Imams that the Ilm was widely spread. Even to this day Muslims use Imam Jaaferus Sadiq's Ilm as their reference.

With the farman and guidance from Imam Jaaferus Sadiq, Jabir bin Hayyan who is known in Islamic History as the father of chemistry, discovered fire-proof writing paper and luminous ink. Jabir is also an author of some 80 volumes of books on chemistry.

The ninth Imam, Maulana Ahmedil Mastur (SA) wrote 52 volumes of Ikhwanus Safa (Encyclopedia) which covered wide ranging subjects from arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music and philosophy. These English words are derived from the Arabic language, and it proves beyond doubt that the so called modern knowledge in reality had its roots in the Ilm of Aale Mohammad. When Imam Maulana Ahmedil Mastur (SA) wrote the Encyclopedia-Ikhwanus Safa, (52 vol.) people then acknowledged that such knowledge could only come from the chosen ones of Allah who are descendents of Rasulullah.

Allah says in the Holy Quraan :

During the reign of the 14th Imam, Maulana Moez (SA) Al Ilm spread through out Qaherah - that is Cairo the capital of present day Egypt. Imam Moez established the world's first university - the Al Azhar which is in exixtence till today.

It was during Imam Moez's reign that Syedna Alqazi Noman bin Mohammad (RA) with the raza mubarak of the Imam wrote several kitabs including two well known volumes of Daaim-ul-Islam. The first volume is on the seven pillars of Islam namely Walayat, Taharat, Salaat, Zakaat, Saum, Haj and Jihad. While the second volume is on the rules of shariat (Shariat na Ahkam) which covers all that which is expected of a moomeen from birth to death.

Syedna Jaafer Bin Mansurul Yemen (AQ) and Syedna Ahmed Hamimuddin Al Kirmani (AQ) also wrote several kitabs with Imam Moez's (SA) raza mubarak.

When the 16th Imam, Maulana Hakim (SA) came into succession, he established an exclusive library in Cairo called Baitul Hikmat which had about 60,000 volumes from his khazana (treasure) and later one million books, manuscripts and other valuable kitabs were added to it. It was an invaluable source of knowledge for study and research.

During Imam Hakim's reign, Ibn Sena known in the Daawat as Bu Ali Saina was a Fatemi Dai who contributed tremendously towards medical, human and cosmological sciences. Bu Ali Saina's theories and works are being quoted and followed even today - a proof that all ilm emanates from Aale Mohammad.

During the reign of the 18th Imam, Al Mustansir Billah (SA), there was the great scholar in Syedna Moaiyyed Al Shirazi (RA) who wrote valuable kitabs and the most well known is the Majalis Al Moaiyediah which contains 800 majalis.

Imam Mustansir Billah (SA) went about preparing for the seclusion of the subsequent Imams and granted raza mubarak to Syedna Moaiyyed to teach ilm to Syedna Lamak bin Malik (AQ) who had been called to Qaherah from Yemen. Syedna Lamak studied ilm in Cairo for five years, after which he was sent back by the Imam to his homeland with the raza mubarak to spread ilm in Yemen.

In Yemen, he taught the Ilm to his son, Maulana Yahya (RA) who in turn taught Syedna Zoeb Bin Moosa (AQ) who was the first in long unbroken chain of Doat-ul-Mutlaqeen after the seclusion of the 21st Imam, Imam Attayeb (SA).

After the wafaat of the 20th Imam, Maulana Aamir (SA), the 21st Imam, Imam Attayeb (SA) left Qaherah and went into seclusion and Syedna Zoeb Bin Moosa (RA) was appointed the first Dai-al-Mutlaq and to be the vicegerent of the Imam in seclusion, with ultimate spiritual authority.

There will always be an Imam in seclusion, with the august office passing from father to son in direct descent from the 21st Imam, until the day he comes out of seclusion. While the Imam is in seclusion, the Dai-ul-Mutlaq exercises the fullest authority on the Imam's behalf and is also the custodian of the noble heritage of Al Ilm. During the period of over 862 years, the Dais have nutured this Ilm and spread it far and wide.

The seat of daawat moved from Yemen to India, with Syedna Yusuf Najmuddin (AQ) as the 24th Dai in succession and the first Dai in India. Every Dai has left his mark on the vast Ilm and faced the various challenges of their times.

Now in our times, Syedna Taher Saifuddin's beloved son and inheritor of the noble heritage of Aale Mohammad's Ilm, the 52nd incumbent in the august office of Dai-al-Mutlaq, Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin Saheb (TUS) has further enhanced the Jamea's status and is imparting the inherited Ilm to thousands of momineen the world over.