و لقوله عز و جل وَ إِذْ قالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلائِكَةِ إِنِّي جاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً الآية معنى و هو أنه عز و جل لا يستخلف إلا من له نقاء السريرة ليبعد عن الخيانة لأنه لو اختار من لا نقاء له في السريرة كان قد خان خلقه لأنه لو أن دلالا قدم حمالا خائنا إلى تاجر فحمل له حملا فخان فيه كان الدلال خائنا فكيف تجوز الخيانة على الله عز و جل و هو يقول و قوله الحق أَنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَهْدِي كَيْدَ الْخائِنِينَ و أدب محمدا ص بقوله عز و جل وَ لا تَكُنْ لِلْخائِنِينَ خَصِيماً فكيف و أنى يجوز أن يأتي ما ينهى عنه و قد عير اليهود بسمة النفاق و قال أَ تَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبِرِّ وَ تَنْسَوْنَ أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَ أَنْتُمْ تَتْلُونَ الْكِتابَ أَ فَلا تَعْقِلُونَ.
في قول الله عز و جل وَ إِذْ قالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلائِكَةِ إِنِّي جاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً حجة قوية في غيبة الإمام عليه السلام و ذلك أنه عز و جل لما قال إِنِّي جاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً أوجب بهذا اللفظ معنى و هو أن يعتقدوا طاعته فاعتقد عدو الله إبليس بهذه الكلمة نفاقا و أضمره حتى صار به منافقا و ذلك أنه أضمر أنه يخالفه متى استعبد بالطاعة له فكان نفاقه أنكر النفاق لأنه نفاق بظهر الغيب و لهذا من الشأن صار أخزى المنافقين كلهم و لما عرف الله عز و جل ملائكته ذلك أضمروا الطاعة له و اشتاقوا إليه فأضمروا نقيض ما أضمره الشيطان فصار لهم من الرتبة عشرة أضعاف ما استحق عدو الله من الخزي و الخسار فالطاعة و الموالاة بظهر الغيب أبلغ في الثواب و المدح لأنه أبعد من الشبهة و المغالطة و لهذا رُوِيَ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ص أَنَّهُ قَالَ: مَنْ دَعَا لِأَخِيهِ بِظَهْرِ الْغَيْبِ نَادَاهُ مَلَكٌ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ وَ لَكَ مِثْلَاهُ ..و أن الله تبارك و تعالى أكد دينه بالإيمان بالغيب فقال هُدىً لِلْمُتَّقِينَ الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ الآية فالإيمان بالغيب أعظم مثوبة لصاحبه لأنه خلو من كل عيب و ريب لأن بيعة الخليفة وقت المشاهدة قد يتوهم على المبايع أنه إنما يطيع رغبة في خير أو مال أو رهبة من قتل أو غير ذلك مما هو عادات أبناء الدنيا في طاعة ملوكهم و إيمان الغيب مأمون من ذلك كله و محروس من معايبه بأصله يدل على ذلك قول الله عز و جل فَلَمَّا رَأَوْا بَأْسَنا قالُوا آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَحْدَهُ وَ كَفَرْنا بِما كُنَّا بِهِ مُشْرِكِينَ فَلَمْ يَكُ يَنْفَعُهُمْ إِيمانُهُمْ لَمَّا رَأَوْا بَأْسَنا و لما حصل للمتعبد ما حصل من الإيمان بالغيب لم يحرم الله عز و جل ذلك ملائكته فقد جاء في الخبر أن الله سبحانه قال هذه المقالة للملائكة قبل خلق آدم بسبعمائة عام و كان يحصل في هذه المدة الطاعة لملائكة الله على قدرها و لو أنكر منكر هذا الخبر و الوقت و الأعوام لم يجد بدّا من القول بالغيبة و لو ساعة واحدة و الساعة الواحدة لا تتعرى من حكمة ما و ما حصل من الحكمة في الساعة حصل في الساعتين حكمتان و في الساعات حكم و ما زاد في الوقت إلا زاد في المثوبة و ما زاد في المثوبة إلا كشف عن الرحمة و دل على الجلالة فصح الخبر أن فيه تأييد الحكمة و تبليغ الحجة.
و في قول الله عز و جل وَ إِذْ قالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلائِكَةِ إِنِّي جاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً حجة في غيبة الإمام عليه السلام من أوجه كثيرة أحدها أن الغيبة قبل الوجود أبلغ الغيبات كلها و ذلك أن الملائكة ما شهدوا قبل ذلك خليفة قط و أما نحن فقد شاهدنا خلفاء كثيرين غير واحد قد نطق به القرآن و تواترت به الأخبار حتى صارت كالمشاهدة و الملائكة لم يشهدوا واحدا منهم فكانت تلك الغيبة أبلغ و آخر أنها كانت غيبة من الله عز و جل و هذه الغيبة التي للإمام عليه السلام هي من قبل أعداء الله تعالى فإذا كان في الغيبة التي هي من الله عز و جل عبادة لملائكته فما الظن بالغيبة التي هي من أعداء الله و في غيبة الإمام عليه السلام عبادة مخلصة لم تكن في تلك الغيبة و ذلك أن الإمام الغائب عليه السلام مقموع مقهور مزاحم في حقه قد غلب قهرا و جرى على شيعته قسرا من أعداء الله ما جرى من سفك الدماء و نهب الأموال و إبطال الأحكام و الجور على الأيتام و تبديل الصدقات و غير ذلك
مما لا خفاء به و من اعتقد موالاته شاركه في أجره و جهاده و تبرأ من أعدائه و كان له في براءة مواليه من أعدائه أجر و في ولاية أوليائه أجر يربو على أجر ملائكة الله عز و جل على الإيمان بالإمام المغيب في العدم و إنما قصَّ الله عز و جل نبأه قبل وجوده توقيرا و تعظيما له ليستعبد له الملائكة و يتشمروا لطاعته
و إنما مثال ذلك تقديم الملك فيما بيننا بكتاب أو رسول إلى أوليائه أنه قادم عليهم حتى يتهيئوا لاستقباله و ارتياد الهدايا له ما يقطع به و معه عذرهم في تقصير إن قصروا في خدمته كذلك بدأ الله عز و جل بذكر نبئه إبانة عن جلالته و رتبته و كذلك قضيته في السلف و الخلف فما قبض خليفة إلا عرف خلقه الخليفة الذي يتلوه و تصديق ذلك قوله عز و جل أَ فَمَنْ كانَ عَلى بَيِّنَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّهِ وَ يَتْلُوهُ شاهِدٌ مِنْهُ الآية و الذي على بينة من ربه محمد ص و الشاهد الذي يتلوه علي بن أبي طالب أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام دلالته قوله عز و جل وَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ كِتابُ مُوسى إِماماً وَ رَحْمَةً و الكلمة من كتاب موسى المحاذية لهذا المعنى حذو النعل بالنعل و القذة بالقذة قوله وَ واعَدْنا مُوسى ثَلاثِينَ لَيْلَةً وَ أَتْمَمْناها بِعَشْرٍ فَتَمَّ مِيقاتُ رَبِّهِ أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً وَ قالَ مُوسى لِأَخِيهِ هارُونَ اخْلُفْنِي فِي قَوْمِي وَ أَصْلِحْ وَ لا تَتَّبِعْ سَبِيلَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ.
The verse of Allah: «And when your Lord» also implies that Almighty Allah will not appoint a person as His caliph unless he is pure from mistake so that he is void of distrust. If He appoints someone who is not pure from inside then he Has (God forbid!) been mistrustful to His creatures. For instance, an agent supplies a dishonest porter to a trader. In this case, the agent will be called dishonest. How is it possible that Almighty Allah becomes mistrustful? For He truly says: «And that Allah does not guide the device of the unfaithful» (12:52) He had taught etiquette to Prophet Muhammad Mustafa in this verse: «And be not an advocate on behalf of the treacherous.» (4:105) Then how is it possible for Him to perform an act, which He does not like to see? He has criticized Jews because of their hypocrisy in this verse: «What! do you enjoin men to be good and neglect your own souls while you read the Book; have you then no sense?» (2:44)
The verse, “And when your Lord…” is a solid proof about the occultation of Imam. The Almighty Allah made it incumbent on everyone to obey the caliph when He said that He was going to appoint a caliph on earth. Shaitan, the enemy of Allah had hypocrisy in his heart and kept it hidden till he became a hypocrite because of it. He intended to disobey the caliph every time he was ordered to obey. His hypocrisy was one of the worst, because it was hidden. Therefore he was disgraced the most among all the hypocrites. When the Almighty Allah had ordered His angels to obey the caliph, they had faith in him and were eager to do so. They had kept this feeling in their hearts, which was exactly opposite of what Shaitan had. As a result, the rank of angels increased manifold as much as the disgrace that the enemy of Allah had to face. Hence, obedience in seclusion has a great reward because it is free from every doubt. It is narrated that the Holy Prophet said: “If a person prays for his brother in his absence, an angel from heavens calls out: May the same benefit be for you!” The Almighty Allah has supported the belief on unseen in His religion. He says in this verse: (2:2-3) Hence belief on unseen has a great reward for believers because such a faith is free of all doubts. If someone pays allegiance to a caliph in his presence, there is a possibility that the person wants to seek some favor or he fears for his life as in the case of people who obey their worldly rulers. However, having faith on unseen is free of all such doubts. The Almighty Allah mentions this fact in the following verse: «They said: We believe in Allah alone and we deny what we used to associate with Him. But their belief was not going to profit them when they had seen Our» (40:84-85) When obedient servants acquired faith in unseen, the Almighty Allah did not deprive even his angels of this reward. It is narrated that angels had had this conversation with the Almighty Allah seven hundred years before the creation of Adam عليه السلام. During this period, angels got the benefit of obedience accordingly. If a person denies this narration or above mentioned period then he has no option but to have faith in unseen for a moment and even a moment is not devoid of wisdom. When a moment has one unit of wisdom in it, two moments will have two. In this way, a number of moments will have a number of units of wisdom hidden in them. The reward will continue to get multiplied as the time period increases. As the reward increases, the curtains of mercy of Allah will move aside and it will prove His greatness and majesty. Hence, this narration is absolutely correct because it supports wisdom and reward, and propagates the proof.
The statement of Almighty Allah: “And when your Lord…” contains the proof of occultation of the Imam in many ways. One of them is that the occultation before existence is the most perfect of its kind because the angels had not seen any caliph before whereas we have seen many of them. Holy Quran has discussed about them and many traditions have been narrated about them, which have reached to the level of Tawatur (widely related). The angels had not seen even a single caliph and hence the occultation of that time was perfect of its kind. Secondly, the earlier occultation was because of Allah and this one is because of the enemies of Allah. When the angels can have faith in that occultation, which was because of Allah then there is no point having a doubt in the occultation caused by the enemies of Allah. There is a pure worship in the occultation of Imam, which was not present in the previous one. It is so because the inhibited Imam is overpowered and oppressed. The enemies of Allah are openly torturing his followers through killing, plundering of wealth, suspension of divine commandments, oppressing the orphans and misusing charity etc.
A person who has faith in the proof and caliphate of Imam will be rewarded along with him and he will accompany the Imam in Jihad. He is like one who is wary of the enemies of Imam. The friends of the Imam will be rewarded for being wary of his enemies and the reward of the friends of Imam is more than the reward of angels who believed the caliph who had not come into existence. The Almighty Allah had informed the angels about Adam so that the latter develops honor and that the angels develop an intention of obeying him.
It can be proved through common sense that a king sends his message or a representative to his friend to inform him that the former is going to visit him so that the people prepare themselves to welcome the king and they do not fail in welcoming him in any way. Therefore, the Almighty Allah embarked on creation of His caliph firstly by describing him. Now the issue of caliphate is the same for those who were born later or as that of the earlier generations. Whenever He took one of His caliphs away from the earth, he informed the people of his successor. This fact is mentioned by Allah in this verse: «Is he then who has with him clear proof from his Lord, and a witness from Him recites it» (11:17) In this verse, bayyina (clear proof) denotes Holy Prophet and “that witness who will come after him” denotes the master of faithful, Ali bin Abi Talib. It is proved in this verse of Allah: «And before it (is) the Book of Musa, a guide and a mercy?» (11:17) And the verse which proves this meaning for the book of Musa is: «And We appointed with Musa a time of thirty nights and completed them with ten (more), so the appointed time of his Lord was complete forty nights, and Musa said to his brother Harun: Take my place among my people, and act well and do not follow the way of the mischief-makers.» (7:142)
