Tradition of Myrobalan Fruit (Hadithe Halila) Scholarly discussion of Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (as) with an atheist physician on the existence of God Published by PEERMOHAMED EBRAHIM TRUST KARACHI, PAKISTAN 1976 Contents Foreword .............................................................................................. 1 An Anecdote ........................................................................................ 5 Preface .................................................................................................. 7 The Hadith ......................................................................................... 11 Foreword Says Qur’an: Allah affirms that there is no god but He; and so do the angels, and those with knowledge, He is established in justice. (3: 19) Such is the claim of the Qur’an. So when we come across the atheistic people or those who seriously believe in the Theory of Evolution and deny the existence of any Creator of this Universe and its paraphernalia we attribute it to their lack of knowledge either inherent or acquired. Again, says Qur’an: “Your God is one God.” (16: 7), “Allah-there is no deity but He, Living the Eternal.” (2: 257) This is the assertion of the last Book of Allah revealed to Prophet Muhammad (s). But for an explanation of the verses of the Qur’an we must refer either to Prophet Muhammad (s) himself to whom it was revealed or to those about whom he did direct us to refer to. Said Prophet Muhammad (s): “I am the City of knowledge and 1 Tradition of Myrobalan Fruit ‘Ali is the gate of it.”1 After ‘Ali (a) we have a chain of his children and grand children towards whom we must look for inspiration and guidance in all our affairs. Now in an age when people have either denied the very existence of One God or have lost faith in His attributes such as Omnipotence, Omniscience etc., we present a conversation that took place in the 2nd century of Islamic era between Hazrat Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (a), the sixth in the series of the twelve Imams of the House of Muhammad (s), and a philosopher-cum- physician from India who was a staunch votary of atheism.2 Needless to say that the intellectual caliber of the Imam was highest in that age as he had his knowledge from Allah. What needs our close attention is the fact that nearly 1200 years ago the mind of a man like us could argue so forcefully that not many intellectual giants that survived during this long period could have attained that standard. However, the counter arguments of the Imam (a) convinced the atheist about the Existence of Allah, His Oneness and other attributes so much so that he embraced Islam. How true it is: 1 Al-Hakim al-Nishapuri (d. 1014 A.D.), al-Mustadrak 'ala al-Sahihayn, vol. 3, p. 126. For more authentic sources of this hadith please see: https://www.al-islam.org/tahrif/cityofknowledge/index.htm 2 This discussion is reported in Bihar al-Anwar, vol.3, p. 152 -197. 2 Foreword An Imam excels all other persons both in knowledge and piety. The intellectual caliber of an Imam shall always remain the highest irrespective of the age in which he survives. The reason being simple that he is deputed by Allah to guide the people, and Allah can not depute a person with lesser knowledge to guide those superior in knowledge. With this book in hand the Muslims in particular and the other non atheistic people in general can help eradicate atheism from the surface of the globe. To achieve our goal we need not use force. We can do it peacefully with the help of our 'aql (reason) and achieve splendid success. Regarding 'aql suffice it to quote an anecdote (next chapter). This relates to our common ancestor Hazrat Adam (a). 3