In this post, I like to present a
tradition that on the surface has a very clear point and message. However, what
caught my eyes is the part that is not considered the main message of
this tradition.
First, I will post this Authentic tradition, then I will mention what
I have in mind.
Arabic Text:
مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى
عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنِ ابْنِ مَحْبُوبٍ عَنِ الْحسينِ بْنِ نُعَيْمٍ الصَّحَّافِ
قَالَ سَأَلْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع عَنْ قَوْلِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ فَمِنْكُمْ كافِرٌ وَ مِنْكُمْ مُؤْمِنٌ (64:2) فَقَالَ عَرَفَ
اللَّهُ إِيمَانَهُمْ بِوَلَايَتِنَا وَ كُفْرَهُمْ بِهَا يَوْمَ أَخَذَ عَلَيْهِمُ
الْمِيثَاقَ فِي صُلْبِ آدَمَ ع وَ هُمْ ذَرٌّ
Farsi Translation:
حسين بن نعيم صحاف گويد:
از امام صادق (ع) پرسيدم از قول خدا عز و جل «برخى شما
مؤمن باشيد و برخى كافر»(64:2) فرمود: خدا ايمان آنها را به ولايت ما و كفر آنها را هم به محك ولايت ما
شناخته است از روزى كه ميثاق از آنها بر گرفت و آنها ذره اى بودند در پشت آدم (ع)
English Translation:
Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated
from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from ibn Mahbub from al-Husain ibn Nu‘aym al-Sahhaf who
has said the following:
“Once I asked abu ‘Abd Allah, peace
be upon him, about the words of Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Gracious: ‘. . . certain persons of you have accepted the faith and
others of you have not. . . .’(64:2) The Imam said, ‘God knows their faith and their disbelief through [their position
on] our Wilayah [guardianship] since the day He took their covenants in the
backbone/spinal cord/Rachis/loin of Adam (peace be upon him) and they were small
particles.
Source:
Al-Kafi, Volume 1, Page 413, Tradition #4
The very clear message from this
tradition is that the standard through which the people of faith and disbelievers
are separated is the wilayah [guardianship] of the Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon
them). In other words, very bluntly put,
based on this tradition, whoever that rejects or has rejected the Wilayah of
the Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon them) cannot be considered faithful to God. The belief
in Wilayah of our Imams is a necessary pre-condition for having faith. If one
has rejected their wilayah then his or her deeds cannot help him or her when
the deeds are accounted for. However, if one has not rejected their wilayah and
is rather in search of the Truth, his or her good actions will bring him/her to
accept the wilayah of our Imams.
Now, this was not the part that grabbed
my attention, since the followers of Ahlul Bayt (as) are already quit aware of
the significance of Wilayah. What captured my attention was the part regarding
our existence in the body of Adam (as) prior to our physical birth.
According to this tradition, which is in
line with the Quran, every one of us gave our pledge to Allah before we were born
in this world. The nature of our existence prior to our birth is a very complex
topic. Many scholars have delved into this topic and have written much about
it. However, as we know, the words and sayings of Ahlul Bayt (as) always
override the words, conjectures and statements of any scholar.
In the following segment I state what I
think we could take from the latter part of this tradition. Please, do not blindly take what I say to be
correct. What I am about to mention
is solely based on my own research and comprehension of this tradition.
According to this tradition:
·
We did exist prior to our births in this world.
· We made a covenant with Allah prior to our birth in this
world. The nature of this covenant is
not stated in this tradition.
·
We made this pledge with Allah inside the صُلْبِ
of Adam (as). I looked to see if I can
find an accurate definition or translation for this term. According to the medical dictionary the term “صُلْبِ” means backbone
or rachis. I further looked into the definition of “rachis” and discovered that
it means spinal column. The medical definition of spinal column is the following:
The series of articulated vertebrae, separated by intervertebral disks and held together by muscles and tendons, that extends from the cranium to the coccyx, encasing the spinal cord and forming the supporting axis of the body. Also called backbone, rachis, spine, vertebral column.
Since صُلْبِ is regularly translated as loins, I looked and
found that loins could be understood as the area between the lower rib cage and
the hip bones; in other words, the lumbar segment of the spinal cord. Subsequently, I looked to see if any studies
have been done to link this segment of the body with male reproductive system and I
found the following studies, which were published in 2008 and 2011.
&
According
to these studies, the neurons in this area are essentially responsible for
ejaculation in males. This finding made me curious and I looked further into
the link between spinal column and sexual functions in men. I found the
following study from 2011. In it you can study and learn the complex
relationship between the male brain, the male spinal cord and the male sexual
functions.
According to this paper, “The lumbar
spinal segments are of particular interest because they contain several neural
circuits that, in association with neural circuits of the thoracic and sacral
spinal cord, are important in eliciting male sexual responses (i.e., erection
and ejaculation)” Furthermore, it states, “specific population of LSt [Lumbar
Spinothalamic] neurons in
the third and fourth lumbar segments of the spinal cord acts as a “spinal
ejaculation generator” because toxins that selectively cause lesions in
galanin-expressing neurons in this region completely eliminate ejaculation in
rats while other aspects of male sexual behavior remain unaffected.” This study
confirms that this segment of our spinal cord is essential and necessary
for ejaculation in males.
There’s much much more that could be learned
from reading this paper. Our spinal cord
or our backbone or our loin, as many of us can probably assume, is extremely
important for our sexual functions.
·
According to this tradition, we were present as particles
inside Adam. This entails that we existed
physically in one way or another inside Adam. Perhaps, Adam as the first evolved human was
the first being who had within him the complete human gene pool, which in turn is
used by each and every one of us. In this sense, we all existed inside Adam,
and the future generations exist within us.
This topic is, without a doubt, a
complicated topic. We can only hope that in the near future through our
scientific discoveries we will learn more about this topic and refine our views
and understanding of it and in turn this tradition from our Imam (as).
In the end, if you disagree with my views
in this post or if you would like to mention anything about this post, please
leave a comment. Your feedback is always welcomed and appreciated.
I hope what I said in this post
encourages some of us to look at our Imams' traditions from a natural and scientific perspective,
as opposed to purely conceptual and non-natural perspectives. Even if you
disagree with everything that I said in this post and consider it irrelevant, I
can only hope that reading this post would motivate some of us to examine the
traditions of our Imams from different dimensions and through multiple lenses.
