The Light of Truth — Page 493
ASSESSING THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE ECLIPSE HADITH 493 be said that the one who narrated it was a fabricator who lied and deceived. And when prophecies reach the level of bayyināt, then [establishing] their truthfulness does not require investigating the piety of its narrators; rather, these are devices put into place for reports sourced from ahād. If they were mutawātir [i. e. possessing multiple chains of narration], there would be no need for this support, for the truth of the bayyināt is apparent like the midday sun and only the ignorant or the devious will reject them. As for the reports that do not reach this status, they cannot extin- guish the light of the bayyināt, which are well known and self-evident, even if they number a hundred thousand, as their light is not clear; rather, they are behind a veil of concealment. If we were to suppose that they are all true, owing to the truthfulness of their narrators, even then, firm truths-like that which is clearly visible—would not be refuted by them. Rather, we would interpret them and, in such instances, we would need to resort to ta'wīlāt [interpretations] because ahād reports do not reach the level of tawātur according to those with insight. Their truthfulness is itibārī [subjective]—and not haqiqi [objective], like matters confirmed through experience—because we know these tra- ditions only through their [single chain of] narrators whom we eval- uate as possessing righteousness, precision, memory, and knowledge. According to researchers and experts, the relation of this principle to investigations based on observable phenomena is like the relationship of dry ablution to standard ablution. It is incumbent upon him for whom Allah opens the doors of divine verities-be it through the true ways which reveal what is hid- den, or through clear and true inspiration which is free from the smoke of concealment—to not turn to that which opposes it and to not allow suspicion to affect certainty. O people who follow suspicions! You have deliberately neglected the truth and out of perversity have chosen to rely on assumptions. You have forgotten the One who teaches guid- ance and who said: