Ṭāhā

وإِنّـِي لَغَفَّارٌ لِمَن تَابَ وءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحاً ثُمَّ اهْتَدَي

82. “And verily I am the most forgiving to him who repents and believes and does righteous deed, and at last is guided.”

Next to the previous verse, which ended with a warning, this verse consists of the glad tidings of Allah, the good tidings to accepting repentance and forgiveness. This style is seen in all occurrences of the Qur’an concerning those occasions which are similar to this one. Of course, repentance from any sin and fault should be proportional to that very sin and fault. For example, the repentance of a person who has not established a statutory prayer is that he should fulfill that prayer; the repentance of hurting people is apology; the repentance of concealment of a fact is its announcement; the repentance of polytheism is belief in Allah; and the repentance of consuming people’s wealth is to return the wealth to its owner(s).

And since warnings and threats should be followed by encouragement and glad tidings, in order to equally remove the potential fear and hope, which are the main factors of development, and to open the doors of return to the repentant, in this verse, He says:

The application of the word /qaffar/ (The most forgiving) in this verse is an indication to the fact that Allah forgives such people not only once but also for many times. Some Islamic traditions denote that the purpose of the word /’ihtada/, mentioned in this verse, has also been rendered into the guidance toward the mastership of Ahlul-Bayt (as) (the immaculate Imams).² The reason of this idea is that Faith and righteous deeds, without the acceptance of the guidance of the Divine leaders, are not enough. (Yes, When there are both Faith and righteous deeds in one believer but he does not pave the path of guidance of the Divine leaders, he will become the prey of others, such as Samiri and Bal‘am Ba‘ura.)

Thus, the phrase “and at last is guided” is an indication to the necessity of the acceptance of mastership and obedience to the leadership of the Divine leaders. That is, repentance, faith, and righteous deeds are accepted and cause felicity when they are under the light of the guidance of Divine leaders. Once this guidance was at the time Moses (as), and another time it was in the time of the Prophet of Islam (S); then it was at the time of Amir-ul-Mu’mineen Ali (as); and today it relates to Hadrat Mahdi (as).

The reason of it is that one of the principals of religion is the acceptance of the invitation and the leadership of the Prophet (S) and then the acceptance of the leadership of his true successors. The Late Tabarsi, concerning the commentary of this verse, narrates a tradition from Imam Baqir (as) who said:

“The objective meaning of the phrase /ummahtada/ is the guidance unto the leadership of Ahlul-Bayt (as)”

Then he (as) added:

“By Allah, if a man spends all his lifetime in Divine service (close to the Ka‘bah) between ‘Rukn and Maqham (station of Abraham)’, then he dies in the state that he has not accepted our mastership, Allah will throw him by face into the Fire (of Hell).”

Hakim Abul-Ghasim Huskani, The well-known scholar of hadith of the Sunnites, has also narrated this tradition in his book.³ There have been recorded many other traditions in this field narrated from Imam Zayn-ul-‘Abidin (as), Imam Sadiq (as), and the Prophet himself (S). In order to know how deep the abandonment of this principal is destructive, it is enough to study the following verses and see how the Children of Israel were involved in worshipping the Calf, idolatry, and infidelity as the result of abandonment of the mastership and leaving the line of following Moses (as) and his successor Aaron.

However, to be a believer, and to become a believer, is important, but remaining in Faith is more important.