[20] Wilayah - Migrating to the Wilayah of God

A series of discussions on the teachings of Imam Sadiq (sixth Imam of the Muslims), from the book Misbah ash-Sharia (The Lantern of the Path)

In His Name, the Most High

This is part twenty of an ongoing series of discussions on the book by Imam as-Sadiq titled ‘Misbah ash-Sharia’ (the Lantern of the Path).

This is the sixth of our discussions on the subject of Wilayah or Guardianship/Authority, it will also be the last one in this portion of our current - and initial - series on wilayah.

From the next session, we will be looking in more detail at the subject of Imamate - which is closely tied to and linked to wilayah - and will begin our study of the 250 year old man - a spiritual, social and political history of the Imams of the Muslims.

We will be coming back to wilayah after this, and will cover it more detail, as well as examining the subject of the Righteous Islamic Leadership - both from the perspective of Marjaiyyah (Shia Religious Authority) as well as the idea of Wilayat al-Faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist).

It is strongly recommended that the previous parts are read, before proceeding with this one; to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding within the subject matter.

The nature of the subject matter, and the style of discourse requires that each part build upon those that came before it, so once more, I strongly recommend that the reader, read the previous parts, and then continue with this one.

The previous parts, can be found here:

The Lantern of the Path - Index

Video of the Majlis (Sermon/Lecture)

This write up is a companion to the video majlis (sermon/lecture) found below:

Contents

• Majlis - Misbah ash-Sharia - Servitude - Part 20 - Migrating to the Wilayah of God

• Nasheed: You Shine - Hasan Tavakkoli

• Ziyarah: Ziyarat Aal-i-Yaseen

Recap

In our previous session, we delved into one of the most sobering and essential dimensions of Wilayah: the idea of misdirected loyalty—wilayah to the taghut.

Building upon our foundational discussions of Tawheed (Monotheism), Adalah (The Justice of God), Nubuwwah (Prophethood), and the necessity of divine appointment in leadership, we examined the nature of allegiance that is not directed towards God and His appointed awliya (the divinely guided Imams), but instead towards rebellious, illegitimate forces—collectively referred to in the Quran as taghut.

We began with a Quranic framing from Surah an-Nahl (the Chapter of the Bee), which drew a stark boundary between those who place their trust in God and those who submit, knowingly or unknowingly, to Satan and the taghut. This became our starting point to explore the tragic consequences of deviating from divine authority, not merely as a theological point, but as an existential and historical reality that affects individuals, families, communities, and entire civilisations.

The concept of taghut was unpacked in its broader Quranic and linguistic scope—no longer limited to idols of stone or wood, but understood as any force, person, system, desire, or ideology that oversteps the bounds God has set, and seeks to draw human beings away from their God-given nature and purpose.

We examined the subtlety of this misguidance, how it disguises itself in promises, comforts, and so-called reforms, and how it manipulates hearts and societies into accepting the unacceptable. Whether in the form of corrupt leaders, societal norms, personal ambitions, or demonic ideologies, anything that leads a human being away from servitude to God was identified as taghut.

Crucially, we explored how the wilayah of taghut isn’t neutral—it actively seizes one’s potential, one’s energies, one’s creativity and redirects them towards its own ends. In this, we saw the terrifying truth of how Satan and his allies exploit human capability not for the betterment of humanity, but to further entrench falsehood, tyranny, and delusion.

This wasn’t just discussed in abstract terms—we looked to history to ground our understanding.

In a powerful recounting of events surrounding the city of Kufa, we reflected on its dual legacy—its unparalleled closeness to the Imams and its tragic betrayals.

It was from Kufa that the letters of allegiance were sent to Imam Husayn, and it was the same Kufa that became the stage for the brutal tyranny of Hajjaj ibn Yusuf.

We explored how a city once chosen by the Commander of the Faithful became the target of the most brutal repression—an attempt to stamp out the spirit of resistance against taghut that still lingered there.

The historical account of Hajjaj’s terrifying speech and the paralysing silence of the people of Kufa served as a mirror to us today. It showed how the wilayah of taghut takes hold—not necessarily through brute force alone—but through the complicity of silence, the abandonment of principles, and the loss of courage in the face of falsehood.

And just as the Quran says, when people choose to live under the wilayah of taghut, God allows them that choice—He does not force salvation. “We shall abandon him to his devices…” the verse says. This was not merely a statement about the past, but a warning about the present—and the path forward.

The session concluded with an intense reflection on how this relationship with taghut is deeply psychological, spiritual, and political. We prayed for clarity, for the courage to stand up to falsehood, for the wisdom to see where the wilayah of taghut might be creeping into our own lives under different names, and for the strength to always side with God, His awliya, and the oppressed.

We ended with the Quranic promise that Satan has no authority over God’s sincere servants. The path of wilayah—the wilayah of God —is not just a theoretical concept; it is the armour of the soul in a world full of wolves in the garb of shepherds.

In the next part of our journey, we move forward to explore what it truly means to migrate to the wilayah of God. Far from being a physical relocation or a superficial slogan, we will discover how such migration is an inward journey, a revolution of the self, and perhaps, the first real step towards freedom.

With His support, with His assistance, and with total reliance on Him, we continue …

Wilayah (Guardianship or Authority) - Part 6

Introduction

وَمَن يُهَاجِرْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ يَجِدْ فِي الْأَرْضِ مُرَاغَمًا كَثِيرًا وَسَعَةً ۚ وَمَن يَخْرُجْ مِن بَيْتِهِ مُهَاجِرًا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ثُمَّ يُدْرِكْهُ الْمَوْتُ فَقَدْ وَقَعَ أَجْرُهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ ۗ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا

Whoever migrates in the way of God will find many havens and plenitude in the earth. And whoever leaves his home migrating toward God and His Apostle, and is then overtaken by death, his reward shall certainly fall on God, and God is all-forgiving, all-merciful.

- Quran, Surah an-Nisa (the Chapter of the Women) #4, Verse 100

The issue of migration for the sake of God (hijrah) is connected to the issue of wilayah in the broad sense that we have discussed the latter concept in these sessions.

We said that wilayah refers to the creation of a firm bond between the faithful, and the cutting of ties between the faithful and those who are not faithful.

At the next level, we said that it signifies the creation of a powerful link between all the individuals on the side of faith with the central power and focal point that is responsible for governing the Islamic - or tawheed-oriented - society, in other words, with the wali, or the Islamic leader.

Aside from this, we also discussed who this leader of the Islamic society must be. We found our answer in the Quran:

إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَهُمْ رَاكِعُونَ

Your wali is only God, His Apostle, and the faithful who maintain the prayer and give the zakat while bowing down.

- Quran, Surah al-Maidah (the Chapter of the Table Spread) #5, Verse 55

This contained a reference to the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali.

If we are able to comprehend wilayah in this broad sense without relegating this issue to a secondary or supplemental matter in relation to wilayah, as some do without realising it, then migrating becomes on of the consequences of wilayah.

Why is this so?

Because if it is necessary for every person to live under the wilayah of God and His wali - as indicated by the doctrine of wilayah itself - and if we accept that all the human beings energies and potential, in body, soul and mind, must be directed in accordance with the will of God’s wali and, that all the elements of his being must serve God and not serve taghut, then the inescapable conclusion we must draw is that if there is somewhere where all of our being and all of our energies are not under the wilayah of the Imam, but are, in fact, under the wilayah of taghut and Satan, then it is our God-given duty to escape the prison of taghut, to save ourselves, to free ourselves, to flee to the wilayah of God.

In summary, we must escape the authority of the unjust, and flee to the authority of the just.

This is known as a migration (hijrah).

So, do you see how the matter of migration (hijrah) is a natural consequence of wilayah?

Therefore, we have already mentioned three issues pertaining to wilayah.

This is the fourth.

Why Escape the Wilayah of Taghut?

Why must the human being escape the wilayah of taghut and Satan?

This is a question worthy of serious consideration. What would be wonderful, what I would really like, is that when I pose this question, is for the dear audience - the viewer, listener or reader - to immediately take it into your minds, analyse it for yourselves, and try to formulate an answer for it on the basis of the teachings and principles of Islam.

If your answer and mine - the answer I am about to present - are at odds, then there is still much more to discuss.

So the question is:

Can we be both Muslims, and live under the wilayah of taghut?

Can we not imagine a Muslim living under Satan’s authority, while still serving the All-Merciful?

Is this something that can happen or not?

Is it possible somewhere in which all the horizons of human existence have been occupied by an ungodly force?

For the human body to be under the dominion of an ungodly force, for the human mind to be under the dominion of the an ungodly force, for the spirit, emotions and feelings of members of society to be dragged this way and that by such an ungodly force?

Can there be a person under the dominion of such an ungodly and rebellious powers who is, at the same time, a servant of God and a true Muslims?

Is this something possible or not?

Reflect on this this for a moment, and formulate an answer in your minds.

Contemplate whether whether this can happen or not, whether you think it can happen or not.

To correctly and properly answer this question, we must do some analysis and reflect on the Quran so that the answer becomes clear:

“Can someone live under the authority of Satan,
while being a Muslim, or can they not?”

The question is made up two parts.

The first part is what does it mean for a person to live under the wilayah of Satan? What does wilayah mean in this context?

If we give it the same meaning as we derived from several verse of the Quran, then it becomes clear what the wilayah of Satan means:

The wilayah of Satan is when Satan - in the general meaning we have previously mentioned, rather than referring to any specific being - holds sway over all the power and potentiality that exist within the human being.

Whatever a human being does, he follows the path which Satan has laid out for him. Whatever he thinks, he follows the path that Satan inclines towards.

It is exactly like someone who has fallen into a river and is being pulled along by a fast moving current. This poor soul does not want to be swept against the big rocks where he might smash his head, or be dragged beneath the surface and drowned.

However, even though he does not want it, the current is so fast and strong that it carries him along no matter how hard he struggles, no matter where he turns or what he tries to grab hold of, the current is too strong for him.

The wilayah of taghut and the wilayah of satan are no different to this.

Understanding the Wilayah of Taghut

This is why the Quran says:

وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ أَئِمَّةً يَدْعُونَ إِلَى النَّارِ ۖ وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ لَا يُنصَرُونَ

We made them leaders who invite to the Fire, and on the Day of Resurrection they will not receive any help.

- Quran, Surah al-Qassas (the Chapter of the Narrations) #28, Verse 41

There are leaders who lead their followers into the fires of Hell, who lead them towards misery.

Elsewhere the Quran says:

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ بَدَّلُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ كُفْرًا وَأَحَلُّوا قَوْمَهُمْ دَارَ الْبَوَارِ
جَهَنَّمَ يَصْلَوْنَهَا ۖ وَبِئْسَ الْقَرَارُ

Have you not regarded those who have changed God’s blessing with ingratitude, and landed their people in the house of ruin? —hell, which they shall enter, and it is an evil abode!

- Quran, Surah Ibrahim (the Chapter of Abraham) #14, Verses 28 to 29

God asks whether we have considered those people who were ungrateful for God’s blessings?

To which blessings does He refer?

This could actually be anything:

The blessing of power, which is a manifestation of God’s power, the blessing of worldly power, the blessing of being charged with looking after the affairs of thousands, the blessing of having the abilities, thoughts, potential, energy of people at your command - these are all forms of blessings; these are all resources which can be a source of good for mankind.

The people who are under the authority of the kind of person these verses are discussing can become great human beings, they can become God’s foremost servants, they can attain the highest levels of perfection, but they have shown ingratitude for these blessings by using them in a way they should not.

In doing so, they have “landed their people in the house of ruin”.

They have brought their own people to the threshold of nothingness and destruction. They have brought them to “hell, which they shall enter, and it is an evil abode!”

Imam Musa ibn Ja’far al-Kadhem, the seventh Imam of the Muslims, recited this verse to the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, to show him that it was he who was leading his own people towards ruin and destruction, instead of towards goodness and felicity.

When Imam al-Kadhem recited this verse, Harun al-Rashid was taken back.

He - Harun al-Rashid - then asked:

“Are we disbelievers then?”

The Imam had recited this verse to him so that he would see that the word ‘kafir’ did not just mean those who do not believe in God or deny the truthfulness of the Quran or the Prophet of God - that is just one kind of kafir.

In fact, this is the better kind of kafir, because they explicitly say what they believe and people can see what their stance is very clearly and can respond accordingly.

A worse kind of kafir, is someone who is ungrateful for the great blessings that God has bestowed upon him by using them in an incorrect manner.

This is known as ‘Kufran al-niam - كُفرانُ النِّعَمِ’, and means “ingratitude for blessings” or “denial of favours/blessings.” It’s the act of failing to acknowledge, appreciate, or be thankful for the blessings (نِعَم / niam) that one has been given.

It is not only that this person takes himself to Hell, rather, he takes everyone under his authority with him also.

This is the real meaning of the wilayah of taghut.

Wilayah of Taghut: When Resistance Feels Impossible

So, when someone lives under the wilayah of taghut, it really seems as though he does not have control over his own life.

By this, I do not mean that such as person has no free will whatsoever - the verse of Quran we just examined makes everything clear - but the current of the river carries him along.

He wants to grab hold of something, but he can’t.

He wants to pull himself away from the path to Hell, because he sees that everything is sliding towards Hell and he is being taken along with it.

But there are many people, so even if you want to turn back, you are carried along by the crowd.

You want to be good, you want to live a good life, you want to live like a human being, you want to remain a Muslim and die a Muslim, but you cannot.

In other words, the currents of society have caught you and are taking you with them - there is nothing you can do to resist. Even if you try to resist, you are just wasting your own energy - it won’t work.

No only can you not resist, worse still is the fact that sometimes you don’t even realise what is happen.

Much like a frog that is being slow boiled in a pot of water; it doesn’t realise what is happening, until it is too late.

Indeed, when you see how fish swim in the seas and oceans, when they care being caught by fishermen. Sometimes hundreds, if not thousands, if fish are caught in a single net and dragged to shore or onto the fishing vessel.

They are caught out in the middle of the sea or ocean, many kilometres away from the shore or onto the fishing board. The net carries all of them to the boat or the shore, all of this distance.

But the fish don’t even realise this is happening.

If you were to ask a fish, caught in a net:

“Where are you going?”

The fish might think it is going by choice, but the reality is that the fish has no choice - merely the illusion of choice - it will go wherever the fishermen carry it to.

Caught in the Net: The Illusion of Guidance Under Taghut

The pre-Islamic way of life was like an invisible net cast over human society, carrying people to wherever those who controlled the net wanted to take them.

People did not know where they were going. Sometimes they even believed they were actually being led to happiness and felicity, unaware of the fact that, no, contrary to their expectations, they were actually being led straight to hell. “Hell, which they shall enter, and it is an evil abode!”

So, this is what the wilayah of taghut looks like. This is the wilayah of Satan. This is the first part of our question.

The Golden Age Under the Wilayah of Taghut

The second part is the core of the question.

Remember, we asked whether it was possible for someone to live as a Muslim while simultaneously living under the wilayah of taghut. Is it?

Now that we have a general understanding of what it means to live under the wilayah of taghut, we must turn to historical examples in order to grasp its specific manifestations.

When we study the time of the Umayyads and the Abbasids, we see that the Islamic world was full of energy, we see the amount of knowledge and learning that was taking place in Islamic society; what great physicians there were, what great translators!

At a time when there was drought of language and learning in the rest of the world, the Islamic world was busily translating the amassed learning of the ancients into Arabic, and making this available to the people.

In all fields, whether history, science, medicine, astronomy, and even art, Muslims took great strides forward.

Today, when someone like the French, psychologist, sociologist, thinker, and author, Gustave Le Bon (1841 to 1931), or another European scholar of the east, studies these phenomena, he refers to the second, third and fourth centuries of the Islamic (lunar hijra) calendar as a ‘golden age’.

Adam Metz (1869 to 1917), a Swiss orientalist renown for his expertise in the history and culture of the ‘Islamic caliphate’, wrote a book titled ‘Islamic Civilisations in the Fourth Century AH’. This book reads almost like a lament for the loss of this great civilisation.

He describes a resplendent culture of learning and scientific advancement in the fourth century (of the lunar hijra calendar).

Why do these European scholars behold the second, third and fourth centuries of the Islamic calendar, with such marvel?

Because of the amazing dynamism and vitality on display from the Islamic society.

Let me ask you a question:

“Do you think all of this energy and activity from that time was to the benefit of the Islamic society and humanity as a whole?”

More than ten centuries have passed since that time.

Without showing any partiality to those days, it is safe to say that compared to the non-Muslim world, it was the Islamic world that was the beacon of knowledge and learning.

It was the Islamic world that was building the universities, debating philosophy, and making advances in science and medicine.

But, if we are honest, did all of that activity end up ultimately benefiting humanity and the Islamic society?

What does the Islamic society have of this heritage more than a millennium later? What has it lost?

Why does the Islamic society no longer possess this intellectual and scientific wealth?

Why is it, that in today’s world, the Islamic society does not and cannot shine as it did during the ‘golden age’?

Is it for any other reason than the fact that all of these efforts, even if they were valuable and of benefit for all of humanity, ultimately took place under the auspices of taghut?

As the famous Persian poet, Hafez of Shiraz says:

“I shall never grasp the jewel of Solomon,
Lest one day it falls into the hands of Ahriman.”

- Divan of Hafez of Shiraz

It was these Ahrimans or devils who played with Islamic society. Even if they encouraged and sponsored these translations, it was only so that they could take credit for it as one of the achievements of their reign.

Even if they did the same for all the scientific, mathematical, astronomical, literary, legal and other activities that took place under their authority.

If, instead of all of these mathematical, scientific, astronomical, literary and legal advancements, they had simply allowed the Imams to rule, if they had allowed Imam Sadiq to take control of affairs, and placed all of the power and energy of the society at his disposal, even from the perspective of learning, literature and the issues in which the world takes pride today, even if this had delayed the work by a hundred years, it would have been of more benefit to the human race.

This is because humanity would have grown, Islamic would have flourished, and human energy and potential would be channeled into the correct path.

On the other hand, under the Abbasids, even though great strides were being made in science, what about the individual morals and societal ethics?

Is it acceptable to leave this so weak, so that class divisions remain an entrenched component of society?

It is exactly like the disgraceful and corrupt civilisations of the world today.

The world powers boast of their scientific discoveries, they boast of their wondrous inventions, they boast about every medicine, every formula, every undertaking.

This is from the perspective of science.

However, from the perspective of humanity and ethics, nothing has changed from a thousand years ago.

Today, we still see fabulous wealth side by side with terrible hunger and poverty.

We still see a very small percentage of the world’s population enjoying the benefits of the modern world, while millions live hungry in both impoverished nations, as well as so-called civilised nations.

They boast of their achievements, but this is exactly the state of the great Islamic civilisation that prevailed in the second, third and fourth centuries of Islam.

It is the same issue as it was then.

Great scientific advancements are taking place, but there is no concern for the values of humanity or virtue; huge class differences remain, and at the same time as one part of the world is starving, the other part eats itself to death.

It is the same now, as it was then.

What is the cause of this misfortune?

Why was it the case that Islamic society at that time, with all of the intellectual energy and dynamism it had, why was it not a rose in the garden of virtue and humanity?

Why not?

Witnesses to Wilayah: The Cost of Loyalty

Now when we look at the history of the second and third centuries of the Islamic calendar (lunar hijra), we can mention those people whose names truly belong on the list of great figures in world history, those who fought against the injustice of the societies in which they lived.

There is Mu’alla ibn Khunays, whom they - the Abbasids - hung in the marketplace.

For those who don’t know, Mu’alla ibn Khunays, was a very close and trusted companion of Imam as-Sadiq, the sixth Imam of the Muslims. He is considered in Islamic thought as an example of loyalty to wilayah in the face of immense political pressure and threats.

Indeed, his martyrdom is symbolic of the cost of standing with the line of wilayah, and remaining loyal to the wali against the taghut of his time.

He was martyred by the Abbasids under the authority of the governor Madinah (who was an Abbasid agent), because of his association with Imam as-Sadiq, and for his loyalty to the line of wilayah and to the wali of his time.

Another example is one we have previously mentioned, Yahya ibn Umm Tawil, who was a close companion of Imam as-Sajjad, the fourth Imam of the Muslims, and who is known for his loyalty to the line of wilayah and to the wali of his time.

He had his hand and foot cut off, and then they - the Umayyads - tore out his tongue, and ultimately martyred him.

There is also Muhammad ibn Abi Umayr, he was a companion of at least three of the Imams, Imam al-Kadhim, the seventh Imam of the Muslims, Imam ar-Ridha, the eighth Imam of the Muslims, and also Imam al-Jawad, the ninth Imam of the Muslims.

On account of his close association with the Imams - especially Imam al-Kadhem - he was arrested and imprisoned for years by the Abbasid regime. He was tortured severely but never broke, and never exposed any of the names of the Shia to the Abbasid authorities.

He is known as a cornerstone in Shia hadith literature.

It is related that while under torture he is reported to have retorted:

وَاللهِ لَوْ قَطَّعْتُمُونِي إِرْبًا إِرْبًا مَا ذَكَرْتُ اسْمَهُ

“By God, if they cut me into pieces, I would not give you one name”

- The Book of (Hadith) Narrators (Rijaal al-Kashshi), Muhammad ibn Umar al-Kashshi via The Selected Knowledge of the (Hadith) Narrators (Ikhhtiyar Ma’rifat al-Rijaal), Shaykh al-Tusi

There is Yahya ibn Zayd, a young man of only eighteen years, who was the son of the martyred Imam Zayd ibn Ali, who was killed in the mountains of Khorasan (modern day Iran and Afghanistan) by the Umayyad authorities and his body then crucified.

Then there is Imam Zayd ibn Ali, who we have mentioned previously during our discussions on nubuwwah (prophethood), whose corpse, after having been killed in Kufa, was left crucified and on display for four years by the Umayyad regime.

There are but some of the people whose names we can mention proudly as great figures in world history, these are those who had nothing to do with this glorious society that Gustave Le Bon described as a ‘golden age’.

In fact, they fought against that society.

The Danger of the Wilayah of Taghut

So, you can see how when the wilayah of taghut, or Satan, governs a society, rules over its people, and holds the reins of power, it makes use of the energies of its people, and of their potential.

But how?

In the same way as we see in the world of today. In the same way as we saw in the Islamic society more than a millennium ago.

It is in such a way that has no value in the estimation of the values of humanity or on the scales of virtue!

This is the wilayah of taghut.

What It Means to Live as a Muslim

Can one live as a Muslim under the wilayah of taghut? What does it mean to live as a Muslim then?

To live as a Muslim means to place all of your potential, your energy, your ability and your power at God’s disposal.

It means to offer God everything you have:

Your wealth, your life, your daily activities, your sleep at night, your thoughts, your ideas.

“Can you give examples of this?” I hear you ask.

Of course!

Whether for communities that exist or as a whole society, as a city, as a group, especially in resistive groups who rose up against taghut and migrated to God.

The first example I will give is of the society of Madinah during the lifetime of the Prophet. When the prophet was alive, the society of Madinah was a society that served God. It was a truly Muslim society.

Every step that society took was a step taken in the path of God.

In that society, Jews and Christians lived under the rule of Islam, and their life was an Islamic one. In an Islamic society, Jews and Christians are protected (taht al-dhimmah - تَحْتَ الذِّمَّةِ - under the protection), and all members of society move together in the path of Islam.

Yes, as individuals, this person is a Jew or that person is a Christian, however, as members of the society, they are Muslims.

In fact, they live a more authentically Islamic life that Muslims living in pre-Islamic society.

During the lifetime of the Prophet, one’s wealth was used for the sake of God, one’s sword was used for the sake of God, one’s tongue was used for the sake of God, one’s thoughts and ideas were used for the sake of God.

In fact, whatever a person did, they did it for the sake of God. Even their feelings and emotions were for the sake of God.

Historical Examples of the Wilayah of God

This is at the level of society.

During the time of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali, also, it was more or less the same. Insofar as the Commander of the Faithful was himself a divine ruler, a divinely appointed wali, indeed God’s wali, there was no distinction between him and the Prophet.

However, he inherited many problems from his predecessors. Indeed, had the Prophet himself come back after twenty-five years and ruled in place of the Commander of the Faithful, he would have confronted exactly the same problems as the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali, did.

This is at the level of society.

As for groups, there are many examples of the groups of Shia, who surrounded the Imams throughout history.

This is something that we will discuss when we move onto Imamate, and the lives of the Imams, which will begin - God willing - in the next session; and this will shed more light on this subject, God willing.

We will - God willing - learn how the Shia were as a unit in the time of the Imams, and we will examine and learn how the connections and relations of the Imams were with the Shia were, and indeed how the connections and relations of the Shia with the society that surrounded them were.

However, as a precursor to that, and in short, we can look at a summary of this.

The Shia outwardly appeared to be living in a social order dominated by taghut, while inwardly they were working against this system.

Like the small band of followers that were there with Imam Husayn, the third Imam of the Muslims, at Kerbala for the Epic of Ashura.

These Shia stood firm against the deluge and were ready to go against the direction of the current.

Therefore, in history, we have examples at the level of society and at the level of groups.

Being Muslim in a World Ruled by Taghut

But what about at the level of individuals?

In general, an individual can be a Muslim in such a society. Can he place all of his being, all of his potential, and all of his abilities at God’s disposal, even while living in the sort of society we have described?

This is not possible, because when a person lives in an environment dominated by a system of taghut, a fraction of his being a Muslim is ultimately drawn into the way of taghut, a part of his life is spent serving taghut, he cannot be one hundred percent devoted to God.

The Road, the Driver, and the Destination

There is a tradition in the book of al-Kafi that has been narrated in a number of versions. The book, Usul al-Kafi, is one of the oldest and most reliable works of Shia traditions (ahadeeth).

It contains a few versions of the tradition I am about to quote, this tradition is from the Book of the Proof (Kitab al-Hujjah):

قَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ: لَأُعَذِّبَنَّ كُلَّ رَعِيَّةٍ فِي الْإِسْلَامِ دَانَتْ بِوَلَايَةِ كُلِّ إِمَامٍ جَائِرٍ لَيْسَ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَإِنْ كَانَتِ الرَّعِيَّةُ فِي أَعْمَالِهَا بَرَّةً تَقِيَّةً، وَلَأَعْفُوَنَّ عَنْ كُلِّ رَعِيَّةٍ فِي الْإِسْلَامِ دَانَتْ بِوَلَايَةِ كُلِّ إِمَامٍ عَادِلٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَإِنْ كَانَتِ الرَّعِيَّةُ فِي أَنْفُسِهَا ظَالِمَةً مُسِيئَةً.

“God, the Mighty and Majestic, said: ‘I will surely punish every community in Islam that accepts the wilayah of any unjust leader (imam) who is not from God, even if the community’s deeds are pious and righteous. And I will surely pardon every community in Islam that accepts the wilayah of any just leader appointed by God, even if the community itself is wrongdoing and sinful.’”

- al-Kafi, Kitab al-Hujjah (the Book of the Proofs), Chapter on the Qualifications of the Imam, Volume 1, Shaykh al-Kulayni

This is an astounding tradition, an amazing hadeeth.

It says that those people who are under the wilayah of God’s wali are the people of salvation, even if in their personal conduct they sin or fall short of the mark, while those people who live under the wilayah of Satan and taghut are the people of punishment and ill-fortune, even if they are good and righteous in their personal conduct.

This is most remarkable!

There are several versions of this tradition and all of them give the same meaning. it is found in Usul al-Kafi, and according to Imam Khamenei and other scholars of hadeeth and Islamic thought, its chain of narration is also good.

There is an interesting analogy we can draw for this tradition, that will help us to comprehend it.

Consider, you are in a coach that you are riding in to go somewhere, lets say to Edinburgh, and lets say you set off from London.

Now, if the coach is going to Edinburg, then you will reach your destination. However, if the coach, instead of going to Edinburgh, is going to Brighton or Bristol, then you definitely will not reach your destination!

So, if the coach is travelling to Edinburgh and taking you to where you want to go, and if your fellow passengers in the car are polite, considerate people who treat each other kindly, then so much the better. If, however, they are not particularly polite or friendly, you will still reach your destination.

Now, if on the way, you or they do something wrong, something that will be punished, it will have its effects, it will have its consequences.

They will have to bear those consequences, but, they will still reach their destination.

On the other hand, however, if the coach is taking you in the opposite direction to Edinburgh, even if all the passengers in the coach are polite, considerate, and respectful in how they treat each other, even if they behave well together, it is still not going to get you to Edinburgh - it is going to take you to Bristol or Brighton!

Irrespective of how the people in this coach behave, that will have no effect on the outcome. They might be very good people. They might be very kind people. But will you reach your desired destination? Obviously not!

In the first instance, the coach driver was someone reliable, who knew where he was going - a ‘leader appointed by God’ as the tradition (hadeeth) says, and so, the passengers will reach their destination - ‘even if that community is wrongdoing and sinful’.

In the second example, the driver does not know the way, and his GPS is not working, he is not reliable, he is greedy, perhaps he is somewhat drunk, he has lost his way, perhaps he has something to do in Bristol or Brighton, and his needs come before the needs of others, he was going there anyway, and the passengers in his coach will definitely not reach their destination.

It doesn’t matter that inside the coach, everyone is treating each other well, everyone is friendly, everyone has good manners - ‘even if the community’s deeds are pious and righteous’, ultimately, ‘I will surely punish’ - they will suffer God’s punishment.

They will not reach their destination. Therefore, when there is a society organised under the wilayah of taghut, human beings will not reach their destination.

They cannot be Muslims.

The Cry of the Oppressed: What Should They Do?

What should they do, then? What should they do?

Here the Quran answers us in the following verse:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَوَفَّاهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ ظَالِمِي أَنفُسِهِمْ قَالُوا فِيمَ كُنتُمْ ۖ قَالُوا كُنَّا مُسْتَضْعَفِينَ فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ قَالُوا أَلَمْ تَكُنْ أَرْضُ اللَّهِ وَاسِعَةً فَتُهَاجِرُوا فِيهَا ۚ فَأُولَٰئِكَ مَأْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ ۖ وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا

Indeed, those whom the angels take away while they are wronging themselves, they ask, ‘What state were you in?’ They reply, ‘We were oppressed in the land.’ They say, ‘Was not God’s earth vast enough so that you might migrate in it?’ The refuge of such shall be hell, and it is an evil destination.

- Quran, Surah an-Nisa (the Chapter of the Women) #4, Verse 97

“Indeed, those whom the angels take away while they are wronging themselves” - when the angels come to take their souls, while they were wronging themselves, those people who were wronging their futures and are now dying, the angels have been charged by God with taking their souls.

The Angels’ Question and the Condition of the Soul

“They ask”, the angels ask these people: “What state were you in?” Where were you?

This question makes you wonder what kind of an awful state these people were in, for the angels to ask this!

It reminders me of when a doctor comes to treat a patient and see what a terrible condition the patient is in, the doctor asks: “Where have you been living? How have you been living?”

This is a good analogy to explain the significance of the angels question; it shows they are surprised by how bad a state these people are in, how ruined their souls are, and the punishments and misfortunes that await them in the afterlife.

They ask:

“Where were you living to become like this?
How did you wrong yourself so much?
Why are you leaving this world while wronging yourselves?
Where were you?
How were you living?”

How do these people respond? ‘They reply, “We were oppressed in the land.”’ We were oppressed by the people around us, we did not have any choice.

The ‘oppressed’ (mustadhafeen - مُسْتَضْعَفِينَ) are those members of society that have no control over the direction of that society. They cannot influence what it does, what stances it takes, or how it behaves.

Just as we said previously, they are pulled along by the current, they have no choice over where they end up.

A Society Without Direction

Imagine children in a nursery school class, children who are not yet seven years old - as these days seven year olds are very smart and aware. Think of four or five year olds who go to nursery school as we did when we were children.

I remember at my nursery, we would leave together at the end of the school day. We really had no idea where we were going. As children we did not know where anything was.

There would always be someone older keeping an eye on us.

“Go this way! Go that way! Watch out for that car! Cross the road!”

We didn’t know where we were going as children - one time we might end up at our own home, and another time at a friend or family members home!

Those who are oppressed in the land are those who have no information about what is going on in society. They do not know what is going where. They do not know where they are going. They don’t know where they will end up when they leave where they are, who is taking them there, or how they are going.

They just keep their eyes down, like the blinkered horse that moves the mill in circles, whose eyes are covered and it simply keeps moving forward. It just goes and goes, turns and turns and turns; if this horse was perhaps of a reflective temperament, it might wonder whether or not it has reached the South of France with all the distance it has covered!

But then, at the end of the day, when the blinkers come off, it sees that it is back where it started in the morning.

So, you see, it has no idea where it went. It doesn’t know where it is going when it moves.

The oppressed in the land are these people in society; the majority of uninformed people.

The Alternative: Leadership That Respects the Human Being

However, in those societies which are being properly governed, in which humanity is valued; in those societies that hold the human being and the human will in high esteem; meaning those societies that are being led by the Prophet - the Quran says:

فَبِمَا رَحْمَةٍ مِّنَ اللَّهِ لِنتَ لَهُمْ ۖ وَلَوْ كُنتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ الْقَلْبِ لَانفَضُّوا مِنْ حَوْلِكَ ۖ فَاعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ وَشَاوِرْهُمْ فِي الْأَمْرِ ۖ فَإِذَا عَزَمْتَ فَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَوَكِّلِينَ

It is by God’s mercy that you are gentle to them; had you been harsh and hardhearted, they would have surely scattered from around you. So excuse them and plead for forgiveness for them, and consult them in the affairs, and once you are resolved, put your trust in God. Indeed God loves those who trust in Him.

- Quran, Surah Aal-i-Imraan (the Chapter of the Family of Imran) #3, Verse 159

Even though the Prophet has no need to consult anyone, but the Quran commands him to in order to show that it respects people and to encourage their growth - these sorts of societies do not have these oppressed masses.

It is only in societies that are dictatorial or oppressive, or governed by a non-Islamic system in which the majority of people are those abased in the land.

The Excuse of the Abased

They say: “We were oppressed in the land.” We did not know what our leaders were doing. How they were oppressing others. How they were embezzling wealth. And now we are dying!

This is the excuse of the abased.

But see how the angels respond to this excuse, in a moment. They say they were abased in the land, that they were weak and oppressed, that they had no choice.

The angels look at them. Look at the flawless logic of the angels, because what they say is what any reasonable person would say.

Echoes of the Truth: Sa’adi and the Angels Agree

As Sa’adi of Shiraz said seven or eight hundred years ago:

هیچ رفیق تو را باز ندارد و هیچ مقام،
که زمین و دریا فراخ است و مردمان بسیار

“Let no companion detain you, nor abode
For the land and sea are spacious and there are many people”

- Sa’adi of Shiraz, Golestan (the Rose Garden), Chapter 1, Story 10

Sa’adi clearly agreed with the opinion of the angels: “They say, ‘Was not God’s earth vast enough so that you might migrate in it?’”

Very well, you were abased there, but was there nowhere else you could go on God’s earth? No matter where you lived, no matter which society you went to, were you also abased?

Was God’s earth not broad enough for you to escape this prison and go somewhere that was free? Couldn’t you find somewhere that you could worship God, somewhere that you could use your potentials as God intended, somewhere that has no abased people?

Was there nowhere in the world like this? “Was not God’s earth vast enough so that you might migrate in it?” The abased in the land have no answer for this.

These poor souls know that the angels are right. And that, is why, in the end, the Quran says about them - the abased in the land, whose potential and freedom were in the hands of taghut:

Where will they end up? In the worst of places.

Those Genuinely Unable to Migrate

There is one exception to this:

Those who cannot migrate (hijrah) who were unable to free themselves from the bondage of a tyrannical regime.

Some cannot do this. Some are too old. Some are too young. Some are women who cannot leave. These are all exempt:

إِلَّا الْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاءِ وَالْوِلْدَانِ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ حِيلَةً وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ سَبِيلًا

Except the oppressed among men, women and children, who have neither access to any means nor are guided to any way.

- Quran, Surah an-Nisa (the Chapter of the Women) #4, Verse 98

They find no way towards the light, towards Islam, towards serving God. There is nothing they can do:

فَأُولَٰئِكَ عَسَى اللَّهُ أَن يَعْفُوَ عَنْهُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَفُوًّا غَفُورًا

Maybe God will excuse them, for God is all-excusing, all-forgiving.

- Quran, Surah an-Nisa (the Chapter of the Women) #4, Verse 99

See how the Quran speaks? It is hoped that God will excuse them. This is how moral responsibility works - “for God is all-excusing, all-forgiving.”

The Promise to Those Who Migrate for God

Then, lest those who have been told to migrate imagine that migrating might be a source of loss or misfortune for them, or lest they worry that they might not be able to make a life for themselves there, the Quran then says:

وَمَن يُهَاجِرْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ يَجِدْ فِي الْأَرْضِ مُرَاغَمًا كَثِيرًا وَسَعَةً ۚ وَمَن يَخْرُجْ مِن بَيْتِهِ مُهَاجِرًا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ثُمَّ يُدْرِكْهُ الْمَوْتُ فَقَدْ وَقَعَ أَجْرُهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ ۗ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا

Whoever migrates in the way of God will find many havens and plenitude in the earth. And whoever leaves his home migrating toward God and His Apostle, and is then overtaken by death, his reward shall certainly fall on God, and God is all-forgiving, all-merciful.

- Quran, Surah an-Nisa (the Chapter of the Women) #4, Verse 100

The Boundless Horizon of a Tawheed-Oriented Society

Those who migrate will be amazed by how high they can soar in this world, they will be amazed by the fulfilment of their heart’s desire in the Islamic society, whereas beforehand there was a ceiling that limited how high they could fly.

What a boundless horizon they shall find!

In Makkah, these people offered their prayers under pressure. If they were very quick, they could offer two unit (raka’h) of prayer in the Sacred Mosque, but then they would receive a terrible beating!

This was the limit of the Muslims in Makkah, they could do no more.

However, after they migrated to Madinah, they came to a free land, with a free atmosphere. They came to an Islamic society that was under the wilayah of God and His messenger.

They were amazed by the place they had come to; this was the place where people ‘vied with each other in good deeds’ as mentioned in the Quran:

وَلِكُلٍّ وِجْهَةٌ هُوَ مُوَلِّيهَا ۖ فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْرَاتِ ۚ أَيْنَ مَا تَكُونُوا يَأْتِ بِكُمُ اللَّهُ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

To every community is a direction towards which it turns, so vie with one another in good deeds. Wherever you may be, God will bring you all together. Indeed Allah has power over all things.

- Quran, Surah al-Baqarah (the Chapter of the Cow) #2, Verse 148

Here, with the verses of the Quran, with piety and worship, the level of the individuals was clear and known. Whoever did more for the sake of God, worshipped more, strived harder, fought harder, spent more, they were more highly respected and esteemed in the society.

Before, they knew if they spent one dirham for the sake of God in Makkah, they would have heated up the same coin and tortured him with it.

Now, that they had migrated to the city of the Prophet for the sake of God, when they saw that this was a place where they could roam free and take flight, this was a place where their hearts’ desire could give them wings.

Meaning in the divine, tawheed-oriented and Islamic society, they will find freedom, openness and the space to roam.

The Reward for the Journey Itself

Now, if you leave Makkah - the abode of faithlessness - for the sake of God to go to the abode of migration (hijrah), but if you died before you could reach your destination, what happens then?

They say that when this happens, your reward lies with God, because you did what you had to do. You set off as you were supposed to.

As Sa’adi says:

به رفتن به صحرا به از نشستن با باطل
که گر مقصدم نرسم، به قدر وسع بکوشم

"Heading off to the desert is better than sitting with falsehood,
For even if I do not reach my destination, I have tried my utmost."

- Sa’adi of Shiraz, Bustan (the Orchard), Chapter 1, Couplet #15

This is all Islam wants. Islam wants everyone to walk in God’s path to the extent of their ability, to the extent of their capacity, to the extent that they have the strength to do so.

Migration: From the Wilayah of Taghut to the Wilayah of God

Now, as per this teaching, migration takes place from the abode of faithlessness to the abode of faith; the abode of the wilayah of God, the wilayah of the Prophet, the wilayah of wali of God.

To live under the wilayah of God, the Prophet and the Wali, one must migrate.

This is the meaning of migration (hijrah).

Now, if such a place does not exist in the world, then what must be do?

Must we remain in the abode of faithlessness?

Should we give up all thoughts of a place to migrate to?

Remember, that even the Prophet was a migrant, was he not?

The Prophet also migrated.

However, before the Prophet migrated, there was virtually nowhere to migrate to.

It was through his own act of migration that the Prophet created a place to which the Muslims could migrate.

Sometimes, it is necessary for a group of people, through their own migration, to create a starting point for the migration of others.

To create a divine, tawheed-oriented and Islamic society, to bring an abode of faith for other people, so that the faithful can migrate.

Misunderstandings Around Migration and Wilayah

However, before everyone starts to think that they need to ‘migrate’ I want to provide a clarification, one that is pertinent in the 21st Century of the common era, or the 15th Century of the Hijra era.

Recently, especially in the time of COVID, there was a lot of talk amongst many - especially those in the collective West, who consider themselves to be Shia, believers, righteous and on the path of wilayah, - on the subject of migration.

There had been scholars who had posited in public settings - in a manner that personally I felt was irresponsible and created huge confusion and rather than guide people towards the truth created more issues, problems and confusion that it solved - that it was somehow mandatory for ‘believers’ in the collective West to ‘migrate to the house of Islam’ - with the implication and insinuation being that people should migrate to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Source of the Confusion

I remember when these conversations took place, I was completely against this notion. These notions came out as there was a new translation of one of the books that makes up the source material for this series, and that is a book titled “The General Plan of Islamic Thought in the Quran” (طرح کلی اندیشه اسلامی در قرآن - Tarh-e-Kulli-ye Andisheh-ye Islami dar Quran) based on lectures delivered by Imam Khamenei, in Mashhad in 1974.

This was then translated by a UK based organisation, and into a good translation certainly, in around 2021.

Around the same time as this surge in talk regarding ‘migrating from the land of falsehood to the land of Islam’ began to happen with some gusto.

Another version of the book, that only covered the subject of wilayah was published in September of 2022 by another translator.

Clarifying the Islamic Perspective on Migration

It should be noted that the series of lectures of Imam Khamenei were across multiple areas of Islamic thought and belief, and the subjects we have covered in our series so far have taken great inspiration from the original lectures of Imam Khamenei.

So, given that we have gone through this series of sessions, and that now we have gone through this portion on migration; a few things need to be clarified.

Firstly, there is no Islamic obligation at this time, from any of the Righteous Islamic Scholars, or the Wali al-Faqih (a subject will are moving towards, God willing) that people must migrate from the collective West (or anywhere) to anywhere else - specifically the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Theological Misinterpretations of Migration

To think that this session on migration towards the wilayah of God means that one must do that, is to not have understood what is being said; and this is a consequence of not having understood Tawheed (monotheism), Adalah (the justice of God), and Nubuwwah (prophethood).

Emigration vs. Migration: A Linguistic and Conceptual Note

Rather it must be understood that while some translations of ‘Tarh-e-Kulli’ have used the word ‘emigration’ rather than ‘migration’ this I believe has added to the confusion. For this reason, I have explicitly used the word migration.

Definitions and Distinctions

If one looks at the English definition of the two words, things become clearer, in Arabic or Farsi, the word is the same (hijrah), and has multiple meanings which are inferred based on the context and its use.

In English, however, there are two words.

1. Migration: The movement of people from one place to another, which can be within a country or between countries.

2. Emigration: The act of leaving ones own country or region, to live in another.

While the difference is subtle at least in everyday use; the difference is also profound and bears reflection in and of itself.

Migration is the movement of people from one place - or condition - to another place - or condition.

Migration in the Quran: The Example of Prophet Abraham

In the Quran, God quotes Prophet Abraham as saying:

فَقَالَ إِنِّي ذَاهِبٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّي سَيَهْدِينِ

He said, ‘Indeed I am going toward my Lord, Who will guide me.’

- Quran, Surah as-Saffat (the Chapter of Those Ranged in Ranks) #37, Verse 99

Over here, in many of the tafaseer (exegeses) of the Quran, the likes of Allamah Tabatabai and Ayatullah Makarim Shirazi both say that this was a physical and spiritual migration.

The verse comes after Prophet Abraham confronted his people on their idolatry, broke their idols and faced persecution.

When his people plotted against him, he decides to leave his homeland, expressing His complete trust in God.

Personal Responsibility and Migration

While, yes, if someone feels that their Islam is in serious trouble if they continue to live in the collective West, and that they prefer to migrate somewhere else - where is another question, since the Quranic instruction, as we’ve studied, is to a place that is a tawheed-oriented society - not a ‘slightly better than where I am society’, not somewhere when I think the proverbial ‘grass is greener’ (when it reality it may not be at all) - then that is something they need to look into on a individual level.

Collective Resistance vs. Individual Migration

For those who are a society, and those who choose to make a sacred resistance against the wilayah of the taghut - as many of those who lived in the places that were under the wilayah of the taghut that we’ve mentioned earlier - for them the scenario is different.

A Quranic Reminder of Divine Ownership

We know from Quran, again in Surah an-Nisa, the Chapter of the Women:

وَلِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ مُّحِيطًا

To God belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth, and Allah comprehends all things.

- Quran, Surah an-Nisa (the Chapter of the Women) #4, Verse 126

That every grain of sand in every corner of the world belongs to God, therefore, to cede any place to the forces of taghut, to the forces of Satan is unacceptable for the believer.

The Prophetic Migration: Purpose Over Geography

When Prophet Muhammad made his migration from Makkah to Madinah, it was not so as to cede Makkah to the polytheists, it was rather to develop a tawheed-oriented society, to develop a people, to build the human-making factory.

Once he had accomplished that in Madinah, the aim was to return to Makkah, and to establish - or grow the tawheed-oriented society from Madinah to Makkah and from there to elsewhere.

It was never to cede any territory to the forces of taghut or Satan. That would be an unforgivable situation, and one that the Prophet of God is innocent of.

The Prophetic Method and the Role of Scholars

We, who are duty bound to follow the prophetic method, must also examine what we can do in this light, the righteous scholars of Islam, are the inheritors of the prophets, therefore they must be constantly working on the prophetic resurrection of society.

To simply take the approach that things are difficult in - for example - the collective West, and that everyone must up sticks and move to - for example - Iran is ridiculous, nonsensical even.

The True Migration: A Spiritual and Resistive Journey

Everything that we have studied thus far in these sessions, leads us to learn, to understand that our duties are to indeed ‘migrate towards the wilayah of God’, to hasten the return of the wali of God, our master, Imam al-Hujjah, may our souls be his ransom; but that this migration is one of the soul, it is one of our own movements to migrate from a place where we have no tawheed-oriented society or community, family or even individually within ourselves - to developing that within ourselves, our families, our communities and society and so on.

This requires resistance against the wilayah of taghut and Satan, as well as its agents. This is the real migration - one that combines the link to God, to Imam al-Mahdi, may our souls be his ransom, with a sacred resistance against the forces of taghut and Satan.

This is the migration that is necessary.

No Earthly Place Free of Taghut in 2025

Certainly, if someone feels there are under duress - for any number of reasons - , and they must leave, that is a personal decision that they must make - however, it must also be understood, that at this time - in 2025, as I write this - there is no place on earth, where there is the true and complete wilayah of God, as was the case during the time of the Prophet and Imam Ali.

Appreciating the Islamic Republic, Without Romanticism

Yes, we have the system of Wilayat al-Faqih in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and yes this is an excellent place and one that is a flag bearer of Islam, that is without a doubt; however, it too - given its being in this highly connected world - is bound by the mechanisms of taghut that currently occupy the world.

Global Systems of Corruption Touch Every Nation

For example, the interest laden banking system, the fractional reserve banking system, the corruption of medicine and education, the exploitation of the arts and culture, the politics of identity, the confusion of things like gender, sexuality, the destruction of the family and more besides.

All these issues - in one way or another - not only exist in every corner of the world, but sadly they exist to a lesser or greater degree within the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Islam Rejects Notions Like ‘Aliyah’

Further more, we as Muslims, do not have this notion of ‘Aliyah’ (علياه / עֲלִיָּה‎) - meaning ‘ascent’ or ‘going up’, and is the idea of the immigration of Jews to what some call ‘the land of Israel’, but that every free person knows as Occupied Palestine.

Furthermore, the idea of Aliyah is required by a settler colonial entity; it needs people in order to change the demographic make up of the place it has occupied; and having a way to ‘identify’ people as from a particular ethnos, so as to further a specific agenda.

Islam does not have this notion. All notion of migration within Islam is not about geography, but rather it is about righteousness and protecting one’s belief. This is an important distinction that some people gloss over.

What Our Scholars and Leaders Have Actually Said

Had the idea of all Muslims leaving their countries been a legal requirement within Islamic law, then every Righteous Islamic Scholar, and the Leader, Imam Khamenei, would have not only clearly said that is the case; but rather, they would have been duty bound to create mechanism to help and facilitate people’s migration from one place to - for example - the Islamic Republic of Iran.

There is no such proviso; and whenever I have spoke to my teachers about this notion, that some people are talking about ‘migrating from the collective West to Iran’, I am met with stares of unbelief and disdain.

The Duty to Revive the Prophetic Mission Locally

Those who live in a place that is not within the wilayah of God - and that is currently every place on God’s expansive earth, with a caveat that I will come to momentarily - have a duty to resurrect the prophetic mission, to establish the tawheed-oriented society - in whatever way they can.

To truly migrate themselves towards their Lord, such that in their migrating - like with Prophet Muhammad and the migration to Madinah - they will be able to establish wherever they can, be it even only within themselves, or be it within their society - the true tawheed-oriented society.

As for a place being outside the wilayah of God, that is outside the authority of God, there is no place that is such; what is meant here by the wilayah of God is that a government or system exists in a place that is geared to moving people towards God.

Furthermore, since, every place is under God’s authority ultimately, it is therefore invalid to not work tirelessly to establish a temporal wilayah of God upon every place.

It is important that this nuance is understood correctly, so that the roots of misguidance and confusion - key tools in the arsenal of the taghut and Satan - are not allowed to take hold.

Every place, every where belongs to God, and it is our duty to establish a system that helps the people of every place to move towards God in an unhindered manner and away from the machinations of Satan, taghut and their cohorts, proxies and allies.

This is why the revival of the Prophetic mission is so critical and important, as this is the means to establish the tawheed-oriented society and to establish the wilayah of God upon the earth under the leadership of the wali of God, may our souls be his ransom, and may God hasten his return.

The Honourable Stand of the People of Palestine

And, on the subject where some people keep talking about “‘you must migrate from the collective West to Iran or to ‘somewhere better’”, well to those people, I posit the question of the honourable people of Palestine.

They live under one of - if not - the tightest yokes of the wilayah of taghut and Satan, yet they do not migrate away, indeed they refuse to migrate away, they stay, no matter the cost, no matter the pain, they choose to stay, they choose to stand tall and resist.

Why don’t those pushing for people in the collective West to ‘leave the land of faithlessness’ and move to the Islamic Republic of Iran or ‘somewhere else’, why don’t they dare to say that to the honourable people of Gaza?

This itself is something to reflect upon.

The Imams Chose the Higher Migration

Furthermore, and we will end with this. All of the Imams, whom we mentioned in the previous session, chose to stay where they were, to keep making that resistance in whatever way was possible, to migrate towards their Lord, rather than away from one place to another.

They chose the real meaning of migration, rather than the literal and basic meaning of migration.

This is something that should be reflected upon deeply.

Resistance as the Embodiment of Migration

Indeed, for any believer living outside a tawheed-oriented society; or worse living within a taghut dominated society - within the wilayah of taghut so to speak; the only valid option is that of resistance.

Much like the people in Iran resisted the taghut known as the Shah and his masters, the way the people in Lebanon resisted the occupation of much of their country by the illegal taghut occupying the land to their south, much like the Palestinians have been for close to a century been resisting the taghut occupying them, the Satans occupying them and many many other places.

To simply suggest that migration means ‘leaving your homeland and going somewhere else’ - this is both irresponsible and invalid. The key is that if things become impossible for you in your own homeland, and you are compelled to leave, that is different, but until then; you have to maintain and put up a strong resistance.

The resistance I speak of is not necessarily with violence, but rather with education, with building yourself and those around you; with teaching people how to prevent themselves from being occupied psychologically and in all ways by the wilayah of taghut, and teaching them how they can soar; and work to build that pure tawheed-oriented society that leads to the wilayah of God.

Any notion that a person must run-a-way to another place; this - if it has any validity - is only temporary; and as a means to recoup and build, so that said resistance can continue; and so that the society that has been migrated away from, can with effort, resolve, hard work and above all great patience be removed from the occupation by taghut and freed to become a society oriented towards tawheed and ultimately to the wilayah of God.

Anything short of this; any mindless running away to ‘start anew somewhere else’ is irresponsible, invalid, against Islamic teachings and indeed against what has been discussed today, and worse still, it is exactly what the taghut wants.

The taghut regimes are terrified of those who can see through them; who want to resist, because they know such people can influence and wake up the slumbering masses. Should the slumbering masses wake up, then the entire wilayah of taghut will collapse in on itself, because it is the wilayah of Satan, and Quran has taught us clearly that the stratagems of Satan are weak and flimsy - we covered this when discussing opposition to the prophetic mission, as well as when we covered the wilayah of taghut:

الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۖ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ الطَّاغُوتِ فَقَاتِلُوا أَوْلِيَاءَ الشَّيْطَانِ ۖ إِنَّ كَيْدَ الشَّيْطَانِ كَانَ ضَعِيفًا

Those who have faith fight in the way of God, and those who are faithless fight in the way of satanic entities (taghut). So fight the friends of Satan; indeed the stratagems of Satan are always flimsy.

- Quran, Surah an-Nisa (the Chapter of the Women) #4, Verse 76

So, yes, one should migrate away from the wilayah of taghut and Satan, but that migration should be such that the wilayah of taghut and Satan itself migrates out of existence.

To simply leave it, would be to cede that territory which would be unacceptable and against the Quranic teachings.

Those for Whom Migration is Mandatory

There are some, however, for whom migration can be deemed mandatory. Those are the people who consider themselves, or should I perhaps say, identify as Muslims, but who are weak in their belief.

Who don’t feel that living in such a system - a wilayah of taghut and Satan - is a problem; and who are not just willing but eager to sell their belief for the proverbial 30 pieces of silver.

For such people, whose Islam is weak and essentially non-existent except in name or as a badge of identity, or a type of food, or meaningless and soulless gatherings, of prayer without any understanding or desire to understand, an Islam without any substance; then yes; for sure, for such folk, migration could be deemed as mandatory.

However, then two questions arise:

1. Will such people even agree to migrate? Given they don’t see there is a problem, their desire to migrate will be next to non-existent, and indeed they would resist any move to migrate as it would ‘harm their standard of living’

2. Where would such people migrate to? If there was a place, a place where the wilayah of God was fully implemented, they would not want to be there. After all, did the people who lived in luxury under the regime of Muawiyyah in Syria want to migrate from Syria to Kufa, to be under the government of Imam Ali? Of course not!

Therefore, yes for such people - and the other exceptions that have been mentioned - migration can be possibly deemed as mandatory.

However, given that none of the Righteous Islamic scholars nor the Leader have given us rulings, well that should speak volumes in and of itself.

Final Reflections on Misconceptions About Migration

Much more can be said on this subject, I have written extensively on this misconception of migration, and this misrepresentation of what Imam Khamenei - and Ayatullah Motahhari - and many others have said but those who, either do not understand, and speak without responsibility, or those who have an ulterior motive.

In conclusion, migration in this context, should be understood as a move to make a sacred resistance against the wilayah of taghut and Satan, to educate the people, to remove the poison that is infecting society at the hands of the agents of Satan and taghut.

It should not be considered as a means to ‘escape’ or ‘run-a-way’, as that would be - in the opinion of this small student of Islamic thought - a means by which the wilayah of taghut would simply become stronger and more entrenched, and that would be unforgivable and a grave sin.

Much more can be said, and perhaps we will discuss this subject in a future session in more detail, but for now, I will leave it here.

Suffice it to say, that those who put their trust in God - as did Abraham, when migrating towards His Lord - God will not abandon them, nor will He leave them without a support, this is His promise in the Quran:

وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

And those who strive in Our cause – We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, God is with the doers of good

- Quran, Surah al-Ankabut (the Chapter of the Spider) #29, Verse 69

Conclusion

So, this concludes, this section, and it also concludes our initial series on the idea of wilayah.

I chose to discuss the issue of migration, and the confusion surrounding it in recent years deliberately and for a reason.

The reason was that many have become very confused; and have gone down routes that are fundamentally against the principles and spirit of Islam; yet people have used both the lessons of both the Martyr, Ayatullah Motahhari as well as Imam Khamenei to justify their points.

Neither of these two senior scholars have pushed for an idea that all Muslims - or all Shia - should leave where they are (if they are not in ‘an Islamic country’) - and move to the Islamic Republic of Iran or somewhere that has ‘more Islam’.

This idea has caused much confusion and misunderstanding; and further more, it creates a type of complacency and despondency - where those who live in the wilayah of taghut and Satan start to think that they must leave, rather than stand and resist, and as mentioned those who perhaps should leave, those who while identifying as Muslims do more harm to the image of Islam than anyone else, but such people would not leave, as they have a vested interest in continuing the wilayah of taghut - even though they might insist that they are against it.

This subject is vast, and detailed; and I fear that this session - which is longer than the previous ones - is not sufficient. Perhaps in the future a more detailed deep-dive into the idea of migration as resistance, or resistance as migration can be discussed; and the notion of migrating to the wilayah of God be understood better.

We rely on His guidance and His support to help us understand such details, that we can better serve Him and move towards Him, and ultimately be helpers to the current wali, Imam Mahdi, may our souls be his ransom, and may God hasten his return, as well as to the representative of the wali of God, the Leader of the Muslim Ummah, Imam Khamenei, who tirelessly works to education, guide and protect the Muslims and the oppressed of the world.

May God truly bless, protect and help him, and if required, may God take from our lives to augment his.

Ameen, O Lord Sustainer of the Universes!

The next session will be the first of our series discussing the political, social, cultural and spiritual histories of the Imams and the Prophet Muhammad, using as our base source the book compiled from the lectures of Imam Khamenei titled ‘The 250-year-old man’.

This will build extensively on what we have learned so far, and will give more depth and understanding - including on the subject of this session.

And from here is all ability and He has authority over all things.

O my Refuge when the paths darken,
O my Hope when the helpers withhold,
O He who opens a door when all doors are shut,
I have come to You—
with empty hands,
with a trembling heart,
with sins like mountains,
and hopes like the sky.

You are the One who called the estranged to closeness,
Who gave shelter to the rejected,
Who heard the whisper of the broken,
Who turned not away the destitute when they stretched their hands.

O my Lord,
I cling to the hem of Your generosity,
I fasten my heart to the thread of Your compassion,
I find no shelter but in You,
and no solace but through You.

So do not drive me away from Your door,
and do not deprive me of the taste of nearness to You.
Let not my sins veil me from Your mercy,
nor my unworthiness close the gate of Your forgiveness.

For You are the Kind to the wrongdoer who returns,
the Healer of the wounded soul,
the Guardian of those who seek You in the night’s stillness.

O Most Merciful of the merciful,
by the right of Muhammad and his purified family,
place me among those who hold fast to You,
and do not abandon me to my self for the blink of an eye.

Indeed, You are enough for the one who relies upon You,
and You suffice the one who entrusts his affair to You.

Ameen O Lord Sustainer of the Universe,
Ameen O Most Merciful of the Merciful