The Transients

“I heard either of the two Imams (a.s.) saying, ‘Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, has created a creature for belief and there is no transition in it. He has created a creature for disbelief and there is no transition in it. He has created a creature in between. He has deposited belief in certain individuals among them. If He wills to complete it for them He does so for them, and if He wishes to remove it from them He does so and so and so was of transient (belief) among them.’” (So and so is a reference to Muhammad ibn Miqlas al- Asadi al-Kufi)

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.) has said, ‘A servant (of Allah) may live in the morning as a believer and in the evening as an unbeliever. One may live in the morning as an unbeliever and in the evening as a believer. A people borrow belief then it is removed from them and they are called people with transient (belief).’ Then the Imam said, ‘So and so is among them (the last group).”’

“Once I was sitting when abu al-Hassan Musa (a.s.) passed by and with him was a goat. I (the narrator) asked him, ‘O young man, do you know what your father does? He commands us to do something and then he prohibits us to do the same thing. He commanded us to be friends with abu al-Khattab and then he commanded us to condemn and disown him.’ Abu al-Hassan (a.s.) said, and he was only a young boy, ‘Allah has created a creature for belief that does not vanish. He has created a creature for disbelief that does not vanish. He has created a creature in between and has deposited belief in them and they are called people with transient belief. When He wills He removes belief from them and abu al-Khattab was one in whom belief was deposited temporarily.’ I (the narrator) then went in the presence of Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) and informed him of what I had said to abu al-Hassan and what abu al-Hassan (a.s.) had said to me. Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.) then said, ‘He is one of the fountains from prophet-hood.’”

‘‘Allah has created the prophets with prophet-hood, thus, they are nothing else but prophets. He has created the believers upon belief and they are nothing else but believers. He has deposited belief in a people. If He wills He completes it in them and if He wishes He removes it from them.’ The Imam said, ‘About these people it is said, “. . . the permanent and transient. . . .” (6:98) The Imam said to me, ‘The belief of so and so was temporary. When he made false statements against us his belief was removed.’”

‘‘Allah has formed the prophets upon their prophet-hood, thus they never, turn away therefrom. He has formed the successors of the prophets upon their successor-ship and they never turn away therefrom. He has formed certain believers upon belief and they never turn away therefrom. Belief in certain ones among them is deposited and if he prays persistently he dies upon belief.”