FARÂSAH – فراسة

 

Literally: A being sagacious. Sagacity. Penetration. Intuition. To see intuitively.

Awakening of mind. The capacity of understanding quickly. Understanding one’s morality and capacity from his face.

The sorts of farâsah:

First: It is to understand through ilham intuitively without knowledge of its reason.

Second: It is through kasb, as a consequence of knowing the different characters and temperaments.

 

“In accordance with: اِتَّقُوا فِرَاسَةَ الْمُؤْمِنِ فَاِنَّهُ يَنْظُرُ بِنُورِ الله 1 however common and ignorant a mu’min may be, even if his mind does not realize it, his heart looks coldly and in disgust on such boastful, selfish men.” The Twenty-Ninth Letter-Sixth Section-1st Wile of Shaytan

 

“There are thousands of events that have occurred which Ar-Rasûl Al-Akram ‘Alayhissalâtu Wassalâm has reported from the events of the ghayb. Here we shall mention a few of them.

Thus, foremost Bukhari and Muslim who are the authors of the six books of Hadith which are well-known with their authenticity agreed in the majority of those reports we will cite, and most of these reports are ma’nawî mutawâtir (متواتراً من حيث المعنى ), and the others may be considered to have this certainty as mutawâtir through the agreement of their authenticity by ahl al-tahqîq.

According to a sahîh and certain narration, He said to his Sahâbah: "You will be victorious over all your enemies, you will succeed in the conquest of Makkah, Khaybar, Damascus and Iraq, Persia, and Bayt al-Maqdis, and will share among yourselves the treasures of the rulers of the greatest empires, the Byzantines and the Persians." He reported; He did not say “my guess is this” or “In my opinion”; he said it decisively as if he had seen it, and it has happened as he reported. The fact that at the time he reported this he was obliged to hijrah2 . The Sahâbah were few, the environs of Madinah and the rest of the world were hostile to him!

He also repeatedly declared, through sahîh and certain narrations, عَلَيْكُمْ بِسِيرَةِ الَّذَيْنِ مِنْ بَعْدِى اَبِى بَكْرٍ وَ عُمَرَ that Abu Bakr and 'Umar would outlive him and be his khalîfah, that they would act within the bounds of the pleasure of Allah and the Prophet in a perfect manner that Abu Bakr's rule would be short, and that 'Umar would remain a long time and would be successful in many conquests.

He also declared: زُوِيَتْ لِىَ اْلاَرْضُ فَاُرِيتُ مَشَارِقَهَا وَمَغَارِبَهَا وَسَيَبْلُغُ مُلْكُ اُمَّتِى مَا زُوِىَ لِى مِنْهَا

“From east to west will be captured by my ummah. Such possession was never taken by any ummah.” It has happened as he reported.

He also declared, through a sahîh and certain narration, before the Battle of Badr, هذَا مَصْرَعُ اَبِى جَهْلٍ، هذَا مَصْرَعُ عُتْبَةَ، هذَا مَصْرَعُ اُمَيَّةَ، هذَا مَصْرَعُ فُلاَنٍ وَ فُلاَنٍ3 he pointed out one by one the places where the mushrik leaders of the Quraysh would be killed, saying: and added, "I shall kill 'Ubayy b. Khalaf with my own hands." It has happened as he reported.

He also declared, through a sahîh and certain narration, he reported to his Sahâbah about what was happening in the celebrated Battle of Mu'ta, near Damascus -at a distance of one month's journey from where he was- as if he were seeing his Sahâbah fighting in the battle, and declared: اَخَذَ الرَّايَةَ زَيْدٌ فَاُصِيبَ، ثُمَّ اَخَذَهَا اِبْنُ رَوَاحَةَ فَاُصِيبَ، ثُمَّ اَخَذَهَا جَعْفَرُ فَاُصِيبَ، ثُمَّ اَخَذَهَا سَيْفٌ مِنْ سُيُوفِ اللّٰهِ 4 Two to three weeks later Ya'la b. Munabbih returned from the battlefront. In his presence, the Mukhbir as-Sâdiq5 described the details of the battle, and Ya'la swore by Allah that what had taken place at the battle was exactly the same as the Prophet had described.

He also declared, through a sahîh and certain narration,

اِنَّ الْخِلاَفَةَ بَعْدِى ثَلاَثُونَ سَنَةً ثُمَّ تَكُونُ مُلْكًا عَضُوضًا وَاِنَّ هذَا اْلاَمْرَ بَدَاَ نُبُوَّةً وَرَحْمَةً

ثُمَّ يَكُونُ رَحْمَةً وَخِلاَفَةً ثُمَّ يَكُونُ مُلْكًا عَضُوضًا ثُمَّ يَكُونُ عُتُوًّا وَ جَبَرُوتًا6

He thus informed the six-month-long Khalîfate of Hazrat Hasan and the period of the Four Rightly-Guided Khalîfah, and, following that, the transition of Khalîfate to monarchy and monarchy's being beset by tyranny and corruption of the ummah. It has happened as he reported.

He also declared, through a sahîh and certain narration, saying يُقْتَلُ عُثْمَانُ وَهُوَ يَقْرَاُ الْمُصْحَفَ وَاِنَّ اللّهَ عَسَى اَنْ يُلْبِسَهُ قَمِيصًا وَاِنَّهُمْ يُرِيدُونَ خَلْعَهُ 7 Hazrat 'Uthman will be Khalîfah and his deposal will be sought and will be killed while reading the Qur'an innocently. It has happened as he reported.

He also declared, through a sahîh and certain narration, while doing hajâmat to the Prophet (asm), 'Abd Allah b. Zubayr tasted his blessed blood like a sweet drink by way of obtaining blessings, he said وَيْلٌ لِلنَّاسِ مِنْكَ وَ وَيْلٌ لَكَ مِنَ النَّاسِ 8 that he will lead the ummah with extraordinary shajâ’ah, will be faced terrible attacks, and that because of him fearsome events will befall people. What he informed came about exactly: during Umayyad rule, 'Abd Allah b. Zubayr declared his Khalîfate in Makkah, heroically fought in many battles, until finally Hajjaj the Dhâlim attacked him with a large force, and following a fierce battle the illustrious hero has been shahîd.

He also declared, through a sahîh and certain narration, he informed the Umayyad state will begin to appear, and many of its monarchs will be dhâlims, including Yazid and Walid, and Hazrat Mu'awiya's taking the leadership of the ummah. He advised with the decree وَاِذَا مَلَكْتَ فَاَسْجِحْ justice and gentleness. He informed that يَخْرُجُ وَلَدُ الْعَبَّاسِ بِالرَّايَاتِ السُّودِ وَ يَمْلِكُونَ اَضْعَافَ مَا مَلَكُوا 9 the 'Abbasid would emerge after Umayyad and remain in power for a long time. It has happened as he reported.

He also declared, through a sahîh and certain narration, وَيْلٌ لِلْعَرَبِ مِن شَرٍّ قَدِ اقْتَرَبَ 10 informed the dreadful fitnah to be caused by Jenghiz and Hulagu, and their destruction of the 'Abbasid state. It has happened as he reported.

He also declared, through a sahîh and certain narration, when Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas was gravely ill, the Prophet decreed to him: لَعَلَّكَ تُخَلَّفُ حَتَّى يَنْتَفِعَ بِكَ اَقْوَامٌ وَيَسْتَضِرَّ بِكَ آخَرُونَ 11 thus informed that he will be a great commander winning many victories, and many people will have benefit from him entering the fold of Islam, while others would be harmed by him, that is, their states will be destroyed by his hand. It has happened as he reported; Hazrat Sa'd led the Muslim armies, wiped out the Persian Empire, and caused many peoples to enter the fold of Islam and hidâyah.

He also declared, through a sahîh and certain narration, when the Negus, the Abyssinian ruler, who had accepted îmân earlier, died in the seventh year of the Hijrah, he informed his Sahâbah about it; he even performed the funeral salah for him. One week later came the news confirming the death of the Negus on the very same day as the Prophet (asm) had said.

He also declared, through a sahîh and certain narration, when he was with the Four Rightly-Guided Khalîfah on the top of Mount Uhud or Hira, the mountain began to tremble. He declared, اُثْبُتْ فَاِنَّمَا عَلَيْكَ نَبِىٌّ وَ صِدِّيقٌ وَ شَهِيدٌ 12 and informed 'Umar, 'Uthman, and 'Ali will be shahîd. It has happened as he reported.

Now, O unfortunate, wretched man without heart who says that Muhammad the Arabian was only a clever person and then closes his eyes to that Sun of Haqiqah! Of all his fifteen different kinds of miracle, you have thus far heard only the hundredth part of one kind, those relating to events of the ghayb which have the certainty of ma’nawî tawâtur. It would be said to the one who sees one-hundredth part of the miracles of informing the ghayb by the eye of the mind “the highest genius”, “he discovers the future through his own farâsah”.  Even if we merely called him a genius as you call him, can such a man who has such a sacred genius with the degree of a hundred highest geniuses see wrong? Or could he stoop to report wrongly? Not to heed the word of such hundredfold degree a highest genius concerning happiness in both worlds is, therefore, the sign of a hundredfold madness!” The Nineteenth Letter/5th Subtle Sign