{"id":43053,"date":"2015-01-25T20:12:09","date_gmt":"2015-01-25T20:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=43053"},"modified":"2015-01-25T21:55:40","modified_gmt":"2015-01-25T21:55:40","slug":"on-the-prophets-banner-and-the-coming-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=43053","title":{"rendered":"On the Prophet’s banner, and the Coming One"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ by Charles Cameron<\/strong> — from battle-flag to transcendent symbol ]
\n.
\n

\"Father<\/a>

Father of the Imam Mahdi, postcard from Masshad, Iran, writer’s collection<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

I have written so much on the topic of the black banners from Khorasan<\/strong> [eg<\/a>], which in turn arguably derive from the black raya or battle-flag of the Prophet, that I thought these ahadith from the Shia text by Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi<\/strong>, Bihar ul Anwar<\/a>, would be of interest. They are drawn from the section titled:<\/p>\n

Flag of the Qaim is same as the flag of the Prophet<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note here that the Qa’im<\/strong> — literally “He Who Arises” — is a Shia term for the Mahdi<\/strong>, as is Imam Zamana<\/strong> — “Imam of the Age”.<\/p>\n

129- Ghaibat Nomani:<\/strong> It is narrated from the same chains from Abdullah bin Hammad from Abdullah bin Sinan from Abi [Abdullah] Ja\u2019far [bin Muhammad] that he said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Almighty Allah has fixed the time of the reappearance of Imam Zamana (a.s.) against the time fixed by the time-fixers. The flag of the Qaim is the same flag as that of the Prophet, which Jibraeel brought from the heavens in the Battle of Badr and he waved it during the battle.<\/p>\n

Jibraeel said: \u201cO Muhammad, by Allah, this flag is not of cotton, flax or silk.\u201d I said: \u201cThen what is it of?\u201d He said: \u201cIt is of the leaves of Paradise. The Prophet (s.a.w.s.) spread it on the day of Badr and then he has folded it and gave it to Imam Ali (a.s.). It was still with Imam Ali (a.s.) until he spread it on the day of the battle of Jamal against the people of Basra and gained victory. Then he folded and kept it safe. It is with us and no one is to spread it until the Qaim (a.s.) appears. When he appears, he will spread it and then everyone in the east and the west will curse it. Terror will move a month before it, a month behind it, a month on its right side and a month on its left side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he said: \u201cO Abu Muhammad, he (the Qaim) will appear depressed and angry because of the anger of Allah with the human beings. He will appear wearing the Prophet\u2019s shirt, which the Prophet put on in the battle of Badr, turban, armor and holding the Prophet\u2019s sword Zulfiqar. He will unsheathe the sword for eight months. He will kill excessively. [ .. ]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here the banner is woven of no earthly cloth but of an angelic provenance…<\/p>\n

130- Ghaibat Nomani:<\/strong> It is narrated from Abdul Wahid bin Abdullah from Muhammad bin Ja\u2019far from Ibne Abil Khattab from Muhammad bin Sinan from Hammad bin Abi Talha from Thumali from Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s.) that he said:<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce Abu Ja\u2019far Baqir (a.s.) said to me: \u201cO Thabit, as if I can see the Qaim of my family coming near to your Najaf.\u201d He pointed to Kufa and then added: \u201cWhen he comes to your Najaf, he will spread the banner of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) and then the angels of Badr will descend to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked him: \u201cWhat is the banner of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.)?\u201d He said: \u201cIts pole is from the pole of the Throne of Allah and from His mercy. The rest of it is from the assistance of Allah. Everything that he swoops on with this banner Allah will make it perish.\u201d I asked: \u201cIs it kept with you until the Qaim (a.s.) appears or it is brought then?\u201d He said: \u201cNo. It is brought then.\u201d I asked: \u201cWho will bring it?\u201d He replied: \u201cJibraeel (a.s.).\u201d [ \u2026 ]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here the banner is clearly transcendent, cosmic in scope.<\/p>\n

134- Ghaibat Nomani:<\/strong> It is narrated from Ali bin Ahmad from Ubaidullah bin Musa Alawi from Muhammad bin Husain from Muhammad bin Sinan from Qutaibah Aashi from Aban bin Taghlib that he heard Imam Ja\u2019far Sadiq (a.s.) say:<\/p>\n

\u201cAbu Abdullah Imam Sadiq (a.s.) said: \u201cWhen the banner of the truth (the Mahdi) appears, the people of the east and the west will curse it. Do you know why?\u201d I said: \u201cNo, I do not.\u201d He said: \u201cThat is because of what harms the people receive from his (the Mahdi\u2019s) family before his appearance.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here, one reading of the English translation would suggest that “the banner of the truth” is the Mahdi himself, though I’d need the help of a linguist to know if that’s a plausible reading in the original..<\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

In any case, the first two, at any rate, are clearly referring to spiritual realities rather than exclusively to a flag of cloth, and can thus serve as correctives to a more literal understanding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[ by Charles Cameron — from battle-flag to transcendent symbol ] . ** I have written so much on the topic of the black banners from Khorasan [eg], which in turn arguably derive from the black raya or battle-flag of the Prophet, that I thought these ahadith from the Shia text by Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[622,892,526,45,623,446,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apocalyptic","category-black-banner","category-charles-cameron","category-iraq","category-mahdist","category-shia","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43053"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43160,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43053\/revisions\/43160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}