By Allah the pillars of guidance have been demolished

Question  9: What  is  the  meaning  of  Gabriel’s  pbuh  saying  when Imam Ali pbuh was killed,
“By Allah, the pillars of guidance have been demolished.”?

Are not Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein pillars of guidance, who remain alive after the murder of Imam Ali pbuh?

Answer: The first pillar is Muhammad pbuhap, the second pillar is Ali, and the third pillar is Fatima pbuh. Muhammad pbuhap is the city of knowledge, and Ali and Fatima are its door, and they three are the pillars of Truth and guidance [1], or the greatest, greatest, greatest name (He), and its pillars (the city of divine perfections), Allah swt, and its door: Al-Rahman and Al-Raheem. If the door was any other than these two names, then punishments would have been too hard on the people of the earth, and none of them would have been saved.

And  the  appearance  of  these  names  amongst  the  creation  is  by Muhammad, Ali and Fatima. Muhammad is the manifestation of Allah amongst the creation, and Ali is the manifestation of Al-Rahman, and  Fatima  is  the  manifestation  of  Al-Raheem  amongst  the  creation. And by the martyrdom of the Messenger, the first pillar was demolished, and by the martydom of Fatima, the second pillar was demolished, but they remained by the remaining of the third [pillar], which is Ali pbuh. Therefore, when Ali pbuh was martyred, the third pillar was demolished; rather, the first and the second were demolished along with him. That is why Gabriel pbuh said,

“By Allah, the pillars of guidance have been demolished.”

And Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein pbut, although they remain after Imam Ali pbuh, do not represent pillars of guidance by this meaning.

Therefore, the pillars of guidance are three and no more, and the Imams pbut are all pillars of guidance, but they are pillars of these [three] pillars, meaning that the Imams pbut are pillars of Muhammad, Ali and Fatima pbut.

Ahmed Alhasan
The Allegories – volume 1

[1] Al-Sadiq pbuh said, that his father pbuh said, “Jabir Bin Abdullah Al-Ansari said that he heard the Prophet of Allah pbuh saying to Ali Bin Abu Talib three days before his death, ‘Peace be upon you, father of the two basils. I urge you to look after my basil from this world, after a short time your two pillars will be demolished, and Allah is your protector.’ So, when the Prophet of Allah pbuh died, Ali said, ‘This is one of my pillars, which Muhammad pbuh spoke of.’ And when Fatima pbuh died, Ali said, ‘This is my second pillar of which Muhammad pbuh spoke of.’ Al-Amali by Al-Sadooq page 198.