Question:
Asalaamu Aleykum WRWB
We learned about Rasputin in history and how he had special powers, healing the sick but he also allegedly did some terrible acts. The Russians tried to kill him without success and no-one really knows if and when he died as his body was never found. Can you please share with us Ya Sayidi, what is the truth behind this man? Who was he and what was his objective?
Jazakallah Khair and please forgive me.
Answer:
Wa `alaykum as-Salam wa rahmatullah.
It is obviously very difficult to arrive at a proper understanding of Grigori Rasputin. Whether he actually committed the “terrible acts” attached to his name is unclear; still more obscure are the intentions behind his actions. No doubt the judgment belongs to Allah Almighty.
Of course, for a representative of spiritual authority to advise the Tsar and his family is perfectly traditional. Yet the relationship of Rasputin with the Orthodox Church seems to have been less than harmonious; indeed the personality of Rasputin appears to owe as much to the occult obsessions of contemporary Europe – for example, the concern with “special powers” – as it does to Orthodoxy.
The Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, warned that after sultans would come tyrants. In light of this warning, the defense of the Tsar appears better than its alternative. The imperial family in Russia – along with the other imperial families of the time – obviously had very determined enemies, and Rasputin’s presence at court was not enough to protect the Tsar from them.
As for Rasputin’s death, this event is known and not in dispute, as an autopsy was conducted on the mutilated body. Still, the accounts of his refusal to die easily – to say the least – suggest some kind of supernatural support, but whether that is owing to his identity as a holy person or black magician is unclear. A suggestive testament to Rasputin’s identity, however, is the alleged preservation of his penis as a relic, offering bizarre evidence in support of the sexual magic that he was accused of.
Mahmoud Shelton
