سورة يونس

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ قَالَ مُوسَی رَبَّنَا إِنَّکَ آتَیْتَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَ مَلَأهُ زِینَةً [And Musa said: Our Lord! surely You have given Firon and his chiefs finery], meaning You have given him (Firon) government and dominion; وَ أَمْوَالاً فِی الحَیَاةِ الدُّنْیَا رَبَّنَا لِیُضِلُّواْ عَن سَبِیلِکَ [and riches in this world's life, our Lord, that they lead people astray from Your way], meaning [Firon] deceives the people with money and gifts in such a way that they worship him and do not worship You. رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَی أَمْوَالِهِمْ [Our Lord! destroy their riches], meaning destroy his wealth and property. وَ اشْدُدْ عَلَی قُلُوبِهِمْ فَلاَ یُؤْمِنُواْ حَتَّی یَرَوُاْ الْعَذَابَ الأَلِیمَ [and harden their hearts so that they believe not until they see the painful punishment].

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Our Lord! You have given Firon and his chiefs finery [and wealth], meaning dominion, so that they lead Your servants astray from Your path — what is meant by "finery" is their rule over the people, whereby they mislead the people through their wealth and gifts so that they worship Firon and refuse to worship You. Our Lord! Take away their wealth, meaning destroy their wealth.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Imam Askari (peace be upon him) related that Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), in a well-known lengthy hadith in which he stated that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) possessed miracles like those of Musa (peace be upon him), said: Just as the wealth and property of the people of Firawn were destroyed [according to the account of this verse], the same thing happened to someone in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and Ali (peace be upon him). The story is as follows: A frail old man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) with his son. The old man was weeping and saying: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! I fed this son of mine when he was no more than an infant, and I raised and reared him when he was but a small child. I helped him greatly with my wealth and property until he stood on his own feet and became independent, and his wealth kept increasing; but my strength has waned, and my wealth has been spent on him. I have now reached such a state of weakness as you see. Now he has made me sit at home and even withholds a modest meal from me." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to the young man: "What is your answer?" [The young man] said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! I have nothing beyond the provision for myself and my family." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to the old man: "What do you say?" The old man said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! He has storehouses of wheat, barley, dates, and raisins. He also has many bags of dirhams and dinars. He is well-off and wealthy." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to the son: "What do you say?" [The young man] replied: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! I do not have what he claims." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "O young man! Fear Allah, and do good to your father who has done good to you, so that Allah may show kindness and love to you." The son said: "I have nothing." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "[Very well,] we will pay his rights and dues on your behalf this month. But from next month, you must pay his rights." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) instructed Usamah: "Give this old man one hundred dirhams so that he may cover the expenses of himself and his wife and children for a month." And Usamah did so. At the beginning of the next month, the old man and the young man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family). The young man said: "I have nothing." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "You possess vast wealth; but this very day you will become poor and humiliated — even poorer than this old man who is your father — and nothing of your wealth will remain for you." The young man went on his way. Suddenly, the neighbours of his storehouses came to him and said: "Move your storehouses away from here and take them somewhere else." When [the son] went to his storehouses, he saw that all his wheat, barley, dates, and raisins had spoiled and become putrid. The neighbours were trying to remove them from their vicinity. The young man hired many workers at great expense and moved those storehouses outside the city. He then wanted to pay the workers' wages from the bags containing his dirhams and dinars; but suddenly he saw that all his wealth had turned into pebbles. The workers demanded their due, and he sold whatever he had of clothing, carpet, and house to pay them their dues, and in the end he was destitute and remained so poor and humiliated that he could not obtain his daily sustenance and food. After a while, his body grew afflicted and sick, and became severely weak and emaciated. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "O you who mistreat and torment your fathers and mothers! Take heed and know that just as all this young man's wealth and property in this world was lost and destroyed, so too all the ranks prepared for him in Paradise have been changed into the lowest levels of Hell." Imam Askari (peace be upon him) continued: "The like of such a story also occurred for Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him). A man from among his devotees in Sham wrote a letter to him: 'O Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)! It is difficult for me to come to you with my children and family, and if I leave them behind, I fear for their lives, and I am also reluctant regarding my possessions and afraid to leave them here. On the other hand, I would love to join you and be in your company and attain your presence. Please guide me.' Ali (peace be upon him) sent this letter to him: 'Gather your family and household and place your wealth and property with them. Send blessings upon Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and his pure family, and entrust all of them to Allah, and then say: "O Lord! These are all a trust which, by the command of Your servant and vicegerent Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), I deposit with You." Then rise and come to me.' That man did so, and when word reached Mu'awiyah that the man had fled to Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), he ordered that his family be captured and taken into slavery and his wealth be plundered. When Mu'awiyah's agents went to carry out his order, Allah the Exalted made the man's family appear like the family and attendants of Mu'awiyah, and likewise like the family and attendants of Yazid, and when they faced Mu'awiyah's agents, they said: 'We have taken over these possessions and they belong to us, and as for that man's family, we have taken them into slavery and sent them to the market to be sold.' When the agents encountered this scene, they withdrew from them. And Allah made it so that the man's family and household knew that they had been made to appear like the family of Mu'awiyah and the close ones of Yazid; but they were worried about their wealth and property, lest thieves steal them. Allah turned their wealth and property into snakes and scorpions, so that whenever thieves wanted to take from it, they were bitten and stung; and as a result, a group of the thieves died and another group became severely weak and emaciated."