سورة الإسراء

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) narrated from his forefathers from Imam Husayn (peace be upon him): A Jewish man from Sham who had read the Torah, the Injil, the Zabur and the scriptures of the prophets, and had knowledge of their arguments, entered a gathering in which the companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) were present. Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) was also there, along with Ibn Abbas and Abu Ma'bad al-Juhani. He said: 'O nation of Muhammad! You have not left any rank or station for any prophet without claiming all of them for your own Prophet. Will you answer my questions?' The people turned away from him. But Ali (peace be upon him) said: 'Yes! Allah has not granted any rank to any prophet or any excellence to any messenger without gathering all of them in our Prophet, and has bestowed upon him many times more.' The Jew said: 'Will you answer me?' He said: 'Yes ...' The Jew said: 'Allah concealed Ibrahim (peace be upon him) from Nimrod by means of three coverings [meaning the belly of the mother, the womb, and the uterus — his birth was hidden from Nimrod].' Ali (peace be upon him) said: 'It is so, but Allah concealed the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) from his enemies, who intended to kill him, by means of five veils — three veils corresponding to the three veils of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), and two additional veils. Allah says in this verse: وَ جَعَلْنا مِنْ بَیْنِ أَیْدِیهِمْ سَدًّا [And We have placed a barrier before them] (Ya-Sin/9) — this is the first veil; وَ مِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ سَدًّا [and a barrier behind them] (Ya-Sin/9) — this is the second veil; فَأَغْشَیْناهُمْ فَهُمْ لا یُبْصِرُونَ [and We have covered their eyes so that they cannot see] (Ya-Sin/9) — this is the third veil; then He says: وَ إِذا قَرَأْتَ الْقُرْآنَ جَعَلْنا بَیْنَکَ وَ بَیْنَ الَّذِینَ لایُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ حِجاباً مَسْتُوراً [And when you recite the Quran, We place between you and those who do not believe in the hereafter a hidden barrier] — this is the fourth veil; then He says: فَهِیَ إِلَی الْأَذْقانِ فَهُمْ مُقْمَحُونَ [which reaches up to their chins, so their heads are forced up] (Ya-Sin/8) — and this is the fifth veil.'

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): حِجاباً مَسْتُوراً — meaning Allah repelled the satans from you. أَکِنَّةً — meaning a covering, in the sense of deafness (inability to hear). نُفُوراً — the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), whenever he prayed, would keep vigil at night by reciting the Quran, and the Quraysh would listen to him because of his beautiful voice; but when he recited بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِیمِ [In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful], they would flee from him.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu al-Mundhir Hisham ibn al-Sa'ib al-Kalbi came to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him). The Imam (peace be upon him) said to him: "Are you the one who interprets the Quran?" He said: "Yes." He said: "Inform me about this verse in which Allah the Mighty and Majestic says: وَ إِذا قَرَأْتَ الْقُرْآنَ جَعَلْنا بَیْنَکَ وَ بَیْنَ الَّذِینَ لا یُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ حِجاباً مَسْتُوراً [And when you recite the Quran, We place between you and those who do not believe in the hereafter a hidden barrier]. Which [verses of the] Quran are those which, when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) recited them, remained hidden from them?" He said: "I do not know." He said: "Then how do you claim to interpret the Quran?" He said: "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! If you see fit, teach me and grant me this favour." He said: "There is one verse in Surah al-Kahf, one verse in Surah al-Nahl, and one verse in Surah al-Jathiyah, and they are as follows: 'Have you seen the one who has taken his own desire as his god, and Allah has led him astray with knowledge [that he is not worthy of guidance], and has set a seal upon his hearing and his heart, and placed a covering over his eyes? Who then can guide him after Allah? Will you not take heed?' (al-Jathiyah/23). 'They are those upon whose hearts and hearing and eyes Allah has set a seal [because of their excessive sins, so that they do not understand], and it is they who are the truly heedless!' (al-Nahl/108). 'And who is more unjust than one who is reminded of the signs of his Lord, then turns away from them and forgets what his hands have sent forth? Indeed, We have placed coverings over their hearts so that they do not understand it, and heaviness in their ears [so that they do not hear the voice of truth]! And so if you call them to guidance, they will never be guided!' (al-Kahf/57)."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): One day Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) was in the Grand Mosque of Kufa when a man from the people of Sham stood up and said: "O Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)! I have some questions for you." He said: "Ask." ... He asked: "How many times did Adam (peace be upon him) perform the Hajj?" He said: "He performed seventy Hajj pilgrimages on foot. On the first Hajj he performed, the shrike (al-Surad) was with him, showing him the places of water; it had come out of Paradise with him. Adam (peace be upon him) was forbidden from eating the shrike and the swallow." The man from Sham asked: "Why does the swallow not walk on the ground?" The Imam said: "Because it lamented over Bayt al-Muqaddas, circled around it for forty years weeping over it, and continued to weep with Adam (peace be upon him). For this reason it took up dwelling in houses, and it carries with it nine verses from the Book of Allah the Mighty and Majestic which Adam (peace be upon him) used to recite in Paradise, and it will carry them until the Day of Resurrection. Those verses are: three verses from the beginning of Surah al-Kahf, three verses from Surah al-Isra which are: سُبْحانَ الَّذی أَسْری بِعَبْدِهِ لَیْلاً مِنَ المَسْجِدِ الحَرامِ إِلَی الْمسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَی الَّذی بارَکْنا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِیَهُ مِنْ آیاتِنا إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمیعُ الْبَصیرُ [Glory be to Him who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose surroundings We have blessed, that We might show him some of Our signs; indeed He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing]; and they are: وَ إِذا قَرَأْتَ الْقُرْآنَ [And when you recite the Quran]; and three verses from Ya-Sin: وَ جَعَلْنا مِنْ بَیْنِ أَیْدیهِمْ سَدًّا وَ مِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ سَدًّا [And We have placed a barrier before them and a barrier behind them]."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): When تَبَّتْ یَدا أَبِی لَهَبٍ وَ تَبَّ [Perish the hands of Abu Lahab, and perish he!] (Masad/1) was revealed, Umm Jamil, the daughter of Harb, who was the wife of Abu Lahab, became extremely upset, and with her crooked eyes she began shouting and raging, saying: 'We have refused that reproached one, and we have hated his religion, and we have disobeyed his command.' At that moment, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) was sitting in the mosque, and Abu Bakr was also in the service of his eminence. When Abu Bakr's eyes fell upon Umm Jamil, he said: 'O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Umm Jamil is coming toward us and I fear that some harm may come to you from her.' The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: 'She will not see me.' At that time the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) recited several verses of the Quran and took refuge in the word of Allah, and among the verses he recited was this noble verse: وَ إِذا قَرَأْتَ الْقُرْآنَ جَعَلْنا بَیْنَکَ وَ بَیْنَ الَّذِینَ لا یُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ حِجاباً مَسْتُوراً [And when you recite the Quran, We place between you and those who do not believe in the hereafter a hidden barrier]. Then Umm Jamil came and stopped before Abu Bakr, but she did not see the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and she said: 'O Abu Bakr, I have been informed that your companion has satirized me.' Abu Bakr said: 'By the Lord of the Ka'bah! My companion has not satirized you.' After these words she left Abu Bakr, saying: 'The Quraysh know that I am the daughter of their chief.'

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): One of the miracles of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is that his eminence (peace be upon him and his family) used to pray facing the Black Stone and facing Bayt al-Maqdis and the Ka'bah, and no one would see him until his prayer was completed. And the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) concealed himself with the verse: 'They are those whose hearts Allah has sealed [because of the abundance of sin]' (Nahl/108), and the verse: جَعَلْنا عَلی قُلُوبِهِمْ أَکِنَّةً أَنْ یَفْقَهُوهُ وَ فِی آذانِهِمْ وَقْراً [We have placed coverings over their hearts, lest they understand it, and in their ears a heaviness], and the verse: 'Have you seen the one who has taken his own desire as his god, and Allah has led him astray with [His] knowledge [that he is not worthy of guidance], and has sealed his hearing and his heart, and placed a covering over his sight?!' (Jathiyah/23).

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): The protective invocation of our master Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) when he was cast into the pit of wild beasts. ... Place a barrier between me and my enemies so that they may never reach me with any harm. Between me and them is the covering of Allah with which He covered the prophets from the Pharaohs, and whoever enters the covering of Allah is protected. Allah is sufficient for me, He who suffices me in what none of His creation can suffice me; وَ إِذا قَرَأْتَ الْقُرْآنَ جَعَلْنا بَیْنَکَ وَ بَیْنَ الَّذِینَ لا یُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ حِجاباً مَسْتُوراً. إِنَّا جَعَلْنا فِی أَعْناقِهِمْ أَغْلالًا فَهِیَ إِلَی الْأَذْقانِ فَهُمْ مُقْمَحُونَ* وَجَعَلْنا مِنْ بَیْنِ أَیْدِیهِمْ سَدًّا وَ مِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ سَدًّا فَأَغْشَیْناهُمْ فَهُمْ لا یُبْصِرُون [And when you recite the Quran, We place between you and those who do not believe in the hereafter a hidden barrier. Indeed, We have placed shackles upon their necks, reaching up to their chins, so their heads are forced up. And We have placed a barrier before them and a barrier behind them and covered them, so they do not see].