سورة الكهف

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Fadl ibn Shadhan says: Ma'mun asked Imam Rida (peace be upon him) to write for him pure and unadulterated Islam in a concise and summary form. The Imam (peace be upon him) wrote in reply: ... disassociation from the people of the Shura, and from Abu Musa al-Ash'ari and his supporters, for they are the ones about whom this verse was revealed: those whose effort has gone astray [and been destroyed] in the life of this world, while they think they are doing good work. They are the ones who disbelieved in the signs of their Lord; they disbelieved in the wilayah of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) and in the meeting of their Lord — they disbelieved in that they met Allah without his imamate, so their deeds became void and destroyed! Therefore on the Day of Resurrection We shall set no scale for them! (Al-Kahf/105). And they are the dogs of the people of Hell.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): O son of Qays! ... How did you see us on the day of Nahrawan, when we met the Mariqin? Those same believing people who fell into misguidance and thought they were on the right path? And Allah destroyed them all in one place, and none of them remained except ten men, while not even ten of us were killed?!

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Abu Ishaq Laythi said: Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: O Ibrahim, Allah the Mighty and Majestic has said concerning our Nasibi enemies: وَ قَدِمْنا إِلی ما عَمِلُوا مِنْ عَمَلٍ فَجَعَلْناهُ هَباءً مَنْثُوراً [And We shall turn to whatever deeds they did, and We shall make them scattered dust] (Furqan/23), and He, the Mighty and Majestic, said: یَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ یُحْسِنُونَ صُنْعاً [they think that they are doing good work].

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Abu Tufayl said: Ibn al-Kawwa asked Imam Ali (peace be upon him) about the verse: قُلْ هَلْ نُنَبِّئُکُمْ بِالْأَخْسَرِینَ أَعْمالًا [Say: Shall We inform you of those who are the greatest losers in their deeds?]. He said: "They [the greatest losers among the people] are the Khawarij." Then he said: "الَّذِینَ ضَلَّ سَعْیُهُمْ فِی الحَیاةِ الدُّنْیا وَ هُمْ یَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ یُحْسِنُونَ صُنْعاً [Those whose labor is lost in this world's life and they think that they are doing good work], is about the war against Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him)."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Sulaym said: I heard Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) saying: "Soon the ummah will split into seventy-three groups; seventy-two groups will be in the Fire and one group in Paradise. Thirteen groups out of the seventy-three will claim love for us, the Ahl al-Bayt, but one of them will be in Paradise and twelve groups in the Fire. As for the saved, guided group who long for [Paradise], who are believers, submissive, in accord, and guiding — they are those who have believed in me and are submissive and obedient to my command. They disavow my enemy, love me, and hate my enemy. They are the ones who know my right, my imamate, and the obligation of obedience to me from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet. Consequently, they do not turn back [from their belief] and do not doubt, because Allah has illuminated their hearts with the recognition of our right, has made them understand our excellence, has inspired them, has taken hold of their forelocks, and has entered them among our Shia — so that their hearts have attained tranquility and have gained a certainty with which no doubt is mixed. The imams of the saved group are: I and my successors after me until the Day of Resurrection are guides who are themselves guided. We are those whom Allah has placed alongside Himself and His Prophet in many verses of the Qur'an, and He has purified us and preserved us from sins, and made us witnesses over His creation, and His proof on His earth, and the treasurers of His knowledge, and the mines of His wisdom, and the interpreters of His revelation. And He has placed us with the Qur'an and the Qur'an with us — we do not separate from it, nor does it separate from us, until we arrive upon the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) at the Pool of Kawthar. On the Day of Resurrection, out of the seventy-three groups, only that one group are those saved from the Fire and from all seditions, misguidances, and doubts, and they are truly the people of Paradise. They are seventy thousand who will enter Paradise without reckoning. And all of those seventy-two groups have taken up a religion other than the truth and support the religion of Satan, and take [their instructions] from Iblis and his friends. They are the enemies of Allah the Exalted, the enemies of His Prophet, and the enemies of the believers, and they will enter the Fire without reckoning. They disavow Allah and His Messenger — they have forgotten Allah and His Messenger, have associated partners with Allah, have disbelieved in Him, and have worshipped other than Allah, yet they themselves do not know and they think they are doing something right. On the Day of Resurrection they will say, 'By Allah, we were not polytheists' — they will swear to Him just as they swear to you, and they suppose that they are doing good work."

Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him): When the eve of Arafah and the morning of the day of Mina arrive, Allah the Mighty and Majestic takes pride before His noble angels because of those standing at Arafat and Mina, and says to them: "These are My male servants and My female servants. They have come into My presence here from far and distant lands, with disheveled hair and dust-covered, and have separated themselves from their pleasures, their lands, their homelands and their friends to seek My pleasure; so look at their hearts and what is in them, and I, O My angels, have strengthened your sight to become aware of them." He said: "The angels become aware of their hearts and say: 'O our Lord! We have become aware of them, and some of them are black and intensely dark, and there rises from them what is like the smoke of Hell.' Allah says: Those are the wretched ones, الَّذِینَ ضَلَّ سَعْیُهُمْ فِی الْحَیاةِ الدُّنْیا وَ هُمْ یَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ یُحْسِنُونَ صُنْعاً [those whose effort is lost in the life of this world while they think that they are doing good work]. Those are hearts empty of good deeds, empty of acts of obedience, and persistent upon harmful and forbidden deeds. They believe in honoring those whom We have disgraced and in belittling those whom We have magnified and honored. If they come to Me in this state, I shall intensify their punishment and prolong their reckoning. Those are hearts that believe that Muhammad the Messenger of Allah lied about Allah, or [in receiving matters] made a mistake about Allah, and mistakenly entrusted the straightening of the crookedness of Allah's servants and the taking charge of their affairs to his brother and his successor, so that they might see security in the establishment of religion, in the rescue of those who are perishing, in placing the ignorant in comfort and in awakening the heedless. Those are the ones whose mount to Hell is the worst of mounts."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Abdullah ibn Wa'l al-Taymi said: "I was with the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him)... The Imam (peace be upon him) wrote to Ziyad [ibn Khasafa]: To proceed — your letter reached me, and I have understood what you mentioned regarding al-Naji and his companions, upon whose hearts Allah has set a seal and for whom Satan has adorned their deeds, so they are bewildered and blind, thinking that they are doing good work; and you described what has come to you and to them of the matter. As for you and your companions, your effort is for Allah and your reward is upon Him. The least of Allah's reward for a believer is better for him than this world for which the ignorant kill themselves. What is with you shall perish and what is with Allah shall remain, and We shall surely recompense those who were patient their reward according to the best of what they used to do. (Al-Nahl/96) Be aware that your enemies are those whom you have seen, and their departure from guidance, their plunging into misguidance, their rejection of the truth and their obstinacy in the wilderness of error is enough for them."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Ibn Talha said: ... A group of them cried out from every side, 'Repentance, repentance, O Commander of the Faithful!' Eight thousand of them sought his protection, while four thousand remained in war against him. So the Imam (peace be upon him) ordered those who had sought protection to withdraw from them at that moment, and he advanced with his companions until he drew near them. Abd Allah ibn Wahb and Harqus Dhu al-Thudayya came forward and said: 'In fighting you we seek only the Face of Allah and the abode of the Hereafter.' Ali (peace be upon him) said: هَلْ نُنَبِّئُکُمْ بِالْأَخْسَرِینَ أَعْمالًا* الَّذِینَ ضَلَّ سَعْیُهُمْ فِی الْحَیاةِ الدُّنْیا وَ هُمْ یَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ یُحْسِنُونَ صُنْعا [Shall We inform you of those who are the greatest losers in their deeds? Those whose effort has gone astray in the life of this world, while they think they are doing good work].

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Ali ibn Suwayd said: I asked Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): 'What is ujb (self-conceit)?' He said: 'Ujb has degrees. One of them is that a person considers his ugly deeds beautiful, is pleased with them, and thinks he is doing good work. The second is that a servant believes and then reminds Allah of the favour, as though he had done Allah a favour by believing.'