سورة البقرة

Imam Askari (peace be upon him): Salman al-Farsi (may Allah have mercy on him) came upon a group of Jews. They asked him to come and sit among them and speak about what he had heard today from Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family). Salman (may Allah have mercy on him), being very eager for them to accept Islam, agreed ... They began to mock him and said: "O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! You claim a very noble and great station, and we must test the truth or falsehood of your words. [In this way, that] we shall first come at you with our whips and strike you with them. So ask your Lord to hold us back from this act". Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "O my Lord! Make me patient in the face of this trial"! They began to whip him until they grew tired and exhausted ... They said: "We shall keep whipping you until your soul leaves your body or you disbelieve in Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)". Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "I shall never do that. Indeed Allah has revealed the verse أَلَّذینَ یُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَیْبِ [Those who believe in the unseen] ... upon Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), and in my view, through your ugly conduct I easily come to be included in this verse". So they began to whip him again until they grew tired and sat down ... The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), in a gathering in which a group of Muslims were present, said: "Indeed Allah has just now made your brother Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) victorious over twenty of the rebellious Jews and the hypocrites". Then the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and his companions set out toward that house ... The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) turned to Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) and said: "O Aba Abdillah! You are among the special believing brothers of ours and among the beloved of the hearts of the angels brought near to Allah; the renown of your merit in the malakut (dominion) of the heavens, the world of the unseen, the Kursi, the Arsh, and all that is below them down to the earth, is more famous than the shining sun on a day that has no clouds and whose sky is without dust; according to the word of Allah: أَلَّذینَ یُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَیْبِ [Those who believe in the unseen], and you are among the highest of those praised.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Our Shia are the very Allah-wary who believe in the unseen.

Imam Askari (peace be upon him): What is meant by believing is affirming and holding as true.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): What is meant by those who believe in the unseen are those who have acknowledged the truth of the rising of al-Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble reappearance).

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): When Allah hastens the appearance and rising of our Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble reappearance), he will fill the earth with justice and fairness, just as it had been filled with tyranny and oppression before... Blessed are those who remain patient during his occultation! Blessed are those who, in following the path and way of the Imams, hold to piety — those whom Allah, in His Book, has described as: الَّذِینَ یُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَیْبِ [Those who believe in the unseen].

Imam Askari (peace be upon him): They are those who affirm and believe in resurrection after death, the Day of Reckoning, the promise and the threat. In the Book of Allah, faith is of four kinds: one is affirmation with the tongue, which Allah has named faith; the second is affirmation and belief with the heart; the third is fulfillment and expression; and the fourth is confirmation and endorsement.

Imam Askari (peace be upon him): [What is meant by belief in the unseen is belief in] matters that are hidden from the senses of the believers, but which they must believe in — such as resurrection at the rising, the reckoning, Paradise, Hellfire, the oneness of Allah, and other things that are not known by sight but are known through the signs Allah has set for them; like Adam, Hawwa, Idris, Nuh, Ibrahim and the prophets (peace be upon them), belief in whom and in Allah's proofs He has made necessary and obligatory, even though [a person] may not have seen them. They (the believers) believe in the unseen while being fearful and anxious about the Resurrection.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): [What is meant by the unseen is] resurrection after death, the Day of Reckoning, the rising of al-Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble reappearance), and the Return.

Imam Askari (peace be upon him): They are those who affirm and believe in resurrection after death, the Day of Reckoning, the promise and the threat.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): [What is meant by] the unseen is the Hidden Proof (may Allah hasten his noble reappearance).

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Whoever accepts my wilayah (guardianship) and stands firm upon it has established the prayer; and to establish my wilayah is so difficult and formidable that none can bear it except a favored angel, a sent prophet, or a believing servant whose heart Allah has tested for faith. So if the angel is not favored he cannot bear it, if the prophet is not sent he cannot bear it, and if the believer has not emerged successful from the test he cannot bear it.

Imam Askari (peace be upon him): And those who establish prayer means those who perform its bowing and prostration fully, guard its times and limits, and protect the prayer from whatever would invalidate or diminish it.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): From what We have taught them...

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): of what We have taught them of the Quran ...

Imam al-Askari (peace be upon him): They spend from the wealth, bodily strength, and standing and position that We have granted them as sustenance; they pay the zakat on their wealth; they give charity; they take on all of this; they pay obligatory dues such as the expenses of the fronts of war when it becomes obligatory or even when it is not obligatory; likewise the other obligatory maintenance of family, relatives and kin, and parents, as well as the recommended expenditures whose payment is not obligatory, such as maintenance for relatives, the sick, debtors, and weak women and men; they also, with their own bodily strength, assist those who have been harmed and save them from hardship and cases of ruin; they help travelers or non-travelers carry their goods that have fallen from an animal or a vehicle and been left on the ground; or they defend a wronged person whom an oppressor has struck or is harming; likewise, they use their standing to defend the honor of someone who has been wronged, or use their position to fulfill the need of someone who is unable to attain it. All of this is an instance of spending from what Allah has provided as sustenance.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): They disseminate [among the believers] what We have taught them.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): They recite what We have taught them of the Quran.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): They spend from what We have provided them [meaning], and from what We have taught them, they also teach others and make them aware.