سورة الفرقان

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Hammad ibn Hariz narrated from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) that he said regarding the verse یَا لَیْتَنِی اتَّخَذْتُ مَعَ الرَّسُولِ سَبِیلا [O! would that I had taken a way with the Apostle]: "What is meant by this verse is Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him)."

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): انْظُرْ کَیْفَ ضَرَبُوا لَکَ الْأَمْثالَ فَضَلُّوا فَلا یَسْتَطِیعُونَ سَبِیلًا [See how they strike similitudes for you, and so they have gone astray and cannot find a way] — that is, they have not found their way to the wilayah of Ali (peace be upon him). And what is intended by سَبِیلًا [a way] in the verse یا لَیْتَنِی اتَّخَذْتُ مَعَ الرَّسُولِ سَبِیلًا [O! would that I had taken a way with the Apostle] is Ali (peace be upon him).

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): یَقُولُ یَا لَیْتَنِی اتَّخَذْتُ مَعَ الرَّسُولِ [He will say: O would that I had taken along with the Messenger] — that is, [would that] alongside the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) I had also accepted Ali (peace be upon him).

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari said: "A group of people from Yemen came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) with beaming and cheerful faces, and when they came before him, he said: 'These are a people tender of heart and firm in faith, and from them will be al-Mansur, who will come forth with seventy thousand fighters to help my successor and the successor of my wasi (legatee) — fighters whose sword-straps are of masad (rope made from palm-fibre or palm leaves).' They said: 'O Messenger of Allah, who is your wasi?' He said: 'He is the one whom Allah commanded you to hold fast to, when Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said: وَ اعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللهِ جَمِیعاً وَ لا تَفَرَّقُوا [And hold fast, all of you together, to the rope of Allah (the Quran and Islam, and every means of unity), and do not be divided]. (Al Imran/103)' They said: 'Explain to us what this rope is.' He said: 'This rope is the instance of the word of Allah where He said: إِلَّا بِحَبْلٍ مِنَ اللهِ وَ حَبْلٍ مِنَ النَّاسِ [Except by a bond from Allah (and reconsidering your unpleasing manner), and (or) by a bond from the people (and dependence upon this one and that)]. (Al Imran/112) — the rope from Allah is His Book, and the rope from the people is my wasi.' They said: 'O Messenger of Allah, who is Janb Allah (the side of Allah)?' He said: 'The very one about whom Allah has said: أَنْ تَقُولَ نَفْسٌ یا حَسْرَتی عَلی ما فَرَّطْتُ فِی جَنْبِ اللهِ [Lest a soul should say: Alas for me, for what I neglected concerning the side of Allah]. He is the one about whom Allah says: وَ یَوْمَ یَعَضُّ الظَّالِمُ عَلی یَدَیْهِ یَقُولُ یا لَیْتَنِی اتَّخَذْتُ مَعَ الرَّسُولِ سَبِیلًا [And the day when the unjust one shall bite his hands saying: O! would that I had taken a way with the Apostle]. He is my wasi and the way to me after me.'" Jabir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Then Abu Amir al-Ash'ari from among the Ash'arites, Abu Ghirrah (Abu Izzah) al-Khawlani from among the Khawlanites, Zibyan, Uthman ibn Qays and Uranah (Urfah) al-Dawsi from among the Dawsites, and Lahiq ibn Ilaqah, rose up and went between the ranks of those present, gazed at the faces, and took the hand of Ali (peace be upon him) and said: 'Our hearts have inclined to him, O Messenger of Allah!' Then the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: 'Praise be to Allah that you recognised the wasi of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) before he was made known to you, and knew that my wasi is he.'" Jabir said: They remained until they were martyred alongside Ali (peace be upon him) at the battles of Jamal and Siffin — may Allah have mercy on them.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Any male or female slave who outwardly pledged allegiance to Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) but broke it inwardly and persisted in his hypocrisy — when the Angel of Death comes to take his soul, Iblis and his companions appear before him, and the Fire and its various kinds of torment become visible to his eyes, his heart and his seat in its narrow places; likewise the gardens and dwellings that would have been his had he remained firm on his faith and fulfilled his allegiance are also shown to him. Then the Angel of Death says to him: 'Look! Had you remained on your walayah (guardianship) and love for the brother of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), your final destination on the Day of Judgement would have been in those gardens, the measure of whose comfort, splendour and joy is known only to Allah. But you broke your covenant and opposed. So that Fire with its various kinds of torment, and the guardians of Hell holding maces, the vipers with gaping mouths, the scorpions with raised tails, the beasts with claws ready, and the rest of its torments, are for you, and to it is your destination.' Then that person says: يَقُولُ يا لَيْتَنِي اتَّخَذْتُ مَعَ الرَّسُولِ سَبِيلًا [saying: O! would that I had taken a way with the Messenger] — and would have accepted his instructions and carried out his commands concerning the walayah of Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him).

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): O Allah, I ask You for safety, safety, on the day when neither wealth nor sons will avail, except him who comes to Allah with a sound heart (Shu'ara/88–89). O Allah, I ask You for safety, safety, يَوْمَ يَعَضُّ الظَّالِمُ عَلى يَدَيْهِ يَقُولُ يا لَيْتَنِي اتَّخَذْتُ مَعَ الرَّسُولِ سَبِيلًا [on the day when the unjust one shall bite his hands saying: O! would that I had taken a way with the Messenger].

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): One of the zindiqs (heretics) came to the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) and said: "Were it not for the contradictions and inconsistencies in the Qur'an, I would certainly have accepted Islam!" Ali (peace be upon him) said: "What contradiction is there in the Qur'an?" He said: "The names of the deceivers, the misguided, and those who misguide others are mentioned in the Qur'an, but in the verses: یَوْمَ یَعَضُّ الظَّالِمُ عَلی یَدَیْهِ یَقُولُ یا لَیْتَنِی اتَّخَذْتُ مَعَ الرَّسُولِ سَبِیلًا * یا وَیْلَتی لَیْتَنِی لَمْ أَتَّخِذْ فُلاناً خَلِیلًا * لَقَدْ أَضَلَّنِی عَنِ الذِّکْرِ بَعْدَ إِذْ جاءَنِی [The day when the wrongdoer will bite his hands, saying: "Would that I had taken a path with the Messenger! Woe to me! Would that I had not taken so-and-so as a friend! Indeed, he led me astray from the Reminder after it had come to me"], it is mentioned by way of allusion (kinaya) and the name is not given, while in contrast the names of so many prophets (peace be upon them) are mentioned in the Qur'an." Ali (peace be upon him) said: "The instances in which the Qur'an explicitly names individuals, and the instances in which the wrongdoing criminals are alluded to indirectly — while the Qur'an itself testifies to their wrongdoing — is among the strongest proofs of the wisdom of Allah, His overwhelming power, and His manifest might. For Allah knows that the arguments of the prophets (peace be upon them) weighed heavily upon their peoples, since we see that in earlier communities some individuals took the prophets (peace be upon them) themselves as objects of worship — like the Christians, who called Isa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him) Allah or the son of Allah. This shows how people failed to reach the perfection they could have attained in the shade of accepting the tawhid of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. [But it did not happen so] ... Thus mentioning the names of the prophets (peace be upon them) was not out of arrogance nor out of honouring them, but only to make them known to the people of insight. As for alluding to the possessors of great sins such as the hypocrites, that is not the act of Allah, but the act of those who altered [the Qur'an] — those who divided the Qur'an [accepting what suited them and abandoning what went against their desires]! (Hijr/91), and who took their worldly share by means of the religion... After the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) departed from this world, some individuals treated the Qur'an as the Jews and Christians had treated the Torah and the Gospel after the loss of Musa and Isa (peace be upon them) — adding to them and distorting them. Their aim was to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah refuses anything but to complete His light. (Tawba/32) For this reason they wrote things in the Book that Allah had [not] said, intending to conceal the truth from the people. Allah blinded their hearts, and they left behind them a trace that indicates their falsehoods, their obscuring of matters, and their concealment — concerning which Allah said to them: "Why do you mix truth with falsehood?" (Al Imran/71) And He gives a parable of them thus: "As for the foam, it is cast off as scum, and as for that which benefits the people, it remains in the earth." (Ra'd/17) The "foam" here means the speech of the opponents which they added to the Qur'an; Allah made it vanish, void and disintegrated, while the hearts accept [what is true]. The word "earth" in فَیَمْکُثُ فِی الْأَرْضِ [it remains in the earth] refers to the position and abode of knowledge. It is not permissible, given the evidences of tafsir, to make explicit reference to the names of the alterers and to the verses added by them into the Book. That is because it would strengthen the arguments of the opponents, the disbelievers, and the communities that have deviated from our religion and qibla, and on the other hand it would cause the loss of trust in a Book that is accepted by all. It must be noted that the people of falsehood have always been more numerous than the people of truth, and for this very reason patience under tyrannical rulers has been reckoned obligatory... This much of an answer that you have heard is sufficient, and the principle of taqiyya itself restrains us from disclosing more than this."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): When the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) went up to the heavens on the night of Mi'raj, a call came: "O Muhammad, Allah will test you in three things to see how your patience is." Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) said: "O Allah, I submit to Your command. But O my Allah, You must give me strength to be patient. What are those three things?" The call came: "The first is hunger... The second is that [the people] will call you a liar and you must bear great fear and terror... The third is the killing and slaughter that will be inflicted upon your Ahl al-Bayt after you." The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "إِنَّا للهِ وَ إِنَّا إِلَیْهِ راجِعُونَ [Indeed we belong to Allah and indeed to Him we shall return]. I have accepted, O my Lord"... "But your daughter Fatima (peace be upon her), on account of that patience and endurance in the face of tribulations, I shall seat beside My Throne on the Day of Resurrection, and it shall be said to her: 'Now Allah has appointed you as judge among the people. So concerning anyone who has wronged you and wronged your children, pass judgement, and I permit your judgement upon them, that he be dragged toward Hell.'" Then that wrongdoer will say: "Woe to me, why did I go to excess in opposing the side of Allah... and mock the promises of Allah"; and he will wish to return once more to the world to make up for his errors. On the day when the disbeliever bites his hands with his teeth and says: "Would that I had taken the way that the Messenger had taken. Woe to me, would that I had not taken so-and-so as a friend." Then a call will come to them from Allah: Beware, Allah has cursed the wrongdoers, and they are those who prevented the people from walking the straight path and made that path crooked; they are disbelievers in the Hereafter (that is, they had no faith in the Hereafter). (Hud/19:18).

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Whoever helps and aids a believing traveler, Allah will remove seventy-three kinds of hardship from him, deliver him from grief and sorrow in this world and the Hereafter, and remove his great distresses on يَوْمَ یَعَضُّ الظَّالِمُ عَلی یَدَیْهِ [the day when the wrongdoer bites his hands].