Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Abu Ishaq Laythi said: I said to Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! How and why is it that some of your Shia are people of wine, highway robbery, oppression on the roads, fornication, sodomy, usury, foul deeds, cutting of kinship ties, major sins, and negligence in performing prayer, fasting and zakat?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "O Ibrahim! Has anything besides this occupied your mind and breast?" I said: "Yes, O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), a much greater question." The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "What is that matter?" Abu Ishaq said: "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! How and why is it that some of your enemies and opponents perform much prayer, fasting and zakat, perform hajj and umrah continuously, encourage jihad, choose good works, maintain ties with kin, fulfill the rights of their brothers, help them financially, keep away from wine, fornication, sodomy and other foul deeds? O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), explain to me the reason for this difference between the two." Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: "O Ibrahim! Know that Allah created all things without any prior model. Among what He created was a pure earth over which He caused pure, sweet water to flow. Then the wilayah of us the Ahl al-Bayt was presented to it, and that pure earth accepted our wilayah. Then Allah caused sweet water to flow over it for seven days until the whole earth was covered by it. Then the water receded, and Allah took a portion of that clay and made it our essence (tinat). And from what remained of it He created our Shia. O Ibrahim! If your essence had remained in that same state, you and we would have been one." I said: "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! What then was done with our clay?" He said: "O Ibrahim, Allah created a salty, foul-smelling, wicked earth and watered it with bitter, stagnant, salty water. Then the wilayah of us the Ahl al-Bayt was presented to it, and it did not accept our wilayah. Allah caused that stagnant, salty water to flow over it for seven days until it covered it and sank into it. Then He took a portion of it and, with the remnant of your clay, created from it the tyrants and their leaders — for had they been left to themselves and not been mixed with your clay, they would never have uttered the two testimonies, nor prayed, fasted, given zakat, performed hajj, been trustworthy, nor resembled you [in form]. There is nothing harder upon a believer than to see the face of his enemy resembling his own face." He said: "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), what did Allah do with these two clays?" He said: "O Ibrahim! He mixed them with the sweet water and the salty water and kneaded them together the way leather is tanned. Then He set a portion as the share of Paradise and a portion as the share of Hell. Then He mixed the two together again, so that the qualities of the believer settled on the face of the disbeliever and the qualities of the disbeliever appeared on the face of the believer. So if you see our Shia engaged in fornication, sodomy, abandoning prayer, fasting, hajj, jihad, treachery and the committing of major sins, it is because of the presence in them of that essence of our enemies, which has been placed in their being and has influenced them and caused them to fall into sins and foul deeds. And whenever you see an opponent engaged in prayer, fasting, zakat, hajj, jihad and good works, it is because of the presence in him of that pure essence of the believer that has been placed in his being, by means of which he has succeeded in acquiring good deeds and virtues and avoiding sins. O Ibrahim! When the deeds of such servants are presented to Allah, Allah acts with justice and does not do the slightest oppression, wrong or deviation from truth. Rather, the evil deeds the believers committed which properly belong to the enemies, and the good deeds the enemies performed which properly belong to the believers, He returns to their original place. That Allah besides whom there is no deity — He is the Knower of what is manifest and hidden, aware of hearts, who does not wrong anyone nor step outside the bounds of truth." And He attaches every deed to whomever it properly belongs to, and this is something Allah knew before the very creation of these persons. Then Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said to Ibrahim: "Recite this verse!" Ibrahim said: "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), which verse [shall I recite]?" He said: "The verse which says: قالَ مَعاذَ اللهِ أَنْ نَأْخُذَ إِلَّا مَنْ وَجَدْنا مَتاعَنا عِنْدَهُ إِنَّا إِذاً لَظالِمُونَ [He said: 'Allah forbid that we should take other than him with whom we found our property; indeed we should then be wrongdoers'] (Yusuf/79). O Ibrahim! Its apparent meaning is what you understand from it, and by Allah its inner meaning is exactly this [matter]. O Ibrahim! The Quran has an apparent and an inner meaning, a decisive and an ambiguous, an abrogating and an abrogated." Then he said: "O Ibrahim! Tell me: when the sun rises and its rays [of light] appear in the cities, are its rays separated from its disc?" I said: "At the time of its rising they are separated." He said: "Is it not so that when the sun becomes hidden [from your sight], those rays [of light] connect to the disc [of the sun] and [ultimately] return to it?" I said: "Yes, [that is so]." He said: "In the same way, everything returns to its essence, substance and origin. When the Day of Resurrection comes, Allah the Mighty and Majestic will strip away the essence of the opposing enemy and the weight [of sins] and burdens from the believer, and attach all of them to the opposing enemy; and He will strip away the essence of the believer and the good deeds, good works and efforts from the opposing enemy, and attach all of them to the believer. Do you see in this any injustice or transgression?" I said: "No, O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family). O Ibrahim! [This is] a Quran that is recited and reports handed down from Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and whoever rejects a single letter of it has disbelieved, associated partners [with Allah] and rejected Allah the Mighty and Majestic." Laythi related: it was as though for the forty years I had been reciting these verses I did not understand their meaning, and understood it only on that day. I said: "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! How wonderful is this! The good deeds of your enemies are taken and returned to your Shia, and the sins of those who love you are taken and returned to your enemies." He said: "Yes, by the Allah besides whom there is no deity, the Cleaver of the seed, the Bringer forth of creatures, and the Originator of the earth and the sky, all that I told you was true and I spoke nothing but truth. وَ ما ظَلَمَهُمُ اللهُ [Allah did not wrong them] (Al Imran/117). وَ مَا اللهُ بِظَلَّامٍ لِلْعَبِیدِ [And Allah is not unjust to [His] servants] (Al Imran/182). All that I have told you is definitely found in the Quran." I said: "Do these very truths exist in the Quran in this very form?" He said: "Yes, in more than thirty places in the Quran. Would you like me to recite them for you?" I said: "Yes, O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! فَأُوْلئِکَ یُبَدِّلُ اللهُ سَیِّئاتِهِمْ حَسَناتٍ وَ کانَ اللهُ غَفُوراً رَحیماً [So these are they of whom Allah changes the evil deeds to good ones; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful] — Allah changes the evil deeds of the Shia into good deeds and changes the good deeds of our enemies into evil deeds. By the majesty and face of Allah, this is from His justice and fairness, and no one has the power to turn back His decree. لا مُعَقِّبَ لِحُکْمِهِ [None can repel His judgment] (Ra'd/41). He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing (An'am/13)."