سورة الفرقان

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): انْظُرْ کَیْفَ ضَرَبُوا لَکَ الْأَمْثالَ فَضَلُّوا فَلا یَسْتَطِیعُونَ سَبِیلًا [See what likenesses do they apply to you, so they have gone astray, therefore they shall not be able to find a way]; that way which is pointed to in this verse is Ali (peace be upon him).

The Messenger (peace be upon him and his family): These events took place when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) was one day sitting beside the Ka'bah with his companions; at that time a group of the chiefs of Quraysh gathered. First, Abdullah ibn Abi Umayyah al-Makhzumi began to speak and said: 'O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! You have made a great claim and are saying a difficult thing — you consider yourself the Messenger of Allah. If Allah had decided to send us a prophet, He would certainly have sent an angel, not a human being like ourselves. You are a man who is possessed by jinn and bewitched, not a prophet and envoy of Allah.' The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: 'As for your saying that I am a man possessed — how is such a thing possible when you fully recognise that I possess [the faculty of] discernment and distinction, and that my intellect is above yours? From childhood to the age of forty, do you have any record of me witnessing a fault or defect, or misguidance, or a lie, or a betrayal, or an error committed by me, or something that appeared in my speech, deed or belief? Is it possible for a person to hold himself to such a course throughout such a length of time by his own strength, or is it by the strength and power of the Lord? Allah refers to this very matter in this verse: انْظُرْ کَیْفَ ضَرَبُوا لَکَ الْأَمْثالَ فَضَلُّوا فَلا یَسْتَطِیعُونَ سَبِیلًا [See what likenesses do they apply to you, so they have gone astray, therefore they shall not be able to find a way]. They cannot establish any record against you with evidence, only false claims whose refutation is very simple for you.'