سورة النمل

Imam Ali (peace be upon him) — Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurti said: Imam Ali (peace be upon him) was asked about the Dabbat al-Ard (creature of the earth), and he said: "By Allah, it has no tail — rather, it has a beard."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) — Hudhayfa narrates from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) who said: "The Dabbat al-Ard is sixty cubits in length, and it is so powerful that no pursuer can reach it and no fugitive can escape from it. It marks the believer between his eyes and writes between his eyes 'believer', and it marks the disbeliever between his eyes and writes between his eyes 'disbeliever'! With it is the staff of Musa (peace be upon him) and the ring of Sulayman (peace be upon him). So with the staff it brightens the face of the believer, and with the ring it curbs the nose of the disbeliever, until the people of the tents are gathered. Then it says: 'O believer!' and says: 'O disbeliever!'"

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): It is narrated from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) that he said: "That creature has three appearances in the course of time: once it comes out at the far end of Medina and word of its appearance spreads in the desert, but does not spread in Mecca. Then it remains hidden for a long period, then it appears a second time near Mecca and word of its appearance spreads in the desert and also spreads in Mecca. Then on one day the people will gather in the greatest of Allah's mosques in honour and the most noble of them before Allah, that is, al-Masjid al-Haram. Then the dabbah (creature), while in a corner of the mosque, will strike fear into them, and it will approach from the area between the corner of al-Hajar al-Aswad (the Black Stone) and the gate of Banu Makhzum, in the middle of it, on the right of one who is exiting the mosque. Some of the people will scatter at its coming, and a group who know that they have no power to make Allah the Exalted helpless will not flee. That creature comes towards them, shakes the dust from its head, passes by them and polishes their faces, until it makes them like a shining star. Then it turns back towards the earth, such that no seeker can reach it and no one fleeing from it can escape. Even a man will rise and take refuge in prayer to be delivered from it, but dabbat al-ard comes from behind him and says: 'O so-and-so! Are you praying now?' Then it comes towards his face and brands his face. At that time the creatures will be neighbours with one another in the cities and companions with one another on journeys and partners with one another in wealth, and the disbeliever will be distinguished from the believer, so the believer will be addressed as 'O believer!' and the disbeliever will be addressed as 'O disbeliever!'"

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Dabbat al-ard (the creature of the earth) appears together with the staff of Musa (peace be upon him) and the ring of Sulayman ibn Dawud (peace be upon him), and with the staff of Musa (peace be upon him) it illuminates the face of the believer, and with the ring of Sulayman (peace be upon him) it brands the face of the disbeliever.

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): [Regarding] أَخْرَجْنا لَهُمْ دَابَّةً مِنَ الْأَرْضِ تُکَلِّمُهُمْ [We shall bring forth for them a creature from the earth that shall speak to them]. The meaning of dabbat al-ard is Ali (peace be upon him).

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Abu Basir said: Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: "What do people say about this verse: وَ إِذا وَقَعَ الْقَوْلُ عَلَیْهِمْ أَخْرَجْنا لَهُمْ دَابَّةً مِنَ الْأَرْضِ تُکَلِّمُهُمْ [And when the word shall come to pass against them, We shall bring forth for them a creature from the earth that shall speak to them]?" Then he said: "The meaning of the creature is Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Abu Tufayl said: I said to Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him): "O Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), in the verse: وَ إِذا وَقَعَ الْقَوْلُ عَلَیْهِمْ أَخْرَجْنا لَهُمْ دَابَّةً مِنَ الْأَرْضِ تُکَلِّمُهُمْ [And when the word shall come to pass against them, We shall bring forth for them a creature from the earth that shall speak to them], what is meant by the creature?" He said: "O Aba Tufayl! Leave this question aside!" I said: "O Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)! May I be your ransom, inform me of it!" He said: "It is a creature that eats food, walks in the markets, and marries women!" I said: "O Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)! Who is he?" He said: "He is the pillar of the religion by whom the earth is made stable." I said: "O Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)! Who is he?" He said: "He is the truthful one (Siddiq) of this Ummah, and its distinguisher (Faruq), and its pious scholar (Ribbi), and the Dhul-Qarnayn of this Ummah!" I said: "O Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)! Who is he?" He said: "He is the one about whom Allah the Exalted said: وَ یَتْلُوهُ شاهِدٌ مِنْهُ [And a witness from Him follows it] (Hud/17); and وَ الَّذِی عِنْدَهُ عِلْمُ الْکِتابِ [and the one with whom is the knowledge of the Book (and awareness of the Quran)] (Ra'd/43); and وَ الَّذِی جاءَ بِالصِّدْقِ وَ الَّذِی صَدَّقَ بِهِ [and the one who brought the truth and the one who confirmed it] (Zumar/33). And all people, except him, are disbelievers." I said: "O Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)! Name him for me!" He said: "I have already named him for you, O Aba Tufayl! By Allah! If I were to go in among the generality of my Shia by whose help I fight my enemies — those very Shia who believe in obedience to me, who call me Amir al-Mu'minin, and who consider jihad against my enemies lawful — and were to tell them some of the truths that are in the Book that Jibra'il (peace be upon him) brought down upon Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), they would scatter from around me, and I would be left with a small company of the people of truth, of whom you and those like you among my Shia are part." So I became afraid and asked: "Will I and those like me part from you, or will we remain firm with you?" He said: "You will remain firm!" Then he turned to me and said: "Indeed, our matter is difficult and hard to bear; none knows it and none acknowledges it except three: a near-stationed angel, a sent prophet, or a noble believing servant whose heart Allah has tested for faith. O Aba Tufayl! The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) had his soul taken, and the people turned back as astray and ignorant ones, except those whom Allah preserved through us, the Ahl al-Bayt."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): A man said to Ammar ibn Yasir: "O Abu al-Yaqzan! There is a verse in the Book of Allah that has troubled my heart and thrown me into doubt and uncertainty." Ammar said: "Which verse?" He said: "وَ إِذَا وَقَعَ الْقَوْلُ عَلَیْهِمْ أَخْرَجْنَا لَهُمْ دَابَّةً مِّنَ الْأَرْضِ تُکَلِّمُهُمْ أَنَّ النَّاسَ کَانُوا بِآیَاتِنَا لَا یُوقِنُونَ [And when the word shall come to pass against them, We shall bring forth for them a creature from the earth that shall speak to them, because people did not have certainty in Our signs] — what creature is this?" Ammar said: "By Allah! I shall neither sit, nor eat any food, nor drink any water until I show you this creature." Then Ammar went with that man to Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), while Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) was busy eating dates and butter. The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "O Abu al-Yaqzan! Come quickly!" Ammar sat down and began eating with Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him). The man was astonished at Ammar's conduct, so when Ammar rose, he said to him: "Subhan Allah! O Abu al-Yaqzan, you swore that you would neither eat nor drink nor sit until you showed me dabbat al-ard (the creature of the earth)!" Ammar said: "If you had any sense, I have shown it to you!"

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him) — Abu Basir narrates: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) came upon Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), who had gathered a little sand in the mosque, placed his head on it and gone to sleep. He nudged him with his foot and said to him: 'Rise, O creature of the earth!' One of the companions said: 'O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! May we call one another by this name?' He said: 'No, by Allah! This name belongs exclusively to Ali (peace be upon him), and the creature of the earth (dabbat al-ard) meant in the verse وَ إِذَا وَقَعَ الْقَوْلُ عَلَیْهِمْ أَخْرَجْنَا لَهُمْ دَابَّةً مِنَ الْأَرْضِ تُکَلِّمُهُمْ أَنَّ النَّاسَ کَانُوا بِآیَاتِنَا لَا یُوقِنُونَ [And when the word shall come to pass against them, We shall bring forth for them a creature from the earth that shall speak to them, because people did not believe with certainty in Our signs] is none other than Ali (peace be upon him).' Then he said: 'O Ali (peace be upon him)! When the end of time comes, Allah will bring you forth in the finest form, with a hot branding iron with you by which you will mark your enemies.'" A man said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "The people say: does this creature also wound them?" He said: "Allah has branded and marked them in the fire of Hell, and Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) burns them with his speech. The proof that this happens in the raj'a (return) is the verse: وَ یَوْمَ نَحْشُرُ مِنْ کُلِّ أُمَّةٍ فَوْجاً مِمَّنْ یُکَذِّبُ بِآیَاتِنَا فَهُمْ یُوزَعُونَ * حَتَّی إِذَا جَاؤُوا قَالَ أَکَذَّبْتُمْ بِآیَاتِی وَ لَمْ تُحِیطُوا بِهَا عِلْماً أَمَّاذَا کُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ [And on the day when We shall gather from every nation a company of those who rejected Our signs, and they shall be kept in ranks * until when they come, He will say: Did you reject My signs while you did not comprehend them in knowledge, or what was it that you were doing?]. What is meant by these two verses is Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) and the other Imams (peace be upon them)." The man said: "The generality of people suppose that what is meant by وَ یَوْمَ نَحْشُرُ مِنْ کُلِّ أُمَّةٍ فَوْجاً is the Day of Resurrection." Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "Does Allah gather a company from every nation and leave the rest behind?! Never — but in the raj'a, yes. As for the verse of the Resurrection, it is this: 'We shall raise all of them [humankind] up, and We shall not leave a single one of them behind!' (Kahf/47)."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him)— Asbagh ibn Nubata says: I came into the presence of Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) while he was eating bread with vinegar and [olive] oil. I said: 'O Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)! Allah the Mighty and Majestic says: وَ إِذَا وَقَعَ الْقَوْلُ عَلَیْهِمْ أَخْرَجْنَا لَهُمْ دَابَّةً مِّنَ الْأَرْضِ تُکَلِّمُهُمْ أَنَّ النَّاسَ کَانُوا بِآیَاتِنَا لَا یُوقِنُونَ [And when the word shall come to pass against them, We shall bring forth for them a creature from the earth that shall speak to them, because people did not believe in Our signs] — what is [meant by] the dabba in this [verse]?' He said: 'It is a creature that eats bread, vinegar and olive oil!'

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Imran ibn Maytham narrates from his father: "I was in the presence of Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), being the fifth person and the youngest of them all. That day we were listening to Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) who said: 'My brother told me that he sealed one thousand prophets and I sealed one thousand successors, and I have been charged with things that they were not charged with. And I know one thousand words that no one except Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) has knowledge of. Each of these words is the key to a thousand doors. They do not know even one word of them; you recite one verse of it in the Qur'an: وَ إِذَا وَقَعَ الْقَوْلُ عَلَیْهِمْ أَخْرَجْنَا لَهُمْ دَابَّةً مِّنَ الْأَرْضِ تُکَلِّمُهُمْ أَنَّ النَّاسَ کَانُوا بِآیَاتِنَا لَا یُوقِنُونَ [And when the word shall come to pass against them, We shall bring forth for them a creature from the earth that shall speak to them, because people did not believe with certainty in Our signs], but you do not know its meaning.'"

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Six things have been given to me: knowledge of deaths, knowledge of trials, the wills, and fasl al-khitab (decisive judgement); I am the lion of the battlefield and the best of my state; I am the one with the staff and the branding iron (mark of branding); and the creature that speaks to people — that is me!

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Allah revealed to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) on the night of the Isra': O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! The first Imam whose covenant I received was Ali (peace be upon him). O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Ali (peace be upon him) is the last of the Imams whose soul I shall take, and he is the creature that speaks to the people.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Khaythama al-Ju'fi said: I came to Imam Baqir (peace be upon him). He said to me: "O Khaythama! Convey our greetings to our friends and inform them that they will never attain what is with Allah except through action, and they will never attain our wilayah except through piety. O Khaythama! One who does not have our wilayah and our recognition gains no benefit. By Allah, when the dabbah (creature) comes out of the House of the Ka'bah and speaks to the people, believer and disbeliever, no one of creation passes by it except that it declares him a believer or a disbeliever. O Khaythama! Only those who have disbelieved in our wilayah and have no certainty do not affirm our signs. O Khaythama! Allah is iman (faith), for He has named Himself in the Qur'an as al-Mu'min (the Believer) and al-Muhaymin (the Guardian), and we are the family and abode of faith; faith branches out from us and is known through us, and we are Islam; the rulings of Islam are known through us and branch out from us. O Khaythama! Whoever recognises faith and clings to it, sins do not defile him — just as a lamp shines and spreads light and nothing of its brightness diminishes. Whoever recognises us and affirms our wilayah, Allah forgives his sins."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Ibn Asid al-Kindi, who was among those loyal to Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), narrates from his father who said: I was sitting with the people in the presence of Ali (peace be upon him) when Ibn Mu'iz and Ibn Na'j came to the Imam along with Abdullah ibn Wahb, having wrapped a garment around his neck and dragging him. Ibn Mu'iz and Ibn Na'j said: "O Amir al-Mu'minin! Kill him and do not be lenient with liars!" The Imam said: "Come closer!" Ibn Wahb came forward. He said: "What does this man say?" The two said: "This man imagines that you are the Creature of the Earth (Dabbat al-Ard), and that it is you who will be struck a blow upon your head such that its blood will spill onto your blessed beard." The Imam said to Ibn Wahb: "What are these two saying?" He submitted: "O Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)! I related to them a hadith that I had heard from Ammar ibn Yasir." The Imam said: "Leave him alone, for he is narrating a hadith from someone other than himself and is not fabricating it from himself. O son of Umm al-Sawda! You split open the hadith very well [i.e. you dissect and spread it]. Set this man free, for if he lies, his sin is upon his own neck, and if he speaks the truth, what he says will be realised concerning me."

Imam Mahdi (may Allah hasten his noble relief): Ali ibn Mahziyar, in a long hadith about his attaining audience with Sahib al-Amr (may Allah hasten his noble relief) and the question he asked him, mentions: "I submitted: 'My master! When will you rise up?' He said: 'When the road of Hajj is blocked to you, and the sun and the moon gather in one place, and the stars and planets circle around them.' I submitted: 'O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! When will these signs occur?' He said: 'In such and such a year, Dabbat al-Ard will rise up between Safa and Marwa, while the staff of Musa (peace be upon him) and the ring of Sulayman (peace be upon him) will be with him, and he will drive the people towards the Mahshar (the gathering place).' [Dabbat al-Ard means the one moving upon the earth, and what is intended is the Imam himself]."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): In the book Kamal al-Din wa Tamam al-Ni'mah, with its chain of narration going back to Nazzal ibn Sayyara, a lengthy hadith is narrated from Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) in which, after mentioning the Dajjal and the one who kills him, he said: "Know that after that, a great event will occur." We said: "O Amir al-Mu'minin! What is that event?" He said: "The coming of the Dabbat al-Ard (Beast of the Earth) from the direction of Safa. The ring of Sulayman (peace be upon him) and the staff of Musa (peace be upon him) will be with it. It places the ring on the face of every believer, and in its place is written: 'This is a true believer.' And it places it on the face of every disbeliever, and it is written: 'This is a true disbeliever.' So much so that the believer calls out: 'O disbeliever, woe to you!' and the disbeliever calls out: 'O believer, blessed are you! I wish I too were like you today and had attained such felicity!' Then the Dabbat al-Ard raises its head, and the people who are between the east and the west, after the sun rises from the west, see it by the permission of Allah. At that time repentance is lifted. No repentance will be accepted and no deed will ascend to Allah; the believing of those who had not believed before, or who had not done any good deed during their faith, will not benefit them (An'am/158). Then he (peace be upon him) said: 'Do not ask me about what will happen after this, for my beloved, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), made a covenant with me that I should not inform anyone of it other than my progeny.'"

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Whoever recites [in this verse] تُکَلِّمُهُمْ [tukallimuhum, meaning "speaks to them"], which was [revealed] with tashdid, in the form of تَکْلِمُهُمْ [taklimuhum, meaning "wounds them"], Allah will wound and injure him.