سورة القصص

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The Imams in the Book of Allah the Mighty and Majestic are of two groups. Allah the Exalted says: "And We made them Imams who guide by Our command" (Anbiya/73), not by the command of people. These give precedence to the command and will of Allah and His ruling over the desires of people. And again He says: وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ أَئِمَّةً یَدْعُونَ إِلَی النَّارِ [And We made them Imams who call to the fire]. These give precedence to the desires of people over the will and ruling of Allah, and act according to the desires of their own selves contrary to what is in the Book of Allah.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): In this world there are always two imams and leaders: the righteous and the wicked. The righteous imam is the one about whom this verse says: "And We made them leaders who call to Our command" — not to the command of the people (Anbiya/73); but this verse refers to the wicked leader: وَ جَعَلْناهُمْ أَئِمَّةً یَدْعُونَ إِلَی النَّارِ وَ یَوْمَ الْقِیامَةِ لا یُنْصَرُونَ [And We made them Imams who call to the fire, and on the day of resurrection they shall not be assisted].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The affairs of the people and society are set right only by the hand of a just imam, and a wicked imam corrupts them and drags them to ruin and to the fire. Allah says in this verse: "And We made them leaders who call to Our command" — not to the command of the people (Anbiya/73); and He has said: وَ جَعَلْناهُمْ أَئِمَّةً یَدْعُونَ إِلَی النَّارِ [And We made them Imams who call to the fire].

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): The righteous leaders of Quraysh are the imams of their righteous ones, and the oppressive leaders of Quraysh are the leaders of their wicked ones. Then he recited this verse: وَ جَعَلْناهُمْ أَئِمَّةً یَدْعُونَ إِلَی النَّارِ وَ یَوْمَ الْقِیامَةِ لا یُنْصَرُونَ [And We made them Imams who call to the fire, and on the day of resurrection they shall not be assisted].

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): When the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) reached the land of Ghadir Khumm, which is three miles before the land of Juhfa, five hours of the day had passed when Jibril came with a guarantee of protection safeguarding the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) from the harm of the people and warding people off from harming him, and said: "O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Allah the Mighty and Majestic sends you His greetings and says: O Messenger! Convey fully [to the people] what has been sent down to you from your Lord [concerning Ali (peace be upon him)]!... (Ma'idah/67)." When Jibril (peace be upon him) guaranteed to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) that he would remain safe from the plotting of the people, the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) ordered a call to be made that all should gather, and whoever had gone ahead should return and whoever had lagged behind should catch up. He turned a little from the road to the right and drew near to the mosque of Ghadir — for Jibril (peace be upon him) had commanded him thus from Allah [to go there]. There were several trees in that place, and the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) ordered that beneath those trees something resembling a pulpit be built with stones, so that he might overlook the people. When all had gathered there and stood, the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) stood upon those stones, and after praising and glorifying Allah he said: "...O people! After me it will happen that a group will become leaders who are أَئِمَّةٌ یَدْعُونَ إِلَی النَّارِ وَ یَوْمَ الْقِیامَةِ لا یُنْصَرُونَ [Imams who call to the fire, and on the day of resurrection they shall not be assisted]. O people! After me there will soon be leaders and imams who will call the people to the fire, and on the day of resurrection they shall not be assisted. O people! Allah and I are free of them."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Isma'il ibn Jabir said, I heard Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) say: "Allah the Blessed and Exalted sent Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and sealed the chain of prophets with him — there is no prophet after him. And He sent down a Book (the Qur'an) upon him and sealed the [heavenly] Books with it — there is no Book after it [nor shall one come]. In it He made the lawful clear and the unlawful clear. So its lawful is lawful until the Day of Resurrection and its unlawful is unlawful until the Day of Resurrection. Your religion, and the reports of those before you and those after you, are in it... And Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) asked his followers about reports like these [reports], and he said: 'Allah the Blessed and Exalted sent down the Qur'an in seven parts... Among those seven parts is one whose occurrence was at the time of the Qur'an's revelation, and another whose occurrence was before the revelation of the Qur'an, and another whose occurrence was after the revelation of the Qur'an... As for the part whose occurrence was together with its revelation, it is like this word of Allah the Exalted: يا أَیُّهَا الَّذِینَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللهَ وَ کُونُوا مَعَ الصَّادِقِینَ [O you who believe, guard against disobedience to Allah and be with the truthful] (al-Tawbah/119). Whoever heard this verse from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) needed to recognise these truthful ones with whom they were commanded to be, and it was obligatory upon the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) to guide the people to these truthful ones, and once the truthful were known it was obligatory upon the ummah to carry out this command and be with the truthful. And another example is this word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: لا تَتَوَلَّوْا قَوْماً غَضِبَ اللهُ عَلَیْهِمْ قَدْ یَئِسُوا مِنَ الْآخِرَةِ کَما یَئِسَ الْکُفَّارُ مِنْ أَصْحابِ الْقُبُورِ [Do not take as friends a people upon whom Allah has become angry; they have despaired of the Hereafter just as the disbelievers have despaired of those buried in graves] (al-Mumtahanah/13). It was obligatory upon the ummah to recognise those about whom these verses were revealed — who they are, and who those are upon whom the wrath of Allah has fallen — they had to know them all by name so that they might dissociate from them and not befriend them. Allah the Exalted said: جَعَلْناهُمْ أَئِمَّةً یَدْعُونَ إِلَی النَّارِ وَ یَوْمَ الْقِیامَةِ لا یُنْصَرُونَ [And We made them Imams who call to the Fire, and on the Day of Resurrection they shall not be helped]. And the like of these commands is abundant in the Book of Allah the Exalted, commanding obedience to the chosen ones and their praise, and dissociation from those who oppose them (the chosen ones). The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) carried out what was obligatory upon him and did not depart from this world until he made clear to the ummah the state of the awliya, who are the ulu al-amr, and explicitly named them, and took a pledge from the ummah to listen to them and obey them, and he also disclosed to them (the ummah) by name those whose wilayah is forbidden. And how few were those who obeyed the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) in this matter, and how many were those who disobeyed in this matter and inclined toward the world and its adornment — woe unto them!'"

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him)- Ismail ibn Jabir said: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) wrote this letter to his companions and instructed them to study it continuously, to teach it to one another, and to act upon it. The companions used to place the letter in the prayer room of their houses; whenever they finished the prayer, they would study it ... Ismail ibn Makhlad al-Sarraj said: This is a letter from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) to his companions, and it reads: "... Fear [disobeying] Allah, O saved and successful group! If Allah wishes to complete for you what He has bestowed upon you, the matter will not be completed until you are afflicted with the trials of the righteous who came before you, and until He tests you in your lives and your wealth, and until you taste much harm from the enemies of Allah and bear those hardships, to the point that they hate you and count you as lowly and humiliated. They will wrong you, but you must bear it for the pleasure of Allah and to attain the felicity of the hereafter, and swallow your intense anger at their harm and abuse; and though the truth is with you, they will call you liars and become your enemies over this belief. Accept all of this with patience and forbearance. The proof of all of this is present in the Noble Qur'an that was revealed upon the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). You have heard that Allah says to His Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): فَاصْبِرْ کَما صَبَرَ أُولُوا الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ وَ لا تَسْتَعْجِلْ لَهُمْ [So be patient, as the Messengers of firm resolve were patient, and do not seek to hasten [the punishment] for them] (al-Ahqaf/35). Again He says: وَ إِنْ یُکَذِّبُوکَ فَقَدْ کُذِّبَتْ رُسُلٌ مِنْ قَبْلِکَ فَصَبَرُوا عَلی ما کُذِّبُوا وَ أُوذُوا [And if they call you a liar, indeed Messengers before you were also called liars, and they endured with patience against the denials and [in this path] they were harmed] (al-An'am/34). The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and all the Messengers before him were called liars and, along with that, were subjected to harm and abuse. If you rejoice at Allah's command and His work concerning them at the beginning of creation — by the knowledge and awareness He had of them, so that He created them as disbelievers — and are glad that Allah has identified them in the Qur'an with this verse: وَ جَعَلْناهُمْ أَئِمَّةً یَدْعُونَ إِلَی النَّار [And We made them Imams who call to the fire], then reflect carefully upon this response and recognise it well, lest you fall into ignorance. For those who act ignorantly regarding these instructions — whether the commands of Allah or His prohibitions — have abandoned the religion of Allah and committed sin, and have made themselves deserving of Allah's wrath, and He will cast them upon their faces into the fire."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): O Kumayl! Do not be deceived by a group who prolong their prayers, constantly fast, and give charity and do good [do not be taken in by their outward appearance]! Certainly they will be made to stand on the Day of Resurrection and will have to answer. O Kumayl! By Allah, I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) say: 'Whenever Satan draws people towards fornication, drinking wine, usury, and the like of these sins and indecencies, he makes them fond of intense worship, humility, bowing and prostration, and then he leads them to the friendship of leaders who call to the fire and on the Day of Resurrection are not helped. O Kumayl! The merit is not that you pray, fast, and give charity; rather the merit and virtue is that you pray with a pure heart and perform a deed that Allah is pleased with [not one that pleases people], and that you have equal humility in every state [whether in secret or in the open]. O Kumayl! Look at the state in which you pray, and for what you pray; for if your prayer is not according to these conditions and this form, it will not be accepted.'

Imam Husayn (peace be upon him): In the book of history it is narrated from al-Riyashi: ... Yazid ibn Muhajir al-Kinani, who was among the companions of Imam Husayn (peace be upon him), looked at Ibn Ziyad's envoy — who had brought his order to begin the fighting and to be severe against Husayn (peace be upon him) — and recognized him, and said to him: 'May your mother weep over you in mourning! What is this letter you have brought?!' He said: 'I obeyed my Imam [meaning Yazid and Ibn Ziyad] and fulfilled my allegiance.' Ibn al-Muhajir said to him: 'Rather, you disobeyed Allah and obeyed Yazid for your own destruction! You have brought upon yourself shame and the fire! Your imam is a wretched imam, as Allah the All-Knowing says: وَ جَعَلْناهُمْ أَئِمَّةً یَدْعُونَ إِلَی النَّارِ وَ یَوْمَ الْقِیامَةِ لا یُنْصَرُونَ [And We made them Imams who call to the fire, and on the Day of Resurrection they shall not be helped]; your imam is of this sort of imams.'