سورة فاطر

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Salih ibn Hamza said: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: Among the acts of worship is fear and dread of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, as He said: إِنَّما یَخْشَی اللهَ مِنْ عِبادِهِ الْعُلَماءُ [Only those of His servants who have knowledge fear Allah], and He also said: فَلا تَخْشَوُا النَّاسَ وَ اخْشَوْنِ [So do not fear the people, but fear Me], and He said: وَ مَنْ یَتَّقِ اللهَ یَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجاً [And whoever fears Allah, He will make for him a way out]. And the Imam said: 'Love of status, seeking greatness and seeking fame do not find a way into the heart of a fearful and dreading person.'

Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him): Abu Hamza al-Thumali said: I have not heard of anyone more ascetic than Ali ibn al-Husayn (peace be upon him), except for what has reached us about Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him). Then he said: 'When Ali ibn al-Husayn (peace be upon him) spoke about asceticism and gave counsel, whoever was present would weep.' Abu Hamza said, in a note I read some sayings from Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) about asceticism, I wrote them down and presented them to him, and the Imam corrected them. In that letter it was written: Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim ... knowledge of Allah and acting on His commands are two intimate friends. So whoever knows Allah fears Him, and this very fear compels him to action. The masters of knowledge and the scholars and their followers are those who have known Allah and perform their deeds for Him, and their desire and inclination is toward Him. And Allah has said: إِنَّما یَخْشَی اللهَ مِنْ عِبادِهِ الْعُلَماءُ [Only those of His servants who have knowledge fear Allah].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Harith ibn Mughira al-Nasri narrated from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) that regarding the verse: إِنَّمَا یَخْشَی اللهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَاء [Only those of His servants who have knowledge fear Allah] he said: 'What Allah means by the scholars are those whose deeds confirm their words, and one whose deeds do not confirm his words is not a scholar.'

Ibn Abbas: إِنَّما یَخْشَی اللهَ مِنْ عِبادِهِ الْعُلَماءُ [Only those of His servants who have knowledge fear Allah]; this refers to Ali (peace be upon him), who was learned about Allah and feared Him, was watchful of his Lord, performed the obligatory duties, waged jihad in the way of Allah, followed all His commands, and sought the pleasure of Allah and of the Messenger.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Fear of Allah is the inheritance of knowledge, and knowledge is the ray of gnosis and the heart of faith. Whoever is deprived of the fear of Allah is not a scholar, even if he can split hairs in scholarly matters. Allah the Mighty and Majestic has said: إِنَّما یَخْشَی اللهَ مِنْ عِبادِهِ الْعُلَماءُ [Only those of His servants who have knowledge fear Allah] — indeed, from among Allah's servants it is the scholars who fear Him.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Some acts of worship are performed out of intense fear of Allah. Allah says: إِنَّما یَخْشَی اللهَ مِنْ عِبادِهِ الْعُلَماءُ [Only those of His servants who have knowledge fear Allah].

Ibn Abbas: The scholars of Allah are those who fear Him, the Mighty and Majestic.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Seeking knowledge and virtue is better than worship, and Allah says: إِنَّما یَخْشَی اللهَ مِنْ عِبادِهِ الْعُلَماءُ [Only those of His servants who have knowledge fear Allah]. Through knowledge they have become worthy, with Allah, of the name siddiq (truthful); Allah has named them truthful ones and has made obedience to them obligatory upon all His servants.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): The world is [only] an hour — it lies in sitting in seclusion and reflection. Seclusion brings contentment and makes one give up the excesses of livelihood. Freedom [from occupation] causes a person to sink into thought, and freedom is counted as the pillar of zuhd (asceticism), and the whole of zuhd is taqwa (Allah-consciousness). The gate of taqwa is khashyah (awe), and khashyah brings about the magnification of Allah. Ikhlas (sincerity) in obedience is [obedience] to the commands of Allah, together with fear, caution, and holding back from what is forbidden, and its proof is knowledge. Allah has said: إِنَّما یَخْشَی اللهَ مِنْ عِبادِهِ الْعُلَماءُ [Only those of His servants who possess knowledge fear Allah].

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Seeking knowledge and virtue is better than worship, and Allah says: إِنَّما یَخْشَی اللهَ مِنْ عِبادِهِ الْعُلَماءُ [Only those of His servants who possess knowledge fear Allah] — those who do not disobey Allah in whatever He commands them and do what they are commanded (Tahrim/6).

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) that a man asked him: "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Inform me about the Family of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) — who are they?" He said: "Allah has informed [us] and said: [they are those] who were entrusted with the safeguarding of the Book of Allah and were witnesses over it (Ma'idah/44). And He did not say: with what they are ignorant of. Then He said: Are those who know equal to those who do not know? Only those of understanding take heed (Zumar/9). And He said: Rather, it is clear verses in the breasts of those who have been given knowledge (Ankabut/49). And He said: And none grasp them except those who know (Ankabut/43). إِنَّما یَخْشَی اللهَ مِنْ عِبادِهِ الْعُلَماءُ [Only those of His servants who possess knowledge fear Allah]. And He said: Is He who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed, or he who does not guide unless he himself is guided? What is wrong with you? How do you judge? (Yunus/35). So this is proof that the Imams (peace be upon them) are scholars whom people need, while they themselves have no need of anyone among the people in matters of the lawful and the forbidden."

Lady Zahra (peace be upon her): Lady Fatima (peace be upon her) said: I heard my father saying: The scholars who follow us will be raised... until upon one of these scholars will be draped a thousand thousand robes of light. Then the caller of Allah will call out: O you who take charge of the orphans of the Family of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), convey the sciences of the Family of Muhammad to them, and revive them after their being cut off from their fathers who are their leaders.

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Imam Rida (peace be upon him) said: On the Day of Resurrection it will be said to the worshipper: "Well done! What a fine man you were! You saved yourself and had nothing to do with others. So enter Paradise." ... And to the faqih (jurist) it will be said: O guardian of the orphans of the Family of Muhammad, lover of the weak among their followers and their partisans, stand until you intercede for everyone who took [knowledge] from you or learned from you. So he stands, and he brings into Paradise group after group — up to ten groups of a hundred thousand — and they are those who learned his knowledge and were his pupils until the Day of Resurrection. Now look at the difference between the two stations [of the worshipper and the jurist]!

Imam Hasan (peace be upon him): The scholars of our Shia, who take charge of the weak among our lovers and the people of our wilayah, will come on the Day of Resurrection with lights blazing from their crowns. Upon the head of each one of them is a crown from which those lights spread throughout the stations of the Resurrection and its dwellings for a distance of three hundred thousand years' journey; the rays of their crowns spread through all of it. Then there does not remain there a single orphan whom they have taken under their care and whom they have brought out of the darkness of ignorance and the bewilderment of wandering, without his clinging to a branch of their lights; so they are raised up until they are brought level with the walls of the chambers of paradise, and then they are set down in the dwellings prepared for them in the neighbourhood of their teachers and instructors, and in the presence of their Imams to whom they used to summon [people]. And there does not remain a single Nasibi (hostile enemy of the Ahl al-Bayt) from among the Nawasib upon whom the ray of those crowns falls, without his two eyes being blinded, his two ears being deafened, and his tongue being made mute, and a torment more severe than the flames of fire descending upon him; and they are seized and handed over to the keepers of the fire, who then cast those Nawasib into the midst of the fire of hell.

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): The best provision that a knowledgeable person from among our lovers and devotees can send ahead for his day of poverty, need, humiliation and destitution is that he should rescue in this world a needy one of our lovers from the hand of a Nasibi who is an enemy of Allah and His Messenger. He will rise from his grave with the angels drawn up in ranks from the edge of his grave to the site of his place in the gardens of Allah, and they will carry him upon their wings and say: Blessedness be to you, blessedness be to you, O you who repelled the dogs from the righteous, O you who were zealous for the noble Imams!

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): When the Day of Resurrection arrives, Allah the Mighty and Majestic will gather all people upon a single ground and the scales will be set up. At that time, the blood of the martyrs and the ink of the scholars will be weighed together, but the ink of the scholars will be heavier than it.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Abu Darda narrates: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) saying: Allah the Mighty and Majestic will gather the scholars on the Day of Resurrection and say to them: I did not place My light and My wisdom in your breasts except that I intended for you the good of this world and the hereafter; go, I have forgiven you for whatever came from you.