سورة الزمر

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Every banner that is raised before the rising of al-Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief) — its bearer is a taghut (false deity) who is worshipped besides Allah the Mighty and Majestic.

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) — Hisham ibn al-Hakam said: Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) said to me: O Hisham! Indeed Allah has given glad tidings to the people of intellect and understanding in His Book, and He has said: فَبَشِّرْ عِبادِ الَّذِینَ یَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَیَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ أُولئِکَ الَّذِینَ هَداهُمُ اللهُ وَ أُولئِکَ هُمْ أُولُوا الْأَلْباب [So give glad tidings to My servants, those who listen to the word and follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Amr al-Zubayri narrated: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), "Can faith be at the level of perfection, and can it also decrease and increase?" He said, "Yes! It is so." I said, "How?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said, "Allah the Exalted made faith obligatory upon the limbs of the children of Adam (peace be upon him), and distributed faith among the parts of the body, and assigned to each a specific share. He allotted a portion of faith to each of the limbs, and every organ has a particular duty which another organ is not charged with. One of these limbs is the heart, by which he understands and perceives, distinguishes bad from good, and grasps its good and evil. The heart is the commander and ruler of his limbs and organs; whatever the heart commands, the parts of his body obey and do not disobey its order. Among those organs are his eyes, by which he looks at things, and he has ears by which he hears... Allah has also made certain things obligatory upon the ear, and that is that he should first restrain his ears from what the Lord has forbidden, and keep away from prohibited things, and not lend his ear to speech that provokes Allah's wrath [and refrain from frivolities and listening to useless talk]. Allah said in the Qur'an: 'And Allah has revealed [this ruling] to you in the Qur'an, that when you hear people denying and mocking the verses of Allah, do not sit with them until they engage in some other conversation!' (Nisa/140). But Allah has made an exception for the case where one errs due to forgetfulness, and said: 'And if Satan makes you forget, then never sit, after remembrance, with this wrongdoing people!' (An'am/68). And He said: فَبَشِّرْ عِبادِ الَّذِینَ یَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَیَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ أُولئِکَ الَّذِینَ هَداهُمُ اللهُ وَ أُولئِکَ هُمْ أُولُوا الْأَلْباب [So give glad tidings to My servants, those who listen to the word, then follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding]. This is what Allah has made obligatory upon the ear, that it must abstain from lending itself to what is not lawful for it to hear, and these are the works of the ear [and are considered the faith of the ear], and it is a part of faith."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Faith, disbelief, polytheism, and their increase and decrease are as follows: Faith in Allah, in terms of rank and degree, is the highest of deeds and holds the loftiest and most exalted station, [and there is no station more honourable than it,] and its portion is greater than all. It was said: "O Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him)! Is faith speech and action together, or is it speech alone?" He said: "Faith is testimony in the heart, confession by the tongue, and action by the limbs. Faith is entirely action. Faith is sometimes complete, sometimes half-complete, sometimes deficient, and sometimes in excess, such that this deficiency and increase are clearly seen. Allah the Exalted has assigned to each of the limbs of the human being a duty of faith which has no connection to any other limb. One of them is the heart of a person, by which he perceives matters, understands and comprehends, resolves problems, and makes decisions. The heart is the commander and chief of the body, and every deed that the other limbs perform is done by the command of the heart, and command and prohibition in the body are carried out through the heart, and the limbs are obedient to the heart and carry out its orders. One of those limbs is the tongue, with which he speaks, and another is the ear, with which he hears... The obligations of the ear are to listen to the remembrance of Allah, to listen attentively to the recitation of the verses of the Quran, and to refrain from listening to what angers Allah, as Allah says: ... فَبَشِّرْ عِبادِ الَّذِینَ یَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَیَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ أُولئِکَ الَّذِینَ هَداهُمُ اللهُ وَ أُولئِکَ هُمْ أُولُوا الْأَلْباب [So give good news to My servants, those who listen to the word and follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding]."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): The Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him), in his will to his son Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, said: "My dear son, do not say what you do not know, and moreover do not say everything that you do know either, for Allah the Exalted has ordained upon all of your limbs duties and obligations by which He will argue against you on the Day of Resurrection and question you concerning them. He has reminded them, admonished them, warned them, disciplined them, and has not left them in vain... Allah has assigned each of your limbs to perform a specific task and has emphasised it in the verses of the Quran. Upon the ear He has made it obligatory that it not listen to what is disobedience to Allah, and He has said: فَبَشِّرْ عِبادِ الَّذِینَ یَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَیَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ أُولئِکَ الَّذِینَ هَداهُمُ اللهُ وَ أُولئِکَ هُمْ أُولُوا الْأَلْباب [So give good news to My servants, those who listen to the word and follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding]... This is what Allah has made obligatory upon the ear, and this act is among the duties and deeds of the ear."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: الَّذینَ یَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَیَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ أُولئِکَ الَّذینَ هَداهُمُ اللهُ وَ أُولئِکَ هُمْ أُولُوا الْأَلْباب [Those who listen to the word, then follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding]. He said: "They are those who submit to the command of the family of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), and when they hear their words (the words of the Imams (peace be upon them)), they neither add anything to them nor subtract anything from them, and they narrate them just as they heard them."

Imam al-Hadi (peace be upon him): Among the answers that Imam Askari (peace be upon him) gave in his letter to the people of Ahwaz at the time when they had asked him about jabr (compulsion) and tafwid (delegation) [was that he said] ... "If you say: 'What is the proof regarding this word of Allah the Exalted: But Allah misguides whomever He wills [and deems deserving], and guides whomever He wills [and deems worthy]! [He grants the success of guidance to one group, and withdraws it from another]! (Nahl/93), and the verses similar to it?' We say: 'According to the majaz (non-literal meaning) of this verse, it requires two meanings, one of which reports that Allah is able to guide whomever He wills and to misguide whomever He wills, but if He were to compel them to one of the two [guidance or misguidance], then, based on what we have explained, there would be neither reward for them nor punishment upon them. And the other meaning [the second meaning] is that guidance from Allah is the same as tarif (making the path known), like this word of Allah the Exalted: But as for Thamud, We guided them, but they preferred blindness over guidance. (Fussilat/17). And there is no mutashabih (ambiguous) verse in the Quran that is a proof for the ruling of the verses whose commands one has been ordered to carry out and to follow (a mutashabih verse cannot be a proof for the ruling of a muhkam verse; rather, it is the opposite — that is, the muhkam verse is the clarifier of the mutashabih verse), and this is the very word of Allah: He is the One who sent down this [heavenly] Book upon you, part of which is muhkam [clear and explicit] verses that are the foundation of this Book [and any complexity in the other verses is removed by referring to these]. And part of it is mutashabih [verses in which, due to the loftiness of the subject and other aspects, various possibilities arise at first glance, but with attention to the muhkam verses, their interpretation becomes clear]. But those in whose hearts is deviation follow the mutashabihat, in order to stir up fitnah [and to misguide the people], and they seek an [incorrect] interpretation for it, while none knows its interpretation except Allah and those firmly rooted in knowledge. [Those who, in the light of divine knowledge, seek to understand and grasp the secrets of all the verses of the Quran] say: "We believe in all of it, all of it is from our Lord." And none takes heed except the possessors of intellect [and none grasps this truth]. (Al-Imran/7). And He said: فَبَشِّرْ عِبادِ الَّذِینَ یَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَیَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ أُولئِکَ الَّذِینَ هَداهُمُ اللهُ وَ أُولئِکَ هُمْ أُولُوا الْأَلْبابِ [So give glad tidings to My servants, those who listen to the word, then follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding].

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) and Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): You (the Shia) are the ones who have abstained from the worship of taghut; whoever obeys a tyrant has worshipped him.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): O Allah! You gave me glad tidings through the tongue of Your Messenger [by way of the Quran] and said: And give glad tidings to those who have believed that for them is a footing of truth (and certain rewards) with their Lord (Yunus/2). O Allah! I believe in You and in all of Your prophets, so do not, after knowing them, place me in a station where I would be disgraced before all creation. Rather, muster me with Your prophets and take me from this world while I am affirming and attesting to them, for they are Your servants and You, by Your generosity, singled them out and commanded me to follow them.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the verse: الَّذِینَ یَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَیَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ [Those who listen to the word, then follow the best of it]. The Imam said: "This refers to a man who hears a hadith [from us] and then relates it exactly as he heard it, without adding to it or subtracting from it."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): [It is reported in Tuhaf al-Uqul:] One day a group of the Shia came before Imam Baqir (peace be upon him). The Imam gave them counsel and admonition and made them fear Allah; but they were preoccupied with themselves and took the Imam's (peace be upon him) words lightly. Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) grew angry. For a while he lowered his head, then he raised it and said: "If a portion of my words were to have its real effect on any one of you, he would die of grief. O statues without souls, O flies without a lamp, you are like carved planks propped against a wall, and like carved idols. Do you not extract gold from stone? Do you not take light from the shining radiance? Do you not bring out pearls from the sea? Take the good word from whoever says it, even if he himself does not act upon it, for Allah says in this verse: الَّذِینَ یَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَیَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ أُولئِکَ الَّذِینَ هَداهُمُ اللهُ [Those who listen to the word, then follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided]."