سورة الزمر

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Mufaddal ibn Umar said: I heard Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) say concerning the words of Allah the Exalted: وَأَشْرَقَتِ الْأَرْضُ بِنُورِ رَبِّهَا [And the earth shall beam with the light of its Lord]: "The Lord of the earth means the Imam of the earth." I said: "When the Imam comes forth, what will happen?" He said: "Then people will have no need of the light of the sun and the light of the moon, and they will make do with the light of the Imam."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): My successors and executors, who after me are the proofs of the Lord among the people, are twelve in number; the first of them is my brother and the last of them is my son. They said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), who is your brother?" He said: "Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him)." They said: "Who is your son?" He said: "My son is al-Mahdi (may Allah hasten his noble relief), through whom Allah will fill the world with justice and equity after it has been filled with oppression and injustice. By the One who raised me in truth, if there remained of the world only a single day, Allah would lengthen that day until my son al-Mahdi (may Allah hasten his noble relief) comes forth in it, and Isa the Spirit of Allah (peace be upon him) will descend from the heaven and pray behind him, and the earth will shine with the light of Allah, and the sovereignty of al-Mahdi (may Allah hasten his noble relief) will extend over the east and the west of the world."

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): It was said to Imam Rida (peace be upon him): "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Who is the Qa'im from your Ahl al-Bayt?" He said: "The fourth of my descendants, who will be born of the mistress of the handmaidens [and one of the best women of the world]. Through him the Lord will purify the earth of every oppression and crime. The Qa'im is the one in whose very birth people will doubt, and before his appearance and rising he will remain in occultation for a period. When he emerges from behind the veil of occultation, the earth will shine with the divine light, and he will lay down the carpet of justice and equity among the people. The Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief) is the one for whom the earth is folded up and who has no shadow. He is the one at whose emergence a caller from the heaven will cry out and introduce him to the people of the world, and all people will hear the voice calling them to him, saying: 'Behold, the Proof of Allah has appeared at the Sacred House of Allah [and the Ka'bah], so follow him, for the truth is with him and the truth is in him [and in his being].'"

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): When the Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief) rises, the earth will be lit by the light of Allah and people will have no need of the light of the sun. In the days of his rule every man will have a thousand sons and not a single daughter will be born among them for him. He will build a mosque outside Kufa that has a thousand doors, and the houses of Kufa will join up to the river of Karbala and Hira, such that a man will mount a swift mule on Friday to reach the prayer, yet he will not reach it.

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ جِیءَ بِالنَّبِیِّینَ وَ الشُّهَداءِ [And the prophets and the witnesses shall be brought] — what is meant by "the witnesses" in this verse is the Imams (peace be upon them). The proof of this is the word of Allah in Surah al-Hajj, where He says: so that the Messenger may be a witness over you, and, O group of Imams (peace be upon them), you may be witnesses over the people (Hajj/78).

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ وُضِعَ الْکِتابُ وَ جِیءَ بِالنَّبِیِّینَ وَ الشُّهَداءِ [And the Book shall be laid down, and the prophets and the witnesses shall be brought] — what is meant by "the witnesses" in the verse is the Imams (peace be upon them). Like where He says: these are the ones who lied against their Lord — where what is meant by "the witnesses" is the Imams (peace be upon them). Behold, the curse of Allah be upon the wrongdoers! (Hud/18). The curse of Allah be upon those who wrong the right of the family of Muhammad (peace be upon them).

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): What Allah meant in this verse: شُهَداءَ عَلَی النَّاسِ [witnesses over the people] is us. The Noble Messenger (peace be upon him and his family) is a witness over us, and we are witnesses over the people and the proof of Allah on earth. We are the ones about whom Allah has said: just as [your qiblah is a middle qiblah], We have also made you a middle community [at the point of balance, between excess and deficiency] so that you may be witnesses over the people (Baqarah/143).

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Allah has purified us and made us infallible, and has made us witnesses over the creation and His proof on earth. He has placed us with the Quran and the Quran with us — we do not part from it and it does not part from us.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): O son of Mas'ud! If you wish, I will inform you about the conduct of Nuh (peace be upon him). Nuh (peace be upon him) lived nine hundred and fifty years and called people to Allah, and from the intensity of the pressure of the people upon Nuh (peace be upon him), his condition was such that when morning came he would say, 'I will not reach the evening,' and whenever evening came he would say, 'I will not be alive until morning.' His clothing was of hair and his food was barley bread. And if you wish, I will inform you about the conduct of Dawud (peace be upon him), who was the vicegerent of Allah on earth, whose clothing was of hair and whose food was barley bread. And if you wish, I will inform you about Sulayman (peace be upon him), who, despite having kingdom and sovereignty, ate barley bread and fed white flour to the people, and his clothing was of hair, and it was such that whenever the darkness of night overtook him, he would tie his hand tightly to his neck [a metaphor for intense worship] and pray until morning ... O son of Mas'ud! The reason for this conduct of the prophets (peace be upon them) is because of the matters which Allah has warned about in the Qur'an, and He said: 'And indeed, Hell is the promised place for them all! It has seven gates, and for each gate a specific group of them has been apportioned!' (Hijr/43-44). And He said: وَ جِیءَ بِالنَّبِیِّینَ وَ الشُّهَداءِ وَ قُضِیَ بَیْنَهُمْ بِالحَقِّ وَ هُمْ لا یُظْلَمُونَ [And the prophets and the witnesses shall be brought up, and judgement shall be given between them with justice, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly].

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): al-Shuhada [the witnesses] are those who testify in favour of the prophets and against the nations. [Testifying] that they (the prophets) delivered [the divine message] and the nations denied it.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Uthman ibn Affan asked the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): 'What is the interpretation of (the letters) Abjad?' The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: 'Learn the interpretation of Abjad, for in it lie all wonders. Woe to the scholar who does not know the interpretation of Abjad.' It was said: 'O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), what is the interpretation of Abjad?' He said: '... Qarashat [one of the groupings of the Abjad letters] means that on the Day of Resurrection He will overtake them and gather them and disperse them; and judgement will be given between them with justice and they will not be dealt with unjustly!'

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) was asked about the will (mashiyyah) of Allah and His intent (iradah). He said: "Allah has two wills (mashiyyat): a will of decisiveness (hatm) and a will of resolve (azm). Likewise, Allah has two intents (iradah): an intent of decisiveness and an intent of resolve. The intent of decisiveness does not err, and the intent of resolve may err [and is subject to change] and may be carried out correctly [sometimes it errs and sometimes it is correct]. And Allah has two wills: a will by which He wills and a will by which He does not will — sometimes He forbids while [in reality] willing, and He commands while not willing. Its meaning is that He willed [obedience] from the servants and desired it, and He did not will disobedience nor desire it. Everything is according to His qada (decree) and qadar (measure), and matters flow between these two (qada and qadar). Whenever qada errs, qadar does not err, and when qadar does not err, qada does not err; the creatures move from qada toward qadar, and whenever qadar errs, [the creatures] move from qadar toward qada. And qada in the Book of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, which has flowed on the tongue of His truthful messenger, is of four aspects. Among them is qada of creation (khalq), which is the saying of Allah the Exalted: فَقَضاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَماواتٍ فِی یَوْمَیْنِ [So He created them as seven heavens in two days] (Fussilat 12), the meaning of which is that He created them [the meaning of qadahunna is khalaqahunna]. The second is qada of judgement (hukm), which is the saying of Allah: وَ قُضِیَ بَیْنَهُمْ بِالْحَقِّ [And Judgement shall be given between them with justice], the meaning of which is that judgement was passed [the meaning of quḍiya is ḥukima]."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) escorted a funeral. When they placed the deceased in the grave, his relatives raised their voices in weeping. Ali (peace be upon him) said: "Why do you weep? By Allah, if you were to see what your deceased sees, you would forget weeping. By Allah, death will return to the people [and it will come to the living], then it will return a third time, and it will keep coming until it leaves not one of them." Then he rose and stood among the people and said: "... O servants of Allah, take lesson from the lessons, take heed from the signs and traces, be restrained by the warnings, and benefit from the exhortations. It is as though the claws of death have already seized your throats, tribulation has surrounded you, the house of dust (the grave) has enclosed you, and terrifying matters have overtaken you — the blowing of the trumpet, the falling into the graves, being driven to the gathering-place, and the standing for the reckoning at the resurrection. Creatures shall come forth in the resurrection barefoot and unclothed. With each person there is someone [an angel] who drives him on and bears witness against him. They shall be questioned about the little and much of their deeds, even to the measure of a thin thread and the dot on the date-stone. وَ أَشْرَقَتِ الْأَرْضُ بِنُورِ رَبِّها وَ وُضِعَ الْکِتابُ وَ جِیءَ بِالنَّبِیِّینَ وَ الشُّهَداءِ وَ قُضِیَ بَیْنَهُمْ بِالحَقِّ وَ هُمْ لا یُظْلَمُونَ [And the earth shall beam with the light of its Lord, and the Book shall be laid down, and the prophets and the witnesses shall be brought up, and Judgement shall be given between them with justice, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly]. On that day the lands shall shake and the servants shall be humbled."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Thuwayr ibn Abi Fakhita said: I heard Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) in the Mosque of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) say: My father narrated from his father, from Imam Ali (peace be upon him), that he said to the people: When the Day of Resurrection comes, Allah the Blessed and Exalted will raise people from their graves defenceless, without hair and without beards, all alike without any distinction, onto a single plain. Light drives them forward and darkness gathers them, until they come to a halt at the pass of the Gathering. From the intensity of the crush they climb upon one another and are pressed together, and they are prevented from proceeding. Their breathing becomes laboured, sweat pours from their bodies, their affairs become straitened, their groaning intensifies, and their voices rise. This is the first of the terrors of the Day of Resurrection. Then Allah the Almighty, the Blessed and Exalted, from above His Throne and in the shade of a multitude of angels, looks down upon them, and commands an angel from among the angels to call out among them: "O gathering of creation! Be silent and listen to the herald of Allah the Almighty." At that moment, all of them become entirely attentive; their voices fall silent, their eyes are lowered in humility, their bodies tremble, their hearts are seized with dread, and they raise their heads towards the call and turn their necks towards the summoner. At that time the disbeliever says: "Indeed this day is a hard day." Allah the Almighty, the Just Judge, overlooking them, says: "I am Allah, there is no god but Me, and I am the Just Judge who commits no injustice. Today I judge between you with My justice and equity, and today no one shall be wronged in My presence. Today I take from the strong for the weak his right, and I take the claim of the wronged from the wrongdoer by way of retribution in his good deeds and bad deeds, and I reward acts of forgiveness. Today no wrongdoer shall pass over this pass of the Gathering in My presence, and no one with whom another has a claim shall pass through, unless the claimant relinquishes his right — and I shall reward him for that and reckon it for him at the Reckoning. So, O creation! Come together and demand your dues from those who wronged you in the world, and I am your witness against them, and I suffice as a witness." Then the people of the Gathering meet one another and come together, and no claim and no right of anyone against another remains except that it is turned back to him. They remain there as long as Allah wills, and their state worsens, their sweat increases, their grief intensifies, and the sound of their painful groans rises. They wish they could give up the rights they are demanding from others so as to be freed from that pass. When Allah the Mighty and Majestic observes their hardship, a herald from Allah the Blessed and Exalted calls out, and all of them become entirely attentive: "O gathering of creation! Be silent and listen to the summoner from Allah the Blessed and Exalted. Allah the Blessed and Exalted says to you: I am the Most Generous Bestower. If you wish to forgive one another, then do so; otherwise I shall take your dues for you." Then, owing to their severe hardship, the narrowness of their path, and their throngs, the people of the Gathering rejoice at this news. Some, in hope of deliverance from that pass, give up their rights, while others remain and say: "O Lord, our claims are too great for us to relinquish them." At that moment a herald calls out from before the Throne: "Where is Ridwan, the keeper of the gardens of Paradise?" Then Allah the Mighty and Majestic commands him to bring forth from Paradise a palace of silver with its many buildings and servants for display. So Ridwan shows them a palace filled with servants and handmaidens, and a herald from Allah the Blessed and Exalted calls out: "O gathering of creation! Raise your heads and look at this palace." They raise their heads, and all of them long for that palace. Then a herald from Allah the Blessed and Exalted calls out: "O gathering of creation! This is for whoever pardons a believer." Thus all of them take to pardoning, except a small number. At that time Allah the Mighty and Majestic says: "Today no wrongdoer shall enter My Paradise, and today no wrongdoer, nor any Muslim if he has any claim against him, shall pass on to My Hellfire until I take that right from him at the Reckoning. So, O creation! Prepare yourselves for the Reckoning." Then the way is opened before them and they proceed towards the pass of the Gathering, pushing one another aside until they reach that station, while Allah the Almighty, the Blessed and Exalted, is established upon the Throne, the records of deeds are unrolled, the scales are set up, and the prophets (peace be upon them) and the witnesses are brought forth; and the witnesses, who are the Imams, are brought as witnesses, and each one bears witness against the people of the world of his own [time] that he established the command of Allah the Mighty and Majestic among them and called them to the way of Allah. When the discourse reached this point, a man from Quraysh rose and said: "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! If a believer has a claim against a disbeliever, what is taken from the disbeliever, given that he is in the Hellfire?" Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) said to him: "From the sins of that Muslim there is removed the measure of the right he had with the disbeliever, and that disbeliever, in addition to the punishment of his disbelief, bears the punishment for the sins of that Muslim to the measure of the right that Muslim had against him." The Qurayshi said: "And if the claim of one Muslim is against another Muslim, how is that right taken from him?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "From the good deeds of the wrongdoer, to the measure of the right of the wronged, is taken and given to him, and in this way the good deeds of the wronged are increased." The Qurayshi said: "And if that wrongdoer has no good deeds, then what?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "If the wrongdoer has no good deeds, the wronged has sins, so from the sins of the wronged there are removed and added to the sins of the wrongdoer."