سورة الزمر

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): آناءَ اللَّیْلِ means the hours of it (the night). ساجِداً وَ قائِماً means at times he prostrates in prayer and at times he stands. یَحْذَرُ الْآخِرَةَ means [he fears] its punishment. وَ یَرْجُوا رَحْمَةَ رَبِّهِ means he wavers between fear and hope.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Zurara said: I asked Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) about: آنَاءَ اللَّیْلِ سَاجِدًا وَ قَائِمًا یَحْذَرُ الْآخِرَةَ وَ یَرْجُو رَحْمَةَ رَبِّهِ [during hours of the night, prostrating himself and standing, taking care of the hereafter and hoping for the mercy of his Lord]. He said: 'It means the night prayer.'

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Ammar Sabati said: ... Then Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "Allah the Mighty and Majestic [after the previous verses] directed the speech toward Ali (peace be upon him) and spoke of the station and virtue he has before Allah as follows: أَمَّنْ هُوَ قانِتٌ آناءَ اللَّیْلِ ساجِداً وَ قائِماً یَحْذَرُ الْآخِرَةَ وَ یَرْجُوا رَحْمَةَ رَبِّهِ قُلْ هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ [What! he who is obedient during hours of the night, prostrating himself and standing, takes care of the hereafter and hopes for the mercy of his Lord! Say: Are those who know...] Are those who know that Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) is the Messenger and envoy of Allah equal to those who do not know that he is the Messenger of Allah and think he is a lying sorcerer? الَّذِینَ لا یَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّما یَتَذَکَّرُ أُولُوا الْأَلْبابِ [and those who do not know? Only the men of understanding are mindful]. O Ammar! This is the interpretation of this verse."

Imam Askari (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Imam Hasan Askari (peace be upon him): "Imam Hadi (peace be upon him) was informed that one of the Shia jurists among his followers had debated with one of the Nasibis (enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them)) and, by his proof, had silenced him and exposed his disgrace. So that Shia jurist came in upon Imam Hadi (peace be upon him), and at the head of his gathering there was a great throne, and the Imam (peace be upon him) was seated outside the throne, and before him were seated a number of the Alawiyyun and Banu Hashim. The Imam (peace be upon him) kept raising that jurist up until he seated him at the head of the gathering upon that throne, and he himself went and sat beside him. This weighed heavily upon the notables present in the session. The Alawiyyun did not rebuke the Imam (peace be upon him), and they regarded the Imam (peace be upon him) as too great to be rebuked; but the elder of the Hashimites said to him: 'O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Do you thus prefer such a commoner over the masters of Banu Hashim, that is, the children of Abu Talib (and the children of Abbas [the uncles of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family)])?' The Imam (peace be upon him) said: '... Did not Allah say: هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ وَ الَّذِینَ لا یَعْلَمُونَ [Are those who know and those who do not know alike]? So how do you deny me for elevating him, when he is one whom Allah has elevated?! This man's act of silencing that Nasibi through the proofs which Allah taught him is more excellent for him than every honour of lineage and family.'"

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): The word of Allah the Exalted: أَمَّنْ هُوَ قَانِتٌ آنَاءَ اللَّیْلِ سَاجِدًا وَ قَائِمًا یَحْذَرُ الْآخِرَةَ [What! he who is obedient during hours of the night, prostrating himself and standing, takes care of the hereafter] was revealed concerning the Commander of the Faithful Ali (peace be upon him). Then Allah the Exalted said: "and hopes for the mercy of his Lord?! O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Say: 'Are those who know equal to those who do not know?! Only the men of understanding are mindful.'" [And ulu al-albab] means those who possess intellect.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Qays narrated from Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) that he said: A man from the Tabi'un [the children of the Muhajirun and Ansar and the generation that came after them] narrates that he heard Anas ibn Malik saying: "This verse in which Allah says: أَمَّنْ هُوَ قانِتٌ آناءَ اللَّیْلِ ساجِداً وَ قائِماً یَحْذَرُ الْآخِرَةَ وَ یَرْجُوا رَحْمَةَ رَبِّهِ [What! he who is obedient during hours of the night, prostrating himself and standing, takes care of the hereafter and hopes for the mercy of his Lord!] was revealed concerning Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him)." That man says: "I went to the presence of Ali (peace be upon him) to see the manner of his worship, and I take Allah as witness that I reached him at the time of the Maghrib prayer and found him performing the Maghrib prayer with his companions, and when the prayer ended he continued reciting the ta'qib (the supplications after prayer) until he stood up for the Isha prayer, and after that he went to his house. I went with him and saw that he spent the whole night praying and reciting the Quran, until the dawn broke; he renewed his wudu (ablution) and came to the mosque and performed the morning prayer with the people, and until the rising of the sun he engaged in the ta'qib. Then people came to him for their affairs and issues, and when they stood up, two others sat down, and this continued until the adhan (call to prayer) for Zuhr was given. He rose, renewed his wudu, and performed the Zuhr prayer with his companions, and until the time of the Asr prayer he also engaged in the ta'qib, and performed the Asr prayer with them, and again the people came to his presence for their issues, and when two rose, two others sat down, and he continued judging and giving rulings among them until the sun set; I came out and said: 'By Allah I swear that this verse was revealed concerning him.'"

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): [In Irshad al-Qulub it is reported:] One night Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) was going from the mosque of Kufa toward his house, when a quarter of the night had passed. Kumayl ibn Ziyad, who was among the great and virtuous of the Shia and among the friends of that Imam, was with him. On the way they reached the door of a man who at that time of night was reciting the Qur'an with a sorrowful and pleasing voice, reciting the words of Allah the Exalted that are in the Qur'an: أَمَّنْ هُوَ قانِتٌ آناءَ اللَّیْلِ ساجِداً وَ قائِماً یَحْذَرُ الْآخِرَةَ وَ یَرْجُوا رَحْمَةَ رَبِّهِ قُلْ هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ وَ الَّذِینَ لا یَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّما یَتَذَکَّرُ أُولُوا الْأَلْبابِ [What! he who is obedient during hours of the night, prostrating himself and standing, takes care of the hereafter and hopes for the mercy of his Lord! Say: Are those who know and those who do not know alike? Only the men of understanding are mindful]. In his heart, Kumayl praised him and was pleased with his good state, but did not utter anything. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) turned to Kumayl and said: 'O Kumayl! Do not be impressed with this man's droning voice! For this man is of the people of the Fire, and soon I will inform you about his state.' Kumayl became bewildered and perplexed that Ali (peace be upon him) was aware of his inner thoughts and testified that this man, despite being engaged in worship and being in this good state [of intimate whispering] at this time of night, would be of the people of the Fire. Kumayl fell silent, but he remained in a state of astonishment, contemplation and thought about this affair. A long stretch of time passed from that incident until the state of the Khawarij changed and they fell into that condition [and became hypocrites and adversaries], and Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) fought them. This was while that group were memorizers of the Qur'an that had been revealed to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). On the battlefield, Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) turned to Kumayl, who was standing before Ali (peace be upon him) with his sword in his hand, and blood was dripping from that sword, and the severed heads of those disbelievers and transgressors had filled the ground. Ali (peace be upon him) placed the tip of his sword upon one of those heads and said: 'O Kumayl! أَمَّنْ هُوَ قانِتٌ آناءَ اللَّیْلِ ساجِداً وَ قائِماً [What! he who is obedient during hours of the night, prostrating himself and standing]; O Kumayl! This head is that very person who was reciting this verse on that night with a sorrowful voice, and you had been pleased with his state.' Kumayl kissed the feet of Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) and sought forgiveness from Allah, and sent blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad (peace be upon them) and upon Ali (peace be upon him), whose worth had remained unknown and hidden in society.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): أَمَّنْ هُوَ قانِتٌ آناءَ اللَّیْلِ ساجِداً وَ قائِماً [What! he who is obedient during hours of the night, prostrating himself and standing] means: this person whom we have mentioned is better than one who is constantly in obedience.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): قُلْ هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِینَ لَا یَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّمَا یَتَذَکَّرُ أُوْلُوا الْأَلْبَابِ [Say: Are those who know and those who do not know alike? Only the men of understanding are mindful] — those who know are we, and those who do not know are our enemies, and our Shia are the men of understanding.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِینَ لَا یَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّمَا یَتَذَکَّرُ أُوْلُوا الْأَلْبَابِ [Are those who know and those who do not know alike? Only the men of understanding are mindful] — we are those who know, and our enemies are those who do not know, and our Shia are the men of understanding.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ وَ الَّذِینَ لا یَعْلَمُونَ [Are those who know and those who do not know alike?] We, the Ahl al-Bayt, and our Shia are the people of understanding, and those who do not know are our enemies. Our Shia are the rightly guided ones.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ [Are those who know alike…]; what is meant by الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ [those who know] is Ali (peace be upon him) and his Ahl al-Bayt from Banu Hashim, and what is meant by وَ الَّذِینَ لا یَعْلَمُونَ [and those who do not know] is Banu Umayyah, and أُولُوا الْأَلْبابِ [the men of understanding] are the Shia of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them).

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Hisham ibn al-Hakam said: Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) said to me: O Hisham! Allah, Blessed and Exalted, has given glad tidings to the people of intellect and understanding in His Book … O Hisham! Then Allah mentioned the men of understanding with the finest mention and adorned them with the highest attributes and said: أَمَّنْ هُوَ قانِتٌ آناءَ اللَّیْلِ ساجِداً وَ قائِماً یَحْذَرُ الْآخِرَةَ وَ یَرْجُوا رَحْمَةَ رَبِّهِ قُلْ هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ وَ الَّذِینَ لا یَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّما یَتَذَکَّرُ أُولُوا الْأَلْباب [What! he who is obedient during hours of the night, prostrating himself and standing, takes care of the hereafter and hopes for the mercy of his Lord! Say: Are those who know and those who do not know alike? Only the men of understanding are mindful].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Sulayman narrated from his father: I was with Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) when Abu Basir entered upon him panting, and when he took his seat, the Imam (peace be upon him) said to him: 'O Abu Muhammad! Why are you breathing so heavily?' He replied: 'May I be your ransom, O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! I have grown old, my bones have weakened, and my death is near, and I do not know what state I shall be in in the hereafter.' The Imam (peace be upon him) said: 'O Abu Muhammad! Do you too say such words?' He said: 'May I be your ransom! Why should I not say this?' His Holiness (peace be upon him) said: 'O Abu Muhammad! Do you not know that Allah the Exalted honours the young among you Shia and is shy before the elderly among you?' He said: 'May I be your ransom! How does He honour the young and feel shy before the elderly?' He said: 'He honours the young by not punishing them, and He is shy to bring the elderly to account.' Abu Basir said: I asked: 'May I be your ransom! Is this honour specific to us, or to all the people of monotheism?' He said: 'No, by Allah, it is exclusive to you, not to all people.' I said: 'May I be your ransom! Tell me more.' He said: 'O Abu Muhammad! Allah has mentioned us and our Shia and our enemies in one verse of the Quran and said: هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ وَ الَّذِینَ لا یَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّما یَتَذَکَّرُ أُولُوا الْأَلْبابِ [Are those who know and those who do not know alike? Only the men of understanding are mindful]; what is meant by the people of knowledge is us, and what is meant by the ignorant is our enemies, and our Shia are the men of understanding; are you [made] happy [by this news]?'

Imam al-Hadi (peace be upon him): Imam al-Askari (peace be upon him) has mentioned that Imam al-Hadi (peace be upon him) visited [Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)] on the day of Eid al-Ghadir with this supplication ... I bear witness that every action and restraint, every word and silence of yours was on account of a command from Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him and his family). [O Ali (peace be upon him)!] You yourself said: "By the One in whose hand is my soul! The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) looked at me in one of the battles while I was striking with the sword in front of him, and said: 'O Ali (peace be upon him)! Your position with me is like the position of Harun (peace be upon him) with Musa (peace be upon him), except that there is no prophet after me. And I inform you [of this matter] that your death and your life are with me and upon my way and conduct. By Allah! I did not lie, nor was I lied to; I did not go astray, nor was anyone led astray through me; and I have not forgotten the covenant which my Lord made with me.'" And [O Ali (peace be upon him)! you said:] "I have a clear sign from my Lord, which He explained to His Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), and the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) explained it to me, and I am upon a clear path." [O Ali (peace be upon him)!] With my own tongue I confess: by Allah, you spoke truly and you spoke the truth. May Allah curse the one who placed you on a par and made you equal with your enemy. And Allah says: هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ وَ الَّذِینَ لا یَعْلَمُونَ [Are those who know and those who do not know alike?]. May Allah curse the one who set you equal to the one over whom Allah had made your wilayah (guardianship) obligatory. You are the wali (guardian) of Allah, the brother of His Messenger, the defender of His religion, and the one whose virtues the Qur'an declares.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): A person asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) [about imamah]. [The Imam said]: "Imamah rests upon all those things that the ummah needs of its halal and haram, and upon knowledge of the Book of Allah — its particular and its general, its outward and its inward, its muhkam (clear) and its mutashabih (allegorical), its nasikh (abrogating) and its mansukh (abrogated), the subtleties of its knowledge, and [knowledge of] its rare interpretations." The questioner said: "What is the proof that the Imam must necessarily have knowledge of these things you have mentioned?" He said: "[The proof is] this word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, concerning those to whom He gave permission to rule and whom He made worthy of it: 'We sent down the Torah, in which was guidance and light. The prophets who were submitted [to Allah] judged by it for the Jews, and [likewise] the rabbaniyyun (godly scholars) and the ahbar (learned men).' (al-Ma'idah/44) The rabbaniyyun are the Imams who come after the prophets and who nurture the people with their knowledge, and the ahbar are other than them (the scholars), being those who summon the people. Then Allah the Mighty and Majestic informed and said: [they guide the people] by this divine Book which was entrusted to them and of which they were witnesses. (al-Ma'idah/44) And He did not say: by that which they do not know [they guide]. Then He said: هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ وَ الَّذِینَ لا یَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّما یَتَذَکَّرُ أُولُوا الْأَلْباب [Are those who know and those who do not know alike? Only the men of understanding are mindful.] So this is the very proof that the Imams must necessarily be scholars. [And an ignorant person cannot be an Imam]."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): May Allah have mercy on you! This ummah, after their Prophet, perished and turned back on their heels. They followed the past nations who chose the worship of idols over the worship of Allah, and walked in their footsteps. They gave precedence to the ignorant over the knowledgeable, whereas Allah says: هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ وَ الَّذِینَ لا یَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّما یَتَذَکَّرُ أُولُوا الْأَلْباب [Are those who know and those who do not know alike? Only the men of understanding are mindful.]

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): We are those who know, and our enemies are those who do not know, and our Shia are the men of understanding. O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Say to them يَا عِبَادِیَ الَّذِینَ آمَنُوا [O My servants who have believed], meaning [O servants] who affirmed the oneness of Allah, اتَّقُوا رَبَّکُمْ [fear your Lord], meaning [beware] of your Lord's punishment by keeping away from disobedience to Him.

Imam Hasan (peace be upon him): When you seek your needs, seek them from those who are worthy of them. They asked: "Who are those worthy of it?" He said: "Those whom Allah has described in the noble Qur'an and mentioned, saying: إِنَّما یَتَذَکَّرُ أُولُوا الْأَلْبابِ [Only the men of understanding are mindful], and they are the possessors of intellect."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) said: "The Messenger of Allah was the seal of one hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets, and I was the seal of one hundred and twenty-four thousand successors, and what was entrusted to the successors before me was entrusted to me as well. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said in that illness of his [which led to his passing]: 'I do not fear for you that you should go astray after being guided [for concerning you, such will not happen]; rather, I fear for you the corrupt ones of Quraysh and their enmity. حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَ نِعْمَ الْوَکِیلُ [Allah is sufficient for us and He is the best of guardians] (Aal Imran/173). Two-thirds of the Qur'an is about us and about our Shia. So whatever good there is, it is for us and our Shia, and in the remaining one-third [of the Qur'an], we share with the people; consequently, whatever evil there is, it is for our enemies.' Then he said: هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِینَ یَعْلَمُونَ وَ الَّذِینَ لا یَعْلَمُونَ [Are those who know and those who do not know alike?]... We are the Ahl al-Bayt, and our Shia are the أُولُوا الْأَلْبابِ [men of understanding], and الَّذِینَ لَا یَعْلَمُونَ [those who do not know] are our enemies, and our Shia are the هُمُ الْمُهْتَدُونَ [the rightly guided ones]."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Allah has not distributed to His servants anything more excellent than intellect. The sleep of the wise is better than the night vigil of the ignorant, and the not-fasting [of a recommended fast] by the wise person is better than the fasting of the ignorant, and the wise person's staying at home is better than the ignorant person's setting out [even with the intention of Hajj and jihad]. Allah did not send any prophet or messenger except when his intellect had reached perfection, such that his intellect became superior to the intellects of all his ummah. What the prophet conceals within himself is better than the striving of all the strivers, and no wise person can perform Allah's obligations except by having reflected upon them; therefore all the worshippers, in the merit of their worship, do not reach the rank of the wise person. And the wise are the very men of understanding about whom Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: وَ مَا یَذَّکَّرُ إِلاَّ أُولُوا الأَلْبَابِ [And none is mindful except the men of understanding].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Ali ibn Uqbah ibn Khalid said: "I went with Mu'alla ibn Khunays to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), and we were given permission to enter. He was not in his usual place; suddenly he came out to us from the other side of the house, from among his womenfolk, while he had no outer garment [and formal clothing] on. When he saw us, he welcomed us and said: 'Welcome.' Then he sat down and said: 'You are indeed the men of understanding (ulul albab) in the Book of Allah. Allah the Blessed and Exalted said: إِنَّمَا یَتَذَکَّرُ أُوْلُوا الْأَلْبَابِ [Only the men of understanding are mindful].'"

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Abu Umamah al-Bahili said: One day we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family). After a while, the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) got up [to leave]. Suddenly Amir al-Mu'minin Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) came to us. When he saw Ali (peace be upon him), he sat down. He said: "O son of Abu Talib (peace be upon him)! Do you know why I sat down?" He said: "No." He said: "I am the seal of the prophets and you are the seal of the successors (awsiya). Allah has ordained that Musa ibn Imran (peace be upon him) does not stand in any station without Yusha ibn Nun (the successor of Musa (peace be upon him)) standing with him. And [wherever] I stand, you will stand, and [whatever] I am asked, you will be asked. O son of Abu Talib, you will give the same answer as I do. For you are a limb from my limbs, and wherever I am, you will also be [except in prophethood]." Ali (peace be upon him) said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! What should I ask so that I may be guided?" He said: "O Ali (peace be upon him)! Whomever Allah guides, no one can misguide him, and whomever Allah misguides, no one can guide him. Allah has taken the firm covenant of me, and the firm covenant of you and those who love you and your Shia until the Day of Resurrection. My intercession is accepted among you." Then he recited this verse: إِنَّما یَتَذَکَّرُ أُولُوا الْأَلْبابِ [Only the men of understanding are mindful]. O Ali (peace be upon him)! They [the men of understanding] are your Shia.