سورة الزخرف

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Abu Basir said: Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said regarding the verse وَ جَعَلَها کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً فِی عَقِبِهِ [And he made it a word to continue in his posterity]: "The Imamate will be in the descendants of Imam Husayn (peace be upon him). From the time the Imamate passed to Imam Husayn (peace be upon him), this affair has always transferred from father to son, and it will not pass to a brother or an uncle, and the Imam will always have a son at the time of his death."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family)- Abu Hurayra said: I asked the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) about this verse: وَ جَعَلَها کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً فِی عَقِبِهِ [And he made it a word to continue in his posterity]. He said: 'He placed the Imamate in the descendants of Imam Husayn (peace be upon him).'

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him)- وَ جَعَلَها کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً فِی عَقِبِهِ [And he made it a word to continue in his posterity]; what is meant by it is the Imamate.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him)- کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً [a word to continue] is the Imamate until the Day of Resurrection.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him)- Hisham ibn Salim said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): 'Are the virtues of Imam Hasan (peace be upon him) greater, or those of Imam Husayn (peace be upon him)?' Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) answered: 'The virtues of Imam Hasan (peace be upon him).' I said: 'Then why, after Imam Husayn (peace be upon him), was the Imamate placed in his line and not in the line of Imam Hasan (peace be upon him)?' Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: 'Allah loved to make the sunnah of Musa and Harun (peace be upon them) continue in Imam Hasan and Imam Husayn (peace be upon them). Have you not heard that they were partners in prophethood, just as Imam Hasan and Imam Husayn (peace be upon them) were partners in the Imamate; and although the virtues of Musa (peace be upon him) were greater than those of Harun, yet Allah placed the prophethood among the descendants of Harun and not among the descendants of Musa (peace be upon him).' I said: 'Can there be two Imams at one time?' The Imam said: 'No! Unless one of them keeps silent and follows the other, and the other speaks [in explaining Allah's rulings] and is Imam over the other. But two speaking Imams at one time — that will not be.' I said: 'After Imam Hasan and Imam Husayn (peace be upon them), will the Imamate come to two brothers?' He said: 'No! Rather the Imamate will continue only in the line of Imam Husayn (peace be upon him), just as Allah says: وَ جَعَلَها کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً فِی عَقِبِهِ [And he made it a word to continue in his posterity], and after that it will be in the descendants, and then in the descendants' descendants until the Day of Resurrection.'

Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him)- He said: وَ جَعَلَها کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً فِی عَقِبِهِ [And he made it a word to continue in his posterity] was revealed concerning us, and the Imamate will remain in the line of Imam Husayn (peace be upon him) until the Day of Resurrection.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Has Allah not pointed [in the Quran] to my Ahl al-Bayt? They said: "The intended meaning is the wives of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) [who are pointed to in the Quran]." He said: "No, the intended meaning is their [male] children and descendants, the very twelve Imams whom Allah has pointed to in this verse, where He said: وَ جَعَلَها کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً فِی عَقِبِهِ [And he made it a word to continue in his posterity]."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Jabir said: I said to Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), a group of people say: Allah the Exalted placed the Imamate among the children of Imam Hasan (peace be upon him), not among the children of Husayn (peace be upon him)." He said: "By Allah, they lie. Have they not heard that Allah the Exalted says: وَ جَعَلَها کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً فِی عَقِبِهِ [And he made it a word to continue in his posterity]? So has He placed it anywhere but among the children of Husayn (peace be upon him)?" Then he said: "O Jabir! The Imams are those upon whose Imamate the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) has explicitly stipulated, and they are the Imams about whom he (peace be upon him and his family) said: 'When I was taken up to the heavens, I saw their names written in light on the leg of the Throne — twelve names — and they were Ali, and [my] two grandsons, and Ali, and Muhammad, and Jafar, and Musa, and Ali, and Muhammad, and Ali, and Hasan, and al-Hujja al-Qaim (peace be upon them all).' So these are the Imams from the Ahl al-Bayt of purity and chosen-ness. By Allah, no one apart from us claims [the Imamate] but that Allah will raise him up with Satan and his hosts."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) — Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman said: The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "O company of companions! I enjoin upon you the fear of Allah and obedience to Him. Whoever acts on this counsel has profited and prospered, and whoever abandons it, regret is his due. So through taqwa (Allah-consciousness) seek safety from the terrors and horrors of the Day of Resurrection. Very soon I shall be called to Allah and shall answer the call of the Truth. I leave among you two weighty things: the Book of Allah and my kindred, the people of my house. So long as you hold fast to the two of them, you will never go astray. Whoever holds fast to my kindred after me is among the successful, and whoever turns away from them and forsakes them is among the ruined." I said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), to whom do you entrust and commend us after yourself?" He said: "To whom did Musa ibn Imran (peace be upon him) commend the people after himself?" I said: "To his successor Yusha ibn Nun." He said: "Indeed my successor and my caliph after me is Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), the leader of the righteous and the slayer of the disbelievers. Whoever helps him is helped, and whoever withholds help from him will not be helped." I said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), how many will the Imams after you be?" He said: "As the number of the chiefs of the Children of Israel — nine from the loins of Husayn (peace be upon him). Allah has bestowed upon them my knowledge and my understanding; they are the treasuries of Allah's knowledge and the mines of His revelation." I said: "Then what distinction is there for the sons of Hasan (peace be upon him)?" He said: "Allah the Exalted has placed the Imamate in the offspring of Husayn (peace be upon him), and this is the word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: وَ جَعَلَها کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً فِی عَقِبِهِ [And He made it a word to continue in his posterity]." I said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), will you not name them for me?" He said: "Yes. When I was taken up to the heaven, I looked at the leg of the Throne and saw written in light: There is no god but the One Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), I have aided him through Ali (peace be upon him) and helped him by means of him. And I saw the lights of Hasan, Husayn, and Fatima (peace be upon them), and in three places I saw Ali, Ali, Ali, and Muhammad, Muhammad, and Jafar, and Musa, and Hasan (peace be upon them), and al-Hujja (may Allah hasten his noble relief), who shone among them like a brilliant star. I said: 'My Lord! Who are these whose names You have joined with Your name?' He said: 'O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), they are the successors and Imams after you. I have created them from your clay. Blessed is he who loves them, and woe to him who hates them. Through them I send down the rain, and through them I reward and I punish.'" Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) raised his hand toward the heaven and made supplications, and I heard him say: "My Lord! Place knowledge and understanding of religion in my offspring and the offspring of my offspring, and in my seed and the seed of my seed."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): What is meant by كَلِمَةً باقِيَةً فِي عَقِبِهِ [a word to continue in his posterity] is the imamate until the Day of Resurrection.

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ جَعَلَها کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً فِی عَقِبِهِ لَعَلَّهُمْ یَرْجِعُونَ [And he made it a word to continue in his posterity that they may return] — the meaning is that the Imams (peace be upon them) will return to the world [at the time of raj'a].

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Al-A'raj narrated from Abu Hurayra, and he from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), that he said: I am leaving behind among you two weighty things. One of them is the Book of Allah — whoever follows it will be upon guidance, and whoever abandons it will go astray. The other is my Ahl al-Bayt. I remind you concerning my Ahl al-Bayt, upon whom be the peace and blessings of Allah. And he repeated this sentence three times. I asked Abu Hurayra: "Who are the Ahl al-Bayt? Is his wives meant?" Abu Hurayra replied: "No, his root and lineage, who are the twelve Imams (peace be upon them) whom Allah has mentioned in the verse: وَ جَعَلَها کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً فِی عَقِبِهِ [And he made it a word to continue in his posterity]."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Sulaym ibn Qays said: One day the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) entered the mosque and we gathered around him. He said: "Ask me before you lose me. Ask me about the Quran — in the Quran is the knowledge of those who came before and those who will come after; it has left no room for any speaker to object, and none knows its interpretation except Allah and those firmly rooted in knowledge (Aal Imran/7). Those firmly rooted are not one person; rather the noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is one of the firmly rooted, whom Allah taught, and he taught me; then it will continue in his posterity until the Day of Resurrection." Then he recited this verse: "and the relics of the family of Musa (peace be upon him) and the family of Harun (peace be upon him) remain, while the angels carry it" (al-Baqara/248). "My relation to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is like Harun's relation to Musa (peace be upon him), except for the station of prophethood. And his knowledge is in our lineage until the edge of the Resurrection." Then he recited this verse: وَ جَعَلَها کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً فِی عَقِبِهِ [And he made it a word to continue in his posterity]. Then he said: "The noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is the posterity and descendant of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), and we, the Ahl al-Bayt, are also from the descendants of Ibrahim and Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): O people! The Quran has made known to you that the Imams after Ali (peace be upon him) are from among his children and descendants, and I too have made known to you that those Imams are from the lineage of Ali (peace be upon him) and me, where Allah the Mighty and Majestic says: وَ جَعَلَها کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً فِی عَقِبِهِ [And he made it a word to continue in his posterity]. And so long as you hold fast to the two of them (the Quran and the Imams), you will never go astray.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): وَ جَعَلَها کَلِمَةً باقِیَةً فِی عَقِبِهِ [And He made it a word to continue in his posterity] is Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him).