سورة ق

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): ق [Qaf] is a mountain that surrounds the world and lies beyond Yajuj and Majuj, and this is an oath.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Sufyan al-Thawri said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! What is the meaning of the saying of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: الم and المص and الر and المر and کهیعص and طه and طس and طسم and یس and ص and حم and حم عسق and ق and ن?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "As for … ق, it is the mountain overlooking the earth, and the greenness of the sky is from it, and by means of it Allah holds the earth so that it does not shake with its people."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): ق [Qaf] is the name of a mountain that surrounds the world, and the waw in this sentence is an oath.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): O people! Reflect and think about the Glorious Quran, for it guides you to the right path. Submit to Allah His command, for indeed He does whatever He wills. Beware of the Day of Threat [the Day of Judgement] and act according to His obedience, for this is the station of servanthood. And beware of His wrath, for how many stubborn tyrants He has crushed. ق وَ الْقُرْآنِ الْمَجِیدِ [Qaf. By the Glorious Quran].

Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him): Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) said in the supplication of Eid al-Fitr [describing the qualities of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) from the perspective of the Quran]: O Allah! You have [in the Quran] assigned names to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) [and addressed him thus], and You said: طه مَا أَنْزَلْنَا عَلَیْکَ الْقُرْآنَ لِتَشْقَی [Ta Ha. We have not sent down the Quran to you that you should be distressed] (Ta Ha/2); and You said: یس وَ الْقُرْآنِ الْحَکِیمِ [Ya Sin. By the Wise Quran] (Ya Sin/1-2); and You, whose names are sanctified, said: ص وَ الْقُرْآنِ ذِی الذِّکْرِ [Sad. By the Quran full of remembrance — for this book is a divine miracle] (Sad/1); and You, whose bounties are great, said: ق وَ الْقُرْآنِ الْمَجِیدِ [Qaf. By the Glorious Quran]. (Meaning: Ta Ha, Ya Sin, Sad and Qaf are names of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) in the Quran.) And You placed these names upon him so that You could swear by him using them, and everywhere in the Quran You have mentioned these names together with the word 'Quran' [after them]; and wherever in the Quran You have sworn by a name and after it the word 'Quran' is mentioned, that name is one of the names of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). And this is because You have granted honour and greatness to the calling of his name [and the mentioning of his name].

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Imam Hasan (peace be upon him) asked his noble father to show him the excellence and honour that Allah had bestowed upon him. The hadith is recounted until he says: The Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) commanded the wind, and the wind carried us to Mount [Qaf]. When we reached it, we suddenly saw a mountain of green emerald upon which stood an angel in the form of an eagle. When his gaze fell upon the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him), he said: "Peace be upon you, O successor and vicegerent of the Messenger of the Lord of the worlds, and His caliph. Will you permit me to ask a question?" The Imam (peace be upon him) returned his greeting and said: "If you wish, ask; and if you wish, I shall tell you what it is you want to ask me about." The angel said: "You tell me, O Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him)!" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "You wished to seek my permission to visit Khidr (peace be upon him)." The angel said: "Yes, it is so!" He said: "I have granted you permission." The angel said بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِیم [In the Name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful] and departed swiftly. We walked there for a while, and the angel, after visiting Khidr (peace be upon him), returned to his place. Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "O Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him)! I see that that angel visited Khidr (peace be upon him) only with your permission!" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: Allah is the One who raised up the heavens without any pillars that you can see (Ra'd/2). Not one of these angels moves from his place for a moment without my permission. The rank and station of my son Hasan (peace be upon him), and after him my son Husayn (peace be upon him), and then nine descendants from the progeny of Husayn (peace be upon him) is likewise — the ninth of whom is the Qa'im of the family of Muhammad (may Allah hasten his noble relief). We asked: "What is the name of the angel appointed over Mount Qaf?" He said: "Tarja'il." We asked: "O Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him)! How do you come here every night and return?" He said: "In the same way that I brought you here. By the One who split the seed and created the breeze! I know things of the dominion of the heavens and the earth such that your hearts could not bear the knowledge of even one of them. The Greatest Name of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, consists of seventy-two letters. Asaf ibn Barkhiya knew only one letter of it. When he called upon Allah with that letter, Allah caused the earth between him and the throne of Bilqis to sink and removed the distance until he took the throne of Bilqis. Then, in the blink of an eye, the earth returned to its original state. By Allah! We know seventy-two letters of it, and only one letter of the knowledge of the unseen has Allah reserved for Himself — and there is no power and no strength except in Allah, the Most High, the Most Great. Whoever wished, recognized us, and whoever wished, denied and belied us. [Those who ought to know us have known us]."

The Messenger (peace be upon him and his family): The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was asked about Qaf and what is behind Qaf. He said: "Behind it are seventy lands of gold and seventy lands of silver. Seventy lands of musk, behind which are seventy lands full of angels, where there is neither heat nor cold. The length of each land is a journey of a thousand years." They asked: "What is behind the angels?" He said: "A veil of darkness." They said: "What is behind that?" He said: "A veil of wind." They asked: "What is behind it?" He said: "A veil of fire." They said: "What is behind that?" He said: "A serpent surrounding the whole world that glorifies Allah until the Day of Resurrection, and it is the king of all serpents." They asked: "What is behind that?" He said: "A veil of light." They said: "What is behind that?" He said: "The knowledge and decree of Allah." He (peace be upon him and his family) was asked about the width, length and roundness of Qaf. He said: "It is a thousand years in width, made of red ruby; its trunk is of white silver and its end is of green emerald, and it has three branches of light — one in the east, one in the west, and the other in the middle of the sky, on which three lines are inscribed: بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِیمِ [In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful]; الْحَمْدُ لِلهِ رَبِّ الْعالَمِینَ [Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds]; لا إِلهَ إِلَّا اللهُ، مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللهِ [There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah]."