سورة الحشر

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) — The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "My Lord took me by night [to the heavens] and revealed to me from behind the veil what He revealed, and He spoke to me. Among the things He said to me was: 'O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Ali (peace be upon him) is the First and Ali (peace be upon him) is the Last, and the Manifest and the Hidden, and he is the Knower of all things.' I said: 'O my Lord! Is that not You?' Allah said: 'O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! I am Allah the One; there is no god but Me, الْمَلِکُ الْقُدُّوسُ السَّلامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَیْمِنُ الْعَزِیزُ الْجَبَّارُ الْمُتَکَبِّرُ سُبْحانَ اللهِ عَمَّا یُشْرِکُونَ [the King, the Holy, the Giver of peace, the Granter of security, the Guardian, the Mighty, the Compeller, the Supreme; glory be to Allah from what they associate with Him]. I am Allah the One; there is no god but Me. I am the Bestower of being, the Originating Creator, and the [peerless] Fashioner; to Me belong the most beautiful names; those who are in the heavens and the earths glorify Me; and I am the Mighty, the Wise.'"

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) — Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The Jews said: "Musa (peace be upon him) is better than you." He said: "For what reason?" They said: "Because Allah the Mighty spoke to him with four thousand words, yet He has not spoken to you with even one word." He said: "I have been given better than that." They asked: "What is it?" He said: سُبْحَانَ الَّذِی أَسْرَی بِعَبْدِهِ لَیْلًا مِنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَی الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَی الَّذِی بَارَکْنَا حَوْلَهُ [Glory be to Him who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose surroundings We have blessed] (Al-Isra/1). I sat upon Jibril's wing until I reached the seventh heaven and passed the Sidrat al-Muntaha, where Jannat al-Ma'wa is, until at last I clung to the leg of the Throne, and a voice came from the leg of the Throne: إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنَا السَّلامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَیْمِنُ الْعَزِیزُ الْجَبَّارُ الْمُتَکَبِّرُ الرَّءُوفُ الرَّحِیمُ [Indeed I am Allah, there is no god but Me, the Giver of peace, the Granter of security, the Guardian, the Mighty, the Compeller, the Supreme, the Kind, the Merciful]. I saw Him with my heart, not with my eye.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Indeed for Allah the Mighty and Majestic there are three hours in the night and three hours in the day in which He glorifies Himself. The first of the daytime hours is when the sun is on the eastern side, by the measure of what remains from the afternoon until sunset [that is, what remains until the noon prayer], and it continues until the time of the first prayer (that is, the noon prayer). And the first of the nighttime hours is the last third of the night until the break of dawn [and in these hours Allah glorifies Himself and] says: إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ الْعَلِیُّ الْعَظِیمُ [Indeed I am Allah, the Most High, the Great], إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ الْعَزِیزُ الْحَکِیمُ [Indeed I am Allah, the Mighty, the Wise], إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِیمُ [Indeed I am Allah, the Forgiving, the Merciful], إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ الرَّحْمَنُ الرَّحِیمُ [Indeed I am Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful], إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ مَالِکُ یَوْمِ الدِّینِ [Indeed I am Allah, the Master of the Day of Judgement], إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ لَمْ أَزَلْ وَ لَا أَزَالُ [Indeed I am Allah, I have never ceased and shall never cease], إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ خَالِقُ الْخَیْرِ وَ الشَّرِّ [Indeed I am Allah, the Creator of good and evil], إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ خَالِقُ الْجَنَّةِ وَ النَّارِ [Indeed I am Allah, the Creator of Paradise and the Fire], إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ بَدْءُ کُلِّ شَیْءٍ وَ إِلَیَّ یَعُودُ [Indeed I am Allah, the Origin of everything and to Me it returns], إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ الْوَاحِدُ الصَّمَدُ [Indeed I am Allah, the One, the Eternally Besought], إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ عالِمُ الْغَیْبِ وَ الشَّهادَةِ [Indeed I am Allah, the Knower of the unseen and the seen], إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ الْمَلِکُ الْقُدُّوسُ السَّلامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَیْمِنُ الْعَزِیزُ الْجَبَّارُ الْمُتَکَبِّرُ [Indeed I am Allah, the King, the Holy, the Giver of peace, the Granter of security, the Guardian, the Mighty, the Supreme, the Possessor of greatness], إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ الْخالِقُ الْبارِئُ الْمُصَوِّرُ لِیَ الْأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَی [Indeed I am Allah, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner; to Me belong the most beautiful names], إِنِّی أَنَا اللهُ الْکَبِیرُ الْمُتَعالِ [Indeed I am Allah, the Great, the Most High]. Then Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said from his own statement: وَ الْکِبْرِیَاءُ رِدَاؤُهُ, meaning greatness and majesty befit His Presence, and whoever contends with Him over any of that, Allah will cast him face-down into the Fire. Then he said: There is no believing servant who supplicates with these [names] with his heart turned toward Allah the Mighty and Majestic, except that his need is fulfilled; and even if he were wretched, I have hope that he would be transformed into a blessed one.

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Allah the Exalted revealed to His servant the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): لا إِلهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ هُوَ الْحَیُّ الْقَیُّومُ [There is no god but Allah, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting], meaning there is no god except the Living, Self-Subsisting Allah, and He has these names: al-Rahman (the Beneficent), al-Rahim (the Merciful), al-Aziz (the Mighty), al-Jabbar (the Compeller), al-Ali (the Most High), al-Azim (the Great). Then people's intellects became bewildered and confused and their minds grew feather-light; they set forth likenesses for Him (Allah) and set up peers for Him, and likened Him to comparisons and represented Him with resemblances, and considered Him such that He changes and perishes. So they sank into a deep sea whose depth they cannot grasp and whose farthest reach and profundity they do not know.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): He has always been Living, without a life that would be additional to His sacred Essence, and a King possessing power before He brought anything into being; and a majestic, tremendous King after He brought existence into being.

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): al-Quddus (the Holy) means the one free from impurities and defects that give rise to ignorance.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Qaddah narrates from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): When one of you gives the salam, he should give it aloud, and should not say: I gave the salam but they did not reply to me. Perhaps he did give the salam, but no one heard it. Likewise, whoever replies to the salam should reply loudly and audibly, so that the one who gave the salam does not say: I gave the salam but they did not reply to me. Ali (peace be upon him) said: "Do not become angry and do not make others angry; give the salam to one another and speak good words. Pray by night while people are asleep, so that you may enter Paradise in peace." And he recited to them this word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: السَّلامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَیْمِنُ [the Giver of peace, the Granter of security, the Guardian over all].

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): al-Salam means greeting and salutation, and that is the meaning of the word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic where He relates about the people of Paradise and says: Their words [and prayer] in Paradise are: "O Allah, glory be to You!" and their greeting there is salam. (Yunus/10) The second meaning is "safety and refuge," and that is the word of Allah [where] the guardians say to them: Peace be upon you! May these blessings be pleasant for you! Enter Paradise and remain eternally. (Zumar/73) And the proof that its meaning is "safety" is this verse: هُوَ اللهُ الَّذِی لا إِلهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْمَلِکُ الْقُدُّوسُ السَّلامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَیْمِنُ [He is Allah, besides Whom there is no god; the King, the Holy, the Giver of peace, the Granter of security, the Guardian over all]; for "al-Mu'min" (the Granter of security) grants His friends safety from His punishment. And Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) was asked about the reason the imam [of congregation] says al-Salamu alaykum, and he said: "By this phrase he conveys the word of Allah in another tongue, and in effect he is saying: Remain safe from being punished on the Day of Resurrection. It is safety from your punishment. And the least that suffices for the salam is to say: 'السَّلَامُ عَلَیْکَ أَیُّهَا النَّبِیُّ وَ رَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَ بَرَکَاتُهُ' [Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings], and more than that is better and has merit. For Allah has said: And whoever willingly does more good, that is better for him. (Baqarah/184) And whoever performs a good deed, it is better for him."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Khaythama Ju'fi said: I came into the presence of Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) and he said: "O Khaythama, convey our greetings to our friends from us, and inform them that they will not attain any position with Allah except through righteous deeds, and they will never attain our wilayah (guardianship) except through piety! O Khaythama, whoever does not have our wilayah and our recognition, his deeds will not benefit him and he will gain no result from his worship. By Allah, that dabbah (meaning the creature — the same dabbat al-ard that Allah mentioned in verse 82 of Surah al-Naml, which in the end of times will come out of the earth and speak to people) will come out, and both the believer and the disbeliever will speak with it; no one will pass by it except that it says: 'This one is a believer,' or 'This one is a disbeliever'! O Khaythama! Only those who disbelieved in our wilayah and did not attain certainty and conviction do not acknowledge our signs. O Khaythama, Allah is faith (iman), for in the Glorious Qur'an He named Himself الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَیْمِنُ [the Granter of security, the Guardian over all]; we are the people of faith, and faith has taken residence in our house, and it branches out from us, and through us faith is known. The rulings of Islam and its laws have come forth from our household and from us have been spread in every direction. O Khaythama, whoever recognises faith and gains knowledge of it and joins himself to it, no sin will pollute him — just as a lamp lights up the space and sends its light to all sides without anything being diminished from the lamp's light. Likewise, whoever acknowledges our wilayah, Allah will forgive him."

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): الْمُؤْمِنُ [the Granter of security] is the one whose creation is safe from His injustice, for He said: [Even] the weight of an atom He does not wrong.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Allah, the Creator, the Mighty and Majestic, is named Mu'min (the Granter of security) because He grants safety from His punishment to those who obey Him; and a servant is named mu'min (believer) because he trusts in Allah, and Allah grants his safety.

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): The meaning of الْمُؤْمِنُ [the Granter of security] is that He gives safety to His friends from the punishment.

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): الْمُهَیْمِنُ [Guardian over all] means the Witness.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): In His eternity, He bound greatness upon Himself through divinity and lordship, and through His kibriya (supreme majesty) and jabarut (omnipotence) He showed pride and grandeur.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Hisham ibn al-Hakam said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about سُبْحَانَ اللَّه [Glory be to Allah]. He said: "It is declaring Allah free of imperfection (holding His sacred station to be pure)."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Yazid ibn al-Asamm said: A man asked Umar ibn al-Khattab and said: "O Commander of the Faithful, what is the tafsir (interpretation) of سُبْحَانَ اللَّه [Glory be to Allah]?" Umar said: "In this garden there is a man who, when he was asked, would be informed, and when he was silent, would be spoken to. The meaning is that in the time of the Prophet it was such that knowledge would reach him; if he asked the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) something, he would answer him, and if he was silent and did not ask, the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) himself would begin and teach him. Therefore perhaps he knows the tafsir of this better." So the man entered the garden and saw that the man was Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him). The questioner said: "O Abu al-Hasan (peace be upon him), what is the tafsir of سُبْحَانَ اللَّه?" He said: "It is the exaltation of the majesty of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and declaring His Honour free and far removed from what every polytheist has said concerning Him; and when the servant says it, every angel sends blessings upon him."