سورة الصف

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): By the One in whose hand is my soul, no village will remain but that in it, morning and evening, the call of the shahada — لا اله الا الله و محمّد رسول الله [there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah] (the oneness of Allah and the prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)) — will be raised.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Mufaddal ibn Umar: ... Mufaddal said: "My master, what is the ta'wil (interpretation) of لِیُظْهِرَهُ عَلَی الدِّینِ کُلِّهِ وَ لَوْ کَرِهَ المُشْرِکُونَ [That He may make it overcome the religions, all of them, though the polytheists may be averse]? That is, how does the Imam of the age become dominant over all religions?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "Its ta'wil is this verse: 'And fight them until there is no fitna [polytheism and the deprivation of freedom], and religion [and worship] is entirely for Allah!' (al-Anfal/39). O Mufaddal, by Allah! He will remove disagreement from among the nations and religions, and all religions will become one." As Allah has said: "Indeed the religion with Allah is Islam [and submission to the truth]." (Al Imran/19). And He has also said: "And whoever chooses for himself a religion other than Islam [and submission to the command of the truth], it will not be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers." (Al Imran/85). Mufaddal said: "Master! Was the religion that his forefathers Ibrahim, Nuh, Musa, Isa (peace be upon them) and Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) followed the same religion of Islam?" He said: "Yes, it was the very religion of Islam, none other!" I said: "Do you have proof of this from the Quran?" He said: "Yes; the Quran from beginning to end is full of proofs. Among them is the verse: 'Indeed the religion with Allah is Islam [and submission to the truth].' (Al Imran/19). And also this verse: 'Follow the religion of your father Ibrahim; Allah named you "Muslims" both in earlier scriptures and in this heavenly book.' (al-Hajj/78) — that is, Islam is the religion of your father Ibrahim (peace be upon him), and it is he who named you Muslims. And another is the verse in which Allah, in the story of Ibrahim and Isma'il (peace be upon them), quotes them as saying: 'Make us submissive to Your command! And from our progeny an ummah submissive to Your command.' (al-Baqarah/128) — that is, O Allah, make the two of us two Muslims submitted to You, and bring forth from our descendants also a Muslim people. And another is this verse in the story of Fir'awn, where He says: 'When drowning overtook him, he said: "I believe that there is no deity except the One in whom the Children of Israel have believed, and I am of the Muslims."' (Yunus/90). And in the story of Sulayman (peace be upon him) and Bilqis, the queen of Saba, He says: 'And come to me submissive to the truth!' (al-Naml/31) — come to me. And when Bilqis came to Sulayman (peace be upon him), she said: 'With Sulayman I have submitted (aslamtu) to Allah, the Lord of the worlds!' (al-Naml/44) — that is, I have submitted along with Sulayman (peace be upon him) before the Lord of the worlds. And from the tongue of Isa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him), He says: مَنْ أَنْصارِی إِلَی اللهِ [Who will be my helpers in the way of Allah?] — that is, Isa (peace be upon him) said: 'Who are those who wish to help me by accepting the religion of Allah?' The disciples [his special students] said: 'We are the helpers of Allah; we have believed in Allah, and bear witness [you also] that we have submitted (are Muslims).' (Al Imran/52). And in another verse He says: 'And all those in the heavens and the earth submit to [the command of] Him, willingly or unwillingly.' (Al Imran/83). And in the story of Lut (peace be upon him) He says: 'But we did not find in them, except one household of the believers!' (al-Dhariyat/36). And in another verse He says: 'Say: "We have believed in Allah and in what has been sent down to us, and in what was sent down to Ibrahim, Isma'il, Ishaq, Ya'qub and the prophets from among his descendants, and [likewise] in what was given to Musa and Isa and the [other] prophets from their Lord, and we make no distinction between any of them, and we are submissive to the command of Allah [and racial prejudices and personal motives do not cause us to accept some and abandon others]."' (al-Baqarah/136)."

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Fudayl said: I asked Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) about the verse هُوَ الَّذِی أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَی وَ دِینِ الْحَقِّ [He it is Who sent His Messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth] — what does it mean? He said: "He is the One who commanded His Messenger (peace be upon him and his family) to [establish] the wilayah of his successor, and wilayah is the religion of truth." I said: "What does لِیُظْهِرَهُ عَلَی الدِّینِ کُلِّهِ [that He may make it overcome all religions] mean?" He said: "At the time of the rising of al-Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief), He will make this religion prevail and triumph over all religions." And he said: "Allah the Mighty and Majestic says: وَ اللهُ مُتِمُّ نُورِهِ [And Allah will complete His light] through the wilayah of al-Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief), وَ لَوْ کَرِهَ الْکَافِرُونَ [even though the disbelievers may be averse] to the wilayah of Ali (peace be upon him) — [Allah completes His light through the wilayah of al-Qa'im, even though the disbelievers to the wilayah of Ali (peace be upon him) may be displeased]." I said: "Is this wording [part of] the Qur'an?" He said: "Yes, these words are part of the Qur'an, but what is besides it is ta'wil (interpretation)."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir said: I asked about this word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: الَّذِی أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَی وَ دِینِ الْحَقِّ لِیُظْهِرَهُ عَلَی الدِّینِ کُلِّهِ وَ لَوْ کَرِهَ الْمُشْرِکُونَ [Who sent His Messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth, that He may make it prevail over all religions, though the polytheists may be averse], and he said: "By Allah, its ta'wil (interpretation) has not yet come to pass." I said: "May I be your ransom, when will its ta'wil come to pass?" He said: "Allah-willing, when al-Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief) comes. When al-Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief) rises, no disbeliever or polytheist will remain but that he will be averse to and detest his rising. Even if a disbeliever or polytheist were to hide inside a rock, the rock would say: 'O believer! Inside me there is a disbeliever or a polytheist — kill him.' So he will come toward him and kill him."

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him) said regarding the word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic لِیُظْهِرَهُ عَلَی الدِّینِ کُلِّهِ وَ لَوْ کَرِهَ الْمُشْرِکُونَ [that He may make it prevail over all religions, though the polytheists may be averse]: This will not come about until no Jew, no Christian, and no follower of any creed remains except that he has embraced Islam; and until the sheep and the wolf, the cow and the lion, and the human and the snake are safe [together]; and even the mouse will not gnaw the leather bag; and the jizyah is abolished, the cross is broken, and the pig (khinzir) is killed. And this is the very word of Allah the Exalted where He said: لِیُظْهِرَهُ عَلَی الدِّینِ کُلِّهِ وَ لَوْ کَرِهَ الْمُشْرِکُونَ. And this will occur at the time of the rising of al-Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief).

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): لِیُظْهِرَهُ عَلَی الدِّینِ کُلِّهِ وَ لَوْ کَرِهَ الْمُشْرِکُونَ — the prevailing of the religion of Islam over all religions does not come about until no Jew, no Christian, and no follower of any creed other than Islam remains; and until the sheep with the wolf, the cow with the lion, and the human with the snake find safety; and until a mouse does not gnaw a water-skin; and until the jizyah (the tax taken from the People of the Book) is done away with, the cross is broken, and the pig is killed. The word of Allah لِیُظْهِرَهُ عَلَی الدِّینِ کُلِّهِ وَ لَوْ کَرِهَ الْمُشْرِکُونَ [refers to] the time of the rising of al-Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief).

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Allah the Mighty and Majestic will make this religion prevail during the Raj'ah (the Return).

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) has a return (raj'a) to the earth together with his son Husayn (peace be upon him). He will come with his banner to take his revenge from Bani Umayyah, Mu'awiya, the descendants of Mu'awiya, and those who came with them to fight against His Eminence (peace be upon him). On that day Allah will raise up thirty thousand of Ali's (peace be upon him) helpers, all of them from the people of Kufa, and seventy thousand from the rest of the Shia, to aid Ali (peace be upon him). The two armies will again meet each other at Siffin as they did the first time, and he will put all the men of Mu'awiya's army to the sword, so that not one of them remains to bring news of them. Then, on the Day of Resurrection too, Allah will raise them up and, along with Pharaoh and the people of Pharaoh, will subject them to the worst of punishments. Then Ali (peace be upon him) will return once more to the world with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and the Prophet will become the king of the earth, and the rest of the Imams (peace be upon them) will be his governors. Contrary to the first time, this time he will be raised openly, and will worship Allah openly. Then Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: Yes, by Allah, the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) will return to the world twice — and he indicated with his hand how many times His Eminence (peace be upon him) will return. Allah will give to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) the sovereignty of all the people of the world, from the day Allah created the world to the day the world perishes, so that the promise which He gave to His Eminence (peace be upon him) in the Qur'an may be fulfilled, as He said: لِیُظْهِرَهُ عَلَی الدِّینِ کُلِّهِ وَ لَوْ کَرِهَ المُشْرِکُونَ [that He may make it prevail over all religions, though the polytheists may be averse].