سورة التحريم

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about this verse: یَا أَیُّهَا الَّذِینَ آمَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَی اللهِ تَوْبَةً نَّصُوحًا [O you who believe! turn to Allah a sincere turning]. He said: "It is the sin to which one never returns." I said: "Which of us has not returned [to sin]?" He said: "O Abu Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Indeed Allah loves, from among His servants, the mufattan (one who falls into sins) who repents."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the saying of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: تُوبُوا إِلَی اللهِ تَوْبَةً نَّصُوحًا [Turn to Allah a sincere turning]. He said: "What is meant is fasting on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday." Ibn Babawayh says: "What is meant is that one should fast these days and then repent."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): The door of repentance is open for whoever desires it, so تُوبُوا إِلَی اللهِ تَوْبَةً نَصُوحاً عَسی رَبُّکُمْ أَنْ یُکَفِّرَ عَنْکُمْ سَیِّئاتِکُمْ [turn to Allah a sincere turning; maybe your Lord will remove from you your evil deeds]. Be faithful to your covenant. No blessing is lost and no pleasant life comes to an end except through the sins that they commit. إِنَّ اللهَ لَیْسَ بِظَلَّامٍ لِلْعَبِیدِ [Indeed Allah is not unjust to the servants]. If they were to forestall [these calamities] with supplication and turning [to Allah], these afflictions would not descend upon them; and if, when the affliction descends and the blessing departs, they were to take refuge in Allah the Mighty and Majestic with sincere intentions, and not grow weak, and not commit excess, Allah would set right for them every corrupted thing and would restore to them every good.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Mu'awiya ibn Wahb said: I heard Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) say: If a servant repents with a sincere repentance, Allah loves him and covers his sins in this world and the Hereafter. I said: "How does He cover them?" He said: "He makes his two angels forget the sins they had recorded against him, and He reveals to his limbs and organs to conceal his sins, and He reveals to the lands to conceal the sins he committed upon them; so he meets Allah the Mighty and Majestic when he meets Him, and there is nothing that testifies against him with any of his sins."

Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him): You are the One who has opened for Your servants a door to Your pardon, and named it repentance and returning, and placed upon that door a guide from Your revelation and message so that they may not go astray from it. So You Yourself, whose name is everlasting [or full of blessing and beneficence], have said: تُوبُوا إِلَی اللهِ تَوْبَةً نَصُوحاً عَسی رَبُّکُمْ أَنْ یُکَفِّرَ عَنْکُمْ سَیِّئاتِکُمْ وَ یُدْخِلَکُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِی مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهارُ، یَوْمَ لا یُخْزِی اللهُ النَّبِیَّ وَ الَّذِینَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ نُورُهُمْ یَسْعی بَیْنَ أَیْدِیهِمْ وَ بِأَیْمانِهِمْ یَقُولُونَ: رَبَّنا أَتْمِمْ لَنا نُورَنا، وَ اغْفِرْ لَنا، إِنَّکَ عَلی کُلِّ شَیْءٍ قَدِیرٌ [Turn to Allah with sincere repentance; it may be that your Lord will remove from you your evil deeds and cause you to enter gardens beneath which rivers flow, on the day when Allah will not disgrace the Prophet and those who believed with him; their light will run before them and on their right hands, and they will say: Our Lord! complete for us our light and forgive us; indeed You have power over all things]; so after the opening of the door and the setting up of the guide, what is the excuse of the one who is heedless and unaware of coming to that abode and place (the eternal Paradise, with all the means being provided)?

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Ahmad ibn Hilal said: I asked Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) about sincere repentance, and he wrote to me: "That the inward should be like the outward, indeed better than it."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Abd al-Rahman ibn Hammad narrated from some of the Shia that Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said: O people, sins are of three kinds. ... As for the third sin, it is a sin that Allah has concealed for His servant, and has granted him the provision of repenting from it, and he has come to a state in which he is fearful of his sin and hopeful of his Lord; so we hold for him (that is, this sinful person) the same state that he himself holds for himself; we hope for mercy for him, and we also fear the punishment upon him.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Mu'adh ibn Jabal said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! What is sincere repentance (tawbah nasuh)?" He said: "That the one who repents should repent and not return to the sin, just as milk does not return to the udder of the animal."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): یَوْمَ لَا یُخْزِی اللهُ النَّبِیَّ وَ الَّذِینَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ نُورُهُمْ یَسْعَی بَیْنَ أَیْدِیهِمْ وَ بِأَیْمَانِهِمْ [On the day on which Allah will not abase the Prophet and those who believe with him; their light shall run on before them and on their right hands] means, those very believers.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Salih ibn Sahl al-Hamdani said: I heard Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) concerning the saying of Allah the Exalted نُورُهُمْ یَسْعی بَیْنَ أَیْدِیهِمْ وَ بِأَیْمانِهِمْ [their light shall run on before them and on their right hands] say: "They are the imams of the believers, whose light shines from before them and around them until they enter their dwellings in Paradise."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Abu Khalid al-Kabuli narrated from Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) that concerning the saying of Allah the Exalted فَآمِنُوا بِاللهِ وَ رَسُولِهِ وَ النُّورِ الَّذِی أَنْزَلْنا [So now, believe in Allah and His Messenger and the Light which We have sent down] (at-Taghabun/8) he said: "The Light, by Allah, is the Imams (peace be upon them) from the family of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family). This verse which says: أَتْمِمْ لَنا نُورَنا [make perfect for us our light] means: join our Shia to us."

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): یَوْمَ لَا یُخْزِی اللهُ النَّبِیَّ [on the day on which Allah will not abase the Prophet] — Allah will not punish Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family). وَ الَّذِینَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ [and those who believe with him] — and He will not punish Ali ibn Abi Talib, Fatima, Hasan and Husayn (peace be upon them), Hamza (may Allah have mercy on him) and Ja'far (may Allah have mercy on him). نُورُهُمْ یَسْعَی [their light shall run] — it will make the Sirat (the bridge) shine for Ali (peace be upon him) and Fatima (peace be upon her) seventy times brighter than the world. So their light hastens before them and on their right, and they follow it; then first the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) pass over the Sirat like swift lightning. Then a group passes over it like the wind, then a group passes over it at the speed of a galloping horse, then a group passes over it at the speed of a running man, then a group passes over it at the speed of walking, then a group passes over it at the speed of a child crawling on all fours, then a group passes over it at the speed of dragging themselves along. And Allah makes it wide and broad for the Muslims, and narrow for the sinners. Allah the Glorified says: یَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا أَتْمِمْ لَنَا نُورَنَا [they shall say: Our Lord! make perfect for us our light] until through it we pass over the Sirat. He said: "Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) passes over it upon a howdah of green emerald, and with him Fatima (peace be upon her) upon a steed of red ruby, around her seventy thousand houris of Paradise who are like flashing lightning, passes over it."

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): Ali (peace be upon him) and his companions accompany the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) into Paradise.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): لَا یُخْزِی اللهُ النَّبِیَّ وَ الَّذِینَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ نُورُهُمْ یَسْعَی بَیْنَ أَیْدِیهِمْ وَ بِأَیْمَانِهِمْ [On the day on which Allah will not abase the Prophet and those who believe with him; their light shall run on before them and on their right hands]. Whoever has a light on that day will be saved, and every believer has a light.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "When I was taken by night to the heavens, and I and Jibra'il reached the seventh heaven," Jibra'il said: "O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! This is my station." Then he thrust me into the light with a single thrust, and suddenly I saw an angel from the angels of Allah the Exalted in the form of Ali (peace be upon him), and his name was Ali (peace be upon him), and he was prostrating beneath the Throne, saying: "O Allah, forgive Ali, his descendants (peace be upon them), those who love him, his Shia and his followers, and curse those who hold malice against him, his enemies and those envious of him; إِنَّکَ عَلی کُلِّ شَیْءٍ قَدِیرٌ [surely You have power over all things]."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari (may Allah have mercy on him) says: "One day I was with the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) when he turned his face towards Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) and said: 'O Abu al-Hasan (peace be upon him)! Shall I give you glad tidings?'" He said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)." He said: "This is Jibra'il (peace be upon him) who brings me news from Allah the Mighty and Majestic that He has granted your followers and those who love you nine traits: gentleness at the time of death, comfort at the time of terror, light at the time of darkness and gloom, security at the time of fear, justice at the time of the weighing of deeds, passage over the Sirat, entry into Paradise before other people, وَ نُورُهُمْ یَسْعی بَیْنَ أَیْدِیهِمْ وَ بِأَیْمانِهِمْ [and their light shall run on before them and on their right hands]."

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Isma'il narrated from Imam Rida (peace be upon him) that he said: "Allah has, at the gates of the rulers, one whose face Allah the Glorified and Exalted has illuminated with proof and whom He has empowered in the lands so that through him He may repel harm from His friends and set right the affairs of the Muslims. The believers seek refuge with him from harm, and the needy from among our Shia turn to him, and through him Allah the Exalted grants security to His subjects in the abode of the oppressors. Those are the true believers, and those are the trustees of Allah on His earth, and those are the ones about whom [it is said]: نُورُهُمْ یَسْعی بَیْنَ أَیْدِیهِمْ [their light shall run on before them], and their light for the inhabitants of the heavens is like the light of the brilliant star for the inhabitants of the earth, and the Day of Resurrection derives its light from their light. By Allah! They were created for Paradise and Paradise was created for them; may it be pleasant for them! If Allah wills, there is no obstacle for any one of you from attaining it." I said: "By what means? May I be made your ransom." He said: "Be with them and make us happy by bringing joy to the believers among our Shia."