سورة الأعلى

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): That is, what We have recited to you of the Quran — these [instructions] are also found in the earlier heavenly scriptures.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): O people! Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, sent the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) to you... The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) brought them a copy of what was in the earlier heavenly scriptures.

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): The wilayah of Ali (peace be upon him) is written in all the scriptures of the prophets, and Allah did not send any messenger except with the acknowledgement of the prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and his successor, Ali (peace be upon him).

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)- Abu Dharr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), how many books has Allah revealed?" The Prophet said: "Allah has revealed one hundred scriptures and four complete books. He revealed fifty scriptures to Shith son of Adam (peace be upon him), thirty scriptures to Idris, twenty scriptures to Ibrahim (peace be upon him), and after that He revealed the Tawrat, the Injil, the Zabur, and the Furqan."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him)- Abu Basir said: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "Allah the Mighty and Majestic did not give the prophets anything except that He also gave it to Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), and all that He gave to the prophets, He also gave to Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), and those scriptures which Allah the Mighty and Majestic mentioned: صُحُفِ إِبْراهِیمَ وَ مُوسی [The scriptures of Ibrahim and Musa] are with us." I said: "May I be your ransom, are those scriptures the very Tablets (al-Alwah)?" He said: "Yes."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)- Abu Dharr said: I said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! What were the scriptures of Ibrahim (peace be upon him)?" He said: "They were entirely parables (examples, admonitions and counsels), among them: O king who has been placed under trial and been deceived! I did not send you so that you might amass the world, rather I sent you so that you would not allow any oppressed one to raise the hand of supplication to My court, for I do not turn away the plea of the oppressed, even if he be a disbeliever. And it is upon the intelligent one, so long as his intellect has not been overcome, to divide the hours of his life thus: an hour to sit in intimate whispered prayer with his Lord; an hour to call his own soul to account; an hour to reflect upon Allah's favours toward him; and an hour to devote in privacy to his share of the lawful, for this hour is a help to the other hours and grants the hearts fresh strength and rest. And it is upon the intelligent one to be perceptive of his time, to attend to his own affair, and to guard his tongue; for whoever counts his speech as part of his deeds speaks little, except in what benefits him. And it is upon the intelligent one to seek after three things: improving his livelihood, storing provision for the Hereafter, and taking pleasure in that which is not forbidden."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)- Abu Dharr said: O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! What were the scriptures of Musa (peace be upon him)? He said: "They were entirely admonitions, among them: How astonishing! One who is certain of death, why does he rejoice? And one who is certain of the Fire, why does he laugh? And one who sees the world and its turning against its people, why does he set his heart upon it? And one who is certain of destiny, why does he wear himself out [in grief]? And one who is certain of the reckoning, why does he perform no deed?"

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him)- Yunus ibn Ya'qub said: A group of the companions of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), among whom were Humran ibn A'yan, Mu'min al-Taq, Hisham ibn Salim and al-Tayyar, and with them Hisham ibn al-Hakam, who was a young man, were in his presence. The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "O Hisham." He said: "At your service, O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)!" He said: "Will you not tell me what you did with Amr ibn Ubayd?" He said: "May I be your ransom! I hold you in awe and feel shy before you, and my tongue does not move in your presence." Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "When I command you to do something, do it." Hisham said: "News reached me of the position Amr ibn Ubayd held and of his sitting in the mosque of Basra, and this weighed heavily on me. So I set out for him and entered Basra on a Friday, and I came to the mosque of Basra. I saw a large gathering, and there was Amr ibn Ubayd wearing a black woollen wrap and another wrap thrown over his shoulder, and the people were questioning him. I made a way through the people and went and knelt before him, and I said: 'O scholar, I am a stranger; do you allow me to ask you a question?' He said: 'Yes.' I said: 'Do you have eyes?' He said: 'My son, what kind of question is this?' I said: 'This is my question.' He said: 'My son, ask, even if your question is foolish.' I said: 'Answer me.' He said: 'Ask.' I said: 'Do you have eyes?' He said: 'Yes.' I said: 'What do you see with them?' He said: 'Colours and persons.' I said: 'Do you have a nose?' He said: 'Yes.' I said: 'What do you do with it?' He said: 'With it I smell scents.' I said: 'Do you have a mouth?' He said: 'Yes.' I said: 'What do you do with it?' He said: 'I perceive the taste of things.' I said: 'Do you have a tongue?' He said: 'Yes.' I said: 'What do you do with it?' He said: 'I speak.' I said: 'Do you have an ear?' He said: 'Yes.' I said: 'What do you do with it?' He said: 'I hear sounds.' I said: 'Do you have a hand?' He said: 'Yes.' I said: 'What do you do with it?' He said: 'I strike.' I said: 'Do you have a heart?' He said: 'Yes.' I said: 'What do you do with it?' He said: 'With it I distinguish everything that comes upon these organs.' I said: 'Do not these organs themselves make you independent of the heart?' He said: 'No.' I said: 'How is that, when they are all sound and healthy?' He said: 'My son, when the organs are in doubt about something they have smelled, seen, tasted, heard or touched, they refer it back to the heart, and doubt is dispelled and certainty is attained.' I said: 'So Allah has established the heart to remove the doubt of the organs?' He said: 'Yes.' I said: 'Then the heart is necessary, otherwise the organs cannot function properly.' He said: 'Yes.' I said: 'O Abu Marwan, Allah the Exalted in mention has not left the organs of your body without appointing for them an imam who confirms for them what is correct and gives certainty in what they doubt; and yet He has left all these creatures in their bewilderment, doubt and disagreement and not appointed an imam for them to whom they may refer their doubt and bewilderment, while He has appointed for you an imam for your organs to whom you refer your bewilderment and doubt?' He fell silent and said nothing, then turned to me and said: 'Are you Hisham?' I said: 'No.' He said: 'Are you a companion of his?' I said: 'No.' He said: 'Where are you from?' I said: 'From the people of Kufa.' He said: 'Then you are he.' And he embraced me and seated me in his place, and did not speak until I got up." Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) laughed and said: "O Hisham, who taught you this?" I said: "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), it flowed upon my tongue." He said: "O Hisham, by Allah, this is written in صُحُفِ إِبْراهِیمَ وَ مُوسی [the scriptures of Ibrahim and Musa]."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Musa (peace be upon him) made a bequest to Yusha ibn Nun, and Yusha ibn Nun made a bequest to the sons of Harun, and he did not bequeath it to his own sons nor to the sons of Musa (peace be upon him). Indeed Allah the Exalted is the One who has the choice; He chooses whomever He wills from whichever household He wills. Musa and Yusha (peace be upon them) gave the people the glad tidings of al-Masih (peace be upon him), and when Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, sent al-Masih, al-Masih (peace be upon him) said to the people: "Indeed after me a prophet will come whose name is Ahmad, from the descendants of Ismail (peace be upon him). He will come confirming me and confirming you (he will believe in my prophethood and in your following), and he will bring my proof and yours and my excuse and yours (he will argue as I and you argue, and will deny from me and from you the claim of divinity attributed to me)." And the matter of the bequest after Isa (peace be upon him) continued among the Hawariyyin, the mustahfazin (the entrusted guardians). Allah named them mustahfazin because the guarding of the Greatest Name was entrusted to them, and that is the Book by which the knowledge of every thing is known, and which has been with the prophets (peace be upon them). Allah the Exalted says: "We sent Our messengers with clear proofs, and We sent down with them the Book (of heaven) and the Balance [distinguishing truth from falsehood, and just laws] so that people might uphold justice; and We sent down iron." (al-Hadid 25) (in the Quran the opening of the verse is: لَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنا رُسُلَنا بِالْبَیِّناتِ [Indeed We sent Our messengers with clear proofs].) The Book is the Greatest Name itself, and of what is known by the name of "Book" there is the Tawrat, the Injil, and the Furqan (the Quran); but in that Book [which is with the awsiya] there is the book of Nuh (peace be upon him) and the book of Salih, Shuayb and Ibrahim (peace be upon them), of which Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, informs: إِنَّ هذا لَفِی الصُّحُفِ الْأُولی* صُحُفِ إِبْراهیمَ وَ مُوسی [Indeed this is in the former scriptures, the scriptures of Ibrahim and Musa]. So [if the Book is confined to the Tawrat, the Injil and the Quran], where are the scriptures of Ibrahim (peace be upon him)? Indeed the scriptures of Ibrahim are the Greatest Name, and the scriptures of Musa (peace be upon him) too are the Greatest Name.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): The scriptures of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) were sent down on the first night of the month of Ramadan, and the Tawrat was sent down on the sixth night of the month of Ramadan.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The Tawrat was sent down on the sixth night of the month of Ramadan.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Asbagh ibn Nubata said: When Ali (peace be upon him) came to Kufa, he led them in congregational prayer for forty mornings and [in all forty mornings] he recited for them سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَبِّکَ الْأَعْلَی [Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High]. The hypocrites said: "By Allah, the son of Abu Talib cannot recite the Quran well, and if he could recite well, he would surely recite for us a surah other than this one." This talk reached Ali (peace be upon him). He said: "Woe to them! I know its abrogating and abrogated, its firm and its allegorical, the separation [of its verses] from their joining, and its letters [which have no independent meaning] from [the words that have] its meanings. By Allah! No letter was revealed to Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) except that I know concerning whom it was revealed, on what day it was revealed, and in what place it was revealed. Woe to them! Do they not recite: إِنَّ هذا لَفِی الصُّحُفِ الْأُولی صُحُفِ إِبْراهِیمَ وَ مُوسی [Indeed, this is in the earlier scriptures, the scriptures of Ibrahim and Musa]. By Allah, [the books of Ibrahim and Musa (peace be upon them)] are with me. I inherited them from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) inherited them from Ibrahim and Musa (peace be upon them)."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Humran said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "Are the Torah, the Injil, the Zabur, and what these commands contain in the earlier heavenly books, in the books of Ibrahim and Musa, with you?" He said: "Yes." I said: "This is the greatest [knowledge]." He said: "If there were nothing with us other than the knowledge of the earlier ones, this would be the greatest knowledge, but we have knowledge of the events of night and day, and this knowledge is greater than that."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Salman (may Allah have mercy on him): Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said: ... Ask me about everything that will happen until the Day of Resurrection, and about the era of Isa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him) from when Allah the Exalted raised him up, and ask about every successor of a prophet, and about every group that went astray and every group that is guided, and about the driver, the caller, and the leader of that group until the Day of Resurrection, and ask about every verse that came down in the Book of Allah — whether it came down at night or by day — and also about the Torah, the Injil, and the Great Quran; for the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) did not conceal from me anything of his knowledge and learning, nor of what the nations of the people of the Torah and the Injil, and the classes of opponents, and the groups of the heretics, and the various religions possess. For he was the Seal of the Prophets after them, and upon all of them obedience to him, belief in him, and helping him were made obligatory. They found this matter written in the Torah: فِی الصُّحُفِ الْأُولی* صُحُفِ إِبْراهِیمَ وَ مُوسی [In the earlier scriptures, the scriptures of Ibrahim and Musa].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): I look into the earlier scriptures, the very scriptures of Ibrahim and Musa.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abdullah ibn Hasan sent a message to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) saying: Abu Muhammad [the kunya of Abdullah ibn Hasan] says you are a man of scriptures [a book-reader]. Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "Tell him: Yes, by Allah, I have inherited the scriptures of Ibrahim, Musa and Isa (peace be upon them) from my forefathers."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Imam Husayn (peace be upon him) narrated: Imam Ali (peace be upon him), regarding the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and the exposition of his virtues, said to one of the Jewish scholars: "Surah Bani Israil and Bara'ah, which are in the books of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and the books of Musa (peace be upon him), have been granted to the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him and his family)."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): With us are the scriptures of Ibrahim and Musa (peace be upon them), which have come to us as an inheritance from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family).

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The scriptures of Ibrahim and Musa (peace be upon them) reached the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). He entrusted them to Ali (peace be upon him), and he handed them over to Imam Hasan (peace be upon him), and Imam Hasan (peace be upon him) entrusted them to Imam Husayn (peace be upon him), and so on until the last of the Imams (peace be upon them) in the same manner.