سورة التوبة

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Ahmad ibn Umar said: The Imam (peace be upon him) was asked about this verse: اعْمَلُوا فَسَیَرَی اللهُ عَمَلَکُمْ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ المُؤْمِنُون [Work; so Allah will see your work and His Messenger and the believers]. He said: "The deeds of the servants, of their righteous ones and their sinful ones, are presented to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) every morning, so be on your guard."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Sama'ah said: I heard the Imam (peace be upon him) say: "Why do you distress the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)?" A man said to him: "How do we distress him?" He said: "Do you not know that your deeds are presented to him, and if he sees a sin in them he is distressed? So do not distress the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and make him happy."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Muslim said: I asked him about deeds — whether they are presented to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). He said: "There is no doubt about it. Have you seen the word of Allah the Exalted: وَ قُلِ اعْمَلُوا فَسَیَرَی اللهُ عَمَلَکُمْ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ [And say: Work; so Allah will see your work, and (so will) His Messenger and the believers]? By Allah, Allah has witnesses on His earth."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Every believer or disbeliever who dies and is placed in his grave — his deeds are presented to the noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and to the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him), and so on, one after another, to the last of the Imams (whose obedience Allah has made obligatory). This is the interpretation of the noble verse: وَ قُلِ اعْمَلُوا فَسَیَرَی اللهُ عَمَلَکُمْ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ [And say: Work; so Allah will see your work, and (so will) His Messenger and the believers].

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Zurarah said: I asked him about this word of Allah, Blessed and Exalted: وَ قُلِ اعْمَلُوا فَسَیَرَی اللهُ عَمَلَکُمْ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ [And say: Work; so Allah will see your work, and (so will) His Messenger and the believers]. He said: "Do you wish to relate it from me? [Its referent] is that which is within you. [The very thing you believe in.]"

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "Abu al-Khattab used to say that the deeds of the ummah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) are presented to him every Thursday." Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "It is not so; rather, the deeds of the ummah are presented to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) every morning — whether the deeds of the righteous or the wicked — so beware. And this is the word of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: وَ قُلِ اعْمَلُوا فَسَیَرَی اللهُ عَمَلَکُمْ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ [And say: Work; so Allah will see your work, and (so will) His Messenger and the believers]." And he fell silent.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): [What the verse means is] the Messenger of Allah and the Imams (whom the deeds of the servants are presented to every Thursday).

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Indeed, deeds are presented to your Prophet every Thursday evening, so each of you should feel ashamed that his ugly deed is presented to his Prophet.

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Abdullah ibn Aban said: I said to Imam Rida (peace be upon him), when a misunderstanding had arisen between me and him: "Pray to Allah for me and for your followers." He said: "By Allah! Your deeds are presented to me every Thursday."

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Abdullah ibn Aban said: I said to Imam Rida (peace be upon him): "Indeed, a group of your followers asked me that you pray to Allah for them." He said: "By Allah! Your deeds are presented to me every day."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Dawud ibn Kathir al-Raqqi said: I was seated with Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) when he said to me: "O Dawud! Indeed your deeds are presented to me on Thursday. Among your deeds, your maintaining of the ties of kinship with your cousin so-and-so was presented to me, and it pleased me. For I realised that your kindness to him will hasten the end of his life and the arrival of his appointed term before yours." Dawud said: "I had a cousin who was an opponent, a Nasibi [enemy of the Ahl al-Bayt], and wicked, and it had reached me that he and his family were in dire straits. Before my journey to Mecca, I allotted a sum for his expenses. When I arrived in Medina, Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) informed me of this matter."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): O Abu Dharr (may Allah have mercy on him), the deeds of people are presented before Allah from one Friday to the next Friday, and on Monday and Thursday. Then every believing servant is forgiven, except a servant between whom and his brother there is enmity.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Muhammad al-Halabi narrated from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) that he said: "Deeds are presented to me every Thursday when the crescent is complete. When it is the middle of Sha'ban, they are presented to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and to Ali al-Murtada (peace be upon him), then they are transcribed in the Wise Remembrance (al-Dhikr al-Hakim)."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Sulayman ibn Khalid said: I heard him say: "Indeed, deeds are presented every Thursday to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family). When the day of Arafah arrives, the Lord, the Blessed and Exalted, descends. And this is the saying of Allah, the Blessed and Exalted: وَ قَدِمْنا إِلی ما عَمِلُوا مِنْ عَمَلٍ فَجَعَلْناهُ هَباءً مَنْثُوراً [And We shall turn to whatever deeds they did, and We shall make them as scattered dust in the air!] (al-Furqan/23)." I said: "May I be your ransom, whose deeds are these?" He said: "The deeds of our enemies and the enemies of our Shia."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): اعْمَلُوا فَسَیَرَی اللهُ عَمَلَکُمْ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ الْمؤْمِنُونَ [Work; so Allah will see your work and (so will) His Apostle and the believers], Allah has a witness on His earth, and the deeds of the servants are presented to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family).

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): It is narrated from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri: Ammar (may Allah have mercy on him) said to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): "O Messenger of Allah! I wish you would live among us for the lifespan of Nuh (peace be upon him)." The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Ammar! My life is beneficial for you, and my death is also not bad for you. As for during my life, if a fault comes from you, I seek forgiveness for you. And as for after my passing, fear Allah and send beautiful blessings upon me and my Ahl al-Bayt, [and your deeds along with your names and your fathers' names are presented to me — if the deed is good I praise Allah, otherwise I seek forgiveness for your sins]. The hypocrites, the doubters, the sick-hearted ones, and those in whose hearts is a disease (al-Anfal/49) said: 'He claims that people's deeds after his death are presented to him with their names and their fathers' names and their lineage and their tribes — this is a great lie!' So Allah sent down this verse: وَ قُلِ اعْمَلُوا فَسَیَرَی اللهُ عَمَلَکُمْ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ المُؤْمِنُونَ [And say: Work; so Allah will see your work and His Messenger and the believers]. Someone asked: "Who are the believers?" He said: "The believers in general, or the believers in this verse: وَ المُؤْمِنُونَ [and the believers] are the family of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and the Imams [from among them (peace be upon them)]."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) — Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) says: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), while he was among a group of his companions, said: "My being among you is good for you, and my parting from you is good for you." Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari stood up and said: "O Messenger of Allah! There is no doubt that your staying among us is good for us, but how can your parting from us be good for us?" He said: "As for my staying among you being good for you, it is because Allah the Mighty and Majestic says: But [O Prophet], as long as you are among them, Allah will not punish them, and [also] as long as they seek forgiveness, Allah will not punish them (Al-Anfal 8:33) — meaning He would punish them with the sword. And as for my parting from you being good for you, it is because your deeds are presented to me every Monday and Thursday, so for your good deeds I praise Allah, and for the bad deeds I seek forgiveness for you."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) — Zurara narrates from Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) that regarding this word of Allah the Exalted: اعْمَلُوا فَسَیَرَی اللهُ عَمَلَکُمْ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ [Work; so Allah will see your work and (so will) His Apostle and the believers], he said: "Have you not heard it from me, so that you would go to Iraq and say: I heard Muhammad ibn Ali say such-and-such? But it is the very thing that is in your heart."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): وَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ [and the believers] — they are the Imams.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) — Abu Basir says: I said to Imam (peace be upon him): "In this word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: وَ قُلِ اعْمَلُوا فَسَیَرَی اللهُ عَمَلَکُمْ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ [And say: Work; so Allah will see your work and (so will) His Apostle and the believers], who is meant by the believers?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "Who is it hoped to be intended by the believers other than this very companion of yours?" [meaning: what is meant by the believers is us, the Ahl al-Bayt of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family)].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): By Allah, he is Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him).

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) used to recite this verse: وَ قُلِ اعْمَلُوا فَسَیَرَی اللهُ عَمَلَکُمْ وَ رَسُولُهُ [And say: Work; so Allah will see your work and (so will) His Messenger], then he would cut off the speech [pause briefly], then he would say: وَ المُؤْمِنُونَ [and the believers].