سورة التوبة

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Jabir said: It is narrated from Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Ali (peace be upon him) stood up and delivered a sermon to the people at the Battle of Siffin and said: "... I am among the people of Badr, and Mu'awiya is a freed captive, son of a freed captive. By Allah, we are upon the truth and they are upon falsehood. Let it not be that that group joins together and unites upon their falsehood while you become scattered regarding your truth, until their falsehood overcomes your truth. قاتِلُوهُمْ یُعَذِّبْهُمُ اللهُ بِأَیْدِیکُمْ [Fight them; Allah will punish them by your hands]; and if you do not do so, He will surely punish them by the hands of others."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Uqba said: I went with Mualla ibn Khunays to visit Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him). He said: "Good news to you, of one of the two good outcomes from Allah! Either you will remain until you see that which will be a cause of your pride — Allah will heal your hearts and remove the wrath of your hearts and give you victory over the enemy, as He says in the Quran: وَ یَشْفِ صُدُورَ قَوْمٍ مُؤْمِنِینَ* وَ یُذْهِبْ غَیْظَ قُلُوبِهِم [and heal the hearts of a believing people, and remove the wrath of their hearts]; or, if you leave this world before seeing that day, you will have departed upon the religion which Allah has approved for His Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and his household and Ali (peace be upon him)."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Ali ibn Uqba ibn Khalid said: I and Ali ibn Khunays went to visit Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), but he was not in his sitting-room. After a while, he came out to us without a cloak from within his household, and when he saw us he welcomed us and said: "Welcome, you have brought delight!" Then he sat down and said: "You are the possessors of understanding of whom Allah has said in the Quran: 'Only those of understanding take heed.' (Ra'd 13:19). So good news to you! You have one of the two good outcomes from Allah; either you will be alive to see that which will be a cause of your elevation — Allah will heal your breasts and calm the wrath of your hearts and grant you victory over your enemy, and this is the very word of Allah the Exalted: وَ یَشْفِ صُدُورَ قَوْمٍ مُؤْمِنِینَ* وَ یُذْهِبْ غَیْظَ قُلُوبِهِم [and heal the hearts of a believing people, and remove the wrath of their hearts]; or, if you leave this world before that, you will have departed upon the religion which Allah has approved for His Prophet and chosen him upon, and you will be raised upon that same religion. By Allah! On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will not accept from His servants anything except what you [Shia] believe in, and there is nothing between any one of you and seeing that which will delight his eye except that his soul reaches here." Then [the Imam (peace be upon him)] raised his hand up to his throat and then wept. ["There is no distance except the soul reaching the throat" means: immediately after death, he sees that which delights his eye.]

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Abu al-Aghar al-Tamimi who said: I was standing on the day of Siffin when al-Abbas ibn Rabi'a ibn al-Harith ibn Abd al-Muttalib passed by me, fully armed, with a helmet on his head and a Yemeni sword in his hand ... Then al-Abbas struck him one blow with the sword, and with that blow the cage of his chest was neatly torn apart, and the Syrian fell to the ground on his cheek. Al-Abbas rose up among the people, and the people gave such a takbir that the earth shook with it. Then I heard someone behind me saying: قاتِلُوهُمْ یُعَذِّبْهُمُ اللهُ بِأَیْدِیکُمْ وَ یُخْزِهِمْ وَ یَنْصُرْکُمْ عَلَیْهِمْ وَ یَشْفِ صُدُورَ قَوْمٍ مُؤْمِنِینَ، وَ یُذْهِبْ غَیْظَ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَ یَتُوبُ اللهُ عَلی مَنْ یَشاءُ [Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace, and assist you against them and heal the hearts of a believing people, and remove the rage of their hearts; and Allah turns in mercy to whom He wills]. I looked toward the voice, and suddenly I saw that it was Amir al-Mu'minin Ali (peace be upon him). He said: "O Aba al-Aghar! Who is the one who was fighting our enemy?" I said: "This warrior was the son of your shaykh, al-Abbas ibn Rabi'a."

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Hasan ibn Mahbub narrates from Imam Rida (peace be upon him) that he said: "A turmoil will arise in which even the clever ones and the cautious among our close companions will be swept into its whirlpool, and that will be at the time when the Shia lose the third [Imam (peace be upon him)] from my descendants. The people of heaven and earth will weep for him. How many believers will be regretful, thirsty and grieved at the loss of the ma' ma'in — the pure, clear water (al-Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief)). It is as if I see them, most joyful, when they are called, and that call is heard from afar just as it is heard from nearby, and that call is mercy for the people of faith and punishment for the disbelievers." [Hasan ibn Mahbub says:] I asked: "What is that call?" He said: "In the month of Rajab three voices will be heard from the sky. The first voice is: أَلا لَعْنَةُ اللهِ عَلَی الظَّالِمِینَ [Behold, the curse of Allah be upon the wrongdoers! (Hud/18)] — that is, be aware, Allah curses the oppressive people. In the second voice they say: O people of faith, the Day of Resurrection is near. And in the third voice a person is seen in the direction of the sun who says: This is Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), who has come charging to slay the tyrants." In the narration of al-Himyari it is said: "In the third voice a person is seen near the sun who says: Allah has sent so-and-so, so listen to his words and follow him." And both narrators (Hasan ibn Mahbub and al-Himyari) said: At that moment relief [and freedom] comes to the people, and those who have died and wished that they might have been alive at that time — وَ یَشْفِی اللهُ صُدُورَ قَوْمٍ مُؤْمِنِینَ [and Allah heals the hearts of a believing people].

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya said: Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) say: "Allah, Blessed and Exalted, said: 'I shall surely punish every subject people that submits to the obedience of a leader who is not from Us, even if that person is in himself a good man; and I shall surely have mercy on every people who obey Our just Imam out of conviction and consent, even if they are not themselves good people.'" Then he said: "O Ali (peace be upon him), you are the Imam and successor after me..." He said: "They are garments of light that blaze from the radiance of the Holy. It is as though I see them at the point of utter despair, when a call is heard from afar which those far and near hear alike, and this call is a mercy upon the believers and a punishment upon the disbelievers." I said: "What is that call?" He said: "Three cries in the month of Rajab. The first is: أَلا لَعْنَةُ اللهِ عَلَی الظَّالِمِینَ [Behold, the curse of Allah is upon the wrongdoers!] (Hud/18). The second cry is: أَزِفَتِ الْآزِفَةُ [That which is approaching has drawn near — and the Resurrection is at hand] (Najm/57). Then at that time they will see a figure appearing with the rising of the sun, crying out: 'Know and be aware, Allah has raised up so-and-so, son of so-and-so' — and he will trace his lineage up to Ali (peace be upon him) — 'in whose raising is the destruction of the oppressors.' So at that time relief will come, and یَشْفِی اللهُ صُدُورَهُمْ وَ یُذْهِبْ غَیْظَ قُلُوبِهِمْ [Allah will heal their breasts and remove the rage of their hearts]." I said: "O Messenger of Allah! How many Imams will there be after me?" He said: "The Imams after Husayn (peace be upon him) are nine, and the ninth of them is their Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief)."

Imam al-Jawad (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Faraj said: In reply to a letter I had written to him, the Imam (peace be upon him) said: "When you finish an obligatory prayer, say: I am content with Allah as Lord, with Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) as Prophet, with Islam as my religion, with the Qur'an as my Book, and with so-and-so and so-and-so as Imams. O Allah, so-and-so is Your wali (guardian) — protect him from before him and from behind him, from his right and from his left, from above him and from below him; prolong his life, and make him the one who establishes Your command and grants victory to Your religion; show him what he loves and what delights his eye in himself, his offspring, his family, his wealth, among his followers and against his enemies; show them from him what they dread, and show him among them what he loves and what delights his eye; and heal our breasts and the breasts of a believing people."