سورة التوبة

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Hariz has narrated from him concerning the adhan (announcement) that he said: "It is a name in the Book of Allah, and none knows it besides me."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): وَأَذَانٌ مِّنَ اللهِ وَ رَسُولِهِ إِلَی النَّاسِ یَوْمَ الحَجِّ الأَکْبَرِ [And an announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage] — what is meant is the rising of al-Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief), and the announcement is his call to himself.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): This is a name that Allah the Mighty and Majestic gave to Ali (peace be upon him) in the heavens. For he was the one who, on behalf of Allah, recited the verses of Bara'ah to the polytheists, and this was after the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) had sent it with Abu Bakr. Then Jibra'il descended and said: 'O Muhammad! Allah says to you that no one should convey these verses on your behalf except you yourself or a man from your Ahl al-Bayt.' So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) sent Ali (peace be upon him) after Abu Bakr, and he took the scroll from Abu Bakr and carried it with him to Makkah. So Allah named him أَذَان مِّنَ اللهِ [an announcement from Allah]. This is a name that Allah gifted from the heavens to Ali (peace be upon him).

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Abu Sa'id al-Warraq narrated from his father, from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), from his grandfather, that [in Ali's (peace be upon him) debate with Abu Bakr] Ali (peace be upon him) said: 'Was it I who announced Surah Bara'ah to the people of the pilgrimage season and to the whole ummah, or you?' He said: 'Rather, it was you.'

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Ali (peace be upon him) delivered a sermon and said: "وَ أَذانٌ مِنَ اللهِ وَ رَسُولِهِ [And an announcement from Allah and His Messenger]; that announcer is me."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): The announcer in this world and the hereafter is me. Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: "Then a caller will call out amongst them: 'The curse of Allah be upon the wrongdoers!'" (al-A'raf/44), and that caller is me. And He said: وَ أَذانٌ مِنَ اللهِ وَ رَسُولِهِ [And an announcement from Allah and His Messenger]; that announcer is me.

Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him): وَ أَذانٌ مِنَ اللهِ وَ رَسُولِهِ [And an announcement from Allah and His Messenger] — the announcement is the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) himself.

Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him): Ali ibn Hamdun, with his chain, narrates from Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) who said: "Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) has a name in the Book of Allah which they do not recognise." I said: "What is this name?" He said: "Have you not heard the verse: وَ أَذانٌ مِنَ اللهِ وَ رَسُولِهِ إِلَی النَّاسِ یَوْمَ الْحَجِّ الْأَکْبَرِ [And an announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage]? By Allah, the أَذان [announcement] is Ali (peace be upon him) himself."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): I was walking with the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) in one of the alleys of Madinah when suddenly we saw a tall old man with a thick beard and broad shoulders. He greeted the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and welcomed him. Then he turned to me and said: "Peace be upon you, O fourth of the caliphs, and the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you. Is it not so, O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to him: "Yes." Then he went away. I said: "O Messenger of Allah! What was it that this old man said to you...?" The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "...Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: وَ أَذانٌ مِنَ اللهِ وَ رَسُولِهِ إِلَی النَّاسِ یَوْمَ الْحَجِّ الْأَکْبَرِ [And an announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage] — so the announcer on behalf of Allah and on behalf of His Messenger was you, and you are my successor, my minister, the one who pays my debt and discharges my obligations on my behalf. And you are to me in the position of Harun (peace be upon him) to Musa (peace be upon him), except that there is no prophet after me. So you are the fourth of the caliphs, just as that elder greeted you. Do you know who he was?" I said: "No." He said: "Know that he was your brother Khidr (peace be upon him)."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) — Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla said: My father said: "In the Battle of Khaybar, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) gave the banner to Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), and Allah opened that fortress at his hand. And on the Day of Ghadir he stood him up and announced to the people: '... You are the one concerning whom Allah the Exalted revealed this verse: وَأَذَانٌ مِّنَ اللهِ وَ رَسُولِهِ إِلَی النَّاسِ یَوْمَ الحَجِّ الأَکْبَرِ [And an announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage].'"

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): [addressing Imam Ali (peace be upon him):] "Allah the Mighty and Majestic says: وَ أَذَانٌ مِّنَ اللهِ وَ رَسُولِهِ إِلَی النَّاسِ یَوْمَ الحَجِّ الأَکْبَرِ [And an announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage], and you are the one who conveyed [the verses of bara'a (disavowal)] from Allah the Mighty and Majestic and His Messenger (peace be upon him and his family)."

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): When the day of the greater pilgrimage came and the people had finished the rites of the Hajj and completed the stoning of the jamarat, the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) stood at the jamra and called out the people to Allah in a loud voice. When they gathered, he first recited to them the verses of bara'a (disavowal) ... and promised the people war if they did not believe, and this is the word of Allah: وَأَذَانٌ مِّنَ اللهِ وَ رَسُولِهِ إِلَی النَّاسِ یَوْمَ الحَجِّ الأَکْبَرِ [And an announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage]. His address was directed to the people of Khuza'a and Banu Mudlij, who had a non-aggression pact with the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), and also to others who were present at the greater pilgrimage. Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "The 'announcement' is the Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him)."

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): The one who made the announcement on that day from Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him and his family) was Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), and he announced four matters: no one enters Paradise except a believer; no one has the right to circumambulate the Ka'ba naked; whoever has a covenant with the Prophet, his covenant is valid until the end of its term; and those present at the Hajj that year have four months to reach their tribes and kin.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Bukhari, in his Sahih, in the middle of the fifth part, in the chapter of وَ أَذَانٌ مِنَ اللهِ وَ رَسُولِهِ إِلَی النَّاسِ یَوْمَ الحَجِّ الْأَکْبَرِ أَنَّ اللهَ بَرِیءٌ مِنَ الْمشْرِکِینَ وَ رَسُولُهُ [And an announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage, that Allah and His Messenger are free from the idolaters], has narrated the hadith of Surah Bara'a, and added in it that he said: "So Ali (peace be upon him) announced on the Day of Sacrifice among the people of Mina that from this year onwards no idolater has the right to participate in the Hajj rites, and no naked person should circumambulate the House of Allah."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Umar ibn Udhayna said: I wrote a letter to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him). The reply came in the Imam's (peace be upon him) own handwriting. In that letter I asked the Imam about the interpretation of the verse الحَجِّ الْأَکْبَرِ [the greater pilgrimage] and its meaning, and the Imam said: "What is meant by al-Hajj al-Akbar (the greater pilgrimage) is the standing at Arafah and the stoning of the Jamarat, and what is meant by al-Hajj al-Asghar (the lesser pilgrimage) is the Umrah."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Hafs ibn Ghiyath al-Nakha'i, the judge, said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "What is the meaning of the phrase الحَجِّ الْأَکْبَرِ [the greater pilgrimage]?" He said: "It was called al-Akbar (the greater) because it was a year in which both the Muslims and the polytheists performed the Hajj, and after that year the polytheists no longer went for Hajj."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): یَوْمَ الحَجِّ الْأَکْبَرِ [the day of the greater pilgrimage]; that (the greater pilgrimage) is the Day of Nahr (the day of sacrifice).

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): الحَجِّ الْأَکْبَرِ [the greater pilgrimage] is the Day of Adha and Qurban (the day of sacrifice).

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): یَوْمَ الحَجِّ الأَکْبَرِ [the day of the greater pilgrimage] — what is meant is the rising of al-Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief).

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Fudayl ibn Ayyad narrates from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) said: "Al-hajj al-akbar (the greater pilgrimage) is the day of nahr (the slaughtering of the sacrifices), and he cited this word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic as proof: فَسِیحُواْ فِی الأَرْضِ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ [So travel throughout the land for four months], and that is twenty days of Dhu al-Hijjah, and Muharram, and Safar, and the month of Rabi al-Awwal, and ten days of Rabi al-Thani; and had al-hajj al-akbar been the day of Arafah, it would have been four months and one day."

Imam al-Hadi (peace be upon him): Imam al-Hadi (peace be upon him) was asked whether the acts of the servants are created by Allah the Exalted. He (peace be upon him) said: "Had Allah been their creator, He would not have disowned them; whereas Allah the Glorified has said: أَنَّ اللهَ بَرِیءٌ مِنَ المُشْرِکِینَ [that Allah is free of the polytheists], and what Allah means is not disowning the polytheists themselves, rather Allah has only disowned their shirk (polytheism) and their evil deeds."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Khidash and Sa'id, the brothers of Amr ibn Abd Wudd, stood up and said: "We are not obliged to wait four months; rather, we disown you and your cousin, and there is nothing between us and your cousin but the sword and the spear, and if you wish, we will begin with you." Ali (peace be upon him) said: "Come on then." Then he said: "وَ اعْلَمُواْ أنَّکُمْ غَیْرُ مُعْجِزِی اللهِ ... إِلی مُدَّتِهِمْ [And know that you cannot frustrate Allah ... till their term]; (at-Tawba/4)."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): [In Majma al-Bayan] it is narrated that when Imam Ali (peace be upon him) proclaimed among the polytheists: أَنَّ اللهَ بَریءٌ مِنَ المُشْرِکینَ وَ رَسُولُه [that Allah and His Messenger are free of the polytheists], the polytheists said: "We disown your covenant and the covenant of your cousin."