سورة التوبة

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): إِنَّ عِدَّةَ الشُّهُورِ عِندَ اللهِ اثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْراً فِی کِتَابِ اللهِ یَوْمَ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَات وَ الأَرْضَ [Surely the number of months with Allah is twelve months in Allah's ordinance since the day when He created the heavens and the earth]. So the first month is the month of Allah — may His remembrance be glorious — and it is the month of Ramadan, and Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Decree) is the heart of the month of Ramadan, and the Quran was revealed on the first night of the month of Ramadan. So go to meet this month with the recitation of the Quran.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Jabir al-Ju'fi said: I asked Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) about the interpretation (ta'wil) of this word of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: إِنَّ عِدَّةَ الشُّهُورِ عِندَ اللهِ اثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْراً فِی کِتَابِ اللهِ یَوْمَ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَات وَ الأَرْضَ الدِّینُ الْقَیِّمُ فَلاَ تَظْلِمُواْ فِیهِنَّ أَنفُسَکُمْ [Surely the number of months with Allah is twelve months in Allah's ordinance since the day when He created the heavens and the earth… that is the right religion; therefore be not unjust to yourselves regarding them]. My master drew a deep breath and then said: 'O Jabir! As for what is meant by the sunnah, it is my grandfather the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and its months are twelve. So he [Ali] is the Commander of the Faithful, then Hasan and Husayn, then my father Ali Zayn al-Abidin, then me, then my son Ja'far, and his son Musa, and his son Ali, and his son Muhammad, and his son Ali, and his son Hasan, and his son Muhammad al-Hadi al-Mahdi — twelve Imams and proofs (hujjats) of Allah among His creation, and the trustees of His revelation and His knowledge. And the four sacred [months] which are the upright religion; four of them come forth with a single name: Ali the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him), and my father Ali ibn al-Husayn, and Ali ibn Musa, and Ali ibn Muhammad (the upright religion is the recognition of these Imams), فَلَا تَظْلِمُوا فِیهِمْ أَنْفُسَکُمْ [therefore be not unjust to yourselves regarding them]; that is, believe in all of them so that you may be guided.'

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Dawud ibn Kathir al-Raqqi said: ... Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) called out: "O Sama'a ibn Mihran! Bring me a basket of dates." Sama'a brought him a basket of dates. He took one date from it and ate it, took out its pit and planted it in the ground. It split open, sprouted, grew large, produced clusters and bore fruit. Then he took a date from one of the clusters with his own hand, split it open, brought out a white piece of paper from within it, opened it and gave it to me, and said: "Read it." I read it: on it were two lines; the first was لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ [There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah], and the second was إِنَّ عِدَّةَ الشُّهُورِ عِنْدَ اللهِ اثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْراً فِی کِتَابِ اللهِ یَوْمَ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَ الأَرْضَ مِنْهَا أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمٌ ذَلِکَ الدِّینُ الْقَیِّمُ [Surely the number of months with Allah is twelve months in Allah's ordinance since the day when He created the heavens and the earth, of these four being sacred; that is the right reckoning], Amir al-Mu'minin Ali ibn Abi Talib, Hasan ibn Ali, Husayn ibn Ali, Ali ibn al-Husayn, Muhammad ibn Ali, Ja'far ibn Muhammad, Musa ibn Ja'far, Ali ibn Musa, Muhammad ibn Ali, Ali ibn Muhammad, Hasan ibn Ali, and al-Khalaf al-Hujjah (may Allah hasten his noble relief). Then he said: "O Dawud! Do you know when this was written?" I said: "Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him and his family) and you know best." He said: "Two thousand years before Adam (peace be upon him) was created."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) saying: ... O assembly of people! Whoever wishes to grasp a firm handhold that will never break, let him grasp the love of Ali (peace be upon him); for the love of Ali (peace be upon him) is my love, and following him is following me. O assembly of people! Whoever wishes to know the Proof after me, let him know Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him). O assembly of people! Whoever is pleased to hold the friendship of Allah, let him follow Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him); for he is the treasury of my knowledge. O assembly of people! Whoever loves to meet Allah while He is pleased with him, let him love the Imams. Jabir asked: "How many are the Imams?" His eminence (peace be upon him) said: "You have asked me — may Allah have mercy on you — about the whole of Islam. Their number is the number of the months, and that is with Allah twelve months in the Book of Allah, on the day He created the heavens and the earth."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Abu Hamza al-Thumali said: One day I was with Imam Baqir (peace be upon him). When those present had left him, he said to me: "O Abu Hamza! The rising of our Qa'im is among the certain matters which with Allah are not subject to change. Whoever doubts what I say will meet Allah as a disbeliever in Him and a denier of Him." Then he said: "May my father and mother be sacrificed for him! O you who bear my name and my kunya, the seventh [Imam (peace be upon him)] after me — may my father be sacrificed for the one who will fill the earth with justice and equity, just as it has been filled with oppression and tyranny." Then he said: "O Abu Hamza! Whoever reaches him and does not submit to him has not submitted to Muhammad and Ali, and indeed Allah will forbid Paradise to him, and their abode is the Fire, and how evil is the abode of the wrongdoers! (Al-Imran/151)." And [praise be to Allah] clearer than this, and more manifest, more evident and more luminous for one whom Allah guides and to whom He is gracious, is the word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic in His firm Book: إِنَّ عِدَّةَ الشُّهُورِ عِندَ اللهِ اثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْراً فِی کِتَابِ اللهِ یَوْمَ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَات وَ الأَرْضَ مِنْهَا أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمٌ ذَلِکَ الدِّینُ الْقَیِّمُ فَلاَ تَظْلِمُواْ فِیهِنَّ أَنفُسَکُمْ [Surely the number of months with Allah is twelve months in Allah's ordinance since the day when He created the heavens and the earth, of these four being sacred; that is the right reckoning; therefore be not unjust to yourselves regarding them], and knowledge of the months is not the upright religion (din qayyim). For the Jews, the Christians, the Magians, and the rest of the creeds and all people, from the agreeing and the opposing, know these months and count them by name. In reality, they [the months] are the Imams. They are the upholders of Allah's religion, and the sacred months from among them are: the Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), for whom Allah the Exalted derived a name from His name Al-Ali, just as He derived for His Messenger a name from His name Al-Mahmud, and the names of three of his descendants: Ali ibn al-Husayn, Ali ibn Musa, and Ali ibn Muhammad. So this name is taken from the name of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and through Him it became sacred."

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Indeed Allah the Mighty and Majestic created a house of light and made its supports four pillars — four names: Tabarak, Subhan, Al-Hamd, and Allah. Then He created four from four, and from four, four. Then Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: إِنَّ عِدَّةَ الشُّهُورِ عِندَ اللهِ اثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْراً [Surely the number of months with Allah is twelve months].

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him)- Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) says: My father said to Jabir ibn Abd Allah: "I have a matter with you concerning which I must speak with you in private." When he was alone with him, he said: "O Jabir! Tell me about the tablet you saw with my mother Fatima al-Zahra (peace be upon her)." He said: "I call Allah to witness that I came to my mistress Fatima (peace be upon her) to congratulate her on the birth of Husayn (peace be upon him), when suddenly I saw in her hand a green tablet of green emerald, in which was a writing more luminous than the sun and more fragrant than musk. I said: 'What is this tablet, O daughter of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)?' [Fatima (peace be upon her)] said: 'This is a tablet which Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, sent down upon my father (peace be upon him), and he said to me: Keep it. So I did so, and in it are the names of my father, my husband, and the names of the successors after my son Husayn (peace be upon him).' I asked her to give it to me so that I might make a copy of it, and she did so." My father said to him (Jabir): "What did you do with your copy?" [Jabir] said: "It is with me." He said: "Are you able to show it to me?" Jabir went to his house and brought him a piece of red leather. The Imam (peace be upon him) said to him: "Look at your writing while I read it to you." In his writing was: "بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِیم [In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate], this is a book from Allah, the Mighty, the All-Knowing, which the Trustworthy Spirit brought down upon Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), the Seal of the Prophets. O Muhammad! indeed the number of months with Allah in the divine book [of creation], from the day He created the heavens and the earth, is twelve months, four of which are sacred months [and fighting in them is forbidden]. This is the everlasting and firm [divine] religion. Therefore, do not wrong yourselves during these months [and refrain from all bloodshed]. O Muhammad! Magnify My names, and thank Me for My blessings, and do not deny My bounties, and do not place your hope in anyone besides Me, and do not fear anyone besides Me. For whoever places his hope in anyone besides Me and fears anyone besides Me, I will afflict him with a punishment with which I afflict no one else in the worlds. O Muhammad! indeed I have chosen you over the prophets, and I have chosen your successor Ali (peace be upon him) over the other successors, and I have made Hasan (peace be upon him), after the end of the period of his father's imamate, the treasury of My knowledge, and Husayn (peace be upon him) is the best of the children of the first and the last, and in him the imamate endures, and the rest of the imams (come forth from him), and Zayn al-Abidin (peace be upon him), and Baqir al-Ulum (peace be upon him), the splitter of knowledge, who calls to My path, that is, upon the way and method of truth, and Ja'far (peace be upon him), who is truthful and upright in speech and deed, and after him a widespread tribulation will occur. So woe to him who denies the family of My Prophet and the best of My creation, and Musa (peace be upon him), who restrains his anger, and Ali ibn al-Rida (peace be upon him), whom a disbelieving demon kills, who is buried in a city which the righteous servant built, buried beside the worst of Allah's creation, and Muhammad al-Hadi (peace be upon him), the likeness of his blessed grandfather, and Ali (peace be upon him), who calls to My path and defends My sanctuary and manages the affairs of My subjects, and Hasan (peace be upon him), the honored one, from whom will come forth an imam with two names, the successor of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), and he will appear at the end of time, while upon his head is a white turban which protects him from the light of the sun, and a person will call out with a clear and eloquent tongue, and the jinn and mankind and everyone who lives under the sky will hear his voice: 'This is the Mahdi of the family of Muhammad (may Allah hasten his noble reappearance).' Then he will fill the earth with justice, just as it had been filled with oppression and injustice."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): By the One who sent me with prophethood and made me the best of humankind, my successor is indeed the best of successors, and he is the proof of Allah over His servants and His vicegerent over His creation. The guiding Imams after me are from his progeny. It is on account of them that Allah withholds punishment from the people of the earth, and it is on account of them that Allah holds back [the bodies of] the heavens [the planets and celestial stones] from falling upon the earth except by His command (Hajj/65), and it is on account of them that He keeps the mountains firm and steady so that they do not shake, and it is on account of them that He sends down rain upon His creation, and it is on account of them that He causes the plants and vegetation to grow. They are the true friends of Allah and His truthful successors. Their number is the number of the months of the year, which is twelve months.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Allah created the months as twelve months, and they were three hundred and sixty days, and He took away from them the six days of the period in which He created the heavens and the earth, and from that point the months became shorter.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): مِنْها أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمٌ [Of these four are sacred] — Rajab of Mudar, which lies between Jumada and Sha'ban, and Dhul-Qa'da and Dhul-Hijja and al-Muharram; so do not wrong yourselves during them.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): مِنْهَا أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمٌ [of these four are sacred]; twenty days of Dhul-Hijjah, and Muharram, and Safar, and the month of Rabi al-Awwal, and ten days of Rabi al-Thani.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Zurarah said: ... Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: Allah has not created any spot on the earth more beloved to Him than this spot [then he pointed with his hand towards the Ka'bah], and no land is more honoured before Him than this land. On the day when Allah created the heavens and the earth, it was on account of this land that Allah the Exalted declared the sacred months to be sacred in His Book. Three consecutive months, and one single month for Umrah, which is Rajab.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: My father Ali ibn al-Husayn (peace be upon him) narrated from Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) that when the Messenger of Allah's (peace be upon him and his family) illness grew severe, he said: "O people! Every year has twelve months, and among them four are sacred." Then, while pointing with his hand, he said: "Rajab standing alone, and Dhul-Qa'dah and Dhul-Hijjah and Muharram — three [months] consecutively."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): In al-Manaqib it is reported: ... أربعة حُرُم (the four sacred [months]) are Ali, Hasan, Husayn (and al-Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble reappearance)), by virtue of this verse indicating this matter: ذلِکَ الدِّینُ الْقَیِّمُ [that is the upright religion].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): My father [Imam Baqir (peace be upon him)] was asked about this word of Allah: قاتِلُوا المُشْرِکِینَ کَافَّةً کَما یُقاتِلُونَکُمْ کَافَّةً [fight the polytheists all together as they fight you all together]. [He said]: "So that no polytheist remains, and the religion [and worship] is entirely for Allah!" Then he said: "The interpretation of this verse has not yet come to pass, and if our Qa'im rises, whoever reaches him will see the interpretation of this verse, and the Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble reappearance) will convey the religion of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) as far as the night reaches, until — as Allah has said — no polytheism remains upon the earth."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): وَ قاتِلُوا الْمُشْرِکِینَ کَافَّةً [And fight the polytheists all together] — kaffah means all together.