Imam al-Askari (peace be upon him): After the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) reached the mountain pass at which the disgraced hypocrites and disbelievers stood facing him, he descended at the foot of the pass. Then he gathered them and said: "Jibra'il, the Trustworthy Spirit, has informed me that such-and-such a plot has been devised against Ali (peace be upon him), but Allah the Mighty and Majestic, through His kindnesses and wondrous miracles, protected him by such-and-such means, and made the ground firm and solid beneath the hoof of his mount and the feet of his companions. Then Ali (peace be upon him) returned to that spot and uncovered it, and the pit was revealed. Then Allah the Mighty and Majestic, out of His honouring of him, closed it up as it had been. And it was said to him [Ali (peace be upon him)]: 'Write about this and send a messenger to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family).' But he replied: 'Allah's messenger to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) is swifter, and His message to him arrives sooner.'" Yet the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) did not inform them of what Ali (peace be upon him) had said at the gate of Medina, when he said: "There are hypocrites with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) who will soon plot against him, but Allah the Exalted will defend and protect him."
When those twenty-four hypocrites of the pass heard what the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said about Ali (peace be upon him), they said to one another: "How skilled Muhammad is at fabrication! Did a swift courier come to him, or did a bird descend upon him from Medina from some of his household, [saying] that Ali has been killed by such-and-such a ruse — the very one upon which we agreed with our companions? Now that the news has reached him, he is hiding it and turning it into its opposite. He wants those with him to be at ease, so they do not rise against him. But what a vain fancy! By Allah, only Ali's appointed death held him back in Medina, and only Muhammad's (peace be upon him and his family) appointed death drew him out to this place. Ali has perished, and Muhammad too will perish here without any doubt. But come, let us go to him and show joy over Ali's (peace be upon him) affair, so his heart may be more at ease with us until we carry out our plan against him." So they came before him and congratulated him on Ali's (peace be upon him) deliverance from the trap his enemies had prepared for him. Then they said to him: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Tell us about Ali (peace be upon him) — is he superior, or the angels brought near to Allah?"
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Are the angels ennobled by anything other than their love for Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and Ali (peace be upon him) and their acceptance of the wilayah of them both? There is no one among the lovers of Ali (peace be upon him) whose heart has been cleansed of the filth of deceit, treachery, malice and the impurities of sins, but that he is purer and superior to the angels. And did Allah command the angels to prostrate to Adam (peace be upon him) for any reason other than what they had settled in themselves — that after they were raised above this world, no creature would come into existence in it after them, meaning themselves, unless the angels would be superior to that creature in religion in merit and more knowledgeable of Allah and His religion? So Allah willed to make them realise that they had erred in their assumptions and beliefs. He created Adam (peace be upon him) and taught him all the names, then presented them to them, but they were unable to know them. So He commanded Adam (peace be upon him) to inform them of them, and thus made known to them his superiority in knowledge over them. Then He brought forth from the loins of Adam (peace be upon him) his descendants, from whom arose the prophets, messengers and the chosen among the servants of Allah. The best of them is Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), then the family of Muhammad, and the chosen and virtuous among them are the companions of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and the chosen of the ummah of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family). And by this the angels came to know that these are superior to the angels — since they bear what has been laid upon them of burdens, and endure what they face of the assaults of the helpers of the devils, and struggle against their own souls, and bear the hardship of dependants, and strive in seeking the lawful, and suffer the dangers of fearing enemies — from terrifying thieves, from tyrannical, overpowering rulers — and the difficulty of travelling through narrow paths, frightening places, plains, mountains and hills to obtain sustenance for themselves and their families from what is pure and lawful. So Allah the Mighty and Majestic made them know that the best of the believers endure these trials and escape from them, and wage war against the devils and defeat them, and struggle against their own souls by repelling them from their desires and overcoming them, despite what has been placed in them of sexual desires, love of clothing, food, honour, leadership, boasting and pride, and enduring hardship and trial from Iblis and his demons and their whisperings, their misleading and their seduction, and warding off the painful patience they suffer in listening to the taunts of Allah's enemies, and hearing amusements and the reviling of Allah's friends, along with what they endure in their journeys for their sustenance, and in fleeing from the enemies of their religion, or in seeking those they hope to deal with among those who oppose them in their religion.
"Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: 'O My angels! You are removed from all of that. No sexual desires disturb you, no desire for food impels you, no fear from the enemies of your religion or of your world weighs upon your hearts, and Iblis has no occupation in the kingdom of My heavens and My earth for misleading My angels, whom I have preserved from him. O My angels! Whoever among them [the humans] obeys Me and preserves his religion from these afflictions and calamities has borne, for the sake of My love, what you have not borne, and has earned of nearness to Me what you have not earned.' So when Allah made known to His angels the superiority of the best of the ummah of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and the shi'a of Ali (peace be upon him) and his successors, and their bearing — for the sake of the love of their Lord — of what the angels do not bear, He distinguished the children of Adam (peace be upon him) — the pious, chosen ones — with superiority over them. Then He said: 'For that reason, prostrate to Adam (peace be upon him),' because he contained the lights of these superior creatures. Their prostration was not to Adam (peace be upon him); rather, Adam (peace be upon him) was a qibla for them, toward whom they prostrated to Allah the Mighty and Majestic. And by that he was honoured and dignified. It is not fitting for anyone to prostrate to anyone other than Allah, humbling himself before him as he humbles himself before Allah, and glorifying him by prostration as he glorifies Allah. And if I were to command anyone to prostrate in this manner to other than Allah, I would command the weak among our followers and the rest of the accountable ones to prostrate to the intermediary of the sciences [i.e. the transmitter] of Ali (peace be upon him), the successor of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), who has devoted himself in pure love to the best of Allah's creation after Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), that is Ali (peace be upon him), and who has borne hardships and trials in openly proclaiming the rights of Allah, and did not deny to me a right I looked for from him which he had been ignorant of or heedless of."
Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Iblis disobeyed Allah and perished, because his disobedience was through arrogance toward Adam (peace be upon him). And Adam (peace be upon him) disobeyed Allah by eating from the tree, yet he was saved and did not perish, because his disobedience was not coupled with arrogance toward Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and his pure family. That is because Allah the Exalted said to him: 'O Adam (peace be upon him)! Iblis disobeyed Me concerning you and was arrogant toward you, and so he perished. Had he humbled himself to you by My command and magnified the might of My majesty, he would have prospered a complete prospering, just as you have prospered. And you disobeyed Me by eating from the tree, but through humility toward Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and the family of Muhammad you will prosper a complete prospering, and the stain of that slip will be removed from you. So call upon Me by Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and his pure family for this.' So he called upon Him through them and prospered a complete prospering, because he clung to our handhold, the Ahl al-Bayt."
Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) commanded departure at the beginning of the second half of the night, and commanded his crier, who called out: "Beware, let no one precede the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) to the pass, and let no one tread upon it until the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) has passed it." Then he ordered Hudhayfa to sit at the foot of the pass and observe who passed by, and then inform the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family). And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) had commanded him to become like the stones (to conceal himself among them). Hudhayfa said: "O Messenger of Allah! I truly see evil in the faces of the chiefs of your army, and I fear that if I sit at the foot of the mountain and one of them whom I fear comes ahead of you to this place to plot against you, he will sense me, uncover me, recognise me and my position in your confidence, then accuse me, fear me, and kill me." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "When you reach the foot of the pass, go to the largest rock there beside the foot of the pass and say to it: 'The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) commands you to open up for me so I may enter into you. Then he commands you that an opening be made in you through which I may observe the passers-by and by which air may enter to me so I do not become one of the perished.' It will do what you say to it, by permission of Allah, Lord of the worlds."
So Hudhayfa delivered the message, entered into the rock, and the twenty-four came upon their camels with their footmen ahead of them, saying to one another: "Whomever you see here, whoever he may be, kill him, lest they inform Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) that they saw us here, and Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) turn back and not ascend this pass except by day, so that our plan against him be foiled." Hudhayfa heard them, and they searched thoroughly but found no one, for Allah had concealed Hudhayfa from them by means of the rock. Then they dispersed: some of them climbed the mountain and turned aside from the trodden path, and others stood on the slope of the mountain to the right and left, saying: "Do you not see how Muhammad's (peace be upon him and his family) doom drives him — how he has been prompted to prevent the people from ascending the pass so that he alone may cross it, so we may be alone with him here, and our plan against him may be carried out while his companions are removed from him?" All of this Allah conveyed, from near and far, to the ears of Hudhayfa, and Hudhayfa retained it.
When the people had settled on the mountain in the places they wished, the rock spoke to Hudhayfa and said: "Go now to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and inform him of what you have seen and heard." Hudhayfa said: "How shall I go out from you, when if this people see me they will kill me, for fear of my reporting them?" The rock said: "The One who enabled you [to enter] within me and brought air to you through the opening He made in me — He is the One who will bring you to the Prophet of Allah and rescue you from the enemies of Allah." So Hudhayfa (may Allah have mercy on him) rose to go out; the rock opened, and Allah turned him into a bird, and he soared through the air, flying high, until he descended before the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and then was returned to his [original] form. He informed the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) of what he had seen and heard. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Did you recognise them by their faces?" He said: "O Messenger of Allah, they were veiled, and I recognised most of them by their camels. When they searched the place and found no one, they lowered the veils and I saw their faces and recognised them by their persons and names — so-and-so and so-and-so" — until he had counted twenty-four.
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "O Hudhayfa (may Allah have mercy on him), if Allah keeps Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) firm, neither these nor all of creation together can remove him. Indeed, Allah shall carry through His affair concerning Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), even if the disbelievers hate it." Then he said: "O Hudhayfa, rise with us — you, Salman and Ammar — and put your trust in Allah. When we have crossed this difficult defile, give permission to the people to follow us." So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) ascended, mounted on his she-camel, with Hudhayfa and Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) — one of them holding the halter of his she-camel and leading it, the other behind driving it — and Ammar (may Allah have mercy on him) at its side, while the people were on their camels and on foot, scattered around the defile on those passes. Those who were above the road had placed stones in wooden barrels and rolled them down from above, to spook the she-camel of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), so that it would fall into the ravine — a ravine the very sight of which from a distance terrified the beholder. But when the barrels approached the she-camel of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), Allah the Exalted commanded them, and they rose up to a great height, passed over the she-camel of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and then fell to the side of the ravine, and none of them remained but became likewise. And the she-camel of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) was as though it did not sense any of that clattering of the barrels.
Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to Ammar (may Allah have mercy on him): "Climb the mountain and strike the faces of their mounts with this staff of yours and drive them off." Ammar (may Allah have mercy on him) did so, and their mounts bolted with them; one of them fell and his upper arm was broken; among them was one whose leg was broken, and another whose side was broken; and their pains from that grew severe. When [the fractures] were set and healed, the marks of the breaks remained on them until they died. It is for this reason that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said concerning Hudhayfa and the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him): "They two are the most knowledgeable of people concerning the hypocrites" — because of his (Hudhayfa's) sitting at the foot of the mountain and his witnessing those who passed by ahead of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family). And Allah sufficed His Messenger (peace be upon him and his family) in the matter of those who sought him. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) returned to Medina, and Allah clothed with disgrace and shame those who had held back from accompanying him, and cloaked with humiliation those who had plotted against Ali (peace be upon him) that from which Allah had defended him.