Ubayd ibn Karib said: I heard Ali say: We, the People of the House, have a banner. Whoever goes ahead of it strays out of religion, whoever lags behind it is destroyed, and whoever follows it joins us. (al-Imama wa'l-Tabsira, vol. 1, p. 132)
The narrator says: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: We, the People of the House, have an appointed time for our rising. Whoever runs ahead of it will be struck down; whoever fails to answer that banner when its hour comes will perish; and whoever follows it will be joined to us.
Al-Fadl ibn al-Sakan, from Abu Abd Allah (AS), who said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Know God through God, the Messenger through his message, and those vested with authority through goodness, justice, and beneficence. (al-Imama wa'l-Tabsira, vol. 1, p. 137)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Know God through Himself, and the Messenger through the content of his message, and those vested with authority by the fact that they are people of goodness, justice, and beneficence.