The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: My likeness among you is as the cave was to the People of the Cave, and as the Gate of Hitta, which is the gate of submission: 'Enter into submission, all of you.' [Qur'an 2:208] (al-Ghayba of al-Nu'mani, vol. 1, p. 44)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: For the believers I am as the cave and the place of refuge, and for them I am as the Gate of Hitta, which is the gate of submission before God, through which all have been commanded to enter.
Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Jumhur said: My father related to us, from certain of his authorities, from al-Mufaddal ibn Umar, that Abu Abd Allah (AS) said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said upon the pulpit of Kufa: Before you lie dark, blind, overshadowing trials from which none shall be saved but the nawma. It was said: O Commander of the Faithful, and what is the nawma? He said: He who knows the people while they do not know him. And know that the earth is never empty of a proof of God, Mighty and Majestic; but God will blind His creatures to him because of their injustice, their tyranny and their excesses against themselves. Were the earth to be empty of a proof of God for a single hour, it would swallow up its inhabitants. But the proof knows the people while they do not know him, just as Joseph knew the people while they denied him. Then he recited: 'Alas for the servants! No messenger comes to them but they mock him.' [Qur'an 36:30] (al-Ghayba of al-Nu'mani, vol. 1, p. 141)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said upon the pulpit of Kufa: O people, after me there lie before you trials that are dark, blinding and tangled, from which none shall be saved but the nawma. They said: And what is the nawma? He said: An obscure man who knows the people while the people do not know him. Then he said: Yet the earth is never left empty of the proof of God. Though God keeps him hidden from His creatures, because of their injustice and tyranny toward one another and their wrongdoing against themselves. If the earth were left empty of the proof of God for a single hour, it would swallow up its people. God's hidden proof knows the people, while they do not know him — just as Joseph knew his brothers while they did not know him. Then the Imam recited: 'Alas for the servants! No messenger comes to them but they mock him.' [Qur'an 36:30]. And he came down from the pulpit.
Imran ibn Maytham related from Malik ibn Damra, who said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: O Malik ibn Damra, how will you be when the Shi'a differ among themselves like this? — and he interlaced his fingers, putting them one into another. I said: O Commander of the Faithful, there is no good in such a time. He said: All good is at that time, O Malik; at that time our Qa'im will rise. (al-Ghayba of al-Nu'mani, vol. 1, p. 206)
The narrator says: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to me: O Malik, how will you be when the Shi'a fall into disagreement with one another like this? (and he interlocked the fingers of his two hands and pressed them together). I said: O Commander of the Faithful, at that time there will be no good at all! He said: On the contrary, all good lies in that very time, for then our Qa'im will rise.
Al-Harith ibn Hasira related from al-Asbagh ibn Nubata, from the Commander of the Faithful (AS), that he said: I shall strike a parable for you. It is the parable of a man who had grain; he cleaned it and made it good, then brought it into a room and left it there as long as God willed. Then he returned to it and found that weevils had infested it; so he took it out, cleaned it and made it good, then returned it to the room and left it as long as God willed. Then he returned to it and found that a portion of the weevils had again infested it; so he took it out, cleaned it, made it good and returned it. And he did not cease doing so until there remained of it a bundle like a bundle from the threshing floor which the weevils could not harm at all. Even so shall you be sifted, until there remains of you only a band whom trials cannot harm at all. (al-Ghayba of al-Nu'mani, vol. 1, p. 209)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: I shall give you a comparison. If someone leaves wheat lying in his house for a time, worms will get into it and will eat part of the grain. When the owner of the house sees this, he takes the wheat out, cleans it and stores it again. If worms get into it once more, they will again spoil part of it, and it will again need sifting. In the end, after several such infestations and cleansings, there will remain only grain upon which the worms can have no effect. In just this way you too will be sifted, until there remains of you none but a band whom the trials can no longer harm.
Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays said: I went in to Ali (AS) about a need of mine, when Ibn al-Kawwa and Shabath ibn Rib'i came and asked leave to enter. Ali (AS) said to me: If you wish, give them leave, for you were the first to come with a need. He said: I said: O Commander of the Faithful, give them leave. When they entered, he said: What moved you to rise in revolt against me at Harura? They said: We wished to be among the army of wrath. He said: Woe to you both! Is there any wrath in my rule? (al-Ghayba of al-Nu'mani, vol. 1, p. 312)
Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays said: I had come to Ali (AS) on some business of mine when Ibn al-Kawwa and Shabath ibn Rib'i arrived and asked permission to see him. Ali (AS) said to me: If you are willing, give them permission, for the right of precedence is yours. I said: O Commander of the Faithful, give them permission. When they came in, he said: What drove you to rise in revolt against me at Nahrawan? They said: We wished to be part of the army of wrath. He said: Woe to you; my rule is not founded upon wrath.