The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said concerning divine determination (qadar): Truly, qadar is a secret among the secrets of God, a veil among the veils of God, a stronghold among the strongholds of God; raised up within the veil of God, folded away from the creation of God, sealed with the seal of God, foreordained in the knowledge of God. God has relieved His servants of the knowledge of it. (al-I'tiqadat, vol. 1, p. 34)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Qadar is a secret among the secrets of God; a veil among the veils of God; it lies buried within the divine veil; it is concealed from the creation of God; it is sealed with the seal of God; it is established in the knowledge of God; and its knowledge has been placed beyond the reach of the servants.
It is related that the Commander of the Faithful (AS) moved away from beside a leaning wall to another place. It was said to him: O Commander of the Faithful, are you fleeing from the decree of God? He (AS) said: I flee from the decree of God to the determination of God. (al-I'tiqadat, vol. 1, p. 35)
They saw the Commander of the Faithful (AS) move away from beside a leaning wall, and they said: Are you fleeing from the decree of God? He said: Yes; I flee from His decree towards His determination!
(We say: an explanation of this passage does not fit within the present discussion, even though it is one of the profitable chapters of the sciences of the Family of God. To acquire it, please refer to my book Ma'rifat-i Nafs (Knowledge of the Soul), the chapter on the knowledge of free will.)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever seeks religion through disputation becomes a heretic. (al-I'tiqadat, vol. 1, p. 43)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever pursues religion by wrangling and argument ends up without religion.
He (AS) said: Among those who have been prodigal there are some whom our intercession will not reach until after three hundred thousand years of chastisement. (al-I'tiqadat, vol. 1, p. 51)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: For some of those who have wronged themselves, it takes three hundred thousand years before they come within the scope of our intercession!
He (AS) said: There is no intercessor more successful than repentance. (al-I'tiqadat, vol. 1, p. 66)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: If you are looking for an intercessor, the best intercessor is your own repentance.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: I have never ceased to be wronged since my mother gave birth to me, to the point that when Aqil suffered from inflammation of the eye he would say: Do not apply the powder to my eyes until you apply it to Ali's! So they would apply it to my eyes, though I had no inflammation. (al-I'tiqadat, vol. 1, p. 105)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: All my life I have been wronged! I remember that in childhood, when my brother Aqil's eye had become infected, he would say: Until you put the drops in Ali's eye, I will not let you put drops in mine! So they would force the drops into my eyes although I was perfectly well.
Ali (AS) said: Whoever prays with them in the first row, it is as though he had prayed with the Messenger of God in the first row. (al-I'tiqadat, vol. 1, p. 109)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: One who prays behind the Sunnis out of prudential concealment, or so as not to create division, is like one who has prayed in the first row behind the Messenger of God (PBUH).
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to his son Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya: Your humility amid your own nobility is more honourable for you than the nobility of your forefathers. (al-I'tiqadat, vol. 1, p. 112)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to his son Muhammad al-Hanafiyya: Your humility, together with your nobility, is worth more than your own nobility and that of your house.