Abd al-Rahman al-Azdi al-Sayyah said: Abd al-Wahid ibn Zayd related to me, saying: I set out for Mecca, and while I was performing the circumambulation, there was a girl of about five spans in height clinging to the covering of the Ka'ba, addressing another girl like herself and saying: "Nay, by the right of the one chosen for the testament, who judges with equity, whose intention is sound, the husband of Fatima with whom God is well pleased — it was not so and so." I said to her: O girl, who is the possessor of this description? She said: That, by God, is the Standard of standards, the Gate of judgments, the Divider of Paradise and the Fire, the divine sage of the community and the chief of the Imams, the brother of the Prophet (God bless him and his family), his legatee and his successor over his community; that is my master, the Commander of the Faithful, Ali ibn Abi Talib. I said to her: O girl, by what does Ali (peace be upon him) deserve this description from you? She said: My father, by God, was his devoted follower, and he was killed before him on the day of Siffin. And one day he came in upon my mother while she was in her tent, and smallpox had stricken me and a brother of mine and had taken away our sight. When he saw us he sighed and began to recite: "I have never sighed over any misfortune that befell me as I have sighed for children in their tender years; their father, who used to care for them in calamities, on journeys and at home, has died." Then he drew us close to him and passed his blessed hand over my eye and my brother's eye, then made certain supplications, then raised his hand. And here I am — may my father be your ransom — by God, I can see a camel from leagues away; and all of that is by his blessing, God's blessings be upon him. He said: So I loosened my purse and handed her two dinars, the remainder of the provision I had with me. She smiled in my face and said: Enough; the most noble of predecessors left us in the care of the best of successors, so today we are under the guardianship of Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ali (peace be upon him). Then she said: Do you love Ali? I said: Indeed. She said: Rejoice, for you have taken hold of the handhold that never breaks. Then she turned away, saying: "The love of Ali has never been spread abroad in the heart of a youth without God's blessings bearing witness for him; nor has any foot of his slipped through the turns of time without a foot standing firm for him thereafter." (Bisharat al-Mustafa, vol. 1, p. 71)
The narrator says: I was performing the circumambulation in the Sacred Mosque when a short-statured maidservant was clinging to the covering of the Ka'ba, conversing with another maidservant of her own age and saying: By the right of the true legatee, the absolute ruler, the possessor of sound intention, the husband of Fatima al-Marziyya, it is thus and thus. I said to her: What are these attributes you apply to Ali?! She said: By God, Ali is the Standard of standards, the Gate of judgments, and the one who divides mankind between Paradise and the Fire. Ali is the divine sage of the community and my master. I said: On what grounds do you consider Ali deserving of such attributes? She said: My father was a devoted servant of Ali (AS), and he was killed at Siffin fighting at Ali's side! Some time later Ali (AS) came to our house to visit us. My mother had taken me and my brother into her arms. Both our eyes had been blinded by smallpox. When Ali (AS) saw us two fatherless children blind, he sighed from the depths of his heart and recited a verse to this effect: Alas for children whose father has died while they are still small; who then will protect them and ward off from them the hardships of home and journey?! Then he took us two children into his arms and passed his blessed hand over our eyes. He murmured a supplication under his breath, then raised his hand toward heaven in humble entreaty. At that moment our eyes became so keen-sighted as they had never been before; since then, by God, we have become such that we can see a camel several leagues away. All of this is from the blessing of Ali (AS). The narrator says: I was astonished at her words, and I gave her the two dinars I had in my purse, which were the expenses for the rest of my journey. She did not accept them; she smiled and said: Ali (AS) entrusted us to his son, and we are now under the guardianship of Hasan ibn Ali (AS). Then she asked me: Do you love Ali? I said: Yes. She said: Good tidings to you! For you have grasped a firm handhold from which no separation is conceivable. Then she moved away, murmuring:
"The love of Ali has never been spread abroad in the heart of a youth; without God's blessings bearing witness for him, nor has any foot of his slipped through the turns of time; without a foot standing firm for him thereafter."
That is: the love of Ali (AS) has never taken its place in a heart without blessing pouring down upon that person from God; and the foot of such a person has never slipped without his next step becoming firmer still.
Muhammad ibn Harun ibn Umara, from his father, from Anas ibn Malik, who said: I went out with the Messenger of God (God bless him and his family), walking together until we came to Baqi al-Gharqad. There we found a lote-tree, bare, with no growth upon it. The Messenger of God sat beneath it, and the tree put forth leaves and bore fruit and cast its shade over the Messenger of God. He smiled and said: Anas, call Ali for me. So I hurried off until I came to the house of Fatima (peace be upon her), and there was Ali taking some food. I said to him: Answer the summons of the Messenger of God. He said: Am I called for something good? I said: God and His Messenger know best. He said: Then Ali (peace be upon him) went walking and hastening on the tips of his toes until he stood before the Messenger of God (God bless him and his family). The Messenger of God drew him close and seated him at his side, and said to me: O Anas, whoever wishes to look upon Adam in his knowledge, upon Abraham in his dignity, upon Solomon in his judgment, upon John in his asceticism, upon Job in his patience, and upon Ishmael in his truthfulness — let him look upon Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him). (Bisharat al-Mustafa, vol. 1, p. 83)
Anas ibn Malik says: One day the two of us, the Messenger of God (PBUH) and I, went to the cemetery of Baqi. There was a lote-tree in a corner of the plain whose leaves had fallen. The Messenger of God (PBUH) sat beneath that tree. Moments later I saw that, by the power of God, the tree had turned green and was full of leaves. The Messenger of God (PBUH) said to me: O Anas, go and inform Ali! I came toward the houses of Medina and knocked at the door of Zahra's (SA) house. Ali (AS) was eating something. I said: The Messenger of God (PBUH) has summoned you. He said: For some good matter? I said: I do not know. Ali (AS) set out with me for Baqi, going so swiftly that it was as though he were running at a trot. When we reached the Prophet (PBUH), he seated Ali (AS) at his side and said to me: O Anas! The knowledge of Adam, the dignity of Abraham, the judgment of Solomon, the asceticism of John, the patience of Job, and the truthfulness of Ishmael are in Ali; whoever wishes to look upon them, let him look upon Ali.
Mansur, from Ibrahim, from Alqama, from Abd Allah, from the Messenger of God: "Gabriel has cast love for you, O Ali, into the hearts and breasts of the believers, and awe and fear of you into the breasts of the unbelievers." (Bisharat al-Mustafa, vol. 1, p. 99)
The Messenger of God (PBUH) said: O Ali! Gabriel has cast love for you into the hearts and beings of the believers, and has filled the beings of the unbelievers with dread and fear of you.
Sharik ibn Layth al-Muradi ibn Abi Sulaym, from Mujahid, from Ibn Abbas, who said: When God granted His Prophet the conquest of the town of Khaybar, Ja'far (peace be upon him) arrived from Abyssinia. The Prophet (God bless him and his family) said: I do not know at which of the two I am more delighted — the conquest of Khaybar or the arrival of Ja'far. Ja'far had with him a maidservant, and he presented her as a gift to Ali (peace be upon him). Fatima (peace be upon her) entered her house and found Ali's head in the maidservant's lap, and there came upon her the jealousy that comes upon a woman regarding her husband. So she put on her veil and placed her head-covering over her head, intending to go to the Prophet (God bless him and his family) to complain to him about Ali. Then Gabriel (peace be upon him) descended upon the Prophet (God bless him and his family) and said to him: O Muhammad, God sends you His greeting and says to you: This is Fatima coming to you to complain about Ali, so do not accept it from her. When Fatima entered, the Prophet (God bless him and his family) said to her: Go back to your husband and say to him: My nose is in the dust for your good pleasure. So Fatima (peace be upon her) went back and said: O cousin, my nose is in the dust for your good pleasure. Ali (peace be upon him) said: O Fatima, did you complain about me to the Prophet (God bless him and his family)? How ashamed I am before the Messenger of God! I call you to witness, O Fatima, that this maidservant is free for the sake of God, to please you. (Bisharat al-Mustafa, vol. 1, p. 101)
Ibn Abbas says: When Khaybar was conquered, Ja'far ibn Abi Talib also returned from Abyssinia. He had brought with him a maidservant for Ali (AS). A few days later, when Fatima (SA) entered the house, she sensed that there was something between Ali (AS) and the maidservant. Jealousy overtook her, so she put on her chador and set out for the Prophet's (PBUH) house. Gabriel revealed to the Prophet (PBUH) that Fatima was coming to complain about Ali, and that he should not accept her complaint! When Fatima (SA) came into the Prophet's presence, the Prophet (PBUH) immediately said to her: Go back to your husband and say: For me, your good pleasure is the most important thing! Fatima (SA) returned and said this to Ali. Ali (AS) said: Did you mean to complain about me to your father and put me to shame?! Then he said: I have freed this maidservant in the way of God for your good pleasure.
From al-Asbagh ibn Nubata, who said: Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) said one day upon the pulpit of Kufa: I am the master of the legatees, the leader of the God-fearing, and the master of the believers. And the Messenger of God (God bless him and his family) used often to say to me: O Ali, love of you is piety, and hatred of you is unbelief and hypocrisy. (Bisharat al-Mustafa, vol. 1, p. 155)
The narrator says: One day the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said upon the pulpit of Kufa: I am the master of the legatees, the leader of the God-fearing, and the master of the believers! The Messenger of God used repeatedly to say: O Ali, love of you is piety and hatred of you is unbelief and hypocrisy.
Ali ibn al-Husayn, from his father, from Zirr ibn Hubaysh, from Ali, who said: When the Day of Resurrection comes, people will be called by the names of their mothers, except my Shi'a and those who love me, for they will be called by the names of their fathers, because of the purity of their birth. (Bisharat al-Mustafa, vol. 1, p. 162)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: On the Day of Resurrection people will be summoned by their mothers' names, except my Shi'a and those who love me, who will be called by their fathers' names, on account of the soundness of their lineage and the purity of their birth.
We say: For example, they will say "Babak son of Zaynab," for the reason that a person's mother is certain, whereas his father might be someone else.
This is one of the reasons why sorcery has no effect upon the true Shi'a of the Commander of the Faithful (AS). For sorcery is written, set in motion, and made effective on the basis of a person's name and his mother's name; whereas the true name of the Shi'a of the Commander of the Faithful (AS) is based on their name and their attribution to their father, and so it lies outside the orbit of sorcery's effect.
From Jabir al-Ju'fi, from Ja'far ibn Muhammad (peace be upon him), from Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him): The jinn say: If mankind loved you as we love you and obeyed you as we obey you, God would not punish a single human being with the Fire. (Bisharat al-Mustafa, vol. 1, p. 164)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The jinn have said to me: If human beings loved you as we jinn love you, and obeyed you as we do, God would not punish any one of them.
From Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari (may God be pleased with him), who said: I was walking with the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) along the Euphrates when a great wave surged up and covered him so that he was hidden from me. Then it drew back from him, and there was no wetness upon him. I was stunned at this and amazed, and I asked him about it. He said: Did you see that? He said: I said, Yes. He said: It was only the angel appointed over the water; he came out, greeted me, and embraced me. (Bisharat al-Mustafa, vol. 1, p. 192)
The narrator says: I was walking with the Commander of the Faithful (AS) beside the Euphrates when suddenly a great wave rose from the Euphrates, engulfed Ali (AS), and made him disappear. Then the wave subsided and Ali (AS) appeared again without having been wetted at all. I ran toward Ali (AS) and asked in great astonishment: What on earth was that? He said: Did you see it too? I said: Yes! He said: It was the angel appointed over the water of the Euphrates; he came out, greeted me, and embraced me.
Yahya ibn Sabiq, from Abu Hazim, who said: I heard Sahl say: On the day of Khaybar the Messenger of God (God bless him and his family) said: Tomorrow I shall surely give the banner to a man at whose hands God Most High will grant victory. He said: So the banner was given to Ali. He said: Ali (peace be upon him) said: O Messenger of God, shall I fight them until they become like us? He said: Carry it out in the best way, at your ease; for by God, that God should guide a single man through you is better for you than to possess red camels. (Bisharat al-Mustafa, vol. 1, p. 193)
The narrator says: On the day of Khaybar, when the Messenger of God (PBUH) placed the banner in Ali's (AS) hand, Ali (AS) said: O Messenger of God! Shall I fight them until they become Muslims, or shall I lay them all low? The Messenger of God (PBUH) said: Do the best that you can. Then he said: By God, if God guides a single person at your hands, that is better for you than the world and all that is in it.
Hammad ibn Isa al-Juhani said: Misma ibn Sattar related to me, from Ja'far ibn Muhammad, from his father, who said: Word reached Mu'awiya that Ali (peace be upon him) was rousing the people in Kufa to march against him to Syria — and that was after the truce and the arbitration. This reached Mu'awiya in the fullest measure, and he began secretly dispatching men to kill Ali (peace be upon him) and devising stratagems to that end, until he wrote to Amr ibn Hurayth al-Makhzumi in Kufa. The man came to Amr ibn Hurayth, who lodged him in a place near himself. Now the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) did not hold the wiping over leather socks to be permissible; he would sit in the Great Mosque of Kufa giving legal opinions to the people and judging between them until the prayer became due, whereupon he would take off his leather socks, purify his feet, and lead the people in prayer; and when he wished to return to his family, he would put on his socks and depart. So the man resolved to lie in wait for Ali (peace be upon him), so that when he took off his socks, he would put into one of them a viper — or he said a serpent — that he had with him. He did so and placed the viper — or he said the serpent — in one of the two socks. When the Commander of the Faithful wished to put on his sock, an eagle swooped down, snatched the sock, flew up with it into the air, and then cast it down; the viper came out and was killed. He said: The Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) said to the people: Seize the doors of the mosque. So the doors were seized and they looked, and there was a stranger — the very man who had lain in wait for Ali with what he had done. He confessed that Mu'awiya had sent him for this purpose to Amr ibn Hurayth. He said: The Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) said: Bring Amr ibn Hurayth, and do him no harm. So they went and brought him, his limbs trembling. They wanted to kill him, but the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) said: Leave him; neither he nor Mu'awiya is my killer, nor are they capable of that. My killer is a man of Murad, of a certain build among men, ambidextrous, of yellowish complexion, who looks with the two eyes of a devil — and the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) went on describing him. He said: He will kill me in the sacred month — no, rather in the month of fasting; a covenant given to me by the unlettered Prophet (God bless him and his family) to that effect. And whoever fabricates lies has failed. Then he released Amr. (Bisharat al-Mustafa, vol. 1, p. 206)
After the arbitration and Ali's (AS) return to Kufa, word reached Mu'awiya that he was still striving to gather an army and set out to fight Mu'awiya. This weighed heavily upon Mu'awiya, and he decided to send men to Kufa to kill Ali (AS), or to incite those around him with promises and threats to kill him. So he sent a man to Kufa with a letter addressed to Amr ibn Hurayth, and told him not to go to Amr's house but rather to lie in wait. Mu'awiya's envoy settled in the mosque of Kufa and kept Ali (AS) under observation for several days, studying his conduct closely. He saw that Ali (AS), when at home, did not wipe over his boots. Thus, when he came to the mosque, he would first sit upon a seat, speak with the people, give legal opinions and judge between them; then, when the time of prayer drew near, he would rise, take off his boots, wash his feet, and prepare for prayer, and after the prayer he would put his boots back on and go home. So one day the man got hold of the boots and placed a snake he had with him inside one of them. When Ali (AS) returned from prayer and reached for the boots, suddenly an eagle came down from the sky, seized the very boot that had the snake in it, carried it up into the sky, and dropped it to the ground from above. The snake came out of the boot and was killed by the people. When Ali (AS) saw this, he cried out: Shut the doors of the mosque! The doors were shut and the people were examined. They found the stranger, who was Mu'awiya's envoy. He confessed that Mu'awiya had sent him to assassinate Ali (AS) and to take Amr ibn Hurayth into the plot. Ali (AS) said: Bring Amr, but do not molest him. Amr was brought, trembling. They wanted to kill him, but the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Let him go! Neither he nor Mu'awiya will be able to kill me. My death, as has been decreed, will be at the hands of a man of the tribe of Murad, and in a sacred month. Then he corrected himself and said: No; it will be in the month of fasting! According to the promise the Prophet (PBUH) gave me. Then he turned away from Amr and set off for home.
From Sallam al-Khuza'i, from Abu Ishaq al-Sabi'i, from al-Harith, from Ali ibn Abi Talib, who said: The Messenger of God (PBUH) said: There is no supplication but that between it and heaven there is a veil, until one invokes blessings upon the Prophet and upon the family of Muhammad. When he does that, it tears open that veil and the supplication enters; and if he does not do that, the supplication returns. (Bisharat al-Mustafa, vol. 1, p. 236)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Every supplication has a veil and a barrier before it as it ascends to heaven; but when it is joined with blessings upon the Messenger of God and his family, the blessings tear open the veil, carry the supplication up to heaven, and bring it into the presence of God. Therefore, if you do not couple your supplications with blessings upon the Prophet and his family, there is reason to fear that they will be turned back!
From al-Sunabihi, from the Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abi Talib, who said: The Messenger of God (PBUH) said: O Ali, you are but in the position of the Kaaba: it is come to, it does not come. So if these people come to you and surrender the affair to you, accept it from them; and if they do not come to you, do not go to them, until they come to God. (Bisharat al-Mustafa, vol. 1, p. 277)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The Messenger of God (PBUH) said to me: O Ali, among this community you are like the Kaaba: people must come to you, and you must not go to anyone. After me, if the people come and submit to your command, take up the reins of rule over them; and if they do not come to you, leave them be, until God passes judgment concerning them.
We say: It is the same in the spiritual path. So long as a person does not go to Ali (AS), or to one appointed and authorized by him, and does not make his request, he is not taken by the hand. This is unlike the outward law, whose preachers are scattered everywhere and go after people, to the point that they have wearied them. And so it must be, so that the proof may be complete against everyone.