From Haritha ibn Mudarrib, from Ali (AS), who said: Abraham (AS) set out with Ishmael (God's blessings be upon him) and his mother Hagar until he brought them down at Mecca. Their food ran out, and Abraham wished to go and seek food for them. Hagar said: To whom are you entrusting us? He said: I entrust you to God the Exalted. Then severe hunger befell them, and Gabriel (AS) descended and said to Hagar: To whom did he entrust you both? She said: He entrusted us to God. He said: Then he has indeed entrusted you to One who suffices. And Gabriel placed his hand in Zamzam and drew it back, and behold, the water gushed forth. (Qisas al-Anbiya of al-Rawandi, vol. 1, p. 110)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Abraham (AS) took Ishmael and his mother Hagar with him to Mecca. When their food ran out, he decided, in search of food, to leave the two of them and set off alone into the surrounding country. At that point Hagar said to him: To whom are you entrusting us? Abraham said: To God. After Abraham left, the hunger and thirst of the two grew severe. So Gabriel descended to them and said to Hagar: To whom has he entrusted you? Hagar said: To God. Gabriel said: He has entrusted you to a good One indeed! Then he thrust his hand into a spot, and from there Zamzam gushed forth, and the two drank their fill.
From Yunus ibn Zabyan, who said: Al-Sadiq (AS) said to me: O Yunus, the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When God willed to take the soul of Abraham (AS), the Angel of Death (AS) descended to him and said: Peace be upon you, O Abraham. He said: And upon you be peace, O Angel of Death. Are you a summoner or an announcer? He said: Rather a summoner, so answer Him. Abraham said: Have you ever seen a friend put his friend to death? So the Angel of Death returned and stood before God the Exalted and said: My God, You have heard what Your friend Abraham (AS) said. God, majestic be His majesty, said: O Angel of Death, go to him and say to him: Have you ever seen a lover who dislikes meeting his beloved? Indeed the lover loves to meet his beloved. So Abraham passed away in Syria, and Ishmael (God's blessings be upon him) did not know of his death and made ready to set out to him. Then Gabriel (AS) descended to him and consoled him for Abraham, and said: O Ishmael, do not say concerning your father's death anything that angers the Lord. He was only a servant whom God the Exalted summoned, and he answered Him. And when Ishmael grew up and came of age, they gave him seven goats, and that was the origin of his wealth; so he grew and spoke. And after his mother's death, Ishmael (God's blessings be upon him) married a woman of Jurhum named Za'la, and divorced her, and she bore him nothing. Then he married al-Sayyida, the daughter of al-Harth ibn Mudad, and she bore him children. (Qisas al-Anbiya of al-Rawandi, vol. 1, p. 114)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When God willed to take Abraham's soul, He sent the Angel of Death to him. The Angel of Death greeted him. Abraham said: This task for which you have come — is it compulsory, or optional? The Angel of Death said: It is compulsory; submit to it! Abraham said: Have you ever seen a friend kill his friend?! The Angel of Death ascended and told God what Abraham had said. God said: Go and say to him: Have you ever seen a friend who was not in love with meeting his friend?! In this way Abraham departed to the mercy of God, while he was in Syria. In the Hijaz, Gabriel conveyed the news of Abraham's passing to Ishmael, offered him condolence, and said: Beware of saying anything at your father's death that would displease God! Abraham was a servant who called upon God, and God answered him. When Ishmael grew up, Gabriel gave him seven goats, which became the basis of his wealth, and the rest of his property came into being from the offspring of these goats. After his mother's death Ishmael married a woman of Jurhum, but he had no child by her, so he divorced that woman and married another, and by her he had children.
From al-Harith al-A'war al-Hamdani, may God have mercy on him, who said: I saw with the Commander of the Faithful (AS) an old man at al-Nukhayla. I said: O Commander of the Faithful, who is this? He said: This is my brother al-Khidr. He came to me asking about what remains of this world, and I asked him about what has passed of this world, and he informed me — though I know better than he what I asked him about. The Commander of the Faithful said: Then a tray of fresh dates was brought to us from heaven. As for al-Khidr, he threw away the stones; but as for me, I gathered them in my palm. Al-Harith said: I said: Then give them to me, O Commander of the Faithful. So he gave them to me, and I planted them, and from them came forth excellent mushan dates, wonderfully fine, the like of which I had never seen. (Qisas al-Anbiya of al-Rawandi, vol. 1, p. 157)
The narrator said: In al-Nukhayla near Kufa I saw an old man with Ali (AS). At a suitable moment I said: O Commander of the Faithful, who was that old man? He said: He was my brother al-Khidr. He comes at times and asks me about the future of this world! And I ask him about the past of this world, and he recounts it — though I myself know the past as well! Then the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: A tray of dates was brought to us from heaven; al-Khidr threw away the stones, but I gathered them all. I said: O Commander of the Faithful, grant me those stones! The Commander of the Faithful (AS) gave the stones to me. I planted them, and from them came excellent and wondrous saplings, the like of which had never before been seen in Iraq.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Among the counsels of Luqman to his son was that he said: O my son, let him whose certainty falls short and who wearies himself in seeking provision take heed that God the Exalted created him in three states of his affair and gave him his provision, while in none of them had he any earning or contrivance; and God will surely provide for him in the fourth state as well. The first of these is that he was in his mother's womb, and God provided for him there, in a secure resting place, where no cold harmed him and no heat. Then He brought him out of that and made his mother's milk flow for him, nourishing him without any power or strength of his own. Then he was weaned from that, and God made provision flow to him from the earnings of his parents, through the compassion and mercy in their hearts — until, when he grew up and gained understanding and earned for himself, his affair became straitened for him, so he entertained evil suppositions about his Lord, denied the rights due upon his wealth, and stinted himself and his dependents for fear of poverty. (Qisas al-Anbiya of al-Rawandi, vol. 1, p. 197)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Among Luqman's counsels to his son was this: My son, if you have no certainty in God's providing, and the seeking of provision has robbed you of peace and rest, call to mind three situations from your own past in which, for all your helplessness and want of contrivance, God granted you your provision. First, in your mother's womb, where you lay in a resting place and neither cold nor heat troubled you. Second, when you came into the world and were a small infant, and He satisfied you from your mother's breast. Third, in the days of childhood, when your father and mother provided for you, through the compassion and mercy that God had placed in their hearts toward you. Now that you have grown up and gained understanding and can work for yourself, why has it become hard? Do you think God will abandon you? Do you cling to your wealth and refuse to spend from it, and are you harsh upon yourself and your dependents lest you become poor?!
Ishaq ibn Yasar, from Ikrima, from Ibn Abbas, from the Commander of the Faithful (AS): The locks of the heavens are associating partners with God; for when a servant, man or woman, is a polytheist, no deed of theirs is raised up to God, glory be to Him. And the keys of the heavens are the testimony that there is no god but God. (Qisas al-Anbiya of al-Rawandi, vol. 1, p. 225)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The lock of the heavens is associating partners with God. When someone is a polytheist, no righteous deed of his ascends to heaven. And the key of the heavens is knowing God in His oneness.
Ibn Abbas said: We were in a gathering in which Abu Sufyan was present, and he had lost his sight, and Ali (AS) was among us. The caller to prayer gave the call, and when he said 'I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God (PBUH)', Abu Sufyan said: Is there anyone here to be wary of? One of the company said: No. So he said: How remarkable is our brother of the Banu Hashim! Look where he has placed his own name! Then Ali (AS) said: May God scald your eyes, O Abu Sufyan; God did that by His word, mighty is the Speaker: 'And We raised high for you your renown' [Qur'an 94:4]. Abu Sufyan said: May God scald the eyes of the one who told me there was no one here to be wary of. (Qisas al-Anbiya of al-Rawandi, vol. 1, p. 294)
Ibn Abbas relates: We were in a gathering; Abu Sufyan, who had grown old and blind, was also present, and Ali (AS) was present as well. The voice of the muezzin rose. When the phrase "I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God" rang out, Abu Sufyan, who could not see who was in the gathering, asked: Is there any outsider among us? Someone answered: No. Abu Sufyan then spoke up and said: How I marvel at the cleverness of the Banu Hashim — see how he has placed his own name beside the name of God, and it is broadcast constantly from the minarets! Ali (AS) spoke and said: To the blindness of your eye, O Abu Sufyan! It was God who did this, not the Prophet. Has He not said: "And We have raised high for you your renown"? Abu Sufyan said: To the blindness of the eye of the one who said there is no outsider among us.