From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn Abi al-Khattab related to us, from Muhammad ibn Sinan, from Ammar ibn Marwan, from al-Munakhkhal ibn Jamil, from Jabir ibn Yazid, from Abu Ja'far (AS), who said: The Commander of the Faithful (God's blessings be upon him) said concerning the words of God, Mighty and Majestic, 'Perhaps those who disbelieve will wish that they had been Muslims' [Qur'an 15:2]: That is me, when I and my Shi'a come forth. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 87)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The verse 'One day the unbelievers will wish that they had been Muslims' concerns the Return: that I shall come back, and together with my Shi'a I shall utterly destroy them.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): Ahmad ibn Muhammad and Abd Allah ibn Amir ibn Sa'd, from Muhammad ibn Khalid al-Barqi, from Abu Hamza al-Thumali, who said: Abu Ja'far (AS) said: The Commander of the Faithful (God's blessings be upon him) used to say: Whoever wishes to fight the partisans of the Dajjal, let him fight the one who weeps over the blood of Uthman (and the one who weeps over the people of Nahrawan). Truly, whoever meets God, Mighty and Majestic, believing that Uthman was killed unjustly will meet God while He is angry with him, and he will live to see the Dajjal. A man said: O Commander of the Faithful, and what if he dies before that? He said: Then he will be raised up from his grave so that he may believe in him, however much it galls him. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 95)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Those who weep over the blood of Uthman are the partisans of the Dajjal. Whoever dies while supposing that Uthman was killed unjustly has died in error and is one of the companions of the Dajjal. Someone asked: And if he has died before the Dajjal appears? The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: He will return in the Raj'a and will come with the Dajjal.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): And with this same chain, from Abu Ja'far (AS): The Commander of the Faithful (God's blessings be upon him) used to say: Truly, al-Muddaththir is something that will come to pass at the Return. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 114)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The inner interpretation of 'O you wrapped in a cloak' concerns the Return.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): Abd Allah ibn Amir ibn Sa'id, from al-Rabi' ibn Muhammad, from Ja'far ibn Bashir al-Bajali, from Amr ibn Abi al-Miqdam, from Abu Sa'id Uqaysa, who said: We were among the bearers of the dispatches, and we were young men, when the Commander of the Faithful (God's blessings be upon him) came back toward us. One of us said: (Budasaf) has come to you! And the Commander of the Faithful (God's blessings be upon him) said: Woe to you — its upper part is knowledge and its lower part is food. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 207)
The narrator says: In the days when the Commander of the Faithful (AS) was in Kufa, we were young men and carriers of dispatches. One day, in the company of several friends, we came upon the Commander of the Faithful (AS) unexpectedly. One of us said: Buddha! The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The upper part of my being is knowledge and its lower part is food.
(We say: Budasaf, or Budhasaf, is the Buddha, whose statue or image, with a great belly and a laughing face, has been handed down from ancient times, generation to generation, and was thoroughly familiar among the Iranians in the Kufa of Ali's (AS) day. The young men of Kufa were likening the Commander of the Faithful (AS) to the Buddha in respect of fullness both in wisdom and in body. Al-Majlisi too records this same point beneath this narration in Bihar.)
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): With this chain, from Yunus, from Ishaq ibn Ammar, from Abu Basir, who said: I said to Abu Abd Allah (AS): What do you say concerning withdrawal (coitus interruptus)? He said: Ali (AS) did not practise withdrawal, but as for me, I do. I said: This is a contradiction! He (AS) said: What harm did it do David (AS) that Solomon (AS) differed from him, when God, Mighty and Majestic, says: 'And We gave Solomon understanding of it' [Qur'an 21:79]. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 272)
The narrator says: I asked Imam al-Sadiq (AS) about withdrawal. He said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) did not practise it, but I do! The narrator says: I said: What does that mean? Surely that cannot be! Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said: What is wrong with it? Just as David's view differed from Solomon's, yet God gave Solomon to understand the matter.
(We say: what is meant by withdrawal is the removal of the organ at the moment of ejaculation, so that the semen is not discharged into the woman's womb and does not lead to her becoming pregnant. This narration is an interesting one in the matter of knowing the Imam. Please refer to the chapter on knowing the Imam in this servant's book Ma'rifat al-Nafs.)
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): And from al-Asbagh ibn Nubata, who said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: To proceed: concern for this world adds nothing to what has been allotted, and in it lies the squandering of one's provision; while turning toward the hereafter diminishes nothing of what has been decreed, and in it lies the securing of the place of return. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 360)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Devotion to this world does not increase one's sustenance, and turning toward the hereafter does not diminish one's share of this world; indeed it also brings about one's safekeeping in the hereafter.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): Destiny makes one forget to take precautions. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 362)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When destiny arrives, the first thing it does is to make a person forget to take precautions.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): Attain God's good pleasure through your contentment with His decree. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 364)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Be content with God's decree, so that you may attain God's good pleasure.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): No poor man has gone hungry save through that which some rich man has enjoyed. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 385)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The hunger of the poor man is on account of the satiety of the rich.
Ali ibn Ibrahim, concerning the words of Him, glorified and exalted, 'And We shall turn about their hearts and their eyes' [Qur'an 6:110], said: Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS) said: The first part of jihad in which you will be overcome is jihad with your hands, then jihad with your tongues, then jihad with your hearts. So whoever's heart does not recognize what is right and does not reject what is wrong, his heart is overturned so that its lowest part is made its highest, and he never again accepts any good, 'just as they did not believe in it the first time' — meaning in the realm of the particles and the covenant. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 414)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The first change that comes over you is that you lay down the struggle with the sword. Then you abandon the struggle with the tongue. Then in your hearts too you cease to distinguish between right and wrong. At that point your heart is overturned, good departs from it, and little by little you lose even your innate faith.
From Mash'ada ibn Sadaqa, from Ja'far ibn Muhammad (AS) — and some of what it contains from others than these two — he mentioned in a sermon of our master the Commander of the Faithful (AS) called al-Makhzun: With every act of obedience you have a help from God; it speaks upon the tongues and is made firm in the hearts. That is God's help to His friends, appearing subtly within the hidden part of His favour. For the people of piety the branches of the tree of life have borne fruit. And there is a criterion from God between His friends and His enemies, in which there is healing for breasts and a manifestation of light; by it God gives might to the people of His obedience and abases the people of His disobedience. So let a man prepare his provision for that — and he has no provision save by means of insight, truthfulness of intention and submission. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 463)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said, in the sermon known as the Sermon of al-Makhzun: Alongside every act of obedience God has ordained a help, a support. This help is made firm in the heart and flows upon the tongue. This help is among the hidden favours of God, especially for the friends of God. This help or support is of the substance of the tree of life, and for the people of piety — that is, the people of action — it is the cause of fruitfulness. The difference between the friends of God and those cast out from His court lies in this very help. This help is a healing for breasts; it is the manifestation of divine light; it is the cause of the might of the people of obedience, and its absence is the cause of the abasement of the people of disobedience. A person must seek this help with all his strength, and to obtain it he needs insight and truthfulness of intention. He must likewise know how to be submissive.
(We say: this saying of the Commander of the Faithful (AS) belongs to his comprehensive utterances and his all-embracing knowledge. He says that in the performance of every act of obedience a light lies hidden. This light becomes part of the being of the wayfarer and is the cause of the successes granted to him afterwards. But to extract the light, or the help, of an act, three things are needed: first, insight into the act of obedience — that is, knowledge of the sacred law, that is, the recognition of good and evil and of what pleases and displeases God; second, truthfulness of intention, that is, performing that act of obedience for God; and third, which is the most important of all, possessing the spirit of submission, which is the very soul of religion.)
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): The hearts of the believers are folded upon faith; when God wills to bring forth what is within them, He opens them with revelation and sows wisdom in them. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 463)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The hearts of the believers have been moulded upon faith; when God wills to make manifest what is within them, He opens those hearts with revelation and sows wisdom in them, so that they may grow green and bear fruit.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): Everything has a term which it reaches; God does not hasten anything until it reaches its due time and its utmost end. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 463)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Everything has a maturing and an end. God does not hasten; He waits until the maturity of each thing arrives and passes, and then its end comes.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): God has given you His mercy, and part of His mercy is the light of hearts. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 463)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When God's mercy encompasses someone, a significant part of that mercy is the illumination of his heart.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): Truly God, Mighty and Majestic, has chosen for His religion certain peoples whom He selected to uphold it and to give it victory. Through them the word of Islam has appeared, and the fulfilment of what the Qur'an makes obligatory, and the practice of obedience, in the easts of the earth and its wests. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 463)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: God has chosen certain ones from among His servants to rise up for His religion and to aid it. It is through these that the word of Islam appears, that the teachings of the Qur'an are spread abroad, and that the service of God is established in the east and the west of the world.
From the words of the Messenger of God (PBUH): O Ali, the likeness of this community is only the likeness of a garden: one company is fed from it for a year, then another company for a year, then another company for a year. (Mukhtasar al-Basa'ir, vol. 1, p. 477)
The Messenger of God (PBUH) said: O Ali! The likeness of Islam and of the share different generations have of it is the likeness of a garden into which each year a new company of people enters and partakes of its fruit.
Ghurar al-Akhbar — whose full title is Ghurar al-Akhbar wa Durar al-Athar fi Manaqib Abi al-A'imma al-Athar Ali Amir al-Mu'minin (AS) — concerns the excellences and virtues of Ali (AS), and is the work of Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan al-Daylami, a Shi'i scholar of the eighth century. Besides the virtues of Imam Ali (AS), the contents of the book include the merit of knowledge, the virtues of the Ahl al-Bayt, the faults of their enemies, the signs of the Imam and other miscellaneous matters of an anthological character.
Al-Daylami was a jurist and traditionist of mystical leaning, and in his works the inclination toward moral exhortation and the purification of the soul predominates. He was a student of al-Shahid al-Awwal and of Fakhr al-Muhaqqiqin, and his most accomplished student was Ibn Fahd al-Hilli. Ibn Fahd in Uddat al-Da'i and al-Majlisi in Bihar transmit narrations from him. Altogether three of his works survive: Ghurar al-Akhbar; second, A'lam al-Din fi Sifat al-Mu'minin; and third, which is his most famous work, Irshad al-Qulub.
Al-Daylami generally does not give the chains of transmission of the narrations, and in justification of this he says in the introduction to Ghurar al-Akhbar: These hadiths are well known among the scholars.
Among the distinctive features of the book Ghurar al-Akhbar is its citation of detailed reports concerning the assault on the house of Fatima (peace be upon her) and the taking of allegiance from Ali (AS) by compulsion. Brief allusions to these events did indeed exist earlier, but al-Daylami is the first to give reports of these events in ample detail.