A group have narrated from Khalid ibn al-Walid, who said: I saw Ali mending the rings of his coat of mail with his own hand, and I said: This was for David (AS) — God softened iron for David; how then is it for us? (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 1, p. 22)
A group have narrated from Khalid ibn al-Walid that one day I saw Ali (AS) twisting and weaving the rings of his coat of mail together with his own hand. In astonishment I said: David used to do this! He turned to me and said: And now we do it too!
He saw al-Hasan al-Basri performing the ablution and said to him: Perform your ablution fully, O Kafta! He replied: Yesterday there were men who used to perform the ablution fully. He (AS) said: You are grieved for them on that account? He said: Yes. He said: Then may God prolong your grief. Ayyub al-Sijistani said: I never saw al-Hasan except sorrowful; we spoke to him about that, and he said: The supplication of the righteous man has taken effect in me. And 'Kafta' in Nabatean is [the name of] a satan; his mother had named him so in his childhood, and no one knew him by it until Ali (AS) called him by it. (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 1, p. 107)
It is narrated that the Commander of the Faithful (AS) saw al-Hasan al-Basri performing his ablution hastily, and said: Perform your ablution calmly and with deliberation, O Kafta! Al-Hasan al-Basri answered with an insinuation: Those who used to perform the ablution with deliberation, you killed yesterday! (meaning the Kharijites of Nahrawan). Ali (AS) said: Are you distressed? Al-Hasan said: Yes! Ali (AS) said: May God prolong your distress! Abu Ayyub al-Sijistani says: After that, al-Hasan al-Basri was always sorrowful, and he would say: The imprecation of a righteous man against me has been answered and has made me so! 'Kafta', by which Ali (AS) called al-Hasan, is in Nabatean the name of a satan; al-Hasan al-Basri's mother had given him this name, and no one but al-Hasan knew of it — until Ali (AS) called him by that name.
They have narrated that Ali said: Whenever anyone related to me a hadith from the Messenger of God (PBUH), I would make him swear by God; if he swore, I held him truthful, and if not, then not. (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 1, p. 146)
It has been narrated from the Commander of the Faithful (AS) that: When someone would relate a hadith from the Messenger of God (PBUH), I would make him swear by God; if he swore, I held him truthful; and if not, then not.
They said: Ubayda al-Salmani asked Ali (AS) about the sale of the mothers of children (umm al-walad), and he said: It was my view and Umar's view that they should be sold; but now I hold that they should not be sold. (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 1, p. 148)
The narrator says: I asked Ali (AS) about the sale of a slave woman after she had borne her master a child. He said: Formerly my view, like Umar's, was that the sale of such a woman was permitted; but now my view has become that such a woman, once she has borne a child, is free.
(I say: this narration is most interesting, both in that it indicates a change in the Imam's (AS) view, and in that it is so explicit on the point.)
By God, were I given the seven climes with all that lies beneath their heavens, on condition that I disobey God in the matter of an ant by robbing it of the husk of a barley grain, I would not do it. Your world is more contemptible in my eyes than a leaf in the mouth of a locust that is chewing it. What has Ali to do with a bliss that perishes and a pleasure that does not endure? (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 1, p. 163)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Were they to give me the seven climes beneath this sky, and in return ask me to wrest a grain by force from the mouth of an ant, I would not do it! Your world is to me like a leaf chewed in the mouth of a crushed locust! What has Ali to do with what does not remain and with a pleasure that does not last?
And every blessing that gratitude guards is not taken away. (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 1, p. 222)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Every blessing whose guardian is gratitude for it is not taken away.
He (AS) said: I am the point; I am the line; I am the line; I am the point; I am the point and the line. (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 1, p. 222)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The point — I am it! The line — I am it! The line — I am it! The point — I am it! The point and the line — I am they!!!!!!!!
In the course of a sermon he was asked: Does it [alchemy] have any being? He said: It has a being, and it is real. They said: Of what is it? He said: In quivering quicksilver, and lead, and vitriol, and saffron-coloured iron, and the green verdigris of copper. It was said: Tell us more. He said: Make part of it earth and part of it water, and cleave the earth with the water — and it is complete. It was said: Tell us more. He said: No more. The ancient sages added no more, lest people should trifle with it. And in another saying of his: Alchemy is the sister of prophethood and the safeguard of manly virtue. There is nothing on the earth but that it has in it a root and a branch, and I know it better than the learned. It lies in quivering quicksilver, and gold, and iron, and vitriol, and the green verdigris of copper; from them come dyes upon whose passage nothing prevails, one part setting another right, until they break open into gold that truly is and a dye that is not discordant. It was said: We do not grasp this. He said: Congealed water, still air, burning fire, and flowing earth. — And who can attain his asceticism, when he left the world by his own choice while others leave it by compulsion? (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 1, p. 223)
In the course of a sermon the Commander of the Faithful (AS) was asked about alchemy: is it real? He said: It is real! He asked: How? He said: Quivering quicksilver, and lead, and vitriol, and saffron-coloured iron, and the green verdigris of copper. They said: Explain further. He said: Make some of them solid and melt others, and pour the molten ones over the solid ones. They said: Explain further. He said: That is enough; it would become a plaything for people. This science is the counterpart of prophethood. Then he said: This science falls to the lot of an ascetic who has willingly let go of the world, or of one whose hand is in some way cut off from the world. That is, whoever wishes to lay hold of the world by means of alchemy will never lay hold of alchemy. (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 1, p. 223)
And among them: 'O you who believe, enter into peace (al-silm) all together.' Al-Isfahani al-Umawi narrated through several chains going back to Ali (AS) that he said: al-silm is our walaya, [the walaya of] the Ahl al-Bayt. And the like of it is narrated from al-Baqir and al-Abid (Zayn al-Abidin), peace be upon them both. (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 1, p. 296)
In the inner interpretation of the verse 'O you who believe, enter into peace all together' [Qur'an 2:208], it is narrated that the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: al-silm is our walaya.
The envoy of the Byzantine emperor asked Abu Bakr about one who does not hope for Paradise, does not fear the Fire, does not fear God, neither bows nor prostrates, eats carrion and blood, bears witness to what he has not seen, loves discord (fitna), and hates the truth. Umar said: You have only added unbelief upon unbelief. Word of this reached Ali (AS), and he said: This man is one of the friends of God. He does not hope for Paradise but hopes for God; he does not fear the Fire but fears God; and he does not fear God on account of any wrongdoing; he neither bows nor prostrates — in the funeral prayer; he eats locusts and fish and liver; he loves the fitna of wealth and children; he bears witness to Paradise and the Fire though he has not seen them; and he dislikes the truth, which is death. (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 2, p. 15)
An envoy came from the emperor of Byzantium and asked Abu Bakr: Is there anyone who neither desires Paradise nor fears Hell; who has no fear of God, and performs neither bowing nor prostration; who eats carrion and blood, bears witness to what he has not seen, is in love with discord, and does not love the truth! Umar said: Such a heretic is a sheer unbeliever! When word of this reached Ali (AS), he said: Such a person is one of the friends of God: he does not desire Paradise, because he is in love with God Himself; he does not fear Hell, because he fears God; he does not fear God, because he has committed no wrong; he neither bows nor prostrates, because he is perpetually in the funeral prayer; his eating of carrion is the eating of locusts out of asceticism, and his eating of fish and of blood is the eating of liver; his love of discord is love of wealth and children; his witness to the unseen is witness to the hereafter; and his dislike of the truth is dislike of death, so that he may remain longer and do good.
(We say: perhaps the funeral prayer is an allusion to sheer submission. Such a person is constantly praying the prayer for the dead over himself and pronouncing the four takbirs.)
Mu'awiya secretly sent a messenger to Ali with questions that had baffled him. He came to him and said: I am one of your subjects. He said: No, rather you are Mu'awiya's messenger with such and such a matter. So he confessed. He said: Ask one of these two sons of mine. Al-Hasan began before him and said: You have come to ask how much lies between truth and falsehood. It is four fingers: what you have seen is truth, and what you have [only] heard may be falsehood. And between heaven and earth is the supplication of the wronged. (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 2, p. 178)
Mu'awiya secretly sent a spy to Kufa to put certain questions to Ali (AS) on his behalf. The spy, in the guise of an unknown man, came to Ali (AS) in the mosque of Kufa and said: I am one of the subjects. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: No! You are Mu'awiya's envoy, and you have questions to put to me. The spy said: Yes. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Now ask! The man said: How much lies between truth and falsehood? The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: O Hasan, answer him! Imam al-Mujtaba (AS) said: Four fingers; the truth is what you have seen, and falsehood is what you have only heard! Then he asked: How much lies between heaven and earth? Imam al-Mujtaba (AS) answered: As much as the supplication of the wronged.
The saying of Ali (AS): Truly I long for the meeting with my Lord, and I await the goodness of His reward. (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 2, p. 300)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: I am ever full of longing for the meeting with my Lord, and hopeful of the goodness of His reward.
He said: The Prophet (PBUH) commanded me not to unsheathe a sword after him until the people should come to me willingly. As he also said: Were the people's covenant with unbelief not so recent, I would have waged jihad against them. (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 3, p. 158)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The Messenger of God (PBUH) took a pledge from me: After me, sheathe your sword until such time as the people come to you of their own accord. And elsewhere he said: After the people turned away from me, had I not feared that they would fall into unbelief, I would have dealt harshly with them and fought them.
Al-Hasan al-Basri related from al-Hakam that he heard Ali say: Had Umar not forbidden mut'a, none would commit fornication save a wretch. (al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, vol. 3, p. 273)
It is quoted from the Commander of the Faithful (AS) that if Umar had not prevented temporary marriage (mut'a), the whole trade of fornication would have been folded up, and no one would have committed fornication except one who is truly wretched.
'Awali al-La'ali' was composed by Ibn Abi Jumhur al-Ahsa'i, a scholar of the late ninth century AH. There is no doubt about the attribution of this book to its author, since a copy of it exists in Najaf al-Ashraf bearing the date 899, in which it is expressly stated that it was transcribed in the presence of the author. Numerous marginal notes headed 'from him, may his shadow be extended' are also to be seen in it. This copy is of the highest degree of reliability, and Ayatollah Burujerdi's copy was transcribed from it. That said, there have been and still are a great many doubts, misgivings and disputes concerning Ibn Abi Jumhur himself. A number of people have held him to be an extremist (ghali), a Sufi, weak in transmission, lax and imprecise. Against this, men such as Qadi Nurullah Shushtari and Shaykh Yusuf al-Bahrani have relied on his book. Allama al-Majlisi placed Awali al-La'ali among the sources of Bihar al-Anwar and included most of its narrations in the Bihar. The traditionist al-Nuri likewise sought to defend him in al-Mustadrak.
The truth of the matter is that there is no doubt about Ibn Abi Jumhur's Sufi bent; but a Sufi bent in his age and of his kind is hardly a serious fault. In any case, Ibn Abi Jumhur is also a jurist of the Akhbari school — again by the compulsion of his times. Ibn Abi Jumhur was originally from Bahrain and, like other seekers of knowledge in that day, travelled to the Shi'i centres of learning such as Lebanon, the holy shrines ('atabat) and Mashhad, and he wrote this book during the four months of his stay in holy Mashhad. He spent the rest of his life in Mashhad and Tus. The site of his grave is unknown. Henry Corbin says: the gnosis of Ibn Arabi was interwoven, through Sayyid Haydar Amuli and Ibn Abi Jumhur in the eighth and ninth centuries, with the theology of Sufism and with the teachings of the Shi'i Imams that had come down by way of the narrations. This whole body of thought flowered and bore fruit in the School of Isfahan from the beginning of the cultural renewal of the Safavid period, in the great works of Mir Damad, Mulla Sadra and Qadi Sa'id Qummi. Corbin's judgment is apt, and from it the importance of Ibn Abi Jumhur's thought, his role, and his place at a turning point in the culture of contemporary Shi'ism become clear.