The Commander of the Faithful, God’s blessings be upon him, said: I heard the Messenger of God (PBUH) say: This verse was sent down concerning the invocation of blessings upon me after God takes me to Himself: “Truly God and His angels invoke blessings upon the Prophet” [Qur’an 33:56], to the end of the verse. (Tasliyat al-Majalis, vol. 1, p. 240)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: I heard from the Messenger of God (PBUH) that the verse of blessings — “Truly God and His angels invoke blessings upon the Prophet…” [Qur’an 33:56] — concerns the time after my passing. That is, with my passing the blessing of the salawat and its merit only then begin.
Qatada related, from al-Hasan al-Basri, who said: Ali, Uthman ibn Maz‘un, Abu Talha, Abu Ubayda, Mu‘adh ibn Jabal, Suhayl ibn Bayda’ and Abu Dujana gathered in the house of Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas. They ate something, and then he set before them some fadikh (a drink made from unripe dates). The Commander of the Faithful (AS) rose and went out from among them. Uthman spoke about this, and Ali said: May God curse wine. By God, I will not drink anything that takes away my reason, and makes whoever sees me laugh at me, and makes me give my daughter in marriage to one I do not want. And he went out from among them and came to the mosque. Then Gabriel descended with this verse: “O you who believe” — meaning those who had gathered in Sa‘d’s house — “wine, gambling, idols and divining arrows are only an abomination of Satan’s work” [Qur’an 5:90], to the end of it. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Perdition to it! [By God — O Messenger of God — my insight concerning it has been clear since I was a child. Al-Hasan said:] By God, other than whom there is no god, he never drank it before it was forbidden, nor for a single hour ever. (Tasliyat al-Majalis, vol. 1, p. 268)
The narrator said: Ali (AS), Uthman ibn Maz‘un, Abu Talha, Abu Ubayda, Mu‘adh ibn Jabal, Suhayl ibn Bayda’ and Abu Dujana gathered in the house of Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas. They ate something, and then a drink called “fadikh” was brought. Ali (AS) rose from his place and went out from among them. Uthman did not approve of this act of Ali’s and said something about it. Ali (AS) said: May God curse wine. By God, I will drink nothing that destroys my reason, that makes those who see me laugh at me, and that leads me to give my daughter to someone I do not want. Then he went out from among them and went to the mosque. At that moment Gabriel descended and brought the verses forbidding wine. Ali (AS) said: Shame upon wine! By God, O Messenger of God, from the time I was a child my thought about it was just this. The narrator said: Ali (AS) never in his life drank wine.
One of the opposing school related: that Ali (AS) was fighting a man of the polytheists, and the polytheist said: O son of Abu Talib, make me a gift of your sword. So he threw it to him. The polytheist said: How astonishing, O son of Abu Talib — at such a moment you hand your sword over to me! He said: O man, you stretched out to me the hand of asking, and it is not of nobility that a petitioner be turned away. At this the unbeliever threw himself to the ground and embraced Islam, and said: This is the character of the people of religion — and he kissed the foot of the Commander of the Faithful. And Gabriel said concerning him: There is no sword but Dhu al-Fiqar, and no champion but Ali. (Tasliyat al-Majalis, vol. 1, p. 342)
It is related that Ali (AS) was in battle with one of the polytheists. That polytheist said: O son of Abu Talib, give me your sword! Without hesitation Ali (AS) threw his sword to him. The polytheist said: How astonishing, O son of Abu Talib! At such a time you give me your sword? Ali (AS) answered: O man, you stretched out the hand of need toward me, and it is not chivalrous to turn away one who asks! When the polytheist heard this, he threw himself to the ground and embraced Islam and said: This is the character of the people of religion — and he kissed the foot of the Commander of the Faithful (AS). Gabriel too said concerning him: There is no sword but Dhu al-Fiqar, and no chivalry but Ali.
Ibn Mardawayh, in the Book of Virtues: that the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to al-Zubayr: Do you not remember a day when you were coming through Medina, talking with me, and the Messenger of God (PBUH) came out and saw you with me while you were smiling at me, and he said: O Zubayr, do you love Ali? And you said: And how should I not love him, when between me and him there is a kinship and an affection in God such as no one else has? He said: Truly you will fight him, and you will be wronging him. I said: I take refuge in God from that. He said: O God, yes — it shall be so. Then he said: Have you come to fight me? He said: I take refuge in God from that. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Leave this aside. You pledged allegiance to me willingly, and then you have come making war — so what has changed from what first was? He said: There is no help for it; by God, I will not fight you. He said: Then his son Abd Allah met him and said: Cowardice, cowardice! He said: O my son, the people know that I am no coward; but Ali reminded me of something I had heard from the Messenger of God (PBUH), and I swore that I would not fight him. He said: Then take that slave of yours, so-and-so, and free him as expiation for your oath. A’isha said: No, by God; rather you feared the swords of the son of Abu Talib, for they are long and sharp and are borne by the arms of valiant men — and if you have feared them, men before you feared them too. So he went back to the fighting. It was said to the Commander of the Faithful: He has returned. He said: Let him be, for the old man is being driven against his will. Then the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: O people, lower your gaze, clench your teeth, and remember your Lord much; and beware of much talk, for it is weakness. And A’isha looked at him as he ranged between the two ranks, [and said:] Look at him — he does as the Messenger of God (PBUH) did on the day of Badr. The Commander of the Faithful said: O A’isha, before long you shall surely be among the regretful. Then the people pressed hard in the fighting, and the Commander of the Faithful (AS) forbade them and said: O God, I have given excuse and I have given warning; so be for me one of the witnesses against them. Then he took up the Qur’an and called for someone to recite to them: “And if two parties of the believers fight one another” [Qur’an 49:9], the verse. Muslim al-Mujashi‘i said: Here I am, O Commander of the Faithful. The Commander of the Faithful warned him that they would cut off his right hand and his left and kill him. He said: No matter, O Commander of the Faithful; this is a small thing for God’s sake. So they seized him while he was calling them to God, and they cut off his right hand; then he took the Qur’an in his left hand, and it too was cut off; then he held it with his teeth, and he was killed, may God be pleased with him. Then his mother said: O Lord, Muslim came to them with the clear revelation, when he called them, reciting the Book of God, fearing them not; and they left him steeped in blood — may their beards be steeped in blood. (Tasliyat al-Majalis, vol. 1, p. 390)
At last the camel fell upon its side. Ammar cut the girths of the camel. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) came near and struck the howdah with his spear and said: O A’isha! Did the Messenger of God tell you to do this? A’isha said: Abu al-Hasan, you have won; so act well. You have gained power; so pardon. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr: The affair of A’isha — your sister — rests with you, and let no one but you come near her. Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr said: I said to A’isha: What have you done to yourself? You have disobeyed your Lord, torn your veil, broken your sanctity and exposed yourself to being killed. Then I took her to the house of Abd Allah ibn Khalaf al-Khuza‘i. A’isha said: I adjure you to find Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, whether wounded or slain. I said: He had been struck down. Muhammad went back to the battlefield and found him among the slain, feigning death! He said: Get up, you wretch! Then he brought him to A’isha. A’isha cried out and wept and said: Brother, ask Ali for safe conduct for him. Muhammad went to the Commander of the Faithful (AS) and asked safe conduct for him. Ali (AS) said: I have granted him safe conduct, and I have granted safe conduct to all.
Mu‘awiya wrote to the Commander of the Faithful (AS): Would that the Resurrection had already come, so that one might see who is in the right and who in the wrong. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: “Those who do not believe in it seek to hasten it, while those who believe stand in awe of it” [Qur’an 42:18]. (Tasliyat al-Majalis, vol. 1, p. 418)
Mu‘awiya wrote to Ali (AS): Would that the Resurrection would come, so that the one in the right might be distinguished from the one in the wrong! Ali (AS) wrote in reply: Those who do not believe in the Resurrection call for it to be hastened, in mockery; but the hearts of the believers tremble for it, and they know that it will surely come. [Qur’an 42:18]
In Mahasin al-Jawabat, from al-Dinawari: that Ibn Muljam said: I asked God to kill by it the worst of His creatures. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: God has answered your prayer. O Hasan, when I die, kill him with his own sword. It is related that he (AS) said: Feed him and give him drink and treat him well in his captivity; for if I recover, I am the master of my own blood — if I wish I shall pardon, and if I wish I shall exact retribution; and if I perish, then kill him. And it is related that when the Commander of the Faithful (AS) was struck and they heard his words, “By the Lord of the Ka‘ba, I have triumphed,” and the cry rose up in the mosque, “The Commander of the Faithful has been slain!”, the people of Kufa, men and women, came with lamps and found the Commander of the Faithful (AS) lying stricken in his prayer niche. The voices of the people rose in weeping and wailing. Al-Hasan and al-Husayn came, and when they saw the Commander of the Faithful they fell upon his feet and gave voice to weeping and wailing; and the daughters of the Commander of the Faithful came with their collars rent. And the Commander of the Faithful began to take the blood from his head and smear it upon his face and his beard, saying: Thus shall I meet God, thus shall I meet the Messenger of God, thus shall I meet Fatima, thus shall I meet Ja‘far the Flying One. And the Commander of the Faithful heard the weeping of his daughters and said: Carry me to the house, that I may take leave of my daughters and my family. So he placed one of his hands on the shoulder of al-Hasan and the other on the shoulder of al-Husayn, and they went with him to his chamber, his feet trailing along the ground and the yellow pallor spreading over his colour. And when he reached the chamber, the dawn broke, and he said: O dawn, bear witness for me before your Lord that from the day the Messenger of God (PBUH) took me under his care as a child until this day of mine, you have never risen upon me while I was asleep. Then he said: O God, bear witness — and You suffice as a witness — that I have never disobeyed a command of Yours, nor abandoned an obligation, nor has anything contrary to Your command passed through my mind. (Tasliyat al-Majalis, vol. 1, p. 484)
Al-Dinawari relates that when they seized Ibn Muljam and brought him before the Master (AS), he said: I asked God to kill the worst of His creatures with my sword! The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: God has answered your prayer. O Hasan, if I die, kill him with his own sword. It is related that the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Give him food and water and treat him kindly. If I recover, I am myself the master of my own blood; if I wish I shall pardon, and if I wish I shall exact retribution. And if I depart this world, kill him. It is also related that when the Commander of the Faithful (AS) was struck and the people heard his words, “By the Lord of the Ka‘ba, I have triumphed!”, the cry went up: “The Commander of the Faithful has been slain!” The people of Kufa, men and women, came toward the mosque with lamps and found the Commander of the Faithful (AS) lying in the prayer niche. The sound of weeping and lamentation rose up. Al-Hasan and al-Husayn (AS) came, and when they saw the Commander of the Faithful (AS) they fell at his feet and gave themselves to weeping and lamentation. The daughters of the Commander of the Faithful (AS) also came with their collars torn. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) would take the blood from his head and rub it on his face and his beard, saying: Thus do I meet God, thus do I meet the Messenger of God, thus do I meet Fatima, thus do I meet Ja‘far the Flying One. When the Commander of the Faithful (AS) heard the weeping of his daughters, he said: Take me to the house that I may bid farewell to my daughters and my family. So he laid one hand on the shoulder of al-Hasan and the other on the shoulder of al-Husayn, and they carried him toward his house while his feet dragged along the ground and his colour had turned to yellow. When he reached the house, the dawn broke. The Imam said: O dawn, bear witness before your Lord that from the time the Messenger of God (PBUH) took me into his care as a child until today, no dawn ever broke upon me while I was asleep. Then he said: O God, be witness — and You are sufficient as a witness — that I never disobeyed Your command, never abandoned any obligation, and that nothing contrary to Your command ever crossed my mind.
It is related: that physicians were gathered for the Commander of the Faithful (AS), and the most discerning of them in medicine was Athir ibn Amr al-Sakuni, who had been in the service of Chosroes as his physician, and it is to him that the plain of Athir is ascribed. He took the warm lung of a sheep, traced out a vein from it, drew it forth, and inserted it into the wound of the Commander of the Faithful (AS). Then he blew into the vein and drew it out, and there was upon it the whiteness of the brain: the blow had reached the very core of his head. He said: O Commander of the Faithful, make your bequest, for you are a dying man. It was then that the Commander of the Faithful (AS) made his testament to al-Hasan and al-Husayn, God’s blessings be upon them both. (Tasliyat al-Majalis, vol. 1, p. 487)
It is related that the physicians gathered for the Commander of the Faithful (AS), and the best of them in medicine was Athir ibn Amr al-Sakuni, who had formerly been the personal physician of Chosroes (the king of Persia). He took a warm lung from a sheep, traced a vein from it and drew it out and placed it inside the wound of the Commander of the Faithful (AS). Then he blew into the vein and drew it out, and he observed that the whiteness of the brain was upon it and that the blow had reached the core of his head. So he said: O Commander of the Faithful, make your bequest, for you will die! It was at that point that Ali (AS) made his testament.
When the Commander of the Faithful had finished his testament — and it was the night of the twenty-first, and part of the night had passed — the gates of heaven were opened, the gardens of Paradise were adorned, and the spirits of the prophets and the friends of God made ready to receive his noble spirit, God’s blessings be upon him. He (AS) said to al-Hasan and al-Husayn: Carry me into this room, and leave me alone, and shut the door upon me, and sit outside the door until I depart to the nearness of God the Exalted. So they laid him down (AS) and did as he had commanded them. They had waited only a little while when they heard the Commander of the Faithful (AS) saying: There is no god but God. When al-Hasan and al-Husayn heard his declaration of God’s oneness, God’s blessings be upon him, they could not restrain themselves and entered in to him, and they found that he had breathed his last, God’s blessings be upon him. So they set about preparing his body as we described at the outset. God’s blessings and mercy and benedictions be upon him, and upon his spirit and his body; and God’s curse be upon the one who wronged him, and upon his slayer, and upon the one who withheld his right from him. (Tasliyat al-Majalis, vol. 1, p. 495)
When the Commander of the Faithful Ali (AS) had finished his testaments, it was the twenty-first night of the month of Ramadan and part of the night had passed. At that moment the gates of heaven were opened, Paradise was adorned, and the spirits of the prophets and the friends of God made ready to receive his pure spirit. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to al-Hasan and al-Husayn (AS): Take me into this room and leave me alone, and shut the door upon me, and sit outside the door until I go to God the Exalted. So they carried him there and did as he had commanded. Not long afterwards they heard the Commander of the Faithful (AS) saying: There is no god but God. When al-Hasan and al-Husayn (AS) heard his declaration of God’s oneness, they could not hold back and entered. They saw that he had been martyred.
Misma‘ ibn Abd al-Malik, known as Kirdin al-Basri, related from our master Abu Abd Allah al-Sadiq (AS), who said: O Misma‘, truly the heavens and the earth have not ceased to weep since the Commander of the Faithful, God’s blessings be upon him, was slain; and those of the angels who weep for our affliction are more numerous still. There is no servant who weeps out of compassion for us but that God has mercy upon him before the tear leaves his eye; and when it flows down his cheek, were a single drop of it to fall into Hell it would quench its heat until no heat could be found in it. And there is no possessor of a heart who grieves at our affliction but that God grants him a joy at the time of his death which will remain with him until he comes to us at the Pool. Truly al-Kawthar rejoices at the believer who comes to it, and he is given from it a draught after which he will never thirst again and will never need to drink again. It has the taste of ginger and the fragrance of musk; sweeter than honey, colder than snow, purer than a tear, and more fragrant than ambergris. It flows out from the spring of Tasnim and passes through the rivers of Paradise over pebbles of pearl and ruby. Its fragrance is smelled from the distance of a thousand years’ journey, and upon it are cups of pearl and ruby more numerous than the stars of heaven. And upon its bank the Commander of the Faithful (AS) stands, and in his hand is a staff of boxthorn with which he drives away our enemies. One of them will come and say: O Commander of the Faithful, give me a draught to drink, for in the abode of this world I professed the two testimonies. The Commander of the Faithful will say to him: Go back to your imam, whom you took as your guardian in the abode of this world and whom you preferred over the true Imam, and ask him to intercede for you. He will say: O my master, the imam you have named is worse than I. The Commander of the Faithful will say to him: Go back the way you came — may God never give you drink. (Tasliyat al-Majalis, vol. 2, p. 434)
Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said: The heavens and the earth have wept continually since the Commander of the Faithful (AS) was martyred, and the angels who weep for our afflictions are more numerous than these. Any servant who weeps for us out of compassion — God encompasses him in His mercy before the tear flows from his eyes. And if a drop of that tear were to fall into Hell, it would extinguish its fire. Whoever grieves in his heart for our afflictions, God grants him a joy that will be with him at the hour of death, until he comes to us at the pool of Kawthar. Truly Kawthar rejoices at the believer who comes toward it, and it gives him to drink of it in such a way that he will never thirst again and will have no further need to drink. Its taste is like ginger and its fragrance like musk; it is sweeter than honey, colder than ice, purer than a tear and more fragrant than ambergris. This water flows from the spring of Tasnim and passes through the rivers of Paradise, running over pebbles of pearl and ruby. Its fragrance reaches the senses from a distance of a thousand years’ journey, and upon it are cups of pearl and ruby whose number exceeds the stars of heaven. On the brink of Kawthar the Commander of the Faithful (AS) stands, and in his hand is a staff with which he drives our enemies away. One of them comes and says: O Commander of the Faithful! Give me to drink, for in the world I professed the two testimonies (the testimony to God’s oneness and to the Prophet’s mission). The Commander of the Faithful (AS) says to him: Go back to your imam, whom you followed in the world and preferred over the true Imam, and ask him to intercede for you. He says: O my master, the imam you have named is worse than I am.
“Tafsir al-Safi,” composed by Mulla Muhsin Fayd Kashani, is a traditionist commentary drawn from exegetical narrations and from the narration-based commentaries of the centuries before him, and, for all its brevity, is a relatively comprehensive book. In this work Fayd sought to offer a commentary purged of assorted opinions, and for this reason he chose for it the name “al-Safi” (the pure). Fayd generally presents the traditions of his book with mention of the source but always without the chain of transmission. After writing his commentary, Mulla Muhsin Fayd produced two abridgements of it: “al-Asfa” and “al-Musaffa,” the second being more condensed than the first. Allama Sa‘idi Khurasani produced a precise translation of Tafsir al-Safi, which has been published. Thaqafi’s commentary “Rawan-i Javid” is likewise more or less a free translation of Tafsir al-Safi.
As for Fayd Kashani himself: he was a jurist, traditionist, mystic, philosopher and poet of the eleventh century of the Hijra, and the son-in-law of Mulla Sadra of Shiraz. Fayd also studied under Shaykh Baha’i and under the father of Allama Majlisi, and Allama Majlisi was his student. Fayd was a prolific author and composed more than a hundred works in various sciences.