Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Babawayh, in al-Khisal, with his well-known chain of transmission, from Ali (AS), in the hadith of the four hundred, said: Hold fast to that which God has commanded you; for there is nothing between any one of you and his coming to be envied and seeing what he loves, except that the Messenger of God (PBUH) should come to him — and what is with God is better and more lasting — and that the glad tidings from God should reach him, so that his eye is gladdened and he loves the meeting with God. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 1, p. 316)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: O Shi‘a! Occupy yourselves with obedience to God. For between you and Paradise there is no barrier save the throes of death, which for you are accompanied by the sight of the Messenger of God (PBUH). You see the Messenger of God (PBUH), and he gives you glad tidings from God that “what is with God is better and more lasting” [Qur’an 42:36]. At that moment your eye is gladdened, and you become enamoured of the meeting with God.
In the book Man la yahduruhu al-faqih, he said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Truly, when death comes to the believer, the angel of death holds him fast; and were it not for that, he would not be still. And there is no one to whom death comes but that the Prophet (PBUH) and the Proofs (AS) are made manifest to him, so that he sees them: if he is a believer he sees them in a manner he loves, and if he is not a believer he sees them in a manner he detests. He said: And al-Sadiq (AS) said: Truly the friend of Ali (AS) sees him in three places in a manner that gladdens him: at death, at the Sirat, and at the Pool. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 1, p. 316)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When the time of a believer’s death arrives, the angel of death comes and takes him into his embrace, and in this way sets him at rest. Then he said: Everyone, at the time of his death, sees the Messenger of God (PBUH) and the other Imams (AS); the believer sees them in a form he loves, and the unbeliever in a form that they do not find pleasing. Likewise Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said: The true Shi‘a of Ali (AS) meets him in three places and is gladdened by that meeting: at the moment of death, upon the bridge of Sirat, and beside the Pool.
And from him, from Muhammad ibn Fudayl, from Ibn Abi Ya'fur, who said: Abu Abdillah (AS) said to me: I have grown ashamed at how often I repeat these words to you. There is nothing between any one of you and the felicity for which he will be envied except that his soul should reach here — and he gestured with his hand toward his throat — whereupon the Messenger of God (PBUH) and Ali (AS) come to him and say to him: As for that which you used to fear, you are now safe from it; and as for that which you used to hope for, it lies before you. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 1, p. 317)
Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said: I have repeated this matter to you Shia so often that I have grown weary of it: between you and Paradise there stands nothing but death. And in death you attain the meeting with the Messenger of God (PBUH) and the Commander of the Faithful (AS), and they say to you: The fears and the hardships are over, and that which you were seeking now awaits you.
From Ali ibn Muhammad, from Ali ibn al-Hasan, from al-Husayn ibn Rashid, from al-Murtajil ibn Ma'mar, from Dharih al-Muharibi, from Abaya al-Asadi, from Habba al-Urani, from the Commander of the Faithful (AS) in a hadith, who said: There is no believer who dies in any spot of the earth but that it is said to his spirit: Join the Valley of Peace (Wadi al-Salam) — and it is indeed a plot of the Garden of Eden. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 1, p. 330)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Wherever on earth a believer may die, his spirit is addressed: Join Wadi al-Salam! And Wadi al-Salam is a plot of the Garden of Eden.
(We say: In view of the explicitness of this hadith, it appears that the substance of the reports concerning the believer's transfer after death to Wadi al-Salam pertains to the spirit of the believer and not to his body, and refers to the otherworldly Wadi al-Salam and not to this Wadi al-Salam situated in Najaf. Perhaps, too, this Wadi al-Salam is the gate of that Wadi al-Salam, or its counterpart or equivalent upon the earth — like the material Ka'ba, which stands in alignment with the celestial al-Bayt al-Ma'mur. And God knows best.)
And by his chain of transmission, from Ali (AS) in the Hadith of the Four Hundred, he said: Do not burden us with pleading and interceding for you on the Day of Resurrection on account of what you have sent ahead. And he (AS) said: We have intercession, and those who love us have intercession. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 1, p. 359)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Do not put us to trouble in pleading and interceding for you by the unseemly deeds you send ahead to the Hereafter. And he said: On the Day of Resurrection not only we, but our Shia too, shall intercede.
(We say: that is, live in such a way that you too may intercede for others, rather than standing in need of our intercession and putting us to trouble in the Hereafter.)
From al-Husayn ibn Sayf, from his father, from Sulayman ibn Amr, from Abdullah ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn Ali, from his father, from Ali (AS), who said: The seeker of knowledge is escorted by seventy thousand angels from the summit of heaven, saying: May God bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 1, p. 472)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Thousands of angels accompany the seeker of knowledge from heaven and continually send blessings upon him.
(We say: that is, they reckon him among the family of Muhammad and include him in the blessing.)
And his saying (AS): This is the silent Book of God, and I am the speaking Book of God. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 1, p. 595)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The Qur'an is the silent book of God, and I am the speaking book of God.
Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Babawayh in al-Amali, from Ali ibn Muhammad, from al-Asadi, from Abd al-Azim al-Hasani, from Ali ibn Muhammad al-Hadi, from his forefathers, from Ali (peace be upon them) in a hadith, he said: Moses son of Imran said: My God, what is the reward of one who calls a disbelieving soul to Islam? He said: O Moses, I shall permit him to intercede on the Day of Resurrection for whomever he wishes. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 1, p. 605)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Moses (AS) asked God: My God, what is the reward of one who invites another to Your religion? God said: On the Day of Resurrection I shall permit him to intercede for whomever he wishes.
And from Muhammad ibn Musa ibn al-Mutawakkil, from al-Sa'dabadi, from al-Barqi, from his father, from Muhammad ibn Sinan, from Ziyad ibn al-Mundhir, from Sa'd ibn Tarif, from al-Asbagh ibn Nubata, from the Commander of the Faithful (AS) in a hadith, he said: Jesus (AS) said: The world is the disease of religion, and the scholar is the physician of religion. So when you see the physician drawing the disease toward himself, hold him suspect and know that he is no sincere counsellor to others. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 1, p. 608)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Jesus (AS) has said: The world is the disease and affliction of religion, and the scholar is the physician of religion. If you see a scholar who has himself become a seeker of that sickness and disease, keep away from him and know that he is of no use in curing your ailments.
Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Nu'man al-Mufid in al-Irshad said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever is upon certainty and is then beset by doubt should proceed upon his certainty, for certainty is not overturned by doubt. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 1, p. 628)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When you are certain of something, pay no heed to a doubt that arises afterwards, and go forward on the basis of that same certainty.
Abdullah ibn Ja'far in Qurb al-Isnad, from al-Sindi ibn Muhammad, from Abu al-Bakhtari, from Ja'far, from his father, from Ali (peace be upon them), who said: There is to be no harshness toward a Muslim in anything. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 1, p. 637)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Do not be harsh with Muslims in anything, and do not treat them with severity.
Abd al-Rahman al-Suyuti said in his book al-Nazair wa al-Ashbah fi al-Nahw: Abu al-Qasim al-Zajjaji said in his Amali: Muhammad ibn Rustum al-Tabarsi narrated to us, saying: Abu Hatim al-Sijistani narrated to us; Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Hadrami narrated to me; Sa'id ibn Muslim al-Bahili narrated to us; my father narrated to us, from my grandfather, from Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali, who said: I came in upon Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS) and found him with his head bowed, deep in thought. I said: What are you pondering, O Commander of the Faithful? He said: I have heard solecism in this land of yours, and I wished to compose a book on the principles of Arabic. We said: If you do this, you will have given us life. Then I came to him after three days, and he handed me a sheet on which was written: In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Speech is entirely of three kinds: noun, verb and particle. The noun is that which informs about the thing named; the verb is that which informs about the action of the thing named; and the particle is that which informs of a meaning that is neither a noun nor a verb. Then he said to me: Pursue this further and add to it whatever occurs to you. And know, O Abu al-Aswad, that things are of three sorts: the manifest, the implicit, and that which is neither manifest nor implicit; and scholars surpass one another only in the knowledge of that which is neither manifest nor implicit. Abu al-Aswad said: So I gathered some matters from it and presented them to him. Among them were the particles governing the accusative, and I mentioned among them inna, anna, layta, la'alla and ka-anna, but I did not mention lakinna. He said to me: Why have you left it out? I said: I did not reckon it among them. He said: Indeed it is one of them; so add it to them. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 1, p. 684)
Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali (the founder of the science of Arabic grammar) said: I came in upon the Commander of the Faithful (AS) and saw that he was deep in thought. I said: O Commander of the Faithful, what are you pondering? He said: I have seen that in Iraq a number of people do not speak correctly; I have resolved to compose a book on the principles of Arabic. Abu al-Aswad said: I said, if you do so it will be as though you had brought us to life. Three days later, when I again went to visit the Commander of the Faithful (AS), he gave me a writing to this effect: In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Speech comprises noun, verb and particle. The noun pertains to a thing, the verb to the action of that thing, and the remainder is the particle. Then he said to me: Investigate, and add to this treatise whatever comes to your mind. And he said: Matters are either clear, or obscure, or between the two; the true scholar is the one who knows the third category well. Abu al-Aswad said: Some time passed, and I composed a treatise on grammar and brought it to him. He read the chapter on the particles governing the accusative. I had mentioned inna, anna, layta, la'alla and ka-anna. He said: Why have you not included lakinna? I said: I did not reckon it among the particles governing the accusative. He said: Indeed it is; it is one of them. Add it as well.
Ali (AS) said: When a person is at prayer, his body, his garments, and everything around him glorify God. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 78)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When someone stands to pray, his whole body, his clothing, and all the things around him also rise up in glorification of God.
Ali (AS) was asked about a man who is praying when a man, a woman, a dog or a donkey passes in front of him. He said: Nothing cuts off the prayer; but ward off what you can — it is greater than that. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 82)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) was asked: Is there no harm in a person walking or an animal passing in front of one who is praying? He said: These things do not cut off the prayer; rather, be concerned with presence of heart in prayer, for that is what matters.
Ali (AS) said: Whoever has eaten anything whose odour is offensive should not come near the mosque. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 83)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: One who has eaten something such as garlic, so that his mouth gives off an odour, should not come to the mosque.
And Ali (AS) said to Fatima: Make lawful your share of the fay' to the fathers of our Shia. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 148)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to Fatima (AS): Make lawful for the Shia your share of your right that has passed into the property of the people, so that their children may be born pure.
And he (AS) said: Leave the Turks alone so long as they leave you alone, for the first to strip my community of its dominion and of what God has bestowed upon it will be the Banu Qantura ibn Kirkir, and they are the Turks. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 210)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: So far as you are able, do not provoke the Turks; for the first people who will break your back and wrest dominion from your hands are the Turks.
And Ali (AS) said: Whoever repels from the Muslims the onslaught of water or fire, or the onslaught of an overbearing enemy of the Muslims, God will forgive him his sin. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 213)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever is a refuge for the people in a flood, a fire, or an enemy assault, God forgives his sins.
Ali (AS) said: Everything that distracts from the remembrance of God is a form of gambling. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 242)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whatever keeps a person from the remembrance of God is like gambling and has the ruling of gambling.
And Ali (AS) used to hold liable the fuller and the goldsmith, and everyone who takes something in order to repair it and then ruins it. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 301)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) held the tailor and the dyer, and in general anyone who undertook to perform a piece of work, responsible and liable.
Ali (AS) said: Do not obey women under any circumstance, do not entrust them with wealth, and do not leave them to manage the affairs of the household; for if they are left to what they desire, they bring about ruin and transgress the command of the master of the house — up to where he said: So deal gently with them in every circumstance and speak kindly to them, that they may act well. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 332)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Never simply follow the word of women, do not consider them trustworthy over your wealth, and do not leave the affairs of the children to them; for if you leave them to themselves to do whatever they wish, they will bring you to ruin and will disobey the command of the husband. Even so, always deal gently with them and be kind and fair-spoken to them, so that you may see good from them.
And he (AS) said: In opposing women there is blessing. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 333)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: In opposing women there is blessing.
Ali (AS) said: Whoever confesses under stripping, imprisonment, intimidation or threat, no prescribed punishment (hadd) is to be applied to him. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 403)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever confesses while under arrest or in prison, or out of fear or under threat, his confession is not accepted.
Ali (AS) said: Whoever makes an exception in an oath incurs neither the breaking of the oath nor expiation. And he (AS) said: The exception in an oath holds whenever he calls it to mind, even if it be after forty mornings. Then he recited: And remember your Lord when you forget. [Qur'an 18:24] (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 411)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever makes an exception in his oath (that is, says 'God willing') incurs neither the breaking of the oath (hinth) nor any expiation. And he said: The exception in an oath is accepted whenever it comes to his mind (and he says 'God willing'), even if it be after forty days. Then he recited this verse: And remember your Lord when you forget. [Qur'an 18:24]
And it is narrated: that Ali (AS) was never brought a platter without herbs upon it, because the hearts of the believers are green and incline toward what resembles them. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 443)
It is narrated that the Commander of the Faithful (AS) would not eat food without green herbs, and held that the hearts of the believers are verdant and for that reason incline toward greenery.
Ali (AS) said: How ugly it is for a man among you to commit one of these indecencies and then disgrace himself before the assembled crowd! Why did he not repent within his own house? By God, his repentance between himself and God is better than my carrying out the prescribed punishment upon him. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 2, p. 513)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) used to say: How ugly it is that someone should commit a shameful sin and then come and confess it! Would it not have been better for him to go and repent before God in his own privacy? By God, to settle such matters with God is better than the carrying out of the prescribed punishment.
Hamd ibn Ya'qub, from Muhammad ibn Yahya, from Muhammad ibn al-Husayn, from Musa ibn Umar, from Hafs ibn Bashir, from Ibrahim ibn Mihzam, from Abu Maryam, from al-Asbagh ibn Nubata, who said: I came in upon the Commander of the Faithful (AS) while roasted meat was before him. He said: Come near and eat. I said: O Commander of the Faithful, this is harmful to me. He said: Then shall I teach you words with which nothing you fear can harm you? Say: (In the name of God, the best of names; in the name of God, filling the earth and the heavens; the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, with whose name nothing can do harm, neither anything nor any disease.) Now take lunch with us. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 3, p. 47)
The narrator said: I came into the presence of the Commander of the Faithful (AS) while roasted meat was set before him. He said: Come and eat! I said: It is harmful to me. He said: I shall teach you something after which nothing will harm you: say: In the name of God, the best of names; in the name of God, filling the earth and the heavens; the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, with whose name nothing can do harm, neither anything nor any disease. Then he said: Now come and eat with us.
He said, and he said: The superiority of the jujube over other fruit is like our superiority over the people. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 3, p. 133)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The superiority of the jujube over other fruits is like our superiority over the people.
And in al-Khisal, by his chain of transmission, from Ali (AS) in the Hadith of the Four Hundred, he said: What a believer leaves over from his drink is a cure. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 3, p. 143)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: What a believer leaves half-consumed is a cure.
From al-Harith al-A'war, from Ali (AS), who said: Lying is not fitting, neither in earnest nor in jest, nor that one of you promise something to his child and then not fulfil it. Truly falsehood leads to wickedness, and wickedness leads to the Fire. (al-Fusul al-Muhimma, vol. 3, p. 364)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Lying is not right, not even in jest; therefore, if you make a promise to your child, keep it. Lying leads on to greater sins, and in the end it makes a person one of the people of Hell.
'Ithbat al-Hudat' is another book by al-Hurr al-Amili, concerning the biographies of the Infallibles (AS) and the establishment of their imamate and walaya by way of the transmitted reports and the miracles that issued from them. On this subject the author cites more than twenty thousand hadiths from one hundred and forty-two Shia books and twenty-four Sunni books. By his claim, all the reports gathered in this book enjoy mass transmission (tawatur), and he states that his motive for writing the book was to refute the claim of those who do not believe in the mass transmission of the reports concerning the imamate.