The Thirty-Ninth Assembly, the Assembly of Friday, the Seventh of Safar, 368 AH.

Al-Sadiq Ja`far b. Muhammad (as) said: Whoever attends the funeral of a believer until he is buried in his grave, Allah will assign seventy-thousand angels to attend his funeral and seek repentance for him when he comes out of his grave.

Pray over anyone who dies from the people of the qibla. His judgment is with Allah.

I heard Aba Ja`far al-Baqir (as) say: Whoever attends the funeral of a Muslim, on the Day of Resurrection, he will be given four intercessions. He will not say a thing except that the angel will say: “And for you is something like that.”

I heard Aba `Abdillah al-Sadiq (as) say: A Jew came to the Prophet (sw) and stood in front of him, staring at him. So, he said: “O Jew! What do you need?” He said: “Are you more virtuous or Musa the son of Imran, the prophet whom Allah spoke to, who was given the Torah and the staff, for whom the sea was split, and who was shaded by the cloud?” So, the Prophet (sw) said to him: “It is disliked for a servant to praise himself, but I will say:
When Adam (as) made the mistake, he repented by saying: ‘O Allah! I ask You by the right of Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad to forgive me.’ So, Allah pardoned it for him.
When Nuh (as) boarded the Ark and feared drowning, he said: ‘O Allah! I ask You by the right of Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad to save me from drowning.’ So, Allah saved him from that.
When Ibrahim (as) was thrown into the fire, he said: ‘O Allah! I ask You by the right of Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad to deliver me from this.’ So, Allah made it cool and peaceful.
When Musa (as) cast his staff and felt fear in himself, he said: ‘O Allah! I ask You by the right of Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad to keep me safe from this.’ So, Allah said: ‘Fear not. Surely, it is you who is superior.’ (20:68) O Jew! [Even] if Moses were to meet me and disbelieve in me and my prophethood, his faith would not avail him at all, nor would his prophethood avail him.
O Jew! From my progeny is the Mahdi. When he appears, Jesus the son of Mary will descend to support him, and he will pray behind him.”

I passed by a stone and I found a person bowing and prostrating. I looked at him, and I found that it was `Ali b. al-Husayn (as). So, I said to myself: A righteous man from the People of the House of Prophethood. By Allah, I need his supplication. So, I began watching him until he completed his prayer and raised his hands to the sky and said: My Master! My Master! These are my hands that I stretch out to You, filled with sin. My eyes reach for You in hope. The right of one who supplicates to You in regret and humility is that You answer him with bounteous generosity. My Master! Did You create me to be of the people of sorrow, so that I may lengthen my weeping; or did You create me from the people of happiness, so that my hope may be delighted? My Master! Did You create my appendages to be stricken with rods? Did You create my gut to consume boiling water? My Master! Were a slave able to flee from his master, I would [then] be the first to flee from You; but I know that I would not be able to escape You. My Master! If punishing me were to expand Your sovereignty, then I would have asked You for patience over that. However, I know that the obedience of the obedient does not expand Your sovereignty, and the disobedience of the disobedient does not diminish it. My Master! What am I, and what risk do I pose? Extinguish my errors with Your grace, dignify me with Your covering, and pardon my punishment with the generosity of Your Face. My God and my Master! Forgive me when I am in agony on my deathbed and when my loved ones turn me over. Have mercy on me when I am washed by my righteous neighbours. Have mercy on me when I am carried by my relatives to my funeral. Have mercy on my loneliness, my estrangement, and my solitude in that dark home. Tawus said: I wept until my wailing intensified. So, he turned to me and said: What makes you weep, Yamani? Or is this not the [correct] status of sinners? So, I said: My beloved! It is a right upon Allah that He answers you, as your grandfather is Muhammad (s). He said: A delegation of his companions came forward, so he turned to them and said: O my companions! I advise you of the Hereafter, and I do not advise you of this world, for you are directed by it, coveting of it, and holding onto it. O my companions! Surely, this world is a fleeting abode, while the Hereafter is a lasting abode. So, take from your fleeting [abode] that which will help you in your residence. Do not try to hide your secrets from the One from whom they cannot be hidden. Take your hearts out of this world before your bodies are taken out of it. Have you not seen and heard of what has continually accorded to those before you from the earliest nations and the past communities? Do you not see how their secrets were exposed, and how humiliation rained down on them? Their happiness, livelihood, and well-being were exchanged for indignation. I say this saying of mine, and I repent to Allah for myself and for you.

In Medina, there was a foolish (battal) man that the people would laugh at. This man wanted to get a laugh through `Ali b. al-Husayn (as). He said: So, `Ali (as) passed by, and two of his servants were behind him. So, the man came, removed the cloak from his neck, and ran away. `Ali (as) did not turn to him. So, they followed him and took the cloak back from him. So, they brought it back to him and dressed him in it. So, he said: Who is this? They said to him: This is a foolish man that the people of Medina laugh at. So, he said: Say to him: “For Allah is a day in which the invalidators (al-mubtilun) will lose.”

Amir al-Mu’minin (as) said: The people of religion have signs by which they are recognized: truthful speech, fulfilling trusts, being loyal to agreements, maintaining blood-ties, being merciful to the weak, giving little flattery to women, extending moral virtues, beautiful character, much forbearance, seeking knowledge in whatever brings him closer to Allah – “for them is Tuba and a goodly return” (13:29). Tuba is a tree in Paradise. Its root is in the house of the Prophet (s), and there is no believer except that he is in his house. Anything their hearts desire will branch out of it. If a glorious rider were to traverse through its shade for one hundred years, he would not be able to exit it. If a crow were to fly from its lowest point, it would not be able to reach its highest point without falling out of old age. So, desire this. Surely, the believer is busy at heart, whilst the people are at peace because of him. When night comes to him, he lays his face in prostration to Allah with the nobility of his body; whispering to the one who created him, asking Him to free his neck [from Hell]. So, be like this.

Surely, Allah distinguished His Messenger (s) with noble character (makarim al-akhlaq). So, test yourselves – if you have [some of] it, then praise Allah and wish for Him to increase it in you. They are ten [characteristics]: (1) certainty, (2) contentment, (3) patience, (4) gratitude, (5) forbearance, (6) beautiful character, (7) generosity, (8) protectiveness, (9) courage, and (10) chivalry.

When death attended to al-Hasan b. `Ali b. Abi Talib (as), he wept. It was said to him: O son of the Messenger of Allah! Why do you weep when you have such a position with the Messenger of Allah (s); and after all that the Messenger of Allah (s) had said about you? You have performed Hajj twenty times on foot and given all your belongings to the needy three times! So, he said: I weep for two reasons: (1) The horror of resurrection, and (2) separation from my loved ones.

I am Allah – there is no god but Me. I created the creation with My power. I selected whomever I wished to be My prophets from among them. I selected Muhammad from all of them to be My Beloved, My Friend, and My elite one. I sent him as a Messenger to My creation. I chose `Ali for him, and I made him his brother, his deputy, his vizier, and his representative to My creation after him. He is My vicegerent over My servants, who clarifies My Book to them and applies My judgment among them. I have made him the sign that guides from misguidance, My gate from which I am come to, My house – whoever enters it is safe from My Fire, My fortress – whoever seeks refuge in it is protected from the hateful things of this world and the Hereafter, My Face – whoever faces it, I will not turn My Face away from, and My Proof in the heavens and the Earths over all that is in them of my creatures. I will not accept the deeds of any of them unless they declare his wilaya alongside the prophethood of Ahmad, My Messenger. He is My open hand over My servants. He is the blessing by which I bless those who I love from among My servants. Whoever I love from among My servants, I make him recognize him and his wilaya. Whoever I hate from My servants. I make him not recognize him and his wilaya. I swear by My glory and I vow by My majesty: surely, no servant from My servants will align with `Ali except that I will displace him from the Fire and enter him into Paradise; and no servant from My servants will hate him and reject his wilaya except that I will hate him and enter him into the Fire in the misery of fate.