Rare Ahadith

“I once asked abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about a man who was captured by the Romans, and he did not fast in the month of Ramadan because he did not know which month was it. He (the Imam) said, ‘He is required to fast for one month. He then tries to calculate; if the month that he has fasted is before the month of Ramadan; it is not sufficient, and if it is after the month of Ramadan, it is then sufficient.’”

“One of the two Imam, ‘Alayhim al-Salam, has stated this Hadith. ‘The Messenger of Allah, O Allah, grant compensation to Muhammad and his family worthy of their services to Your cause, has said, “O young people, you may have carnal relations. If you are unable to do so, you should fast; it has a castrating effect (on carnal desires).””’

It is preferable for a man to go to bed with his wife during the first night of the month of Ramadan because of the words of Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, “Al-Rafath (to go to bed with your wives)” is made lawful for you during the night of fasting.”””

“Once al-Rida (a.s.), on the day of al-Fitr said to a certain individual of his servants, while praying for him. ‘O so and so, (I pray) may Allah accept from you and from us.’ Then it was the day of al-Adha’ and he (the Imam) said to him, ‘O so and so, may Allah accept from us and from you.’ I (the narrator) then asked, ‘O child of the Messenger of Allah, why is it that on the day of al-Fitr you said to him something different from what you said to him on the day of al-Adha?’ He (the Imam) replied, ‘What I said on the day of al-Fitr was because we both had done the same deed in equal form, but on the day of al-Adha’ we were able to offer a sacrifice, but he was unable to do so, thus we did something different from what he did.’”

“Abu al-Hassan (a.s.), on the day of al-Fitr looking at the people who were playing and laughing, turned to his companions and said, ‘Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Glorious, has created the month of Ramadan as an arena for His creature to compete in matters of obedience to Him to achieve His pleasure. Certain people have excelled, but others have remained behind and have failed. It is very strange that the laughing people play on the day when people of good deeds receive their reward and people with shortcomings fail. I swear by Allah, had the curtain been moved aside, people of good deeds and people of evil deeds each would have kept busy with their deeds.’”

“I once wrote to abu Muhammad (a.s.), and asked, ‘Why has Allah made fasting obligatory?’ The answer was, ‘It is made obligatory so that affluent people can feel the taste of hunger and become compassionate to the poor.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that once when ’Amir al-Mu’minin was in the Masjid of al-Kufa, a certain people, who were found eating during the day in the month of Ramadan were brought before him. ’Amir al-Mu’minin asked them, ‘Did you eat while you were not fasting?’ They replied, ‘Yes, we did so.’ He (the Imam) then asked, ‘Are you Jews?’ They replied, ‘No, we are not Jews.’ He (the Imam) asked, ‘Are you Christians?’ They replied, ‘No, we are not Christians.’ He (the Imam) then asked, ‘Which religion that is different from Islam do you follow?’ They replied, ‘We are Muslims.’ He (the Imam) asked, ‘Are you travelers?’ They replied, ‘No, we are not travelers.’ He (the Imam) asked, ‘Do you have some kind of illness that made you not to fast and that we do not realize, but of which you are more aware than we are? Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Glorious, has said, “Man is aware of himself. . . .” (75:14) They replied, ‘We have no illness.’ ’Amir al-Mu’minin then laughed and said, ‘Do you testify that no one deserves worship except Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah?’ They replied, ‘We testify that no one deserves worship except Allah, but we do not know Muhammad.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘He is the Messenger of Allah.’ They replied, ‘We do not know him to be as such. He was only an Arab person who called people to himself.’ He (the Imam) then said, ‘If you do not testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, O Allah, grant compensation to Muhammad and his family worthy of their services to Your cause, I will execute you.’ They replied, ‘Do as you wish.’ He then ordered Shurta al-Khamis (special police) to guard and take them behind the city of Kufa. He ordered them to dig two ditches next to each other with a hole joining the two ditches. He (the Imam) then said to them, ‘I will place you in one of these two ditches and start a fire in the other one and make you die because of smoke.’ They said, ‘Do as you wish. This life ends anyway.’ They were gently placed in the ditch, then he (the Imam) gave the order to start a fire in the other ditch and kept calling them repeatedly; each time they replied, ‘You can do as you wish,’ until they died. He then returned, but the news spread and people spoke about it. One day he (the Imam) was in the Masjid when a Jewish man from Yathrib, whom all Jews of Yathrib confirmed to be the most knowledgeable one among them, as was his ancestors, and a group of people of his family, came to ’Amir al-Mu’minin. When they arrived near the great Masjid of al-Kufa, they disembarked, then stood at the door of the Masjid and sent someone to ’Amir al-Mu’minin with a message that said, ‘We are a group of Jewish people. We have come from Hijaz and we need to speak to you. Do you want to come out or should we enter to see you?’ The narrator has said that he (the Imam) then went out to them, saying, ‘They will soon enter and begin with oath. What do you need?’ The chief person among them asked, ‘O son of abu Talib, what is this innovation that you have introduced in the religion of Muhammad (SAW)?’ He (the Imam) then asked, ‘What kind of innovation are you talking about?’ The Jewish man said, ‘People of Hijaz say that you executed by means of smoke certain men. They were a people who testified that it is only Allah who alone deserves worship but would not testify that Muhammad (SAW), is the Messenger of Allah.’ ’Amir al-Mu’minin said, ‘I swear you upon the nine miracles that were given to Moses (a.s.), on Mount Sinai. I swear you upon the five temples of al-Quds and the position of the Judge. Do you know that Usha‘ ibn Nun, after the death of Moses, before whom a people were brought who had testified that Allah alone deserves worship, but did not testify that Moses was the Messenger of Allah, executed them the way I did?’ The Jewish man replied, ‘Yes, I testify that you are a keeper of the secrets of Moses.’ The narrator has said that he then took out of the pocket of his gown a book (letter) and gave it to ’Amir al-Mu’minin who opened it, looked at it and wept. The Jewish man then asked, ‘What makes you weep, O son of abu Talib? You just looked at a letter that is in the Suryaniy language, and you are an Arab man. Do you know what is in it?’ ’Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s.), said to him, ‘Yes, I know. This is my name written in it.’ The Jewish man then asked, ‘Show me your name in this book (letter) and tell me what your name is in the Suryaniy language?’ The narrator has said, ‘’Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s.), showed him his name on the page and said, “My name in Suryaniy language is ‘Eliya’.” The Jewish man then said, ‘I testify that only Allah deserves worship, Muhammad (SAW), is the Messenger of Allah, and you are the executor of the will of Muhammad. I testify that you have more authority over the people than they themselves do after Muhammad (SAW).’ They pledged allegiance to ’Amir al-Mu’minin and entered the Masjid, and said, ‘All praise belongs to Allah before whom I was not forgotten. All praise belongs to Allah who listed me in the book (page) before Him along with the virtuous ones. All praise belongs to Allah, the owner of glory and honor.’”