Statements about al-Jafr al-Jami‘ and the Book of Fatima (a.s.)

“I went to Abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.) and said, “May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, I like to ask you a question. Is there anyone else in this house who may hear my words?” Abu 'Abd Allah (a.s.) then folded the curtain between his room and the other room next to it and looked into it. Then he (a.s.) said, “O Abu Muhammad, ask whatever you wish.” I said, “May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, your followers say that the Messenger of Allah (sw) taught Ali (a.s.) a thousand chapters (of knowledge) and from each chapter there opens a thousand chapters. I then said, ‘This, I swear by Allah, is knowledge.’” He (a.s.) then would mark the ground with his staff (a sign of thinking in normal people) for a while and said, “That is knowledge but it is not that.”
The narrator has said that he (a.s.) then said, “O Abu Muhammad, with us is al-Jami‘a. What do they know what al-Jami‘a is?” I then asked, “May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, what is al-Jami‘a?” He (a.s.) said, it is a parchment seventy yards by the yards of the Messenger of Allah (sw) long, that contains his dictations that is in graved in to with the right hand writing of Ali (a.s.). It contains all the lawful and unlawful and all matters that people need, even the law to of compensation for a scratch caused to a person. He then stretched his hand to me and asked, ‘May I, O abu Muhammad?’ I then replied, “May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, I am all at your disposal, do as you wish.” He pinched me with his hand and said, “Even there is the law of compensation for this.” He (a.s.) seemed angry. The narrator has said, “I then said, “This, I swear by Allah is knowledge.” He (a.s.) said, “It certainly is knowledge but not that one.”
He (a.s.) remained silent for a while and then said, “With us there is al-Jafr (the parchment). What do they know what al-Jafr is? I then asked, “What is al-Jafr?” He (a.s.) said, “It is a container made of skin that contains the knowledge of the prophets and the executors of their wills and the knowledge of the scholars in the past from the Israelites.” The narrator has said that he then said, “This certainly is the knowledge.” He (a.s.) said, “It certainly is knowledge but not that knowledge.”
He (a.s.) remained silent for a while and then said, “With us there is the book (Mushaf) of Fatima (s.a.). What do they know what the Mushaf of Fatima is?“ He (a.s.) said, “The Mushaf of Fatima is three times bigger than your Quran. There is not even a single letter therein from your Quran.” The narrator has said, “I then said, “This, I swear by Allah, is the knowledge.” He (a.s.) said, “This certainly is knowledge, but it is not that.”
He (a.s.) remained silent for a while and then said, “With us there is the knowledge of whatever has been and the knowledge of whatever will come into being to the Day of Judgment.” The narrator has said that he then said, “May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, this, I swear by Allah is, certainly, knowledge.” He (a.s.) said, “It certainly is knowledge but not that.”
The narrator has said that he then asked, “May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, What then is knowledge?” He (a.s.) said, “Whatever takes place during the night and during the day, one matter after the other matter and one thing after the other thing to the Day of Judgment.”

he heard Abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.) say the following: "The heretics will appear in the year one hundred twenty eight (745/746AD) because I have found it in the Mushaf of Fatima (a.s.).” I asked the Imam, “What is Mushaf of Fatima?” The Imam said, “When Allah took the Holy Prophet (s.w) from this world, it caused such a degree of grief to Fatima (a.s.) that only Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, knows its extent. Allah then sent an angel to her to offer solace and speak to her. She complained about it to Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (a.s.) who asked her to inform him whenever she would find the angel speak to her. She then informed him when the angel came to speak. Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (a.s.) then would write down all that he would hear of the conversations of the angel so much so that his notes took the shape of a whole book.” The Imam (a.s.) then said, “There was nothing in it of the knowledge of the lawful and unlawful matters but it had the knowledge of things that had happened and things to happen in future.”

he heard Abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.) say: “With me is the white Jafr.” The narrator has said that he asked the Imam (a.s.), “What is in it?” He replied, “In it there is the Psalms of David, the Torah of Moses, the Gospel of Jesus, the Books of Abraham, (the laws that explain) the lawful and unlawful matters and the Mushaf of Fatima (a.s.) in which, I do not claim that it includes anything from the Quran. In it there is all that people need us to do for them and so that we would not need any one else. In it there is information even about a lash, half of a lash and one fourth of a lash, and about the amount of compensation for a scratch caused to someone.
With me there is the red Jafr.” The narrator has said that he asked the Imam (a.s.), “What is in the red Jafr?” He replied, “In it there is the Armaments. It is because it only is opened for bloodshed. The owner of the sword opens it to kill.” The narrator has said that ‘Abdallah ibn Abu Ya‘fur asked the Imam (a.s.), “May Allah keep you well, do the descendents of al-Hasan (a.s.) know this? The Imam (a.s.) said, “Yes, I swear by Allah, they know it just as they know the night that it is night and the day that it is the day, but jealousy and worldly gains cause them to act in denial and rejection. Had they sought the truth with the truth, it would have been better for them.”

“The Jafr of which they speak certainly disappoints them because they (the Zaydis) do not speak the truth while Jafr does contain the truth. Let them bring to light therefrom the judgments of Ali (a.s.) and his rulles of inheritance if they are truthful. Ask them about (the inheritance) of paternal and maternal aunts. Let them show the Mushaf of Fatima (a.s.). In it certainly there is the will of Fatima (a.s.). With it there is the Armaments the Messenger of Allah. Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, has said, “Bring me a Book, revealed before this Quran, or any other proof based on knowledge to support your belief, if indeed you are truthful” (46:4).

some of our companions asked Abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.) about the Jafr and the Imam (a.s.) said the following: “It is the skin of a bull which is full of knowledge.” Then they asked the Imam (a.s.) about al-Jami‘a. The Imam (a.s.) replied, “It is a parchment that is seventy yards long with a width of hide like that of the leg of a huge camel. It contains everything people need, and there is no case except that it is in it, even the compensation for a scratch.” The narrator has said that he asked the Imam (a.s.), “What is Mushaf of Fatima? (a.s.)” The Imam (a.s.) remained quiet for a while. Then he said, “Indeed, you are searching for what you want and what you do not want. Fatima (a.s.) lived after the Messenger of Allah (saw) for seventy-five days. She was severely depressed because of the death of her father. Jibril (a.s.) would come to provide her solace because of the death of her father. Jibril would comfort her soul. Jibril would inform her about her father and his place, future events, and about what will happen to her progeny. At the same time, Ali (a.s.) would write all of this down, so this is Mushaf of Fatima (a.s.).”

he heard abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.) say: "Indeed, we possess that which makes us independent of others, while others are in need of us. We have a book dictated by the Messenger of Allah (sw) and written in the handwriting of ʿAlī (AS), a scroll that contains all matters of what is lawful and unlawful. You bring matters to us, and we recognize whether you have adhered to them or abandoned them."

Abdallah ibn ‘Abd al-Malik said the following to abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.), “The Zaydi sect and al-Mu‘tazali group circle around Muhammad ibn ‘Abdallah. Does he have any authority?” The Imam (a.s.) said, “I swear by Allah that with me there are two books in which there is the name of every prophet and the name of every king that would rule on earth. No, I swear by Allah, the name of Muhammad ibn ‘Abdallah is not in the list as one of them.”

once I went to abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.) and he said the following to me. “O Fudayl, do you know what at did I look just awhile before?” The narrator has said that he said to the Imams (a.s.), “No, I do not know.” The Imam (a.s.) said, “I was looking at the book of Fatima (a.s.). There is no king who would rule on earth with being listed therein by his name and the name of his father but I did not find the name of any of the descendent of al-Hassan therein.”