أحمد بن عائذ بن حبيب

“One will not be considered a Mu‘min until he knows Allah, His Messenger and all of the Imams and the Imam of ones time, acknowledges his Divine authority and submits his affairs to the Imam (a.s.).” He then said, “How would one know the last one when one is ignorant of the first one.”

The Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family, used to perform blood-letting on his head and name it as the refuging or the saving.

Abū ‘Abdillāh (Imam Sādiq (a.s.)) said: When Fāťimah (s.a.) became pregnant with Ḥusain (a.s.), Jabra`īl came to the Messenger of Allāh (s.a.a.w.) and said, “Verily Fāťimah will give birth to a son who will be killed by your nation after you.” Therefore, Fāťimah (s.a.) was averse to her pregnancy while she was carrying Ḥusain (a.s.), and she was averse to giving birth to him when she did. Then Imam (a.s.) continued: Have you ever seen a mother in this world being averse to giving birth to a son?! Her aversion came from knowing that he would be killed. This verse was revealed about him (Ḥusain (a.s.)), “We have enjoined on man to do good to his parents; his mother bears him with aversion, and with aversion she gives birth to him; and bearing him and weaning him takes thirty months” (46:15).

I asked Abā ‘Abdillāh (Imam Sādiq (a.s.)) about the Ziyārah of the grave of Ḥusain (a.s.). He (the Imam (a.s.)) replied, “Verily it is the best of deeds.”

"You are my slave; I have purchased you." Imam (as) said: "They should be judged based on the point where they separated. The path should be measured, and whichever one was closer to his master, he is considered to have reached first and thus has precedence over the one farther away. But if both distances are equal, they are returned to their respective masters."

I went to the Righteous Slave (Imam Kāżim (a.s.)) and said: May I sacrifice myself for you! (Many) people are going to the Ziyārah of Ḥusain (a.s.) from among those who believe in this matter and (among) those who deny it, and even women travel to him. It has become so widely-known (that) I have stopped going to him in fear of being identified. The Imam (a.s.) did not respond to me (immediately) and remained silent for some time. Then he (a.s.) looked toward me and said, “O Iraqi! Even if others go publicly, you should (still) go but do not identify yourself. I swear to Allāh that no one goes to the Ziyārah (a.s.) of Ḥusain knowing his rights without Allāh forgiving all of his past and future sins.”

abu Ja’far (a.s.) about the meaning of the following words of Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, “Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those who possess (Divine) authority among you.” (4:59 Holy Quran). The read the following words of Allah. “Have you seen how those who had been given a share of the Book believe in idols and Satan and who say, “The disbelievers are better guided than the believers” (4:51) ‘The say that the leaders of misguidance and those who call people to Hell’ “God has condemned them. No one can help one whomGod has condemned. (4:52) Do they have a share in the Kingdom (Divine authority and Imamat)? Even if they did, they would not have given the smallest thing to the people.” (4:53) “ People is a reference to us and the word ‘Naqir’ means the seed inside the nutt.” The Imams (a.s.) explained and added. “Do they enviey the favors that God has done to some people?” ‘We are the ones who are envied because of the Divine authority that Allah has given us exclusively.’ The Imams (a.s.) commented. “We have given to the family of Abraham the Book, Wisdom, and a great Kingdom (4:54). Aliah says that from the descendents of Abraham He has made His Messengers, Prophets and Imams. How is it that these people acknowledge the case about the descents of Abraham but they refuse to accept the leadership (Imamat) in the family of Muhammad?’ The Imams (a.s.) further explained. “Some have believed, others have disbelieved and tried to prevent people from believing. For these people, only the intense fire of hell is a sufficient punishment (4:55). We will make those who reject Our revelations suffer in hell fire. As soon as the fire destroys their skins, We will give them new skins so that they may suffer more of the torment. God is Majestic and All-wise.” (4:56 Holy Quran)

“This is concerning my question before abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), to pray for me for sustenance; my affairs are turning to the worse.’ He (the Imam) quickly said, ‘No, you must go out and work to make a living.’”

“I once heard abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), saying, ‘These pigeons -the pigeons of al-Haram (the sacred area) - are of the offspring of the pigeon of Tsma‘il ibn Ibrahim, ‘Alayhima al-Salam, that belonged to him.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘Children of a Muslim man who dies can receive Zakat and al-Fitrah just as their father would receive, until they become adults and become knowledgeable of what their father was knowledgeable (believed in); they still can receive Zakat but if they become hostile, then Zakat is not given to them.”

I asked abu Ja‘far (a.s.) about the following verse of the Holy Quran. “Allah (God) commands you to return that which had been entrusted to you to the rightful owners. Be just when passing judgment among people. . .” (4:58) The Imam (a.s.) said, “ We are intended thereby. The preceding Imam must transfer to the succeeding Imam the books, the knowledge and the armaments. ‘Be just when passing judgment among people’ means what is in your possession. Then Allah has said to people, “Believers, obey God, His Messenger, and your leaders (who possess Divine authority). . .” (4:59) This is how it was revealed. How Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, would command them to obey the people who possess authority and then allow people to dispute them? This is said to those who are commanded by the command of, “Believers, obey God, His Messenger, and your leaders (who possess Divine authority). . .” (4:59)

“Once a man said to the Holy Prophet, ‘O Messenger of Allah, teach me.’ The Messenger of Allah said, ‘You may go and do not become angry.’ The man said, ‘I have taken it as a sufficient lesson.’ He went to his family and found his people fighting, all of them lined up in arms. When he saw it he also armed himself and stood up in line with them and then he remembered the words of the Messenger of Allah, ‘Do not become angry’. He threw away his arms and moved forward to the enemies of his people and said, ‘O people, I will take responsibility for any loss of life, serious or slight injury that you may have suffered, I will pay you.’ The people said, ‘Whatever happened we give permission to go in your favor. It is more proper for us to make such undertakings.’ The Imam then said, ‘The people made peace and anger was gone.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.) has said, ‘Forgery against Allah and the Messenger of Allah is of the major sins.”’

he asked Imam abu Ja’far (a.s.) about the meaning of the following verse of the Holy Quran. “Believers, be pious before God and always be friends with the truthful ones.” (9:119) The Imam (a.s.) replied, “ ‘The truthful ones’ is a reference to us.”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘In the beginning of time when people found something and took it this (act) caused them to lose the ability to move even one step until they threw away what they had found. The rightful owner then came to pick it up. People became daring to greater wrong acts but it will in a certain time come back again.”’

“Abu ’Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that Satan plays inside every dead person who is left alone.”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘A house in which pigeons exist, the people of that house do not receive any harm from Jinn. The dimwitted Jinns play in the house, thus they play with pigeons and the people are left alone.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘al-‘Ajwah is the mother of dates. It is the date that Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, sent from paradise for Adam (a.s.), as mentioned in His words, ‘. . . whatever you cut down of palm trees and left standing on their trunks’ is a reference to al-‘Ajwah.’”

“Once Bashir al-Dahhan asked abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), when I was present, saying, ‘Did the Messenger of Allah eat while leaning against something to his right or left?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘The Messenger of Allah never ate while leaning against something on his right or left, he (the Messenger of Allah) however, sat like slaves.’ I then asked, ‘Why did he do so?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘He did so to express humbleness before Allah.’”

“About the case of two slaves who belong to two people and each is authorized to buy and sell with their properties. The two slaves disagree on something and each one runs to the other’s owner, both of equal physical strength, and buy the other slave from his master. They return to their place each with the claim of buying the other from his master and each says, ‘You are my slave because I have bought you from your master.’ Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘From the place they separate from each other the distance is measured, then whoever was closer is the winner. If the distance is the same then whoever has reached the master of the other faster is the winner. He can then sell the other or keep, as he likes, but he cannot beat him up.’ In another Hadith it is said that if the distance is the same the case is decided by casting raffle to find out who is the winner.’”