محمد بن عمران

I wrote to Abu Muhammad al-`Askari (AS) asking him how a servant could serve a Lord he cannot see? Hence, he (AS) replied in writing: “O Abu Yusuf! My Master, my Lord, and the Benefactor upon me any my forefathers, is far above being seen.” He said: “I also asked whether the Messenger of Allah (sw) saw him Lord?” He wrote back: “Verily, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, manifested to the Messenger what He desired from the Light of His Magnitude.”

God’s Prophet (s) said, “There are twelve Divine Leaders after me. The first one of them is Ali ibn Abi Talib (s) and the last one of them is the Riser. They are my Successors, my Trustees, my Masters, and God’s Proofs for my nation after me. Whoever bears witness to them is a believer, and whoever denies them is an atheist.”

I asked Abu `Abd Allah (AS) whether charms, if they remove anything from the decreed. He (AS) replied, “It is from the decreed. He (AS) then added, Verily, the Free-willers are the Zorastrians of this Ummah, and they are the ones that intended to attribute Allah with justice, but took Him out of His Rule. This verse has been revealed for them: On the day when they shall be dragged upon their faces into the fire; taste the touch of hell. Surely We have created everything according to a measure.

On the Resurrection Day a servant will be brought forward who has no good deeds. He is told to try to remember if he has done any good deeds. He thinks and says, “O my Lord! I have no good deeds, but once when so and so who is one of your believing servants passed by me, I asked him for some water. He gave me water and I made ablutions with it. Then I prayed for Your sake.” Then God the Blessed the Sublime will say, “Indeed I forgave you for My sake. Take My servant to Heaven. ”

However, I have heard this from Abi Ja’far al-Baqir (MGB).’”

Jabir ibn Abdillah al-Ansari was once asked, (during his old age) when his eyebrows had fallen over his eyes: "Tell us about ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, peace be upon him." Jabir lifted his eyebrows with his hands and said: "He is the best of all creatures, no one hates him but a hypocrite and no one doubts in him except an infidel."

Once, a man from Ansar fell ill, and the Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, visited him when he was about to die. He (the Prophet) said: "How do you find yourself?" He said: "I see myself hopeful of my Master’s mercy, fearfully concerned about my sins." So the Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, said: "On occasion like this, these two do not combine in a believer’s heart, except that Allah grants him his hope and secures him from what he fears."

I heard Aba Abdullah (s) say, ‘We are twelve ‘Muhaddath.”’ Then Abu Basir asked him, ‘Did you really hear this from Abi Abdullah (s) yourself?’ He made him swear a few times and then said, ‘I heard this from Abi Ja’far (s).’”

O Allah! The imaginations of the imaginative are astonished; the curiosity of the curious has failed; the descriptions of the describers are ruined; and the words of the vain doers have faded in their attempts to perceive You. The eyes cannot reach You with indication or perception. They are far from the mark, so far from the mark! O First One, O Unique, O Incomparable! You are Exalted above everything in Might and Pride! And You are Lofty behind every depth and end with Power and Pride.

I asked Abu `Abd Allah al-Sadiq (AS): “Are the Knowledge and Will of Allah separate or united?” Thus, he (AS) replied, The Knowledge of Allah is not the same as the Will of Allah. Do you not say that you will do something `Allah willing’, yet you do not say that you will do something `Allah knowing.’ Therefore, your statement `Allah willing’ is a proof that He did not will it, If He had willed, it would have been as He had willed. Allah’s Knowledge is prior to Allah’s Will.

The Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, said: "Surely, Allah has commanded me to love four of my companions; and has revealed to me that He indeed loves them." We said: "Who are they, O messenger of Allah? And there is none from us who does not wish to be among them." He, peace be upon him and his progeny, said: "Be it known that ‘Ali is among them" - and he repeated this three times - "and al-Miqdad and Abu Dharr al-Ghifari and Salman al-Farsi."

The Messenger of Allah (SA) will take hold of the Waistband of his Lord on the Day of Judgment. We will take hold of the Prophet’s Waistband, and our Shi`ites will take hold of our Waistband. We and our Shi`ites are the Party of Allah, and the Party of Allah shall be triumphant.1 By Allah, we do not declare it to be Waistband of the cloth; rather, it is greater than that. The Messenger of Allah will take hold of Allah’s religion [din]. We will take hold of the relgion of our Prophet (SA), and our Shi`ites will take hold of our religion.

“Verily Allah, the Mighty and high, created a creation, and created a spirit, then commanded an angel; hence be breathed into him.

When the messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his progeny, fell seriously ill in his last days, he once woke up while we were crying around him. So he said: "What makes you cry?" We said: "O Prophet of Allah, we are crying helplessly, we cry because you will soon leave us behind, and the heavenly news will cease to come to us. And we cry over the fate of the Ummah after you have gone." The Prophet, peace upon him and his progeny said: "Be it clear to you that you will be suppressed and weakened after I have gone."

I asked Abu Ja`far al-Baqir (AS) about the Word of Allah, the Mighty and High: `And I breathed into him of My Spirit. What is the meaning of “breathing” in this verse?’ Thus, he (AS) replied, Verily, a spirit moves like the air. Hence, it is called a spirit [ruh], because its name has been derived from the word air [rih]. Verily, He derived it from the word al-ruh because the spirit is homogeneous [mujanis] to the air [al-rih]. Verily, He associated it to Himself because He selected it over all the spirits like He selected that House from the houses and said: My House, and said for a Messenger from His Messengers: My Friend, and its like. All of those are created, with a beginning, have Lord, and re managed.

Verily, Allah the Mighty and High, made us the best of creation, and moulded us from the best of moulds. He made us His Eye though which He sees His Servants. He made us the Tongue with which He speaks to His Creation. He made us the Outspread Hand of Mercy over His Servants. He made us the Face through which He bestows His Bounties.1 He made us the Gate that leads to Him. And He made us His Treasure in the Heaven and on His Earth. It is due to us2 that trees bear fruits, that fruit ripens, that rivers flow, that clouds shower down rain, and that the Earth grows grass. It is through our service [`ibadah], Allah is served. If it were not for us, Allah would not have been worshipped.3

I asked Abu Ja`far al-Baqir (AS) about the Word of the Mighty and High: “O Iblis! What prevented you that you should do obeisance to hi whom I created with My Two Hands?” He (AS) replied: In the Arabic language, the hand symbolized power and bounty. As Allah says: And remember Our servant Dawud, the Possessor of Power. He also says: And the Heaven, We raised it high with power. Here the word hands [aydi] mean power. He says: And whom He has strengthened with an inspiration from Him. Here the word hand [ayyad] means strengthening. It is also said (in Arabic): I have many hands with me from so and so, implying excess and beneficence, and me so and so has a white hand, implying bounty.

I said to Abu al-Hasan Musa ibn Ja`far (AS): Hisham ibn al-Hakam thinks that Allah is a body. There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him, the All-knowing, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the Omnipotent, the Speaker, and the Communicator. Speech, Omnipotence, and Knowledge flow from the One Same Source, None of these things are created. So he (AS) said: May Allah kill him! Does he not know that a body is limited, and that speech is other than the speaker? Allah forbid, I am free from such words. He is devoid of both body and image. He has not limits, and everything other than Him is created. Verily, everything that exists is the result of His Will and Intent which is expressed without words, the use of the tongue, or any reluctance or hesitation.

I heard Al-Ridha (s) say, “The Sublime God has always been All-Knowing, All-Powerful, Ever-Living, Ever-Lasting, All-Hearing and All-Seeing.” I asked him, “O son of the Prophet of God! There are some people who say that God has always been All-Knowing with Knowledge, All-Powerful with His Might, Ever-Living with His Life, Ever-Lasting with His Past, and All-Hearing with His Hearing, All-Seeing with His Sight.” The Imam (s) said, “Whoever says this and believes in it has indeed associated other gods as partners with God. He is not under our Mastery at all.” He (s) then added, “The Honorable the Exalted God has always been All-Knowing, All-Powerful, Ever-Living, Ever-Lasting, All-Hearing and All-Seeing by His own High Nature. High indeed is He Exalted above what the polytheists say and the similitude they draw.”

"Verily, Allah (swt) was always without time and space, and He was like He was. No place is free from Him, nor is any place occupied by Him, nor des He dissolve in any place. Nowhere is there a secret counsel between three persons but He is the fourth of them, nor (between) five but He is the sixth of them, nor less than that nor more but He is with them where so ever they are. There is no veil between Him and His Creation other than His Creation. He is Veiled without a Veil, and He is Covered without a Cover. There is no god but He, the Great, the Exalted."