جعفر بن عبد الله المحمدي

'The believers are tested and purified by Allah. Allah has not assured the believers from calamities and distresses of this life but He has assured them from being wretched in the afterlife.' Then he said: 'Ali bin Al-Husayn bin Ali used to lay his dead side by side and say: 'Our dead are the dead of the prophets.'

“Once my brother Isma’eel bin Ammar described his faith and beliefs to Abu Abdullah as-Sadiq (as) by saying: “I witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah…” Then he declared his faith in the imams, one after the other until he reached Imam Abu Abdullah as-Sadiq (as) and then he said: “…and I witness that Issma’eel (Imam as-Sadiq’s son) is the imam after you.” Abu Abdullah as-Sadiq (as) said: “No, Issma’eel is not the imam after me.”

“Once I came to Abu Ja’far al-Baqir (as) and there were some people with him. While we were talking with each other, he turned to us and said: “What are you talking about? How far! How far! That, which you look forward to, will not be until you are tested. How far! That, which you look forward to, will not be until you are clarified. How far! That, which you look forward to, will not be until you are sifted. That, which you look forward to, will not be except after despair. That, which you look forward to, will not be until he, who is to be wretched, becomes wretched and he, who is to be happy, becomes happy.” The same was narrated by Muhammad bin Ya’qoob from Muhammad bin al-Hasan and Ali bin Muhammad from Sahl bin Ziyad from Muhammad bin Sinan from Muhammad bin Mansoor as-Sayqal from his father but with a little difference.

A band of Jews had converted to Islam, among whom were `Abdullah b. Salam, Asad, Tha`laba, Ibn Yamin, and Ibn Suraya. They went to the Prophet (s) and said: “O Prophet of Allah! Surely, Musa (as) deputed Yusha` b. Nun, so who is your deputy O Messenger of Allah, and who is our guardian after you?” So, this verse was revealed, “Surely, your guardian is Allah, His Messenger, and those who believe – those who establish prayer and give zakat whilst they are bowing.” (5:55) Then, the Messenger of Allah (s) said: “Stand up.” So, they stood up and went to the Mosque, when a beggar went out. So, he said: “O beggar! Did anyone give you anything?” He said: “Yes, this ring.” He said: “Who gave to you?” He said: “The man that is praying gave it to me.” He said: “In what position did he give it to you?” He said: “While he was bowing.” So, the Prophet (s) did takbir, and the people of the Mosque did takbir. So, the Prophet (s) said: “`Ali b. Abi Talib is your guardian after me.” They said: “We are pleased with Allah as a Lord, with Islam as a religion, with Muhammad as a prophet, and with `Ali b. Abi Talib as a guardian.” So, Allah revealed, “Whoever aligns with Allah, His Messenger, and those who believe, then surely, the Party of Allah will prevail.” (5:56) It is reported from `Umar b. al-Khattab that he said: By Allah, I gave forty rings in charity whilst I was bowing so that a verse may be revealed about me in the same way that one was revealed about `Ali b. Abi Talib (as), but one was not revealed.

‘Amir-ul-Momineen (asws) gave a sermon at Al-Medina. So he (asws) Praised Allah (azwj) and Extolled Him (azwj) and sent greetings of peace (Salam) upon the Prophet (saww). Then he (asws) said: ‘Having said that, Allah (azwj) Blessed and High does not Break the backs of the tyrants except after giving them respite and (Giving them) Ease, and does not mend the broken bones of the nations except after Removing the affliction from them. O you people! With every corruption that you come across, and setback endured from every mishap is a lesson for you, and not every heart is intelligence nor is every with an ear a listener, nor is every one with a looking eye has vision. Servants of Allah (azwj)! Do good deeds in what your eyes can see, then look at the Plains (Day of Judgement) to which Allah (azwj) will Drive those who in His (azwj) Knowledge were upon the Sunnah of the Children of the Pharaoh (la), the ones who possessed the gardens, and fountains, and plantations, and spacious places. Then look at what was the end Allah (azwj) had for them after the pleasure and enjoyment, and what they used to order for and prevent from. And for the one who is patient from among you will end up in the Gardens (of the Paradise), and Allah (azwj) will Make them live for all eternity, and to Allah (azwj) is the end of all affairs. Oh how astonishing! And why should I (asws) not be astonished at the mistakes of these sects over the different arguments in their Religion whilst not maintaining the effects of the Prophet (saww) and not following the successors (asws) in their actions, and not believing in the unseen, and not excusing the faults. Goodness among them is what they understand it to be and the evil within them is what they dislike. And each one of them is an imam to himself, taking from it what he sees with a firm and strong grip and decisive reasons. So they do not cease in these inequities and it does not increase them in anything except for errors (sins), not achieving nearness (to Allah (azwj)) and it does not increase them in anything except for the distance from Allah (azwj) Mighty and Majestic. They are well pleased with each other and ratify each other (to be correct). All that is the fear of the legacy of the ‘Ummy’ Prophet (saww) and their aversion from what came to them from the News of the Originator of the Heavens and the earth. Thus they are the people of regret, and the caves of suspicion, and the people of desires and misguidance and doubts, the ones whom Allah (azwj) has Left them to their own selves and their opinions. So he is a trustworthy one with those who is ignorant of him, not being accused by the one who does not know him. So how similar they are with the animals from whom their shepherd is absent, and how regrettable are the deeds of my (asws) Shiites after the nearness of their cordiality today. How they will humiliate each other after me (asws), and how they will kill each other and be all scattered tomorrow despite having originated from one branch, trying to find victory from a direction which is not for it. Each party from among them would grab hold of one branch from it. Whichever way the branch leans to, they will lean along with it. Allah (azwj) for Whom (azwj) is the Praise, will gather those for the evil of the day of the Clan of Umayya just like He (azwj) Gathers the clouds in the autumn. Allah (azwj) will Bring them together, then He (azwj) will Make them as debris like the debris of the clouds. Then He (azwj) will Open for them the doors and they will spill out from their source like the torrent of the two gardens, the flood of Al-Aram, when He (azwj) sent to them a يَجْعَلُهُمْ رُكَاماً كَرُكَامِ السَّحَابِ ثُمَّ يَفْتَحُ لَهُمْ أَبْوَاباً يَسِيلُونَ مِنْ مُسْتَثَارِهِمْ كَسَيْلِ الْجَنَّتَيْنِ سَيْلَ الْعَرِمِ حَيْثُ بَعَثَ عَلَيْهِ قَارَةً فَلَمْ mouse and the hill could not withstand against it (the flood) and its rocks came tumbling down when Allah (azwj) Shook the womb of the valleys with a severe Shaking. Then He (azwj) Transformed them into fountains in the earth restoring thereby the rights of the people and Making them to dwell in the houses of the people being a displacement of the Clan of Umayya so that they would not usurp what they usurped. Allah (azwj) will Undermine them and displace them by the boulders of Al-Aram and fill the valley of the olives by them. By the One (azwj) Who Split the seed and Brings life from it, that is going to happen. It is as if I (asws) can hear the whinnying of their horses and the humming of their men. I (asws) swear by Allah (azwj), that which is in their hands will melt, after the rise and domination in the country, like the melting of the fat over the fire. The one who dies among them would have died as a misguided one, and to Allah (azwj) Mighty and Majestic would lead the one among them and Allah (azwj) Mighty and Majestic would Accept the repentance of the one who repents. And it is to Allah (azwj) that my (asws) Shiites will gather after the fragmentation of the evil day of theirs, and there is no good for anyone to Allah (azwj) Mighty is His (azwj) Remembrance, but to Allah (azwj) is the good and all of the affairs. O you people! There are many who are falsifiers for the Imamate whilst not being deserving of it. And had you not procrastinated about the bitter truth, and had not weakened from the weakening of the falsehood, the ones who are not like you would have become daring against you, nor would he have become stronger the one who became stronger against you in digesting the obedience and the removal from it of its deserving ones (asws). But you are all lost just as the Children of Israel were lost in the era of Musa ibn Imran (as). By my (asws) life, your being lost will increase from after me (asws) more than Children of Israel being lost. And by my (asws) life, you will be completing, from after me (asws), the allocated time of the Sultanate of the Clan of Umayya, having gathered to the Sultan who called to the misguidance, and you will be reviving the falsehood and will be placing the truth behind your backs, and will be cutting off the relations with the people of Badr and be very remote from the sons of those who fought for the Messenger (saww) of Allah (azwj). And by my (asws) life, that which in their hands will melt away upon the approach of the test for the Reward and the Promise, and the allocated times passes by. And the two-tailed star will make its appearance for you from the East, and the luminous moon will make its appearance for you. So if that were to happen, return to the repentance, and know that you all follow what you see from the East on the Path of the Messenger (saww) of Allah (azwj). So it will cure you from the blindness, and the deafness, and the dumbness, and suffice you for the justice and you would be able to discard the gross weight which is upon the necks. And Allah (azwj) is not remote except from the one who refuses, and is unjust and unfair, and take that which is not for him. “[26:227] Those who do wrong will come to know by what a (great) reverse they will be overturned!”