Al Kafi (volume 4)(part 2)

Chapter 65 : Tacit and Explicit Testimony As Proof of Amir Al-mu'minin Ali's (a.s.) Divine Authority Over the People After the Messenger of Allah H 764, Ch. 65, H 1

Muhammad ibn Yahya from Muhammad ibn al-Husayn from Muhammad ibn Isma'il from Mansur ibn Yunus from Zayd ibn al-Jahm al-Hilali who has said that heard abu 'Abdallah (a. s.) say the following. "When Wilaya of (the declaration that ) Ali ibn abu Talib has (Divine Authority over the people) descended and it was in the words of the Messenger of Allah they all greeted and congratulated Ali (a.s.) as the commander of the believers.

Of the matters that Allah had stressed up on the two of them on that day, O Zayd was what came through the words of the Messenger of Allah for the two of them. "The two of you stand up and congratulate him (Ali ) as the commander of the believers.

The two of them asked, "Is it from Allah or from the Messenger of Allah, O the Messenger of Allah ?" The Messenger of Allah then said to the two of them, "It is from Allah and from His Messenger." Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, then sent the following. ". . . (He commands people) to keep their established covenants with God not to disregard their firm oaths; they have already appointed God as their Guarantor.

God certainly knows what you do." (16:91) The Imam (a.s.) said , "It refers to the words of the Messenger of Allah to the two of them and thier words to the the Messenger of Allah saying, "Is it from Allah or from the Messenger of Allah, O the Messenger of Allah ?" The point to note in this matter in the following words of Allah is Imams.

"Do not be like the lady behind the spinning wheel who has broken the yarn by pulling it with unnecessary force. You must not consider your oaths as means of deceit to benefit one party and incur loss upon the other. . . ." (16:92), just because they are the Imams who possess highier spiritual standard." The narrator has said that he then asked the Imam (a. s.), 'May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, is the word 'A'imma (Imams)?

However, we read it Arba'? The Imam (a.s.) then said, "What Arba' is it that you mention? He made a gesture with his hand as an indication of throwing away something and said, "Allah tests you through him (Ali (a.s.) ". . . He will make clear to you who was right and who was wrong on the Day of Judgment. (16:92)

Had God wanted, He would have made you one single nation but He guides or causes to go astray whomever He wants. You will certainly be questioned about what you have done. (16:93)

Do not consider your oaths as a means of deceit lest you damage the firmness of your faith, (after what you have heard from the Messenger of Allah about Ali (a.s.) ) suffer from evil by creating obstacles in the way that leads to God, (a reference to Ali (a.s.) ) and incur a great torment upon yourselves (16:94)."

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Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Muhammad ibn al-Husayn and Ahmad ibn Muhammad from ibn Mahbub from Muhammad ibn Fudayl from abu Hamza al-Thumali who has said that he heard abu Ja'far (a.s.) say the following. "When Muhammad (s.a.) completed his task of prophet-hood and the duration of his life was about to end Allah, the Most High sent him wahy information through the angels.

It said, "O Muhammad, your task of prophethood has come to an end and the duration of your life is about to reach a close. Therefore, you must place the knowledge with you, the faith, the great name, the legacy of knowledge and the symbols of the knowledge of the prophet-hood in your family with Ali ibn abu Talib (a. s.).

It is because I do not want to discontinue the knowledge, the faith, the great name, the legacy of the of knowledge and the symbols of knowledge of the prophet-hood from your posterior descendents as I had not done so with descendents of the prophets."

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Muhammad ibn al-Husayn and others have narrated from Sahl from Muhammad ibn 'Isa and Muhammad ibn Yahya and Muhammad ibn al-Husayn all of them from Muhammad ibn Sinan from Isma'il ibn Jabur and 'Abd Al-Karim ibn 'Amr from 'Abd Al-Hamid ibn abu al-- Daylam from abu 'Abdallah (a.s.) who has said the following. "Moses prepared his will and be given to Yusha' ibn Nun.

Yusha' ibn Nun made his will to be given to the sons of Harun. He did not made a will to be given to his own sons nor to be given to the sons of Moses. To Allah, the Most High belong all the good choice. He chooses whoever He wants from whomever He wants. He gave the glad news about Jesus to Moses and Yusha'.

When Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, raised Jesus as His Messenger Jesus said to them, "After there will come a prophet whose name will be Ahmad from the descendents of Isma'il (a.s.). He will come and affirm my message and your message, my excuses and your excuses. (The will) will continued after him in the disciples the conservative ones.

Allah, the Most High, has called them as conservative ones because they preserved the greatest name and it is the book through which such knowledge of all things is learned that existed with the prophets (s.a.) as Allah, the Most High, has said the following.

"We sent Our Messengers (before you ) with clear evidence (to support their truthfulness), and sent with them the Book and the Balance . . ." (57:25). The book is the greatest name.

Of what is known as the books are Torah, Gospel and al-Furqan (the Holy Quran ) of which also is the book of Noah, the book of Salih, shu'ayb and Abraham. Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, has said, "This is what is written in the ancient heavenly Books,(87:18) the Scriptures of Abraham and Moses (87:19). Where then is the book of Abraham? In fact, the book of Abraham is the greatest name. The book of Moses is thegreatest name. Thus, the will continues through one scholar to the next scholar until they delivered it to Muhammad (s.a.)

"When Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, sent Muhammad (s.a.) the descendents of the conservative disciples accepted his faith but the lyinng of the Israelites refused to believe in him. He prayed to Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, and worked hard for His cause. Thereafter Allah, Most High is Whose mention, commanded him to declare the excellence of the executor of your will and he said, "My Lord, the Arabs are the most rude and unjust ones.

They did not have anybooks with them, no prophet had come to them and they do not know the virtues of the prophcy of the prophets (s.a.) and their honor. They will not believe me if I would declare to them the excellence and virtues of my family. Allah, Most Holy the mention of Whose name is, said, "Do not be grieved about them . . ." (16:127) ". . .We have told him, "Ignore them and say to them 'farewell'.

They will soon know the consequences of their deeds (43:89) He has made a mention of the name of the executor of his will and hypocrisy fell into their hearts. The Messenger of Allah noticed it and whatever they would say. Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, sais, "O Muhammad (s.a.) We know that what they say causes tension to your heart.

They, in fact, do not reject what you say, but they refuse to accept the signs of Allah. However, they refuse to accept them without any good reason and authority. The the Messenger of Allah would associate with them and would seek the support of some of them against the other ones among them. He would continue to express the excepllence of the executor of his will to them fromtime to time until the following cchapter of the Holy Quran was revealed.

He presented justifications against them when he was informed of death to approach and the news leaving this world. Allah, Most Holy, is the mention of Whose name, said, "When you are free from (your obligations), strive hard (to worship God) (94:7) and be devoted to your Lord's service." (94:8). Allah says, "When your duty is fulfilled then establish your mark and symbol and declare who the executor of will, will be and speak to them of his excellence and virtues.

Thus, Muhammad (s.a.) declared, "Over whoever I have Divine Authority this Ali also has Divine Authority over them. O Lord, support those who would support him and be the enemy of those who are hostile to him three time." He has further said, "I will commision and send the man who loves Allah and His Messenger and Allah and His Messenger love him. He is not the one who would run away from the battle field.

In this he points out to the one who returned from the gates of the castle frightening and disheartening his people. He has also said, "Ali is the leader of the believers. Ali is the pillar of religion." He has further said, "This is the one who strikes people with his sword to defend the truth after me." The Holy Prophet has said, "The truth is with Ali wherever he would incline.

" The Holy Prophet has said, "I leave among two facts, would you hold to them firmly, you will never be mislead, the book of Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, and my family, my descendents. O people, listen.

I have certainly preached the message to you. You will arrive at the pool of al-kawthar, and will ask you about your dealings towards the two graviticious matters. The two graviticious matters are the book of Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, and my family. Do not proceed ahead othem lest you will be destroyed. Do not try to treach them because they by far are more knowledgeable than you.

Even though al-Hujja (solid proof of Ali's Wilaya his Divine Authority over the people after the Holy Prophet) was established through the words of the the Messenger of Allah and those of the Book that people read, however, he continued to express the excellence and spiritual virtues of his family in words and explain with verses of the Holy Quran.

"People of the house, God wants to remove all kinds of uncleanliness from you and to purify you thoroughly. (33:33) "Know that whatever property you may gain, one fifth belongs to God, the Messenger, the kindred,. . ." (8:41) "Give the relatives, the destitute and those who when on a journey have become needy, their dues.

" (17:26) It was Ali (a.s.) and his right was the chance to execute the will of the Holy Prophet (s.a.) that gave him the Leadership with Divine Authority which was created for him, the greatest name, the legacy of knowledge and the symbols of knowledge of the prophet-hood. He also has said, "(Muhammad), say, "I do not ask you for any payment for my preaching to you except (your) love of(my near)

relatives.. . ." (42:23). "questions are asked about the baby girls buried alive," (81:8) He says, "I ask you about the love that I had told you about its great virtue. It was the love of the relatives (family of the Holy Prophet) but for what reason did you murder them. He, Most Exalted Whose mention is, has said, "Ask those who know about the heavenly Books if you do not know about this." (16:43) He has said that the Book is the reminder and people of this reminder (the book) are the Ahl -al-Bayt of Muhammad (s.a.).

Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, has commanded them to ask from but theyare not commanded to ask the ignorant people. Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, has called the Holy Quran Dhikr (reminder), thus, He has said, "We have revealed the Quran to you so that you could tell the people what has been revealed to them and so that perhaps they will think." (16:44) Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, "The Quran is a reminder to you and to your people and you will soon be questioned about it.

" (43:44) Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, has alsosaid, "Believers, obey God, His Messenger, and your leaders (who possess Divine authority). . ." (4:59) He has said, "Had they referred it to the Messenger or to their leaders (who possess Divine,Authority) they could have used that information more properly. Were it not for the favor and mercy of God, all but a few of them would have followed Satan. (4:83)

The referring of the matter and the task mentioned in the above verse is reffering in the task and the affairs of the people. People must referred in such tasks to the people who possess Ddivine Authority from among them. The people that Allah has commanded to be obeyed and referred to.

When the Messenger of Allah returned from the his farewell piligrimage to the sacred House in Makka Jibril descended to him and said, "Messenger, preach what is revealed to you from your Lord. If you will not preach, it would be as though you have not conveyed My message. God protects you from men. He does not guide the unbelieving people." (5:67) He called the people to come together at one place and they did.

He ordered that the spiky bushes be removed from the ground to make room. He (s.a.) then said, "O people, who is your guardian with divine Authority who has greater priority to your souls than yourselves?" They said, Allah and His Messenger have such authority." The Holy Prophet (s.a.) then said, "Over whoever I have Divine Authority this Ali also has the same degree of authority. O Lord support those who support him (Ali) and be the enemy of those who are his (Ali's) enemies.

He said this three times. This made the thorn of hyposcrisy to deep itself into the hearts of certain group of people who said, "Allah, Most Great is His to mention, has never sent any such thing to Muhammad (s.a.). He only wants to left up the shoulder of His nephew to promote him. when he arrived at madina, the Ansar, Muslims of Madina came to see him for a certain issue. They said, "O the Messenger of Allah, Allah, Most great the mention of Whose name is, has granted usa great deal of favors.

He has granted us honor in bringing you to this town among us. In so doing He has brought joy to the hearts of our friend and sorrow to our enemies. We know that many delegates come to see you and there is not enough to give them and the enemies call it degrading.

We would like very much if you would accept one third of our properties so that when a delegate from Makka 2would come to see you, you would find enough means to accommodate them. The Messenger of Allah did not reply them with anything and he was waiting for Jibril to come from his Lord. Jibril descended and said, ". . .(Muhammad), say, "I do not ask you for any payment for my preaching to you except (your) love of(my near) relatives. . ." (42:23) He did not accept their property.

The hypocrites said, "Allah has not sent this to Muhammad. He only wants to left up the shoulder of his nephew to promote him. He is imposing his family up on us. Yesterday he said, "Over whoever I have Divine authority, this Ali also has the same degree of Divine authority over them and today he says, ".(Muhammad), say, "I do not ask you for any payment for my preaching to you except (your) love of(my near) relatives. . . ." (42:23)

Thereafter the verse of the Holy Quran about Khums (paying one fifth of net income as tax came (see 8:41) They said, "He only wants to take away our properties and interests." Then Jibril came and said, "O Muhammad (s.a.) you have completed the task of prophet-hood and the duration of your life is coming to a close.

You, now, must place the greatest name, the legacy of the knowledge and the symbols of knowledge of prophet-hood with Ali (a.s.). It is because I do not want to live the earth without having a scholar theirin so that people would learn from him how to obey Me and know through him My guardianship and aauthority. The scholar would be the Divine authority for those who come to be born at a time between the passing away of aone prophet to the appearance of the next prophet.

The Imam (a.s.) said, "He (Muhammad (s.a.) bequeathed to him the greatest name, the legacy of the knowledge and the symbols of knowledge of the prophet-hood. He also bequeathed to him a thousand word and a thousand chapter whereby there would open a thousnd chapter and a thousand word from each chapter and each word."

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Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from his father and Salih ibn al-Sindi from Ja'far ibn Bashir from Yahya ibn Ma'mar al-'Attar from Bashir al-Dahhan from abu 'Abdallah (a.s.) who has said the following. "the Messenger of Allah during the illness from which died said, 'Call my beloved one to come to me." We sent to call the fathers of the two of them ('A'isha and hafsa's fathers). When the Messenger of Allah looked at them he turned away from them.

He them said again, "Call my beloved one to come to me." Ali was then called. When the Messenger of Allah looked at him, he became engrossed talking to him. When Ali left the two met him and asked, "What did your beloved say to you?" He (Ali) replied, "He narrated to me a thousand chapter from each of which a thousand chapter opens."

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Ahmad ibn Idris has narrated from Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Jabbar from Muhammad ibn Isma'il from Mansur ibn Yunus from abu Bakr al-Hadrami from abu Ja'far (a.s.) who has said the following. "the Messenger of Allah made Ali (a.s.) learn a thousand letters of which each one opens a thousand letters."

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A number of our people has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from Ali ibn al-Hakam from Ali ibn abu Hamza from abu Basir from au 'Abdallah (a.s.) who has said the following. "In the hilt of the sword of the the Messenger of Allah there was a small booklet." The narrator has said that then he asked the Imam (a.s.),

"What did that booklet contain?" The Imam (a.s.) said, "It contained the few letters of which each letter opened a thousand letters. Abu Basir has said that abu 'Abdallah (a.s.) then said, "Until this hour not even two letters have come out (their meanings understood, utilized and practiced)."

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A number of our people has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from ibn abu Nasr from Fudayl (ibn) Sukkarah who has said that he said to abu 'Abdallah (a.s.) the following. "'May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, is there a certain quantitiyof water required to give Ghusl (bath) a dead person?" The Imam (a.s.) said, "The Messenger of Allah said to Ali (a.s.), 'When I will die draw six sacks of water from the well Ghars (name of the well).

Then wash my body, shroud it and rub camphor on my forehead, palms, knees and toes. When you finish washing my body and shrouding hold by the ends of the shroud and set my body in a sitting posture then ask me whatever you would like. I swear by Allah, you would not ask me anything but that I will give you an answer in it."

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Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from al-Husayn ibn Sa'id from al-Qasim ibn Muhammad from Ali ibn abu Hamza from ibn abu Sa'id from Aban ibn Taghlib from abu 'Abdallah (a.s.) who has said the following. "When the Messenger of Allah was about to leave this world Ali (a.s.) came in to see him he (the Messenger of Allah) placed his (Ali's) head under the blanket and said, "O Ali, when I will die, wash my body and shroud it then place me in a sitting posture then ask me and write down."

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Ali ibn Muhammad has narrated from Sahl ibn Ziyad from Muhammad ibn al-Walid, Shabab al-Sayrafi fromYunus ibn Ribat who has said that once he and Kamil al-Tammar went to see abu 'Abdallah (a.s.). Kamil said to the Imam (a.s.), "'May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, there is a hadith which so and so son of so and so has narrated.

" The Imam (a.s.) said, "Say and read it." He (Kamil) then said, "He so and so narrated to me that the Holy Prophet narrated a thousand chapter to Ali on the day the Messenger of Allah died. Each of those chapters open a thousand chapter. The total becomes a Million chapter." The Imam (a. s.) said, "That is how it happened." I then said, "'May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, has this become manifest to your followers and those who love you?" The Imam (a.s.) said, "O Kamil, only one or two chapters may have become so.

" Kamil has said that the Imam (a.s.) then said, "You perhaps may not be able to narrate all our excellence and virtues. You do not narrate from our excellence and virtue but only a scattered thousand."