Hadith and Traditions

A hadith from Imam al-Kazim (AS) states that buying wheat increases one’s wealth, buying flour halves it, and buying bread causes it to be lost. The hadith points to the health, economic, spiritual, and psychological dimensions of buying each of these items, and locates blessing in preserving the integrity of food, self-sufficiency, and a spiritual connection with the Creator.

The daily routine of a monotheistic and sincere servant of God should include asking God for certainty and well-being. The Sermon of the Pious and Imam Ali’s letter to Imam Hasan (AS) in Nahj al-Balagha offer the best guidance on the duties of servitude throughout the day and night. One who attains certainty is to be envied, not pitied.

Forgetting the details of the Realm of the Primordial Covenant is part of our worldly test. Yet its traces and teachings remain within our innate nature, and one day we will remember. Knowledge of God is firmly rooted in our hearts, even though we have forgotten that occasion. For more information, see the commentaries on verse 172 of Sūrat al-Aʿrāf.

The Medahdeha are a wavering group whose beliefs are unsettled. They cannot distinguish truth from falsehood, and their convictions are shaken by doubts. They resist God’s proof and prefer their own opinions to his—like the Samaritan, who, with his limited understanding, fashioned a calf and led people away from the truth.

The Spirit from God’s Command is one of God’s creations. It is greater than Gabriel and Michael and accompanied the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) and the Imams who came after him. This Spirit conveyed knowledge of the unseen to them and strengthened and upheld them in their mission of guidance and imamate.

Some traditions about the advent speak in broad or cryptic terms because they point to key characteristics, making it easier to identify the individuals and events in question. Had they provided specific details, the number of such references would have been countless—running into the millions or even billions.

The prayer of Prophet Jonah (AS), mentioned in the Qur’an, has become one of the most renowned prayers associated with an answer to supplication because of its distinctive qualities. Offered in his deepest distress and accompanied by an admission of wrongdoing, it brings together the affirmation of God’s oneness, glorification of Him, and a plea for help. Numerous narrations emphasise the importance and effects of this intimate prayer, describing it as a key to drawing near to God and the most beautiful supplication of those who repent.

Rāʾid means a vanguard, guide, water-finder, or scout. Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS) is the guide to God’s good pleasure because, on the Day of Resurrection, he will go ahead of the believers and his followers, making the way into Paradise and through its stages clear and ready for them, and showing them its dangers and stopping places.

The Face of God refers to the divine religion and God’s proofs, whose permanence is willed by the Lord and which have no independence of their own. Everything—whether transient or enduring—comes to be by God’s will. The verse «یمحو الله ما یشاء ویثبت وعنده أم الکتاب» (Qur’an 13:39) points to this truth.

Prayer has no power to change matters that have received God’s final seal, because God has willed that they remain unchanged. These seals include the divine way, the divine words, God’s promise, and the Lord’s appointed time. Badāʾ (the possibility of change) applies to divine decree, but not to what has been finally sealed.

The apparent difference between the accounts of the creation of the earth and the heavens in Sūrat al-Baqara and Sūrat al-Nāziʿāt is resolved by reference to exegetical reports. According to these reports, God first created the earth, then formed the heavens, and finally spread out the earth. Thus, the verse «و الأرض بعد ذلک دحاها» means that the earth was spread out after the heavens were created, not that it was created then.

All spirits, including the spirit attributed to God, are His creation and were once nonexistent. The spirit attributed to God is His chosen and honored spirit, which He created and joins to whomever He wills. The spirit grows subtle and light through greater knowledge of God and piety, under the guidance of the Two Weighty Things (the Qur’an and the Prophet’s Household).

The partisans of personal opinion are those who disregard the inseparable bond between the Prophet’s family and the Qur’an, refuse to accept the authority of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them), and, when deriving religious rulings, place their own opinions above the rulings of the Imams (peace be upon them). They may try to justify this unwarranted preference with specious arguments.

The Divine names “Yā Ṭāhī, Yā Dharr, Yā Ṭamnah, Yā Ṭanāb, Yā Ṭanāt,” recommended for treating headaches, are said to mean the One who purifies from illness, the Creator of the particles of life, the Soother of pain, the steadfast rope of deliverance, and the One who answers swiftly. These names hold a lofty place with God, and through their blessing He removes headaches from the Shi‘a.

The narration, “When someone has grown up in humiliation and disgrace, being honoured by others makes him rebellious,” is attributed to Imam Ali (AS) in *Ghurar al-Hikam wa Durar al-Kalim*, no. 9167.

The saying, “Whoever is raised in humiliation and disgrace will become rebellious when others show them respect,” is attributed to Imam Ali (AS) in *Ghurar al-Hikam wa Durar al-Kalim*, no. 9167.

According to a narration from Imam al-Sadiq (AS), it was not permissible for Adam’s children to marry one another. In this account, Cain married a female jinn named Jahanah, while Abel married a houri named Tark. Seth later married a houri named Na‘imah, and the human line continued through them.

Political authority comes from God. For a righteous person, it is granted out of love and to guide the community; for an unrighteous person, it is a means of discipline, punishment and trial. The Qur’an says that if people did not repel one another, the earth would fall into corruption. Yet this is a divine pattern, brought about by God’s will.

Angels can disobey, but their disobedience differs in kind from human sin. They have no lower desires, yet they are tested within the order of creation and can attain higher degrees. The verse «لا يسبقونه بٱلقول و هم بأمره یعملون» refers to particular ranks of angels who, in the account of Adam’s creation, tried to prevent him from being created and were punished for it.

The report that a woman should prostrate to her husband appears in authoritative hadith collections, but it requires some explanation. God has not permitted anyone to prostrate to another besides Him, except as an act of reverence. A husband is entitled to respect and obedience, but not in the form of prostration.