Imamology, Lesson 57-60: Interpretation of the Verse 7 of the Surah "رعد"

Previous Page

In the Name of Allah, the most Compassionate, the most Merciful

And bless be upon Muhammad and his pure Household, and may Allah's curse be on his enemies from now until the Day of Resurrection! And there is no power or strength except for the Lofty Glorious Allah.

The Wise Allah has stated in His Glorious Book:

وَيَقُولُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ لَوْلآ أُنزِلَ عَلَيْهِ آيَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِ إِنَّمَا أَنتَ مُنذِرٌ وَلِكُلِّ قَوْمٍ هَادٍ ^[1]

‘… and the disbelievers say: ‘Why is not a verse or miracle revealed to the Messenger of Allah, Bless be to Him and his Descendants, from his Lord?’ [O, Our Messenger], you are just a Warner [and your duty is only this]; and for every tribe and nation is a guide.’

Numerous books of narrations, by the Sunnite and Shiite, as well the commentators have related that the Messenger of Allah, Bless be to Him and his Descendants, has stated that the meaning of  (هَادٍ),  in this verse, refers to Ali bin Abī Tālib, Upon Him be Peace. And now, before starting our discussion on these narratives, we need to explain the verse in brief. The pagans and the disbelievers among the Quraish kept demanding for the miracles alike the Holiness Moses, Jesus, Salih and the others from the Messenger of Allah; such as: changing the rod into serpent, the white hand, inspiring the dead, giving sight to the blind, curing the leprosy, driving out the live camel out of hard mountain. And they said: ‘If this Messenger is right, why does he not carry out such miracles, and why does Allah not send the strangest things from the heavens for him?’

They did not accept the Glorious Qur’an which is the biggest miracle to man, they would doubt about it, on the whole, they did not take it serious. They were looking after magic which they would practiced in the past. 

Back to Index

The cause of the miracles divergence of the  messengers, upon them be peace

In one way or another, this demand of them was wrong:

first of all, the power and authority of the miracles are only with Allah, that is, the Messenger of Allah has not direct authority in them. Like the other creatures, the Messenger of Allah is adjudged to the command of Allah, he can do nothing except by the permission of Allah – no matter by his own will or the others demand him to. As He states:

لا يملك لنفسه نفعا و لا ضرا و لا موتا و لا حيوة و لا نشورا.

Whatever Allah wills He can do it through His Messenger: either inspiring the dead, changing the rod into serpent and sending down the Glorious Qur’an. Therefore, setting the messenger up in front of Allah, and making him as His partner is totally wrong.

And the second, is as the magic and the sorcery were very popular at the time of Moses, Allah too chose it for Moses to challenge his enemies – it would issue from his power and people would agree with it.

And at the time of Jesus the medical profession was in progress, they cured the serious illnesses, Allah too gave Jesus a miracle to go with them; his was so that the experts in the medicine could not challenge with him.

The fact of miracles must be in a way that to prevail the most expert in physicians and to feel themselves unable and confess it – but not only the common people to be unable to think of it.

At the time of the Messenger of Allah, Bless be to Him and his Descendants, the art of eloquence was more advance, and the influential poets were composing literary poems. They ornamented their writings with different kinds of metaphors, allusions, examples by considering brevities and other Arabic Arts and then they would hang them on the walls of Ka‘ba; and the seven poems hung up in Ka‘ba at the time of Muhammad are of those ones.

And apart from that, men always create new laws and rules for them and in a short time they get used to them, but are unaware of their problems and illnesses.

On the one hand, the Glorious Qur’an in its highest degree of eloquence, and on the other hand, in the righteousness of the natural  laws and rules of human which are brought for men all are in one unique style and is based on the Unity of the Creator and the connection of all the people, all livings, and even it is written for the creatures on the bases of favour and unity.

And also it is the miracle of the Qur’an, and also the invitation of all people to Allah Who is the Creator of them, and is closer to them than all things – and the main beauty and the magnitude of His Names and Attributes are in them.

The most important of all is the connection of verity of subjects, laws and rules, tales and narratives, the stories of the messengers and the nations, the motions of the heavens and stars, the circulation of night and day, the earth, the rain, the clouds and the winds. And so is the growing of the grass and vegetations and their freshness, the creation of man and the process of the fetus in wombs, animals, death, rise and the results of actions, and the Accounts for all creatures all have been gathered in a single volume which can be placed in one’s pocket.

And above all, having such highly literature words and magnificent style will keep it remain as the eternal miracle for the Messenger of Allah and the scholars of any time in the future. It has made it clear, and at the side of miracle, it has asked anyone who can to bring something similar to it. Therefore, if people do not believe in this Qur’an, they will never believe in those highly miracles of Moses or Jesus.

Then the third is that what Allah has undertaken to do is sending miracles to His messengers so that their connections with Allah and the hidden world to become clearer and to as the documents of their messenger-hood – but not according to the desires of the people to send a new miracle every day.  Sending miracles continually makes people mute, inactive and senseless and takes away their wisdoms, and it blocks the laws of Allah which is for training people, instructing them to struggle and leading them to perfection. If a man is submissive, and has tendency to obedience, he must be surrender with a single miracle, but if he is opposite not any miracles can move him; he even takes them as magic and sorcery. In other word, to escape away from the command of his messenger he chooses numerous wrong ways than his right way. As Allah, the Highest has stated:  

وَلَوْ عَلِمَ اللّهُ فِيهِمْ خَيْرًا لَّأسْمَعَهُمْ وَلَوْ أَسْمَعَهُمْ لَتَوَلَّواْ وَّهُم مُّعْرِضُونَ ^[2]

‘… if Allah had noticed any good in them, He would have made them hear; yet even though He was to make them listen, they would still turn away with disdain, (Qur’an: 8/23).’

Besides that, the desires and demands of men are limitless; people would always ask their messenger for a new miracle after receiving one a day earlier. In this way, the messengers had to be the means for carrying out their corrupt demands and instead of teaching and guiding people towards Allah, they would see to their carnal desirers they habitually did.

The pagans and disbelievers of Mecca always asked the Messenger for various charming miracles such as: apparent descending of the angels, bringing a complete Book down from the heavens, changing stones into gold, making water flow in the springs and rivers on the mountain in Mecca, changing their houses into jowls and they asked him to climb into the heavens and similar other things. As the Messenger of Allah did not fulfill their demands, in the manner of objection – although the Qur’an alone is the remedy of everything – they said: 

لو لا انزل عليه آية من ربه.

Their excuse was so lowly that Allah left them without answer, He even did not say to His Messenger anything about it, He only addressed him by stating:

انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد.

It is indeed nothing else, your only duty is guiding and warning; and know that there is a guide for every nation.’

This verse denotes that the earth will never remain without a proof and an Imam, and there will always be a guide and leader from Allah to direct people to right – either the guide and leader be a messenger or not a messenger but is guided by Allah. The commentators have not disagreed that منذر the ‘WARNER’ is the very Generous Messenger of Allah, because the sentence: انما انت منذر is a direct imperative sentence and addressing the Holiness. However the commentators have observed the word هادي in four different moods:

Back to Index

On the explained senses of  هَاديin the Noble Verse

The first mood is that they have said the word هادي in here, means ‘Allah’. That is: O Messenger you are only an inviter to Allah, you are warning people of the consequences of their evil deeds but it is Allah Who has the guidance with Him, it is He Who guides each group to the safe and security position. This comment is presented by Saeed bin Jabir, ^[3] ibn Monzar and ibn Abi Hatam^[4] which all have extracted it from the narrative of Saeed bin Jabir that he had said:

فى قوله تعالى: اِنما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد، قال: محمد المنذر و الهادى الله عز و جل. ^[5]

In the Statement of His, the Highest: ‘You are indeed a WARNER and for each nation is a guide,’ means: Muhammad, Bless be to Him and his Descendants, is a WARNER and Allah, Glory to Him in the Highest, is the Guide.^[6]

In this comment, although ‘Guide’ is indeed Allah, but it appears to be the other way round, it seems that ‘Guide’ is the Messenger and he invites people to Allah. 

The second mood is that they have said: The meaning of هادي is the Messenger himself, and the phrase لكل قوم belongs to هاد and the latter proceeds it; basically it was:

 انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد.

 ‘O Our Messenger,  you are only a WARNER and the guide for every tribe and nation.’ Therefore, the phrase  لكل قوم belongs to the word^[7] هاد.  And this is related from Ekrama, Abu az-Zoha^[8] and Hassan Basri and Jabaee.^[9]

Siyu:ti says: Ibn Jarir has related the statement of Allah, the Highest, from Ekrama and Abu az-Zoha:

انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد، قالا: محمد صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم هو المنذر و هو الهادى.^[10]

‘In the verse:  انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هادthey have said that: Muhammad, Bless be to Him and his Descendants, is both: the WARNER and GUIDE.’ And ibn Jarir and ibn Mardoweiia have extracted similar narrative from ibn Abbas.^[11]

Although this statement does not oppose the appearance of the verse, in meaning it is lacking the truth. That is, what for the Messenger’s being a WAERNER has been specified to him while his guidance refers to every nation? If the Messenger of Allah is the leader of a nation he is the WARNER to the same nation, therefore, the phrase لكل قوم belongs to the both words منذر and  هاد while it must be related to the word هاد in the verse.

The third mood is that the word هادي ‘guide’ belongs to any messenger at any time. That means: O Messenger you are warning people at this time, and you are inviting them to your miracle, the Glorious Qur’an, and guiding them, but in other occasions, the messengers warned them by changing the rod into a serpent, restoring the dead to life, bringing the live camel out of the mountain, presenting the Glorious Qur’an to the people and guiding the people to Allah.

Fakhr Razi has related this statement from Ghazi and he has said that the verse was all correct with this meaning.^[12] And also Sheikh Tabarsi, in another narrative from ibn Abbas, and also from Ghatada and Zojaj and ibn Zaid has related it.^[13]

Siyu:ti says: Ibn Sheiba, ibn Jarir, ibn Monzar, ibn Hatam and also Abu ash-Sheikh have related:

انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد، قال: المنذر محمد صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم و لكل قوم هاد نبى يدعوهم الى الله.  ^[14]

[Mojahid has said:] In this verse انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد the meaning of منذر WARNWER is Muhammad, and the meaning of هاد refers to any messenger at any time who invites people to Allah, the All-mighty.

This commentary is opposite what it looks so it must be discussed that why should ‘the guidance to Allah’ is specified for the messengers? The successors of the messengers like the Holiness Joshua bin Noun, Simon Safa, and Ali bin Abī Tālib, Upon Him be Peace, as well the other pure Imams are also the guides towards Allah, who guided the people through the Light and Guidance of Allah.

Therefore, we refer to the fourth mood and we say: The word هادي ‘the guide’ refers to any guide – whether the messenger or the successor – who guides towards Allah. And in the blessed verse, the Messenger of Allah himself is the guide, so are the pure Imams in this position.

And this statement, has been related in “Maj‘ma-ul-Bayan”, under the fourth probability; it has been explained:

المراد بالهادى كل داع الى الحق. ^[15]

‘The aim of هادي ‘the guide’ is all who call [people] to Allah.’ And Al‘lāma Tabatabaee, his blessings be extended, has also emphasized this probability.^[16] And Siyu:ti says: Ibn Jarir, ibn Abi Hatam and Abu Ash-Sheikh have extracted this narrative from ibn Abbas who has said:  

ولكل قوم هاد، قال: داع ^[17]

‘The aim of  any هادي ‘the guide’ is he who invites to Allah.’

Therefore, numerous narratives have been related by the both Sects that the Messenger of Allah, Bless be to Him and his Descendants, has stated: ‘I am the WARNER and Ali bin Abī Tālib, Upon Him be Peace, is the guide.’

All the narrators have clearly explained that the meaning of WARNER is ‘the caller to the Right’, thus, the Messenger of Allah is as ‘The Guide and the Warner’, that is, to guide and warn. However, Ali bin Abī Tālib was not a messenger and he did not invite to Allah, he was only at the position to guide and lead the people to Allah.

Before beginning discussing on these narratives, first it would be netter we explained the meaning of Warning and Guiding so that the position of Imam, Upon Him be Peace, as well as his quality and tolerance to become quite clear. The word warning means admonishing and forewarning and guiding means leading and taking [one] to his destination. It is said under the commentary of the blessed verse, in the commentary of “Bayan as-Sa‘aada”: The Messenger of Allah is like someone who wakes up – he wakes up those people sleeping in the desert with no habitations or guides in anywhere, instead dangers are on their way from everywhere: wild animals, snakes and other beasts but the sleeping people are unaware of them, some later they wake up and seeing the situation frightening, they look for someone to show them the way and direct them what to do and release them from that appalling condition; such leader leading to them into light from darkness is the Guide and the Imam. ^[18]

And Sheikh Ismail Hagh‘ghi Borsawi has related in the book of “Sharh-e-Asmaa Hosna” that he has said: The Guide is one who leads the noble graded classes of Allah to the Essence of Allah so that to see all the creatures through the Light of Allah, and his witnessing the things to be through the witness of Allah. Then, he gets to know how to lead the common slaves of Allah to His Signs so that in that way to get to know the Essence of the Holiness; and he directs every certain group of the creatures to find their ways and earn their livings. He teaches the new born infant how to suckle its mother, and teaches the chick how to peck seeds for the first time, and he teaches the honey-bees how to build their six-sided combs which are also the most comfortable places for them to live in.

The guides and leaders for the slaves of Allah are the messengers, and then, the religious learned who lead the people to the eternal blessing and happiness – let it be known, it is Allah Who guides the slaves but through their tongues and under His dominion; they only fulfill His commands. Then, he says: It is said in the commentary of “Kawashi” that the meaning of منذر the WARNER is Muhammad and هادي the Guide is Ali, he goes on until saying: The chain of the guidance stretches up to the end of the world, getting out of the nation of Muhammad then reaching  MAHDI who governs and commands according to Muhammad’s religion, and he wipes out the alteration of the astray which has taken place in his religion.^[19]

Back to Index

The purpose of  هَاديis the Commander of the believers, upon him be peace

However, the narratives that the Messenger of Allah, Bless be to Him and his Descendants, has stated about ‘The Guide in the blessed verse’ is Ali bin Abī Tālib, Upon Him be Peace are too many are numerous and have been related by the scholars of the Shiite and Sunnite. They go on until Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Sa‘d writes a book about the conditions of revelation of the verse انما انت منذر لكل قوم هاد is about the Commander of the believers, Upon Him be Peace.^[20] And there also many narratives from the great men of the companions and the infallible Imams concerning this verse to be revealed for the Commander of the believers and the pure Household, and now, here, we are going to divide the narrative according to their texts and meanings.

The first ones are the narratives relating that there must be a guide at every time, and every Imam is the guide and Leader of a certain time and century.

Muhammad bin Ya‘qūb Koleini, by means of his document, relates from  Musa bin Bakir, quoting Fazil:

قال سالت ابا عبد الله عليه السّلام عن قول الله عز و جل: ولكل قوم هاد، فقال: كل امام هاد للقرن الذى هو فيهم. ^[21]

[Fazil} says: I asked the Holiness Imam Sādiq, Upon Him be Peace, ‘What is the commentary of the verse of ولكل قوم هاد?’ The Holiness stated: Every Imam in his own era is the Leader of the nation towards Allah.’

And also Muhammad bin Ya‘qūb Koleini, by means of his own documents, relates another narrative from Himad bin Isa, quoting Hariz bin Abdullah, and he too quoting  the Holiness Imam Sādiq, Upon Him be Peace.^[22] and Sheikh Sadough ibn Babweiia Ghummi, by the documents of his, from Muhammad bin Moslim has quoted from the Holiness Imam Sādiq, Upon Him be Peace,^[23] and from Barid bin Mua‘wiyah Aajli, quoting the Holiness Imam Muhammad Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace,^[24] through his own documents. And by another document, Omar bin Aazina has quoted Barid bin Mua‘wiyah Aajli of the Holiness Imam Muhammad Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace. And Ali bin Ibrahim Ghummi, by means of his chain documents in his commentary from the Holiness Imam Sādiq, Upon Him be Peace.^[25] and Ay‘yashi in his own commentary from the Holiness Abi Ja‘far, Upon Him be Peace, has related it.^[26]

The second stage are the narratives based upon that هادي ‘the Guide’ refers to the Imams one after another. By means of his documents from Barid Bin Mua‘wiyah Aajli, Koleini quotes the Holiness Imam Muhammad Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace:

فى قول الله عز و جل: انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد، فقال عليه السّلام: رسول الله صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم المنذر، و لكل زمان منا هاد يهديهم الى ما جاء به نبى الله صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم ثم الهداة من بعده على ثم الاوصياء واحدا بعد واحد. ^[27]

‘The meaning of  منذر ‘the WARNER’ in this blissful verse is the Messenger of Allah; and at every time, there will be a Leader and Guide from among us to lead people in the religion of the Messenger of Allah. After the Messenger of Allah, the leaders are from the successors, one after another.’

And also, in “Tafsir-e-Borhan”,  Sayyid Hashim Bahrani has brought similar narrative from Hannan bin Sadir quoting the Holiness Imam Muhammad Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace.^[28] and in his commentary, Ay‘yashi has brought it from Barid bin Mua‘wiyah Aajli quoting the Holiness Imam Muhammad Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace, saying about: انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد  

   فقال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم: انا المنذر، و فى كل زمان امام منا يهديهم الى ما جاء به نبى الله صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم، و الهداة من بعده على ثم الاوصياء من بعده واحد بعد واحد، و الله ما ذهبت منا و ما زالت فينا الى الساعة، رسول الله صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم المنذر و بعلى يهتدى المهتدون.  ^[29]

‘So [the Holiness Imam Bāqir] said: The Messenger of Allah, Bless be to Him and his Descendants, has stated: I am a Warner, and at every era there will be an Imam from us who will guide the people by what the Messengers of Allah has brought. And after the Messenger, the Leaders of the nation is Ali and then his successors one after another. By Allah, the guidance of the nation is only with us, and it will be with us until the Day of Resurrection; the Messenger of Allah is a Warner and Caller to the right; and then the righteous ones will be directed to Allah by the Commander of the believers, Ali bin Abī Tālib.’ Koleini has brought similar narrative, by his documents from Abu Basir, quoting the Holiness Imam Sādiq, Upon Him be Peace,^[30] and Saf‘far too has brought it in “Basaeer ad-Darajat”.^[31]

Back to Index

Abut the narratives of the Sunnite that “منذر” is the Messenger of Allah and “هادي”the Commander of the believers, upon him be peace

The third stage denotes that the word هادي ‘the guide’ in the verse is Ali bin Abī Tālib. Ibrahim bin Muhammad Hamwini, who is the greatest scholar of the Sunnite, has related in the book “Al-Faraeed- al-Semtain, fi fazaeel al-Mortaza wal Batool wa as-Sebtain”, by means of his documents from Imam Abu al-Hassan Ali bin Ahmad Wahedi that:

قال: من الآيات فيها على تلو النبى صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم فى قوله: انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد. ^[32]

‘[Wahedi] has said: Among the verses that within Ali bin Abī Tālib has been considered to be at the degree of the Messenger is the verse:

انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد

And Haskani has brought this narrative at the bottom of the page 303, in the first volume of “Shawahid at-Tanzil”, section 28 of “al-Faraeed al-Semtain” – it has been put under the counting 122.

And also by Saeed bin Mosay‘yib is a narrative from Abu Huraira that:

قال: سالت رسول الله صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم عن هذه الآية فقال: هادى هذه الامة على بن أبى طالب.^[33]

‘[Abu Huraira] said: I asked the Messenger of Allah, Bless be to Him and his Descendants,

concerning the commentary of this verse, and he answered me: “The guide and leader of this nation is Ali bin Abī Tālib.”

Ibn Shahr Aashub has related of ibn Abbas, Zahhak and Zajjaj that:

«انما انت منذر» رسول الله و «لكل قوم هاد» على امير المؤمنين. ^[34]

And also from Saeed bin Jabir, and he from ibn Abbas by another document,^[35] and from Abdullah bin Ata quoting the Holiness Imam Muhammad Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace,^[36] and from Abu Huraira,^[37] and from Saeed bin Mosay‘yib quoting Abi Huraira by another document which is quoting the Messenger of Allah, Bless be to Him and his Descendants,^[38] has related. And also Shaikh Tabarsi has quouted the same text from ibn Abbas quoting the Messenger of Allah has related.^[39] And Feiz Kashani in “Maj‘ma-ul-Bayan”^[40] from the Messenger of Allah has quoted. And in “Kafu” Kolaini has quoted the Holiness Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace, quoting the Messenger of Allah.^[41] And from “Akmal ad-Din” and the “Coomentary of Ali Bin Ibrahim” and “Commentary of Ay‘yashi”,^[42] and also he says: Many of the Sunnite and Shiite’s narrators have related it with different documents.^[43] And he has narrated Ghummi saying: This commentary of the verse rejects those who deny the Imamate and the proof of Allah at any time.^[44]

And Sayyid Hashim Bahrani, in the “Commentary of Argument” from Abdullah bin Ata quoting the Holiness Imam Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace,^[45] and from Jabir ibn Andullah Ansari quoting the Holiness Imam Bāqir Upon Him be Peace,^[46] and from Saeed bin Mosay‘yib, from Abu Huraira quoting the Messenger of Allah, Bless be to Him and his Descendants,^[47] and from ibn Abbas, Zahhak and Zajjaj^[48] has related the same narrative with the same theme and style. Then, he has said: The contents of this narrative has been related by ibn Abbas in details. It has also been related by the Sunnite and Shiite which mentioning them take a long time and process. And he says, ibn Shahr Aashub has said: Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Saeed has written a separate book about the condition of revelation of this verse about the Commander of the believers, Upon Him be Peace.^[49]

And Siyu:ti says: Ibn Mardowiia and Zeia have related this narrative in “Mokhtareh” from ibn Abbas from the Messenger of Allah, Bless be to Him and his Descendants .^[50] And Hakim Askani has also quoted it from the Messenger of Allah;^[51] and ibn Abbas related it by another narrative,^[52] and Abu Horaira from the Messenger of Allah,^[53] and Abu Barza Aslami from the Messenger of Allah,^[54] and also with his documents from Omar bin Abdullah bin Ya‘li bin Marrah from his father quoting the Messenger of Allah;^[55] and by his own documents from Abdullah bin Mojahid quoting his father.^[56]

And by his documents from Masadat bin Sadagha, Ay’yashi relates the Holiness Ja‘far bin Muhammad quoting his father and grandfather, Upon Them be Peace, that:

قال امير المؤمنين عليه السّلام: فينا نزلت هذه الآية: انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد. فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم: انا المنذر و انت الهادى، يا على فمنا الهادى و النجاة و السعادة الى يوم القيامة.^[57]

The Holiness Commander of the believers, Upon Him be Peace, said: This verse has been revealed for us and the Messenger of Allah, Bless be to Him and his Descendants, has stated: “I am a Warner, and O Ali you are a Leader; and the position of the Leadership, Saviour and blessing will be among us until the Day of Resurrection.”

And also Ay’yashi has related Jabir bin Abdullah quoting the Holiness Imam Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace, that stated:

قال النبى صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم: انا المنذر و على الهادى الى امرى. ^[58]

The Messenger of Allah, Bless be to Him and his Descendants, stated: “I am the one in the authority to warn and invite [the people to Allah], and Ali is to guide the people to Allah.”

And Sayyid Bahrani has mentioned this narrative by other documents from Jabir bin Abdullah.^[59] And Saf’far in the “Basaeer ad-Darajat” has related the very narrative from Abdullah bin Ata quoting the Holiness Imam Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace,^[60] and by another document of his, from Muhammad bin al-Hussein quoting Amru bin Othman in Mofazzal quoting the Holiness Imam Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace.^[61] And by his third document from Ali ibn al-Hussein, from Marwan bin Najm quoting the Holiness Imam Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace,^[62] and by the fourth document from Ahmad bin Muhammad, from Hussein, from Muhammad bin Khalid, from Ay’yub bin Hurr quoting the Holiness Imam Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace.^[63] And also Forat bin Ibrahim, in his commentary , from Hussein bin Hakam, by his documents from Abdullah bin Ata quoting the Holiness Imam Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace.^[64]

And also Ali bin Ibrahim, in his commentary, has related it from his father Yahia bin Abi Imran, from Yunes, from Sa‘dan bin Moslim, from Abu Basir quoting the Holiness Imam Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace, in the commentary of:

ذلك الكتاب لا ريب فيه هدى للمتقين

This is the Book which there is no doubt in it; it is a guidance for the God-fearing;’ has related that the Holiness stated that in this verse ‘the Book’ that there is no doubt in it, means Ali bin Abī Tālib, and he the guide and manifestation of the Shiite.^[65]  And in ‘Kafi’ Muhammad bin Ya‘qūb Kolaini, by his documents fro Abdur Rahim Ghasir quotes the Holiness Imam Bāqir, Upon Him be Peace, concerning the verse: انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد. Has related that the Messenger of Allah has stated: “I am the Warner and Ali is the Guide. And O people, know that the Leadership will not separate from us, it will be with us until the Day of Resurrectiom.” ^{[66] & [67]}

The fourth stage are the narratives that the Commander of the believers, Upon Him be Peace, himself has related, and he has stated: ‘The meaning of the ‘Guide’ in this verse refers to me. The Late Sadough, by means of his documents has related in Amali about Abbad bin Abdullah who has said:

قال: قال على عليه السّلام: ما نزلت من القرآن آية الا و قد علمت اين نزلت و فيمن نزلت و فى اى شى‏ء نزلت، و فى سهل نزلت ام فى جبل نزلت قيل: فما انزلت فيك؟

فقال: لو لا انكم سالتمونى ما اخبرتكم، نزلت فى الآية انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد فرسول الله المنذر و انا الهادى الى ما جاء به .^[68]

The Commander of the believers sated: ‘Not a verse in the Qur’an has revealed but I know where it has revealed and about whom it has revealed and also what subject it has been about. Has it been in the barren land or on the top of the mountain.’

They asked: O the Commander of the believers what verse has been revealed concerning you?

He stated: ‘If you had not asked me I would have never told you anything about it. The verse which has been revealed for me is this: انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد

The Messenger of Allah is the Warner and Inviter to the Laws of Allah and I am the guide of the nation for his religion.’

And also Farsi has brought it in the book of “Eouza” that:

قال على عليه السّلام: انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد،

 «منذر» محمد و «لكل قوم هاد» انا.^[69]

The Holiness Commander of the believers, Upon Him be Peace, stated: ‘The meaning of the Warner in this verse is the Messenger of Allah and I am the Guide for every group.’

Siyu:ti says: Abdullah bin Ahmad in the “Zawaeed Mosnad”, and Abi ibn Hatam and Tabrani in the “Awsat”, and Hakim ibn Mardoweiia and ibn Asakar have extracted the narrative to relate, and apart from them, Hakim has considered the narrative to be most correct and it is the statement of Ali bin Abī Tālib:

انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد، قال: رسول الله صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم المنذر و انا الهادى.

و فى لفظ: و الهادى رجل من بنى هاشم يعنى نفسه.  ^[70]

These great scholars and even Imams, who have confirmed the rightfulness of the narratives, have related the their narratives from Ali bin Abī Tālib, who has stated in this noble verse: ‘The purpose of Warner in this verse is the Messenger of Allah, and I am the Guide.’

And in a certain place, it is said: ‘The Warner is a man from the Tribe of Bani Hashim,’ and then he has mentioned himself.

Any by means of his documents, Hakim Haskani has related a narrative which we have related from Abbad bin Abdullah, in “Amali” where at final he states:

فرسول الله المنذر و انا الهادى الى ما جاء به.^[71]

And in volume I, page 300 of the “Shawahid at-Tanzil” he says: Ibn A‘rabi, in the book of “Mo‘jam Ash-shiyukh”, seconf part, page 120, and also by the another document, page 203, he has said: Abu Saeed Harithi has brought it from Abbad bin Abdullah quoting Ali bin Abī Tālib, Upon Him be Peace, saying about the verse: انما انت منذر و لكل قوم هاد that Ali said: قال على: رسول الله المنذر و انا الهادى

‘The Messenger of Allah is the Inviter [to Allah] and I am the Guide.’

And then he says: Ibn Asakar has brought this narrative in the “History of Damascus”, in the translation of Ali bin Abī Tālib, under the title of the narrative 914 from Abbad bin Abdullah.

And also in the selected part of the “Kanz-ul-Ommal”, which is at the marjine of the “Mosnad Hanbal”, volume one, page 451, in the beginning of the chapter of ‘Ar’Ra‘d’, has narrated from ibn Abi Hatam, and Hakim in the “Mostadrak”, in the narrative 77, in the section of the Commander of the believers, volume 3, page 129, by his chains of documents from Abbad bid Abdullah Asadi has related this narrative from the Commander of the believers, Upon Him be Peace, then he has said: ‘All the documents of this narrative are correct.’ And, after explaining this narrative, Sheikh Muhammad Bāqir Mahmoodi says: ‘Here, the pain of ignorance fanaticism of Dhahabi, and his enmity with the Commander of the believers, Upon Him be Peace, has excited him and in summarizing the “Mostadrak” he has said: ‘This narrative is false; قبح الله واضعه  ! However, after explaining these narratives, assuredly it must be said it is right:قبح الله منكره و جاحد مزايا اهل البيت و من يتكلم فى العلم بالجهل  Then he says that he has related this narrative in “Kanz-ul-Amal”, volume a, page 251, and he has confirmed that Ibn Hatam has extracted it!^[72]

Next Page

Back to Index

References