My father narrated to us. He said: Sa`d b. `Abdullah narrated to us. He said: Ahmad b. Muhammad b. `Isa narrated to me from al-Hasan b. Mahbub from Malik b. `Atiyya from Abi Hamza from Abi Ja`far Muhammad b. `Ali al-Baqir . He said: I heard him say: There isn’t any less rain in one year than in another. Rather, Allah places it wherever He wishes. If a people sin, Allah sends what was apportioned to them to others, and to the deserts, the oceans, and the mountains. Allah even torments the scarab in its burrow by withholding the rain from the land of the erring people. However, Allah has given it a passage away from the people of sin. Then, Abu Ja`far said: So, take heed of this, O people of insight. Then, he said: We found in the Book of `Ali that the Messenger of Allah (s) said: When fornication becomes apparent, sudden deaths increase. When the scales are off, Allah punishes them with years of shortages. When they prevent almsgiving, the Earth is prevented from all the blessings of its crops, its fruits, and its ore. When they break covenants, Allah empowers their enemy. When they cut blood-ties, wealth goes into the hands of the evil ones. When they don’t enjoin in established virtues, prohibit evil, and follow the chosen ones from my Ahl al-Bayt, Allah empowers the evil ones among them. At that, they will call to their chosen one, but they will not be answered.

Muhammad b. al-Hasan b. Ahmad b. al-Walid narrated to us. He said: Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Saffar narrated to us from Ahmad b. Muhammad b. `Isa from `Abd al-Rahman b. Abi Najran from Hisham b. Salim from Habib al-Sijistani from Abi Ja`far al-Baqir . He said: Surely, in the Torah, it is written: O Musa! Surely, I created you, formed you, and strengthened you. I ordered you to obey Me and I prohibited you from disobeying Me. If you obey Me, I will support you in obeying Me, but if you disobey Me, I will not support you in disobeying Me. O Musa! It is upon Me to be graceful to you in your obedience to Me, but the argument against you is in My favour if you disobey Me.

Ahmad b. al-Hasan al-Qattan narrated to us. He said: Abu Yazid Muhammad b. Yahya b. Khalid b. Yazid al-Maruzi narrated to us in Ray in the month of Rabi` al-Awwal in 302 AH. He said: Ishaq b. Ibrahim al-Hanthali – known as Ishaq b. Rahuwayh – narrated to us in 238 AH. He said: Yahya b. Yahya narrated to us. He said: Hisham narrated to us from Mujalid from al-Sha`bi from Masruq. He said: We were with `Abdullah b. Mas`ud showing our codices to him when a young man said to him: Did your Prophet tell you how many caliphs there would be after him? He said: You are young in age, yet none before you has asked me this question. Yes, our Prophet (s) told us that there would be twelve caliphs after him, like number of chiefs of the Children of Israel.

Abu `Ali Ahmad b. al-Hasan b. `Ali b. `Abduwayh narrated to us. He said: Abu `Abdillah Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. Abi’l Rijal al-Baghdadi narrated to us. He said: Muhammad b. `Abdus al-Harrani narrated to us. He said: `Abd al-Ghaffar b. al-Hakam narrated to us. He said: Mansur b. Abi’l Aswad narrated to us from Mutrif from al-Sha`bi from his uncle Qays b. `Abd. He said: We were sitting in a circle with `Abdullah b. Mas`ud when a Bedouin came and said: Which one of you is `Abdullah? `Abdullah b. Mas`ud said: I am `Abdullah. He said: Has your Prophet (s) ever told you how many caliphs would come after him? He said: Yes, twelve, like the number of chiefs of the Children of Israel.

`Attab b. Muhammad b. `Attab al-Waramini narrated to us. He said: Yahya b. Muhammad b. Sa`id narrated to us. He said: Ahmad b. `Abd al-Rahman b. al-Mufaddal and Muhammad b. `Ubaydullah b. Sawwar narrated to us. They said: `Abd al-Ghaffar b. al-Hakam narrated to us. He said: Mansur b. Abi’l Aswad narrated to us from Mutrif from al-Sha`bi. And `Attab b. Muhammad narrated to us. He said: Ishaq b. Muhammad al-Anmati narrated to us from Yusuf b. Musa. He said: Jarir narrated to me from Ash`ath b. Sawwar from al-Sha`bi. And `Attab b. Muhammad narrated to us. He said: Al-Husayn b. Muhammad al-Harrani narrated to us. He said: Ayyub b. Muhamad al-Wizan narrated to us. He said: Sa`id b. Maslama narrated to us. He said: Ash`ath b. Sawwar narrated to us from Sha`bi. All of them reported from his uncle Qays b. `Abd. `Attab said: This is the hadith of Mutrif: He said: We were sitting in the mosque, and `Abdullah b. Mas`ud was with us. A Bedouin came and said: Is there an `Abdullah among you? He said: Yes, I am `Abdullah. What do you need? He said: O `Abdullah! Has your Prophet (s) informed you of how many caliphs there would be? He said: You have asked me about something that no one has asked me since I came to Iraq. Yes, twelve – the number of chiefs of the Children of Israel. Abu `Uruba said in his hadith: He said: Yes, the number of chiefs of the Children of Israel.

Jarir narrated from Ash`ath from Ibn Mas`ud from the Prophet (s). He said: The caliphs after me are twelve like the number of chiefs of the Children of Israel.

Ahmad b. al-Hasan al-Qattan narrated to us. He said: Abu Bakr Ahmad b. Muhammad b. `Abda al-Nishapuri narrated to us. He said: Abu’l Qasim Harun b. Ishaq narrated to us. He said: My uncle Ibrahim b. Muhammad narrated to us from Ziyad b. `Alaqa and `Abd al-Malik b. `Umayr from Jabir b. Samura. He said: I was with my father in the presence of the Prophet (s). I heard him say: There will be twelve emirs after me. Then, his voice went soft. So, I said to my father: What did the Messenger of Allah (s) say softly? He said: He said: All of them are from Quraysh.

`Abdullah b. Muhammad al-Sa’igh narrated to us. He said: Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Yahya al-Ghadrani narrated to us. He said: Abu `Ali al-Husayn b. al-Layth b. Bahlul al-Mosuli narrated to us. He said: Ghassan b. al-Rabi` narrated to us. He said: Sulaym b. `Abdullah the slave of `Amer al-Sha`bi narrated to us from `Amer that he said: The Messenger of Allah (s) said: The affair of my Umma will continue to prevail until twelve caliphs have passed – all of whom are from Quraysh.

Salih b. `Isa b. Ahmad b. Muhammad al-`Ijli narrated to us. He said: Muhammad b. Muhammad b. `Ali narrated to us. He said: Muhammad b. al-Faraj al-Rowyani narrated to us. He said: `Abdullah b. Muhammad al-`Ijli narrated to us. He said: `Abd al-`Athim b. `Abdullah al-Hasani narrated to me from his father from Aban the slave of Zayd b. `Ali from `Asim b. Bahdala. He said: Shurayh the Judge said to me: I bought a [luxurious] house with eighty gold coins. I wrote a letter and had two just witnesses testify to it. So, Amir al-Mu’minin `Ali b. Abi Talib was told about that, so he sent his client Qanbar to me, and I gave it to him. When he visited me, he said: O Shurayh! You bought a house, you wrote a letter, you had two just witnesses testify to it, and you measured the money? He said: I said: Yes. He said: O Shurayh! Fear Allah, for one [angel] will come to you who will not look at your letter, nor ask for your evidence; and he will take you out of your house and deposit you wholly into your grave. So, make sure that you have not bought this house from other than its rightful owner, and that you have not measured unlawful money, or else you will have lost both abodes together: this world and the Hereafter. Then, he said: O Shurayh! If you had come to me when you had bought this house, I would have written a letter on this sheet, and you would not have even bought it for two silver coins. He said: I said: What would you have written, Amir al-Mu’minin? He said: I would have written this letter to you: “In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. This is what was purchased by a lowly slave from a mortal that is ready to depart. He bought a house in the Abode of Vanity, from the side of mortals to the garrison of the perished ones. This house has four barriers: (1) its first barrier is destruction, (2) its second barrier is impairment, (3) its third barrier is calamity, (4) and its fourth barrier is caprice that leads to Satan the deceiver. Then, there is the door that is the opening of the house. This deceived person purchases this with wishful thinking from one who is pursued by death. He withdraws from the splendour of being content with modest needs. The buyer does not understand what he has bought at all. He is afflicted with what afflicted the bodies of kings and he is cursed with what cursed the oppressors; like Khosrow, Caesar, Tubba`, Himyar, and all who amass wealth upon wealth and go on increasing it, building high houses and decorating them, collecting treasures and preserving them. According to their own thinking, they claimed these things for children to take them to the place of accounting and judgement and the position of reward and punishment. When the verdict will be passed, “those who stood on falsehood would then be at a total loss.” (40:78) This document is witnessed by the intellect when it is free from the shackles of desires, and safe from the attachments to this world, and hearing of the voice of asceticism as it calls: “How clear is the truth for one with eyes!” Surely, one’s journey is of two days, so increase in your righteous deeds and unite your hopeful expectations with the reality of imminent death, for the journey is dwindling and diminishing.”

Muhammad b. Ahmad b. `Ali b. Asad al-Asadi narrated to us. He said: Muhammad b. Abi Bakr al-Wasiti narrated to us. He said: `Abdullah b. Yusuf al-Jarudi narrated to us. He said: Abu Ishaq al-Fazari narrated to us from Sufyan al-Thawri and al-A`mash from `Abdullah b. al-Sa’ib from Zadhan from `Abdullah b. Mas`ud. He said: The Messenger of Allah (s) said: For Allah, there are angels who visit the Earth who deliver the salaam of my Nation to me.

Muhammad b. `Ali b. al-Fadl al-Kufi narrated to us. He said: Abu Ja`far Muhammad b. `Ammar al-Qattan narrated to us. He said: al-Husayn b. `Ali b. al-Hakam al-Za`farani narrated to me. He said: Isma`il b. Ibrahim al-`Abdi narrated to us. He said: Sahl b. Ziyad al-Adami narrated to me from Ibn Mahbub from Abi Hamza al-Thumali. He said: I went to the Mosque of Kufa where I found a man in the seventh row standing in prayer. He was bowing and prostrating in a goodly way. So, I went to look at him, and he prostrated just before I got there. I heard him say in his prostration: “O Allah! If I have ever disobeyed You, [know that] I have obeyed You in the things that are most beloved to You, which is belief in You. I did thusly out of Your grace over me, and not as a favour from me to You. I do not disobey You in the things that are most hateful to You. I did not attribute a son to You, nor did I attribute a partner to You. I did thusly out of Your grace over me, and not as a favour from me to You. I did not disobey You in things out of needlessness or arrogance, nor out of condescension toward Your worship, nor out of denial of Your lordship. Rather, I followed my caprice, and Satan weakened me after comprehensive proof and clarity. If You punished me for my sin, that would not be oppressing me, but if You have mercy over me, it would be by Your magnanimity and Your mercy, O Most Merciful of the merciful ones.” Then, he turned and left through the gate of Kindah. I followed him until he reached the camels of Banu Kalb. So, he passed by a black person and ordered him to do something that I did not understand. So, I said: Who is this? So, he said: This is `Ali b. al-Husayn. So, I said: May Allah make me your sacrifice! What made you come to this place? So, he said: That which you saw.

Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Ibrahim al-Mu`adhi narrated to us. He said: Abu `Abdillah Muhammad b. `Abdullah b. al-Faraj al-Sharuti narrated to us. He said: Abu `Abdillah Muhammad b. Yazid b. al-Muhallab. He said: Abu Aslama narrated to us. He said: `Awf narrated to me from Maymun. He said: al-Bara’ b. `Azib informed me. He said: When the Messenger of Allah (s) ordered for the trench (al-khandaq) to be dug, a great boulder appeared across the trench that could not be broken with a pickaxe. So, the Messenger of Allah (s) came, and when he saw it, he took off his robe, picked up the pickaxe, and said: “In the name of Allah” and struck it once. He broke off a third of it. He said: “Allah is the Greatest. I have been given the keys to the Levant. By Allah, I see its red palaces at this moment.” Then, he struck it a second time and said: “In the name of Allah” and another third of it split off. So, he said: “Allah is the Greatest. I have been given the keys to Persia. By Allah, I see the white palaces of al-Mada’in.” Then, he struck it a third time, and the remainder of the boulder came apart. He said: “Allah is the Greatest. I have been given the keys to Yemen. By Allah, I see the gates of Sanaa from my place here.”

Ja`far b. Muhammad b. Masrur narrated to us. He said: Muhamad b. `Abdullah b. Ja`far b. Jami` al-Himyari narrated to me from his father. He said: Ahmad b. Abi `Abdillah al-Barqi narrated to us from his father Muhammad b. Khalid from Khalaf b. Hammad from Abi’l Hasan al-`Abdi from al-A`mash from `Abaya b. Rabi`a from `Abdullah b. `Abbas. He said: `Ali b. Abi Talib went to the Prophet (s) one day, weeping and saying: To Allah we belong, and to Him we shall return. So, the Messenger of Allah (s) said: What, `Ali? So, `Ali said: O Messenger of Allah! My mother, Fatima bt. Asad, has died. He said: So, the Prophet (s) wept, then said: May Allah have mercy on your mother, `Ali. Not only was she a mother to you, but she was a mother to me. Take this turban of mine and take these two robes of mine and shroud her in them. Get the women to perfect her funeral bath. Do not remove her until I come, for her matter will be mine. He said: The Prophet (s) went forth after a moment. Fatima the mother of `Ali b. Abi Talib was taken out, so the Prophet (s) prayed over her in a way that he did not pray over anyone before her. Then, he recited forty takbirs over her. Then, he entered her grave and made room therein. No groan nor movement was heard from him. Then, he said: O `Ali! Enter. O Hasan! Enter. So, they entered the grave. When they finished what was needed of them, he said to them: O `Ali! Get out. O Hasan! Get out. So, they got out. Then, the Prophet (s) crawled until he reached her head. Then, he said: O Fatima! I am Muhammad, the Master of the Children of Adam, and I do not boast. When Munkar and Nakir come to you and ask you: “who is your Lord?”, say: “Allah is my Lord, Muhammad is my prophet, Islam is my religion, the Quran is my Book, and my son is my Imam and my wali.” Then, he said: O Allah! Make Fatima steadfast in her saying. Then, he got out of her grave, sprinkled dirt onto her, then clasped his hands together and dusted them off. Then, he said: By He in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul! I heard Fatima clapping on my right and my left [hands]. `Ammar b. Yasir said to him: May my mother and my father be your sacrifice, O Messenger of Allah! You have prayed over her in a way that you have not prayed over anyone before her. So, he said: O Aba’l Yaqthan! That is because she is from me. She had brought forth many children from Abi Talib, and their goodness was plenty, while our goodness was little. She would feed me and leave them hungry, clothe me and leave them naked, clean me and leave them disheveled. He said: So, why did you recite forty takbirs over her, O Messenger of Allah? He said: Yes, `Ammar. I turned to my right and I saw forty rows of angels, so I recited a takbir for every row. He said: You made room in her grave, so why did we not hear a groan nor a movement? He said: Surely, the people will be revived naked on the Day of Resurrection, so I did not stop requesting to my Lord that He resurrects her covered. By He in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul! I did not leave her grave until I saw two lamps of light at her head, two lamps of light at her hands, and two lamps of light at her feet. The two angels that are assigned to her grave will seek repentance for her until the rise of the Hour.

My father narrated to us. He said: `Abdullah b. al-Hasan al-Mu’addab narrated to us from Ahmad b. `Ali al-Isfahani from Ibrahim b. Muhamad al-Thaqafi from Qutayba b. Sa`id from `Amr b. Ghazwan from Abi Muslim. He said: I went out with al-Hasan al-Basri and Anas b. Malik until we came to the door of Umm Salama . So, Anas sat at the door, and I entered with al-Hasan al-Basri. So, I heard al-Hasan saying: Peace be unto you, mother, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. So, she said: And also with you. Who are you, son? So, he said: I am al-Hasan al-Basri. So, she said: What have you come for, Hasan? So, he said to her: I have come to hear a hadith of the Messenger of Allah (s) regarding `Ali b. Abi Talib from you. So, Umm Salama said: By Allah, I will narrate a hadith that I heard with my own ears from the Messenger of Allah (s), and if I hadn’t, then may I be deafened; I saw it with my eyes, and if I hadn’t, then may I be blinded; my heart was conscious of it, and if it hadn’t, then may Allah stomp it out. May my tongue be muted if I did not hear the Messenger of Allah (s) say to `Ali b. Abi Talib : O `Ali! There is not a worshiper who meets Allah on the Day of Resurrection who denies your wilaya except that he meets Allah as a worshiper of statues or idols. He said: So I heard al-Hasan al-Basri say: Allah is the Greatest. I bear witness that `Ali is my Master and the Master of the believers. So, when he left, Anas b. Malik said to him: Why did I see you recite the takbir? He said: I asked our mother Umm Salama to narrate a hadith that she had heard from the Messenger of Allah (s) regarding `Ali . So, she said such and such to me. So, I said: Allah is the Greatest. I bear witness that `Ali is my Master and the Master of the believers. He said: So, at that, I heard Anas b. Malik say: I bear witness that the Messenger of Allah (s) said this – three or four times.