My father narrated to us. He said: Sa`d b. `Abdullah narrated to us. He said: Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Khalid narrated to us from al-Qasim b. Yahya from his grandfather al-Hasan b. Rashid from Abi `Abdillah al-Sadiq Ja`far b. Muhammad from his forefathers from Amir al-Mu’minin . He said: The Messenger of Allah (s) said to me on his pulpit: O `Ali! Allah has gifted you with love of the needy and the weak, so be pleased with them as brethren, and they will be pleased with you as an Imam. Tuba is for he who loves you and believes in you, and woe be to he who hates you and belies you. O `Ali! You are the scholar of this Nation, so he who loves you is triumphant, and he who hates you is destroyed. O `Ali! I am the City of Knowledge and you are its Gate – can a city be entered by other than its gate?! O `Ali! The people of your love are the penitent of shabby clothing; if they were to swear upon Allah, they would fulfill their vow. O `Ali! Your brethren include every pure, clever striver who loves for your sake and hates for your sake. They are despised by the creation, but they have a great rank with Allah. O `Ali! Those who love you will be neighbours with Allah in the Abode of Heaven, unregretful of what they left behind in this world. O `Ali! I am the friend of whomever you align with, and I am the enemy of whomever you oppose. O `Ali! He who loves you has loved me, and he who hates you has hated me. O `Ali! Your brethren have withered lips [from the dryness of fasting] – their monasticism is known from their faces. O `Ali! Your brethren become happy in three places: (1) when their souls leave them whilst I and you witness over them, (2) when they are questioned in their graves, and (3) at the great reckoning, and at the Path, when the people are asked about their faith, and they do not answer. O `Ali! Your war is my war, and your peace is my peace; and my war is the war of Allah, and whoever is at peace with you is at peace with me, and whoever is at peace with me is at peace with Allah. O `Ali! Give glad tidings to your brethren, for Allah is pleased with them when you are pleased with them as their leader, and they are pleased with you as your friend. O `Ali! You are the Commander of the Faithful and the Leader of the Shining Believers. O `Ali! Your Shi`a are the chosen ones. Had it not been for you and your Shi`a, a religion would not be established for Allah. Had it not been because of your presence in the Earth, no drop of rain would fall from the sky. O `Ali! You have a treasure in Paradise, and you are its Dhul Qarnayn. Your Shi`a are known as the Party of Allah. O `Ali! You and your Shi`a are the establishers of justice (qa’imuna bil qist) and the chosen ones of Allah from His creation. O `Ali! I will be the first to wipe the dust off my head [from the grave], and you will be with me, then the rest of the creation. O `Ali! You and your Shi`a will be at the Pond, feeding those whom you love and preventing those whom you hate from it. You will be safe on the Day of Great Dismay in the shade of the Throne; the people will panic, but you will not panic, and the people will grieve, but you will not grieve. This verse was revealed regarding you, “Surely those for whom We have destined the finest reward will be kept far away from Hell” (21:101) “The Great Dismay will not disturb them, and the angels will greet them, [saying] ‘This is your Day, which you were promised.’” (21:103) O `Ali! You and your Shi`a will be sought during the Stand, and you will be blessed in Paradise. O `Ali! The angels and the treasurers long for you. Surely, the carriers of the Throne and the Angels of Proximity supplicate for you in particular and your lovers. They become happy with whoever of you proceeds to them [in heaven] just as a family become happy when a member who has been absent for a long absence proceeds to them. O `Ali! Your Shi`a are those who fear Allah in private and preach His advice in public. O `Ali! Your Shi`a are those who compete for the ranks [of Paradise], for they will meet Allah without any sins. O `Ali! The deeds of your Shi`a will be presented to me every Friday: I will become happy with the righteous deeds that I will be informed of, and I will seek repentance for their sins. O `Ali! Your mention is in the Torah, and the mention of your Shi`a was in all goodness before they were created; and it is the same in the Gospel, so ask the people of the Gospel and the People of the Book about Iliya and they will inform you of what you [already] know of the Torah and the Gospel and that which Allah gave you from the knowledge of the Book. Surely, the people of the Gospel magnify Iliya, yet they do not recognize him, nor do they recognize his Shi`a; but they will recognize them by what they find in their books. O `Ali! The mention of your companions in goodness is greater in heaven than it is on Earth, so let them be gladdened by that, so that they may increase in their striving. O `Ali! The spirits of your Shi`a will ascend to heaven at the time of their sleep and the time of their death. The angels await them desirously just as the people await the crescent moon, due to what they have seen of their status with Allah. O `Ali! Tell the companions of yours who have cognizance of you to abstain from the deeds that their enemy is involved in, for there is not a day nor a night in which the mercy of Allah does not encompass them; so, they should avoid [such] filth. O `Ali! The anger of Allah is intensified against those who detest them, dissociate from you and them, exchange you and them [for others], lean toward your enemy, abandon you and your Shi`a, choose misguidance; and declare war against you and your Shi`a, hate us – the Ahl al-Bayt – and hate those who align with you, support you, choose you, and dedicate their heart and wealth to us. O `Ali! Recite the salaam to those who I will neither see nor will they see me and teach them that they are my brothers whom I long for, so that they may give my knowledge to the generations after me, grasp firmly onto the rope of Allah, and strive in deeds, for we will not take them out of guidance and into misguidance. Inform them that Allah is pleased with them, and that He boasts about them to His angels, and that He looks to them with His mercy every Friday, and that He orders His angels to seek repentance on their behalf. O `Ali! Do not stop supporting a people who are informed or hear that I love you and then [in return] love you out of my love for you, and seek the proximity of Allah through that, and give the best of their love in their heart to you, and choose you over their fathers, their brothers, and their children, and travel your path. They bear the hatred of us and refuse that in order to support us. They bear the insulting of us with harm, evil words, and agony; so be merciful to them and be satisfied with them, for Allah has chosen them among the creation for our sake, and He created them from our clay, and He placed our secret in them, and He made their hearts recognize our right, and He expanded their chests, and He made them those who grasp firmly onto our rope. They do not prefer our opponents and the fleeting world over us. Allah has aided them and made them travel upon the path of guidance, and they grasped firmly onto that, while the people are clouded in misguidance and perplexed in [their] desires. They have been blinded from proof and that which came from Allah, so they awake and go to sleep in the anger of Allah. Your Shi`a are on the upright pathway of truth. They do not find harmony with those who oppose them. The world is not of them and they are not of it – these are the lanterns in the darkness, these are the lanterns in the darkness, these are the lanterns in the darkness.