Whoever can at this time keep himself clinging to Allah should do so. If you follow me I shall certainly carry you, if Allah so wills, on the path of Paradise, even though it may be full of severe hardship and of bitter taste.
As regards a certain woman,1 she is in the grip of womanly views, and malice is boiling in her bosom like the furnace of the blacksmith. If she were called upon to deal with others as she is dealing with me she would not have done it. (As for me), even hereafter she will be allowed her original respect, while the reckoning (of her misdeeds) is an obligation on Allah.
They have got up from the resting places in their graves and have set off for the final objectives. Every house has its own people. They are not changed nor shifted from there.
Commanding for good and refraining from evil are two characteristics of Allah, the Glorified. They can neither bring death near nor lessen sustenance.
You should adhere to the Book of Allah because it is the strong rope, a clear light, a benefiting cure, a quenching for thirst, protection for the adherent and deliverance for the attached. It does not curve so as to need straightening and does not deflect so as to be corrected. Frequency of its repetition and its falling on ears does not make it old. Whoever speaks according to it, speaks truth and whoever acts by it is forward (in action).
A man stood up and said: O Amir al-mu'minin, tell us about this disturbance and whether you enquired about it from the Holy Prophet.
Thereupon Amir al-mu'minin said:
When Allah, the Glorified sent down the verse:
Alif lam mim. What! Do people imagine that they will be let off on (their) saying: "We believe!" and they will not be tried? (Qur'an, 29:1-2)
I came to know that the disturbance would not befall us so long as the Prophet (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him and his progeny) is among us.
(1) Al-Tusi, Talkhis al-Shafi, I, 326;
(2) al-Hilli, Mukhtasar Basa'ir al-darajat, 195;
(3) al-Tabarsi, al-'Ihtijaj, I, 326;
(4) al-Muttaqi, Kanz, VIII, 215;
(5) al-Majlisi, Bihar, bab al-fitan wa al-mihan, 448.