Verses 116–120

Chapter 5: Al-Māʾidah (The Table) · Printed edition: Volume 12, from p. 56

This passage presents a dialogue between God and His messenger, Jesus son of Mary, concerning the Christian claims about Jesus. The verses aim to reaffirm Jesus’s own declarations about his role and identity during his earthly life. They emphasize that Jesus never claimed any rights or statuses that were not granted to him; he was constantly under the vigilant watch of God, who neither sleeps nor deviates. Jesus faithfully adhered to the boundaries set by God, speaking only what God had commanded him to say. He was dedicated to the mission entrusted to him by God, primarily focused on ‘witnessing’. Through these verses, God validates the accuracy of Jesus’s statements about the true nature of Lordship and servitude.

These verses align perfectly with the central theme and purpose of this chapter: the delineation of God’s rights over His servants. They underscore the duty of God’s servants to honor the covenant they have made with Him and not to violate it. It highlights that it is not permissible for them to roam and indulge as they please; such freedoms have not been granted by their Lord, nor do they inherently possess the authority to do so. The chapter emphasizes that the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and everything within them, belongs to God, who holds power over all things. The chapter concludes on this profound note, affirming God’s sovereignty and the importance of maintaining the divine covenant.

وَإِذْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ أَأَنْتَ قُلْتَ لِلنَّاسِ اتَّخِذُونِي وَأُمِّيَ إِلَٰهَيْنِ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ ۖ قَالَ سُبْحَانَكَ مَا يَكُونُ لِي أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَيْسَ لِي بِحَقٍّ ۚ إِنْ كُنْتُ قُلْتُهُ فَقَدْ عَلِمْتَهُ ۚ تَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِي وَلَا أَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِكَ ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ عَلَّامُ الْغُيُوبِ ١١٦

(5:116) And when Allah will say: “O Jesus son of Mary! Did you say to the people: ‘Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah’?” He will say: “Glory be to Thee, it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say); if I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it; Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind, surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things.

“When” is an adverb of time related to an omitted but implied verb which is understood from the context—and it indicates the Day of Resurrection; as God describes: Allah will say: “This is the day when their truth shall benefit the truthful ones;” and Jesus himself shall say: “and

I was a witness of them so long as I was among them, but when Thou didst cause me to die, Thou wert the watcher over them.”

The verse mentions Mary with the attribute of motherhood; it says: “Take me and my mother for two gods,” instead of saying: ‘Take me and Mary for two gods’. It points to their most important proof for Jesus’s divinity, that is, his being born of her without a father; thus the sonship and motherhood are the basic ingredients in this matter; therefore mentioning him and his mother was more effective than the mention of Jesus and Mary.

Dūn (low, inadequate) is used ultimately in the sense of ‘besides’. al-Rāghib says: “Dūn is used to indicate one who is unable to do something; someone has said that it is the reversed form of dunuw (proximity) adwan means danīy (near); God says: Do not take for intimate friends from among others than your own people; …(), that is, he who does not attain your position in religiosity; or, in kinship; the word of God: … and forgives what is besides that … (), that is, lesser than that; or apart from that; and the two meanings are concomitant. And the divine words: ‘Did you say to the people: “Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah”?’, that is, other than God.”

The phrase: “besides God,” has been used in the Qur’an mostly in the sense of partnership, and not for independent divinity. When it condemns taking one, two or more gods besides God, it means taking someone other than God a partner of God in divinity—it does not mean taking someone else for a god and denying the divinity of God: Surely it would be a foolish talk without any sense, because the one taken as god would be the true God and other than Him would be negated. Thus, it would turn into a verbal dispute about some attributes. For example, if someone says that God is the Christ, and negated God for Christ, it would mean that he affirms the existence of God but attaches to Him human characteristics of the Christ. Or, if he said that the idols or lords of the idols are gods and negated the existence of God, then he admits that there is a god for the universe; thus he affirms the existence of God, but has ascribed to Him the attributes of plurality and multitude; thus he makes partner for God. Or says as the Christians say that God is the third of the three, that is, one who is three and three who is one.

Likewise, whoever says that the beginning of the world is time or nature and denies that there is a god for it, he indeed affirms that there is a Maker for the world and he is God, but he has ascribed to Him the attributes of defect and transience.

And whoever denies any beginning for this wonderful system and rejects any causality and effectiveness, in spite of the clear decision of his nature, he indeed affirms that there is a world firmly fixed which is not subject of denial or non-existence at all; in other words, the world has an essential existence. Now, the protector of its existence and permanence is either the world itself—which cannot be, because its parts are subject to change and cessation—or another one—and He is God who has His attributes of perfection.

It is thus clear that God does not admit negation in any way, except in apparent wording that is devoid of any understandable meaning.

The basic factor in all this is that man proves the existence of God because of the general need felt in the world for the One who should furnish his existence’s requirements and manage the affairs of his system, and then he would affirm the particulars of his existence. Whatever he would affirm for fulfilling this need, he is God. Then if he affirms another god or more gods than one, it will be seen that either he has erred in specification of His attributes and apostatized in His names, or has affirmed for Him a partner or several partners. But to deny His being and affirm someone other than Him, would be a senseless exercise.

Now, it is evident that the phrase “two gods besides God” refers to two entities considered as partners of God, aside from Himself. Even if we were to accept that this phrase does not explicitly imply partnership, it can be interpreted as the belief in two gods distinct in essence from God. However, this interpretation neither explicitly affirms nor denies God’s divinity; such a conclusion is not found in the verse but is inferred externally. The Christians, for instance, do not deny God’s divinity even though they regard Christ and his mother as two gods besides God.

Some people have found it hard to explain the verse because the Christians do not believe in the divinity of the virgin Mary; and they have mentioned several points for explaining it.

But it should be kept in mind that the verse mentions their taking her as a goddess, and not that they believe in her as a goddess. Taking someone as a god is quite different from believing in his divinity—except as a concomitant. Taking someone as a god is applicable to submitting to him with humility. God says: Have you then considered him who takes his base desire for his god? (). And this theme is narrated from the ancients of Christians, and observed in their descendants.

al-Ālūsī has written in Rūḥu al-ma‘ānī: Verily Abū Jaʿfar al-Imāmī has narrated from some Christians that in the past there was a sect called Maryiyyah; they believed about Mary that she was a goddess. (Rashīd Riḍā) has said in Tafsīr al-Manār: As for their taking the Christ as a god, it has already been mentioned in several places in explanation of this chapter; and as for his mother, her worship was agreed upon in the Eastern and the Western Churches after Constantine; then the Protestant denomination (which appeared many centuries after the advent of Islam) rejected her worship.

The worship of Mary, the mother of Christ, by Christians takes various forms. One form is a type of prayer (ṣalāt) that includes praise, pleas for assistance, and intercession. Additionally, there are fasts dedicated to her, known by her name. This reverence is often accompanied by humility and devotion towards her memory, as well as towards her images and icons. It is intertwined with the belief in her authority, which, according to Christian doctrine, stems from the unseen world. This authority is believed to empower her to bring both benefit and harm in this life and the hereafter, either independently or through her son. It has been explicitly stated in their doctrines that worshiping her is obligatory. However, it is not common among their sects to refer to her as a ‘goddess’; rather, she is often called the ‘Mother of God’. Some sects emphasize that this title is meant in its literal sense, rather than metaphorically.

The Qur’an says here that they had taken Jesus and his mother for two gods, and the taking is other than naming; taking them for gods occurs when they worship them, and this certainly happens in their case. God has said in another verse that they say: Surely God, He is the Messiah son of Mary; … (). But that is something else. And the Prophet has explained the divine words: They have taken their doctors of law and their monks for Lords besides God, … (), that they followed them in what they allowed or forbade, not that they called them Lords.

The first clear declaration that I saw about the Christians really worshipping Mary, was in the book, al-Sawā‘ī, from among the books of the Greek Orthodox, and I had seen this book in a monastery called Dayr al-Talmīd, when I was first admitted in the educational Institute; and the Catholic declare openly and take pride of it.

al-Jazwīt had decorated in Beirut their magazine, al-Mashriq (no.9, year 7) with Mary’s picture and colored designs; it was done as a souvenir to celebrate the Golden Jubilee at the end of fifty years since the announcement of the Pope Pius IX that the virgin Mary had become pregnant without pollution of sin; and in that very issue they confirmed that the Eastern as well as the Western Churches worshiped Mary.

Of the same theme is the word of father Luis Shaykhū, in an article of his regarding the Eastern Churches: “Verily the worship by Armenian Church of the chaste virgin, the Mother of God, is certainly a well known affair.” He also writes: “The Coptic Church is distinguished by its worship of the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God.”

Then he quotes a part of an essay by father Inistas al-Karamli published in the Catholic magazine al-Mashriq (no.14, year 5) of Beirut. He writes under the heading, “Antiquity of the Virgin’s worship,” after mentioning the wording of Genesis, regarding the enmity of the serpent with the woman and her offspring, and interpreting the woman as the Virgin: “Don’t you see that you do not find in this text anything clearly pointing to the Virgin until there came that great prophet, Elia the living, and he brought forth the worship of the Virgin from the corner of symbolism and ambiguity to the world of clarity and explanation.”

Then he interprets this clarity and explanation by what is written in the Kings III (according to the Catholic arrangement) that when Elia was with his servant at the summit of Karamli, he ordered him seven times to look towards the sea. After the seventh observation, the servant informed him that he saw a cloud about the size of a man’s palm rising from the sea.

The essay writer says: “From that rising (the first rising of the cloud) I say: ‘Is it anything except the picture of Mary, according to what the exegetes have established, rather it is the picture of the foetus without the original sin’.” Then he says: “This is the origin of the Virgin’s worship in the esteemed orient; and it goes back to the tenth century B.C.; and the excellence in this matter goes to this great Prophet Elia.” Again he says: “That is why the ancestors of the Karmalites were the first to believe in the Lord Jesus after the apostles and the disciples, and they were the first to establish a place of worship for the Virgin after her being taken away to the heaven with soul and body.”

He will say: “Glory be to Thee, it did not befit me that I ... should say what I had no right to (say); … Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things: This and the next verse contain reply of Jesus son of Mary of the question he was asked; and he has adopted in it an amazing manner and etiquette:

He began by glorifying God, when he suddenly and unexpectedly was confronted with what was not proper to be ascribed to that Great and Sublime Being—that is, the people taking them two gods besides God, as His partners. It is a good manner of servitude that the servant should glorify his Lord whenever he hears what is not proper to be ascribed to God or what does not enter into mind in this connection. It is this factor that God has trained His servants in the Qur’an: And they say: “The Beneficent God has taken to Himself a son.” Glory be to Him… . (); And they ascribe daughters to Allah, glory be to Him; ().

Then he turned to refute what was implied in the question that it could be ascribed to him. That he would have told the people to take him and his mother for two gods besides God. He did not only reject it in itself, but refuted its cause to put emphasis on anti-anthropomorphism. Had he said: ‘I did not say (or do) it’, it would have implied that although such an action or talk was possible but he did not do it; but when he refuted its cause and said: ‘It did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say)’, it refuted the basis of such talk; this refutation of such a right also more intensely refutes what depends on it. Let us suppose that a master says to his servant: ‘Why did you do what I had not told you to do?’ Now, if the servant says: ‘I did not do it’, it would refute what was expected to happen; but if he said, ‘I am rather unable to do it’, it would refute it by refuting its cause; it would be rejection of its basic possibility, let alone its actual occurrence.

… it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say): If the verb, mā yakūn (it does not happen) is a defective verb, then its subject is “that I should say,” and the predicate is “what I had no right to (say),” and “L” denotes possession. The meaning then will be: ‘I do not possess what I was not given possession of, and it does not befit me to speak without any right.’ On the other hand, if this verb is ‘complete’, then the word, ‘me’, is related to it, and the phrase: “that I should say,” is its subject; and then the meaning will be: ‘It does not occur to me to speak without any right.’ And the former is nearer interpretation. In any case, it negates the action by negating its cause.

… if I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it: It is second rejection of the question asked—not on its own but through rejection of its concomitant; because if such words were uttered, God would certainly know it, because He it is from whom nothing is hidden, neither in the earth nor in the heavens, and He watches every soul as to what it earns, and He encompasses everything.

Jesus’s speech, at its outset, not only asserts a claim but substantiates it with proof. It further suggests that throughout his discourses and deeds, he was always mindful of God’s omniscience, unconcerned with whether other beings were aware or not, as his primary focus was on God alone.

In essence, questioning is appropriate in contexts where ignorance is possible, serving either to enlighten the inquirer or to inform others. This latter purpose aligns with the nature of the inquiry in the divine dialogue. Jesus’s response, “if I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it,” shifts the focus to God’s all-knowing nature, underscoring that his every word and action were always aligned with and aware of divine knowledge.

Then he said: “Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind”: This indicates the purity of the divine knowledge from mixing with ignorance. Although the sentence, in itself, denotes praise; but praise is not intended here, because it is not the place of praise; rather it is the place of getting rid of the attributions that were ascribed to Him.

His words: “Thou knowest what is in my mind,” elaborates the comprehensiveness of the knowledge mentioned in the phrase: “if I had said it, Thou wouldst have known it.” It shows that God’s knowledge of our deeds—and He is the King, the Truth on that day—is not like the knowledge of our kings about the condition of their subjects; as they receive reports from various parts of their kingdom, and consequently they know things in part and remain ignorant of other parts. God is the Knower of subtleties, Aware of all things, including the soul of Jesus son of Mary in particular.

Even then, he could not fully elaborate the attributes of His knowledge. God knows everything, not as one of us knows about someone else, and someone else knows about one of us. He knows what He knows by encompassing the object; while nothing encompasses Him, and they cannot comprehend anything of His knowledge. Thus He, the

Sublime, is God, without any limit, and everyone beside Him is limited, determined, which cannot transcend the boundary of his limited soul. That is why he added to it another sentence: “Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind.”

As for his words: “surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things,” it gives the reason of his words: “Thou knowest what is in my mind …” It removes the possible misunderstanding that the matter of knowledge in the sentence: “Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind,” is confined to what is between him and his Lord, and does not encompass all things. So, by saying: “surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things,” he made it clear that the complete knowledge of all unseen things is reserved for God. Whatever knowledge is held by anything and is unseen by other things, it is indeed known by God and He encompasses it.

It follows that nothing is aware of the unseen thing of God or of other than God’s—which God knows—because everything is created and limited and does not transcend its own phases. Thus, God is the great Knower of all unseen things, and nothing besides Him knows any of the unseen things, neither whole nor in part.

Furthermore, if an aspect of God’s unseen realm were to be encompassed by something, and if God were to then encompass it, that supposedly encompassing entity would not truly be the encompassing but rather the encompassed. This is because God, in His will, has granted it the ability to encompass certain aspects of His domain. However, this does not imply that these aspects are removed from His ownership. As God says: … and they cannot comprehend any thing out of His knowledge except what He pleases; … ()

If God were not to comprehend what He comprehends, He would become subject to a limit, and thus would become a created thing; far exalted is He from such things!

مَا قُلْتُ لَهُمْ إِلَّا مَا أَمَرْتَنِي بِهِ أَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبَّكُمْ ۚ وَكُنْتُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيدًا مَا دُمْتُ فِيهِمْ ۖ فَلَمَّا تَوَفَّيْتَنِي كُنْتَ أَنْتَ الرَّقِيبَ عَلَيْهِمْۚ وَأَنْتَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ ١١٧

(5:117) I did not say to them aught save what Thou didst enjoin me with: ‘That worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord’, and I was a witness of them so long as I was among them, but when Thou had taken me away, Thou wert the watcher over them, and Thou art witness of all things.

Initially countering the claim by denying its cause, Jesus now further refutes it by clarifying the scope of his responsibility, which he never overstepped. So, he said, “I did not say to them aught save what Thou didst enjoin me with …” By employing a structure that combines negation and affirmation, he directly addresses and dismisses the claim of being worshipped alongside his mother as gods besides Allah. He then specifies the directive he received from God: “That worship God,” and further defines God as “my Lord and your Lord.” This explicit clarification is intended to eliminate any potential misunderstandings, unequivocally establishing that he is a servant and messenger who advocates worshipping God alone, the singular Lord of all, without any partners.

In such a clear style Jesus, son of Mary, used to call the people to monotheism, as the Qur’an quotes him as saying in other places too: Surely Allah is my Lord and your Lord, therefore worship Him; this is the right path. (); And surely Allah is my Lord and your Lord, therefore worship Him; this is the right path. ().

… and I was a witness of them so long as I was among them, but when Thou had taken me away, Thou wert the watcher over them, and Thou art witness of all things: Now, he mentioned the second responsibility entrusted to him by God, and that was to be a witness of his people’s deeds, as God says: and on the Day of Resurrection he (Jesus) shall be a witness over them. ().

He declares: ‘I had only two responsibilities towards them, to convey the message to them and to be a witness of their deeds; as for the messengership, I performed it in clearest possible terms; and as for the witnessing, I did not transgress the task You had enjoined me with; so I am free from the blame that I might have told them to take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah.’

… but when Thou had taken me away, Thou wert the watcher over them, and Thou art witness of all things: al-Raqūb and al-riqābah (protection, preservation); in this context, it denotes preservation of deeds. The word, witness, has been changed to ‘watcher’, to avoid repetition because the next phrase contains this word: “and Thou art witness of all things,” and there was no reason why this word especially should be used second time.

The clause: “Thou wert the watcher over them,” denotes restriction. It follows that God was the witness as long as Jesus was the witness, and He continued to be witness after him. So his witnessing was a mediation in witnessing, not an independent witnessing; it is like all other divine arrangements by which He has given some servants agency of some functions, while He is the real manager of everything, like sustenance, giving life and death, preservation, call and guidance, etc. There are numerous noble verses showing this aspect, which need not be quoted here.

That is why Jesus, after saying: “but when Thou had taken me away, Thou wert the watcher over them,” added the next clause: “and Thou art witness of all things.” This style was used to denote that his being a witness over his people’s deeds, which he continued to perform as long as he was among them, was a small part of the general, comprehensive witnessing, that is, the witnessing of God over a thing; because God is the witness over the individual things and their activities, including the deeds of His servants together with the deeds of the people of Jesus as long as he was among them and after his death, and He is the witness together with other witnesses and the witness without other witnesses.

It is clear from the above that the restriction is true concerning God even when other witnesses offer their testimonies, because Jesus has restricted the testimony after his death to God, although God had His other witnesses after Jesus’s death among His servants and messengers, and he was well aware of it.

And its proof may be seen in the good news he gave of the advent of the Holy Prophet, as quoted in the Qur’an: And when Jesus son of Mary said: “O Children of Israel! Surely I am the messenger of Allah to you, verifying that which is before me of the Torah, and giving the good news of a messenger who will come after me, his name being Aḥmad” … (); and the Qur’an has clearly mentioned the Prophet being a witness, as God says: … and bring you as a witness over these? ().

Moreover, God has quoted him as describing this restriction: “but when Thou had taken me away, Thou wert the watcher over them,” and has not refuted it. So, God is the witness, and no one else, in spite of there being witnesses. It means that the reality of witnessing belongs to God, in the same way as every perfection and goodness belongs to God; whatever perfection, goodness or beauty He gives to others, it emanates from His bestowal of possession, without this bestowal making Him divested of possession or causing negation of His ownership. You should meditate on various aspects what we have said.

It is clear from Jesus’s condition described in these two verses, that he is innocent of what had been said about him, and that he has no responsibility at all regarding their deeds. That is why he has ended his speech on the words: “If Thou shouldst chastise them … surely Thou art the Mighty, the Wise.”

إِنْ تُعَذِّبْهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ عِبَادُكَ ۖ وَإِنْ تَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ ١١٨

(5:118) If Thou shouldst chastise them, then surely they are Thy servants; and if Thou shouldst forgive them, then surely Thou art the Mighty, the Wise.”

When it became clear, through his proofs, that he had no responsibility towards the people except conveyance of the message and delivery of the testimony, and that he did not do except that and did not cross the limit to what he had no right to, and thus he was not liable to what they uttered of the words of disbelief, then it is obvious that he has nothing to do with the divine judgement concerning them and their Lord. That is why he has started this new topic without any conjunctive or any indication that it branches from the preceding speech.

The verse effectively encapsulates the foregoing explanation. Its essence is as follows: “I hold no responsibility for the abhorrent polytheism they have embraced. I did not involve myself in their affairs to the extent of influencing Your judgement upon them. Whatever You decide for them, be it in Your pleasure or Your decree, they alone must confront it. If You choose to punish them, as is Your prerogative with those who associate partners with You, by casting them into the Fire, then they remain Your servants. The management of their affairs lies solely in Your hands, and You have every right to be displeased with them, as You are the true Master and the affairs of the servants belong to the master. Conversely, if You opt for forgiveness, erasing the impact of this grave injustice, then indeed You are the Mighty, the Wise. The prerogative of power and wisdom belongs to You. A mighty being, endowed with unparalleled seriousness and power, particularly when combined with wisdom (which ensures actions are appropriate and just), possesses the authority to pardon even grave injustices. When power and wisdom converge in one, no external force can challenge it, nor can there be any ambiguity in the decisions made.”

The explanation provided above elucidates two key points:

First: When Jesus says, “then surely they are Thy servants,” it essentially implies ‘then surely Thou art their true Master.’ This aligns with the Qur’anic style of introducing the names of God following a description of His actions, as observed at the end of this verse.

Second: The phrase “then surely Thou art the Mighty, the Wise” is not intended as a limitation. The use of the detached personal pronoun for the second person singular and the addition of ‘al’ to the predicate serve to emphasize the statement. The intended meaning is: ‘Certainly, there can be no doubt about Thy Power and Wisdom. No one holds the authority to question Your actions if You choose to forgive them.’

Third: The context of Jesus son of Mary’s conversation with God, which can be likened to a direct, ‘face-to-face’ dialogue, occurred in the presence of the divine Majesty. This Majesty is so profound that nothing can withstand it, and it demands to be met with the utmost humility characteristic of servitude. In such a situation, a servant must refrain from any form of intercession or questioning. This is why Jesus says, “and if Thou shouldst forgive them, then surely Thou art the Mighty, the Wise.” Note that he does not say, ‘Thou art the Forgiving, the Merciful.’ The reason is that the dazzling display of divine Majesty and authority, which overpowers all, leaves the servant with no option but to seek refuge in God with complete humility and acknowledgment of their own servitude and helplessness. To assume a more casual stance in such a scenario would be a grave transgression.

As for the words of Abraham addressed to his Lord: then whoever follows me, he is surely of me, and whoever disobeys me, Thou surely art Forgiving, Merciful; it is an invocation; and a servant has full right to incite the divine mercy in any way possible.

قَالَ اللَّهُ هَٰذَا يَوْمُ يَنْفَعُ الصَّادِقِينَ صِدْقُهُمْ ۚ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا ۚ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ ١١٩

(5:119) Allah will say: “This is the day when their truth shall benefit the truthful ones; they shall have gardens beneath which rivers flow to abide in them forever; Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him; this is the mighty achievement.”

This is the confirmation of the truth of Jesus son of Mary in an illusive way; God has not declared his name, but it is known from the context.

This truth of the truthful ones refers to their truth in this world; because God says after this sentence: they shall have gardens beneath which rivers flow to abide in them forever. Obviously, it elaborates the reward of their truth near God—it is the benefit of the truth which will return to them; while the next world’s deeds and conditions—including the truth of the people of the next world—will not bring any benefit as reward. In other words, no reward is given on the deeds and conditions of the next world, as it is given on this world’s deeds and conditions, because there is no taklīf (religious responsibility) in the next world, and reward is a branch of the taklīf. Obviously, the next world is a house of reckoning, reward and punishment, in the same way as this world is a house of action and responsibility. God says: … on the day when the reckoning shall come to pass! (); … today you shall be rewarded for what you did. (); … This life of the world is only a (passing) enjoyment, and surely the hereafter is the abode to settle. ().

Jesus’s discourse about his earthly life encompassed both his words and actions, and God has affirmed his truthfulness in both aspects. Consequently, the truth referenced in this verse encompasses not just truth in words but also truth in actions. Therefore, those who have demonstrated truthfulness in both their words and deeds in this world will reap the benefits of their truthfulness on the Day of Resurrection. They will be granted the promised gardens, find favor in God’s sight and be pleasing to Him, ultimately achieving the greatest success.

Apart from that, truth in words necessitates truth in deeds—that is, clarity and purity of deeds from stigma of hypocrisy—and leads it to goodness. It is reported that a Bedouin asked the Prophet for an advice; so he admonished him not to tell a lie. Thereafter, the man narrated that adherence to what he was advised to, prevented him from all sins; because whenever a sin tempted him, he remembered that if he did it and then was asked about it, he would be obliged to confess its commission and inform the people about it; so he did not do it because of that fear.

… they shall have gardens beneath which rivers flow to abide in them forever; Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Allah; this is the mighty achievement: God shall be well pleased with them because of the truth which they had sent before them, and they shall be well pleased with God because of the reward which He will bestow on them.

The verse has attached the pleasure with their selves, and not with their deeds, unlike the divine words: and whose words He is pleased with. (); and if you are grateful, He shall be pleased with it in you; … (). There is a difference between these two pleasures: Your pleasure with a thing means that you do not push it away with dislike; it is possible for your enemy to bring up an action which you like, although you are angry with him; and for a friend whom you love to do a deed which you do not like.

Thus, the words: “God is well pleased with them,” denote that God likes their selves; and it is known that this pleasure cannot take place unless there appears the purpose for which God has created them; and He has said: And I have not created the jinn and the men except that they should worship Me (). So, this servitude and worship is the divine object for which man has been created. God shall be pleased with a servant’s soul only when he shall become an exemplary worshipper. In other words, when his soul will be the soul of a servant of God Who is the Lord of everything; he does not see his own soul, nor anything else; but he is only a slave of God who is submissive to His Lordship, who does not turn except to Him and does not return but to Him, as He says about Job: … most excellent the servant! Surely he was frequent in returning (to God), (38: 44); and this is their being pleased with Him.

This is one of the stations of servitude. Its concomitant is the purity of the soul from disbelief (in all its ranks) and from transgression, as God says: … and He does not like ungratefulness in His servants; … (); … yet surely Allah is not pleased with the transgressing people ().

It is one of the signs of this position that when servitude takes hold of a servant’s soul and he sees that all that he perceives with his external eyes and internal insight is owned by God and is submissive to His order, then he will be pleased with God, because he will realize that whatever has God given him, has given it from His Grace, so it is His generosity and bounty, and whatever He has stopped from him, He has done it for some reason.

Moreover, God says about them when they shall be in the Garden: They shall have in them what they please. (; ). And it is known that when man gets all that he wishes, and then naturally he will be pleased. This is the utmost human bliss and felicity in his servitude, and that is why the talk ends on the clause: “this is the mighty achievement.”

لِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا فِيهِنَّ ۚ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ١٢٠

(5:120) Allah’s is the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what is in them; and He has power over all things.

al-Milk (ownership) is a special authority on individual things, and its effect is permeation of the owner’s will in the things he has the power to manage; and al-mulk (kingdom) is the special authority over the system prevalent among the things, and its effect is permeation of the owner’s will in the things he has the power to manage; in simple words, al-milk (ownership) relates to an individual and al-mulk (kingdom) to a group.

Inasmuch as the kingdom, in its actions, is restricted with, or formed by, the power, therefore when the power is complete and unrestricted, the kingdom shall be all-comprehensive, not restricted with one thing besides the other, nor confined to one condition, beside the other. To draw attention to this fine point, the sentence: “God’s is the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what is in them;” is followed by the clause: “and He has power over all things.”

The chapter concludes with this verse that signifies His all-encompassing Kingdom. The connection here is evident: the chapter aims to exhort the servants towards fulfilling the covenants and agreements that their Lord, the absolute ruler, has established with them. As such, their primary status is that of wholly owned servants; their only option in response to His commands or prohibitions is to hear and obey. Likewise, regarding any agreement or covenant He establishes with them, their duty is to adhere to it faithfully, ensuring it remains unbroken.

Examining Narrations

1. Tha‘labah b. Maymūn narrates through some of our companions from Abū Jaʿfar that he said about the words of God, the Blessed, the Sublime, to Jesus: “Did you say to the people: ‘Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah’?” “He had not said it, but will soon say so; surely when God knows that a thing is to happen (in future), He speaks about it as a done thing.” (al-Tafsīr, al-ʿAyyāshī)

Author’s comment: The same book narrates a similar tradition from Sulaymān b. Khālid from Abū ʿAbdillāh. Its gist is that information of the future has been given in past tense because it is known to take place certainly; and such usage is common in the language.

2. Jābir al-Ju‘fī has narrated from Abū Jaʿfar in explanation of the sentences: Thou knowest what is in my mind, I do not know what is in Thy mind, surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things, that he said, “Surely the great name of God is seventy three letters; and the Lord, the Blessed, the Sublime, has kept hidden one of the letters; that is why nobody knows what is in His mind, to Whom belong Might and Majesty. Adam was given seventy two letters, so, the prophets inherited it from one another, until it reached Jesus; that is the (meaning of) the word of Jesus: ‘Thou knowest what is in my mind’, that is, seventy two letters of the great name; he means to say: ‘Thou hast taught them to me, so Thou (certainly) knowest them; and I do not know what is in Thy mind’; he wants to say: ‘because Thou hast hidden that letter, so nobody knows what is in Thy mind’.” (ibid.)

Author’s comment: We shall extensively explain about the good names of God and His great name, under the verse: And Allah’s are the best names, therefore call on Him thereby; … (). There it will become clear that the great name or the big name is not made up of alphabets; in such places name actually means the named one, that is, the person of God looked at with one of His attributes or one of the aspects; accordingly the name in words would be the name of the name, as will be explained later.

Accordingly, the Imām’s words, that the Great Name is made up of seventy-three letters, and similar expressions which have come in numerous traditions of this topic, that the Great Name is made up of so many letters, and that they are scattered in such and such chapter, or such and such verse, all these are talks based on symbolism, they are parables to make the people understand what is feasible to understand of the realities; for not every reality can be explained clearly without allusion.

It will explain the meaning of the ḥadīth to a certain extent if we say: There is no doubt that God’s good names are the mediums for manifestation of the universe in its species and appearance of its innumerable occurrences. Also, we have no doubt that God created His creatures, because He is the Creator, Magnanimous, and Originator, for example; not because He is the Avenger and the Mighty in retribution. He gives sustenance to whom He sustains, because He is the Sustainer and Bestower, for instance, not because He is the Holder and Forbidding. He bestows life to the living, because He is the Living and Life giving, not because He is death giving, and returning. The Qur’anic verses are the most truthful witnesses of this reality, because we see the realities elaborated in a verse, are justified at the end with the divine name appropriate for that theme. Often the verse ends with one such name, and sometimes it ends with two names, which together illuminate its topic.

It appear from the above that if one of us is given the knowledge of the names, and if he knew the connections between those names and the things and understood what the divine names, individually and combined, demanded, he would know the system of the universe, with all the general laws which govern it and which are applied to its individual parts one after another.

The noble Qur’an, as is understood from its apparent meanings, has described many general laws regarding the genesis and the return, and what God has arranged concerning the felicity and infelicity; and then it has told the Prophet: … and We have revealed the Book to you explaining clearly everything, … ().

However, all of them are general laws, which are necessary. But they are necessary not in themselves, not by demand of their own selves; but through that necessity and inevitability which God has bestowed on it. Now that this intellectual and definite authority comes from God’s side, and by His order and will, it is clear that God’s action cannot compel Him at all in this regard, nor would it overpower Him in His person; He, Glorified be He, is the Subduer and Predominant; how can a thing subdue Him which returns to Him from every direction, and depends on Him in its substance and effect. Understand it.

It is therefore impossible that the intellect (which decides whatever it does by God’s bestowal on it) or the realities (whose laws and effects do exist by His will) would have any authority over Him or demand something from Him, by the same decision and demand that God Himself keeps them active and subdues them. In other words, whatever demand or decision is found in the things emanates from the transfers of ownership which God has given to it; thus He, the High, is the absolute owner, and He cannot be owned in any way.

If God were to give good reward to a sinner, or to punish a good-doer, or did any type of deed, which He wished, there was no harm in it, and there was nothing to prevent it—neither the reason nor any extraneous matter. But God has promised us and threatened us, the felicity and infelicity, and good reward and tough recompense; and He has informed us that He does not break His promise; and He has informed us about some things by the way of revelation or through our intellect, and He has mentioned that He does not speak except truth. Thus our souls became tranquil with Him, and our hearts were at ease towards Him—without any doubt finding a way to it. God says: surely Allah fails not in (His) promise. (; ); and the truth do I speak. ().

What God has explained it is the demand of His names, as we have known by His teaching. But beyond that is the fact that He, the Sublime, is the absolute owner, He has the right and power to do what He wishes and decide what He wants. God says: He is not questioned concerning what He does and they shall be questioned. (). This meaning itself is one of His names which is of unknown essence; none of His creatures has any way of knowing it. It is because whatever we know of His names is what one or other of the concepts shows, and then we identify by its relationship its effects in existence. As for those effects that there is no way of identifying them, they inviolably are the effects of a name that there is no way to know its meaning. You may say that it is a name that cannot be hunted down by a concept; rather, it somehow is pointed to by the attribute of His absolute ownership.

Thus it is clear that there are some of His names to which no creature has got a way—and it is the name, which He has kept hidden. So understand it.

Discourse

The discussions “A Talk on the Meaning of Good Manners”; “Prophetic Manners” appear here in the printed volume. Read them in the Al-Mizan App.

Other Traditions

Most of the Qur’anic verses, from which the Prophet’s noble characteristics and beautiful manners inferred are revealed in the forms of imperative and prohibitive orders. Therefore, we thought it advisable to write here some traditions about his customary usage, which contain collections of his characteristics which point to his beautiful divine manners; and they are also supported by the noble Qur’anic verses.

1. Ma‘āni al-Akhbār: (al-Ṣadūq) narrates through his chain, from Abū Hālā al-Tamīmī, from al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī (peace be upon both); and through another chain from al-Riḍā, through his forefathers, from ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn from al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī (peace be upon all of them); also through a third chain, from a man from the progeny of Abū Hālā, from al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī (peace be upon both), that he said:

“I asked my maternal uncle Hind b. Abī Hālā, who was a describer of (the attributes of) the Prophet; and I was desirous that he should describe to me something of it in order that I should hold fast to it. So he said:

“‘The Messenger of God was magnificent and honored, his face radiated like the full moon on moonlit night; taller than al-marbū‘ (of medium height), and shorter than al-mushadhdhab (tall and excellent); (he had) big skull and long, straight hair; if his hair was parted it separated in the middle, otherwise his hair did not reach beyond his earlobes; of bright color, wide forehead; his eyebrows were thin and long, lengthy from one end to the other without joining in the middle; between them was a vein; he had a light over-whelming him, if one did not ponder over him, would deem him having high nasal wind pipe, of thick beard, soft checks and wide mouth; had white teeth not tightly joined; had a thin line of hair from middle of the chest to the stomach; it seemed as his neck was like that of a deer in clarity of silver; of medium stature, plump and holding himself properly; his stomach and chest were in one level; his shoulders were wide; his bone-joints were thick; his chest was broad; when he disrobed, his body was brilliant; a thin line of hair joined his neck to the navel-pit; apart from that, his breasts and belly were without hair; there was hair on his arms, shoulders and upper chest; his wrists were long, his palms wide; his palms and soles were thick; his sides flowed, his joints were soft; hollows of his soles were deep, the feet were wide, water did not adhere to them; he proceeded ahead well-balanced, and walked in humbleness, fast-paced, when he walked it seemed as if he was going down a slope; when he turned (towards someone), turned with his whole body; kept his eyes down, he looked to the earth much longer than he looked at the heaven; most of his look was observation; he hastened to say salām to whomever he met.’”

He said: “Then I said to him, ‘Describe to me (the way of) his speaking.’ He said, ‘He, was constantly in grief, always contemplating, he never spoke unnecessarily; he began his talk and ended it very eloquently; he spoke short sentences, pithy and expressive, in which there was neither any superfluous word nor any shortcoming; mild-tempered, neither vain nor insulting; exalted a bounty (gifted to him) however small it might be; he never criticized any of it; however, he never derogated nor praised any taste. When he stood for the truth nobody recognized him; nothing could stand against his anger until he obtained its right for it. When he pointed, he did so with his whole palm, and when he was astonished he turned (the palm); when he talked he joined it and touched his right palm with inside of his left thumb. When he was angry he turned away and cast down his eyes; mostly his laugh was a smile; when he laughed his teeth appeared like hail-stone.’”

al-Ṣadūq says: Up to here was the narration of al-Qāsim b. al-Manī‘ from Ishmael b. Muḥammad b. Isḥaq b. Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad; and the rest is the narrative of ʿAbdu al-Raḥmān up to the end.

“al-Ḥasan, said, ‘I did not mention the (above tradition) for a while to al-Ḥusayn, then I narrated it to him, but I found that he

already knew it. So, I asked him about it and found that he had asked his father about the Prophet—his entry and exit, his sitting and his features—not leaving anything out.’

“al-Ḥusayn, said, ‘I did ask my father, about the entrance of the Messenger of God. He said, “His entrance in itself was allowed to him; so when he went to his house, he divided his entry in three parts: one part for God, one for his family and one for himself; then he divided his own part between himself and the people and dealt with general public through his especial people and did not keep away anything from them.

“‘“And it was part of his characteristics in the part of the ummah to give preference to the people of excellence in his manners, and apportion it on them according to their superiority in religion; so among them was one with one need, another with two needs, and a third with many needs; so he remained engaged with them and kept them busy in that which was good for them, and constantly asked about the ummah and informed them of that which should be done; and he used to say: ‘The one who is present must convey (the message) to him who is absent;’ (and he admonished): ‘Convey to me the need of him who is unable to convey it (to me); because anyone who conveys to an authority the need of him who is unable to convey it himself, God will make his feet firm on the Day of Resurrection.’ Nothing else was mentioned in his presence, and he did not accept from anyone any other thing; people came to him in groups and did not go out except after tasting (food), and went away as guides (to the other).”

“‘And I asked him about the going out of the Messenger of God how did he do it? He said, “The Messenger of God used to preserve his tongue except from that which concerned him; he kept them united, and not to alienate them; he honored the noble man of every community and made him their governor; he remained on watch about the people and kept guards against them, without turning his face away from anyone or showing any change in his manners; he checked conditions of his companions, and asked the people about the people. He praised the good, strengthened it, showed the ugliness of the evil, and weakened it; he was moderate in his affairs, not contradictory. He was never oblivious lest they become oblivious and incline (to one side); was never short from truth and never allowed it; those who were close to him were best of the people; the one having excellence near him was the one who was most sincere to the Muslims, and the one having greatest rank near him was the one who was best of all in beneficence and assistance.”’” He, said,

‘Then I asked him about his sitting. He said, “He never sat down or stood up except with remembrance (of God); he did not reserve any seat for himself; when he reached a group, he sat down where he had arrived, and he ordered (others) to do the same. He gave each of the group his due share (of attention); and no attendee in the gathering thought that any other person was more honored than him (in the Prophet’s eyes). Whoever sat with him, (the Prophet), patiently remained with him until he took his leave. Whoever asked him for a need, did not return except either with that thing or with sweet words. His good manners overwhelmed the people until he was (like) a father to them; and all of them were equal in his eyes in their rights. His gathering was one of forbearance, modesty, truth and trust, voices were not raised therein, nor were people’s honors disgraced there. If one of them committed a mistake, it was (gracefully) amended so that no one repeated it; they dealt with each other with justice, joining together with piety, humble with each other; they respected the elder and had mercy on the younger; they gave preference to a needy person over themselves and provided safety to a stranger.”’

“Then I said, ‘How was his dealing with those who sat with him?’ He said, ‘He had always a smiling face; he was of agreeable manner and gentle hearted; he was neither rude nor rash, neither loud voiced nor obscene; neither exposer of defects nor eulogist, he ignored what he did not desire, so neither they despaired of him nor those who had hoped of him were disappointed. He freed himself from three (things): dispute, increase and what did not concern him; and freed the people from three (things): He never condemned anyone or put him to shame; never did he look for any one’s slips or defects; he did not speak except about what he hoped (divine) reward; when he talked his companions bowed their heads in silence, as though there were birds on their heads; so when he became silent, they spoke; they did not dispute near him in a talk, whoever spoke they listened to him until he finished; their talk near him was one after another; he laughed at what they laughed at, and wondered at what they wondered at. He remained patient when a stranger was rude in his talk and demands until his companions fulfilled his requirements, and used to say: “When you see a needy person seeking his needs, fulfil it.” He did not accept praise except for a favor he had done to him. He did not interrupt anyone’s talk until he exceeded the limit, then he stopped it by forbidding it or standing up.

He said: “Then I asked him about the silence of the Messenger of God so he said, ‘His silence was based on four (factors): forbearance, caution, estimation and meditation; as for the estimation, it was in equally looking at the people and listening to them; and as for his meditation, it was on what would abide and what would perish. Forbearance and patience were united in him; therefore nothing would enrage or agitate him. His caution had gathered in four things: his holding fast to good in order to follow it, his abstaining from evil in order to desist from it, his deep thinking regarding the welfare of his ummah, and standing up for what is gathered for him of the good of this world and the next.’”

Author’s comment: al-Ṣadūq has also narrated it in Makārim al-akhlāq, copying it from the book of Muḥammad b. Isḥāq b. Ibraḥīm al-Ṭāliqānī who has narrated it through his trusted narrators from al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn (peace be upon both). al-Majlisī has said in Biḥāru al-anwār: “This is a famous tradition and the Sunnīs have narrated it in most of their books.”

And numerous traditions on this theme or on some of its parts have been narrated from the Companions.

2. Iḥyāu al-‘Ulūm writes: He was the most eloquent in speech and the sweetest … He spoke comprehensive sentences, there was neither any superfluous word in them nor any shortcoming; it was as though his words followed one another; he paused between his speech in order that the hearer could memorize and preserve it; he was loud-voiced with most beautiful melody. (al-Ghazālī)
3. al-Tahdhīb: (al-Ṣadūq) narrates through his chain from Isḥāq b. Jaʿfar, from his brother Moses, through his forefathers from ʿAlī that he said: “I heard the Prophet, saying, ‘I have been sent with noble ethics and the best manners.’”
4. Makārim al-Akhlāq: Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī said: “The Messenger of God, was more modest than a virgin girl in her private room; and when he disliked a thing, we knew it from his face.” (al-Ṭabrisī)
5. al-Kāfī: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chains, from Muḥammad b. Muslim that he said: “I heard Abū Jaʿfar saying that an angel came to the Messenger of God and said, ‘Surely God has given you option to choose that you become a servant, Messenger (and) humble or a messenger angel.’ (Abū Jaʿfar) said, ‘So the Prophet looked at Gabriel (who) pointed with his hand that be a humble (Messenger); so he said, “(I shall be) a servant, Messenger (and) humble.” The messenger (angel) said, “With (condition that) it would not decrease anything that you have got with your Lord.” (He said), “And with it are the keys of the treasures of the earth.”’”
6. Nahju al-Balāghah: ʿAlī said: “So you follow your pure cheerful Prophet … He gnawed at the world and did not lend any glance at it. He was most suffering of all in side and most empty of stomach. The world was offered to him but he refused to accept it. He knew that God disliked a thing, so he disliked it, and He degraded a thing, so he degraded it. If we did not have except our love to what God disliked, and our honoring what God degraded, it was enough for discord with God and deviation from God’s command.

“And the Messenger of God used to eat sitting on the earth, and sat like a slave; he mended his shoes by his hand, rode an unsaddled donkey, and allowed someone to ride behind him. (Sometimes) there would be a curtain on his door with pictures on it, so he would say, ‘O so-and-so! (Addressing a wife of his): Remove it from me, because whenever I look at it, I am reminded of this world and its adornments.’ Thus he turned away from the world by his heart, and let its remembrance die from his soul; he liked that its adornment be wiped away from his eyes, lest he takes some equipment from it. He did not believe that it was something to abide, and did not expect to remain therein; so he turned it out of his soul, and dispatched it from his heart and removed it from his sight. In this way, whoever hates a thing, he hates to look at it and does not like it to be mentioned before him.”

7. al-Iḥtijāj: Mūsā b. Jaʿfar has narrated from his father, from his forefathers, from al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī, from his father, ʿAlī (peace be upon them), inter alia, in a lengthy ḥadīth: “He used to weep for fear of God, the Mighty, the Great, until his place of prayer became wet—without any sin …” (al-Ṭabrisī)
8. al-Manāqib: “He used to weep until he fainted. Somebody told him, ‘Has not God forgiven you your past faults and those to follow?’ He said, ‘Well, should I not be a grateful servant?’ And exactly like that were the faintings of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, his successor in his positions.” (Ibn Shahrāshūb)

Author’s comment: That question was based on the idea that the purpose of divine worship is safety from chastisement; and it has been said in traditions that it is the worship of slaves; and his reply is based on the idea that the reason is to show one’s gratitude to God, it is the worship of noble people, and it is another of the types of worship. It has been narrated from the Imāms of Ahl al-Bayt: “Surely among the worship is the one that is done for fear of punishment, and it is the worship of slaves; and there is the one that is done for desire of reward, and it is the worship of traders; and among them is the one that is done to show one’s gratitude to God.” (Some traditions say: ‘for love of God’; some others say: ‘because He deserves it’.)

We have discussed the meaning of these traditions in detail in vol.4 of the book under the “Commentary” of the verse: … and Allah will reward the grateful. (). We have explained there that gratefulness to God in His worship means being sincere to Him, and that the grateful are the purified ones who are described in such wordings of God as: Glory be to Allah (for freedom) from what they describe, but not so the servants of Allah, the purified ones (37:159–60).

9. al-Irshād, al-Daylamī: “Surely during the prayer of Abraham the wheezing sound of fear was heard from him because of fear of God; and the Messenger of God too was like that.”
10. Tafsīr of Abu al-Futūḥ: It is narrated from Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī that he said, “When the verse: remember Allah, remembering frequently () was revealed, the Messenger of God became engaged in the remembrance of God until the unbelievers said that he had become insane.”
11. al-Kāfī: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from Zayd al-Shaḥḥām from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The Messenger of God used to repent to God every day seventy times.” “I (Zayd) said, ‘Was he saying: “I seek pardon of God and return (repent) to Him?” ‘He said, ‘No; but he used to say, “I return to God.”’ I said, ‘(How is it that) the Messenger of God used to repent and did not return (to that fault) and we repent and then return?’ He said, ‘God’s help is sought.’”
12. Makārim al-Akhlāq: (al-Ṭabrisī) narrates from ʿAlī copying from Kitābu al-Nubuwwah that he used to say when he described the attributes of the Messenger of God: “He was the most generous of hand, the bravest of the chest, the most truthful in speech, the most fulfilling of obligations, of the mildest nature, from the noblest family; whoever saw him all of a sudden, was afraid of him, and whoever mingled with him knowing him, loved him; I did not see like him neither before him nor after him.”
13. al-Kāfī: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from ʿUmar b. ʿAlī from his father that he said: “It was (the style) of the swearing of the Messenger of God that he said, ‘No, and I seek pardon of God’.”
14. Iḥyāu al-‘Ulūm: “When he (the Prophet) was very upset, he touched his noble beard frequently.”
15. Ibid: “And he (the Prophet) was the most generous of all people; dīnār or dirham did not remain with him; if something was left with him and he did not find one to give it to him and the night came, he did not go to his house until he found someone who needed it. He did not take from what God had given to him except the food sufficient for the year from easily available dates and barley; and he put all of it in the way of God.

“He was not asked for a thing except he gave it out; then he returned to the nourishment of the year—so much so that he often was empty-handed before the expiry of the year if nothing new came to him.” He said, “And he enforced the truth even if it resulted in a harm to himself or his companions.” He said, “And he used to proceed alone between his enemies without a guard.” He said, “Nothing from worldly affairs ever intimidated him.”

He said: “He sat with poor, took food with needy; he used to respect the people of excellence in their ethics, and was on intimate terms with the people of dignity by doing good to them. He did good to his relatives, without giving them preference over one who was superior to them; he was not harsh to anyone, he accepted the apology from one who offered it.”

He said: “He had some slaves and slave girls but did not rise over them in meals or dress. He never passed a time without some work for God or for something, which was necessary for his welfare. He used to go forth to the orchards of his companions. He never looked down any poor with disdain because of his poverty or chronic illness. He was not awed by any king because of his kingdom; he called this and that towards God in equal way.”

16. Ibid: “And he (the Prophet) was furthest from anger and nearest in pleasantness; he was most gracious of all people towards the people, the best of all for all people, and the most beneficial of all for the people.”
17. Ibid: “When he (the Prophet) was happy and pleased, he was the best of the people in pleasantness; when he admonished, he admonished seriously, and when he was angry—and he was never angry except for God—nothing could stand against his anger. And he was like that in all his affairs; and when any affair occurred to him, he entrusted that to God, freed himself from power and strength, and invoked the guidance.”

Author’s comment: Reliance on God, entrusting the affairs to Him, freeing oneself from power and strength and invocation of guidance from Him, all of it returns one to another, and all of it sprouts from one root, and it is this: All affairs are based on the Divine Will which is the conqueror, unconquered, and His power which is the subduer, unlimited. The Book and the Sunnah with one voice call to it. God says: and on Allah should the reliant rely. (); … and I entrust my affair to Allah, … (); … and whoever trusts in Allah, He is sufficient for him; … (); … surely His is the creation and the command; … (); And that to your Lord is the goal, () apart from other such verses. As for the traditions they are beyond counting.

Acquiring these ethics and learning these manners is based on the fact that they apply the human activities on the proper realities, which establish them on the natural religion. It is because in reality all affairs return to God, as He says now surely to Allah do all affairs eventually come (). It has a magnificent benefit: When man relies and depends on God—and he recognizes His unlimited power and subduer Will—this factor strengthens man’s will and builds the pillars of his determination; as such he is not affected by any hindrance which appears in the way, nor is he constrained by any difficulty or tiredness that faces him; his firm intention is not shaken by any seduction or Satanic whispering which may appear in his inner self in the form of imaginary significances.

Some of The Prophet’s Customs And Manners in His Social Relations

1. Irshādu al-Qulūb, al-Daylamī: “The Prophet used to patch his clothes, mend his shoes and milk his goat; he ate with slaves, sat on the earth and rode a donkey and allowed someone to sit behind him; he was not ashamed to carry his provisions from market to his family; he shook hands with rich and poor, and did not remove his hand from any one’s hand until it was the opposite party who removed it; he greeted anyone who came before him, be he rich or poor, senior or junior; he never degraded what he was invited to even if it was date of inferior quality.

“And he was light of provision, noble of nature, of beautiful social relation and cheerful face; smiling without laughter, sorrowful without scowling; humble without humiliation, magnanimous without extravagance, soft-hearted, merciful to every Muslim; he never filled his stomach so that it would result in belching, and did not extend his hand to anything because of covetousness.”

2. Makārim al-Akhlāq: It is narrated about the Prophet that he looked into mirror, let his hair grow long and combed it; some-times he looked into water and managed his hair in this way. He used to adorn himself for his companions more than he did for his family. And he said: “Surely God likes from His servant when he goes out for his brethren that he should prepare and beautify himself for them.”
3. ‘Ilalu al-Sharāi‘, ‘Uyūn Akhbāri al-Riḍā, and al-Majālis: al-Ṣadūq narrates through his chain, from al-Riḍā from his forefathers that he said: “The Messenger of God said, ‘(There are) five (things) that I shall not leave them till I die: To eat (sitting) on the earth with slaves, my riding with someone, milking my goat by my hand, wearing wool(len dress), and greeting the children in order that it may be a custom after me.’”
4. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: It is narrated from ʿAlī that he said to a man from Banū Sa‘d: “Should not I tell you about Fāṭimah and myself? … So came to us the Messenger of God early in the morning, and we were under our blanket; and he said: ‘Peace be on you!’ But we remained silent and felt shy because of our position.

“Then he said: ‘Peace be on you!’ And we remained silent. Then he said: ‘Peace be on you!’ So we feared that if we did not respond (this time) he would go back. (And it was his custom that he would say salām three times, and if he was given permission, well and good; otherwise he would go away.) So we said: ‘And on you be salām, O Messenger of God! Come in.’ so he entered …”

5. al-Kāfī: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from Rib‘ī b. ʿAbdillāh, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The Messenger of God used to greet (say salām to) the women and they gave him the reply of the salām, and the Leader of the Faithful used to greet the women; and he disliked to greet the young ones from among them, and used to say: ‘I fear that her voice would give me pleasure and thus I would become liable to more (responsibility) than the reward I seek.’”

Author’s comment: And al-Ṣadūq has narrated it as a mursal tradition; and so has done Sibṭ al-Ṭabrisī in al-Mishkāt copying from Kitāb al-Maḥāsin.

6. Ibid: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from ʿAbdu al-‘Azīm b. ʿAbdīllāh al-Ḥasanī, as a marfū‘ tradition. He said: “The Prophet used to sit in one of the three styles: al-Qurfuṣā’, that is, he raised his legs and encircled them with his hands, holding fast to the arms with the hands; and he rested on his knees; and he doubled one leg, putting the other over it; and he was never seen cross-legged.”
7. Makārim al-Akhlāq, copying from Kitāb al-Nubuwwah: It is narrated from ʿAlī that he said: “When the Messenger of God, shook hand with someone, he did not remove his hand from that one’s hand until it was the other man who pulled his hand away; and no one talked with him about some need of his or for some other purpose and the Prophet went away, until that man himself was the one who went away; and no one cut his talk until that man became silent; and he was never seen extending his leg before a companion.

“And he was never given an option between two courses of action but he opted for the harder one; and he did not avenge himself for any injustice, until someone disgraced a sanctuary of God, then he shall be angry for God; he never took meal reclining (on pillow) until he departed from this world; and he was never asked for a thing and he replied in negative; no petitioner ever asked for his need, but he accepted it or (alternatively) talked to him in easy language; he was lightest of all in prayer, shortest of them in lecture and least of all in useless talk. When he came he was known by the good scent; when he ate with the people, he was the first to begin and last to stop his hand; when he ate, he ate from the side that was near him; however if it was dates, his hand roamed all over it; when he drank he divided it in three breaths; he used to sip the water, not flooding it. His right hand was for his food and drink, for his taking and giving, he did not take but by his right hand and did not give but by his right hand; and his left hand was for other functions of his body; he liked to begin with the right side in all his affairs—in wearing dress, shoes, and dismounting.

“When he called, he called three times, when he spoke, he spoke once, and when he sought permission, he did so thrice. His speech was in sections; whoever heard him clearly, understood him; when he spoke, it seemed as if a light went forth from between his teeth. When you saw him you would say (his teeth were) separated, but they were not.

“His observation was glancing with his eyes; he did not tell anyone anything, which he disliked; when he walked it was as though he was going down a slope. He used to say: ‘Surely the best of you is the best of you in ethics (manners);’ he never condemned any taste nor did he praise it; and never did the speakers dispute before him. The one describing him used to say: ‘I did not see with my eye anyone like him, neither before him nor after him.”

8. al-Kāfi: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain, from Jamīl b. Darrāj, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The Messenger of God divided his glance between his companions, he looked to this and to that equally.” (Also he said:) “The Messenger of God never spread his legs between his companions; if someone shook his hand, the Messenger of God did not remove his own hand from that man’s hand until it was he who removed his hand; so when they became aware of it, the man on shaking his hand (soon) moved his hand and removed it from the Prophet’s hand.”
9. Makārim al-Akhlāq: “When the Messenger of God said a thing, he smiled in his speech.”
10. Ibid: Yūnus al-Shaybānī said: “Abū ʿAbdillāh said to me, ‘How is your joking (and jesting) with each other?’ I said, ‘Very little.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you do it?’ Because joking (and jesting) is a part of good manners; and surely you introduce through it joy to your brother; and the Messenger of God used to jest with a man intending to make him happy.’”
11. Ibid: Abu al-Qāsim al-Kūfī narrates in Kitāb al-Akhlāq from al-Ṣādiq that he said: “There is no believer but there is jesting in him; and the Messenger of God used to joke, yet he never spoke other than the truth.”
12. al-Kāfī: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from Mu‘ammar b. Khallād that he said: “I asked Abu al-Ḥasan and said: ‘May I be made your ransom! A man (mingles) with the people and talk among them continues, they joke and laugh?’ He said, ‘There is no harm (in it) as long as there is no.’ (So I thought that he meant ‘obscenity’.)

“Then (the Imām) said, ‘Surely, a Bedouin used to come to (the Messenger of God) and bring to him (some) gift; then he used to say: “Give us the price of our gift.” So the Messenger of God used to laugh. And when he was distressed, he used say: “What happened to the Bedouin, would that he came to us.”’”

13. Ibid: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from Ṭalḥah b. Zayd, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The Messenger of God used to sit mostly facing qiblah.”
14. Makārim al-Akhlāq: “The people used to bring a small child to the Messenger of God, so that he should pray for blessings to him; so he used to keep him in his lap in order to honor his family members; and sometimes the child urinated on him, and if someone who saw it shouted at the child, he would say: ‘Don’t disturb the child until he finishes urinating;’ thereafter, he would complete praying for him or naming him, thus heightening the joy of his family, and they never felt that he was disturbed because of their child’s urine; then when they had gone back, he would wash his clothes afterwards.”
15. Ibid: It is narrated that the Messenger of God never allowed anyone to walk on foot with him when he himself was riding until he made him sit with him; if the man refused, then he told him: “Proceed before me and meet me at the place you intend.”
16. Ibid: Abu al-Qāsim al-Kūfī writes in Kitāb al-Akhlāq: “It has come in traditions that the Messenger of God never took his revenge from anyone; rather he used to forgive and pardon.”
17. Ibid: “If a man from among his brethren remained absent for three days, the Messenger of God used to enquire about him; if he was out of town, he prayed for him; if he was present therein, he visited him; and if he was sick, he went to see him.”
18. Ibid: Anas said: “I served the Prophet for nine years. I have no knowledge that he ever said to me: ‘Did you do such and such (thing)?’ Nor did he ever criticize me for anything.”
19. Iḥyāu al-‘Ulūm: Anas said: “By Him Who sent him with truth! He never said to me about a thing, which he disliked: ‘Why did you do it?’ And his women never blamed me but he said: ‘Leave him alone, it was only by a Book and destiny.’”
20. Ibid: It is narrated from Anas that no one from his companions or others called him but he said: “Labbayk.”
21. Ibid: Anas said: “He (the Prophet) used to call his companions with their agnomen, in order to honor them and to win their affection; and he gave agnomen to the one who did not have any, so he was called by that agnomen. He also allotted agnomen to the ladies who had children and even those who had not borne yet; and he also gave agnomen to the children thus softening their hearts.”
22. Ibid: “He (the Prophet) made a visitor sit on the cushion on which he sat; if the visitor refused to do so, he (the Prophet) adjured him until he accepted.”
23. al-Kāfī: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from ‘Ajlān that he said: “I was with Abū ʿAbdillāh; a beggar came, so he went to a container of dates, and taking out a handful gave it to him; then came another, so he stood up and gave him a handful; then came a third one, he asked and the Imām stood up and taking a handful gave it to him. Thereafter came another man, and the Imām, said, ‘God is our Sustainer and yours.’

“Then he said, ‘Surely nobody asked anything of this world from the Messenger of God but he gave it to him. A woman said to her son, “Go to him (the Prophet) and ask from him; if he says: ‘We do not have anything’, then say: ‘Give me your shirt’.” So, the Prophet took his shirt and threw it to him. (Another version: “gave it.”) Thereupon, God taught him moderation and said: And do not make your hand to be shackled to your neck nor stretch it forth to the utmost (limit) of its stretching forth, lest you should (afterwards) sit down blamed, stripped off ().’”

24. Ibid: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from Jābir, from Abū Jaʿfar that he said: “The Messenger of God used to eat gift and did not eat ṣadaqah.
25. Ibid: It is narrated from Mūsá b. ʿImrān b. Bazī‘ that he said: “I said to al-Riḍā, ‘May I be made your ransom! The people narrate that when the Messenger of God went forth by a way, he used to return by another way. Was it so?’ He said, ‘Yes; I do it most of the times; so you too do it.’ Then he said to me, ‘Well, it expands more sustenance for you.”
26. al-Iqbāl: Narrates from Abū Jaʿfar that he said: “The Messenger of God, used to come out after sunrise.” (Ibn Tāwūs)
27. al-Kāfī: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from ʿAbdullāh b. al-Mughīrah, from his narrator that he said: “When the Messenger of God entered a house, he sat in the nearest place to him on entering.”

Author’s comment: Sibṭ al-Ṭabrisī has narrated it in al-Mishkāt, copying from al-Maḥāsin and other books.

28. And among his customs and manners regarding cleanliness and adornments is what has been said in al-Makārim that when the Messenger of God washed his head and beard, he did so with (leaves of) lotus tree.
29. al-Jaʿfariyyāt: It is narrated through his chain from Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his forefathers from ʿAlī that he said: “The Messenger of God used to comb his hair and often he combed it with water, and used to say, ‘Sufficient is water as perfume for a believer.’”
30. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: (al-Ṣadūq) says: “The Messenger of God said, ‘Surely the Majūs cut off their beards and increased their mustaches; and surely we trim the mustaches and let the beards grow.’”
31. al-Kāfī: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from Abū ʿAbdil-lāh that he said: “From among the sunnah is to clip the nails.”
32. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: It is narrated that to bury hair, nail and blood is from sunnah.
33. Ibid: (al-Ṣadūq) narrates through his chain from Muḥammad b. Muslim that he asked Abū Jaʿfar about hair-dye. He said: ‘The Messenger of God used to use hair-dye, and this is his hair with us.’”
34. Makārim al-Akhlāq: “The Messenger of God would apply medicinal ointments or treatments. When applying these treatments, someone would assist by covering the upper part of his body. However, when it came to the area below the waistband, the Messenger would apply the medicine himself.”
35. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: “ ʿAlī said, ‘Plucking out the armpit removes bad smell, and it is cleansing and sunnah ordered by the Agreeable.’”
36. Makārim al-Akhlāq: “He had a kohl-container, which he used every night; and his kohl was antimony.”
37. al-Kāfī: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from Abū Usāmah, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “From among the customs of the messengers is the toothbrush.”
38. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: (al-Ṣadūq) narrates through his chain from ʿAlī in the ḥadīth of four hundred, that he said: “And toothbrush is pleasure of God, and sunnah of the Prophet and cleansing of mouth.”

Author’s comment: There are very many traditions from both sects’ ways about his, cleansing the teeth with toothbrush.

39. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: al-Ṣādiq said: “Four (things) are from among the ethics of the prophets: To use scents, to cleanse (pubic hair) with razor, to shave the body with depilatory agent and going to women very often.”
40. al-Kāfī: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from ʿAbdullāh b. Sinān, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The Messenger of God had a holding (handle); when he performed the ritual ablution, he caught it with his wet hand; so when he came out they knew that it was the Messenger of God.”
41. Makārim al-Akhlāq: “Never was a scent presented to him but he used it, and he used to say, ‘Its air is agreeable and its load light;’ and if he did not use that scent, he put his finger in it, then licked it.”
42. Ibid: “He used to burn incense with qamarī sticks.”
43. Dhakhīrat al-Ma‘ād: “Any (type of) musk was the most agree-able scent to him.”
44. al-Kāfī: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from Isḥāq al-Ṭawīl al-‘Aṭṭār, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The Messenger of God used to spend on scent more than he spent on food.”
45. Ibid: (al-Kulaynī) narrates through his chain from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The Leader of the Faithful said, ‘(Applying) scent to mustache is among the prophets’ ethics and is honor to the two writer angels.’”
46. Ibid: Through his chains from al-Sakan al-Khazzāz that he said: “I heard Abū ʿAbdillāh as saying, ‘It is the right on every pubes-cent person on every Friday to trim his mustache and nails, and rub a little scent; and when the Messenger of God did not have any scent on a Friday, he called for a veil of one of his wives, then wetting it with water put it on his face.”
47. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: (al-Ṣadūq) narrates through his chain from Isḥāq b. ‘Ammār, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “When the Messenger of God was brought a scent on the day of ‘Īdu al-Fiṭr, he began with his women.”
48. Makārim al-Akhlāq: “And he used various types of oil,” (he said), “and he generally used the oil of violet and used to say: ‘It is the best of oils.’”
49. Among his manners in travelling were what are narrated in Man lā yaḥḍuruhu al-faqīh, through his chain from ʿAbdullāh b. Sinān, from Abū Jaʿfar that he said: “The Messenger of God used to travel on Thursday.”

Author’s comment: There are many aḥādīth of this meaning.

50. Amānu al-Akhṭār and Miṣbāḥ al-Zāir: The author of ‘Awārifu al-Ma‘ārif has written: “Surely when the Prophet travelled, he took with him five things: Mirror, kohl-container, winnowing fork, and toothbrush.” (He said: “Another tradition says:) ‘and scissors’.”

Author’s comment: It has also been narrated in Makārimu al-akhlāq and al-Jaʿfariyyāt.

51. Makārim al-Akhlāq: It is narrated from Ibn ‘Abbās that he said: “When the Messenger of God walked, he did so in a manner which showed that he was neither weak nor tired.”
52. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: Narrates through his chain from Mu‘āwiyah b. ‘Ammār, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “When during journey, the Messenger of God proceeded down a slope, he said: ‘Lā ilāha illa ‘llāh’; and when he ascended, he said: ‘Allahu Akbar.’”
53. Lubbu al-Lubāb, (by al-Rāwandī): It is narrated from the Prophet, that he did not depart from a station but prayed therein two rak‘ahs; and said: “So that it will testify for me of prayer.”
54. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: He says: “When the Messenger of God bid farewell to the believers, he used to say: ‘May God give you sustenance of piety, and direct you to every good, and fulfil every need of yours, and keep safe your religion and your world for you, and bring you back safely to those who are successful.’”

Author’s comment: There are different traditions about his prayer at the time of bidding farewell, yet despite their differences, all contain the prayer of safety and success.

55. al-Jaʿfariyyāt: It narrates through his chain from Jaʿfar b. Muḥam-mad, from his forefathers, from ʿAlī that the Messenger of God used to say to the one arriving from Mecca: “May God accept your rituals, and forgive your sin, and replenish your expenses to you.”
56. Among his manners regarding dresses and what pertains to them, is what is written in Iḥyāu al-‘ulūm:

“He used to wear the dress that was available, be it loin-cloth or cloak, shirt or jubbah, etc. He liked green dresses, yet most of his dresses were white, and he used to say: ‘Dress it to your living and shroud in it your dead.’

“He used to wear stuffed qabā’ (outer garment) for war and at other times; he had a qabā’ of silk brocade, when he wore it, its green color contrasted beautifully with his white color; all his dresses were turned up above the ankles, and the loin-cloak reached above it up to middle of the leg; his shirt was buttoned up, and sometime he opened the buttons in prayer.

“He had a wrapper dyed in saffron; sometimes he prayed with the people wearing that alone; at other times he wore only the cloak without adding any other thing; he had a felt cloak which he wore and said: ‘I am but a slave, I wear like slaves.’ He had two dresses reserved for Fridays, separate from his dresses of the other days. Sometimes he wore one cloak alone, and tied its two corners between his shoulders; often he prayed in it with the people in funeral prayer; sometimes he prayed in his house in the one cloak wrapping it around keeping its sides crossed; and it could be the cloak which he had used during sexual intercourse; he often prayed at night in the cloak only and put on part of the dress that adjoined his fringe, and left the other portion on one of his wives and prayed.

“And he had a black cloak, then he gave it (to someone); so Umm Salamah said to him, ‘May my father and mother be made your ransom! What happened to that black cloak?’ He said, ‘I put it on (someone).’ So she said, ‘I had never seen anything more beautiful than your whiteness on its blackness.’ Anas said, ‘And often I saw him praying with us the ẓuhr prayer, wearing a cloak, tying its two sides; and he used to wear ring, and sometimes he came out having tied a thread on his ring for remembering something; and he used to seal the letters with it and said, “Seal on the letter is better than insinuation.”’

“And he used to wear a skull-cap under his turban, or without turban; and often he removed his skull-cap from his head and used it as a cover before him and prayed towards it. Sometimes he did not have a turban, so he tied head-band on his head and forehead; and he had a turban named saḥāb (cloud), then he gifted it to ʿAlī. Sometimes ʿAlī appeared in it, then he (the Prophet) used to say: ‘ʿAlī is coming to you in the cloud.’

“And when he put on a dress, he began from its right side, and said: ‘All praise is due to God Who clothed me with what I cover my shame, and beautify myself among the people;’ and when he undressed, he removed it from his left side; When he wore a new dress, he gave the old one to a needy person and then said: ‘There is no Muslim who covers a Muslim with his worn out dress—not doing it except for God—but he will be in God’s security, guaranty and good as long as it would cover him, dead or alive.’

“And he had a ground-spread of leather stuffed with palm-frond, its length was two arms or so, and breadth one and a half arms or so; and he had a cloak spread for him, wherever he moved, it was folded twice under him; and he slept on mat, there was nothing else under him.

“And it was among his manners to give name to his riding animals, arms and provisions. The name of his standard was ‘uqāb (eagle), and his sword, which he took with him in wars, was named Dhu al-Fiqār; he had a third sword called al-Mukhdhim, and yet another, called al-Rasūb and al-Qaḍīb; the grip of his sword was gilded with silver. He wore a leather-belt which had three silver rings; his bow was named al-Katūm, and the quiver al-Kāfūr; his she-camel’s name was al-‘Aḍbā’, his mule was al-Duldul, his donkey was Ya‘fūr; and his milking goat, whose milk he drank was called ‘Aynah.

“He had a cleansing pot of clay, which he used for performing ritual ablution and drinking. People used to send their small children (who had reached the age of understanding) to the Messenger of God, and they were not prevented from approaching him; so if they found in that pot some water, they drank from it and wiped it on their faces and bodies, seeking blessings with it.”

57. al-Jaʿfariyyāt: It is narrated from Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his forefathers from ʿAlī that he said: “The Messenger of God wore quilted caps He had a shield called Dhātu al-Fuḍūl, it had three silver links, one in front and two at the back.”
58. al-‘Awālī: It is narrated that he had a black turban, in which he used to pray.

Author’s comment: It is narrated that his turban had three, or five, coils.

59. al-Khiṣāl: Narrates through his chain from ʿAlī in the ḥadīth of four hundred that he said: “Wear cotton dresses, because it is the dress of the Messenger of God, and he did not wear hair or wool except during sickness.”

Author’s comment: al-Ṣadūq has also narrated it as a mursal ḥadīth; al-Ṣafwānī has narrated it in Kitāb al-Ta‘rīf; it clarifies the meaning of what was earlier said about his wearing wool, and that there is no contradiction.

60. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: Narrates through his chain from Ismā‘il b. Muslim, from al-Ṣādiq from his father that he said: “The Messenger of God had a short spear with a crutch at its end; he leaned on it, and took it out on the two ‘īd days and (fixing it before him) he prayed towards it.”

Author’s comment: It has also been narrated in al-Jaʿfariyyāt.

61. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from Hishām b. Sālim from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The ring of the Messenger of God was from silver.”
62. Ibid: Narrates through his chain from Abū Khadījah that he said: “He (the Imām) said, ‘The stone of the ring is round.’ Then he said, ‘Like this was the ring of the Messenger of God.’”
63. al-Khiṣāl: Narrates through his chain from ʿAbdu al-Raḥīm b. Abi al-Bilād, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The Messenger of God had two rings (seals), on one of them was written: Lā ilāha illa ‘llāh, Muḥammadun Rasūlu ‘llāh; and on the other (was): Ṣadaqa ‘llāh.”
64. Ibid: Narrates through his chain from Ḥusayn b. Khālid, from Abu al-Ḥasan II inter alia in a ḥadīth: “Surely the Prophet and the Leader of the Faithful, al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn and the Imāms (peace be upon them) wore the rings in the right hand.”
65. Makārim al-Akhlāq: It is narrated from al-Ṣādiq from ʿAlī (peace be upon both) that he said: “The Prophets used to wear shirt before trouser.”

Author’s comment: It is also narrated in al-Jaʿfariyyāt; there are other traditions on the above themes.

66. Among his manners regarding his residence and its related things are what is written in Kitāb al-Taḥṣīn (by Ibn Fahd) that he said: “The Messenger of God, left this world and never put a brick over a brick.”
67. Lubbu al-Lubāb: “He, said, ‘Mosques are the sitting places of the prophets.’”
68. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from al-Sakūnī, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “When the Prophet came out from the house in the summer, he did so on a Thursday; and when he wanted to enter because of cold in the winter, he entered on a Friday.”

Author’s comment: It has also been narrated in al-Khiṣāl as a mursal one.

69. al-‘Udadu al-Qawiyyah (by al-Shaykh ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. al-Muṭahhar, brother of al-‘Allāmah, may God have mercy on both): Narrates from Khadījah, may God be pleased with her, that she said: “When the Prophet entered the house, he used to call for a receptacle, and cleansed for prayer, then he stood up and prayed two short rak‘ahs; then he came to his bed.”
70. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from ‘Abbād b. Ṣuhayb, that he said: “I heard Abū ʿAbdillāh as saying, ‘The Messenger of God never hatched any plan against an enemy.’”
71. Makārim al-Akhlāq: “The bedding of the Messenger of God was a cloak, and his pillow was of leather stuffed with palm-fronds; one night it was folded double, when morning came, he said: ‘This bedding prevented me last night from prayer;’ so he ordered that it should be kept unfolded; and he had a bedding of leather stuffed with palm-fronds. Also, he had a cloak which was spread for him wherever he went and it was folded double.”
72. Ibid: Abū Jaʿfar said: “Never did the Messenger of God wake up from sleep but prostrated in sajdah of God.”
73. Among his manners regarding matrimony and children was what is narrated in the tract of al-Muḥkam wa al-mutashābih of al-Murtaḍā, through his chain up to al-Tafsīr of al-Nu‘mānī, from ʿAlī that he said: “A group of the Companions had forbidden to themselves women, eating during the day and sleeping at night. Umm Salamah gave this news to the Messenger of God, so he went out to his Companions and said, ‘Do you feel aversion from women? But surely I go to the women, and eat during the day and sleep at night; so whoever dislikes my sunnah is not from me ‘ “

Author’s comment: This meaning is narrated in the books of both sects through many ways.

74. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from Isḥāq b. ‘Ammār, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “Among the ethics of the Prophets is the love of women.”
75. Ibid: Narrates through his chain from Bakār b. Kardam and several (others), from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The Messenger of God said, ‘The delight of my eyes is made in prayer and my enjoyment in women.’”

Author’s comment: Nearer to it is what has been narrated through other ways.

76. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: “When the Messenger of God wanted to marry a woman he used to send to her someone who looked at her.”
77. al-Tafsīr, al-ʿAyyāshī: It is narrated from al-Ḥusayn, son of the daughter of Ilyās, that he said: “I heard Abu al-Ḥasan al-Riḍā saying, ‘Surely God has made the night time for rest, and He has made the women means for rest; and it is a part of sunnah to perform marriage at night and give food (to people).’”
78. al-Khiṣāl: Narrates through his chain from ʿAlī, inter alia, in the ḥadīth of four hundred, that he said: “Shave the heads of your children on the seventh day, and give, equal in weight to their hair, silver as ṣadaqah to a Muslim; and likewise had done the Messenger of God with al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn and all his children.”
79. Among his manners regarding food and drink and related to the table, is what has been narrated in al-Kāfī, through his chain from Hishām b. Sālim and another one, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “There was nothing more liked by the Messenger of God, than that he should remain hungry (and) afraid regarding God.”
80. al-Iḥtijāj: Narrates through his chain from Mūsá b. Jaʿfar, from his forefathers, from al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī (peace be upon them), inter alia, in a lengthy ḥadīth, concerning the questions of a Syrian Jew from the Leader of the Faithful: “… The Jew said to him, ‘They believe about Jesus that he was ascetic.’ ʿAlī said to him, ‘He was like that, and Muḥammad was the most ascetic of all prophets; he had thirteen wives, apart from the slave-girls who were under his possession; and yet no table-cloth was raised for him that had a food on it; and he never ate wheat bread, nor did he eat his full three nights consequently from barley bread.’ …”
81. al-Amālī, al-Ṣadūq: Narrates from al-‘Īṣ b. al-Qāsim that he said:”I said to al-Ṣādiq, ‘A ḥadīth is narrated from your father that he said, “The Messenger of God never ate his full from wheat bread.” Is it correct?’ He said, ‘No, the Messenger of God never ate wheat bread, and never ate his full from barley bread.’”
82. al-Da‘awāt (by al-Rāwandī): He said, “It is narrated that the Messenger of God never ate (while) reclining except once, then he sat down (straight) and said, ‘O God! I am your servant and your Messenger.’”

Author’s comment: This meaning has been narrated by al-Kulaynī, al-Shaykh (through many chains), al-Ṣadūq, al-Barqī and al-Ḥusayn b. Sa‘īd (in Kitāb al-Zuhd).

83. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from Zayd al-Shaḥḥām, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The Messenger of God never ate reclining since God raised him (as Prophet) until he expired; he used to eat like a slave and sit like a slave.” “I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘In humility to God, to Whom belong Might and Majesty.’”
84. Ibid: Narrates through his chain from Abū Khadījah who said: “Bashīr al-Dahhān asked Abū ʿAbdillāh and I was present (there), ‘Did the Messenger of God used to eat reclining upon his right or left side?’ He said, ‘The Messenger of God never used to eat reclining upon his right or left side, but he used to sit like a slave.’ I said, ‘For what (he did so)?’ He said, ‘In humility to God, to Whom belong Might and Majesty.’”
85. Ibid: Narrates through his chain from Jābir, from Abū Jaʿfar, that he said: “The Messenger of God used to eat like a slave and sit like a slave; and he used to eat on the ground and sleep on the ground.”
86. Iḥyāu al-‘Ulūm: “When he (the Prophet) sat for eating, he gathered his knees and legs as one does in prayer, except that a knee was over the other and a foot was over the other; and he used to say, ‘I am but a slave, I eat as a slave eats and sit as a slave sits.’”
87. Kitāb al-Ta‘rīf (by al-Ṣafwānī): Narrates from ʿAlī: “When the Messenger of God sat on a table, he sat like a slave and he reclined upon his left thigh.”
88. Makārim al-Akhlāq: It is narrated from Ibn ‘Abbās that he said: “The Prophet used to sit on the earth, tether the goat and accept the invitation of a slave.”
89. al-Maḥāsin: Through his chain from Ḥammād b. ‘Uthmān, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The Messenger of God used to lick his fingers when he ate.”
90. al-Iḥtijāj: Copying from the book, Mawālīd al-Ṣādiqīn that he said: “The Prophet used to eat all types of food; and he ate what God had made lawful for him with his family and servants when they ate; and with whoever invited him from among the Muslims for eating; and on whatever they partook of (that is, table or plate) and whenever they ate, except when a guest came to them, then he ate with his guest. And the most agreeable food to him was that which was (taken) with a lot of dependents.”
91. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from Ibn al-Qadāḥ from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “When the Messenger of God took any meal with the people, he was the first to put his hand (in the food) and the last to remove it, in order that the people should eat (their full).”
92. Ibid: Narrates through his chain to Muḥammad b. Muslim, from Abū Jaʿfar that he said: “The Leader of the Faithful (peace be upon him) has said, ‘The prophets’ evening meal is after ‘ishā’ prayer; therefore you should not leave (neglect) evening meal, because surely leaving the evening meal ruins the body.’”
93. Ibid: Narrates through his chain from ‘Anbasah b. Najād, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “No food, in which contained dates, was presented to the Messenger of God but he began with dates.”
94. al-Kāfī and Ṣaḥīfat al-Riḍā: Narrate through their chains from his forefathers (peace be upon them) that he said: “When the Messenger of God ate dates, he put the stone on the back of his palm, and than threw it away.”
95. al-Iqbāl (Ibn Ṭāwūs): Copying from the second part of Tārīkh al-Nāysābūrī (in the biography of al-Ḥasan b. Bashar), through his chain, that he said: “The Messenger of God used to thank God between every two morsels.”
96. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain, from Wahb b. ʿAbd Rabbih, that he said: “I saw Abū ʿAbdillāh using tooth-pick. I looked at him; so he said, ‘Surely the Messenger of God used tooth-pick; and it makes the mouth pleasant.’”
97. Makārim al-Akhlāq: It is narrated from the Prophet that when he drank, began saying tasmiyah… and he sipped the water slowly without swallowing the lot; and he used to say, “Liver ailment is from swallowing.”
98. al-Jaʿfariyyāt: Narrates from Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his fore-fathers, from ʿAlī that he said: “I checked the Prophet several times and (found that) when he drank he breathed three times, with every breath he recited: Bismi ‘llāh … to begin with, and: al-ḥamdu li ‘llāh at the end; so I asked him about it, and he said, ‘O ʿAlī! (It is) to thank God with: al-ḥamdu li ‘llāh, and tasmiyah is for (protection from) sickness.’”
99. Makārim al-Akhlāq: “He did not breathe into the pot when he drank; and if he wanted to breathe, he kept the pot away from his mouth until he breathed.”
100. Iḥyāu al-‘Ulūm: “And when he ate meat, he did not lower his head to it; he used to raise it to his mouth properly then tore it to pieces.” Then he said, “And when he ate meat especially, he washed both his hands thoroughly then wiped his face with the water left overhand.”
101. Makārim al-Akhlāq: It is narrated about the Prophet that he used to eat various kinds of food.

Author’s comment: Thereafter al-Ṭabrisī has described several types of food which he used to eat, like, bread, meat (of various types), melon, water-melon, sugar, grapes, pomegranate, date, milk, harīsah, ghee, vinegar, wild chicory and cabbage. It is narrated that he liked dates; also that he loved honey; another narration says that the most loved fruit for him was pomegranate.

102. al-Amālī, al-Ṭūsī: Narrates through his chain, from Abū Usāmah, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The (staple) food of the Messenger of God was barley when he found it, and his sweet-meat was dates, and his firewood was palm-leaves.”
103. Makārim al-Akhlāq: It is narrated about the Prophet that he did not eat hot (food) until it became cold, and he used to say: “Surely God has not fed us fire, certainly hot food does not have barakah.”

And when he ate, he said: “Bismi ‘llāh”; and he used to eat with three fingers, and from the side that was close to him, and he did not take from that (side) which was adjacent to another person. When food was brought before him, he began before the others, and then they began. He used to eat with three fingers—the thumb, the one adjacent to it and the middle finger, and sometimes took help from the fourth. He used to eat with his entire palm, and he never ate with two fingers. And he used to say: “Eating with two fingers is the Satan’s eating.” And one day his companions brought fālūdhaj and he ate (it) with them, and then said, “From what is it made?” They said, “We mix ghee and honey and it comes to this as you see.” He said, “It is a good food.”

And he used to eat bread made of unsieved barley floor; and he never ate wheat bread, nor did he eat his full with barley bread; and he never ate on a table-cloth until he died. And, he used to eat water-melon and grapes; and he ate dates and fed its stone to the goat; and he never ate garlic, onion, leek or the honey which had maghāfīr; and maghāfīr is a residue of the tree that remains in the bee’s stomach, and it throws it into the honey; so its smell remains in the mouth.

And he never criticized any food—if he liked it, he ate it; and if he disliked it, he left it, but did not make it unlawful to others; and he used to lick out the bowl and said, “The last part of the plate is the greatest food in barakah.” When he finished, he used to lick his three fingers (with which he ate) one by one; and he used to wash his hand from the food until it became clean; and he never took food alone.

Author’s comment: The expression, the thumb, the one adjacent to it and the middle finger, shows the beautiful manner of the narrator, because he did not say, the thumb and the sabbābah avoiding to call a finger of the Prophet reviler or rebuker.

What is narrated here that he ate from the fālūdhaj, goes against what has been narrated in al-Maḥāsin, with its chain, from Yaʿqūb b. Shu‘ayb, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “While the Leader of the Faithful was in al-Raḥbah with a group of his companions, a dish of fālūdhaj was presented to him as gift. He said to his companions, ‘Extend your hands;’ so they extended their hands and he too extended his, then he withdrew it and said, ‘I (just) remembered that the Messenger of God had never eaten it, so I did not like to eat it.’”

104. Makārim al-Akhlāq: He said: “The Prophet used to drink from the bowls of glass, which were brought from Syria; and he drank from bowls, which were made from wood, hides and earthen ware.”

Author’s comment: Near to its earlier part is narrated in al-Kāfī and al-Maḥāsin, and there is in it: “and he liked to drink from Syrian bowl, and he used to say: ‘It is the cleanest of your vessels.’”

105. Ibid: It is narrated about the Prophet that he used to drink from his palm (and water was poured in it), and he used to say: “There is no vessel cleaner than hand.”
106. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from ʿAbdullāh b. Sinān that he said: “The Messenger of God used to slaughter two rams on the day of al-Aḍḥā, one for himself and the other on behalf of those who did not have means from his ummah.”
107. And among his manners regarding toilet is what is written in Sharḥu al-Nafliyyah (of the Second Martyr) about the Prophet that he was never seen (engaged in) urinating or relieving bowel.
108. al-Jaʿfariyyāt: Narrates through his chain from Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his forefathers, from ʿAlī that he said: “Verily, when the Messenger of God wanted to discard mucous he covered his head, then buried that, and when he wanted to spit, he did like that, and when he wanted to relieve bowel, he covered his head.”

Author’s comment: Constructing the toilet appeared in Arabia after Islam; before that they used to go forth to open spaces, as is inferred from some traditions.

109. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from al-Ḥusayn b. Khālid, from Abu al-Ḥasan II, that he said: “I said to him, ‘A ḥadīth has been narrated to us that the Messenger of God used to do istinjā’ and his ring was in his finger, and so was done by the Leader of the Faithful; and the engraving on the seal of the Messenger of God was: “Muḥammad the Messenger of God.”’ The Imām said, ‘They speak truth.’ I said, ‘So we too should do (like that)?’ He said, ‘Surely they wore the ring (seal) in the right hand and you wear it in the left.’”

Author’s comment: Near to it is narrated in al-Jaʿfariyyāt, and in al-Makārim copying from Kitāb al-Libās (of al-ʿAyyāshī) from al-Ṣādiq.

110. And among his manners at the time of calamities and trials and regarding dead bodies and related matters are what are narrated in al-Makārim: “Whenever the Messenger of God saw a pimple in his body, he sought refuge with God and showed humility and fervently prayed to Him. They used to say to him: ‘O Messenger of God! There is no problem in it;’ and he used to say: ‘Surely, when God wants to magnify a small thing, it becomes great, and when He wants to reduce a great thing, it becomes small.’”
111. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from Jābir, from Abū Jaʿfar that he said: “The sunnah is to carry the bier on its four sides; and whatever carrying is done in addition to it, is voluntary.”
112. Qurbu al-Asnād: It is narrated from al-Ḥusayn b. Ṭurayf, from al-Ḥusayn b. ‘Alwān from Jaʿfar, from his father, that al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī (peace be upon both) was sitting and there were some of his companions with him; then a funeral procession passed from there; some of the people stood up and al-Ḥasan did not stand. When they went away, some people said to him, “Why did you not stand up? May God preserve your health! Because the Messenger of God used to stand up for a bier when they passed with it.” So, al-Ḥasan said, “The Messenger of God had stood up only once; it happened that a Jew’s bier was proceeding and the place was con-fined, so the Messenger of God stood up and he did not like that the bier should rise above his head.”
113. al-Da‘awāt, al-Quṭb: He said that when the Prophet followed a bier, he was overcome by grief, did much talking to himself, and did not talk much.
114. al-Jaʿfariyyāt: Narrates through his chain from Jaʿfar b. Muḥam-mad, from his forefathers from ʿAlī (peace be upon them) that the Messenger of God used to scatter three handfuls of earth on a grave.
115. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from Zurārah, from Abū Jaʿfar that he said: “The Messenger of God used to do especially with someone dying from among the Hāshimites a thing which he did not do with any of the (other) Muslims; when he prayed (funeral) prayer of the Hāshimite and his grave was sprinkled with water, the Messenger of God put his palm on the grave until (the marks of) his fingers could be seen on the wet earth; so if a stranger or a traveller from the people of Medina arrived and saw a new grave with marks of the palm of the Messenger of God he would ask, ‘Who has died from the progeny of Muḥammad?’”
116. Musakkin al-Fuād (of the Second Martyr): Narrates from ʿAlī that when the Messenger of God condoled, he said: “May God give you (its) reward and have mercy on you”; and when he congratulated, he said: “May God bless you and send His blessings to you.”
117. And among his manners concerning wuḍū’ and bath is what is narrated in Āyāt al-aḥkām (of al-Quṭb) from Sulaymān b. Buraydah, from his father, that the Prophet used to perform wuḍū’ for each prayer; when it was the year of victory he prayed his prayers with one wuḍū’, ʿUmar said, “O Messenger of God! You have done something, which you had not done (before).” He said, “Intentionally have I done it.”
118. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from Zurārah, that he said: “Abū Jaʿfar said, ‘Should not I relate to you the wuḍū’ of the Messenger of God?’ We said, ‘Certainly.’ So, he called for a basin with some water and put it in front of him; then he uncovered his arms; then he dipped his right palm in it and said, ‘Like this (will be done) when the palm is clean’; he then scooped up a handful of water and put it on his forehead, and said, ‘In the name of God’; and let it fall down to the sides of his beard, then he passed his hand once on his face and forehead; then he dipped his left palm and scooped up a handful and put it on his right arm, then passed his hand on his forearm until the water flowed to his fingertips; then he dipped his right palm and scooped up a handful and put it on his left arm, and passed his hand on his (left) forearm until the water flowed to his fingertips; then he wiped the front part of his head and backs of his feet with the wetness of his left hand and the residue of the wetness of the right hand.”

He said: “And Abū Jaʿfar said, ‘Surely God is odd and likes odd (number); sufficient then for you in wuḍū’ is three dippings: one for the face and two for the two forearms, and you will wipe the forepart of your head with the wetness of your right hand, and with the residue of that wetness the back of your right foot, and will wipe with the wetness of your left hand the back of your left foot.’”

Zurārah said: “Abū Jaʿfar said, ‘A man had asked the Leader of the Faithful about the wuḍu’ of the Messenger of God so he demonstrated to him like this.’”

Author’s comment: This theme is narrated from Zurārah, Bukayr and others through numerous ways; have narrated it al-Kulaynī, al-Ṣadūq, al-Shaykh, al-ʿAyyāshī, al-Mufīd, al-Karājikī and others; and traditions of Ahlu al-Bayt (peace be upon them) for this matter are mustafīḍah, nearly mutawātir.

119. al-Amālī (by Mufīd al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī): Narrates through his chain from Abū Hurayrah that when the Prophet performed wuḍū’, he began with his right side.
120. al-Tahdhīb: Narrates through his chains from Abū Baṣīr that he said, “I asked Abū ʿAbdillāh about wuḍū’. He said, ‘The Messenger of God used to perform wuḍū’ with a mudd of water, and take bath with a ṣā‘’”

Author’s comment: A similar tradition is narrated through another

way from Abū Jaʿfar.

121. al-‘Uyūn: Narrates through his chains from al-Riḍā, from his forefathers (peace be upon them), inter alia in a lengthy ḥadīth: “The Messenger of God said, ‘Surely, we Ahlu al-Bayt, ṣadaqah is not allowed to us, and we have been ordered to perform wuḍū’ properly, and we do not make an ass jump on a she-ass.’”
122. al-Tahdhīb: Narrates through his chains from ʿAbdullāh b. Sinān, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “Gargling and rinsing the nose is among what the Messenger of God has made sunnah.”
123. Ibid: Narrates through his chain from Mu‘āwiyah b. ‘Ammār that he said: “I heard Abū ʿAbdillāh saying, ‘The Messenger of God used to do ghusl (bath) with one ṣā‘ (of water); and if one of his women was with him, he did ghusl with a ṣā‘ and a mudd.’”

Author’s comment: al-Kulaynī has narrated this meaning in al-Kāfī, through his chain from Muḥammad b. Muslim from the Imām, and there it elaborates that both did ghusl from one vessel; and likewise is narrated by al-Shaykh through another chain.

124. al-Jaʿfariyyāt: Narrates through his chain from Jaʿfar b. Muḥam-mad from his father (peace be upon both) that he said: “al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad asked Jābir b. ʿAbdillāh about the bath of the Messenger of God, Jābir said, ‘The Messenger of God, used to scoop water (with his hand) on his head three times.’ al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad said, ‘I have a lot of hair (on my head), as you see.’ Jābir said, ‘O noble man! Do not say so, because the hair of the Messenger of God was thicker and more fragrant.’”
125. al-Hidāyah (by al-Ṣadūq): “al-Ṣādiq said, ‘The ghusl of Friday is sunnah wājibah for men and women in journey and in presence …’ And al-Ṣādiq said, ‘Ghusl of Friday is purity and atonement of sins from Friday to Friday.’ He (also) said, ‘The reason of (laying down of) Friday bath was this: That the Helpers (Anṣār) used to work for their camels and properties; when Friday came, they came (direct) to the mosque and the people got annoyed with smell of their armpits. So, God ordered the Prophet to take bath, and thus the sunnah was established.’”

Author’s comment: Concerning his customs regarding ghusl, traditions have been narrated for the ghusl of the day of Fiṭr and similar baths in all the ‘īds and numerous other baths; probably some of them will be mentioned later on, God willing.

126. And among his manners and sunnahs concerning prayer and related matters is what is narrated in al-Kāfī, through his chain from al-Fuḍayl b. Yasār, ʿAbdu al-Malik and Bukayr, that they said: “We heard Abū ʿAbdillāh saying, ‘The Messenger of God used to perform supererogatory prayers double of the obligatory, and keep supererogatory fast double of the obligatory.’”

Author’s comment: al-Shaykh too has narrated it.

127. Ibid: Narrates through his chain from Ḥanān that he said: “‘Amr b. Ḥurayth asked Abū ʿAbdillāh, and I was sitting there, he said, ‘May I be made your ransom! Please tell me about the prayer of the Messenger of God.’ He said, ‘The Prophet used to pray eight rak‘ahs of noon, and four of the first (that is, ẓuhr), and eight after it and four of ‘aṣr, and three of maghrib and four after maghrib, and ‘ishā’ the last four, and eight tahajjud and three (shafa‘ and) witr, and two rak‘ahs (nāfilah) of fajr and dawn prayer two rak‘ahs.’”I said, ‘May I be made your ransom! If I have strength to pray more than that, will God punish me for excess of prayer?’ He said, ‘No; but He will punish you for leaving the sunnah.’”

Author’s comment: This tradition shows that the two rak‘ahs in sitting position prayed after ‘ishā’ prayer are not part of fifty (rak‘ahs), but with them the number, fifty-one, is completed, counting them as equal to one rak‘ah in standing position. Rather it was laid down as a substitute of the witr, in case the death came before he could stand up for witr; as al-Kulaynī (may God have mercy on him), has narrated in al-Kāfī, through his chain, from Abū Baṣīr from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “Whoever believes in God and the Last Day, should not sleep (at night) without (praying) witr.” “I said, ‘You mean the two rak‘ahs after the ‘ishā’?’ He said, ‘Yes; they are counted as one rak‘ah; whoever prayed them, then something happened to him (that is, he died), he would die on witr; and if death did not happen to him, he would pray witr in the last period of the night.’

“I said, ‘Did the Messenger of God prayed these two rak‘ahs?’ He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Because the Messenger of God used to receive revelation, and he knew whether he would die in that night or not, while others do not know it. That was why he did not pray them, and ordered (the people) to pray them.’ …”

Probably the statement that he did not pray them, means that he did not pray them regularly, rather on some nights he prayed and on others he left them, as is inferred from some other traditions. In this way, it would not go against what has been narrated that he used to pray them.

128. al-Tahdhīb: Narrates through his chain from Zurārah that he said: “I heard Abū Jaʿfar saying, ‘The Messenger of God was not praying in day time until the noon; when the shadow reached (towards the east) about half a finger, he prayed eight rak‘ahs; then when the shadow reached an arm’s length, he prayed ẓuhr; then after ẓuhr he prayed two rak‘ahs, and he used to pray two rak‘ahs before the time of ‘aṣr; when the shadow extended to two arm-lengths, he prayed ‘aṣr; and he prayed maghrib after sunset; when the reddish color (in the sky) vanished the time of ‘ishā’ came; the last time of maghrib is the end of the reddish color; when the reddish color vanished the time of ‘ishā’ came, and the end of the ‘ishā’ time is one third of the night.

“‘And he did not pray after ‘ishā’ until midnight, thereafter he prayed thirteen rak‘ahs including the witr and two rak‘ahs of nāfilah of fajr; then at dawn break he prayed the morning prayer.’”

Author’s comment: This tradition does not describe fully the nāfilah of ‘aṣr; and it is known from other traditions.

129. Ibid: Narrates through his chain from Mu‘āwiyah b. Wahb that he said: “I heard Abū ʿAbdillāh saying, and he was describing the prayer of the Prophet; he said, ‘The cleansing (water) was brought to the Prophet, and covered (and put) near his head, and his teeth-cleansing small stick was put under his bed; then he slept as long as God wished; when he awoke, he sat up, then turned his eyes in the sky, then recited some verses from (Ch. of) “The House of ʿImrān”: Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day there are signs for men who understand (). Then he cleansed his teeth and performed cleansing, then proceeded to the mosque and prayed four rak‘ahs, equal to his recitation was his rukū‘, and equal to his rukū‘ was his sajdah; he remained in rukū‘ until it was said: “When will he raise his head?” and he remained in sajdah until it was said: “When will he raise his head?”

“‘Then he returned to his bed and slept as long as God wished; then he woke up, and sat up; then he recited the verses from “The House of ʿImrān,” and turned his eyes in the sky, then cleansing the teeth, he performed (ritual) ablution, then proceeded to the mosque and prayed four rak‘ahs like he did before.

“‘Then he returned to his bed and slept as long as God wished; then he woke up and sat up; then he recited verses from “The House of ʿImrān,” and turned his eyes in the sky; then cleansing his teeth, he performed (ritual) ablution, then proceeded to the mosque and prayed two rak‘ahs, then went forth for prayer.’”

Author’s comment: This meaning has also been narrated in al-Kāfī from two chains.

130. It is narrated that he used to make the nāfilah of the dawn prayer short, he used to pray it in the beginning of the fajr and then proceeded to the (wajib) prayer.
131. al-Maḥāsin: Narrates through his chain from ʿUmar b. Yazīd, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “Whoever, while praying witr, said in it seventy times: ‘I seek pardon of God, my Lord, and repent to Him’, and keeps doing it diligently, until he completes a year, God writes him among those who seek pardon in early dawn.

“And the Messenger of God used to seek God’s pardon in the witr seventy times, and used to say seven times: ‘This is the stand of him who seeks Your refuge from the Fire.’ …”

132. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: “The Prophet used to say in the qunūt of witr: ‘O God! Guide me among those whom You guided, and give me remission among those whom You remitted, and take care of me among those You cared for, and give me barakah in what You have given me, and protect me from the evil of what You have decreed; surely You do decide and no one decides against You; Glory be to Thee, O Lord of the House! I seek Your pardon and return to You, and I believe in You and rely on You; and there is no strength or power except with You. O Merciful!’”
133. al-Tahdhīb: Narrates through his chain from Abū Khadījah from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “When the month of Ramaḍān came, the Messenger of God used to increase in prayer, and I too increase; therefore, you too should increase.”

Author’s comment: The Imām means by this increase, the thousand rak‘ahs of tarāwīḥ, the nāfilah of the month of Ramaḍān, which the Messenger of God used to pray in addition to the fifty rak‘ahs of daily nawāfil; many traditions have been narrated as to how to pray it and how to divide it on the Ramaḍān nights; and it has come through the chains of Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) that the Prophet used to pray it without congregation, and prohibited praying it with congregation. He used to say: “There is no congregation in nāfilah.” And there are other especial prayers reserved for the Prophet, narrated in the books of invocations; we have not copied them here because they are beyond our purpose here. Likewise, there are many prophetic sunnahs about prayers, invocations and awrād, whoever wants to know about them should look in the relevant books.

134. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from Yazīd b. Khalīfah that he said: “I said to Abū ʿAbdillāh, ‘Surely ʿUmar b. Ḥanzalah has brought to us from you the time (of prayer).’ He said, ‘Then he will not tell lie about us.’ And I said, ‘He said that the time of maghrib (prayer) is when the disc (of the sun) disappears; but when the Messenger of God was on a journey, he delayed the maghrib and combined maghrib with ‘ishā’.’ He said, ‘He said right.’”
135. al-Tahdhīb: Narrates through his chain from Ṭalḥah b. Zayd from Jaʿfar from his father (peace be upon them) that the Prophet, in rainy nights, used to shorten the maghrib and hasten the ‘ishā’, praying both together, and used to say: “He who does not have mercy will not be dealt with mercy.”
136. Ibid: Narrates through his chain from Ibn Abī ‘Umayr, from Ḥammād, from al-Ḥalabī, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “When the Messenger of God was on a journey, or had an urgent work, he used to combine ẓuhr with ‘aṣr and maghrib with ‘ishā’, …” This meaning is narrated by al-Kulaynī, al-Shaykh, Ibn al-Shaykh and the First Martyr, may God have mercy on them.
137. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: Narrates through his chain from Mu‘āwiyah b. Wahb from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The muadhdhin used to come to the Prophet during hot season (calling him) for the prayer of ẓuhr, so the Messenger of God used to tell him: “Abrid, abrid.”

Author’s comment: al-Ṣadūq interpreted the last two words as, “make haste, make haste,” taking it from “al-barīd” (post); but apparently it indicates delay, so that intense heat might go away, as points to it what is narrated in the Book of al-‘Ulā’, from Muḥammad b. Muslim that he said, “Passed from near me Abū Jaʿfar in the mosque of the Messenger of God and I was praying. Then he met me after that and said, ‘Take care not to pray wājib at that time; do you perform it in the intense heat?’ I said, ‘I was praying nāfilah.’”

138. Iḥyāu al-‘Ulūm: He said: “Never sat anyone near him when he was praying, but he shortened his prayer and turned to him and said, ‘Do you need something?’ Then after accomplishing his work, he returned to his prayer.”
139. Kitāb Zuhd al-Nabī (by Jaʿfar b. Aḥmad al-Qummī): He said: “Whenever the Prophet stood up for prayer, his face turned ashen, and there was whizzing sound coming from his chest or belly because of the (Divine) fear.”

Author’s comment: This meaning has also been narrated by Ibn al-Faḥd and others.

140. Ibid: He said: “And another tradition says that when the Prophet stood in prayer (it looked) as if he was a flung away cloth.”
141. Biḥār al-Anwār: He said: “‘Āishah said, ‘The Messenger of God talked with us and we talked with him, but when the (time of) prayer came then it was as if he did not know us nor we did know him.’”
142. al-Majālis (by Mufīdu al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī): Narrates through his chain to ʿAlī that he wrote to Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr, when he made him the governor of Egypt: “… Then look at your rukū‘ and sujūd, because surely the Messenger of God was most perfect of the people in prayer, and shortest of them in its activities.”
143. al-Jaʿfariyyāt: Narrates through his chain from Jaʿfar b. Muḥam-mad, from his forefathers from ʿAlī that he said: “When the Messenger of God yawned during the prayer, he stopped it with his right hand.”

Author’s comment: A similar tradition is narrated in al-Da‘āim.

144. ‘Ilalu al-Sharāi‘: Narrates through his chain from Hishām b. al-Ḥakam from Abu al-Ḥasan Moses, inter alia, in a ḥadīth that he said: “I said to him, ‘For what reason it is said in the rukū‘: Subḥāna rabbiya al-‘aẓīmī wa bi-ḥamdih, and it is said in sajdah: Subḥāna rabbiya al-a‘lā wa bi-ḥamdih?’ He said, ‘O Hishām! Surely when the Messenger of God was taken up in mi‘rāj, and he performed prayer, and remembered what he had seen of the grandeur of God, his limbs trembled and he sat down on his knees and he began saying: Subḥāna rabbiya al-‘aẓīmī wa bi-ḥamdih; then when he stood up from the rukū‘ and looked at a place still higher, he fell down on his face, saying: Subḥāna rabbiya al-a‘ lā wa bi-ḥamdih; when he said it seven times, that fear went away; therefore this began as a sunnah.’”
145. Tanbīhu al-Khawāṭir: (of al-Shaykh Warrām b. Abī Firās) from al-Nu‘mān that he said: “The Messenger of God used to level our lines, as if he equalizes the arrow-shafts, until he saw that we were heedless of it. Then one day he came out and stood up until he was about to say takbīr, and he saw a man whose chest was shown ahead, so he said, ‘Servants of God! You should level your lines or your faces will be turned aside.’”
146. Ibid: It is narrated from Ibn Mas‘ūd that he said: “The Messenger of God used to touch our shoulders in prayer and say, ‘Be straight and be not uneven, otherwise your hearts will differ from one another.’ …”
147. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: Narrates through his chain from Dāwūd b. al-Ḥaṣīn, from Abu al-‘Abbās, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “The Messenger of God remained in seclusion (i‘ tikāf) in the first ten days of the month of Ramaḍān, then remained in seclusion in the middle (second) ten days of Ramaḍān, thereafter he continued to remain in seclusion in the last ten days.”
148. Ibid: He said: “Abū ʿAbdillāh said, ‘The (battle of) Badr was in the month of Ramaḍān, and the Messenger of God did not remain in seclusion; so when the next year came, he remained in seclusion for twenty days: ten days for that (current) year and ten as repay-ment of what he had missed (of the last year).’”

Author’s comment: al-Kulaynī has narrated this and the preceding tradition in al-Kāfī.

149. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from al-Ḥalabī, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he said: “When the last ten days came (that is, of the month of Ramaḍān), the Messenger of God used to remain in i‘tikāf (seclusion) in the mosque, and a cupola of hair was erected for him, and he tucked up his apron, and his bed was rolled up.” (Someone added): “and was detached from the women.” (The Imām) said, “As for detachment from the women, No.”

Author’s comment: This theme is narrated in many traditions; the negation of detachment from the women—as they have explained and what the traditions say—means permission of mixing with and living with them, not cohabitation.

150. And among his manners and sunnahs regarding fast, is what is narrated in Man lā yaḥḍuruhu al-faqīh, through his chain from Muḥammad b. Marwān that he said: “I heard Abū ʿAbdillāh saying, ‘The Messenger of God used to fast until it was said, “He would not break the fast,” and used to break the fast until it was said: “He would not fast”; then he fasted one day and broke the fast the next day; then he fasted on Mondays and Thursdays. Then he returned from it to the fast of three days in a month: Thursday at the beginning of the month, Wednesday in the middle of the month, and Thursday at the end of the month; and he used to say: “That is the fast of the life time.”

“‘And my father used to say: “No one is more hated by God than the man who, when it is said to him that the Messenger of God used to do such and such, says: ‘God will not punish me for my striving in prayer and fast’; it is as if he thinks that the Messenger of God had left out some good work being unable to do it.” ‘ “

151. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from Muḥammad b. Muslim, from Abū ʿAbdillāh that the Messenger of God, in the beginning of his prophethood, used to fast (continuously) until it was said: “He will not leave fasting”; and left fasting until it was said: “He will not fast (again)”; then he left this and began fasting one day and breaking the fast the next day (and it is the fast of Prophet David); then he left it and fasted three bright days; then he left it and divided them—one day in every ten days—two Thursdays with a Wednesday in the middle, and he expired and he followed the same.

Author’s comment: There are numerous nearly mutawātir traditions of this theme.

152. Ibid: Narrates through his chain from ‘Anbasah al-‘Ābid that he said: “The Prophet kept up fast on Sha‘bān, Ramaḍān and of three days in every month.
153. al-Nawādir (of Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā): Narrates from ʿAlī b. Nu‘mān, from Zar‘ah, from Sumā‘ah, that he said: “I asked Abū ʿAbdillāh about the fast of Sha‘bān, whether the Messenger of God did fast it. He said, ‘Yes, and he did not fast its whole month.’ I said, ‘How many days he broke the fast?’ He said, ‘He broke it.’

So I repeated (the question) and he repeated it three times, without adding to the word, ‘he broke it’. The next year I asked him the same question, and he replied to me in the same way “

154. Makārim al-Akhlāq: It is narrated from Anas that he said: “The Messenger of God had a drink with which he broke the fast, and another drink for the suḥūr; and often both were the same, and often it was milk, and sometime the drink was a bread liquefied “
155. al-Kāfī: Narrates through his chain from Ibn al-Qaddāḥ, from Abū ʿAbdillāh, that he said: “The first thing with which the Messenger of God broke his fast in the season of fresh ripe dates with those fresh dates, and in the season of dried dates with dried dates.”
156. Ibid: Narrates through his chain from al-Sakūnī, from Jaʿfar, from his father (peace be upon both), that he said: “When the Messenger of God fasted and did not get anything sweet, he broke his fast with water; and it is written in some traditions that sometimes he broke his fast with dried grapes.”
157. al-Muqni‘ah: It is narrated from the progeny of Muḥammad that they said: “It is mustaḥab to take something before the dawn, even a sip of water. And it is narrated that the best of it is date and a mush made of wheat or barley, because the Messenger of God used to take it.”

Author’s comment: And it is among his continued sunnahs. One of the things reserved to him was the fast of wiṣāl, that is, fasting continuously for more than one day without any intervening ifṭār. And he expressly prohibited it to his ummah and said: “Surely you are not strong enough to do it and surely for me there is near my Lord what feeds me and gives drink to me.”

158. Makārim al-Akhlāq: It is narrated about the Prophet that he used to eat harīsah most of the times and used it for suḥūr too.
159. Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: He said: “When the month of Ramaḍān came, the Messenger of God freed every prisoner, and gave to every beggar.”
160. Da‘āimu al-Islām: ʿAlī said, “The Messenger of God used to roll up his bed and became very active during the last ten days of Ramaḍān; and he used to keep his family awake in the twenty-third night, and sprinkled water on the faces of the sleepy ones in the night; and Fāṭimah (peace be upon her) did not let anyone to sleep from her family in that night, and prepared them for it by reducing their meal during the day; and she used to say: ‘Deprived is he who is deprived of its (that is, this night’s) good.’”
161. al-Muqni‘ : It is sunnah that the man should break his fast in al-Aḍḥā after the (‘ īd ) prayer, and in al-Fiṭr before the prayer.
162. And among his manners regarding recitation of the Qur’an and invocation are what is narrated in al-Majālis (of al-Shaykh) through his chain from Abu al-Dunyā, from the Leader of the Faithful that he said, “Nothing prevented the Messenger of God from recitation of the Qur’an except janābah (major ritual impurity).”
163. Majma‘u al-bayān: It is narrated from Umm Salamah that the Prophet used to disconnect his recitation verse to verse.
164. Tafsīr (of Abu al-Futūḥ): “He used not to sleep until he recited al-musabbiḥāt, and he used to say: ‘There is, in these chapters, a verse that is better than a thousand verses.’ They said, ‘And what is al-musabbiḥāt?’ He said, ‘Chapters of “Iron,” “The Mustering,” “The Ranks,” “Congregation” and “Mutual Fraud”’”.

Author’s comment: This meaning has been narrated in Majma‘u al-bayān, from al-‘Irbāṣ b. Sāriyah.

165. Durar al-La’ālī (of Ibn Abī Jamhūr): Narrates from Jābir that he said: “The Prophet used not to sleep until he recited Tabāraka and Alif-Lām-Mmīm al-Tanzīl.”
166. Majma‘u al-bayān: “ ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib has narrated that the Messenger of God loved this chapter: Sabbiḥ isma rabbika al-A‘lā; and the first to say: Subḥāna Rabbiya al-A‘ lā, was Mīkā’īl.”

Author’s comment: The first part of this ḥadīth is narrated in Biḥār al-anwār from al-Durr al-manthūr. There are other traditions about what he used to say at the time of reciting the Qur’an, or reciting (various) chapters, or especial verses. Whoever wants to know it should refer to the relevant books.

There are lectures and statements issued by him in which he awakens the awareness of, and prompts, the people to hold fast to the Qur’an and meditate on it, to be led by its guidance and be illuminated by its light. And he had more right than anyone else to reach, for the perfection he called the people to, and the first and quickest to reach to every good; and, according to the well known narration, he had said: “Turned my hair white the chapter of ‘Hūd’.” And it has been narrated from Ibn Mas‘ūd that he said: “Ordered me the Messenger of God that I should recite for him some parts of the Qur’an; so I recited for him the chapter of Jonah; until when I reached the divine words: and they shall be brought back to Allah, their true Master (), I saw him and he was trembling with tear in his noble eyes.”

These are some small bits from his manners and sunnahs; there are nearly mutawātir traditions, which have been repeatedly narrated in a lot of books of both sects, and Divine Speech supports it and does not refute any of it; and God is the Guide.

Discourse

The discussions “Slavery And Enslavement:”; “A Talk on Punishment And Forgiveness” appear here in the printed volume. Read them in the Al-Mizan App.

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1. The belief that the Christ was a messenger and not a god is now spreading among American Christians these days—and it is 1958 C.E. The scholar H.G. Wells has written in his Short History: This worship rendered by general Christians to the Christ and his mother does not agree with the teachings of the Christ, because he had forbidden, as quoted in the Gospel according to St. Mark, the worship of any one other than the One God. (Vide pp.526 & 539 of the said book.) (Auth.) ↩︎

2. It points to the cloud which the servant had seen rising from the sea. (Auth.) ↩︎

3. We have copied it at length, because a meditating scholar may find in it the type of their ‘logic’ with which they affirm her worship, and he will also see some of their recklessness in religion. (Auth.) ↩︎

4. From here about two pages of Arabic book contain meanings and explanations of the difficult words and phrases of this tradition. We are omitting it here, because our English version has incorporated them fully. (Trans.) ↩︎

5. al-Mīzān (Eng.), vol.7, (Trans.) ↩︎

6. To say: Bismi ‘llāhi al-Raḥmāni al-Raḥīm. ↩︎

7. A sweet pastry made of flour, melted butter and sugar. (Trans.) ↩︎

8. Sabbābah = Index finger. Literally it means, the (finger) used in reviling, rebuking. It was not a good manner to call a finger of the Prophet the reviler/ rebuker. (Trans.) ↩︎

9. Cleansing after discharge of urine and/or relieve of bowel. (Trans.) ↩︎

10. Mudd: A measure of varying quantity in various countries, in fiqh it denotes 3/4 kg. ↩︎

11. Ṣā‘: Nearly 3 kg. ↩︎

12. Short invocations, (pl. of wird). ↩︎

13. Suḥūr: The last meal before dawn (in fasting). (Trans.) ↩︎

14. ch.67 and 32. (Trans.) ↩︎

15. ch.87 (Trans.) ↩︎

16. He points to the Divine Words in it: Continue then in the right way as you are commanded, … () (Auth.) ↩︎

17. The tradition is narrated by its meaning. (Auth.) ↩︎

18. We have taken it from a booklet that we had written earlier on the sunnah of the Prophet (may God’s blessings be upon him and his progeny). (Auth.) ↩︎