The Imam’s Cognisance that the Ordinance would Ultimately be Transferred to Him After the Death of his Predecessor

Al-Imāma wa’l-Tabṣira min al-Ḥayra|Volume 1|Book 2|Chapter 19

Al-Imāma wa’l-Tabṣira min al-Ḥayra

Book 2, Chapter 19

The Imam’s Cognisance that the Ordinance would Ultimately be Transferred to Him After the Death of his Predecessor

Hadith #3

محمّد بن موسى، عن محمّد بن قتيبة، عن مؤدّب كان لأبي جعفر عليه السلام، أنّه قال: كان بين يديّ يوماً يقرأ في اللوح، إذ رمى اللوح من يده، وقام فزعاً، وهو يقول: إنّا لله وإنّا إليه راجعون، مضى—والله—أبي عليه السلام. فقلت: من أين علمت؟ قال: دخلني من إجلال الله وعظمته شيء لم أعهده. فقلت: وقد مضى؟! فقال: دَعْ عنك ذا، إئذن لي أنْ أَدخل البيت وأَخرج اليك، واستعرضني أيّش القرآن شئت، أَفِ لك بحفظه. فدخل البيت، فقمت، ودخلت في طلبه، إشفاقاً منّي عليه، فسألت عنه، فقيل: دخل هذا البيت وردّ الباب دونه، وقال: لا تؤذنوا عليّ أحداً حتى أخرج اليكم. فخرج مغبرّاً، وهو يقول: إنّا لله وإنّا إليه راجعون، مضى—والله—أبي. فقلت: جعلت فداك، وقد مضى؟ فقال: نعم ووليت غسله وتكفينه، وما كان ذلك لِيَلي منه غيري. ثمّ قال لي: دَعْ عنك هذا، استعرضني أيّ القرآن شئت، أَفِ لك بحفظه. فقلت: الأعراف. فاستعاذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم، ثمّ قرأ بِسْمِ الله الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحبم: ﴿وَإِذْ نَتَقْنَا ٱلْجَبَلَ فَوْقَهُمْ كَأَنَّهُۥ ظُلَّةٌۭ وَظَنُّوٓا۟ أَنَّهُۥ وَاقِعٌۢ بِهِمْ﴾‬. فقلت: « آلمص ». فقال: هذا أوّل السورة، وهذا ناسخ، وهذا منسوخ، وهذا محكم، وهذا متشابه، وهذا خاصّ، وهذا عامّ، وهذا غلط به الكتّاب، وهذا ما اشتبه على الناس.

Muḥammad b. Mūsā, from Muḥammad b. Qutayba, from a tutor who had been employed for Abī Jaʿfar.[1] The tutor narrated: “One day, he was in front of me, reading from the tablet,[2] whereupon he threw the tablet from his hand and stood up in a panic, saying: “Indeed, to Allāh we belong and to Him we shall return. By Allāh, my father has died.” I said to him: “Where did you come by this knowledge?,” to which he replied: “Something of Allāh’s sublimity and exaltation came upon me which I have not previously experienced.” I asked: “Has he died?,” so he said: “Leave this aside, and permit me to enter the house and then come out to you, so that you may test me with something of the Qurʾān as you see fit, and I will prove to you that I have it committed to memory.” So, he entered the house, and then I got up and set about looking for him, out of concern. I asked around, so they said: “He has entered this house and closed the door behind him, saying: “Do not admit anyone in to see me, until I come out to you.” He then came out (of the house) covered in dust, saying: “Indeed, to Allāh we belong and to Him we shall return. By Allāh, my father has died.” I said: “May I be your sacrifice, has he truly died?,” to which he replied: “Yes, and I took charge of washing his body and shrouding it, and it was not for anyone to take charge of that but me.” Then, he said: “Leave this aside. (I bid you) test me with something of the Qurʾān as you see fit, and I will prove to you that I have it committed to memory.” I said: “Al-Aʿrāf.” So, he sought refuge, firstly, in Allāh from the expelled Shayṭān, and then recited: “In the name of Allāh, the Entirely and Innately Merciful. ﴾When We plucked the mountain [and held it] above them as if it were a canopy (and they thought it was about to fall on them)﴿ [7:171].” I said: “﴾Alif, Lam, Mim, Suad﴿ [7:1].” He said: “This is the first (verse) of the chapter—and this is abrogating. And this is abrogated. This is decisive, and this is ambiguous, this is specific, and this is general, this is an error made by the scribes, and this is what has confounded people.”[3]

[1] This is Abū Jaʿfar al-Thānī (Imam al-Jawād صلوات الله عليه), because Muḥammad b. Qutayba is most likely the father of ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. Qutayba al-Nīsābūrī, a pupil of the famous al-Faḍl b. Shādhān...a companion of Imams al-Hādī and al-ʿAskarī, and because Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir was in Medina with his father, Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn صلوات الله عليهم, when the latter was martyred via poison. This Abī Jaʿfar’s reaction to his father’s death and his explanation of how he came to know about it suggests much more strongly that he would not have known about his father’s murder in distant Khorasan if not for Divine inspiration.
Author: Haseeb Hassan
[2] This would be an ordinary wooden tablet used to help teach reading to children, and most definitely not the Tablet referred to in Ḥadīth al-Lawḥ in the Addendum, given the context. After all, why would a tutor whose name is not even recorded be made privy to such an exalted Divine sign?
Author: Haseeb Hassan
[3] After Imam al-Jawād صلوات الله عليه says “This is the first (verse) of the chapter” is an abrupt forward progression through all that he explains of the Qurʾān, which I have attempted to clarify by italicising some of the instances of the word “this.”
Author: Haseeb Hassan