Al Nisā’

فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جِئْنَا مِن كُلِّ أمَّةٍ بِشَهِيدٍ وَجِئْنَا بِكَ عَلَى هَـؤُلاء شَهِيدًا

41. "How will it be, then, when We bring from every people a witness and We bring you a witness over those (witnesses)?"

The content of this verse, which refers to the Messenger of Allah, as a witness over the Ummah, has also occurred in some other verses of the Qur'an (such as: Surah Al-Baqarah, No.2, verse 143, Surah An-Nahl, No.16, verse 89, and Surah Al-Hajj, No.22, verse 78). Whenever Ibn-Mas'ud recited this verse to the Prophet (S), the tears of the Messenger of Allah (S) would shed. (Narrated from Sahih-i-Bukhari, Tarmathi, and Nisa'i in Tafsir-ul-Kabir by Fakhr-i-Razi and Tafsir-i-Maraqi)

Allah does not need, of course, to bring any witnesses, but human beings are in a condition that the more they feel the presence of witnesses, the more effective it is for strengthening their training and their piety. As the verses of the Qur'an indicate, there are many sorts of witnesses in the Hereafter; among them are:

Allah:

the prophets: the above verse, ⁴ the immaculate Imams:

the angels:

the earth:

the time: A tradition says that: every day the time addresses man by saying:

and the limbs of the body:

And, again, we should be aware that the day of Resurrection is the Day on which the witnesses will stand forth:

Explanations

1. Prophets are some examples for people in the world and the witnesses over them in the Hereafter.

2. It is Allah's way of treatment that the prophet of every nation be a witness over that nation. After the departure of the Prophet (S) there should be someone with the same qualities of the Prophet (S) (the immaculate Imams) to be witness over people. Imam Sadiq (as) in a tradition said:

"In any Age an Imam from us, Ahlul-Bayt, is a witness over people, and the Messenger of Allah is a witness over us" ¹¹