2.Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) has said, "I warn you against two tendencies that have caused destruction to people. Beware of announcing your judgment on the basis of your opinion before the people. And beware of treating anything as permissible without due knowledge."
3.Imam Mohammed Baqir (AS) has said, "One who pronounces his verdict (on religious matters) before people without due knowledge and proper guidance is cursed by the angels of mercy as well as by the angels of chastisement and he also bears the burden of the sin of those people who act according to that verdict."
4.Imam Mohammed Baqir (AS) has said, "Say only what you know and regarding what you do not know say, `Allah knows best.' Verily a person may single out any verse from the Holy Quran (and interpret it wrongly) and may fall down deeper than the distance between the heaven and the earth."
5.Imam Mohammed Baqir (AS) was asked, "What is the
right of Allah over His servants?" He replied, "They should say
(only) what they know and maintain silence in case they
2.Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) is reported to have said, "Allah
does not approve the action of any one withuot his insight and mere insight
means nothing without action. One who knows his insight leads him towards
proper action and if he does not act then his insight means nothing. Lo, the
conviction of one interacts with the conviction of the other."
2. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq A.S. has said, "Knowledge is annexed with action. One who knows acts on it, and one who acts possesses knowledge. Knowledge invites towards action. If the call is accepted, the knowledge stays, and if it is rejected knowledge takes its leave."
3. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq A.S. has said, "If a learned man does not act according to his knowledge, his sermons and preachings slip away from the hearts of the listeners like the rain water slips away from a sloping smooth stone."
4. A man approached Imam Zainul Abideen A.S. and asked certain questions. The Imam answered every question. The man came again and asked similar questions. The Imam hten said, "It is written in the Injeel (the Holy Bible): `Do not seek knowledge of what you do not know until you have acted on what you have already learnt, because the knowledge which is not put into practic only enhances the disbelief of the knower and his remoteness from Allah."
5. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq A.S. was asked, "How can one
who is destined for salvation be recognized?" The Imam replied, "One
whose deeds are in accordance with his words. If so, the evidence of his salvation
is genuine. And in case his actions are not in agreement with his words, then
his knowledge is just a worthless repository."
Chapter 14
Making knowledge a means of Livelyhood
1. The Prophet of Allah S.A. has said, "The cravings of two kinds of
people can never be satiated. The seeker of worldly gains and the seeker of
knowledge. One who limits his worldly gains within what Allah has permitted
finds peace. And one who achieved the worldly pleasure by forbidden means
meets his doom execept when he repents and turns away from this evil. One
who acquires knowledge from one worthy of it and matches his deeds with it,
secures his salvation. One who intends to gain worldly pleasures only, then
this will be his only share."
2. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq A.S. has said, "One who acquires the knowledge of 'hadith' (research, examination, compilation, and scrutiny of the chain of narrators of the sayings of the Prophet of Allah and his vicegerents with a view to assess the authenticity and credibility of the sayings, generally called 'traditions') to earn worldly gains will have no share in the Hereafter and he who aims the good of the Hereafter will be rewarded by Allah with the good things of this life as well as of the Hereafter."
4. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq A.S. has said, "If you see any learned man in love with this world, charge him (with hostility) against your religion, because all lovers are obsessed with the things they love. Allah revealed to Hazrat Dawood A.S. (the Prophet David): `Do not let any learned man who is crazy after this world intervene between Me and you because he will become a hurdle in the way of your love for Me. Such people are highway robbers for My servants seeking My pleasure. The minimum punishment for them is that I deprive their hearts of their ecstacy of their communion with Me.'"
5. The Prophet of Allah S.A. has said, "The religious scholars are the trustees of the prophets so long as they do not become lovers of this world." On being requested, the Prophet S.A. explained saying, "Surrendering to the authorities. If they do so, safeguard your religion from them."
6. Imam Mohammed Baqir A.S. has said, "He who acquires
knowledge to boast about it among other learned men or to wrangle about it
with the rustics or to attract the attention of the people towards him (to
gain popularity and respect) his innards will be filled with fire. Verily,
leadership is fit only for those who really deserve it."
Chapter 15
Accountability of the Religious Scholars and its Severity
1. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq A.S. has said, "Seventy sins of an ignorant man
will be forgiven before on singel sin of a learned man (is forgiven)."
2. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq A.S. has said, "Hazrat Eesa A.S. said:`Woe be unto the wrong-doing scholar! How severely the flames of Hell will envelop him.'"
3. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq A.S., pointing out with his hand towards his throat has said, "When the last breath reaches here, then the time for the repentance of the learned men will be over." Then the Imam quoted the verse 4:17 which says: "Verily Allah would accept the repentance of those who commit wrong deeds in ignorance and then are quick to repent."
4. Commenting on the verse 26:94, Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq
A.S. said, "There are the people who praised equity and justice with
mere words and then acted against it." The said verse runs as follows:
"Then they will all be thrown headlong therein (Hell) along with their
followers who went astray."
3. The Prophet of Allah S.A. has said, "The ablest adviser for the faith is knowledge and the noblest adviser of knowledge is forbearance and the best adviser of forbearance is kindness and the most competent adviser if kindness is patience."
4. A man came to the Prophet of Allah S.A. and asked, "O Prophet of Allah, what is knowledge?" The Prophet replied, "Silence (refraining from unnecessary gossip)". The man asked, "Then what?" He replied, "To listen (to the learned)." Again he asked, "Then what?" The Prophet said, "To memorize (what he had heard)." The man asked, "Then what?" The Prophet said, "Act on it." Once again the man asked, "Then what?" The Prophet replied, "To disseminate it."
9. Imam Mohammed Baqir A.S. has said, "In a doubtful case, it is better to wait and think than to take any fatal decision. It is better to abandon a tradition which in your opinion is not correctly reproduced than to continue its reproduction without verification."
10. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq A.S. has said, "Regarding what you do not know out of what has come down to you, you have but to keep silent. Refer the same for confirmation to the divinely guided Imams so that they may lead you to the correct interpretation. They will also illuminate for you its obscurity and make you aware of the truth." Then the Imam quoted the verse 16:43 which says: "Ask the people of understanding in case you do not know."
11. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq A.S. has said, "I find the knowledge of all men divided into four categories: firstly, realization of your Lord, Secondly, to acknowledge all His favors to you, thirdly, to understand your obligation towards Him, and fourthly, to know what expels you from the folds of your religion."
13. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq A.S. has said, "Assess the
status of the people on the basis of the frequency of their quoting us."
3. The Prophet of Allah(SAW) has said, "One who came to an innovator and glorified him, virtually tried to demolish (the edifice of) Islam."
7. Hazrat Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) is reported to have said, "People who believe in speculations search for knowledge on the basis of speculations and surmises. These speculations and surmises only take them further away from the truth. The Religion of Allah has no connection with surmises."
8. Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) and Mohammed Baqir (AS) have said, "All innovations are misguidances and the way of all misguidances lead to hell-fire."
10. Imam Moosa Kazim (AS) was asked, "On what basis should I believe in the Oneness of Allah?" The Imam replied, "Do not enter into the folds of innovators. One who acts on the basis of his guesswork perishes, and one who turns away from the progeny of the Prophet of Allah goes astray, and one who turns away from the Book of Allah and the sayings of the Prophet of Allah (SAW) becomes an infidel."
11. Abu Baseer sought the advice of Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) saying, "Occasionally we come across some problems, the solution of which is available neither in the Book of Allah nor in traditions (sayings of the Prophet and Imams). In such cases can we deduce the solution ourselves?" The Imam said, "Never do that. If your conclusion happens to be right you will not be rewarded and if it is wrong then you have falsified Allah, the Mighty, the Glorious."
12. The Prophet of Allah (SAW) has said, "Every innovation is a misguidance and every misguidance leads to hell-fire."
15. Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) has said, "Sunnat cannot be guessed. Do you not see that women have to compensate their fasts (missed during the period of their menstruation) after the month of Ramadan, but they do not have to compensate their daily prayers (missed during the period) after the period is over? If sunnat is based on guesswork, religion will be annihilated."
16. Imam Moosa Kazim (AS) was asked about speculations (drawing conclusions on the basis of appearances and analogies). The Imam (AS) replied, "What have you to do with speculation? Allah cannot be questioned as to why He has permitted certain things and prohibited others."
17. Hazrat Ali (AS) has said, "One who has based his mind on conjectures will always remain in ambiguity and one who basis religion of Allah on his guesswork will always remain in doubts." Imam Baqir (AS) also says, "One who announces his verdicts before people on the basis of his own opinion, innovates in the religion of Allah what he does not know. And one who innovates the religion of Allah, contradicts (and defies) Allah in what Allah has declared permissible and pronounced forbidden."
18. Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) has said, "Satan assessed the rank of Adam at the level of his own creation and said, `(O Allah!), You have created me from fire and created Adam from clay.' If he would have assessed on the basis of the essence from which Adam was created, he would have found that the essence of Adam far excelled in brilliance and radiance than that of Satan."
19. Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) has said, "Whatever Mohammad (SAW) has declared as permissible will remain permissible till the Day of Judgement and whatever Mohammed (SAW) has declared forbidden will remain forbidden until the Day of Judgement. This will neither change nor anyone will bring any change in anything in it." Also Hazrat Ali (AS) has said, "No one introduced an innovation without forsaking the ways of the Prophet (SAW)."
20. Abu Hanifa (an Islamic jurist and the Imam of the Hanafi sect) came to see Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS). The Imam asked him, "Abu Hanifa, I gather that you deduct (religious matters) on the basis of analogies?" He replied in the affirmative. The Imam advised him, "Never do that. The first one who did that was Iblees (Satan), when he said, `O Allah, you have created me from fire and Adam from clay.' He compared fire will clay on the basis of guesswork. If he had compared the elegance and quintessence of Adam with the elegance and quintessence of the fire, he would have realized which is superior to which."
21. A man put a question to Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) which he answered. The man said, "Had this matter been such and such what would your answer have been?" The Imam (AS) said, "Hold it! Whatever answer I give is of and from the Prophet himself. Your opinion is unknown to us in any manner whatsoever."
22. Imam Mohammed Baqir (AS) has said, "Have no confidant
except Allah, otherwise you will no longer remain a believer. All bonds due
to any reason, merits of inheritance, kinships, confidences, innovations and
ambiguities will fade out save those established by the Quran."
Chapter 20
Refer to the Holy Book or the Prophet for Every Problem
1. Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) has said, "Verily, Allah, the Glorious,
the Elevated, has revealed the quintessence of everything in the Quran and
by Allah! He has not omitted anything which His servants may need to the extent
that no one can say, `Would that it had been revealed in the Quran, because
that has already been revealed."
4. Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) has said, "There is nothing that has not been mentioned in the Book or in `Sunnat' (the ways of the Holy Prophet (SAW).
6. Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) has said, "There is not a single difference of opinion between two persons whose solution is not given in the Book of Allah, the Mighty, the Glorious. But their intelligence does not fathom its depth."
7. Hazrat Ali (AS) has said, "O people, verily Allah, the Glorious, the Elevated, raised His Prophet (SAW) for you and sent down His Book with true guidance while you were unaware of the Book and the One Who revealed it... So, this is the Quran. Ask it whatever you have to ask. It will, however, never speak to you. I shall inform you about it. It contains the knowledge of everything that has passed and also that which is going to happen till the Day of Judgement and is the final word on all matters between you and the solution of all your differences, and if you ask me about it, certainly I shall inform you (about each and everything)."
8. Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) has said, "I am the descendant of the Prophet of Allah. I most thoroughly know the Book of Allah. In it is mentioned the beginning of the Creation and also whatever is going to happen till the Day of Judgement. It contains all information about the heaven and the earth, Paradise and Hell, and the news of all that has happened and that is going to happen. I know all that as if I am looking at the palm of my hand. Allah, (in 16:89) says: "And We have revealed the Book to you explaining everything clearly."
10. Imam Moosa Kazim (AS) was asked, "Is everything
included in the Book of Allah and `Sunnat'?" The Imam (AS) replied, "Yes,
everything is included in the Book and the Sunnat."
1. Hazrat Ali (AS) has said, "Not a single verse of the Holy Quran was revealed to the Prophet of Allah (SAW) which the Prophet did not recite to me and dictated to me and which I did not write with my own hands."
7. Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) was asked about a man who receives two contradictory versions of a tradition, one of them commands him to do something and the other forbids him and both the narrators belong to his community, in such a case what should that man do? The Imam replied to hte effect that he should wait till he is able to verify from a reliable person. The Imam further explained that in such cases it is permissible for him to postpone action till he finds out the truth.
10. A man asked Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) saying, "Two
persons belonging to our people quarreling about debt or inheritance, refer
their dispute to the ruler of the time or the appointed judge. Will this be
lawful for them?" The Imam replied, "Whoever had his dispute settled
by the ruler or his judge, whether right or wrong, has in fact got his dispute
settled by the `Taghut'. And the gains out of that decisions will be ill-gotten
for him, however lawful his ownership may be. The reason is that he has secured
the ownership through the `Taghut' while Allah has enjoined people to rejet
him. Allah, the Almighty, the Sublime, has said, `They intend to resort to
the judgement of Taghut though they were commanded to reject him.' (4:60)"
The man asked, "Then what should they do?" The Imam replied, "They
should refer to one among you who is well versed in our traditions, and who
has a deep insight in imperatives, prohibitions and divine commands communicated
by us. Since I have appointed him as our judge, they must accept him as their
arbitrator. If such a person issues a verdict according to our commands and
the person concerned does not accept it, then the person has actually lightened
the divine commands and has rejected us. And he who rejects us actually rejects
Allah, the Almighty, and such a person has entered the border of polytheism..."
3. Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) has said, "Cross check everything with the Book of Allah and Sunnat. Every tradition which is not in agreement with the Book of Allah is nothing but forgery."
5. The Prophet of Allah (SAW) has said, "O people, whatever sayings attributed to me you come across are mine if they are consistent with the Book of Allah, but if they are inconsistent, I have not said them."
6. Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq (AS) is reported to have said, "One who opposes the Book of Allah or the traditions established by Mohammad (SAWW> becomes an infidel."
9. The Prophet of Allah (SAW) has said, "Words have no value unless acted upon, and words and deeds combined have no value without resolution, and all three combined have no value if they are not consistent with the traditions."
12. Hazrat Ali (AS) has said, "There are two kinds of Sunnats. The compulsory ones, acting on them is guidance and ignoring them is like turning away from the right path. And those which are voluntary, acting on them is excellence (and attracts divine rewards) but there is no sin in ignoring them."