THE HOLY QURAN – PART 15

IMAM ‘ALI BIN ABI TALIB (A.S.) & THE HOLY QURAN-(SECTION 1)

RECITATION OF THE HOLY QURAN AFTER BIRTH:

Ibn Shahr Aashoob in his book ‘Manaqib Aali Abi Talib’ has written that Hasan bin Mahboob has reported from Imam Ja’ffar ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq (a.s.):

[Three days after his birth, when ‘Ali, as an infant, was brought out by his beloved mother Fatimah bint Asad from the Holy Ka’bah where he was born, he (a.s.) first saluted his father saying:

“Peace be on you O’ father! And may the mercy of Allah and His blessings be upon you”.

Thereafter, he recited:

“In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Certainly the faithful have attained salvation”. (23:1)

The Holy Prophet (saww) thereupon said, holding the infant in his arms, “Indeed people will attain salvation through you. By Allah! You are their Ameer (leader)…..They will learn through your knowledge….By Allah! You are their Guide…..And by Allah! Through you only the people shall be guided”.]

‘ALI (A.S.) – INSEPARABLE FROM THE HOLY QURAN:

Abu Sa’eed Tamimi has reported that he heard the Holy Prophet (saww) say on his deathbed in presence of his companions:

“O People! Soon my spirit shall depart from my body…and it will become free. I wish to inform you about something….Know that I leave among you the Book of Allah and my progeny –the Ahlul-Bayt…”.

Then He (saww) held the hand of ‘Ali (a.s.) and said,

“’Ali is with Quran and Quran is with ‘Ali. These two are successors after me who will not be separated from each other till they meet up with me by the fountain. Thus I will ask them both about how you dealt with them in life”. (Quran-o-‘Itrat / Aamaali of Shaykh Toosi)

‘ALI (A.S.) – ENCOURAGING RECITATION OF THE HOLY QURAN:

Imam ‘Ali (a.s.) used to encourage his companions to recite and give importance to the knowledge of the Holy Quran.

Ghalib bin Sa’sa’a’ once came to visit Imam ‘Ali (a.s.) along with his son. Imam (a.s.) asked him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am Ghalib son of Sa’sa’a”. Imam (a.s.) then inquired, “Are you the same person who owns many camels?” Ghalib replied, “Yes”. “What have you done with your camels?” asked the Imam (a.s.). Ghalib notified the Imam (a.s.) that he had slaughtered the camels and fed their meat to the people. Imam (a.s.) was happy and said, “This was the best way to make use of them”.

The Imam (a.s.) then inquired as to who the young man with him was, to which, Ghalib proudly replied, “He is my son and he is a (great) poet”.

Thereupon, the Imam (a.s.) said, “Teach him Quran for this will be better from him then reciting composing and reciting poems”.

The young man was Farazdaq and the words of Imam ‘Ali (a.s.) had such an impact on his heart that he took an oath not to come out of the house until he had memorised the Holy Quran. And indeed he honoured his oath.

                                                (Sharh Nahjul-Balaghah of Ibn Abil-Hadeed)

                                                 To be continued……………………………

Mulla Mujahidali Sheriff