| The Scroll of Fatima al-Zahra |
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The Reason of Coming Down of Scroll Hadith
On the third of Shaban (3rd year A.H), a very dear newborn opened his eyes to this world and shed another light in the house of Ali Ibn Abi Talib and Fatima: Imam al-Husain as the forth child of this family was born. The place and statues of this child before God was so high that God endowed the holy Prophet with a divine Scroll to honor him. And the holy Prophet found no one more deserving than Fatima - his daughter – possessing the Scroll; therefore he gave it to her. This Scroll includes significant points in Monotheism, Prophethood, Resurrection (Ma’ad), al-Walaya (guardianship of the Imams), name of the Imams, their characters, the future (end) of the world, and a report about the era of Absence of Imam al-Mahdi the 12th Imam and his Reappearance. *** From this precious document only two manuscripts existed: one, the original, which was in the hands of the holy Prophet and was passed down from one Imam to the next and the other a copy, written by Jabir ibn Abdullah Ansari, and kept with him for safekeeping. When Jabir went to Hazrat Zahra’s house to offer his congratulations on the birth of Imam al-Husain, Jabir was shown the Scroll by Hazrat Zahra and was allowed by her to make a copy from it. Jabir, an elderly companion of the Prophet, lived more than 100 years and was alive until the Imamat of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (the 5th Imam). The 6th Imam - Ja’far al-Sadiq- said: “one day, my father - Imam al-Baqir - said to Jabir: “I have something to tell you, whenever you have time, let me know.” So a time was set. Imam al-Baqir said: “Tell me about the Scroll you saw with my mother, Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet, and the words she told you about that Scroll and its contents.” Jabir said: “By God, a day in the time of the Prophet I came to your mother, Fatima to offer my congratulations on the birth of Imam al-Husain. In front of her, I saw a green Scroll which seemed to be made of emerald with white writings on it (shining) like the sun. I said: “O’ the daughter of the Prophet, what is this scroll?” she said: “This is a scroll from God, given to the Prophet as a gift and in it are the names of my father (Muhammad), my husband (Ali), my two sons (Imam al-Hasan and Imam al-Husain) and the names of the prophet’s successors which are my descendants. My father (the Prophet) gave this Scroll to me as glad tidings”. Jabir continued: “Your mother Fatima gave that Scroll to me, and I read it and made a manuscript from it.” Imam al-Baqir told Jabir: “Will you show me that Scroll?” Jabir replied: “Of course, you have more authority over it than I do”. Imam al-Baqir came to Jabir’s house and Jabir brought a manuscript. Imam al-Baqir said: O’ Jabir! Look at your manuscript while I read from it (from the original one to compare them) Jabir looked at his manuscript and my father started reading. Not a vowel differed between them. *** Imam al-Sadiq said this story to one of his special accompanies, Abu Basir. Abu Basir told it to Abd al-Rahman Ibn Salim. And gradually, the content of this Scroll was quoted to others and now it is recognized as “The Scroll of Jabir”, or “The scroll of Fatima al-Zahra”. This holy document has been quoted in several authentic Islamic books. We have cited it from the book “al-Kafi” written by the great Shia scholar, Muhammad Ibn Yaqub al-Kolaini (d:329 Hejri) to show in the eleventh century after his passing, one of many, of the Ahl al-Bait precious relics preserved in his book.
In The Name of Allah,The Compassionate, The Merciful,This is a Script from Allah the Wise and Supreme to Muhammad, His Prophet, His Light, His Messenger, His (illuminated) Veil and the Guide towards Him, sent by Gabriel from the Lord of the world.O Muhammad! Glorify My names (signs) and be grateful for the blessings which I have given to thee and do not deny them.[i] Verily, there is no one to be worshipped other than Me, who am the Destroyer of the tyrants. He who has hopes in graces other than mine and fears other than my justice, will be punished by Me in a way that I have not punished anyone in the world before that.[ii] Therefore worship only Me and depend only on Me.[iii] I have raised up no prophet, which completed his life and ended his time, except that I have appointed a caliph (successor) to him.[iv] O Prophet! I have made thee superior over all prophets and predestined thy successor, (Ali) over all successors and glorified thee through two of your lion-like offspring, your daughter’s two sons, al-Hasan and Husain.[v] Then I made al-Hasan the reserve of My knowledge after his father's days came to an end.[vi] Then I made Husain the treasurer of my revelation, and glorified him with martyrdom and finalized his ending with bliss. He is the greatest man who accepted martyrdom and attained the highest position among martyrs. I made other executors of the will of the Prophet his companion and put My ultimate proof in him, and it is through his sons that I give reward and inflict punishment.[vii] The first among them is Ali, who is the lord of the pious worshippers and the ornament of My old appointees.[viii] His son is Muhammad who is as praiseworthy as his grandfather. He is the splitter of knowledge and the treasure chest of My wisdom.[ix] Those who are skeptical of Ja'far's position will soon perish. He who disowns him will have disowned Me. My justified and immortal words about him are that I will glorify him and make him happy by favouing his followers and friends.[x] After him will come the turn for (the imamat of) Musa during which a blinding, dark insurrection will prevail. But in order that the continuation of my obeying may not be interrupted and My proof may not remain hidden, My friends and trustees will be made to drink from a cup brimming over with his mission.[xi] He who denies one of them [leaders] has denied My favour and he who alters a single verse of My Book has verily accused Me of lying.[xii] After the time of My servant and chosen friend Musa, comes to an end the Fire will be an abode for those who deny and make false accusations against his son, Ali, who is My beloved and assistant. He is the one on whose shoulders I shall put the heavy loads of apostleship and test him in this mission on the basis of his admirable persistence. At last, an unbridled ogre will kill him. He will be buried in a city built by My good servant beside the worst creature.[xiii] My righteous words are that I shall make him blissful by Muhammad, who is his descendant, successor and inheritor of his knowledge and who is the treasure of My knowledge, the abode of My secret(s) and a proof to My creatures. No servant will believe in him, except the one whom I will send to heaven and whose intercession for seventy of his family and relatives, condemned to Hell, has been accepted by Me.[xiv] Then lastly, I shall bring happiness to his son, Ali, My beloved and assistant, who is My proof among My creatures and trust worthy of My revelation[xv] and out of him I shall create, Hasan who will invite people to My path and serve as the treasurer of My knowledge.[xvi] Then I shall complete this pedigree by his son, al-Mahdi, who is a blessing for the world, and who has the dignity of Moses combined with the sacred luminosity of Jesus and Jacob’s patience.[xvii] During his period (of Absence), My friends will be humbled and their heads will be sent as offerings, like those of Turks and Deilamides.[xviii] They will be killed, burnt and trembling with fear. The earth will be stained red with their blood, and their women’s groan and moan will increasingly grow.[xix] It is by these “Proofs”, who are My righteous appointed leaders, that I shall suppress every obscure and blinding insurrection, remove shocks and hardships, purge grave sins and remove fetters and bondages from the hands and feet of the captive human beings.[xx] Upon them will be their Lords greetings and blessings, and they are the guided ones.[xxi]
NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS[i] God’s command to His Prophet to worship Him is a kind of teaching to people to avoid unthankfulness. [ii] God, in this world, demolishes tyrants and gives power to suppressed and innocent people. In the other world, also, he is the Arbiter, the Lord, and the Ruler and takes the rights of suppressed ones from oppressors. [iii] In Islam it is believed that, God The Almighty, created human beings while they were nothing before His creation. The essence of giving life to mankind is His Kindness. Likewise, it is the case regarding other blessings. God never owes man: The giving of these blessings or continuance of them is very kindness of God, and if He stops, it can not be regarded as a cruelty of Him. [iv] Like the previous, it means: worship and trust is only suitable for the compassionate, and All-Wise God. [v] First part of this saying introduces “a stable and fix divine Regulation”. “ This stable and fix Regulation” clears for us in order the divine guidance to be continued, the successor of the Prophet should be chosen by God as it was the case in appointing the Prophets: all prophets were chosen by God. The reason is that all the prophets had limited life span, but their missions was not time bound, and should be continued after their death. To this end, God chose some persons as their successor. The presence of successors are very important to obviate incompatibilities occurred in interpretation of the Prophets’ words. In the next part of the saying, we read that Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, as the successor of the last holy prophet, has the priority over other prophets’ successors; likewise the priority of Muhammad over the other prophets. [vi] God has chosen Imam Hasan al-Mojtaba as His mine of science and knowledge. So it is incumbent on people to seek heavenly science from its mine. And if not referring to it, they can not find the sound and true heavenly knowledge. In that case, they are only satisfied of the shaky and tentative hypothesis, which will never find the authenticity of Imam’s knowledge. [vii] Predicting the martyrdom of Imam al-Husain is a proof, which authenticated the divine source of this document. For no human being can tell about a child’s destiny in his/her first day of birth. In the following sentences, the priority of Imam al-Husain over the other martyrs of way of guidance has been said, for the martyrdom of that great and oppressed Imam was negating all plots and distortions of the opponents of holy religion. [viii] The description of Imam al-Sajjad as “the ornament of My old appointees” shows the continuation of guidance way from previous nations to Islam’s nation. [ix] God praises Imam Muhammad al-Baqir as “His splitter of knowledge” and “His treasure chest of Wisdom”. Regardless of the difference of science with wisdom, Imam al-Baqir is the possessor of both. [x] Imam al-Sadiq in the golden opportunity which he found, took the advantage of it to propagate the true teachings of Ahl al-Bait. In this way, he revitalized the true traditions of Prophet and his life style after all the distortions which were happened- to the point that the Shia is known by Imam al-Sadiq. [xi] The seditions happened in the time of Imam Musa Al-Kadhim were numerous: - The various imprisonments in time of Haroon Al Rashid, which made the connection of people and Imam difficult. - The flood of thoughts in opposition with religion in the form of translation, Quran’s interpretation and Prophet’s traditions. This stream was supported by Abbasidds’ Khalifs. - And also after the martyrdom of Imam Al-Kadhim, a group gathered called “Vaghefe” who wrongly knew him as the last Imam. Meanwhile, true Shias had to struggle with all these seditions solely. So God named the sedition of his time as “dark insurrection”. “The continuation of my obeying may not be interrupted” in the following of the saying is a kind of prediction of the sedition of a deviated group named “Vaghefe”; these predictions in God’s Words is a kind of miracle. [xii] Denying each one of infallible Imams is like denying all Imams. [xiii] “the one on whose shoulders I shall put the heavy loads of apostleship”; by this words God refers to Imam al-Ridha: maybe the reason of using these words for Imam al-Ridha is out of his attempts reviving Islam after the deadly harm of some groups like “Vaghefe”, “Unfaithfuls” and the “scholars of other schools”. In this saying, there are some hints on his martyrdom and place of his shrine already 200 years before his martyrdom which gives more credit to the scroll:
According to Allame Majlesi in his commentary on the book al-kafi called “Merat al-oqool”, says this ogre is Ma’mun, the worst creature is Haroon al-Rashid his father and the good servant is most probably zulgharnain. [xiv] Imamat of Imam Muhammad Jawad was a turning point in Imamat history; this Imam was the first Imam whose Imamat started since his childhood- around his ten-years-old. Some people called it to question and in its answer he read the verses of Jesus prophethood and …. (The holy Quran 12,30) [xv] Probably these sentences referred to the surrounding of Imam Ali al- Naghi and Imam Hasan al-Askari in the martial area of Samerra. According to this, the tyrants who surrounded the “trust worthy of God’s revelation” and “the, but put unsuitable ones in their place of teaching religion, should be ready to be responsive to their wrong deeds and injustice. While upon facing difficulties, these tyrants implored the ones whom they surrounded and bothered for help and guidance. treasurer of God’s knowledge” [xvi] See endnote 16 [xvii] A. In the original manuscript the word “al-Mahdi” has not been used, rather his real name which is the same as the name of the prophet has been mentioned. B. The description of Imam al-Mahdi to be “a blessing for the world” is an answer to all those who know Imam al-Mahdi as the sign of cruelty and harshness. The truth is that, he is very kind to people and through various ways leading them to the truth. Considering his main mission which is establishing the just universal government, he will topple and perish the few tyrants who do not accept the justice as an inevitable part to reach his goal. [xviii] Turks and Deilamids were the non-Muslim groups of that time. In their war with Muslims, when they lost the war, a score of inhumane people, cut their heads and gave their heads as gifts; this act was never compatible with teachings of holy Prophet. This act mentioned here just to be a metaphor to picture that in some years of the Absence of Imam al-Mahdi, the work will be hardened on the truth seekers to the extent that they will be attacked and killed like the aforementioned group. And this sentence of Hadith has no connection with the current tribe of Turks and Deilamids. [xix] Needless to say that when the power is at the hands of tyrants, the justice seeker and truth seekers will live in the fear and insecurity. [xx] God states the value and greatness of those who live in such a dark time but remain loyal to their holy-human treaty: they are called “righteous appointed leaders” and God knows them as the blessing of the world for whose presence the problems and difficulties of this world are solved. [xxi] God’s blessings and benedictions be on them, whom accepted God’s Guidance willingly, even there were difficulties in this way.
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