(237) Similar to this is what was related from our lord Jabir ibn Yazid al-Ju'fi—peace be upon him—who said: I was with our Master al-Sadiq—exalted be his glory—as he entered the mosque in Medina. He passed a man reciting: {For the ilaf of Quraysh}. My Master said: "O Jabir, this is the very essence of clear disbelief and vain speech for which the speaker deserves the Fire."¹

(238) From my sheikh—may God be pleased with him—it is related that a man came to Amir Almuminin—exalted be his glory—and said: "O Amir Almuminin, are you the one who says 'I did, I made, I am the Powerful, and through my knowledge Oneness is validated; I raised its heaven and spread its earth, and I am God, Lord of the worlds'?" He replied: "I am the speaker of that, I am its actor, and to me it returns." The man said: "O our Master, Lord Muhammad manifested prayer, zakat, fasting, hajj, and jihad, and you say 'I am the servant of God and the brother of His Messenger'!" He replied: "Yes." The man asked: "How can that be? And how can the people of turbidity be saved from what they saw you doing?" My Master—exalted be his glory—said: "Not everything said regarding me is binding upon me, nor is everything narrated of me mandatory for me, nor is everything I am in mandatory to be spoken, nor is everyone capable of hearing what must be spoken, nor is the time always present for those capable. But if the people are found, the time is present, and the word is mandatory, then I have spoken it." The questioner said: "O God, to You is the surrender, and You are All-Knowing of all things."