A Discussion of the Narrations

1. The Day of Resurrection is the Day When Truthfulness Benefits

From Abū Jaʿfar regarding His saying: “This day truthfulness shall benefit the truthful.” He said: When it is the Day of Resurrection and people are gathered for reckoning… the first of Adam’s children to be called for questioning will be Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh. God will bring him near until no creation is closer to God on that day than him. God will say: “O Muḥammad! Did Gabriel convey to you what I revealed to you and sent him with to you from My Book, My wisdom, and My knowledge, and did he reveal that to you?” The Messenger of God will say: “Yes, my Lord! Gabriel conveyed to me all that You revealed to him and sent from Your Book, Your wisdom, and Your knowledge, and he revealed it to me.” God will say to Muḥammad: “Did you convey to your community (umma) what Gabriel conveyed to you from My Book, My wisdom, and My knowledge?” The Messenger of God will say: “Yes, my Lord; I conveyed to my community what was revealed to me from Your Book, Your wisdom, and Your knowledge, and I strove in Your path.” God will say to Muḥammad: “Who will bear witness for you to that?” Muḥammad will say: “My Lord! You are the witness for me regarding the conveyance of the message, and Your angels and the righteous (abrār) from my community, and You suffice as a witness.” The angels will be called and they will bear witness for Muḥammad regarding the conveyance of the message. Then Muḥammad’s community will be called and they will be asked: “Did Muḥammad convey to you My message, My Book, My wisdom, and My knowledge, and did he teach you that?” They will bear witness for Muḥammad regarding the conveyance of the message, wisdom, and knowledge. God will say to Muḥammad: “Did you appoint as successor (istakhlafta) in your community after you someone who would stand among them with My wisdom and My knowledge, and explain My Book to them and clarify for them what they differ about after you, as a proof (ḥujja) for Me and a successor (khalīfa) on earth?” Muḥammad will say: “Yes, my Lord! I left among them ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, my brother and my minister (wazīr) and the best of my community, and I appointed him as a sign (ʿalam) for them during my lifetime, and I called them to obey him and made him my successor in my community and an imam to be followed by the imams after me until the Day of Resurrection.”

Then ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib will be called and it will be said to him: “Did Muḥammad make a bequest to you and appoint you as successor in his community (umma) and establish you as a sign (ʿalam) for his community during his lifetime, and did you stand among them in his place after him?” ʿAlī will say to Him: “Yes, my Lord! Muḥammad made a bequest to me and made me his successor in his community and established me as a sign for them during his lifetime. But when You took Muḥammad to Yourself, his community plotted against me and considered me weak and nearly killed me. They advanced those whom You had put back and put back those whom You had advanced. They did not listen to me and did not obey my command, so I fought them in Your path until they killed me.”

It will be said to ʿAlī: “Did you leave after you in Muḥammad’s community a proof (ḥujja) and successor (khalīfa) on earth who calls My servants to My religion and to My path?” ʿAlī will say: “Yes, my Lord! I left among them al-Ḥasan, my son and the son of Your Prophet’s daughter.” Then al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī will be called and will be asked about what ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib was asked about. He said: Then each imam will be called along with the people of his time, and they will argue with their proof (ḥujja), so God will accept their excuse and approve their proof. He said: Then God will say: “This day truthfulness shall benefit the truthful.” He said: Then the ḥadīth of Abū Jaʿfar (a.s.) and his fathers ended—upon them the best peace. (402)

Note:

1. The Prophet and the infallible imams, insofar as they are servants of God, are subject to questioning and answering like others; however, their matter encompasses the sacred nature of those blessed beings on one hand and the process of God’s complete proof (ḥujja) over the community on the other hand.

2. The attention to questioning and answering and the attribution of all authentic religious matters to divine revelation speaks to the gravity of the scene of questioning and answering and the difficulty of the realm of questioning and answering in the Resurrection.

2. The Reality of Truthfulness

Al-Ṣādiq said in a ḥadīth: The reality of truthfulness (ṣidq) requires God’s purification (tazkiya) of His servant, as He mentioned regarding the truthfulness of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam on the Day of Resurrection because of what he indicated of his truthfulness, which is the innocence of the truthful ones from among the men of Muḥammad’s community. So God said: “This day truthfulness shall benefit the truthful.” (403)

Note:

a. The context of truthfulness (ṣidq) is more general than this world and the Hereafter; however, beneficial truthfulness is specifically the truthfulness of this world. Of course, the sphere of truthfulness’s benefit encompasses both this world and the Hereafter.

b. It is possible that the intended meaning of the verse under discussion is (probably) their confirmation regarding the prophethood of Christ; in this case, the ultimate meaning of truthfulness (ṣidq) here is their honesty in this confirmation; that is, they were truthful in bearing witness to the prophethood.

In any case, if we set aside the comprehensive and clear meaning of the verse, there is still no room for the objection in al-Kashshāf, even though al-Zamakhsharī himself has provided an answer. (404)