A Discussion of the Narrations

1) The Meaning of “Behind” (warāʾ)

From Ḥarīz from Abū ʿAbdallāh (a.s.) that he used to recite: “And there was behind them a king,” meaning in front of them.(400)

Note: As mentioned before, applying “behind” (warāʾ) to “in front” (amām) is permissible.

2) Another Reading of the Phrase “every ship by force”

From Ḥarīz from Abū ʿAbdallāh (a.s.) that he used to recite: “He would seize every sound ship by force.”(401)

This is also narrated from Abū Jaʿfar (a.s.) who said: “And this is the reading of the Commander of the Faithful.”(402)

Note: This appears to be an exegetical reading, as explained in the exegesis of the verse, and this meaning and explanation is understood from the expression “So I wanted to damage it.”

3) The Guardian-like Support of Imam al-Ṣādiq for Zurāra ibn Aʿyan

From ʿAbdallāh ibn Zurāra who said: Abū ʿAbdallāh said to me: “Convey my greetings to your father and tell him: I only criticize you as a means of protecting you, for people and enemies hasten towards anyone whom we bring close and praise their position, seeking to harm those we love and bring near. They attack them because of their love for us and their closeness to us, and they see fit to harm and kill them, while praising anyone whom we criticize. I criticize you because you are well-known for your association with us and your inclination towards us, and for this you are blamed by people and not praised, due to your affection for us and your inclination towards us. So I wanted to criticize you so that they would praise your religious standing through criticizing and finding fault with you, and thereby we would deflect their evil from you. God—the Mighty and Majestic—says: ‘As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working at sea. I wanted to damage it because there was a king coming after them who was seizing every ship by force.’ This is the revelation from God—it was sound, and by God, he only damaged it so that it would be safe from the king and not be destroyed by his hands. It was sound with no room for fault in it, and praise be to God. So understand this example, may God have mercy on you, for you are, by God, the most beloved of people to me and the most beloved of my father’s companions, living or dead. You are the finest ship in that vast, surging sea, and behind you is an oppressive, usurping king who watches for every sound ship coming from the sea of guidance to seize it by force. Then we damage it and its people. May God’s mercy be upon you in life, and His mercy and pleasure upon you in death…”(403)

Note: Although some esoteric matters were clarified in the companionship of these two great figures, what occurred in the incident of damaging the ship was not the explanation of a comprehensive scientific principle, but rather the demonstration of one instance of a principle common to both exoteric (ẓāhir) and esoteric (bāṭin) rulings—namely, choosing the lesser harm over the greater harm, which was a principle shared between the two aspects of their responsibility. However, recognizing the greater harm was a hidden matter that became clear through Khiḍr’s explanation.

Its application to Zurāra’s apparent criticism (jarḥ ẓāhirī) along with his inner vindication (taʿdīl bāṭinī) was also based on that same comprehensive principle.