Aban narrated that he heard from Sulaym who said: “I heard Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s) say: {The Ummah will be separated in 73 sects, of which 72 will go to Hell, and will go to Heaven.
From the 73, 3 will show their love towards us Ahlulbayt, from which will go to Heaven and 2 will go to Hell. The sect that will be saved will be the one which is guided, which is hopeful, which has Iman, obeys command (bows his head), is agreeable and intelligent. It is he that trusts me and bows his head to my command, obeys my command, chooses to keep away from my enemy, loves me, keeps enmity with my enemy, has recognised my rights, and Imamat and has realised my obedience compulsory through the Book of Allah and the Tradtion of the Holy Prophet, and has not become an apostate, and has not doubted, because Allah has enlightened his heart with the knowledge of our rights and has recognised our merits and all this has sunk into his heart and is written on his forehead. Allah has entered him in my Shias until his heart is satisfied and has developed surety (yaqin) that there is no doubt included.
Surely I and my Awsiya after me till the Day of Judgement will guide and are guided, and are those whom Allah has shown through a lot of verses of Quran to be nearest to Him and His Prophet and has made us pure and infallible and has made us witness for His Creation, declared us Hujjat (authority) on His Earth, made us a treasure of His Knowledge, mines of His Wisdom, translators of His Message, kept us with the Quran and kept the Quran with us. We will not separate from it and it will not separate from us until we reach the Heavenly Fountain of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W) as he has said: And this is the one sect, out of the 73, that will be saved from Hell and will be saved from discord, misguidance and doubts, and this, surely, is from the dwellers of Heaven and these are 70000 who will enter Heaven without being questioned. As 72 sects have chosen false Deen, and are helpers of the deen of Shaytan and have taken that deen from Shaytan and its friends.
These are enemies of Allah, His Prophet, and the faithful, and will go to Hell without any reckoning (hisab). These people will be far from Allah and His Prophet – they have forgotten Allah and His Prophet, have associated partners to Allah, are idolaters and have denied Him, and except God, have worshipped others in a manner that they do not even know. They think that they have done a good deed – on the Day of Judgement they will say: By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists (Surah Anam:23).
And On that day that Allah will raise them up all, then they will swear to Him as they swear to you, and they think that they have something, now surely they are the liars (Surah Mujadilah:8).}
Sulaym says: I asked: “O Amirul Mumineen, what do you think about those who stopped, did not accept you as Imam but do not consider you an enemy, are not jealous of you, are not very devout in their religion, did not accept your Wilayat, and also did not stay away from your enemies and said: I do not know anything – is he right?”
Imam replied: “He is not from these 73 sects. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W) has taken those 73 sects as those who are deniers, enemies, who came forward and called people towards their Deen.
From these will be the one that has chosen Allah’s Deen, and 72 will be those who chose Shaytan’s deen and will love the deen that they accepted. They will stay away from those who oppose their deen.
But those who believe in Tawheed and have brought Iman on the Holy Prophet (S.A.W) but do not know our Wilayat and do not know the misguidance of our enemies, have not made halal or haram, and have chosen those things in which there is no disagreement, and which Allah commanded.
In matters where there is disagreement in the Ummah, they stay away, not sure of whether it has been commanded or not – so they have not chosen to be enemy or have not made lawful or unlawful, have no knowledge and whatever difficulty they come across, they leave it to Allah. So they will be saved.
This sect is in-between the faithful and idolater and majority of people are like that, and these are those that will be asked to reckon, whose deeds will be weighed, and are of ‘ARAF (a place between Hell and Heaven) and are those dwellers of Hell for whom Prophets, Angels and the faithful will be allowed to intercede and will be freed from Hell – their names will be Hell dwellers.
But the faithful will be saved and will enter Heaven without questions, and idolaters will go to Hell without questions. Reckoning will only be for those types of people who are in between the faithful and idolaters, and muallafatul qulub (those whose hearts can be attracted) and those who are mukhtnfah (who have a little knowledge) and those who, along with good deeds, have done bad also and are with weak faith who are confused about kufr and shirk and do not really know whether to ebar enmity and will not even choose that Path which will make them Mumin or Aarif. These people will be from Ashab-‘Aaraf. These will be those at Allah’s discretion. If Allah sends him to Hell, then that will be due to sins, and if He forgives then it will be His Mercy.”
So I said: “May Allah keep you safe. Will that faithful who knows and has invited people also go to Hell?” Alayhissalam (Ali) said: “No”. So I asked: “will he who does not know his Imam enter Heaven?” Alayhissalam said: “No, but it is Allah’s wish.” So I asked: Will an unbeliever or an idolater go to Heaven?” He said: “Except an unbeliever no one will go to Hell but it is Allah’s wish.”
I said: “May Allah keep you safe, he who goes to Allah, has faith (Iman) and knows his Imam and obeys him – is he from dwellers of Heaven?”
He replied: Yes, when he reaches in front of Allah, with his faith, then he will be from those about whom Allah Azz wa Jall has said: And (as for) those who believe and do good deeds, these are the dwellers of the garden, in it they shall abide (Surah Baqarah: 82).
Those who believed and guarded (against evil) – (Surah Yunus: 63).
Those who believe and do not mix up their faith with iniquity, those are they who shall have the security and they are those who go right. (Surah Anam: 82).
I said: “If one goes to Allah with Gunahe Kabirah (great sin)?” He replied: “It is up to His wish and discretion, if he is punished that will be due to his sin, and if He forgives then that will be His Mercy.”
I asked: “Will Allah send a faithful to Hell also?” “Yes”, he said, “due to his sins. Since he is not from those faithfuls whom Allah has related in this verse: ‘Most surely the nearest of people to Ibrahim are those who followed him and this Prophet and those who believe and Allah is the guardian of the believers’ (Surah Ale Imran: 68).
Because those people whom Allah has mentioned are those people who do not have any fear or sadness– they are those very faithful who have a bit of Iman and have not mixed their Iman with oppression (Surah Baqarah:32, Yunus:63 and Anam:82).
I asked: “O Amirul Mumineen, what is Iman and Islam?” He replied: “Iman is to understand with knowledge, and accept, and Islam is to accept, bow your head down and obey.”
I asked: “Does Iman mean to accept after knowledge (Manfah)?” He replied: “he, whom Allah has given knowledge about HIM, His Prophet and His Imam, then he has accepted obedience to Allah – he is A mumin.” I said: “That means from Allah is knowledge (Manfah) and from human being is acceptance.” He replied: “Manfah from Allah means that He calls, and gives authority and obliges and gives bounties, and acceptance of Allah means that the human-being accepts that He is free to oblige whomever He pleases and He develops Manfah in whoever’s heart He wishes. Acceptance is among the works of heart and Allah keeps safe whomever He wishes and blesses whomever He wishes.
And whomever Allah does not make ‘Aarif, he does not have any authority and it is compulsory for him to refrain from what he does not know, and Allah will not punish him for his ignorance and will praise him for his act of obedience and will punish him for his disobedience. He (who is not ‘Aarif) will have ability to obey or disobey. He cannot remain ignorant when he knows – that is impossible.
And there is nothing that can happen without Qadha and Qadr (fate and destiny), without knowledge and Book, without any force, because of people were helpless then they would be blameless and they cannot be praised.
He who is ignorant has possibility of returning what he does not know to us, and he who praises Allah for His Bounties and repents for sins, and befriends the obedient and praises him for obedience and will bear enmity towards disobedient, and not praise him, then it is sufficient for him to turn his knowledge towards us.
(Note: the book mentions that what follows overleaf may not be continuation of this Hadith as the original books says)
They will be questioned. From them some will be forgiven and will enter Heaven due to their acceptance of Tawheed, and there will be some who will be punished in Hell, and after Prophets, Angels and the faithful will intercede for them, these people will be taken out of Hell and entered into the Heaven, but their names will be ‘people of Hell’. And in them will be those who accepted, and balance (mizan) and reckoning (hisab) will be for these people. Because the friends of Allah, who know Allah, His Prophets, and Allah’s Authority (Hujjat) on this earth, and those that are witness over His Creation, and obey them – these people will go to Heaven without any questions. And those who bore enmity towards them and threatened them, were proud, and bore enmity, were Allah’s enemy, will enter Hell without questions. Those that are in between these two – majority will be like that, and these are the ones whom there is the scale, questions, and intercession. These are Ashabe Mizan, Hisab and Shafaa’t (companions of scale, reckoning and intercession)”.
I said: “You have taken away my trouble, given my heart contentment. Please pray to Allah that He keeps me a friend of yours in this world and the Hereafter.” He said: “O Allah, make him amongst the friends”.
Sulaym says: “Hadhrat Ali (a.s) then turned towards me and said: “Why don’t I tell you something that I have heard from the Holy Prophet (S.A.W) which he told Salman, Abu Dhar and Miqdad.” I said: “Yes, O Amirul Mumineen.”
He said: “Recite 0 times Allahuma b’aathni A’la Imanibika wattasdeeq bi Muhammadin Rasulika, wal Wilayati Li Aliyyi ibn Abi Talib, wal Itimami ba Aaimmati min Alie Muhammad, Fa inni Qad Radhaytu bi dhailika, Ya Rabbi.”
I said: “O Amirul Mumineen, this has been told to me by Salman, Abu Dhar and Miqdad and I have not missed since they told me.”
He said: “Until you are alive, do not leave this”.