Al-Ankaboot (The Spider)

13. “And certainly they shall carry their own burdens, and (other) burdens with their own burdens, and certainly they shall be questioned on the Day of Resurrection as to what they were forging.”

The deviators carry the burden of those who have been deviated, too.

In order that there would not come an imagination that these inviters to paganism, polytheism, idolatry, and injustice will not have any chastisement for their action, this noble verse says:

“And certainly they shall carry their own burdens, and (other) burdens with their own burdens…”

This burden is the burden of the sin of misguidance, seduction, and encouraging others to sin.

This is the burden of establishing a bad tradition about which the Prophet (S) said:

“Whoever establishes a bad tradition, the sin of that tradition and the sin of those who commit it are upon him without that anything can be decreased from the sin of the person who performs it.”1

The important thing is that they also share the sin of all those who commit it while these sinners have their own sin without decreasing anything of it, and we know that whoever is effective in the preparation of an action, he has a share of that action, though the preparation is simple.

The evidence for this statement is the tradition narrated from the Prophet of Islam (S). Once the Prophet (S) was accompanied with some of his companions when a beggar came and asked for help, but no one gave him anything. Then a man took the lead and helped him something. Others were encouraged thereby and helped him, too.

Here the holy Prophet (S) said:

“Whoever establishes a good tradition and others follow him there will be for him his own reward and from the reward of those who follow him without that their rewards be decreased anything, and whoever establishes an evil tradition and others follow him, there will be for him his own sin and from the sins of those who follow him without that their sins be decreased anything.”

Similar to this meaning, with some different statements, there has been mentioned in the tradition sources of both great sects of Islam: Sunnites and Shi‘ites; and this is a known tradition.

However, at the end of the verse, the Qur’an says:

“…and certainly they shall be questioned on the Day of Resurrection as to what they were forging.”

But, there arises another question here that what is the purpose of this calumny, mentioned in the verse that they have to answer its question?

Answer: It may refer to the falsehoods they forged to Allah and said that Allah (s.w.t.) had said that they should worship those idols.

Or it may refer to their words that they implicitly said every person could bear the responsibility of another’s sin. But this statement is also a lie and a calumny, because everybody is responsible of his own deeds.

Finally, the Arabic word /iql/ is often used for the house furniture, and its plural form is /’aqal/.

It has also been used in the famous tradition of the Prophet (S) who said:

“Verily I leave behind me two weighty (very worthy and important) things: the Book of Allah (i.e. the Qur’an) and my progeny, my Ahl-ul-Bayt. Never, never will these two get separated from each other until they meet me at the Haud of Kauthar (the Pond of Abundance)…”

Besides the Shi‘ah, this tradition is accepted by the consensus of the Sunnite and it has been mentioned in all their history, tradition and commentary authentic books narrated from the Prophet (S) with different statements.

Its secret is that after the event of Qadir-i-Khum and appointing Amir-ul-Mu’minin ‘Ali-ibn-Abi-Talib (as) to the rank of caliphate and government after his death, the Prophet (S) recommended about Ali-ibn-Abi-Talib (as) and his progeny in different occasions and many times he (S) uttered of these kinds of words.

Hakim-i-Neyshabury has narrated the abovementioned tradition in the book: Mustadrak, part 3, Page 48. In another tradition its similar Meaning is cited by Tarmathi. He narrated from Kanz-ul-‘Ummal, Vol. 1, P. 44, from the Messenger of Allah (S) who said:

“I leave behind me among you what that if you attach yourselves to it, never, never shall you get astray, the Book of Allah (i.e. the Qur’an) which is a stretched string from the heaven to the earth, and my progeny, my Ahl-ul-Bayt, for verily Allah, the Merciful, the Aware, informed me that never, never will these two get separated from each other until they meet me at the Houd of Kauthar (the Pond of Abundance). Therefore, be careful and contemplate on how you will treat them (after me).”

This tradition very well shows the awareness of the Prophet (S) from the future of his Ummah. It seems that the Prophet (S) could see the deviations of the people after his own death that would take place by the authority of a group of ambitious persons, and in order to attract the attention of people more, he said of this kind of statements abundantly.

It was specially only a few months after the historical event of Qadir-i-Khum that at the time of his death with the purpose of confirming the caliphate of Ali (as) the Prophet (S) wanted to write it down on the paper but, according to Shaykh Mufid, the sentence which was uttered by one of the companions and created discord, the Prophet (S) avoided writing anything to hinder the discord, but he recommended it orally.

In this regard you can refer to the history texts of Shi‘ah and the authentic books of tradition and commentary of the Sunnite, including the book entitled: As-Sawa‘iq by Ibn Hajar ‘Aqlani, P. 135 - (Kanz-ul-‘Ummal) Hindi, Vol. 1, chapter ’Al-’I‘tisam Bil-Kitab Wal-Sunnah - The book: Al-Mustadrak by Hakim-i-Neyshaburi, Part 3, P. 148 - The Book: Al-Musnad, by Imam Ahmad Hanbal, Vol. 3, PP. 17, 26, 29 - Al-Muraji‘at, by Sayyid Sharaf-ud-Din ‘Amili - The epistle: Fi Hadith-ith-Thaqalayn, by Qawam-ud-Din Washnuwi, and…

According to the citation of Ibn-i-Hajar, who is one of the notables of the Sunnite in the book As-Sawa‘iq, this tradition has been narrated by more than twenty persons from the companions of the Prophet.

Some of them are as follows:

1- Imam-ul-Muttaqin ‘Ali-Ibn-Abi-Talib (as)

2- Imam Hassan (as)

3- Salman Farsi

4- ’Abuthar Qafari

5- Ibn ‘Abbas

6- Abu Sa‘id

7- Jabir-ibn-‘Abdillah ’Ansari

8- Abu Hashim-ibn-Tihan

9- Hathifah Yamani

10- Abu-Rafi’Maula Rassulillah the Messenger of Allah (S)

11- Hathifat-ibn ’Asbad Qafari

12- Khazifat-ibn-Thabit-Zush-Shahadatayn

13- Ziyd-ibn-Thabit

14- ’Anas-ibn-Malik

The famous tradition of Thaqalayn, with abovementioned documents is one of the proofs of Shi‘ah about immediate Imamate and caliphate of ‘Ali-ibn-Abi-Talib and his progeny, and Shi‘ah has other proofs in this regard, too, including the explicit text of the Qur’an, that for shortness we do not mention them here.