And “You will see them bow and prostrate  themselves [in prayer], seeking grace from God and [His] good pleasure” tells that with his  complete worthiness to undertake the Caliphate and government, and his heroism, and his choosing perfect asceticism, worship, poverty, and frugality, and whose bowing and prostrating in prayer was corroborated by everyone, ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) was not responsible for his position in the future and the wars and strife in which he was involved,  and that his intention and wish were for divine favour.

THE SIXTH

The phrase, “This is their similitude in the Torah” makes predictions concerning the Unseen in two respects:

T h e  F i r s t : It cites these qualities of the Companions that are mentioned in the Torah, which for an unlettered person like the Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace) belonged to the World of the Unseen. Yes, as described in the Nineteenth Letter, the Torah contains the following lines about the Companions of the Prophet who was to come at the end of time: “The banners of the holy ones are together with

them.”6  That is, his Companions would be pious worshippers and righteous saints, so that they  were described as “the holy ones,” that is, “sacred.” The Torah has been

corrupted through translation into numerous languages, yet with many of its verses it still corroborates the words of Sura al-Fath, “This is their similitude in the Torah.”

T h e  S e c o n d aspect of it giving news of the Unseen is this: with this phrase it is  predicting  that  the  Companions  and  the  generation  that  followed  them  would achieve such a degree of worship that the luminosity of their spirits would shine in their faces, and that  marks would be apparent on their foreheads, like a stamp of sainthood, caused by their  repeated prostrations. And indeed the future proved this brilliantly, with complete clarity and certainty. Many prominent persons caught up in that strange dissension and political upheaval demonstrated the mystery of “This is their similitude in the Torah,” who day and night  performed prayers of a thousand rakats like Zayn al-‘Abidin, and performed the morning prayer with the ablutions of the previous evening, like Tavus al-Yamani.7

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6   Deuteronomy, 33:2; Halabi, al-Sirat al-Halabiya, i, 218; Yusuf Nabhani, Hujjat Allah ‘ala’l-

’Alamin, 113.

7   See, Ghazali, Ihya ‘Ulum al-Din, i, 359; al-Dhahabi, Siyar A‘lam Nubala’, iv, 547.