Al-Kāfi, vol. 1, no. 647

8. The narrator has said that a man said to abu Ja‘far (a.s.), “O child of the Messenger of Allah, “Please do not be angry with m.” The Imam (a.s.) said, “Why should I be angry?” The man said, “It is because of the question that like to ask you.” The Imam (a.s.) said, “Ask your question.” He said, “Please do not be angry.” The Imam (a.s.) said, “I will not be angry.” The man said, “Consider your words about the ‘Night of Determination’ in which the Spirit and the angels descent to the executors of the will (of Prophet). Do they bring them the command of which the Messenger of Allah had no knowledge or bring them the commands that the Messenger of Allah knew? As you know that the Messenger of Allah died and there was nothing of his knowledge that Ali (a.s.) had not heard it (and preserved).” Abu Ja‘far (a.s.) said, “Why should I bother with you and why someone let you come in?” He said, “Fate has let me come in, seeking religion.” The Imam (a.s.) said, “Try to understand what I will say.” “When the Messenger of Allah was taken for a trip (by the angels) he did not come back before Allah, Majestic is Whose mention, taught him the knowledge of the things of the past and the things in future. A great deal of such knowledge was in a whole form the interpretation of which would have to come in the ‘Night of Determination’. In the same Ali ibn abu Talib (a.s.) had learned the knowledge in a whole form, the interpretation of which would have had to come in the ‘Night of Determination’ as was the case with the Messenger of Allah.” The man said, “Was there no interpretation of the whole available?” The Imam (a.s.) said, “It was available but it comes through the commands of Allah in the ‘Night of Determination’ to the Prophet the executor of his will telling them to do so and so. It is for the matters of which they already had knowledge, but they receive the command as how to act in it.” The man said, “Explain it to me.” The Imam (a.s.) said, “The Messenger of Allah, before his death had a whole of knowledge with its interpretation.” You said, “What was that which that would come to him in the ‘Night of Determination’?” The Imam (a.s.) said, “It was the command and ease in what he already knew.” The man questioning said, “What then happens to them in the ‘Night of Determination’ is a knowledge other than what they knew before.” The Imam (a.s.) said, “This is what they are commanded not to tell to anyone. No one knows the interpretation of what you just asked except Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High. The man questioning asked, “Do the executors of the know what the prophets know?” The Imam (a.s.) said, “No, because how would the executor of the will would know what is other than what is willed for.” The man asked, “Can we say that what one executor of the will may know may not be known another executor of the will?” The Imam (a.s.) said, “No, because no prophet dies before his knowledge is transferred into the executor of his will. The angels and the Spirit descend in the ‘Night of Determination’ with the judgment with which to judge among the people.” The man asked, “Is it that they did not know that judgment?” The Imam (a.s.) said, “Yes, they knew it but they could not approve anything of it until they were commanded in the ‘Night of Determination’ how to accomplish them until the next year.” The man said, “O abu Ja‘far (a.s.) I can not deny this.” The Imam (a.s.) said, “Those who deny it is not from us.” The man asked, “O abu Ja‘far (a.s.), do you think in the ‘Night of Determination’ there would come things to the Holy Prophet (s.a.) that he did not know?” The Imam (a.s.) said, “It is not lawful for you to ask this. However, the knowledge of things in past and the knowledge of the things in future is as such that no prophet or the executor of the dies before the executor of will after him would know it. However, this know about which you ask is as such that Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, withholds and does not allow the executors of the will to know it by themselves.” The man asked, “O child of the Messenger of Allah, how would I know that the ‘Night of Determination’ take place every year?” The Imam (a.s.) said, “When the month of Ramadan comes recite Surah Ad-Dukhan 100 times every night. In the twenty third night you will see the confirmation of what you have asked for.”