Tradition

بَلِّغْ شَيْعَتى عَنّى السَّلامَ وَ أَعْلِمهُمْ أَنَّهُ لا قَرابَةَ بَيْنَنا و بَيْنَ اللّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ وَ لا يُتَقَرَّبُ إِلَيْهِ اِلاّ بِالطّاعَةِ لَهُ

Imam al-Baqir (‘a) is narrated to have said to Jabir ibn Ju’fi: “Send my greetings to my Shias and tell them that there is no discriminating relationship between us and God but rather the only way to gain nearness to him is through obeying his commands.” 1 2

Brief Commentary

There are many people who think that by just calling themselves Shias or by having love towards the family of the prophet, that this will somehow save them from any level of accountability for their actions. They believe that by simply saying that they love the Ahl al-Bayt, they will be counted as amongst their followers. They furthermore think that since the Imams and the Ahl al-Bayt are close to God, they will use their influence to save them. This is while the only relationship between God and his creation is that based on following and obeying his commands. Whoever obeys God’s commands the most will be the closest to him and whoever commits the most sins will be the furthest from him, whoever they may be.

• 1. This tradition is referring to the fact that the Imams (‘a) do not have a special link with God whereby they are given a position near to him; their closeness to God is based on their actions in obedience to him. Similarly, our relationship with God is based on obeying his commands and not because of anything else.
• 2. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 15, p. 164, Al-Amali, p. 296, Bisharat Al-Mustafa, p. 188.