فجاء إلى رسول الله (صلى الله عليه و آله) [منهم‏] جماعة...

فجاء إلى رسول الله (صلى الله عليه و آله) [منهم‏] جماعة، فولى رسول الله (صلى الله عليه و آله) عليا (عليه السلام) مخاطبتهم Then the Jews altered it and were explaining it upon a different aspect, and were abusing the arrival to the knowledge what Allah -azwj had hidden from them, from the state of the term of this community and how much would be the term of their kingdom. So a group of them came to Rasool-Allah -saww , and Rasool-Allah -saww made Ali -asws in charge of addressing them.

فقال قائلهم: إن كان ما يقول محمد حقا فقد علمناكم قدر ملك أمته، هو إحدى و سبعون سنة، الألف واحد، و اللام ثلاثون، و الميم أربعون So, their speaker said, ‘If it was so that what Muhammad -saww is saying was true, so he -saww had taught you all a measurement of the kingdom of his -saww community that it would be of seventy one years – the ‘Alif’ being one, and the ‘Laam’ being thirty, and the ‘Meem’ being forty’. فقال علي (عليه السلام): فما تصنعون ب المص و قد أنزلت عليه؟!

قالوا: هذه إحدى و ستون و مائة سنة Ali -asws said: ‘And what would you be doing with Alif Lam Meem Suad [7:1] , and it has already been Revealed unto him -saww ?’ They said, ‘This is one hundred and sixty one years’. قال: فما تصنعون ب الر و قد أنزلت عليه؟! فقالوا: هذه أكثر، هذه مائتان و إحدى و ثلاثون سنة He -asws said: ‘So what would you be doing with Alif Lam Ra [10:1] , and it has already been Revealed unto him -saww ?’ They said, ‘This is more. This is two hundred and thirty one years’.

فقال علي (عليه السلام): فما تصنعون بمن أنزل عليه المر؟! قالوا: هذه مائتان و إحدى و سبعون سنة Ali -asws said: ‘So what would you be doing with the one -saww upon whom Alif Lam Mim Ra [13:1] is Revealed?’ They said, ‘This is two hundred and seventy one years’.

فقال علي (عليه السلام): فواحدة من هذه له، أو جميعها له؟ فاختلط كلامهم، فبعضهم قال: له واحدة منها، و بعضهم قال: بل تجمع له كلها، و ذلك سبعمائة و أربع [و ثلاثون‏] سنة، ثم يرجع الملك إلينا، يعني إلى اليهود Ali -asws said: ‘So, is one of these for him -saww , or is the total of these for him -saww ?’ Their speeches were mixed.

Some of them said, ‘One of these’, and the others said, ‘But all of these would be summed up for him -saww , and that would be seven hundred and thirty four years, then the kingdom would revert back to us’ – meaning, to the Jews.