As to his words (A) لا تجترئ it pertains to the verbal form...

As to his words (A) لا تجترئ it pertains to the verbal form إفتعال and means temerity, daring, and boldness of action in matters. Al-Sihah, quoting Abu Zayd, states الجرأة مثال. الجرأة: الشجاعة. Also, it is mentioned in al-Sihah that: الجرئ: المقدام. As to the word فَجُهدُكَ in the statement of the Imam (A) الجهد with dammah or fathah on the jim , it means strength and hardship (الطاقة والمشقة). It is said جهد دابته وأجهدها when one makes one’s mount run with all its power.

Jahd is also used in the sense of effort and exertion and this meaning seems [more] more appropriate for this tradition. As to his statement (A): عَلَيكَ بِصَلاةِ اللَّيلِ, here عليك is an ism al-fi’l (verbal noun) which is used in the sense of a transitive verb or as its substitute. عليكم أنفسكمmeans ألزموا أنفسكم (i.e. ‘Look after your own souls’)[^2] Accordingly this ba’ (in بصلاة ) is for the sake of stress and emphasis and not for making the verb transitive.

In the Majma’ al-bahrayn it is stated that if the ba’ be transitive it gives the sense of استمسك (i.e. stick to). This kind of expression does not exist in Persian, and in Arabic it is used for intensive emphasis upon a certain matter. Probably, a close Persian expression for it would beبچسب به فلان كار. However, its translation as something like بر تو باد به فلان does not accord with common usage.

God willing, we will expound the relevant themes of the tradition in the course of a preface and several sections. Preface In this noble tradition, there are several aspects which reveal that these exhortations made by the Noble Messenger (S) to the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (A), were very important in his blessed eyes.

One of them is that these were addressed to the Commander of the Faithful (A) though that master stood above any possibility of negligence in regard to the laws of the Shari’ah and Divine commandments.

However, since the matter was itself of supreme significance in the blessed eyes of the Noble Messenger of Allah (S) he did not refrain from exhorting him, and it is quite usual to find him exhorting someone concerning a matter that he considers as important and is concerned about, though he may know that that person will carry it out without fail.

As to the possibility that this counsel given to that holy personage was really aimed at others, being of the kind referred to in the proverb إياكِ أعني واسمعي يا جارةُ (i.e. ‘I tell you in order that the neighbor may hear’), such a possibility is remote.