This ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib is the khalifa of Allah on His earth...

This ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib is the khalifa of Allah on His earth and His proof over His slaves. So whoever adhered to his rope while on earth, should hang on to his rope here (also), so that he may have the benefit of his light and may follow him in the rising ranks of Paradise." He said: A group of people will rise who had adhered to his rope during life on earth, and will follow him into Paradise.

Then there will be announcement from Allah, Most High: "O those who followed a leader while living on earth, follow him as he goes, and they will go with him." That will be the time when those who led will dissociate themselves from those who followed them, and they will see the chastisement, and all relations between them will be severed. 'And those who followed will say: if only we had one more chance, we would dissociate ourselves from them, as they have disowned themselves from us.

Thus will Allah show them their deeds as anguish for them and never will they come out of the hellfire.' (2:166,167).

Ibn Abbas on Khilafah He said: Abul Mudhaffar Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Balkhi reported to me from Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abul-Thalj, who reported from Abu Abdillah Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Hasani, who reported from Isa ibn Mahran, who reported from Hafs ibn Umar al-Farra, who reported from Abu Muaz al-Khazzaz, who reported from Yunus ibn Abd al-Warith, from his father who said: Once Ibn Abbas was addressing us from the pulpit at Basrah.

When he turned his face towards the people and said: "O group of people, bewildered in their religious affairs! If you had given precedence to he who Allah had given precedence, and put back he who Allah had put back, and if you had kept the heritage and the authority where Allah had kept them, no part of divine determinate share would have been unfairly distributed, and no friend of Allah would have been humiliated, and no two persons would have differed on the law of Allah.