and Fatima from among women.

and Fatima from among women."

The first of these three traditions was commented on by Imam Baqir

(A); he stated: "By Allah, He (Glory be to Him) bestowed her with

knowledge and safeguarded her from menstruation with the covenant."

The covenant mentioned here refers to the corpusclent (seeds) world

mentioned in the Holy Quran in the following verse:

"When thy Lord drew forth from the children of Adam from their loins-

their descendants, and made them testify concerning themselves

(saying): Am I not your Lord?' They said: `yea!" (7: 172)

In summary, this means that Allah Almighty drew forth from Adam

(from his loin), his descendants in the form of seeds (or corpuscles),

then presented them to him and said: "I will make a covenant with your

descendants that they shall worship me without associating anything

with me; I shall-in turn-guarantee their sustenance."

He then said to them: "Am I not your Lord?" They said: "Yes, we bear

witness that you are our Lord."

He (Glory be to Him) said to the angels: "Bear witness."

The angels said: "We bear witness."

It was mentioned that Allah Almighty gave Adam's descendants the

ability to realize, understand, and hear His speech. He then placed

them back in Adam's loin. Therefore, mankind is held in Adam until

everyone shall be brought forth by Allah at the time, which has been

destined by Him. So whoever adheres to Islam, holds to the covenant;

verified narrations. Imam Baqir (A) pointed out that it was decreed that

Fatima would be safeguarded from menstruation in that world, which is

also called the "World of Covenant."

In relation to the many traditions that spoke of the world of Covenant,

we mention some of them herein as examples:

Prophet was asked: "How do you excel over mankind?"

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The Prophet answered: "I was the first one to bear witness to my Lord;

when Allah took the oath from the Prophets and made them testify

concerning themselves (our Lord Said): Am I not your Lord?'

They replied: 'Yes. Therefore, I was the first of them to reply."

Abu Basir: "I asked Abu Abdullah-Imam Sadiq How did they answer

Him when they were corpusclens?'

He said: `He implemented in them that with which they could answer

Him when He asked; Aisha added: "He means the covenant."