Al-Kafi · Hadith 2

The Book about people with Divine Authority · Manners of the Imams in the Matters of Food and Clothes as Leaders with Divine Authority · Volume 1, book 4, chapter 106, Hadith 2

Original Arabic text

2ـ عَلِيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنِ ابْنِ أَبِي عُمَيْرٍ عَنْ حَمَّادِ بْنِ عُثْمَانَ عَنِ الْمُعَلَّى بْنِ خُنَيْسٍ قَالَ قُلْتُ لابِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) يَوْماً جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ ذَكَرْتُ آلَ فُلانٍ وَمَا هُمْ فِيهِ مِنَ النَّعِيمِ فَقُلْتُ لَوْ كَانَ هَذَا إِلَيْكُمْ لَعِشْنَا مَعَكُمْ فَقَالَ هَيْهَاتَ يَا مُعَلَّى أَمَا وَالله أَنْ لَوْ كَانَ ذَاكَ مَا كَانَ إِلا سِيَاسَةَ اللَّيْلِ وَسِيَاحَةَ النَّهَارِ وَلُبْسَ الْخَشِنِ وَأَكْلَ الْجَشِبِ فَزُوِيَ ذَلِكَ عَنَّا فَهَلْ رَأَيْتَ ظُلامَةً قَطُّ صَيَّرَهَا الله تَعَالَى نِعْمَةً إِلا هَذِهِ.

Published English translation

2. Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from his father from Ibn Abi ‘Umayr from Hammad ibn ‘Uthman from Mu‘alla ibn Khunays who has said the following. “One day I said to abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.), may Allah take my soul in service for your cause, I thought of the descendants of so and so (‘Abbasside) and the wealth they have at their disposal. Then I wished that had such wealth been at your disposal we would have lived with you prosperously.” The Imam (a.s.) said, “Never O Mu‘alla, by Allah, had it been as you wished, there would have been nothing but hard labor of protections at nights and strenuous work during the days, coarse garments and tasteless food. Thus, it is kept away from us. Have you ever seen a usurpation that Allah, the Most High, would cause to become a blessing except this?”

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: مختلف فيه

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (4/362)

Assessment transcribed from the source's named scholar and reference. No new grading or consensus is asserted; differing entries remain separate.

Shaykh Baqir al-Behbudi: Catalogue non-inclusion note (not an authenticity grade)

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Kāfī

Source records non-inclusion in this scholar's selection; this is not itself a weak or authentic grade.

Source, rights, and attribution

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translator: Muhammad Sarwar
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