Original Arabic text
Published English translation
5. A number of our people has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid his father from ‘Abdallah ibn al-Qasim from Hanan ibn al-Sarraj from Dawud ibn Sulayman al-Kisa‘i from abu al-Tufayl who has said the following. “I was present in the funeral procession of abu Bakr the day it took place. I was also present when ‘Umar took oath of allegiance and Ali (a.s.) was sitting on the side. A young, good looking, well dressed Jewish boy came. He was a descendant of Harun and he stood (on a place that was) above ’Umar and asked, “O Amir al-Mu’minin, are you the most knowledgeable person in this nation in their book and the commands of their prophet?” The narrator has said that ’Umar kept his head down. He then said, “I meant you.” He repeated his words. ’Umar said, “Why is that?” He said, “I have doubts about my relgion and I have come to you for guidance.” He (‘Umar said, “Go to this young man.” He said, “Who is this young man?” He said, “He is Ali ibn abu Talib (a.s.), the cousin of the Messenger of Allah and he is the father of al-Hassan and al-Husayn the grandsons of the Messenger of Allah and he is the husband of Fatima daughter of the Messenger of Allah.” The young Jewish man then went to Ali (a.s.) and said, “Are you such a person?” He said, “Yes, I am such a person.” He said, “I want to ask you about three and three and one.” The narrator has said that Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (a.s.) then smiled a different smile and said, “O Haruni, what prevents you from saying ‘seven’?” He said, “I ask about three. If you answered me then I will ask you about the rest. If you could not answer then will assume that there is no scholars among you.” Ali (a.s.) said, “I swear you to the Lord in whom you believe, if will answer whatever you will ask, will then leave your religion and accept our religion?” He said, “I have come for no other reason but that.” Ali (a.s.) said, “Ask your questions.” He said, “Tell me about the first drop of blood that was spilled on earth what drop was that? Tell me about the first fountain that gushed out of earth which one was it?” Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (a.s.) answered him. He then said, “Tell me about the other three. Tell me about Muhammad. How many Imams who possess the quality of justice will be there as his successors? In which paradise he will be? Who will be with him in paradise?” He said, “O Haruni, there will twelve just Imams as successors of Muhammad. No one’s betrayal will harm them and they will not feel frightened because of people’s opposition to them. In the matters of religion they will be stronger than the firm mountains on earth. In Paradise Muhammad will dwell with the twelve Imams who possess the noble quality of justice.” He then said, “You have spoken the truth by Allah, besides whom there is no lord. I find them in the book of my father Harun. He has written it in his own hand writing. My uncle Moses had dictated to him.” He then said, “Tell me about the ‘one’. Tell me about the executor of the will of Muhammad. For how long he will live after him? Will he die or will he be killed?” He Ali (a.s.), “O Haruni, he will live after him thirty years, not one day less and not one day more. Then he will be hit with an strike here –meaning over his head- and then this will be stained with this.” The Jewish man screamed loudly and broke his Kustija (a Jewish religious object) and he would say, “I testify that there is no lord besides Allah Who is One and has no partner and I testify the Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger and that you are the executor of his will. You must be above all and no one must be above you. Your greatness must be acknowledged and you must not be weakened.” The narrator has said that Ali (a.s.) then took him to his house and taught him the Divine guidance.”
Narrator and transmission
See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.
Attributed scholarly assessments
Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: ضعيف
Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (6/217)
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
- dataset Name
- Thaqalayn public library, via ThaqalaynAPI snapshot
- source Url
- https://thaqalayn.com/hadith/1/4/126/5
- license
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- edition
- Al-Kafi, volume 1, Thaqalayn digital edition / Muhammad Sarwar translation
- imported At
- 2026-10-18T21:36:12.871Z
- license Url
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- rights Statement Url
- https://thaqalayn.com/terms
- attribution
- Source: Thaqalayn (Stichting Thaqalayn). Compiler: Shaykh Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-Kulaynī. Translation: Muhammad Sarwar. Data transport: MohammedArab1/ThaqalaynAPI. No endorsement implied.
- translator
- Muhammad Sarwar
- source Revision
- becbad600b693ce23735d7403c4126ce7c896d34
- content Hash
- 904b2c50b721e87cc62f781c18c142fbd0d0dd1b328c99a43cc018b0e74c8aec
- source File Hash
- 30bc491c96eb3860f3d3dfe97f46353a88858d7cb9e06d662ebdd04252ac5a3e
- original Source Url
- https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/1/4/126/5
- changes
- Arabic and English texts preserved verbatim from pinned snapshot. Compiler introduction excluded where present; references mapped to fields; assessment whitespace trimmed; source-supplied English sanad retained separately. Search normalization is not applied to displayed text.
- verification Note
- Publisher content rights, translator attribution and structural checks, with independent publisher-page spot checks—not scholarly authentication or printed-edition collation. Historical text and scholarly reference strings may contain source errors; they are not silently corrected. No full commentary prose or inferred narrator identity is added. Muʿjam coverage, where present, is only the supplied excerpt, not the complete work.