Al-Kafi · Hadith 17

The Book on Virtue of Knowledge · Chapter on Innovations, Personal Opinions and Analogies · Volume 1, book 2, chapter 19, Hadith 17

Original Arabic text

17ـ عَلِيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ هَارُونَ بْنِ مُسْلِمٍ عَنْ مَسْعَدَةَ بْنِ صَدَقَةَ قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي جَعْفَرٌ عَنْ أَبِيهِ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) أَنَّ عَلِيّاً (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِه) قَالَ مَنْ نَصَبَ نَفْسَهُ لِلْقِيَاسِ لَمْ يَزَلْ دَهْرَهُ فِي الْتِبَاسٍ وَمَنْ دَانَ الله بِالرَّأْيِ لَمْ يَزَلْ دَهْرَهُ فِي ارْتِمَاسٍ قَالَ وَقَالَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) مَنْ أَفْتَى النَّاسَ بِرَأْيِهِ فَقَدْ دَانَ الله بِمَا لا يَعْلَمُ وَمَنْ دَانَ الله بِمَا لا يَعْلَمُ فَقَدْ ضَادَّ الله حَيْثُ أَحَلَّ وَحَرَّمَ فِيمَا لا يَعْلَمُ.

Published English translation

17. Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from Harun ibn Muslim from Mas‘ada ibn Sadaqa who has said the following. “(Imam) abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.) who narrated from his father who said that Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘Whoever sets out for analogy his whole life will get in confusion. Whoever would practice the religion of Allah by means of analogy his whole life will pass in a drowning condition.’” Imam abu Ja‘far (a.s.) then said, “Whoever gives Fatwa on the basis of his personal opinion he has practiced the religion of Allah by means of what is not knowledge. Whoever would practice the religion of Allah without knowledge he has opposed Him by making things as lawful and unlawful by means of what he has no knowledge of.”

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 (1/198)

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.

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translator: Muhammad Sarwar
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