Al-Kafi · Hadith 2

The Book on Oneness of Allah (God) · Chapter on the Interpretation of al-Samad, Self-sufficient · Volume 1, book 3, chapter 18, Hadith 2

Original Arabic text

2ـ عِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ أَبِي عَبْدِ الله عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عِيسَى عَنْ يُونُسَ بْنِ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ عَنِ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ السَّرِيِّ عَنْ جَابِرِ بْنِ يَزِيدَ الْجُعْفِيِّ قَالَ سَأَلْتُ أَبَا جَعْفَرٍ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) عَنْ شَيْ‏ءٍ مِنَ التَّوْحِيدِ فَقَالَ إِنَّ الله تَبَارَكَتْ أَسْمَاؤُهُ الَّتِي يُدْعَا بِهَا وَتَعَالَى فِي عُلُوِّ كُنْهِهِ وَاحِدٌ تَوَحَّدَ بِالتَّوْحِيدِ فِي تَوَحُّدِهِ ثُمَّ أَجْرَاهُ عَلَى خَلْقِهِ فَهُوَ وَاحِدٌ صَمَدٌ قُدُّوسٌ يَعْبُدُهُ كُلُّ شَيْ‏ءٍ وَيَصْمُدُ إِلَيْهِ كُلُّ شَيْ‏ءٍ وَوَسِعَ كُلَّ شَيْ‏ءٍ عِلْماً. فَهَذَا هُوَ الْمَعْنَى الصَّحِيحُ فِي تَأْوِيلِ الصَّمَدِ لا مَا ذَهَبَ إِلَيْهِ الْمُشَبِّهَةُ أَنَّ تَأْوِيلَ الصَّمَدِ الْمُصْمَتُ الَّذِي لا جَوْفَ لَهُ لانَّ ذَلِكَ لا يَكُونُ إِلا مِنْ صِفَةِ الْجِسْمِ وَالله جَلَّ ذِكْرُهُ مُتَعَالٍ عَنْ ذَلِكَ هُوَ أَعْظَمُ وَأَجَلُّ مِنْ أَنْ تَقَعَ الاوْهَامُ عَلَى صِفَتِهِ أَوْ تُدْرِكَ كُنْهَ عَظَمَتِهِ وَلَوْ كَانَ تَأْوِيلُ الصَّمَدِ فِي صِفَةِ الله عَزَّ وَجَلَّ الْمُصْمَتَ لَكَانَ مُخَالِفاً لِقَوْلِهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْ‏ءٌ لانَّ ذَلِكَ مِنْ صِفَةِ الاجْسَامِ الْمُصْمَتَةِ الَّتِي لا أَجْوَافَ لَهَا مِثْلِ الْحَجَرِ وَالْحَدِيدِ وَسَائِرِ الاشْيَاءِ الْمُصْمَتَةِ الَّتِي لا أَجْوَافَ لَهَا تَعَالَى الله عَنْ ذَلِكَ عُلُوّاً كَبِيراً فَأَمَّا مَا جَاءَ فِي الاخْبَارِ مِنْ ذَلِكَ فَالْعَالِمُ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) أَعْلَمُ بِمَا قَالَ وَهَذَا الَّذِي. قَالَ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) إِنَّ الصَّمَدَ هُوَ السَّيِّدُ الْمَصْمُودُ إِلَيْهِ. هُوَ مَعْنًى صَحِيحٌ مُوَافِقٌ لِقَوْلِ الله عَزَّ وَجَلَّ لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْ‏ءٌ وَالْمَصْمُودُ إِلَيْهِ الْمَقْصُودُ فِي اللُّغَةِ قَالَ أَبُو طَالِبٍ فِي بَعْضِ مَا كَانَ يَمْدَحُ بِهِ النَّبِيَّ (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِه) مِنْ شِعْرِهِ. وَبِالْجَمْرَةِ الْقُصْوَى إِذَا صَمَدُوا لَهَا يَؤُمُّونَ قَذْفاً رَأْسَهَا بِالْجَنَادِلِ‏. يَعْنِي قَصَدُوا نَحْوَهَا يَرْمُونَهَا بِالْجَنَادِلِ يَعْنِي الْحَصَى الصِّغَارَ الَّتِي تُسَمَّى بِالْجِمَارِ وَقَالَ بَعْضُ شُعَرَاءِ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ شِعْراً. مَا كُنْتُ أَحْسَبُ أَنَّ بَيْتاً ظَاهِراً لله فِي أَكْنَافِ مَكَّةَ يُصْمَدُ. يَعْنِي يُقْصَدُ وَقَالَ ابْنُ الزِّبْرِقَانِ. وَلا رَهِيبَةَ إِلا سَيِّدٌ صَمَدٌ. وَقَالَ شَدَّادُ بْنُ مُعَاوِيَةَ فِي حُذَيْفَةَ بْنِ بَدْرٍ. عَلَوْتُهُ بِحُسَامٍ ثُمَّ قُلْتُ لَهُ خُذْهَا حُذَيْفُ فَأَنْتَ السَّيِّدُ الصَّمَدُ. وَمِثْلُ هَذَا كَثِيرٌ وَالله عَزَّ وَجَلَّ هُوَ السَّيِّدُ الصَّمَدُ الَّذِي جَمِيعُ الْخَلْقِ مِنَ الْجِنِّ وَالانْسِ إِلَيْهِ يَصْمُدُونَ فِي الْحَوَائِجِ وَإِلَيْهِ يَلْجَئُونَ عِنْدَ الشَّدَائِدِ وَمِنْهُ يَرْجُونَ الرَّخَاءَ وَدَوَامَ النَّعْمَاءِ لِيَدْفَعَ عَنْهُمُ الشَّدَائِدَ.

Published English translation

2. A group of our people has narrated from Ahmad ibn abu ‘Abdallah from Muhammad ibn ‘Isa from Yunus ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman from al-Hassan ibn al-Sari from Jabir ibn Yazid al-Ju‘fi who has said the following. “I asked Imam abu Ja‘far (a.s.) a few things about the Oneness of Allah. The Imam replied, “Allah, Holy are Whose names, with which He is mentioned is Exalted and Most High in His Own-self. He is One. In Oneness He is the One and only in Oneness. He then made His creatures to know Him as the only One. He is One, Self-sufficient and the Holy. All things worship Him and He has the knowledge of all things.” Al-Kulayni has said that this is the correct meaning of al-Samad but not what al-Mushabbihah (people who consider Allah similar to certain things) believe. Al-Samad literally means solid as opposed to hallow which applies only to physical objects. Allah, the Most High, is far above such attributes. Had such attribute applied to Allah, the Most High, it would have contradicted with Allah’s statement that says, “There is nothing similar to Him.” In the Ahadith of the scholar, the Imam (a.s.) al-Samad refers to a master whom people consider a recourse or stronghold and such meaning is close to Allah’s words, “There is nothing similar to Him.” (42:11) An example of such usage is what abu Talib had expressed in praise of the holy Prophet (s.a.) during his performing Hajj in throwing pebbles onto the pillars of stones that symbolically stand for Satan. He has used the word al-Samad to mean aiming. An other example is found in the expression of ibn Zabarqan, “Mr Rahibah is but a master and a (al-Samad) recourse.” One more example can be found in the expression of Shaddad ibn Mu‘awiyah about Kudhayfah ibn Badr, “Hold it O Hudhayfa, you are a master, ( al-Samad) recourse.” There are many such examples in normal usage. Allah, the Majestic, the Most High, the Master and the Recourse to Who all man and Jinn turn for help in their difficulties and from Him they expect relief.

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: مجهول كالصحيح

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (2/61)

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/1/3/18/2
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: 8e4bf3571d914d562706e2b248c58d246f93715c94cc1e888db60be7ffd43cb9
source File Hash: 30bc491c96eb3860f3d3dfe97f46353a88858d7cb9e06d662ebdd04252ac5a3e
original Source Url: https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/1/3/18/2
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.