Al-Kafi · Hadith 4

The Book on Virtue of Knowledge · Chapter on the necessity to seek knowledge and the recommendations to learn · Volume 1, book 2, chapter 1, Hadith 4

Original Arabic text

4ـ عَلِيُّ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ وَغَيْرُهُ عَنْ سَهْلِ بْنِ زِيَادٍ وَمُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عِيسَى جَمِيعاً عَنِ ابْنِ مَحْبُوبٍ عَنْ هِشَامِ بْنِ سَالِمٍ عَنْ أَبِي حَمْزَةَ عَنْ أَبِي إِسْحَاقَ السَّبِيعِيِّ عَمَّنْ حَدَّثَهُ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَقُولُ أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْلَمُوا أَنَّ كَمَالَ الدِّينِ طَلَبُ الْعِلْمِ وَالْعَمَلُ بِهِ أَلا وَإِنَّ طَلَبَ الْعِلْمِ أَوْجَبُ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ طَلَبِ الْمَالِ إِنَّ الْمَالَ مَقْسُومٌ مَضْمُونٌ لَكُمْ قَدْ قَسَمَهُ عَادِلٌ بَيْنَكُمْ وَضَمِنَهُ وَسَيَفِي لَكُمْ وَالْعِلْمُ مَخْزُونٌ عِنْدَ أَهْلِهِ وَقَدْ أُمِرْتُمْ بِطَلَبِهِ مِنْ أَهْلِهِ فَاطْلُبُوهُ.

Published English translation

4. Ali ibn Muhammad and others have narrated from Sahl ibn Ziyad and Muhammad ibn Yahya from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Isa all from Ibn Mahbub from Hisham ibn Salim from Abu Hamza from Abu Ishaq al-Subay‘i from someone who narrated to him that he (the narrator) heard Amir al-Mu'minin (as) say, "O people! Know that the perfection of religion is seeking knowledge and acting by it. Surely seeking knowledge is more pertinent to you than seeking wealth. Wealth is apportioned and ensured to you. A just allocator divided it amongst you, has ensured it and will be faithful to that apportionment. [Whereas] knowledge is treasured with its people and you have been ordered to seek it from its people, so seek it."

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: مرسل

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (1/99)

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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