Al-Kafi · Hadith 4

The Book about people with Divine Authority · Knowing the Imam (a.s.) and Belief in His Divine Authority · Volume 1, book 4, chapter 7, Hadith 4

Original Arabic text

4ـ عَنْهُ عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنِ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ مَحْبُوبٍ عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ أَبِي الْمِقْدَامِ عَنْ جَابِرٍ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا جَعْفَرٍ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) يَقُولُ إِنَّمَا يَعْرِفُ الله عَزَّ وَجَلَّ وَيَعْبُدُهُ مَنْ عَرَفَ الله وَعَرَفَ إِمَامَهُ مِنَّا أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ وَمَنْ لا يَعْرِفِ الله عَزَّ وَجَلَّ وَلا يَعْرِفِ الامَامَ مِنَّا أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ فَإِنَّمَا يَعْرِفُ وَيَعْبُدُ غَيْرَ الله هَكَذَا وَالله ضَلالاً.

Published English translation

4. From the narrator of the previous Hadith from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from al-Hassan ibn Mahbub from ‘Amr ibn abu al-Miqdam from Jabir who has said the following. “I heard imam abu Ja’far (a.s.) saying, ‘Only those who know Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, and worship Him. It is such people who know Him and know the Imam from the family of the Holy Prophet (sw). Those who do not know Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, and do not know the Imam from us, Ahlul Bayt, such people only know and worship something other than Allah just like that in error.”

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 (2/303)

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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edition: Al-Kafi, volume 1, Thaqalayn digital edition / Muhammad Sarwar translation
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translator: Muhammad Sarwar
source Revision: becbad600b693ce23735d7403c4126ce7c896d34
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