Al-Kafi · Hadith 1

The Book about people with Divine Authority · The degree of the Great Names of Allah that are given to the Imams (a.s.) · Volume 1, book 4, chapter 36, Hadith 1

Original Arabic text

1ـ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى وَغَيْرُهُ عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحَكَمِ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ الْفُضَيْلِ قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي شُرَيْسٌ الْوَابِشِيُّ عَنْ جَابِرٍ عَنْ ابي جعفر (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) قَالَ إِنَّ اسْمَ الله الاعْظَمَ عَلَى ثَلاثَةٍ وَسَبْعِينَ حَرْفاً وَإِنَّمَا كَانَ عِنْدَ آصَفَ مِنْهَا حَرْفٌ وَاحِدٌ فَتَكَلَّمَ بِهِ فَخُسِفَ بِالارْضِ مَا بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ سَرِيرِ بِلْقِيسَ حَتَّى تَنَاوَلَ السَّرِيرَ بِيَدِهِ ثُمَّ عَادَتِ الارْضُ كَمَا كَانَتْ أَسْرَعَ مِنْ طَرْفَةِ عَيْنٍ وَنَحْنُ عِنْدَنَا مِنَ الاسْمِ الاعْظَمِ اثْنَانِ وَسَبْعُونَ حَرْفاً وَحَرْفٌ وَاحِدٌ عِنْدَ الله تَعَالَى اسْتَأْثَرَ بِهِ فِي عِلْمِ الْغَيْبِ عِنْدَهُ وَلا حَوْلَ وَلا قُوَّةَ إِلا بِالله الْعَلِيِّ الْعَظِيمِ.

Published English translation

1. Muhammad ibn Yahya and others have narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from Ali ibn al-Hakam from Muhammad ibn al-Fudayl who has said that Shurays al-Wabishi narrated from Jabir from abu Ja‘far (a.s.) who has said the following. “The greatest name of Allah has seventy three letters. There was only of these letters. He spoke that one letter and land between him and throne of the Queen of Sheba (Bilqis) sunk down as such that he could reach her throne with his hand and the land returned to the original state. This happened in a blinking of A number of our people has narrated from eye. Of the greatest name of Allah there are seventy two letters with us. Allah has kept one letter exclusively for Himself in the knowledge of the unseen. There is no means and no power except by the help of Allah, the Most High, the Most Great.”

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: مجهول

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (3/35)

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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