Al-Kafi · Hadith 4

The Book about people with Divine Authority · The Imams know all the knowledge that has come to the angels, the prophets and the Messenger · Volume 1, book 4, chapter 44, Hadith 4

Original Arabic text

4ـ أَبُو عَلِيٍّ الاشْعَرِيُّ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَبْدِ الْجَبَّارِ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ إِسْمَاعِيلَ عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ النُّعْمَانِ عَنْ سُوَيْدٍ الْقَلاءِ عَنْ أَبِي أَيُّوبَ عَنْ أَبِي بَصِيرٍ عَنْ ابي جعفر (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) قَالَ إِنَّ لله عَزَّ وَجَلَّ عِلْمَيْنِ عِلْمٌ لا يَعْلَمُهُ إِلا هُوَ وَعِلْمٌ عَلَّمَهُ مَلائِكَتَهُ وَرُسُلَهُ فَمَا عَلَّمَهُ مَلائِكَتَهُ وَرُسُلَهُ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) فَنَحْنُ نَعْلَمُهُ.

Published English translation

4. Abu Ali al-Ash‘ari has narrated from Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabber from Muhammad ibn Isma‘il from Ali ibn al-Nu‘man from Suwayd al-Qalla from abu Ayyub from abu Basir from abu Ja‘far (a.s.) who has said the following. “Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, has two kinds of knowledge. One kind of knowledge is that which no one knows except He. The other kind is that which He has taught to the His angels and His messengers. Whatever His angels and Messengers have learned we know it.”

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: صحيح

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (3/109)

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: صحيح

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Kāfī, vol. 1, p. 30

Assessment transcribed from the source's named scholar and reference. No new grading or consensus is asserted; differing entries remain separate.

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
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