Hadith collections / Al-Kafi

Al-Kafi · Hadith 5

The Book about people with Divine Authority · Tacit and Explicit Testimony as proof of al-Hassan ibn Ali’s (a.s.) Divine Authority over the people after Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (a.s.) · Volume 1, book 4, chapter 66, Hadith 5

Original Arabic text

5ـ عِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنِ الْحُسَيْنِ بْنِ سَعِيدٍ عَنْ حَمَّادِ بْنِ عِيسَى عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ شِمْرٍ عَنْ جَابِرٍ عَنْ ابي جعفر (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) قَالَ أَوْصَى أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) إِلَى الْحَسَنِ وَأَشْهَدَ عَلَى وَصِيَّتِهِ الْحُسَيْنَ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) وَمُحَمَّداً وَجَمِيعَ وُلْدِهِ وَرُؤَسَاءَ شِيعَتِهِ وَأَهْلَ بَيْتِهِ ثُمَّ دَفَعَ إِلَيْهِ الْكِتَابَ وَالسِّلاحَ ثُمَّ قَالَ لابْنِهِ الْحَسَنِ يَا بُنَيَّ أَمَرَنِي رَسُولُ الله أَنْ أُوصِيَ إِلَيْكَ وَأَنْ أَدْفَعَ إِلَيْكَ كُتُبِي وَسِلاحِي كَمَا أَوْصَى إِلَيَّ رَسُولُ الله وَدَفَعَ إِلَيَّ كُتُبَهُ وَسِلاحَهُ وَأَمَرَنِي أَنْ آمُرَكَ إِذَا حَضَرَكَ الْمَوْتُ أَنْ تَدْفَعَهُ إِلَى أَخِيكَ الْحُسَيْنِ ثُمَّ أَقْبَلَ عَلَى ابْنِهِ الْحُسَيْنِ وَقَالَ أَمَرَكَ رَسُولُ الله (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِه) أَنْ تَدْفَعَهُ إِلَى ابْنِكَ هَذَا ثُمَّ أَخَذَ بِيَدِ ابْنِ ابْنِهِ عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ ثُمَّ قَالَ لِعَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ يَا بُنَيَّ وَأَمَرَكَ رَسُولُ الله (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِه) أَنْ تَدْفَعَهُ إِلَى ابْنِكَ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَلِيٍّ وَأَقْرِئْهُ مِنْ رَسُولِ الله (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِه) وَمِنِّي السَّلامَ ثُمَّ أَقْبَلَ عَلَى ابْنِهِ الْحَسَنِ فَقَالَ يَا بُنَيَّ أَنْتَ وَلِيُّ الامْرِ وَوَلِيُّ الدَّمِ فَإِنْ عَفَوْتَ فَلَكَ وَإِنْ قَتَلْتَ فَضَرْبَةٌ مَكَانَ ضَرْبَةٍ وَلا تَأْثَمْ.

Published English translation

5. A number of our people has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from al-Husayn ibn Sa‘id from Hammad ibn ‘Isa from ‘Amr ibn Shemr from Jabir from Abu Ja‘far (a.s.) who has said the following: “Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (a.s.) made his directive will to al-Hassan (a.s.) and asked al-Husayn (a.s.), Muhammad, all his sons, the leaders among his followers and the whole of his family to bear testimony. He then delivered to him the Book and the Armament. He then said to his son, al-Hassan (a.s.), 'My son, the Messenger of Allah commanded me to entrust you with my directive will. (He commanded me) to deliver to you my books, and my armament just as the Messenger of Allah entrusted me with his directive will and delivered his books and armament to me. He commanded me to command you to deliver them all to your brother, al-Husayn (a.s.) when time for you to leave this world will come. Then he turned to his son, al-Husayn (a.s.) and said, 'The Messenger of Allah has commanded you to deliver it all to your son, this one. He then held with his hand Ali ibn al-Husayn (a.s.) and said to him, 'My son, the Messenger of Allah has commanded you to deliver it all to your son, Muhammad ibn Ali (a.s.) and convey to him the Islamic greeting of the Messenger of Allah and my Islamic greeting.' He then turned to his son, al-Hassan (a.s.) and said, 'My son, you are the Leader with Divine Authority and the authority in the matter of the spilled blood. (This refers to the fact that if a person is murdered his next of kin decides whether to forgive or enact vengeance) Were you to forgive it would be for you. Were you to retaliate then one strike for an strike you would not be in sin.'"

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: ضعيف

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (3/293)

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/1/4/66/5
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
4a0fa181529efe7de19145fbd860983f0cc262b7f5274e4c5bb29f1c3f982f93
source File Hash
30bc491c96eb3860f3d3dfe97f46353a88858d7cb9e06d662ebdd04252ac5a3e
original Source Url
https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/1/4/66/5
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.