Al-Kafi · Hadith 17

The Book about people with Divine Authority · The Issue of Disappearance (of the twelfth Imam (a.s.) from Public Sight · Volume 1, book 4, chapter 80, Hadith 17

Original Arabic text

17ـ وَبِهَذَا الاسْنَادِ عَنِ الْوَشَّاءِ عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحَسَنِ عَنْ أَبَانِ بْنِ تَغْلِبَ قَالَ قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) كَيْفَ أَنْتَ إِذَا وَقَعَتِ الْبَطْشَةُ بَيْنَ الْمَسْجِدَيْنِ فَيَأْرِزُ الْعِلْمُ كَمَا تَأْرِزُ الْحَيَّةُ فِي جُحْرِهَا وَاخْتَلَفَتِ الشِّيعَةُ وَسَمَّى بَعْضُهُمْ بَعْضاً كَذَّابِينَ وَتَفَلَ بَعْضُهُمْ فِي وُجُوهِ بَعْضٍ قُلْتُ جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ مَا عِنْدَ ذَلِكَ مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَقَالَ لِي الْخَيْرُ كُلُّهُ عِنْدَ ذَلِكَ ثَلاثاً.

Published English translation

17. through the same chain of narrators it is narrated from al-Washsha’ from Ali ibn al-Hassan from Aban ibn Taghlib who said: “How would it be with you when an large scale attack would take place between the two mosques. Thereafter, knowledge will become obscure as the snake goes in to its hiding place. The Shi‘a will hold differences and one group will call the group liars and one group will spit onto the faces of the aother.” I then said, “May I be sacrificed for you, there will be nothing good from that!” He (a.s.) said to me, “All goodness will be there.” He said it three times.

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 (4/51)

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.

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