Al-Kafi · Hadith 23

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 23

Original Arabic text

23ـ عِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ سَعْدِ بْنِ عَبْدِ الله عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ الْحَسَنِ عَنْ عُمَرَ بْنِ يَزِيدَ عَنِ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ الرَّبِيعِ الْهَمْدَانِيِّ قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِسْحَاقَ عَنْ أُسَيْدِ بْنِ ثَعْلَبَةَ عَنْ أُمِّ هَانِئٍ قَالَتْ لَقِيتُ أَبَا جَعْفَرٍ مُحَمَّدَ بن علي (عَلَيْهما السَّلام) فَسَأَلْتُهُ عَنْ هَذِهِ الايَةِ فَلا أُقْسِمُ بِالْخُنَّسِ الْجَوارِ الْكُنَّسِ قَالَ الْخُنَّسُ إِمَامٌ يَخْنِسُ فِي زَمَانِهِ عِنْدَ انْقِطَاعٍ مِنْ عِلْمِهِ عِنْدَ النَّاسِ سَنَةَ سِتِّينَ وَمِائَتَيْنِ ثُمَّ يَبْدُو كَالشِّهَابِ الْوَاقِدِ فِي ظُلْمَةِ اللَّيْلِ فَإِنْ أَدْرَكْتِ ذَلِكِ قَرَّتْ عَيْنُكِ.

Published English translation

23. A number of our people has narrated from Sa‘d ibn ‘Abdallah from Ahmad ibn al-Hassan from ‘Umar ibn Yazid from al-Hassan ibn al-Rabi ‘ al-Hamdani who has said that Muhammad ibn Istaq narrated to us from ’Usayd ibn Tha‘laba from ’Umm Hani who has said the following. “Once I met abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ali (a.s.) and asked him about he meaning of “I do not (need to) swear by the orbiting (81:15) stars which are visible during the night (81:16) and sit during the day,. “. (81:17)” The Imam (a.s.) said, “Al-Khunnas, refers to the imam who will disappear in his time when the knowledge about him will be cut off from people in the year two hundred sixty. Then he will reappear like a shooting star in the dark night. If you will attain such time it will light up your eyes with delight.”

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 (4/55)

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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