Al-Kafi · Hadith 14

The Book about people with Divine Authority · The Criterion to Discern the Truthful and False Claims of Entitlement to Imamat (Leadership with Divine Authority) · Volume 1, book 4, chapter 81, Hadith 14

Original Arabic text

14ـ الْحُسَيْنُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنْ مُعَلَّى بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَبْدِ الله قَالَ كَانَ عَبْدُ الله بْنُ هُلَيْلٍ يَقُولُ بِعَبْدِ الله فَصَارَ إِلَى الْعَسْكَرِ فَرَجَعَ عَنْ ذَلِكَ فَسَأَلْتُهُ عَنْ سَبَبِ رُجُوعِهِ فَقَالَ إِنِّي عَرَضْتُ لابِي الْحَسَنِ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) أَنْ أَسْأَلَهُ عَنْ ذَلِكَ فَوَافَقَنِي فِي طَرِيقٍ ضَيِّقٍ فَمَالَ نَحْوِي حَتَّى إِذَا حَاذَانِي أَقْبَلَ نَحْوِي بِشَيْ‏ءٍ مِنْ فِيهِ فَوَقَعَ عَلَى صَدْرِي فَأَخَذْتُهُ فَإِذَا هُوَ رَقٌّ فِيهِ مَكْتُوبٌ مَا كَانَ هُنَالِكَ وَلا كَذَلِكَ.

Published English translation

14. Al-Husayn ibn Muhammad has narrated from Mu‘alla ibn Muhammad from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abdallah who has said the following. “‘Abdallah ibn Hulayl believe in ‘Abdallah (ibn Ja’far (a.s.) ) to be the Imam). He went to the army head quarters in Samarra, Iraq and thereafter he changed his belief. I asked him about the reason for such change. He said, “I thought (while in Samarra) I should discuss it with abu al-Hassan (a.s.) and ask him about it. Accidentally I came across him when passing through a narrow alley. He came closer and when parallel to me, he spitted out on me something from his mouth and it was placed on my chest. I then picked it up. It was a leaf with a writing on it that said, “He was not there (position of Leadership with Divine Authority) and he was not qualified for it (Leadership with Divine Authority).”

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: ضعيف على المشهور

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (4/104)

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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edition: Al-Kafi, volume 1, Thaqalayn digital edition / Muhammad Sarwar translation
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translator: Muhammad Sarwar
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