Al-Kafi · Hadith 16

The Book of Belief and Disbelief · Lies and Forgery · Volume 2, book 1, chapter 139, Hadith 16

Original Arabic text

16ـ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عِيسَى عَنْ أَبِي يَحْيَى الْوَاسِطِيِّ عَنْ بَعْضِ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيهِ السَّلام) قَالَ الْكَلامُ ثَلاثَةٌ صِدْقٌ وَكَذِبٌ وَإِصْلاحٌ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ قَالَ قِيلَ لَهُ جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ مَا الإصْلاحُ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ قَالَ تَسْمَعُ مِنَ الرَّجُلِ كَلاماً يَبْلُغُهُ فَتَخْبُثُ نَفْسُهُ فَتَلْقَاهُ فَتَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ مِنْ فُلانٍ قَالَ فِيكَ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ كَذَا وَكَذَا خِلافَ مَا سَمِعْتَ مِنْهُ.

Published English translation

16. Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Isa from abu Yahya al-Wasiti from certain individuals of our people from Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) who has said the following: “Statements are of three kinds: true, false and to establish truce among people.’ The narrator has said that it was asked of him, ‘May Allah keep my soul in service for your cause, what is establishing truce among people?’ The Imam said, ‘It is when you hear something about a man that, if he himself may hear it, his soul turns filthy (with anger) but when you meet him you say, ‘I heard so and so saying very good things about you, which is opposite of what you have actually heard about him.’”

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: مرسل

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (10/334)

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 2, Thaqalayn digital edition / Muhammad Sarwar translation
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translator: Muhammad Sarwar
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