Al-Kafi · Hadith 20

The Book of Belief and Disbelief · Providing Food for a Believer · Volume 2, book 1, chapter 86, Hadith 20

Original Arabic text

20ـ صَالِحُ بْنُ عُقْبَةَ عَنْ نَصْرِ بْنِ قَابُوسَ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيهِ السَّلام) قَالَ لأطْعَامُ مُؤْمِنٍ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِنْ عِتْقِ عَشْرِ رِقَابٍ وَعَشْرِ حِجَجٍ قَالَ قُلْتُ عَشْرِ رِقَابٍ وَعَشْرِ حِجَجٍ قَالَ فَقَالَ يَا نَصْرُ إِنْ لَمْ تُطْعِمُوهُ مَاتَ أَوْ تَدُلُّونَهُ فَيَجِي‏ءُ إِلَى نَاصِبٍ فَيَسْأَلُهُ وَالْمَوْتُ خَيْرٌ لَهُ مِنْ مَسْأَلَةِ نَاصِبٍ يَا نَصْرُ مَنْ أَحْيَا مُؤْمِناً فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيعاً فَإِنْ لَمْ تُطْعِمُوهُ فَقَدْ أَمَتُّمُوهُ وَإِنْ أَطْعَمْتُمُوهُ فَقَدْ أَحْيَيْتُمُوهُ.

Published English translation

20. Salih ibn ‘Aqabah has narrated from Nasr ibn Qabus from Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) who has said the following: “Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.) has said, ‘Feeding a believer is, indeed, more beloved to me than setting free ten slaves and performing ten Hajj.’ I (the narrator) then asked, ‘Is it like setting free ten slaves and performing ten Hajj?’ He has said that the Imam said, ‘O Nasr, if you do not feed him he will die or you will humiliate him, then he will go to one who is a bitter enemy of the Imam and will ask him for help. Death is better for him than asking help from such enemy of the Imam. O Nasr, giving life to a believer is like giving life to all mankind. If you do not feed him you have caused his death, if you feed him you have given him life.’”

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 (9/132)

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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