Al-Kafi · Hadith 8

The Book of Prayer · Humility during Salah (prayer) and the Contemptibility of Playfulness during Prayer · Volume 3, book 4, chapter 16, Hadith 8

Original Arabic text

8ـ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عِيسَى عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ أَبِي نَصْرٍ عَنْ أَبِي الْوَلِيدِ قَالَ كُنْتُ جَالِساً عِنْدَ أَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) فَسَأَلَهُ نَاجِيَةُ أَبُو حَبِيبٍ فَقَالَ لَهُ جَعَلَنِي الله فِدَاكَ إِنَّ لِي رَحًى أَطْحَنُ فِيهَا فَرُبَّمَا قُمْتُ فِي سَاعَةٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ فَأَعْرِفُ مِنَ الرَّحَى أَنَّ الْغُلاَمَ قَدْ نَامَ فَأَضْرِبُ الْحَائِطَ لأُوقِظَهُ قَالَ نَعَمْ أَنْتَ فِي طَاعَةِ الله عَزَّ وَجَلَّ تَطْلُبُ رِزْقَهُ.

Published English translation

8. Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Isa from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn abu Nasr from abu al- Walid who has said the following: “I was sitting in the presence of abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), when Najiyyah abu Habib asked the Imam saying, ‘May Allah keep my soul in service for your cause, I have a flour-mill. During the night I wake up (for Salah (prayer)) and notice from the mill that the servant is gone to sleep. (Can) I then knock at the wall to wake him up?’ The Imam replied, ‘Yes, you are in the condition of obeying Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Glorious, when you are seeking to make a living.’” (Please consult a fatwa also.)

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: مجهول أو مرسل

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (15/78)

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: صحيح

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Kāfī, vol. 1, p. 268

Assessment transcribed from the source's named scholar and reference. No new grading or consensus is asserted; differing entries remain separate.

Source, rights, and attribution

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edition: Al-Kafi, volume 3, Thaqalayn digital edition / Muhammad Sarwar translation
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translator: Muhammad Sarwar
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