Al-Kafi · Hadith 5

The Book of Prayer · One Who Has Performed Salah (Prayer) but Wants to Join a Congregation or Has Led a People and Wants to Perform Again · Volume 3, book 4, chapter 55, Hadith 5

Original Arabic text

5ـ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ إِسْمَاعِيلَ قَالَ كَتَبْتُ إِلَى أَبِي الْحَسَنِ (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) أَنِّي أَحْضُرُ الْمَسَاجِدَ مَعَ جِيرَتِي وَغَيْرِهِمْ فَيَأْمُرُونِّي بِالصَّلاَةِ بِهِمْ وَقَدْ صَلَّيْتُ قَبْلَ أَنْ آتِيَهُمْ وَرُبَّمَا صَلَّى خَلْفِي مَنْ يَقْتَدِي بِصَلاَتِي وَالْمُسْتَضْعَفُ وَالْجَاهِلُ وَأَكْرَهُ أَنْ أَتَقَدَّمَ وَقَدْ صَلَّيْتُ بِحَالِ مَنْ يُصَلِّي بِصَلاَتِي مِمَّنْ سَمَّيْتُ لَكَ فَمُرْنِي فِي ذَلِكَ بِأَمْرِكَ أَنْتَهِي إِلَيْهِ وَأَعْمَلُ بِهِ إِنْ شَاءَ الله فَكَتَبَ (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) صَلِّ بِهِمْ.

Published English translation

5. Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from Muhammad ibn ’Isma’il who has said the following: “I once wrote to abu al-Hassan (a.s.), ‘I go to Masjid with my neighbors and others and they ask me to lead Salah (prayer) with them, when I have already performed Salah (prayer) before coming to them. Perhaps certain ones have followed me in Salah (prayer) that I have already performed and they are people of weak understanding and the ignorant ones. I dislike leading. I have performed in such condition that I have mentioned. Command me so I obey and follow your command by the will of Allah. He (the Imam) wrote to me, ‘You must lead them in Salah (prayer).”’

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: صحيح

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (15/270)

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, pp. 305, 306

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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