Al-Kafi · Hadith 3

The Book of Taharat (Cleansing) · A Well near a Cesspool · Volume 3, book 1, chapter 5, Hadith 3

Original Arabic text

3ـ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ إِسْمَاعِيلَ عَنْ أَبِي إِسْمَاعِيلَ السَّرَّاجِ عَبْدِ الله بْنِ عُثْمَانَ عَنْ قُدَامَةَ بْنِ أَبِي يَزِيدَ الْحَمَّارِ عَنْ بَعْضِ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) قَالَ سَأَلْتُهُ كَمْ أَدْنَى مَا يَكُونُ بَيْنَ الْبِئْرِ بِئْرِ الْمَاءِ وَالْبَالُوعَةِ فَقَالَ إِنْ كَانَ سَهْلاً فَسَبْعَةُ أَذْرُعٍ وَإِنْ كَانَ جَبَلاً فَخَمْسَةُ أَذْرُعٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ الْمَاءُ يَجْرِي إِلَى الْقِبْلَةِ إِلَى يَمِينٍ وَيَجْرِي عَنْ يَمِينِ الْقِبْلَةِ إِلَى يَسَارِ الْقِبْلَةِ وَيَجْرِي عَنْ يَسَارِ الْقِبْلَةِ إِلَى يَمِينِ الْقِبْلَةِ وَلاَ يَجْرِي مِنَ الْقِبْلَةِ إِلَى دُبُرِ الْقِبْلَةِ.

Published English translation

3. Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from Muhammad ibn ’Isma‘il from abu ’Isma‘il from al-Sarraj from ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Uthman from Qudamah ibn abu Yazid al-Hammar from certain persons of our people who have said the following: “I once asked abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about the distance needed between a well and a cesspool. He (the Imam) replied, ‘If the ground is plain, the distance must be seven yards; and if it is a hillside the distance must be five yards.’ He (the Imam) then said, ‘Water flows forward in direction, to the right or to the left or from its left side to its right side (in) forward direction but it does not flow backward.’”

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 (13/34)

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 3, Thaqalayn digital edition / Muhammad Sarwar translation
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translator: Muhammad Sarwar
source Revision: becbad600b693ce23735d7403c4126ce7c896d34
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