Hadith collections / Al-Kafi

Al-Kafi · Hadith 3

The Book on Dying People · Ghusl (bath) for Children and Salah (Prayer) for Them · Volume 3, book 3, chapter 73, Hadith 3

Original Arabic text

3ـ عَلِيٌّ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنِ ابْنِ أَبِي عُمَيْرٍ عَنْ عُمَرَ بْنِ أُذَيْنَةَ عَنْ زُرَارَةَ قَالَ رَأَيْتُ ابْناً لأَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) فِي حَيَاةِ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) يُقَالُ لَهُ عَبْدُ الله فَطِيمٌ قَدْ دَرَجَ فَقُلْتُ لَهُ يَا غُلاَمُ مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي إِلَى جَنْبِكَ لِمَوْلىً لَهُمْ فَقَالَ هَذَا مَوْلاَيَ فَقَالَ لَهُ الْمَوْلَى يُمَازِحُهُ لَسْتُ لَكَ بِمَوْلىً فَقَالَ ذَلِكَ شَرٌّ لَكَ فَطَعَنَ فِي جِنَازَةِ الْغُلاَمِ فَمَاتَ فَأُخْرِجَ فِي سَفَطٍ إِلَى الْبَقِيعِ فَخَرَجَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) وَعَلَيْهِ جُبَّةُ خَزٍّ صَفْرَاءُ وَعِمَامَةُ خَزٍّ صَفْرَاءُ وَمِطْرَفُ خَزٍّ أَصْفَرُ فَانْطَلَقَ يَمْشِي إِلَى الْبَقِيعِ وَهُوَ مُعْتَمِدٌ عَلَيَّ وَالنَّاسُ يُعَزُّونَهُ عَلَى ابْنِ ابْنِهِ فَلَمَّا انْتَهَى إِلَى الْبَقِيعِ تَقَدَّمَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) فَصَلَّى عَلَيْهِ وَكَبَّرَ عَلَيْهِ أَرْبَعاً ثُمَّ أَمَرَ بِهِ فَدُفِنَ ثُمَّ أَخَذَ بِيَدِي فَتَنَحَّى بِي ثُمَّ قَالَ إِنَّهُ لَمْ يَكُنْ يُصَلَّى عَلَى الأطْفَالِ إِنَّمَا كَانَ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (صلّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِه) يَأْمُرُ بِهِمْ فَيُدْفَنُونَ مِنْ وَرَاءُ وَلاَ يُصَلِّي عَلَيْهِمْ وَإِنَّمَا صَلَّيْتُ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ أَجْلِ أَهْلِ الْمَدِينَةِ كَرَاهِيَةَ أَنْ يَقُولُوا لاَ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى أَطْفَالِهِمْ.

Published English translation

3. Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from his father from Ibn Abi ‘Umayr from ‘Umar ibn ’Udhaynah from Zurarah from who has said the following: “I saw a son of abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), during the life time of abu Ja‘far (a.s.), called ‘Abd Allah Fatim moved in. I asked him about their Mawla’ next to him, ‘Who is he next to you?’ He replied, ‘He is my Mawla’ (servant or follower).’ The Mawla’, joking with him said, ‘I am not your Mawla’.’ He said, ‘That is worse for you.’ That boy was hurt and he died. (They carried) his body to al-Baqi’ cemetery in a basket. Abu Ja‘far (a.s.), came out to join the funeral wearing a jubbah which was yellow, a yellow turban and a yellow shawl of khazz (a certain kind of fur). He (the Imam) walked to al-Baqi’ while leaning on me for support. People offered condolences for his grandchild. In al-Baqi’ abu Ja‘far (a.s.), moved forward and performed Salah (prayer) for the deceased boy with four Takbir. He then commanded to bury him. He (the Imam) then holding my hand moved away and then said, ‘Salah (prayer) was not performed for deceased children. ’Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s.), would command to bury them (children) without performing Salah (prayer). I performed Salah (prayer) only because of people of al-Madinah. I do not like their saying, ‘They do not perform Salah (prayer) for their children.’”

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: حسن

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (4/132)

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.

Source, rights, and attribution

dataset Name
Thaqalayn public library, via ThaqalaynAPI snapshot
source Url
https://thaqalayn.com/hadith/3/3/73/3
license
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
edition
Al-Kafi, volume 3, Thaqalayn digital edition / Muhammad Sarwar translation
imported At
2026-10-18T21:36:12.871Z
license Url
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
rights Statement Url
https://thaqalayn.com/terms
attribution
Source: Thaqalayn (Stichting Thaqalayn). Compiler: Shaykh Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-Kulaynī. Translation: Muhammad Sarwar. Data transport: MohammedArab1/ThaqalaynAPI. No endorsement implied.
translator
Muhammad Sarwar
source Revision
becbad600b693ce23735d7403c4126ce7c896d34
content Hash
eab7a22c47a02e61f4201b87d059fb471e0876ea4648adf188080dda59023ffc
source File Hash
c1963d9c5ae304c52e135f93552237f5ab876e0b12123bbc2d513a90dbd36cc2
original Source Url
https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/1/3/73/3
changes
Arabic and English texts preserved verbatim from pinned snapshot. Compiler introduction excluded where present; references mapped to fields; assessment whitespace trimmed; source-supplied English sanad retained separately. Search normalization is not applied to displayed text. Snapshot URL's erroneous volume 1 segment corrected to volume 3 using the reviewed file/book/volume metadata and publisher chapter structure; original URL retained for audit.
verification Note
Publisher content rights, translator attribution and structural checks, with independent publisher-page spot checks—not scholarly authentication or printed-edition collation. Historical text and scholarly reference strings may contain source errors; they are not silently corrected. No full commentary prose or inferred narrator identity is added. Muʿjam coverage, where present, is only the supplied excerpt, not the complete work.