Hadith collections / Al-Kafi

Al-Kafi · Hadith 8

The Book on Dying People · Ghusl (bath) for Children and Salah (Prayer) for Them · Volume 3, book 3, chapter 73, Hadith 8

Original Arabic text

8ـ عَلِيٌّ عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ شِيرَةَ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ سُلَيْمَانَ عَنْ حُسَيْنٍ الْحَرْشُوشِ عَنْ هِشَامِ بْنِ سَالِمٍ قَالَ قُلْتُ لأَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) إِنَّ النَّاسَ يُكَلِّمُونَا وَيَرُدُّونَ عَلَيْنَا قَوْلَنَا إِنَّهُ لاَ يُصَلَّى عَلَى الطِّفْلِ لأَنَّهُ لَمْ يُصَلِّ فَيَقُولُونَ لاَ يُصَلَّى إِلاَّ عَلَى مَنْ صَلَّى فَنَقُولُ نَعَمْ فَيَقُولُونَ أَ رَأَيْتُمْ لَوْ أَنَّ رَجُلاً نَصْرَانِيّاً أَوْ يَهُودِيّاً أَسْلَمَ ثُمَّ مَاتَ مِنْ سَاعَتِهِ فَمَا الْجَوَابُ فِيهِ فَقَالَ قُولُوا لَهُمْ أَ رَأَيْتَ لَوْ أَنَّ هَذَا الَّذِي أَسْلَمَ السَّاعَةَ ثُمَّ افْتَرَى عَلَى إِنْسَانٍ مَا كَانَ يَجِبُ عَلَيْهِ فِي فِرْيَتِهِ فَإِنَّهُمْ سَيَقُولُونَ يَجِبُ عَلَيْهِ الْحَدُّ فَإِذَا قَالُوا هَذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ فَلَوْ أَنَّ هَذَا الصَّبِيَّ الَّذِي لَمْ يُصَلِّ افْتَرَى عَلَى إِنْسَانٍ هَلْ كَانَ يَجِبُ عَلَيْهِ الْحَدُّ فَإِنَّهُمْ سَيَقُولُونَ لاَ فَيُقَالُ لَهُمْ صَدَقْتُمْ إِنَّمَا يَجِبُ أَنْ يُصَلَّى عَلَى مَنْ وَجَبَ عَلَيْهِ الصَّلاَةُ وَالْحُدُودُ وَلاَ يُصَلَّى عَلَى مَنْ لَمْ تَجِبْ عَلَيْهِ الصَّلاَةُ وَلاَ الْحُدُودُ.

Published English translation

8. Ali has narrated from Ali ibn Shirah from Muhammad ibn Sulayman from Husayn al-Harshush from Hisham ibn Salim who has said the following: “I once said to abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), that people speak against us and do not accept our words, ‘there is no Salah (prayer) for a deceased child’; he has not performed any Salah (prayer). They say, ‘You say that there is no Salah (prayer) for those who have not performed any Salah (prayer).’ We say, ‘Yes that is true.’ They say, ‘Consider if a Christian or a Jew becomes a Muslim, then he dies within the same hour, then what is the answer?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘Ask them to consider the case of this man, new Muslim, if he within the same hour falsely accuses a human being. What is his obligation because of his committing such sin? They will say that he is subject to punishment according to law. When they say this, then it is said to them, ‘If a child who has not performed any Salah (prayer) accuses a human being falsely, is he subjected to punishment according to law? They will say that he is not subject to any punishment. It then is said to them that you are right. Salah (prayer) is necessary for one who has performed Salah (prayer) and those who are subject to punishment according to law. Salah (prayer) is not necessary for one on whom Salah (prayer) is not obligatory or enduring punishment according to law.’”

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 (4/140)

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/3/3/73/8
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
b6e06621b3f32308b85a74c4ad10f51fd938a9a422729a883e46d9e3d7f34352
source File Hash
c1963d9c5ae304c52e135f93552237f5ab876e0b12123bbc2d513a90dbd36cc2
original Source Url
https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/1/3/73/8
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.