Al-Kafi · Hadith 36

The Book on Dying People · The Rare Ahadith · Volume 3, book 3, chapter 95, Hadith 36

Original Arabic text

36ـ عَلِيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنِ ابْنِ أَبِي عُمَيْرٍ عَنْ هِشَامِ بْنِ سَالِمٍ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) قَالَ إِنَّ قَوْماً فِيمَا مَضَى قَالُوا لِنَبِيٍّ لَهُمْ ادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يَرْفَعُ عَنَّا الْمَوْتَ فَدَعَا لَهُمْ فَرَفَعَ الله عَنْهُمُ الْمَوْتَ فَكَثُرُوا حَتَّى ضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَنَازِلُ وَكَثُرَ النَّسْلُ وَيُصْبِحُ الرَّجُلُ يُطْعِمُ أَبَاهُ وَجَدَّهُ وَأُمَّهُ وَجَدَّ جَدِّهِ وَيُوَضِّيهِمْ وَيَتَعَاهَدُهُمْ فَشَغَلُوا عَنْ طَلَبِ الْمَعَاشِ فَقَالُوا سَلْ لَنَا رَبَّكَ أَنْ يَرُدَّنَا إِلَى حَالِنَا الَّتِي كُنَّا عَلَيْهَا فَسَأَلَ نَبِيُّهُمْ رَبَّهُ فَرَدَّهُمْ إِلَى حَالِهِمْ.

Published English translation

36. Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from his father from ibn abu ‘ Umayr from Hisham ibn Salim who has said the following: “Abu ’Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that a people in the past had asked their prophet, Tray to your Lord to stop death from ending our lives.’ He prayed and death was stopped from ending their lives. Their number multiplied and it caused congestion to their dwellings and birth rate increased so much so that a man needed to feed his father, grandfather, mother, grandfather of his grandfather, take care of their hygiene and look after them. It stopped them from working to make a living. They then asked their prophet to appeal to his Lord to return them to their previous conditions. Their prophet asked his Lord. He then returned them to their previous conditions.’”

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 (14/263)

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
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