The Transients

“Once I was sitting when abu al-Hassan Musa (a.s.) passed by and with him was a goat. I (the narrator) asked him, ‘O young man, do you know what your father does? He commands us to do something and then he prohibits us to do the same thing. He commanded us to be friends with abu al-Khattab and then he commanded us to condemn and disown him.’ Abu al-Hassan (a.s.) said, and he was only a young boy, ‘Allah has created a creature for belief that does not vanish. He has created a creature for disbelief that does not vanish. He has created a creature in between and has deposited belief in them and they are called people with transient belief. When He wills He removes belief from them and abu al-Khattab was one in whom belief was deposited temporarily.’ I (the narrator) then went in the presence of Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) and informed him of what I had said to abu al-Hassan and what abu al-Hassan (a.s.) had said to me. Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.) then said, ‘He is one of the fountains from prophet-hood.’”