Muhammad b. Ali b. al-Husayn b. Musa b. Babawayh (Shaykh al-Saduq)

Ali b. al-Husayn b. Musa b. Babawayh رضي الله عنه asked me – after the death of Muhammad b. Uthman al-Amri قدس سره – to request Aba al-Qasim al-Ruhi قدس سره to implore our Leader the Master of the Age عليه السلام to supplicate to Allah that He grant him a male child. He [al-Aswad] says: I asked him [al-Ruhi] but he refused it. Then he informed me after three days that he [the Imam] had supplicated for Ali b. al-Husayn رحمه الله and ‘will be born to him a blessed son through whom Allah will benefit many and after him other sons’. He [al-Aswad] said: Muhammad b. Ali was born to Ali b. al-Husayn رضي الله عنه that same year and after him other children … Abu Ja’far b. Babawayh (al-Saduq) said: Abu Ja’far Muhammad b. Ali al-Aswad would always say to me – when he sees me going to the study session of our Shaykh Muhammad b. al-Hasan b. al-Walid رضي الله عنه and after observing my motivation for studying the books of knowledge and gaining mastery over them: it is not strange that you have this desire for knowledge for you were born because of the supplication of the Imam عليه السلام.