“I went to Abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.) and said, “May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, I like to ask you a question. Is there anyone else in this house who may hear my words?” Abu 'Abd Allah (a.s.) then folded the curtain between his room and the other room next to it and looked into it. Then he (a.s.) said, “O Abu Muhammad, ask whatever you wish.” I said, “May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, your followers say that the Messenger of Allah (sw) taught Ali (a.s.) a thousand chapters (of knowledge) and from each chapter there opens a thousand chapters. I then said, ‘This, I swear by Allah, is knowledge.’” He (a.s.) then would mark the ground with his staff (a sign of thinking in normal people) for a while and said, “That is knowledge but it is not that.”
The narrator has said that he (a.s.) then said, “O Abu Muhammad, with us is al-Jami‘a. What do they know what al-Jami‘a is?” I then asked, “May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, what is al-Jami‘a?” He (a.s.) said, it is a parchment seventy yards by the yards of the Messenger of Allah (sw) long, that contains his dictations that is in graved in to with the right hand writing of Ali (a.s.). It contains all the lawful and unlawful and all matters that people need, even the law to of compensation for a scratch caused to a person. He then stretched his hand to me and asked, ‘May I, O abu Muhammad?’ I then replied, “May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, I am all at your disposal, do as you wish.” He pinched me with his hand and said, “Even there is the law of compensation for this.” He (a.s.) seemed angry. The narrator has said, “I then said, “This, I swear by Allah is knowledge.” He (a.s.) said, “It certainly is knowledge but not that one.”
He (a.s.) remained silent for a while and then said, “With us there is al-Jafr (the parchment). What do they know what al-Jafr is? I then asked, “What is al-Jafr?” He (a.s.) said, “It is a container made of skin that contains the knowledge of the prophets and the executors of their wills and the knowledge of the scholars in the past from the Israelites.” The narrator has said that he then said, “This certainly is the knowledge.” He (a.s.) said, “It certainly is knowledge but not that knowledge.”
He (a.s.) remained silent for a while and then said, “With us there is the book (Mushaf) of Fatima (s.a.). What do they know what the Mushaf of Fatima is?“ He (a.s.) said, “The Mushaf of Fatima is three times bigger than your Quran. There is not even a single letter therein from your Quran.” The narrator has said, “I then said, “This, I swear by Allah, is the knowledge.” He (a.s.) said, “This certainly is knowledge, but it is not that.”
He (a.s.) remained silent for a while and then said, “With us there is the knowledge of whatever has been and the knowledge of whatever will come into being to the Day of Judgment.” The narrator has said that he then said, “May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, this, I swear by Allah is, certainly, knowledge.” He (a.s.) said, “It certainly is knowledge but not that.”
The narrator has said that he then asked, “May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, What then is knowledge?” He (a.s.) said, “Whatever takes place during the night and during the day, one matter after the other matter and one thing after the other thing to the Day of Judgment.”