أحمد بن محمد بن سليمان

I heard Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn ‘Ali, peace be upon him, say: "He who resorts to the way of obeying those who disobey Allah has no religion at all, and he who invents lie against Allah has no religion at all, and he who adopts the way of repudiating anything from the Signs of Allah, has no religion at all."

Whenever the Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny stood to address, he would praise Allah and thank Him. Then he would say: "Know you all, that the most veracious and truthful statement is the Book of Allah (i.e. the Qu’ran) and the best guidance is that of Muhammad. The worst things are those which are invented concoctions, and every such innovation is misleading." Then he would raise his voice, with his cheeks gradually turning red and remind people of the Day of Reckoning and its dawn, in the manner one warns of an advancing army of the enemy. He would say: "It dawns with you every morning and is with you every evening!" Then he would say: "I have been sent to you with the Day of Reckoning like these two (then he would join his two forefingers). Whoever leaves behind him wealth, that will go to its heirs and whoever leaves behind a debt, it is my responsibility."

When Zaid ibn ‘Ali advanced upon Kufa, some reservation entered my mind about it. He says: Then I went to Makkah, and passed by Madinah to call upon Abu Abdillah, peace be upon him, who was then ill. I found him lying prone on his bed, with nothing left between his skin and the bones. I said: "I wish to assert before you my creed." He turned on his side, and looking at me, said: "O Hasan, I always thought that you did not need this anymore." Then he said: "Proceed." So I said: "I testify that there is no god but Allah, and I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." He, peace be upon him, said: "The same with me, also." Then I said: "I confirm the truth of all that Muhammad ibn Abdillah came with." He kept silent. Then I said: "And I testify that ‘Ali is the Imam after the Prophet, and obedience to him is obligatory. Whoever doubts about him is gone astray, and whoever disputes his authority is an unbeliever." He kept silent. Then I said: "I testify that al-Hasan and al-Husayn, peace be upon them, have the same position (as ‘Ali)", and then I continued till I reached his name, and said: "And I testify that you are in the same position as al-Hasan and al-Husayn and the Imams preceding you." He said: "Enough. You know exactly what you wish, you wish me to give my undertaking on this?" I said: "If you do so, then I will have fulfilled my desire." He said: "I give you my undertaking over it." I said: "May I be your ransom, I was worried about the uprising." He said: "Why?" I said: "Because if Zaid and his companions won the battle, then we would have been in the worst situation. And if Banu Umayya won, we would have been no better." He said: "Go, no harm will reach you from either."

I heard Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Baqir, peace be upon him, reporting that the Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, said: "A good act which attracts quickest reward (from Allah) is righteousness, and an evil act which draws close His wrath is to be oppressive. And the worst drawback in a person is that he sees (faults) in others, while he does not see the same in himself, and reproaches others for that which he himself cannot give up, and makes his companions suffer things with which he is not concerned."

A believer should have eight characteristics: (1) [they should be] dignified with calamities, (2) patient with tribulation, (3) thankful when relaxed, and (4) content with what Allah has given him of sustenance. (5) He should not wrong the enemies, and (6) he should not be a burden on his friends. (7) He should tire his body, and (8) the people should be at ease because of him. Surely, knowledge is the friend of the believer; forbearance is his vizier, patience is the commander of his forces, kindness is his brother, and gentleness is his father.

The Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, said Allah, Most High, says: "Grace and Blessing are My gift to My believing servant. If he accepts them, that is My mercy and from Me. And if he rejects them, that is because of his sins which deprive him; and it is his doing and not Mine. And I have guided every creature to Faith, and fashioned him in a shapely manner. And I never made him a victim of miserliness, for I always wished him good."

I was married to a woman, who was the first woman I had married. I was young man and my age was less than twenty years. I copulated with her at her father’s place and then she stayed there for years. I tried much to convince them to let her move to my place, but they would not listen. The woman became pregnant from me during this time and gave birth to a girl, which lived for a while and then died. I was neither present at her birth, nor when she died, and never saw her, because of the strained relationship between me and my in-laws. Then again we agreed to let her move to my house. So I went to them, but they again declined. I again made the woman pregnant. I demanded them to bring her to my house, as agreed. They again refused and our relationship soured. I moved away from them. She gave birth in my absence to a girl. We remained in this strained condition for many years. I did not go to bring her. Then I went to Baghdad. My friend at that time in Baghdad was Abu Ja’far Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Zajzawzaji and he was like an uncle or father to me. I stayed at his house in Baghdad and complained to him about my strained relationship with my wife and in-laws. He asked me to write a letter and ask for a Dua. So, I wrote a letter and mentioned in it my condition and my sour relations with my wife’s family and their refusal to let my wife come to my house. I and Abu Ja’far took the letter to Muhammad Ibn Ali, who was at the time a contact between us and Husain Ibn Rauh, who was the Representative at that time. We gave him the letter and asked him to send it. He took the letter from me, but the answer did not come for a long while. I met him and told him that I was very uncomfortable with the delay in answer to my letter. He said, “It should not make you uncomfortable.’ He hinted to me that if the answer comes soon, it is from Husain Ibn Rauh, and if there is a delay, it is from the Divine Proof (Hujjah) (a.s). I left. After a while – which I do not remember how long, but it was not very long – Abu Ja’far Zajawzaji called me one day. I went to him. He took out a section of a letter and said, “This is the answer of your letter. If you like to copy it, copy it and then return it to me.” I read the letter, which said: “May Allah set right the differences of the husband and the wife.” I copied these words and returned the letter to him. We went to Kufa. God made the woman’s heart soft to me with no effort. She lived with me for many years and I had many children from her. At times I was very rough to her and did things that would require much forbearance from any woman to bear, but she did not utter a word of disagreement, nor did her family, until time separated us from one another.” The narrators say, Abu Ghalib said: Long before this, once I wrote a letter requesting that my orchard and property be accepted. It was not my belief at that time to seek the pleasure of God, but rather I had a desire for courtship with the Naubakhtis, because of the wealth, power and prestige they enjoyed. No reply came to me. I insisted on making my request. A reply came to me, “Choose someone and transfer the property into his name, because you will need it.” I transferred the property to Abul Qasim Musa Ibn Hasan Zajawzaji, the nephew of Abu Ja’far, because I had confidence in him and his piety. Not many days passed that Bedouins took me prisoner and looted the property I owned. All my grains, animals and instruments worth a thousand dinars were gone. I remained in their captivity for some time until I bought my freedom for a hundred dinars and fifteen hundred dirhams. I became indebted to the couriers for another five hundred dirhams. I came out from the captivity and sold the property for this sheer need.

There was great discord between me and my wife, mother of my son, Abul Abbas. This continued to such a limit that I became extremely hateful of her. I wrote a letter to Imam (a.s) through Abu Ja’far asking for a Dua. There was delay in reply. After some days Abu Ja’far saw me and said: Reply to your letter has arrived. I went to meet him. He opened a scroll and was sorting when I saw that on one the following was written: “As for the matter between husband and wife; Almighty Allah has rectified their relationship.” After that we had a perfectly amicable life and even when I intentionally tried to provoke my wife, she was not at all angered.” This is the account of Abu Ghalib in exact words or close to it.

Abu Ghalib said: I saw a son of Abu Sura. Abu Sura was a prominent member of Zaidiyyah sect and he said: I stayed the day of Arafa there and when it was the time of Isha prayers, I stood up to pray. I rose and began by Surah Hamd. Suddenly, a young man of tremendous beauty, who had a summer cloak on him, also began with the same Surah and finished before me or I did before him. Later we left together from the door of the shrine. When we reached the banks of Euphrates, the young man said, “You want to go to Kufa, so go ahead.” I went ahead by the way of Euphrates and the young man took the land trail. Abu Sura continues, Feeling sorry for separating from his company, I began following him. He said, “Come.” We went together upto the foundation of the fortress of Masnath. We slept there. When we woke up, we were at the heights, at the mountain of Khandaq. He said, “You are facing hardships and have a family to support. Go to Abu Tahir Razi. He will come out to you, while his hands are drenched in blood of slaughter. Say to him a young man who had these qualities says that the bag having twenty dinars, which one of your brothers has brought, is yours. Take it from him.” Abu Sura says, I went to Abu Tahir Ibn Razi, as the young man had said and described the young man to him. He said: “Praise belongs to Allah, and you saw him.” He went inside and brought out a bag of dinars. He gave them to me and I returned. Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Zaid Ibn Marwan, who is also one of the Shaykhs of the Zaidiyyah, says, I recounted this narrative to Abu Husain Muhammad Ibn Ubaidullah Alawi, when we had halted at the land of Herr. He said: This is true. A young man came to me and I recognized a sign in his face. When the people left, I asked him, “Who are you?” He said: “I am the messenger of the successor (a.s) to one of his brothers in Baghdad.” I asked, “Do you have the means for travel?” “Yes, in the house of the Talhayayn.” I said, “Go and bring them.” I sent a servant with him. He brought his luggage and means of travel and stayed with me that day. He ate with me and talked about many secrets and confidential matters. I asked him, “What road are you taking?” “I will disembark at this height and then go to the valley of the sands; then I’ll go to the tents and purchase mounts and ride to the successor (a.s) to the west.” Abu Husain Muhammad Ibn Ubaidullah said: Next day he rode his beast and I rode along with him. We went to the archway of the house of Salih. He crossed the channel by himself and I was watching him until he reached Najaf and then he disappeared from my eyes. Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Zaid says, I recounted these two narratives to Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Abi Darram Yamami, who is a Shaykhs of Hashawiyya. He said: This is true.” After that he said: A few years ago, the nephew of Abu Bakr bin Nakhali Attar, who was a Sufi and who intermingled with Sufis, came to me. I asked: Who are you and from where have you come? He replied: I am a traveler and I am on a journey since last seventy years. I asked: What is the most extraordinary thing that you have seen? He replied: I stayed in a rest house in Alexandria. There was a Masjid in the center of the caravanserai, which was used by travelers. An Imam of congregation was also present there and he was a young man. He lived in his special quarters from where he emerged to lead them in prayers and returned to his room immediately. When I had stayed there for a long time and observed this practice of that young man who was extremely pure and clean and who also had a cloak upon him, I said: I would like to be present in your service. Please give me an opportunity. He replied: It is your honor, you may do so. Thus I started cultivating his company till I became very much attached to him. One day I said to him: May Almighty Allah give you honor, who are you? He replied: I am the owner of truth. I said: My master, when will you reappear? He replied: Presently, time is not ripe for the reappearance. A period still remains for it. Thus I always remained engrossed in the service of the Imam and he also continued his practice of simply leading congregational prayers without interfering in anything else, which did not concern him, till he said one day: I need to go on a journey. I asked: I will accompany you. After that I requested him: My master, when will your reappearance take place? He replied: The sign of the coming of my kingdom is that there would be confusion and discord, and too much of mischief. At that time I will come to Mecca and would be in Masjidul Haraam till people say: Appoint an Imam for us, and a long discussion will take place in this regard; till a person will rise from them and look at me. He would say: People, this man is the Mahdi, look at him and pledge allegiance to him. They would all pledge allegiance to me between Rukn and Maqam, while before that they would have despaired of my life and reappearance. We set out from there till we reached the sea shore. He intended to cross the sea. I asked: Master, by Allah, I fear the sea. Imam (a.s) said: Are you afraid when I am with you? I replied: No, but I cannot dare. So Imam (a.s) mounted the sea [walked on the surface] and I returned from there.

"Be supplicating constantly, for there is nothing like it to take you nearer (to Allah). And do not avoid asking for small matters because of its smallness, for the provider of the small is also the provider of the big."

I heard him say: "Dive deep into your hearts, to find if Allah has cleansed and purified it from all displeasure and fear regarding His Will. If you find it so, then ask for Him whatever you desire."

I heard Abu Abdillah, peace be upon him, say: "Our first one is the ushering guide to our next one, and our next one is the conformer of the first one. And among us, the tradition is constant. Surely, when Allah ordains, He implements it." All Praise be to Allah, the Lord of all Universe and Allah bless our master Muhammad, the Prophet and his progeny and send peace upon them. Al-Shaikh al-Mufid Abu Abdillah Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Nu’man - may Allah perpetuate his capabilities - narrated to us on Monday, the end of Shawaal, in the year four hundred and four.

I requested Abul Hasan Musa ibn Ja’far, peace be upon him, saying: "May I be your ransom, pray to Allah that He may bless me with a son, and may not deprive me from Haj as long as I live." He says: "He prayed for me and Allah gave me this son. And whenever the days of Haj arrived while I had no means for the expenses, Allah provided from unexpected quarters."

Someone who heard from Abu Abdillah Ja’far ibn Muhammad (as) reported to me that he said: "One who acts without any understanding and vision, is like a person walking behind a mirage on a levelled desert, the faster he runs the farthest he ends up.

I asked Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn ‘Ali, peace be upon him, about the verse (in Qur’an): ’Those Allah will change their evil deeds into good deeds. Allah is ever all-Forgiving, Merciful.’ (25:70) He said: "A believer who will be a sinner will be brought on the Day of Reckoning, and made to stand for accounting. And Allah (Himself) will be in charge of his reckoning, and no other men will know about his reckoning. Then Allah will show him his sins, till when he will confirm his evil deeds, then Allah will command the recorders: ’Change them into good deeds, and display them to the people.’ Then the people will ask: ’Did this slave not have even single lapse?’ Then Allah will order him to Paradise. This is the true meaning of the verse, and it is especially for the sinners among our Shi’ahs."