Al-Kafi 11474

Translation

A number of our companions, from Ahmad Bin Muhammad Bin Khalid, from Muhammad Bin Al Fuzayl, from Abu Hamz Al Sumaly who said, ‘I was seated in Masjid of Rasool^saww when a man came over, so I greeted. So he said, ‘Who are you, O servant of Allah^azwj?’ I said, ‘A man from the People of Al-Kufa. What is your need?’ So he said to me, ‘Do you know Abu Ja’far Muhammad Bin Ali^asws?’ So I said, ‘Yes, so what is your need to him^asws?’ He said, ‘I have brought forty questions to him^asws to ask him^asws about these, so whatever was from truth I shall take it, and whatever was from falsehood I shall leave it’. Abu Hamza said, ‘So I said to him, ‘Do you recognised what (difference there) is between the truth and the falsehood?’ He said, ‘Yes’. So I said to him, ‘So what is your need for him^asws when you recognise what (difference there) is between the truth and the falsehood?’ So he said so me, ‘O people of Al-Kufa! You all are a people who cannot be tolerated. When you see Abu Ja’far^asws, so inform me’. So I did not speak to him until Abu Ja’far^asws came over, and around him^asws were the people of Khurasan and others, asking him^asws about the rituals of the Hajj. So I went until I was seated in his^asws gathering and the man sat near to him^asws. Abu Hamza said, ‘So I sat where I could hear the speech, and around him^asws there was a world of people (many). So when he^asws had fulfilled their needs and they dispersed, he^asws turned towards the man, so he^asws said to him: ‘Who are you?’ He said, ‘I am Qatada Bin Diama Al-Basry’. So Abu Ja’far^asws said to him: ‘You are a jurist of the people of Al-Basra?’ He said, ‘Yes’. So Abu Ja’far^asws said to him: ‘Woe be unto you, O Qatada! Allah^azwj Majestic and Mighty Created a people from His^azwj creatures, so He^azwj Made them as Proofs upon His^azwj creatures. So they^asws are the pegs in His^azwj earth, standing by His^azwj Commands, excelling in His^azwj Knowledge, having Chosen them^asws before His^azwj creatures as shadows on the right of the Throne’. He (Abu Hamza) said, ‘Qatada was silent for a long time, then said, ‘May Allah^azwj Keep you well! By Allah^azwj, I have sat in front of the jurist, and in front of Ibn Abbas, by my heart did not shake in front of any of them what it has shaken in front of you^asws’. Abu Ja’far^asws said to him: ‘Woe be unto you! Do you know where you are? You are in front of <span class="ibTxt"><a href="/#/books/quran:24#h36"><a href="/books/quran:24#h36">[24:36]</a></a> houses which Allah has Allowed to be Exalted and that His Name may be Mentioned in them; Glorifying Him therein in the mornings and the evenings <a href="/#/books/quran:24#h37"><a href="/books/quran:24#h37">[24:37]</a></a> Men whom neither merchandise nor selling diverts from the Remembrance of Allah and the keeping up of Prayer and the giving of Zakat</span>. So you are therein and we^asws are them^asws’. So Qatada said to him^asws, ‘You^asws have spoken the truth, by Allah^azwj, may Allah^azwj Make me to be sacrificed for you! By Allah^azwj, these are neither houses of stones nor of clay’. Qatada said, ‘So inform me about the cheese’. He (Abu Hamza) said, ‘So Abu Ja’far^asws smiled, then said: ‘You questions have reverted to this?’ He said, ‘(It is) lost upon me’. So he^asws said: ‘There is no problem with it’. So he said, ‘Sometimes they put rennet of the dead in it?’ He^asws said: ‘There is no problem with it. The rennet, there are no veins for it, nor is there blood in it, nor does it have bones for it, but rather it is extracted from between the bowels and blood’. Then he^asws said: ‘But rather, the rennet is at the status of a dead chicken from which an egg is extracted, so would you eat that egg?’ So Qatada said, ‘No, and I would not instruct with eating it’. So Abu Ja’far^asws said to him: ‘And why (not)?’ So he said, ‘Because it is from the dead’. He^asws said to him: ‘So if that egg incubates, so a chicken comes out from it, would you eat it?’ He said, ‘Yes’.  He^asws said: ‘So what Prohibits the egg upon you and Permits the chicken for you?’ Then he^asws said: ‘So that rennet is like the egg. So buy the cheese from the markets of the Muslim, from the hand of the Praying one, and do not ask about it except if there comes to you one who informs you about it (that it is from the non-belivers)’.

Provided for research and educational purposes. Original source: Thaqalayn Project. Open License.