2. Abu Ahmad al-Hasan ibn `Abd Allah ibn Sa`id al-`Askari said: `Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Karim said: Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Rahman al-Barqi said: `Amr ibn Abu Salamah said: I read to Abu `Umar al-San`ani on the authority of al-`Ala’ ibn `Abd al-Rahman, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abu Hurayrah that The Messenger of Allah said: There are many beggars with unkempt hair, who are covered in dust, and who wear nothing but two tattered garments, who are turned away when they knock on doors. If they swear by Allah, the Mighty and High, He will keep their oath.

3. My father said: `Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn Hashim said, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Hasan ibn Mahbub, on the authority of `Abd Allah ibn Sinan, on the authority of Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir that `Awn ibn `Abd Allah ibn Mas`ud became sick as I went to visit him. He said: “Shall I not related to you a tradition from `Abd Allah ibn mas`ud?” I replied, “Why not?” He said: `Abd Allah said: “While we were in the presence of the Messenger of Allah , he smiled. So I asked him, “What is it, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “I am surprised at how a believer can worry about being sick. If he knew the reward which resides in illness, he would ask to be ill until he meets his Lord, the Mighty and High.”

4. Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn al-Walid said: Muhammad ibn al-Hasan alSaffar said, on the authority of Ya`qub ibn Yazid, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Abu `Umayr, on the authority of Hisham ibn Salim that Abu `Abd Allah al-Sadiq said: A group of people came to a prophet and said: Pray to your Lord for us that He may remove death from us. Hence, he prayed for them, and Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, removed death from them. Due to their increase in number, their houses became congested and their offspring increased. A man used to wake up in the morning and had to feed, please, and take care of his father, mother, grandfather, and greatgrandfather. As a result, he became preoccupied with seeking means of subsistence. Consequently, they came to the prophet and said: Ask your Lord to return death to us, as we had before. She asked his Lord, the Mighty and high, and He returned them to their moment of death.

5. `Ali ibn Ahmad ibn `Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Abu `Abd Allah al-Barqi said: My father said, on the authority of his grandfather Ahmad ibn Abu `Abd Allah, on the authority of alHasan ibn `Ali ibn Fuddal, on the authority of `Ali ibn `Uqbah, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Sulayman ibn Khalid, on the authority of Abu `Abd Allah al-Sadiq, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather who said that One day the Messenger of Allah smiled until his teeth were showing, He said: “Will you not ask me why I smiled?” The replied, “Of course, O Messenger of Allah.” He said: “I am astonished at a Muslim person that there is not a prayer, which Allah, the Mighty and High, grants him except there is good for him in the Hereafter.”

6. Muhammad ibn Musa ibn al-Mutawakkil said: `Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Sa`dabadi said, on the authority of Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abu Qatadah al-Qummi that `Abd Allah ibn Yahya said, on the authority of Aban al-Ahmar that Al-Sadiq Ja`far ibn Muhammad said: Verily, I swear by the One that send my grandfather as a righteous prophet that Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, give sustenance to a servant according to his generosity. Verily, the help provided from Heaven is based on the extent of the need. And verily, patience must match the level of affliction.

7. Al-Husayn ibn Ahmad ibn Idris said: My father said: Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn `Isa said, on the authority of `Abd al-Rahman ibn Abu Najran, on the al-Mufaddal ibn Salih, on the authority of Jabir ibn Yazid al-Jufi that Abu Ja`far Muhammad ibn `Ali al-baqir said: Verily, Musa son of `Imran said: “O my Lord! I am pleased with what You have decreed regarding taking the souls of the elderly, and leaving the souls of the young.” Allah, the Mighty and High, replied, “O Musa! Are you not pleased with Me for being their Sustainer and Provider [kafil]?” Musa replied, “Of course, O Lord. You are the best Custodian, and the Best Provider.”

8. Muhammad ibn Musa ibn al-Mutawakkil said: `Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Sa`dabadi said, on the authority of Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Safwan ibn Yahya, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Abu al-Hazhaz, on the authority of `ali ib al-Hasan that Abu `Abd Allah al-Sadiq : “Verily, Allah, the Mighty and High, has provided the believer with sustenance from places they cannot even imagine. The pleas of a servant increase when he has no idea where his sustenance will come from.”

9. `Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn `Imran al-Daqqaq said: Muhammad ibn Abu `Abd Allah al-Kufi said: Muhammad ibn Isma`il al-Barmaki said: Ja`far ibn Sulayman ibn Ayyub alKhazzaz said: `Abd Allah ibn al-Fadl al-Hashimi said I asked Abu `Abd Allah al-Sadiq : “Why did Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, place the sols in bodies when they had been in the highest of realms?” Thus, he replied, Verily, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, knows that whenever the spirits are left on their own in their elevated and high place, most of them dispute over the Lordship for other than the Mighty and High. Therefore, He placed them with His Power into the bodies, which He had decreed for them from the beginning of the Divine Decree. Bearing them in mind and having mercy over them, He made them in need of each other, and connected them to each other. He elevated the status of some over others, and sufficed some of them for others. He sent messengers to them and made them proofs over them as bearers of good news and warners. They commanded them to seek their Lord, and to be humble before God through acts of devotion. They set punishment and rewards for them, for now and in the future to promote the good and to forbid the evil. He humbled them by making them seek their own means of sustenance and earning so that they may know that they have a Lord and that they are created servants. He accept their service and through it they deserve the ever-lasting bounty and the eternal paradise. They should make peace rather than fight over what they have no right. He then added, O son of al-Fadl! Verily, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, intends for His Servants better than what they do for themselves. Do you not see that people seek nothing but self-elevation, until some of them claim to be God? Among them are people who falsely claim the Prophethood, and among them are some who falsely claim the reigns of divine leadership [Imamate], knowing full well their deficiencies, their inability, their limitations, their lowliness, their need, their lack, their suffering, and the death will overpower them and subdue them all. O son of al-Fadl! Verily, Allah the Blessed and Exalted wishes nothing but the best for His Servants. He does not oppress the people at all. On the contrary, it is the people who oppress themselves.

10. Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Shaybani said: Muhammad ibn Abu `Abd Allah al-Kufi said: Musa ibn `Imran al-Nakha`I said, on the authority of his paternal uncleal-Husayn ibn Yazi al-Nawfali, on the authority of `Ali ibn Salim, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abu Basir that I asked Abu Abd Allah Ja`far al-Sadiq about the Word of Allah, the Mighty and High: And they shall continue to differ, except those on whom your Lord has mercy; and for this did He create them. He replied, “He created them to do what makes them deserve His Mercy so that He may have mercy on them.”

11. Muhammad ibn al-Qasim al-Astarabadi said: Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn Ziyad and `ali ibn Muhammad ibn Sayyar both said, on the authority of their father, on the authority of al-Hasan ibn `Ali, on the authority of his father `Ali ibn Muhammad, on the authority of his father Muhammad ibn `Ali, on the authority of his father, `Ali ibn Musa al-Rida, on the authority of his father Musa ibn Ja`far, on the authority of his father Ja`far ibn Muhammad, on the authority of his father Muhammad ibn `Ali that His father, `Ali ibn al-Husayn , was asked to interpret the Word of Allah, the Mighty and High: Who made the Earth a resting place for you. He said He made it suitable for your nature and in harmony with your bodies. He did not make it severely hot and warm so it may burn you, nor severely cold so it may freeze you. Neither did He make it severely perfumed to give you headaches, nor did He make it terribly foul-smelling so it may sicken you. He neither made it severely soft like water so it may drown you, nor did He make it severely hard so it may obstruct you from making houses, buildings, and graves for your deceased. However, Allah, the Mighty and High, made it with firmness so that you could benefit form it, enabling your bodies to walk upon it and your houses to hold together. He placed in it soft soil so that you could build your homes upon it, dig graves, and so that you could find other benefits. This is why He made the earth a resting place for you. Then the Mighty and high said: Heaven a canopy, i.e. a protecting roof over you, where its sun, moon and stars rotate for your benefit. The Mighty and High then said: And (Who sends down water from heaven, i.e. the rain which He sends down form a height so that I may reach the highest points of the mountains, the hills, the elevations, and the low-lying land. Then He separated the rain into drizzle, shower, heavy downpour, and sprinkles so that he earth could better absorb it. He did not sent the rain down in one shot, as that would have destroyed our lands, trees, field and fruits. Then the Mighty and High said: Then brings forth with it subsistence for you of the fruits; therefore, do not set up rivals to Allah, i.e. Images or idols, which cannot think, hear, see, and do not have power over anything. While you know, that they do not have power over the magnificent bounties which your Lord, the Blessed and Exalted, ha blessed you with.

12. My father said: Sa`d ibn `Abd Allah said, on the authority of Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn `Isa, on the authority of al-Hasan ibn Mahbub, on the authority of Dawud ibn Kathir alRaqqi, on the authority of Abu `Ubaydah al-Hadhdah’, on the authority of Abu `Ja`far who said The Messenger of Allah said: Allah, Great be His Gory, said: Verily, among My believing servants are those who strive to worship Me. They wake up from their sleep and the comfort of their pillows to perform supererogatory prayers during the night. They exhaust themselves in My Worship. Since I look out for them, I overpower them with sleep for a night or two for watching over them. They sleep until morning, and when they get up, they are disgusted with themselves and afflicted over it. If I do not prevent them from worshiping Me as they desire, they would become proud, which would lead to their destruction. They could even reach a point that they would believe that they have exceeded all the worshippers. Inadequacy is possible in My Worship. People can reach a point when they think they are drawing close to Me, when they are actually straying far away from Me.

13. Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn al-Walid said: Muhammad ibn al-Hasan alSaffar said, on the authority of Ibrahim ibn Hashim, on the authority of al-Hasan ibn Mahbub, on the authority of Malik ibn `Atiyyah, on the authority of Dawud ibn Farqad that Abu `Abd Allah al-Sadiq said: Among what Allah, the Mighty and High, revealed to Musa was: O Musa, I have not crated a creation more beloved to Me than My believing servant. Verily, I try him with what is good for him, and cure him for what is good for him. I know what is best for My Servant in his affairs. Hence, he should be patient with My Trials. He should thank me for My Bounties. And he should be pleased with My Destiny. If he act for My Pleasure, and obeys My Command, I will count hi among the truthful ones.