Maʿānī al-ʾAkhbār


Book 1, Chapter 192

The meaning of the depraved and the generous
1 Ḥadīth

حدثنا محمد بن علي ماجيلويه، قال: حدثني عمي محمد بن أبي القاسم، عن محمد بن علي الكوفي، عن محمد بن سنان، عن المفضل بن عمر، عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال: وقع بين سلمان وبين رجل كلام فقال لسلمان: من أنت؟ وما أنت؟ فقال له سلمان: وأما أولي وأولك فنطفة قذرة، وأما آخري وآخرك فجيفة منتنة، فإذا كان يوم القيامة ووضعت الموازين فمن ثقل ميزانه فهو الكريم ومن خف ميزانه فهو اللئيم.


1. We were told by Muhammed bin Ali Majilawayh, that he said: I was told by my paternal uncle, Muhammed bin Abi’l-Qasem, from Muhammed bin Ali al-Kufi, from Muhammed bin Sinan, from Mufaddal bin Umar, from Abu Abdillah, peace be upon him, that he said: It occurred between Salman and a man (some quarreling) talk, and Salman said: Who are you? And what are you? Then Salman said to him: And as for my beginning and your beginning, it is (that we were) an impure sperm, and as for my ending and your ending, it is (that we are to be) a stinking corpse. Then, when the Day of Resurrection shall be and the measurements are placed, then the one whose scale is heavy, he is the generous, and the one whose scale is light, he is the depraved.