4. He said: Abul Qasim Ismail ibn Muhammad al-Anbari al-Katib reported to me from Abu Abdillah Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Azdi, who reported from Shoaib ibn Ayyub, who reported from Mu’awiyah ibn Hisham, from Sufyan, from Hisham ibn Hassan, who said:

I heard Abu Muhammad, al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali, peace be upon him, addressing the people on Friday after they had sworn allegiance to him: "We are the victorious party of Allah, and the nearest kinfolk of His messenger, and the inmates of his pure and immaculate household. We are one of the two invaluable things the Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, left behind for his Ummah. The other one is the Book of Allah in which is expounding of all things, no falsehood can come to it from before it or from behind it. So whoever depends on us for its interpretation will find that we do not fall prey to conjecture, we speak of its realities with certainty. Obey us, for our obedience is ordained, and is coupled with obedience to Allah and His Prophet. Allah says (in the Qur’an): ’O people who have believed, obey Allah and obey His Prophet and those entrusted with the authority among you. But if there arises any dispute about anything, refer it to Allah and His Prophet.’ (5:59) ’If they had referred to the Messenger and to those in the authority among them, those capable of inferring would have known it’ (5"63). And I warn you against listening to the yelling of Satan, for he is indeed your open enemy. If you do, you will be like his friends to whom he said: ’No one can overcome you today, truly I am your protector,’ but when the two hosts confronted each other, he turned upon his heels, saying: ’I have nothing to do with you, I see that which you cannot see’ (8:48). Then you will fall prey to the lances, minced by the swords, shattered by the shafts and targeted by the arrows. Then: ’it shall not profit a soul to believe, who did not believe before, or has not earned in its faith any goodness’ (6:158)."