24. Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Ahmad ibn Yunus al-Laythi said: Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Sa`id al-Hamdani freed slave of the Hashimites said: al-Harith ibn Abu Usamah reported to us in reading, on the authority of al-Mada’ini, on the authority of all three `Uwanah ibn al-Hakm; `Abd Allah ibn al-`Abbas ibn Sahl al-Sa`idi and Abu Bakr al-Khurasani freed slave of the Hashimites, on the authority of al-Harith ibn Hasirah, on the authority of `Abd al-Rahman ibn Jundab, on the authority of his father and others that

The people came to al-Hasan ibn `Ali after the death of `Ali to pay allegiance to him. So he said: All praise is for Allah over what He destined in matter, specified in merit, generalized in affair and glorified in well-being, a praise with which He completes over us His bounties and we require His pleasure. Verily, this world is an abode of tribulation and mischief. Everything that is init has a decline. Allah has informed us of that so that we may take a lesson. Therefore He preceded with a threat to us so that there is no evidence for us after warning. So be ascetic in what is to perish and desirous in what is to remain. Fear Allah in privacy and in open. Verily, `Ali in life, death and the rising lived with a measure and died with the time. Verily, I shall accept your allegiance on that you will make peace with whom I make peace with and fight with whom I fight with.Thus, they all paid allegiance to him on that basis. Muhammad ibn `Ali ibn al-Husayn, the Compiler of this book says: The ajal is the death of a human and the time of his death. And the ajal of his living is the time of his living. That is the meaning of the word of Allah, the Mighty and High: So when their (appointed) time comes they shall not delay it even an hour, nor shall they go before. If a human dies a natural death on his bed or is killed then verily the ajal of his death is the time of his death. It is possible that if a murdered person was not killed, he would have died in that instance anyway. It is also possible that if he was not killed then he would have lived on. The knowledge of that is unseen for us. Allah, the Mighty and High, has said; Say: Had you remained in your houses, those for whom slaughter was ordained would certainly have gone forth to the places where they would be slain. He has also said: Say: Flight shall not do you any good if you fly from death or slaughter. If a group of people are killed at the same time, it is possible to say that all of them died at their time and eve if they wee not killed they would have died in that instance. For, it is possible that a disease would have occurred in all of them and would have killed them all in that instance. It is not possible to say that they all died without the time of their death. As a whole, the ajal of a person is the time of his death that Allah, the Mighty and High, knows that he will die in that hour or will be killed. The word of al-Hasan concerning his father that “he lived with a measure and died with the time? Is a confirmation of what we have said about this matter. Allah is the Granter of Direction to the correctness with His Favor.