12 - حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، عن أحمد بن محمد بن عيسى، عن الحسن بن محبوب، عن داود بن كثير الرقي، عن أبي عبيدة الحذاء، عن أبي جعفر عليه السلام، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: قال الله جل جلاله: إن من عبادي المؤمنين لمن يجتهد في عبادتي فيقوم من رقاده ولذيذ وساده فيتهجد في الليالي ويتعب نفسه في عبادتي فأضربه بالنعاس الليلة والليلتين نظرا مني له و إبقاء عليه فينام حتى يصبح ويقوم وهو ماقت لنفسه زار عليها، ولو أخلي بينه وبين ما يريد من عبادتي لدخله من ذلك العجب فيصيره العجب إلى الفتنة بأعماله ورضاه عن نفسه حتى يظن أنه قد فاق العابدين، وجاز في عبادته حد التقصير فيتباعد مني عند ذلك وهو يظن أنه يتقرب إلي.


12. My father (r.a) 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 (a.s) who said The Messenger of Allah (s.a) 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.