3. Abu Ali al-Ash’ari has narrated from Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar from Muhammad ibn Isma’il from Hanan ibn ‘Uqbah ibn Bashir al-Asadi who has said the following: “Once, I said to abu Ja’far

‘I am ‘Uqbah ibn Bashir al-Asadi and among my people my lineage is very prominent.’ The narrator has said that the Imam then asked, ‘What is it that makes you oblige us because of your lineage? Due to proper belief, Allah has exalted those whom people consider low. Due to disbelief, He has made low those whom people called men of dignity. No one is superior, because of any other reason, to the others except due to piety.”’