9. We were told by Mudaffar bin Ja’far bin Mudaffar al-Alawi, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: We were told by Ja’far bin Muhammed bin Mas’ud, from his father, from Ali bin Muhammed, from Ahmad bin Muhammed, from Hasan bin Ali, from Abdul-Karim bin Amru al-Khath’ami, from Sulayman bin Khalid, that he said:

I asked Abu Abdillah, peace be upon him, about the saying of Allah, Exalted and Glorious is He: «except for the weakened ones from the men, women and children» (4:98) - the verse. He said: O Sulayman, among these weakened ones, there are those with a thicker neck than you. The weakened are a people who fast, pray and whose bellies and private organs are modest; they do not believe that the truth is with other than us. They hold onto the branches of the tree. For those, Allah might pardon them if they were to adhere to the branches. Moreover, if they were to not know those, then if Allah was to pardon them, it would be due to His mercy, and if He was to torment them, it would be due to their aberration from what He made them know.