My father narrated to us. He said: Sa`d b. `Abdullah narrated to us. He said: Ibrahim b. Hashim narrated to us. He said: Isma`il b. Marar narrated to us. He said: Yunus b. `Abd al-Rahman narrated to me from Yunus b. Ya`qub. He said:

Abi `Abdillah al-Sadiq was with a group of his companions, among whom were Humran b. A`yun, Mu’min al-Taq, Hisham b. Salim, and al-Tayyar; and [another] group of his companions, among whom was Hisham b. al-Hakam, who was a youth. So, Abu `Abdillah said: O Hisham! He said: I am at your service, O son of the Messenger of Allah. He said: Will you not inform me of what happened with `Amr b. `Ubayd and how you questioned him? Hisham said: May I be your sacrifice, O son of the Messenger of Allah. I am yours, and I am shy before you, and so I am tongue-tied when I am in front of you. So, Abu `Abdillah said: When you are commanded a thing, then do it. Hisham said: I was informed of `Amr b. `Ubayd and his gatherings in the mosque of Basra, and that was weighty [and distressing] for me. So, I set out to him and I entered Basra on Friday and came to the mosque of Basra. I saw a large circle [of people] with `Amr b. `Ubayd, who was wearing a black woollen cloth around his waist and another over his shoulders. The people were posing questions to him. I asked the people to make way for me and they complied. Then, I sat in the back row upon my knees. I then said: O scholar, I am a stranger, will you give me permission to ask you a set of questions? He said: So, he said: Yes. He said: So, I said to him: Do you have eyes? He said: O my son, what kind of question is this? How do you question a thing that you can see? So, I said: This is my question. He said: O my son, ask, even if your question is absurd. He said: Answer me in that. He said: So, he said to me: Ask. He said: I said: Do you have eyes? He said: Yes. He said: I said: What do you see with it? He said: Colours and persons. He said: I said: Do you have a nose? He said: Yes. He said: I said: What do you do with it? He said: I smell scents with it. He said: I said: Do you have a tongue? He said: Yes. He said: I said: Do you have a nose? He said: Yes. He said: I said: What do you do with it? He said: I smell scents with it. He said: I said: Do you have a tongue? He said: Yes. He said: I said: What do you do with it? He said: I speak with it. He said: I said: Do you have ears? He said: Yes. He said: I said: What do you do with them? He said: I hear sounds with them. He said: I said: Do you have hands? He said: Yes. He said: I said: What do you do with them? He said: I press with them, and with them I know what is soft from what is coarse. He said: I said: Do you have feet? He said: Yes. He said: I said: What do you do with them? He said: I move from place to place with them. He said: I said: Do you have lips? He said: Yes. He said: I said: What do you do with them? He said: I distinguish foods by their differences with them. He said: I said: Do you have a heart? He said: Yes. He said: I said: What do you do with it? He said: With it I distinguish between all of that which my body parts detect. He said: I said: With these body parts, are you not needless of a heart? He said: No. I said: How can this be when they are ample? He said: O my son, if a body part doubts anything which it has smelt, tasted, or heard, they refer it to the heart to remove doubt and replace it with certainty. He said: I said: So, therefore, Allah has appointed the heart to [deal with] the doubts of the body parts. He said: Yes. He said: I said: And the heart is necessary, otherwise the body parts would never attain certainty. He said: Yes. He said: I said: O Abu Marwan, surely, Allah would not leave your body parts without appointing a leader (imam) for them so that they may verify the truth and attain certainty in what is doubted. So, how then could He leave all the creatures in their perplexity, doubt, and schisms without appointing an Imam, to whom they may refer their doubts and confusions to, when He has given the parts of your body a leader to whom you can refer your doubts and perplexities to? He said: So, he went silent and did not say anything to me. He said: Then, he looked to me and said: Are you Hisham? So, I said: No. He said: So, he said to me: Have you sat with him? So, I said: No. He said: So where are you from? I said: From the people of Kufa. He said: You, then, are he! He said: Then he embraced me, sat me in his seat, and did not speak until I stood [from it]. So, Abu `Abdillah laughed. Then, he said: O Hisham, who has taught you this? He said: I said: O son of the Messenger of Allah, it rolled off my tongue. He said: O Hisham, this, by Allah, is written in the scrolls of Ibrahim and Musa.