13. A number of our people have narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid from ‘Uthman ibn ‘Isa from ‘Abd Allah ibn Muskan from al-Hassan al-Zayyat al-Basriy who has said the following:

“My friend and I once visited abu Ja‘far , when he (the Imam) was in a well- furnished home. He had a flowery sheet on him, his beard was trimmed and kohl (metallic color eye powder) was applied to his eyes. We asked him (the Imam) certain questions and when we were to leave, he (the Imam) said to me, ‘O Hassan,’ and I replied, ‘Yes, here I am, to obey your command.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘Tomorrow come to me with your friend.’ I replied, ‘Yes, I pray to Allah to keep my soul in service for your cause.’ The next day we went to meet him (the Imam) and he (the Imam) was in a house with no furnishing except a mat and was wearing a rough-textured shirt. He (the Imam) turned to my friend and said, ‘O brother from al-Basrah, yesterday you came to me when I was in the house of the woman. Yesterday was her day, the house is her house, and the furnishing is her furnishing. She had dressed up for me on condition that I dress up for her as she had dressed up for me. So do not think anything.’ My friend said, ‘I pray to Allah to keep my soul in service for your cause, by Allah there was something in my heart but now by Allah, Allah has removed what was in my heart. The truth is in what you just said.’”