Ja`far b. Isa, Salih et Abu al-Asad — Muʿjam al-Aḥādīth al-Muʿtabara

Ja`far b. Isa, Salih et Abu al-Asad — Muʿjam al-Aḥādīth al-Muʿtabara | al-imane — al-imane.com

1. [1/139] Rijal al-Kashshi: Hamduwayh and Ibrahim from Abu Ja’far Muhammad b. Isa al-Ubaydi who said: I heard Hisham b. Ibrahim al-Khatli – and he is al-Mashraqi – say: I sought permission for a number of people to enter upon Abi al-Hasan عليه السلام in the year one hundred and ninety nine, so they attended and we attended, a total of sixteen men, waiting at the door of Abi al-Hasan the Second عليه السلام. Then Musafir (a Mawla of al-Ridha) came out and said: The family of Yaqtin and Yunus b. Abd al-Rahman should wait while the rest should enter one by one, so when they had all entered and exited, Musafir came out and called me, Musa [b. Salih], Ja`far b. Isa and Yunus, and allowed us to enter to meet him, and al-Abbas (another Mawla of al-Ridha) was stood in a corner without footwear and without having worn a cloak, and that was in the year of Abu al-Saraya (i.e. his coming out in revolt). He (al-Ridha) saluted us and ordered us to sit, so when we had sat – Ja`far b. Isa said to him: O my master – we complain to Allah and to you in regards what we are in from our companions [the treatment which we receive from them]. He said: and what are you in from them? Ja`far said: they – by Allah – denounce us as heretics, deem us disbelievers, and disassociate from us, so he (i.e. the Imam) said: like this were the companions of Ali b. al-Husayn, Muhammad b. Ali, Ja`far and Musa عليهم السلام, for the companions of Zurara used to consider as disbelievers all the others (apart from themselves), and likewise, the others used to consider them as disbelievers. I said to him: O my master – we seek assistance in you from these two old men, Yunus and Hisham, and they are both present, for they are the ones who have trained us and taught us theological disputation, so if we are – O my master – upon guidance, then we have succeeded, and if we are upon misguidance, then these two are the ones who have misguided us, so order us to leave it (i.e. Kalam) and turn to Allah in repentance from it, O my master – call us to the religion of Allah, for we will follow you, so he عليه السلام said: I do not know you except as being upon guidance, may Allah recompense you goodly for the former companionship and for the recent one. [They interpreted the former companionship to mean Ali b. Yaqtin, and the recent one to be our service to him, and Allah knows better]. Then Ja`far said: may I be made your ransom, Salih and Aba al-Asad the son-in-law of Ali b. Yaqtin relate from you that they quoted to you some of our theological arguments – so you said to them both: what is with you and theological disputations [what do you have to do with it?] – it is dragging you to heresy! so he عليه السلام said: I did not say that to them! did I say that?! – by Allah – I did not say that to them! Yunus said: may I be made your ransom – they assert that we are heretics, and he was sat beside a man, and he had placed one leg over the other (was seated cross legged), and time after time (every now and then) was rolling his face and his two cheeks upon the interior of his left foot, so he (al-Ridha) said to him: assume that you were indeed a heretic and they say about you – he is a believer – what would that benefit you? and if you were a believer and they said: he is a heretic – what would that harm you? al-Mashriqi said to him: by Allah – you do not speak except that which was also spoken by your forefathers. We do have a book, we have called it the ‘comprehensive book’ (Kitab al-Jami), in it is all that which the people have spoken about [what they have talked about in regards theology] on the authority of your forefathers [with the decisive judgment from the `Aimma about it all], and we debate based on it, and Ja`far said to him something similar to this, so he turned to Ja`far and said: if you were not speaking by [in accordance with] the words of my forefathers then with the words of Abi Bakr and Umar do you want to speak!?