Al Kafi (volume One)

Supplement

may not be included among those whom God has described with the following words:

"And among men 'there is such a one as worships God upon the very edge ،X if good befalls him he is at rest in it, but if a trial befalls him he turns completely over; he loses this world and the world to come; that is indeed the manifest loss" (al-Hajj, 22:11).

For this reason, the entrance of such a type of man in religion without knowledge and belief in it and his exist also therefrom, is without knowledge and belief. The `Al.m (the Imam) has observed:

"The faith of a man accepted knowingly remains steadfast, and is of profit for him. Whoever enters the house of faith without knowledge, makes his exit from that house in the same way in which he entered it." The Imam (peace be upon him) has said, "Whoever derives his faith from the knowledge of the Book of Allah and the precepts of the Prophet of God (peace be upon him and his progeny) is more difficult to be dislodged from his faith than the mountains are, from their places. And the faith of a person derived from the words of the mouth of the, people is repudiated by the people themselves."

The Imam added, "He, who does not recognize our (Imams from the progeny of Prophet Muhammad - p.b.u.h.a.h.p.) case in the light of Qur'an, will not be able to turn the errors aside."

For this reason false and detestable faiths fulfilling all the conditions of infidelity and polytheism hold their sway over the people of our time. All this, (the recognition and non-recognition of our position) depends upon the favour and disfavour of God. Whomsoever God grants His favour of keeping his faith steady, He also creates such conditions for him as will lead to derive his faith from the Book of Allah and the precepts of Prophet (Muhammad) with knowledge, belief and insight. It is such people that are firmer in their faith than the high mountains in their places.

Should God intend alienating Himself from a person, then, the faith He lends him is rendered superficial and temporary ،X may God protect us all from this situation. God provides such a person with ways and means on account of which he begins perceiving only the superficial beauty of every thing.

He takes to following every thing blindly, and he starts interpreting (the scriptures) without knowledge and insight. The case of such a person entirely rests on the Will of God the Almighty whether to rectify his faith or to forfeit it from him altogether. Such a person cannot remain in peace when he is a believer in the morning and infidel in the evening or vice versa. All this is because he falls in for everything that appears great to him and accepts every-thing with a glittering appearance.

The ،¥Alim (the Imam) - peace be upon him - has observed: "God, the Almighty has so created His prophets as to infuse prophethood into their blood and so they cannot remain except as prophets (peace be upon them all). He has also created their vicegerents in the same mode; so they cannot remain except as the vicegerents (of the prophets). He lent faith temporarily to another group of people, so that should He so like, He may perfect it into them or forfeit it from them altogether. These words of Allah hold true in the case of such people: "... And then a lodging-place, and then a repository, ..." (al-An،¥am, 6:98).

You (the interrogator) have spoken of matters that are difficult for you. Your main difficulty is that you do not know the truth because of the conflicting versions of traditions coming from different narrators. And you know that conflicting versions of traditions have their own causes and effects. Further, your problem is that you do not find whether any expert knowledge (of the authenticity of narrators) can be relied upon and whom you can approach, talk to and have your problem solved.

And for all this you earnestly want to have a book with you, inclusive of all branches of the science of religion, which could wholly satisfy all the students of religion and which seekers of guidance could turn to,

and from which they could derive the specific knowledge of religion they intend to, and they could act thereon with genuine traditions from the truthful Imams, (the divinely appointed guides) which (Book) ensures the practice on the codified divine law.

And finally by means of which (Book) the divine obligations and the precepts of the prophet could be implemented. And you have said, "In case such a book is compiled then I can hope by God that with His grace and help it will lead our brethren in faith their and our (Muslim) community to their truthful guides ،X the Imams."

O،¦ brother! may God guide you. It is upto no person to discriminate between different versions of the traditions of the Imams according to his own light and except on the basis of the verdicts (criterion) laid down by the Imam himself. The verdict of the Imam is:

"Check it up with the text of the Book of God (Qur'an), accept it if it agrees with the text and reject it if it does not." 18

The verdict further lays down, "Let alone the agreeing with what is on the lips of general people since the truth is just the opposite." The third verdict lays down: "Accept what is held in common by all the narrators quoting us. Since there can be no doubt about what is unanimously held by all." (The narrators of our traditions - ahƒuad.th. ) But, to our knowledge, very few such contradicting traditions can be solved on the basis of the above described criterion. In the case of such (contradicting) traditions the best, the simpler and the more compre- hensive solution is to leave all knowledge (regarding contradicting traditions) to the Imam himself.

Imam has given us the easiest solution to choose and follow any of the version among such contradicting traditions. The Imam has said, "Whatever you have accepted and followed with the 'intention of obeying (the Imam) is valid for you." Thus has Allah made (the task of selecting and collecting the traditions) easy. All praise is due to Allah, that He has enabled me to compile the book you have requested for. I hope this book will be after your liking.

There may be some deficiency (in this work of mine) but there is none in the sincerity of intention to counsel my people, which is essential (especially) in the case of our brethren and co-relitionists. Simultaneously we ourselves earnestly desire to be among the participants deriving benefits (from this book) and among those who act upon it in this age and in the ages hereafter coming, till the Day of Judgment.

God the Almighty is one, His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his progeny) the last of the prophets, is one and the divine code is also one. What Muhammad, the Prophet (p.b.u.h.a.h.p.) declared to be unlawful is unlawful till the Day of Judgment. The chapter on divine proofs has slightly been expanded although the expansion is not in the measure the chapter deserves, since it was distasteful for us to reducing any portion thereof.

We hope that Allah, the great and the Almighty, will make it easy for us and will grant us further span of life for the fulfilment of our objective of making this chapter widest and fullest, in the manner it deserves, provided Allah wills since all power and might is His. With Him are all our longings for increased help and favour. May Allah's peace and blessings be upon our chief, Muhammad the Prophet and upon his progeny ،X the purified, the excellent.

I have commenced and inaugurated this book of mine with the chapter on reason, the greatness of knowledge, the great status of those who possess it, their high worth, the defectiveness of ignorance, the baseness of its possessor, and their lowered rank. Since reason is the axis on which every thing revolves, it is on the reason that all the argument rests. All divine rewards and punishments are in accordance with it. (It is Allah that grants the favour of reason.)