Hadith record

3. A number of our people have narrated from Ahmad ibn abu ‘Abd Allah from ‘Abd al-Samad ibn Bashir who has said the following: “Once, a woman came to abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), and said, ‘I pray to Allah to keep you well, I am a celibate woman.’ He (the Imam) asked, ‘What does that mean to you?’ She replied, ‘I do not marry.’ He (the Imam) asked, ‘Why do you not marry?’ She replied, ‘I seek thereby excellence.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘You must change your mind. Had that been anything of excellence, Fatimah, ‘Alayha al-Salam, would have been more deserving of it than you because no one could succeed against her to excel.’”

Translation: Muhammad Sarwar — attributed by Thaqalayn·The Arabic above is the original.