Hadith record

8. A number of our people have narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid from ‘Uthman ibn ‘Isa from Husayn ibn Nu’aim al-Sahhaf who has said the following: “Once Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) asked, ‘Do you love your brothers (in belief) O Husayn?’ I said, ‘Yes, 1 love them.’ The Imam asked, ‘Do you provide any benefit for their poor?’ I said, ‘Yes, I do so.’ The Imam said, ‘It is obligatory for you to love whoever loves Allah. By Allah you will not provide any benefit to any of them unless you love them. Do you invite them to your house?’ I said, ‘Yes, I do so. I do not eat unless there are two, three men or less or more. ’ Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.) then said, ‘Their excellence over you is more than your excellence over them.’ I then said, ‘May Allah keep my soul in service for your cause, I feed them my food on my own table on my furnishings. How can their excellence be greater than my excellence?’ The Imam said, ‘Yes, it is because when they come to your house they bring with them forgiveness for you and for your family and when they leave your house they leave along with your sins and the sins of your family.’”

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