Hadith record

1. A number of our people have narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from ibn Khalid from certain persons of our people from Bashir ibn ‘Abd Allah from abu ‘Ismah Qadiy of Marve from Jabir who has said the following: “Abu Ja’far, ‘Alayhi al-Salam, has said, ‘During the last era of time there will be a people who are followed by a certain people who just show off. They worship and perform rituals as youngsters with insufficient understanding and dimwittedness. They do not deem asking others to do good and prohibiting evil as necessary unless doing so is totally harmless for them. They seek for themselves permissions and excuses and follow the mistakes of the scholars and their invalid deeds. They go for Salat (prayer) and fasting and things that do not affect them in matters of their lives and properties. If performing Salat (prayer) would affect their other activities about their properties and persons, they disregard it just as they disregard highest quality obligations and the noblest ones. ‘Asking people to do good and to prohibit them from committing evil is a great obligation by which responsibilities are fulfilled. In such case the anger of Allah, the most Majestic, the most Glorious, becomes complete upon them. His torment encompasses them; thus, even virtuous people are destroyed in the location of the sinful ones and the children along with the grown-up ones. Asking others to do good and prohibiting them from evil is the path of the prophets and the method of the virtuous ones. It is a great responsibility with which obligations are fulfilled and religions are protected, earnings become lawful, usurped properties are retrieved, the land is developed, justice is made available for even the enemies and the matters are kept upright. You must then dislike evil in your hearts, reject it with your tongues, strike it against their faces and do not fear anyone’s blames in matters about Allah. If people committing evil accepted your advice and returned to the truth then that is fine. “Blameworthy are those who do injustice to people and rebel in the land without any truthful cause, for them there will be painful punishment.” (42: 42) Against such people you must fight with your person and hate them in your hearts without wanting domination, gaining properties or victory through injustice. You must continue until they come to the command of Allah and to obey Him.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘Allah, the most Majestic, the most Glorious, sent revelation to prophet Shu’ayb ‘Alayhi al-Salam, “I want to punish one hundred thousand people from your followers, forty thousand of the evil doers and sixty thousand of the good ones.” He asked, “O Lord, these are the evil doers but what about the good ones?” Allah, the most Majestic, the most Glorious, sent him revelation that said, “They stopped giving the good advice to the evil doers and did not become angry because of My becoming angry with them.’””

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