Hadith record

50. A number of our people have narrated from Sahl ibn Ziyad from Ali ibn Sulayman from Ahmad ibn al-Fadl (from) abu ‘Amr al- Hadhdha’ who has said the following: “I faced a difficult condition and wrote to abu Ja‘far (a.s.), about it and he (the Imam) wrote to me, ‘Continue reading, “We sent Noah to his people ... to the end.’” (Chapter 71) I read it for one year but did not see any change. I wrote to him again to inform him (the Imam) of my difficult condition and that I have been reading the Chapter for one year as the Imam had instructed and that I did not experience any change. He (the Imam) then wrote to me saying, ‘One year is passed, now read Chapter 97.’ I then read it for a very short time that ibn abu Dawud sent me something and paid off my debts and sent me and my family to al-Basrah as an agent to Bab Kala’ (name of a place) with a salary of five hundred dirham; and from al-Basra I wrote through Ali ibn Mahziyar to abu al-Hassan (a.s.), explaining, ‘I had written to your father about so and so issues and had complained against so and so matters, I have found what I liked. I like to ask you about what I should do about reading Chapter 97, if I must continue reading it in my obligatory Salat (prayer) and others or there is a limit of time for it.’ He (the Imam) signed the answer and I read the signature that said, ‘You must not leave from Quran, short or long passages. Of Chapter 97 it is enough to read one hundred times in one day and night.’”

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