الكافي- ط الاسلامية, volume 1, page 262

4. Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from ibn Mahbub from ibn Ri’ab from Durays al-Kunasi who has said that he heard abu Ja‘far (a.s.) the following to an audience of his companions. “What an strange case is the case with a group of followers! They acknowledge us as the Divine authority over themselves, accept us as their Imam and say that obedience to us is obligatory just as is the case with the Messenger of Allah. They then destroy the veracity of their belief as such and dispute against their own selves due to weakness of their hearts. They then diminish our right and blame those whom Allah has granted evidence to know us as it should be and the (abulity) to submit themselves to our Divine authority. Do you not consider that how would Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, make it obligatory to obey those who possess Divine authority over his servants and then hide from them (people who possess Divine authority) `the new of the heaves and the earth? How would He cut them off of the sources of knowledge that might come to them to maintain their religion?” Humran then said to the Imam (a.s.), “May Allah, take my soul in service for your cause, how would you explain the case of the uprising of Ali ibn abu Talib, al-Hassan and al-Husayn (a.s.)? They came out and rose up for the cause of Allah, Whose mention is so Majestic. How much they suffered and how mercilessly were they murdered at the hands of the rebels? They were defeated, murdered and over powered.” Abu Ja‘far (a.s.) then said, “O Humran, Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, had determined it on them. He had decreed, approved and made it unavoidable though the voluntary manner. He then allowed to take place. It, thus, happened with a pre-existing knowledge that had come to them from the Messenger of Allah. Ali al-Hassan and al-Husayn (a.s.) rose up for the cause of Allah with full knowledge of the consequences and remained silent from us those who remained silent. Had they, O Humran, when facing what Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, made them to face and suffer defeat at the hands of the rebels, asked Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, to remove their suffering and would implore Him to destroy the government and kingdom of the rebels He would have answered their prayers and would grant them relief. In such case the destruction of the governments of the rebels and the ending of their time would take place quicker than the dispersal under a great pressure, of beads threaded together. The suffering, O Humran, that befell them, because of the sins that they might have committed or the punishment for their opposition to Allah. It was because of the high marvelous position that Allah had prepared and wanted them to reaCh Do not let people’s opinions take you away from the right path.”

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