ثُمَّ مَضَى الرَّسُولُ وَ رَجَعَ أَحْمَدُ إِلَى مَوْضِعِهِ...
ثُمَّ مَضَى الرَّسُولُ وَ رَجَعَ أَحْمَدُ إِلَى مَوْضِعِهِ وَ قَالَ لِأَبِي مَا الَّذِي قَدْ قَالَ لَكَ قَالَ خَيْراً قَالَ قَدْ سَمِعْتُ مَا قَالَ فَلِمَ تَكْتُمُهُ وَ أَعَادَ مَا سَمِعَ فَقَالَ لَهُ أَبِي قَدْ حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ مَا فَعَلْتَ لِأَنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى يَقُولُ وَ لا تَجَسَّسُوا فَاحْفَظِ الشَّهَادَةَ لَعَلَّنَا نَحْتَاجُ إِلَيْهَا يَوْماً مَا وَ إِيَّاكَ أَنْ تُظْهِرَهَا إِلَى وَقْتِهَا Then the messenger went away and Ahmad returned to his place and said to my father, ‘What is that which he had said to you?’ He said, ‘Good’.
He said, ‘I have heard what he said, therefore do not conceal it’, and he repeated what he had heard. So my father said to him, ‘Allah -azwj has Prohibited upon you what you did because Allah -azwj the Exalted is Saying [49:12] and do not spy , therefore preserve the testimony for perhaps we would be needy to it one day and beware of manifesting it before its time’.
فَلَمَّا أَصْبَحَ أَبِي كَتَبَ نُسْخَةَ الرِّسَالَةِ فِي عَشْرِ رِقَاعٍ وَ خَتَمَهَا وَ دَفَعَهَا إِلَى عَشْرَةٍ مِنْ وُجُوهِ الْعِصَابَةِ وَ قَالَ إِنْ حَدَثَ بِي حَدَثُ الْمَوْتِ قَبْلَ أَنْ أُطَالِبَكُمْ بِهَا فَافْتَحُوهَا وَ أَعْلِمُوا بِمَا فِيهَا So when it was morning, my father copied the message in ten papers and sealed these and handed these over to ten from the clan and said, ‘If there occurs with me an occurrence of death before I seek these from you all, so open these and get to know with whatever is in it’.
فَلَمَّا مَضَى أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ ( عليه السلام ) ذَكَرَ أَبِي أَنَّهُ لَمْ يَخْرُجْ مِنْ مَنْزِلِهِ حَتَّى قَطَعَ عَلَى يَدَيْهِ نَحْوٌ مِنْ أَرْبَعِمِائَةِ إِنْسَانٍ وَ اجْتَمَعَ رُؤَسَاءُ الْعِصَابَةِ عِنْدَ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ الْفَرَجِ يَتَفَاوَضُونَ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ فَكَتَبَ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْفَرَجِ إِلَى أَبِي يُعْلِمُهُ بِاجْتِمَاعِهِمْ عِنْدَهُ وَ أَنَّهُ لَوْ لَا مَخَافَةُ الشُّهْرَةِ لَصَارَ مَعَهُمْ إِلَيْهِ وَ يَسْأَلُهُ أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُ So when Abu Ja’far -asws passed away, my father mentioned that he would not come out from his house until about four hundred persons had cut off (from others) upon his hands, and he gathered the chiefs of the community in the presence of Muhammad Bin Al-Faraj negotiating this matter.
So Muhammad Bin Al-Faraj wrote to my father letting him know of their gathering in his presence, and that he, if he does not fear the publicity, should come to be with them, and he asked him to come over.
✦ ✦ ✦