The letter was addressed to (all of) the representatives of...

The letter was addressed to (all of) the representatives of Imam -asws in Iraq and (Imam -asws ) warned them to be aware of the disgusting and astray one (ibn Hilal), calling him the (savaged) ‘Sufi/innovator’ It is narrated that Ahmed bin Hilal a was famous one (among Shias) and had performed 54 Hajj and 20 out of those were on foot and was considered a an important and trustworthy religious personality within the hadith narrators of Iraq who would meet with him and take Ahadith.

So they came to know the above Hadith about him and were astonished with the news (did not believe these instructions were really from the Imam -asws ) and they pressurised Qasim ibn Alla to consult Imam -asws again and reconfirm if the content of the letter was true.

Imam -asws wrote back after being asked from them: You have already been informed about the corrupt Ahmed bin Hilal, may Allah will not has Mercy on him, Punish him and may never forgive him, as he interferes into our -asws affairs without our permission, he says out of his own desires and judgements (gives religious verdicts) and will surely be thrown into the Fire of Hell. We have remained patient for some time until our -asws prayers against him to Allah -azwj cut his life short.

And May Allah -azwj will not have Mercy on him, I -asws had told to a group of our -asws shias during his lifetime and had instructed them to share this news with our other devout shias. And we -asws ask Allah to send Laan on Ibn Hilal (and also on that) who doesn’t send Laan on him.

What I have told to you about that ‘fajir’ (enemy of Allah), inform about him to Ishaqi and his family and also to all those who enquire about ibn Hilal either from the resident of the city or the outsiders as well as to those who you find worthy (shias) of being told. In addition, our followers should not doubt about those instructions from us -asws which are released from our -asws trustworthy representatives.

Abu Hamed says, even after this letter a group among shias kept on denying the contents of Imam -asws ‘s letter and they themselves contacted Imam -asws (about the rejection of Ibn Hilal). Imam -asws replied: The one, who after being shown the righteous path, was protected from being gone astray should thank Allah -azwj all the time, Who Gives the ‘Namah’ (Eman) not for temporarily but permanently.