Only Salman became a man of knowledge, for he was from us, .
Only Salman became a man of knowledge, for he was from us, . That is why I attributed him to the scholars. [^3] On one occasion, Imam Ali (a.s.) said to Abu-Dharr: إنَّ سَلْمَانَ لَوْ حَدَّتَكَ بِمَا يَعْلَمُ لَقُلْتَ: رَحِمَ اللَّهُ قَاتِلَ سَلْمَانَ!
If Salman informed you of what he knew, you would say: May Allah have mercy on Salman’s killer.[^4] It has been reported that faith has ten ranks: Salman was in the tenth rank, Abu-Dharr in the ninth and Miqdad in the eighth.[^5] As it is seen, faith is based on knowledge. Therefore, ranks of faith are deeply rooted in the ranks of knowledge. Exaggeration - A Threat To Faith Throughout history of Shiism, exaggeration has been a potential danger threatening the Shia faith.
We can say that there has never been an epoch in the history of Shia without exaggerators being there. There has never been a time when the Imams of have not resisted against this destructive current of exaggeration and have not condemned it. Surprisingly, we still witness exaggerators here and there in our time, which is the age of the technology of data and advanced sciences.
Exaggeration has its roots in two factors: lacking sufficient capacity for learning the knowledge of and overflowing of emotions and its dominance over intellect. The Holy Prophet has said: لَوْلأَ أنْ يَقُولَ الضَّالُّونَ مِنْ أمَّتِي مَا قَالَتِ النَّصَارَى فِي عِسَى بْنِ مَرْيَمَ، لَقُلْتُ فِيكَ قَوْلاً لاَ تَمُررُّ بِمَلإٍ مِنَ النَّاسِ إلاَّ أخَددذُوا اْتُّرَابَ مِنْ تَحْتِ قَدَمَيكَ يَسْتَشْفُونَ بِهِ.
Were it not for fear that exaggerators of my ummah say about you what Christians said about Jesus, son of Mary, I would say something about you that you would not pass by any people unless they would take the soil under you feet to be healed therewith.[^6] A man by the name of Sa’d asked Imam al-Baqir (a.s.), “Who is an exaggerator?” The Imam said, (الْغَالُونَ) قَومٌ يَقُولُونَ فِينَا مَا لاَ نَقُولُهُ فِي أنْفُسَنَا. فَلَيسَ أُولَئِكَ مِنَّا وَلَسْنَا مِنْهُمْ.
“They are people who say something about us which we do not say about ourselves. They are not from us and we are not from them either.”[^7] Imam al-Sadiq has said: شِيعَتُنَا مَنْ لاَ يَمْدَحُ بِنَا غَالِياً. Our followers are those who do not eulogize us exaggeratedly.[^8] In another narration, Imam al-Sadiq is reported as saying: وَ أحِبُّوا أهْلَ بَيْتِ نَبِيِّكُمْ حُبَّاً مُقْتَصِداً وَلاَ تَغْلُوا.