فَرَكِبَ أَبِي وَ صَارَ إِلَيْهِ فَوَجَدَ الْقَوْمَ مُجْتَمِعِينَ عِنْدَهُ فَقَالُوا لِأَبِي مَا تَقُولُ فِي هَذَا الْأَمْرِ فَقَالَ أَبِي لِمَنْ عِنْدَهُ الرِّقَاعُ أَحْضِرُوا الرِّقَاعَ فَأَحْضَرُوهَا فَقَالَ لَهُمْ هَذَا مَا أُمِرْتُ بِهِ فَقَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ قَدْ كُنَّا نُحِبُّ أَنْ يَكُونَ مَعَكَ فِي هَذَا الْأَمْرِ شَاهِدٌ آخَرُ So my father rode and went over to him and he found the people have had gathered with him.
So they said to my father, ‘What are you saying regarding this matter?’ So my father said, ‘To the one with whom there is a parchment, should display the parchment’. So they displayed these, and he said to them, ‘This is what I had been ordered with’. So some of them said, ‘We would have loved it if there had been other witnesses with you regarding this matter’.
فَقَالَ لَهُمْ قَدْ أَتَاكُمُ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ بِهِ هَذَا أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ الْأَشْعَرِيُّ يَشْهَدُ لِي بِسَمَاعِ هَذِهِ الرِّسَالَةِ وَ سَأَلَهُ أَنْ يَشْهَدَ بِمَا عِنْدَهُ فَأَنْكَرَ أَحْمَدُ أَنْ يَكُونَ سَمِعَ مِنْ هَذَا شَيْئاً فَدَعَاهُ أَبِي إِلَى الْمُبَاهَلَةِ So he said to them, ‘Allah -azwj Mighty and Majestic has Already Come with it. This is Abu Ja’far Al-Ashary. He would testify for me that he heard this message, and ask him that he should testify with whatever is with him’.
But, Ahmad denied that he had been hearing anything from this. So my father called him to the imprecation (Mubahila). فَقَالَ لَمَّا حَقَّقَ عَلَيْهِ قَالَ قَدْ سَمِعْتُ ذَلِكَ وَ هَذَا مَكْرُمَةٌ كُنْتُ أُحِبُّ أَنْ تَكُونَ لِرَجُلٍ مِنَ الْعَرَبُ لَا لِرَجُلٍ مِنَ الْعَجَمِ فَلَمْ يَبْرَحِ الْقَوْمُ حَتَّى قَالُوا بِالْحَقِّ جَمِيعاً . So he (the narrator) said, ‘When it was proven against him, he said, ‘I had heard that and this is a prestige.
I had liked it that it would happen to be from a man from the Arabs, not to a man from the non-Arabs’. (Al-Khayrani was a non-Arab). So the people did not depart until they had spoken with the truth, altogether’. [26] [1] ابن الوليد، عن الصفار، عن جعفر بن محمد بن عبيد الله، عن القداح، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام) قال: أربعة لا يشبعن من أربعة: الارض من المطر، والعين من النظر، والانثى من الذكر، والعالم من العلم.
Ibn Al Waleed, from Al Saffar, from Ja’far Bin Muhammad Bin Ubeydullah, from Al-Qadah, ‘From Abu Abdullah -asws having said: ‘Four are never satiated: the ground from the rain, and the eyes from the looking, and the wife from (attention of) the husband, and the scholar from the knowledge’’.