أم سلمة زوجة النبي صلى اللّٰه عليه و آله و عن معاذ بن جبل و عن سلمان الفارسي و عن علي و أبي ذر و المقداد و عمار و البراء بن عازب ثم أسلمنيها و لم يأخذ على يمينا فلم ألبث أن حضرته الوفاة فدعاني فخلا بي و قال يا أبان قد جاورتك فلم أر منك إلا ما أحب و إن عندي كتبا سمعتها عن الثقات و كتبتها بيدي فيها أحاديث لا أحب أن تظهر للناس لأن الناس ينكرونها و يعظمونها و هي حق أخذتها من أهل الحق و الفقه و الصدق و البر عن علي بن أبي طالب صلوات اللّٰه عليه و سلمان الفارسي و أبي ذر الغفاري و المقداد بن الأسود و ليس منها حديث أسمعه من أحدهم إلا سألت عنه الآخر حتى اجتمعوا عليه جميعا و أشياء بعد سمعتها من غيرهم من أهل الحق و إني هممت حين مرضت أن أحرقها فتأثمت من ذلك و قطعت به فإن جعلت لي عهد اللّٰه و ميثاقه أن لا تخبر بها أحدا ما دمت حيا و لا تحدث بشي ء منها بعد موتي إلا من تثق به كثقتك بنفسك و إن حدث بك حدث أن تدفعها إلى من تثق به من شيعة علي بن أبي طالب صلوات اللّٰه عليه ممن له دين و حسب فضمنت ذلك له فدفعها إلى و قرأها كلها على فلم يلبث سليم أن هلك رحمه اللّٰه فنظرت فيها بعده و قطعت بها و أعظمتها و استصعبتها لأن فيها هلاك جميع أمة محمد صلى اللّٰه عليه و آله من المهاجرين و الأنصار و التابعين غير علي بن أبي طالب و أهل بيته صلوات اللّٰه عليهم و شيعته فكان أول من لقيت بعد قدومي البصرة الحسن بن أبي الحسن البصري و هو يومئذ متوار من الحجاج و الحسن يومئذ من شيعة علي بن أبي طالب صلوات اللّٰه عليه من مفرطيهم نادم متلهف على ما فاته من نصرة علي عليه السلام و القتال معه يوم الجمل فخلوت به في شرقي دار أبي خليفة الحجاج بن أبي عتاب فعرضتها عليه فبكى ثم قال ما في حديثه شي ء إلا حق قد سمعته من الثقات من شيعة علي صلوات اللّٰه عليه و غيرهم.
Umm Salama, the wife of the Prophet, may God bless him and his family; and from Mu'adh b. Jabal, and from Salman al-Farisi, and from 'Ali and Abu Dharr and al-Miqdad and 'Ammar and al-Bara' b. 'Azib. Then he handed them over to me, and did not take an oath from me. It was not long before death came upon him, and he called me and was alone with me and said: Aban, I have been your neighbour and have seen from you only what I love. And with me are books I heard from the trustworthy and wrote with my own hand, in which are traditions I do not like to have made public to people, because people deny them and think them monstrous — yet they are truth, which I took from the people of truth, understanding, veracity and piety: from 'Ali b. Abi Talib, God's blessings be upon him, and Salman al-Farisi and Abu Dharr al-Ghifari and al-Miqdad b. al-Aswad. There is not among them a tradition I heard from one of them but that I asked another about it, until they all agreed upon it; and there are things besides which I heard from others of the people of truth. And when I fell ill I resolved to burn them, but I felt it a sin and held back from it. So if you will give me God's covenant and His compact that you will not inform anyone of them so long as I am alive, and will not relate anything of them after my death except to one you trust as you trust yourself; and that if anything befalls you, you will hand them to one you trust from among the Shi'a of 'Ali b. Abi Talib, God's blessings be upon him, who has religion and standing — then I guaranteed that to him, and he handed them to me and read them all to me. Sulaym did not tarry long before he perished, may God have mercy on him. And I looked into them after him, and held firmly to them, and thought them momentous, and found them hard — because in them is the perdition of the whole community of Muhammad, may God bless him and his family, of the Emigrants and the Helpers and the Successors, save 'Ali b. Abi Talib and the people of his house, God's blessings be upon them, and his Shi'a. And the first I met after my arrival at Basra was al-Hasan b. Abi al-Hasan al-Basri; and he at that time was in hiding from al-Hajjaj, and al-Hasan at that time was of the Shi'a of 'Ali b. Abi Talib, God's blessings be upon him, among those who went to excess in that — regretful and grieved at what he had missed of aiding 'Ali, peace be upon him, and fighting alongside him on the Day of the Camel. So I was alone with him in the eastern part of the house of Abu Khalifa al-Hajjaj b. Abi 'Attab, and laid them before him. He wept, then said: There is nothing in his traditions but truth; I have heard it from the trustworthy among the Shi'a of 'Ali, God's blessings be upon him, and from others.
قال أبان فحججت من عامي ذلك فدخلت على علي بن الحسين عليهما السلام و عنده أبو الطفيل عامر بن واثلة صاحب رسول اللّٰه صلى اللّٰه عليه و آله و كان من خيار أصحاب علي عليه السلام و لقيت عنده عمر بن أبي سلمة ابن أم سلمة زوجة النبي صلى اللّٰه عليه و آله فعرضته عليه و عرضت على علي بن الحسين صلوات اللّٰه عليه ذلك أجمع ثلاثة أيام كل يوم إلى الليل و يغدو
Aban said: And I made the pilgrimage that year of mine, and entered upon 'Ali b. al-Husayn, peace be upon them both. With him was Abu al-Tufayl 'Amir b. Wathila, the companion of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and his family, who was among the best of the companions of 'Ali, peace be upon him. And I met with him 'Umar b. Abi Salama, the son of Umm Salama, the wife of the Prophet, may God bless him and his family. So I laid it before him, and I laid all of that before 'Ali b. al-Husayn, God's blessings be upon him, for three days, each day until nightfall; and there would come in the morning