فَزِيدُوهُ وَ مَنْ أَنْكَرَهُ فَذَرُوهُ إِنَّهُ لَا بُدَّ مِنْ أَنْ تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ يَسْقُطُ فِيهَا كُلُّ بِطَانَةٍ وَ وَلِيجَةٍ حَتَّى يَسْقُطُ فِيهَا مَنْ كَانَ يَشُقُّ الشَّعْرَ بِشَعْرَتَيْنِ حَتَّى لَا يَبْقَى إِلَّا نَحْنُ وَ شِيعَتُنَا.

tell him more. Leave the deniers alone; a sedition is inevitable in which all who keep secrets will fall — even one so exacting and fine in his discernment that he splits a single hair into two will fall — until none remain but we and our Shi'a.

و ذكر أبو جعفر محمد بن الحسن أنه وجد في بعض الكتب و لم يروه بخط آدم بن علي بن آدم قال عمير الكوفي في معنى حديثنا صعب مستصعب لا يحتمله ملك مقرب و لا نبي مرسل فهو ما رويتم أن اللّٰه تبارك و تعالى لا يوصف و رسوله لا يوصف و المؤمن لا يوصف فمن احتمل حديثهم فقد حدهم و من حدهم فقد وصفهم و من وصفهم بكمالهم فقد أحاط بهم و هو أعلم منهم و قال نقطع الحديث عمن دونه فنكتفي به لأنه قال صعب فقد صعب على كل أحد حيث قال صعب فالصعب لا يركب و لا يحمل عليه لأنه إذا ركب و حمل عليه فليس بصعب.

And Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Saffar mentioned that a hadith was found in the hand of Adam b. 'Ali b. Adam but was not related, in which 'Umayr al-Kufi reported, concerning the words "sa'b" and "mustas'ab" — that neither an angel brought near nor a prophet sent with a mission can bear it — that they refer to the hadith you have related: that God cannot be described, and His Messenger can be described, and the believer too cannot be described. If anyone could bear the hadith of the Imams, peace be upon them, he would in fact be delimiting them, and delimiting (or defining) is itself describing; and the one who describes it would necessarily encompass their perfections and so be more knowing than they. And Shaykh Abu Ja'far said: supposing we set aside the end of the hadith, which you do not accept, we argue from the beginning of the hadith, where the words "sa'b" and "mustas'ab" occur, which cannot be denied because of the many reports to this effect; for "sa'b" is hard upon everyone, since a "sa'b" is a camel that refuses to be ridden and will not bear a load — for were it otherwise, it would not be "sa'b".

وَ قَالَ الْمُفَضَّلُ قَالَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ عليه السلام إِنَّ حَدِيثَنَا صَعْبٌ مُسْتَصْعَبٌ ذَكْوَانُ أَجْرَدُ لَا يَحْتَمِلُهُ مَلَكٌ مُقَرَّبٌ وَ لَا نَبِيٌّ مُرْسَلٌ وَ لَا عَبْدٌ امْتَحَنَ اللَّهُ قَلْبَهُ لِلْإِيمَانِ أَمَّا الصَّعْبُ فَهُوَ الَّذِي لَمْ يُرْكَبْ بَعْدُ وَ أَمَّا الْمُسْتَصْعَبُ فَهُوَ الَّذِي يَهْرُبُ مِنْهُ إِذَا رَأَى وَ أَمَّا الذَّكْوَانُ فَهُوَ ذَكَاءُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَ أَمَّا الْأَجْرَدُ فَهُوَ الَّذِي لَا يَتَعَلَّقُ بِهِ شَيْ ءٌ مِنْ بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَ لَا مِنْ خَلْفِهِ وَ هُوَ قَوْلُ اللَّهِ اللَّهُ نَزَّلَ أَحْسَنَ الْحَدِيثِ فَأَحْسَنُ الْحَدِيثِ حَدِيثُنَا لَا يَحْتَمِلُ أَحَدٌ مِنَ الْخَلَائِقِ أَمْرَهُ بِكَمَالِهِ حَتَّى يَحُدَّهُ لِأَنَّ مَنْ حَدَّ شَيْئاً فَهُوَ أَكْبَرُ مِنْهُ.

And al-Mufaddal relates from Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him, that he said: Truly our hadith is "sa'b", "mustas'ab", "dhakwan", "ajrad"; neither an angel brought near, nor a prophet sent with a mission, nor a servant whose heart God has tested for faith can bear it. "Sa'b" is a camel that has not yet been ridden; "mustas'ab" is a camel that people flee from; "dhakwan" are the sharp-witted among the believers; and "ajrad" is that to which nothing before or after is attached. And God has said: "God has sent down the best of discourse." "The best of discourse" is the hadith of the People of the House, which none of the creatures can bear in full so as to delimit it (or define it), since whoever delimits a thing is greater than it.

بيان: قوله و ذكر أبو جعفر كلام تلامذة الصفار أو كلام الصفار كما هو دأب القدماء و أبو جعفر هو الصفار و حاصل ما نقل عن عمير الكوفي هو رفع الاستبعاد عن أن حديثهم لا يحتمله ملك مقرب و لا نبي مرسل بأن من أحاط بكنه علم رجل و جميع كمالاته فلا محالة يكون متصفا بجميع ذلك على وجه الكمال إذ ظاهر أن من لم يتصف بكمال على وجه الكمال لا يمكنه معرفة ذلك الكمال على هذا الوجه و لا بد في الاطلاع على كنه أحوال الغير من مزية كما يحكم به الوجدان فلا استبعاد في قصور الملائكة و سائر الأنبياء الذين هم دونهم في الكمال عن الإحاطة بكنه كمالاتهم و غرائب حالاتهم ثم قال نحذف من الحديث آخره الذي تأبون عن التصديق به و نأخذ أوله و نحتج عليكم به لكونه مذكورا في أخبار كثيرة و لا يمكنكم إنكاره و هو قوله عليه السلام صعب مستصعب فنقول هذا يكفي لإثبات ما يدل عليه آخر الخبر لأن الصعب هو الجمل الذي يأبى

Elucidation: In explaining the hadith, Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. al-Hasan has mentioned words of al-Saffar's pupils, or al-Saffar's own words, as was the practice of the early hadith scholars; and Abu Ja'far (the kunya) is al-Saffar's son. The upshot of what is quoted from Ibn 'Umayr al-Kufi is the removal of the improbability of bearing the hadith of the Infallibles, peace be upon them, thus: an angel brought near and a prophet sent with a mission cannot bear the hadith; the reason is that whoever gains a complete grasp of the reality and inner depth of someone's knowledge and possesses all his perfections must necessarily be able to be described by his attributes and to attain all his perfections in a complete manner — for it is apparently established (as a rule) that until a man is himself characterised by a perfection in a complete manner, he cannot know that perfection in a complete manner (incomplete knowledge is not enough). In gaining awareness of another's states and their reality, he must have superiority, as the inner sense acknowledges and judges. Accordingly it is not improbable nor beyond understanding if we say that angels and prophets who are below the infallible Imams, peace be upon them, in perfection do not have the power to encompass in knowledge the perfections and the wondrous states of the infallible Imams. Then the narrator says: we have dropped the end of the hadith because it prevented acceptance, and we have brought the beginning of the hadith and argued from it, which has come in many reports and which you cannot deny — namely the Imam's words, peace be upon him, "sa'b mustas'ab". So we say: this explanation that has been offered is to establish what the end of the report indicates