بِنْتُ أُمِّ الْوَلَدِ أَبَاهَا فَقَامَ الرَّجُلُ بَعْدَ فَرَاغِهِ مِنْ صَلَاةِ الْفَجْرِ فَوَاقَعَ أَهْلَهُ الَّتِي لَا تَلِدُ وَ خَرَجَ إِلَى الْحَمَّامِ فَأَرَادَتِ الْحُرَّةُ أَنْ تَكِيدَ أُمَّ الْوَلَدِ وَ ابْنَتَهَا عِنْدَ الرَّجُلِ فَقَامَتْ إِلَيْهَا بِحَرَارَةِ ذَلِكَ الْمَاءِ فَوَقَعَتْ إِلَيْهَا وَ هِيَ نَائِمَةٌ فَعَالَجَتْهَا كَمَا يُعَالِجُ الرَّجُلُ الْمَرْأَةَ فَعَلِقَتْ أَيُّ شَيْ ءٍ عِنْدَكَ فِيهَا قَالَ لَا وَ اللَّهِ مَا عِنْدِي فِيهَا شَيْ ءٌ فَقَالَ يَا أَبَا حَنِيفَةَ أَخْبِرْنِي عَنْ رَجُلٍ كَانَتْ لَهُ جَارِيَةٌ فَزَوَّجَهَا مِنْ مَمْلُوكٍ لَهُ وَ غَابَ الْمَمْلُوكُ فَوُلِدَ لَهُ مِنْ أَهْلِهِ مَوْلُودٌ وَ وُلِدَ لِلْمَمْلُوكِ مَوْلُودٌ مِنْ أُمِّ وَلَدٍ لَهُ فَسَقَطَ الْبَيْتُ عَلَى الْجَارِيَتَيْنِ وَ مَاتَ الْمَوْلَى مَنِ الْوَارِثُ فَقَالَ جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ لَا وَ اللَّهِ مَا عِنْدِي فِيهَا شَيْ ءٌ فَقَالَ أَبُو حَنِيفَةَ أَصْلَحَكَ اللَّهُ إِنَّ عِنْدَنَا قَوْماً بِالْكُوفَةِ يَزْعُمُونَ أَنَّكَ تَأْمُرُهُمْ بِالْبَرَاءَةِ مِنْ فُلَانٍ وَ فُلَانٍ ١ فَقَالَ وَيْلَكَ يَا أَبَا حَنِيفَةَ لَمْ يَكُنْ هَذَا مَعَاذَ اللَّهِ فَقَالَ أَصْلَحَكَ اللَّهُ إِنَّهُمْ يُعَظِّمُونَ الْأَمْرَ فِيهِمَا ٢قَالَ فَمَا تَأْمُرُنِي قَالَ تَكْتُبُ إِلَيْهِمْ قَالَ بِمَا ذَا قَالَ تَسْأَلُهُمْ الْكَفَّ عَنْهُمَا٣ قَالَ لَا يُطِيعُونِّي قَالَ بَلَى أَصْلَحَكَ اللَّهُ إِذَا كُنْتَ أَنْتَ الْكَاتِبَ وَ أَنَا الرَّسُولُ أَطَاعُونِي قَالَ يَا أَبَا حَنِيفَةَ أَبَيْتَ إِلَّا جَهْلًا كَمْ بَيْنِي وَ بَيْنَ الْكُوفَةِ مِنَ الْفَرَاسِخِ قَالَ أَصْلَحَكَ اللَّهُ مَا لَا يُحْصَى فَقَالَ كَمْ بَيْنِي وَ بَيْنَكَ قَالَ لَا شَيْ ءَ قَالَ أَنْتَ دَخَلْتَ عَلَيَّ فِي مَنْزِلِي فَاسْتَأْذَنْتَ فِي الْجُلُوسِ ثَلَاثَ مَرَّاتٍ فَلَمْ آذَنْ لَكَ فَجَلَسْتَ بِغَيْرِ إِذْنِي خِلَافاً عَلَيَّ كَيْفَ يُطِيعُونِّي أُولَئِكَ وَ هُمْ ثَمَّ وَ أَنَا هَاهُنَا قَالَ فَقَنَّعَ رَأْسَهُ وَ خَرَجَ وَ هُوَ يَقُولُ أَعْلَمُ النَّاسِ وَ لَمْ نَرَهُ عِنْدَ عَالِمٍ فَقَالَ أَبُو بَكْرٍ الْحَضْرَمِيُّ جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ الْجَوَابُ فِي الْمَسْأَلَتَيْنِ الْأَوَّلَتَيْنِ فَقَالَ يَا أَبَا بَكْرٍ سِيرُوا فِيها لَيالِيَ وَ أَيَّاماً آمِنِينَ فَقَالَ مَعَ قَائِمِنَا أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ وَ أَمَّا قَوْلُهُ وَ مَنْ دَخَلَهُ كانَ آمِناً فَمَنْ بَايَعَهُ وَ دَخَلَ مَعَهُ وَ مَسَحَ عَلَی يَدِهِ وَ دَخَلَ فِي عَقْدِ أَصْحَابِهِ كَانَ آمِناً.

The Imam said: O Abu Hanifa, answer this question: A man had a bondmaid who was the mother of his child, by whom he had a daughter, and he also had a free wife who was barren. At dawn this man's daughter by the mother of his child came to visit her father, and the man, after praying the dawn prayer, lay with his free wife and then went to the bath. The free wife, out of spite and cunning toward the mother of the child and her daughter, rose at that very moment while the husband had gone to the bath, went to her husband's daughter by the mother of his child, and while the girl was asleep threw herself upon her, and in the same manner as her husband had lain with her and poured his fluid into her womb, she poured that same fluid into the girl's womb, and the girl conceived from that very fluid. What is the ruling on this pregnancy in your view? Abu Hanifa said: By God, I know nothing about it. The Imam said: O Abu Hanifa, answer this question: A man has a bondmaid whom he gives in marriage to his own slave, and the slave goes away from him. Then a child is born to the man's wife, and from the bondmaid who is the mother of his child and whom the said slave has made pregnant a child is born; and after that the house falls in and the man who was the master, and the two bondmaids — one of whom was the mother of his child and the other the bondmaid whom the master had given in marriage to the slave — all three die. Now tell me, who is the heir? Abu Hanifa said: May I be your ransom, by God I know nothing about it. Then Abu Hanifa said: May God make your state good; among us in Kufa there is a group who hold that you have commanded them to disavow and renounce so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so. Is this correct? He said: Woe to you, O Abu Hanifa, this is not correct; I take refuge with God! Abu Hanifa said: May God make your state good, this group make a great matter of these three men and press hard the question of disavowing and renouncing them. The Imam said: What do you want of me? Abu Hanifa said: Write them a letter. The Imam said: To what effect? Abu Hanifa said: Ask them to refrain from disavowing these three men. The Imam said: They will not obey me. Abu Hanifa said: Why not, may God make your state good? If you write the letter and I am your messenger and envoy, they will certainly obey me. The Imam said: O Abu Hanifa, this insistence of yours is nothing but ignorance. How many leagues are there between me and Kufa? Abu Hanifa said: Very many indeed, so many that they cannot be counted. The Imam said: And how far is it between me and you? Abu Hanifa said: There is no distance at all. The Imam said: You came in upon me in my own house and three times sought permission to sit, and I did not give you permission; yet you sat without my permission and opposed me. How then should that group, who are at such a distance from me while I am here, obey me? The narrator says: Abu Hanifa kissed the Imam's blessed head and left his presence saying: He is the most learned of people, though we have not seen him with any teacher. Abu Bakr al-Hadrami says: I asked: May I be your ransom! What is the answer to the first and second questions? The Imam said: O Abu Bakr, what is meant by "Travel in them by night and by day in safety" is: travel and journey with our Qa'im of the People of the House, for you will be in complete safety. And what is meant by "And whoever enters it is safe" is that whoever gives allegiance to our Qa'im and is in his party and touches that great one's hand and is among his companions is certainly safe from every harm.

بيان: قوله عليه السلام و لست كما تقول جملة حالية اعترضت بين الشرط و الجزاء لرفع توهم أن هذا الشرط و التقدير محتمل الصدق و أما قوله تعالى سِيرُوا فِيها لَيالِيَ وَ أَيَّاماً آمِنِينَ فهو في القرآن مذكور بين الآيات التي أوردت في ذكر قصة أهل سبأ حيث قال وَ جَعَلْنا بَيْنَهُمْ وَ بَيْنَ الْقُرَى الَّتِي بارَكْنا فِيها قُرىً ظاهِرَةً وَ قَدَّرْنا فِيهَا السَّيْرَ سِيرُوا

"Lasta kama taqul" is a circumstantial and parenthetical clause that has come between the condition and its apodosis; and since a conditional sentence admits the possibility of being true, the Imam wishes utterly to negate the possibility of this supposition and the imagining of it — that is, Abu Hanifa certainly has no awareness of the sciences he claims; not even the possibility of its being true exists. As for the verse "Travel in them by night and by day in safety", in the Qur'an it comes among the verses concerning the story of the people of Saba', where God said: "And We placed between them and the towns We had blessed visible towns, and measured the journey between them: travel in them by night and by day in safety."