يَوْماً وَ هُوَ كَئِيبٌ حَزِينٌ فَقُلْتُ لَهُ مَا لَكَ يَا مُعَلَّى كَأَنَّكَ ذَكَرْتَ أَهْلَكَ وَ مَالَكَ وَ وَلَدَكَ وَ عِيَالَكَ قَالَ أَجَلْ قُلْتُ ادْنُ مِنِّي فَدَنَا مِنِّي فَمَسَحْتُ وَجْهَهُ فَقُلْتُ أَيْنَ تَرَاكَ قَالَ أَرَانِي فِي بَيْتِي هَذِهِ زَوْجَتِي وَ هَذَا وَلَدِي فَتَرَكْتُهُ حَتَّى تَمَلَّأَ مِنْهُمْ وَ اسْتَتَرْتُ مِنْهُمْ حَتَّى نَالَ مِنْهَا مَا يَنَالُ الرَّجُلُ مِنْ أَهْلِهِ ثُمَّ قُلْتُ لَهُ ادْنُ مِنِّي فَدَنَا مِنِّي فَمَسَحْتُ وَجْهَهُ فَقُلْتُ أَيْنَ تَرَاكَ فَقَالَ أَرَانِي مَعَكَ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ هَذَا بَيْتُكَ قَالَ قُلْتُ لَهُ يَا مُعَلَّى إِنَّ لَنَا حَدِيثاً مَنْ حَفِظَ عَلَيْنَا حَفِظَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ دِينَهُ وَ دُنْيَاهُ يَا مُعَلَّى لَا تَكُونُوا أَسْرَى فِي أَيْدِي النَّاسِ بِحَدِيثِنَا إِنْ شَاءُوا مَنُّوا عَلَيْكُمْ وَ إِنْ شَاءُوا قَتَلُوكُمْ يَا مُعَلَّى إِنَّهُ مَنْ كَتَمَ الصَّعْبَ مِنْ حَدِيثِنَا جَعَلَهُ اللَّهُ نُوراً بَيْنَ عَيْنَيْهِ وَ رَزَقَهُ اللَّهُ الْعِزَّةَ فِي النَّاسِ وَ مَنْ أَذَاعَ الصَّعْبَ مِنْ حَدِيثِنَا لَمْ يَمُتْ حَتَّى يَعَضَّهُ السِّلَاحُ أَوْ يَمُوتَ كَبْلًا ١ يَا مُعَلَّى بْنَ خُنَيْسٍ وَ أَنْتَ مَقْتُولٌ فَاسْتَعِدَّ.
while he was downcast and sorrowful. I said to him: What troubles you, O Mu'alla? It is as though you have been remembering your family, your wealth, your children and your household. He said: Yes. I said: Come close to me. He came near, and I passed my hand over his face and said: Where are you now? He said: I am in my house, and this is my wife and this my child. So I left him alone in his house and hid myself from their sight, until he had stayed a while with his wife and been alone with her. Then I said to him again: Come close to me. He came, and I passed my hand over his face and said: What do you see? He said: I see myself with you in Medina; this is your house. I said: O Mu'alla! We have hadiths: whoever guards them for us, God will guard for him his religion and his worldly life. O Mu'alla! Do not, because of our hadiths, become captives in people's hands, so that if they wish they grant you safety and if they wish they kill you. O Mu'alla! Whoever conceals our difficult hadiths, God will set a light between his two eyes and grant him honour among people; and whoever divulges the difficult matters of our hadiths will not die save by the sword, and they will kill him or cast him into fetters and prison. And you will be killed, O Mu'alla b. Khunays! Be ready.
كش، رجال الكشي إبراهيم بن محمد بن العباس عن أحمد بن إدريس عن الأشعري عن ابن أبي الخطاب مثله.
Rijal al-Kashshi: Ibn Abi al-Khattab related the like of the hadith above.
«35»- سن، المحاسن ابْنُ يَزِيدَ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ جُمْهُورٍ الْقُمِّيِّ رَفَعَهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى اللّٰه عليه و آله إِذَا ظَهَرَتِ الْبِدْعَةُ فِي أُمَّتِي فَلْيُظْهِرِ الْعَالِمُ عِلْمَهُ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَفْعَلْ فَعَلَيْهِ لَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ.
Al-Mahasin: Muhammad b. Jumhur al-Qummi related with an elevated chain from the Messenger of God — may God bless him and his family — that he said: When innovations appear among my community, let the scholar make his knowledge manifest; and if he does not make his knowledge manifest, then the curse of God be upon him.
غو، غوالي اللئالي مثله مرسلا.
'Awali al-La'ali: The like of the hadith above is related with an unsupported chain.
«36»- سن، المحاسن أَبِي عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ الْمُغِيرَةِ وَ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ سِنَانٍ عَنْ طَلْحَةَ بْنِ زَيْدٍ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عَنْ آبَائِهِ عليهم السلام قَالَ قَالَ عليه السلام إِنَّ الْعَالِمَ الْكَاتِمَ عِلْمَهُ يُبْعَثُ أَنْتَنَ أَهْلِ الْقِيَامَةِ رِيحاً تَلْعَنُهُ كُلُّ دَابَّةٍ حَتَّى دَوَابُّ الْأَرْضِ الصِّغَارُ.
Al-Mahasin: Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, related from his forefathers that the Messenger of God — may God bless him and his family — said: Truly a scholar who conceals his knowledge — God, exalted, will raise him up on the Day of Resurrection as the foulest-smelling of the people of that Day, and every creature, even the vermin of the earth, will curse him.
«37»- م، تفسير الإمام عليه السلام قَالَ أَبُو مُحَمَّدٍ الْعَسْكَرِيُّ عليه السلام قَالَ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ عليه السلام سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى اللّٰه عليه و آله يَقُولُ مَنْ سُئِلَ عَنْ عِلْمٍ فَكَتَمَهُ حَيْثُ يَجِبُ إِظْهَارُهُ وَ تَزُولُ عَنْهُ التَّقِيَّةُ جَاءَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مُلْجَماً بِلِجَامٍ مِنَ النَّارِ.
The Commentary of Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari, peace be upon him: Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari, peace be upon him, related from the Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him, that he said: I heard the Messenger of God — may God bless him and his family — saying always: Whoever is asked about knowledge and conceals it where making it manifest is obligatory and no dissimulation is called for, will come on the Day of Resurrection to the field of the gathering with a bridle of fire bound upon his mouth.
وَ قَالَ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذَا كَتَمَ الْعَالِمُ الْعِلْمَ أَهْلَهُ وَ زَهَا ٢لْجَاهِلُ فِي تَعَلُّمِ مَا لَا بُدَّ مِنْهُ وَ بَخِلَ الْغَنِيُّ بِمَعْرُوفِهِ وَ بَاعَ الْفَقِيرُ دِينَهُ بِدُنْيَا غَيْرِهِ جَلَّ الْبَلَاءُ وَ عَظُمَ الْعِقَابُ.
And the Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him, said: When the scholar conceals knowledge from those worthy of it, the ignorant man is slack in the matters he cannot do without, the wealthy man is miserly in spending his wealth, and the poor man sells his religion for another's world — then great affliction and a mighty punishment will come.