part 1

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Praise be to the Lord of the worlds and benedictions on our Chief, Muhammad and his Progeny and peace be on them. So to say: Narrated to me Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad bin Ja’far bin Daqaaq (r.a.) from Shaykh Faqih Abul Hasan Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Ali bin Hasan bin Shazaan and Shaykh Faqih Abu Muhammad Ja’far bin Ahmad bin Ali Qummi (a.r.) from Shaykh Faqih Abu Ja’far Muhammad bin Ali bin Husain bin Musa Ibn Babawayh Qummi (a.r.) from Abul Hasan Muhammad bin Qasim Astarabadi Mufassir (interpreter) and Khateeb (orator) from Abu Yaqoob Yusuf bin Muhammad bin Ziyad and Abul Hasan Ali bin Muhammad bin Sayyar both of Imamite faith, that: Our father belonged to Imamite faith and in those days Astrabad was overwhelmed by the Zaidiyyah sect and its ruler was Hasan bin Zaid the Alawid (from the dynasty of Imam Ali) entitled ad-Da’ee Ilal Haqq Imamuz Zaidiyyah (the inviter to the truth, the Imam of the Zaydites). On many occasions, he used to hear the talks of Zaidiyyah and kill people on the basis of their backbiting. Seeing this situation, we feared for our lives, and so along with