Al-Kāfi 1, narration 9

Translation

8. Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Abdullah reported from Ibrahim ibn Ishaq al-Ahmar, from Muhammad ibn Sulaiman al-Daylami, from his father, who said: I said to Abā ʿAbdillah al-Sadiq (as), "So-and-so is from his worship, religion, and virtue." He said, "What about his intellect?" I replied, "I do not know." He said, "Indeed, the reward is based on the measure of intellect. A man from the Children of Israel used to worship Allah on an island of the sea, green and lush, with plenty of trees and visible water. And an angel from the angels passed by him and said, 'O my Lord, show me the reward of Your servant.' Allah, the Exalted, showed him that. The angel then felt small in comparison and was inspired by Allah to accompany him. So the angel came to him in human form and said to him, 'Who are you?' He replied, 'I am a worshiper. I have heard of your location and your worship in this place, so I have come to worship Allah with you.' He was with him that day. When morning came, the angel said to him, 'Indeed, your place is pure and only suitable for worship.' The worshiper replied, 'This place has a defect.' The angel asked, 'What is it?' He said, 'Our Lord does not have livestock, so if He had a donkey, we would graze it in this location, for this grass would go to waste.' The angel responded, 'What does your Lord have to do with a donkey?' The worshiper said, 'If He had a donkey, this grass would not go to waste.' Allah then revealed to the angel, 'I reward him based on the measure of his intellect.'"

Translation: Muhammad Sarwar — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.