Al-Kāfi 8, narration 49

Translation

49. From him, from Ahmad Bin Muhammad, from Muhammad Bin Murazim, from his father who said: ‘We went out with Abu Abdullah (as) when he left from the presence of Abu Ja’far Al-Mansour from Al-Hira. So he left at the time permitted for him and ended up at Al-Saliheen in the beginning of the night. A tax collector presented himself to him who was in Al-Saliheen in the beginning of the night. He said to him, ‘I will not permit you to leave’. So he urged him and requested him, but he refused, rejecting it. And I and Musaddaf were with him. So Musaddaf said to him, ‘May I be sacrificed for you, but this one is a dog. He has troubled you, and I fear that he would make you return, and I do not know what would be the order of Abu Ja’far (Al-Mansour). If you permit us, I and Murazim can strike his neck, then throw him (his body) in the river’. He said: ‘Restrain yourself, O Musaddaf’. So he did not stop requesting him until most of the night had passed, and he permitted him to pass. He said: ‘O Murazim, is this better or that which you had said?’ I said, ‘May I be sacrificed for you, this (is better)’. So he said: ‘The man comes out of the smaller humiliation, but that pushes him enter into the greater humiliation’.

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