Kitāb al-Ghayba 1, narration 4

Translation

(3) Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Sa’eed bin Oqda narrated from Ahmad bin Younus bin Ya’qoob al-Ju’fi Abul Hasan from Isma’eel bin Mihran from al-Hasan bin Ali bin Abu Hamza that Abdul A’la bin A’yun had said: “Abu Abdullah Ja’far bin Muhammad (Imam as-Sadiq) said to me: “O Abdul A’la, undertaking our matter is not by knowing and accepting it. It is by preserving and keeping it secret from those, who are not reliable. Deliver to them (the Shia) my greeting and tell them that he (Imam as-Sadiq) says to you: May Allah have mercy upon one, who brings himself and us people’s love by showing them what they know and refrain from telling them what they deny. He, who makes war against us, is not worse than one, who fabricates against us what we hate.”

Translation: Abdullah al-Shahin — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.