Kitāb al-Zuhd 1, narration 118

Translation

1.Al-Ḥusayn ibn Saʿīd narrated to us, “Al-Qāsim ibn ʿAlī narrated to us from Abū Baṣīr, from Abū Jaʿfar (a) who said, ‘My father once struck his servant boy with a single whip. He had sent him on an errand but he delayed [in doing what was required]. So the servant boy cried and said, ‘Allah! O ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, you send me on an errand and then strike me?!’ So my father began to cry and said [to me], ‘O my son, go to the grave of the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) and offer two rakʿahs of prayer, and then say, “O Allah, forgive ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn for his mistake on the Day of Judgment.”’ Then he told the servant boy, ‘Go, for you are free in the way of Allah!’” Abū Baṣīr said, “I asked him, ‘May I be your ransom! Was the emancipation [of his servant] an expiation for the sin?’ But he remained silent.”

Translation: Shaykh Tahir Ridha Jaffer — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.