1538 — Abū Abd Allah Jafar ibn Idrīs al-Qazwīnī narrated to me in the Sacred Mosque, saying: Muhammad ibn Zakariyyā al-Ghallābī al-Basrī narrated to us, saying: Yaqūb ibn Jafar ibn Sulaymān al-Hāshimī narrated to us, saying: My father, Jafar ibn Sulaymān, narrated to me from his father, Sulaymān ibn Alī, from his father, Alī ibn Abd Allah, who said:

I was with my father, Abd Allah ibn ⦗2061⦘ Abbas, in Mecca after he had lost his sight. He passed by a group of Syrians at the portico of Zamzam who were reviling Alī ibn Abī Tālib—may Allah be pleased with him. He said to Said ibn Jubayr, who was guiding him, “Take me back to them.” He then asked, “Which of you is reviling Allah?”

They replied, “Glory be to Allah! None of us reviles Allah.”

He asked, “Then which of you is reviling the Messenger of Allah?”

They replied, “By Allah, none of us reviles the Messenger of Allah.”

He asked, “Then which of you is reviling Alī?”

They replied, “As for that, it did happen.”

Ibn Abbas said, “I bear witness that I heard the Messenger of Allah—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—say: ‘Whoever reviles Alī has reviled me; whoever reviles me has reviled Allah, Almighty and Majestic; and whoever reviles Allah, Almighty and Majestic, Allah will hurl him nose-first into the Fire of Hell.’”

He then turned away from them and asked me, “My son, what did you see them do?”

I replied, “My father, they glared at you with reddened eyes, as billy goats gaze upon the slaughterer’s blades.”

He said, “Tell me more, my son.”

I replied, “Their eyes narrowed and their chins bowed low, as the humiliated look upon the mighty conqueror.”

He said, “Tell me more, my son.”

I replied, “I have nothing more to add, my father, beyond what I have said.”

He said, “But I can add more: Their living bring shame upon their dead, and those who remain are a disgrace to those who have gone before.”