43 – Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn narrated to me; Ḥakīm ibn Jaʿfar narrated to me; he said:

“A son of Muḍar died, and the boy had possessed traits that people condemned. Muḍar grieved over him with intense sorrow. I said to him, ‘From someone like you this is too much—grieving over a child whom I hope will be stored up for you as a treasure and whose benefit to you will remain.’

He wept and then said, ‘What you see of my grief is not attachment to him or distress at his physical absence. By Allah, my sorrow for him is because of his sins.’

Ḥakīm continued: After that he returned—by Allah—to sound recognition of Allah and said, ‘You know, my Lord, the fear and agitation that entered my heart on his account, my apprehension for him before You, and my caution lest You had looked upon him while he was pleased with something I had forbidden him. So I said to him, “Do whatever you wish, for I am not the one who can forgive you.”

My God, even though You made me his father and placed in my heart the compassion and mercy You allot from parent to child, that does not reach the furthest limit of even a single fraction—the slightest that can be counted or the lightest that can be weighed—of the hope I place in You for him and for the sinners among Your servants, for Your mercy and forgiveness, O Most Merciful.’

After that, whenever he mentioned his son he would say, ‘We have handed him over to the One who fashioned and created him and promised him His forgiveness.’"