events. A jafr is a young goat; they claim that he wrote this on its skin. The same applies to the book “al-Bitāqa” (The Card), which Ibn al-Hillī and others like him from the Maghrib claim, and to works such as “al-Jadwal” (The Table), concerning the crescent moon, “al-Haft,” attributed to Ja‘far, and much Quran commentary and other material.

Another example is the “Epistles of the Brethren of Purity,” compiled by a group in Baghdad under Buyid rule. They were Sabian adherents of philosophy who professed adherence to the upright monotheistic faith. They claimed to have combined the religion of the Sabians who had altered their religion with the upright monotheistic faith, bringing together philosophical discourse and elements of the Sharia. The work contains much disbelief and ignorance. Nevertheless, some people—including certain prominent judges in the provinces—claim that it consists of the words of Ja‘far al-Sādiq. This is a heretic’s assertion and an ignorant man’s slander.

[Another example is what some ordinary people recount of the predictions of future battles attributed to “Ibn Ghandab.” They claim that he taught al-Hasan and al-Husayn. The scholars agree that no such thing ever existed. These predictions attributed to “Ibn Ghandab” were merely composed by certain ignorant people during the reign of Nūr al-Dīn or thereabouts. They are defective verse that reveals their composer’s ignorance.]

Likewise, most of these predictions of future battles transmitted in verse and similar forms are lies. In our own time, judges and shaykhs have fabricated more than one such work. I made one of these men acknowledge this after he had claimed that they were ancient, and I said to him: “Rather, you composed them yourself and passed them off