148 – ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd narrated to us. He said: ʿAlī ibn ʿAlī—meaning al-Rifāʿī—informed me, from al-Ḥasan, who said:

“Two men from the earliest generation of this community were discussing the people’s condition. One of them said to his companion, ‘May you lose your father! Do you not see the people? The very thing that destroyed them in this matter has already overtaken them after they claimed to have believed.’

He kept repeating: ‘People’s weakness, their sins, and Satan.’ He also began hinting at matters the other man could not accept inwardly. When he saw that, he said, ‘No. They walked away from this affair after claiming faith. Allah has made the life of this world a visible witness and has concealed the Hereafter, so people have clung to what they can see and abandoned what is unseen. By the One in whose hand is the soul of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qays, if Allah had set the two side by side so that people could behold them both, they would never have deviated or failed to obey.’”