Ikhtiyar Marifat al-Rijal by Shaykh al-tusi, Vol 1, P349

With an authentic chain we read that imam jafar (as) says to Abdullah the son of zurarah as follows :"Convey my greetings to your father and say to him: 'Indeed, the only reason I speak ill of you is to defend and protect you. For people—and especially our enemies—rush to harm anyone whom we praise or show closeness to. They try to bring pain and destruction upon those we love and draw near.**


They target them because of their love and nearness to us. And on the other hand, they praise those whom we criticize and speak ill of.

So, I criticize you because you have become well known for your affiliation with us, and because of your love and inclination toward us. Because of this, the people see you as blameworthy and disreputable.

I wanted to publicly criticize you so that the people would instead praise your religious character, and see you in a better light because of my rebuke. That way, their harm would be deflected from you.

Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says: As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working at sea. So I intended to damage it, because there was a king behind them who seized every good ship by force.' (Qur’an 18:79)

This is a divine allegory, and by God, the ship had no fault—except that the damage was done to protect it from the oppressive king.

Uploaded on: 2026-01-13 10:11:32

Credit: mujtaba ali

رجال الكشي: حمدويه بن نصير، عن يعقوب بن يزيد، عن محمد بن أبي عمير، عن جميل بن دراج قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله عليه السلام يقول: بشر المخبتين بالجنة بريد بن معاوية العجلي و أبو بصير ليث بن البختري المرادي و محمد بن مسلم و زرارة، أربعة نجباء أمناء الله على حلاله و حرامه، لو لا هؤلاء انقطعت آثار النبوة و اندرست

Rijal al-Kashshi :

Hamduwayh b. Nusayr from Ya`qub b. Yazid from Muhammad b. Abi Umayr from Jamil b. Darraj who said:

I heard Aba Abdillah عليه السلام say:
give glad tidings of paradise to the humble: Burayd b. Muawiya al-Ijli, Abu Basir Layth b. al-Bukhtari al-Muradi, Muhammad b. Muslim and Zurara.

Four possessors of nobility and the trustees of Allah upon his Halal and Haram, if it wasn’t for them the traces of prophethood would have perished and been destroyed.

Uploaded on: 2026-01-13 10:09:13

Credit: mujtaba ali