Hadith No. 7
The Earth is never without a man who knows the truth.
رَوَى أَحْمَدُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ خَالِدٍ [ت274ه] فِي «الْمَحَاسِنِ»[1]، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ النُّعْمَانِ، عَنْ شُعَيْبٍ الْحَدَّادِ، عَنْ أَبِي حَمْزَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ -يَعْنِي مُحَمَّدَ بْنَ عَلِيٍّ الْبَاقِرَ- عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ قَالَ:
لَنْ تَخْلُوَ الْأَرْضُ مِنْ رَجُلٍ يَعْرِفُ الْحَقَّ، فَإِذَا زَادَ النَّاسُ فِيهِ قَالَ: قَدْ زَادُوا، وَإِذَا نَقَصُوا عَنْهُ قَالَ: قَدْ نَقَصُوا، وَإِذَا جَاؤُوا بِهِ صَدَّقَهُمْ، وَلَوْ لَمْ يَكُنْ ذَلِكَ كَذَلِكَ لَمْ يُعْرَفِ الْحَقُّ مِنَ الْبَاطِلِ.
Translation:
Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid [d. 274 AH] has narrated in the book al-Mahasin, from his father, from Ali ibn Nu‘man, from Shu‘ayb al-Haddad, from Abu Hamzah, from Abu Ja‘far—meaning Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir—
who said:
Earth is never without a man who knows the truth, so that whenever people add to it, he says: “They have added,” and whenever they decrease from it, he says: “They have decreased,” and whenever they bring it (in its pure and perfect form), he affirms them. And were it not so, the truth would not have been known from falsehood.
