Hadith No. 5
The earth is never devoid of a scholar who knows excess and defect.
رَوَى مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَلِيِّ بْنِ بَابَوَيْهِ [ت381ه] فِي «كَمَالِ الدِّينِ وَتَمَامِ النِّعْمَةِ»[1]، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا أَبِي وَمُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْحَسَنِ قَالَا: حَدَّثَنَا سَعْدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ وَعَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ جَعْفَرٍ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عِيسَى، عَنْ يُونُسَ بْنِ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ، عَنْ أَبِي الصَّبَّاحِ، عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ -يَعْنِي جَعْفَرَ بْنَ مُحَمَّدٍ الصَّادِقَ- عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ قَالَ:
«إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى لَمْ يَدَعِ الْأَرْضَ إِلَّا وَفِيهَا عَالِمٌ يَعْلَمُ الزِّيَادَةَ وَالنُّقْصَانَ، فَإِذَا زَادَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ شَيْئًا رَدَّهُمْ، وَإِذَا نَقَصُوا شَيْئًا أَكْمَلَهُ لَهُمْ، وَلَوْلَا ذَلِكَ لَالْتَبَسَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أُمُورُهُمْ».
Translation:
Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Bābawayh [Died in 381 AH] has narrated in the book of “Kamāl al-Din wa Tamām al-Ni’mah”, (in this way that) has said: My father and Muhammad ibn Hasan may God be pleased with them, narrated to us, they said: Sa’d ibn Abdullah and Abdullah ibn Ja’far narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn Isā, from Yunus ibn Abd al-Rahmān, from Abu al-Sabbāh, from Abu Abdullah — meaning Ja’far ibn Muhammad al-Sādiq — peace be upon him that said:
Indeed, God the Almighty and Exalted, has not left the earth be unless there is knowledgeable one therein who knows excess and defect, so that whenever the believers increased something, he makes them return, and whenever they decreased something, he completes for them, and if had not been like this, the affairs of the believers would have become doubtful for them.