سعد بن عبداللّه، عن الحسن بن عيسى بن محمد بن عليّ بن جعفر عن أبيه، عن جدّه محمد بن عليّ، عن علي بن جعفر، عن أخيه موسى بن جعفر عليهما السلام، قال: اذا فقد الخامس من ولد السابع، فالله الله في أديانكم لا يزيلنكم أحد عنها يا بنيّ: انّه لابدّ لصاحب هذا الأمر من غيبة حتى يرجع عن هذا الأمر من كان يقول به، إنّما هي محنة من الله عزّ وجلّ إمتحن بها خلقه، ولو علم آباؤكم وأجدادكم ديناً أصحّ من هذا لاتبّعوه. فقلت: يا سيّدي، وما الخامس من ولد السابع؟ فقال: يا بنيّ عقولكم تضعف عن ذلك وأحلامكم تضيق عن حملهِ ولكن إن تعيشوا فسوف تدركونه.
Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh, from al-Ḥasan b. ʿĪsā b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Jaʿfar, from his father, from his grandfather Muḥammad b. ʿAlī, from ʿAlī b. Jaʿfar, from his brother, Mūsā b. Jaʿfar (as-d), who said: “When the fifth of the seventh’s offspring has become unaccounted for, then for Allāh’s sake, maintain your religious commitments! Do not let anyone turn you away from them. O’ sons of mine, it is necessary for the Master of this Ordinance to undergo an occultation such that he who affirmed this Ordinance will recant his affirmation. It is only a tribulation from Allāh (azwj) by which He tests His creatures. Had your forefathers and ancestors known of a religion more correct than this one, they would have followed it.” I (ʿAlī b. Jaʿfar) asked: “O’ my master, what is the fifth of the seventh’s offspring?,” to which he responded: “O’ sons of mine, your intellects are too feeble for that, and your forbearances are too constricted to bear it. But if you live, you will encounter it.”