The Conditions of the Imams in the Matters of Age
Al-Kāfi|Volume 1|Book 4|Chapter 91
5ـ سَهْلُ بْنُ زِيَادٍ عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ مَهْزِيَارَ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ إِسْمَاعِيلَ بْنِ بَزِيعٍ قَالَ سَأَلْتُهُ يَعْنِي أَبَا جَعْفَرٍ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) عَنْ شَيْءٍ مِنْ أَمْرِ الامَامِ فَقُلْتُ يَكُونُ الامَامُ ابْنَ أَقَلَّ مِنْ سَبْعِ سِنِينَ فَقَالَ نَعَمْ وَأَقَلَّ مِنْ خَمْسِ سِنِينَ فَقَالَ سَهْلٌ فَحَدَّثَنِي عَلِيُّ بْنُ مَهْزِيَارَ بِهَذَا فِي سَنَةِ إِحْدَى وَعِشْرِينَ وَمِائَتَيْنِ.
5. Sahl ibn Ziyad has narrated from Ali ibn Mahziyar from Muhammad ibn ’Isma‘il ibn Bazi‘ who has said the following. “I asked abu Ja‘far عليه السلام of an issue of the Imamat (Leadership with Divine Authority) and I said, “Can the Imam be a boy less than seven years old?” He said, “Yes, he can even be less the five years old.” Sahl has said that ibn Mahziyar narrated this to me in the year two hundred twenty one.”
- Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (4/248)
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Kāfī