Fear and Hope
Al-Kāfi|Volume 2|Book 1|Chapter 33
5ـ عَنْهُ عَنِ ابْنِ أَبِي نَجْرَانَ عَمَّنْ ذَكَرَهُ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيهِ السَّلام) قَالَ قُلْتُ لَهُ قَوْمٌ يَعْمَلُونَ بِالْمَعَاصِي وَيَقُولُونَ نَرْجُو فَلا يَزَالُونَ كَذَلِكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ فَقَالَ هَؤُلاءِ قَوْمٌ يَتَرَجَّحُونَ فِي الأمَانِيِّ كَذَبُوا لَيْسُوا بِرَاجِينَ إِنَّ مَنْ رَجَا شَيْئاً طَلَبَهُ وَمَنْ خَافَ مِنْ شَيْءٍ هَرَبَ مِنْهُ.
5. It is narrated from him (narrator of the Hadith above) from ibn abu al-Najran from those whom he has mentioned and who has said the following: “Once I said to Abu ‘Abdillah عليه السلام ‘Certain people commit sins and say that they hope. They continue until their death arrives.’ The Imam said, ‘Such people have strayed away in hopes. They lie and they do not have any hope. Whoever hopes to have something, he tries to find it. People fearing something, run away from it.’”
- Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (8/34)
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Kāfī