Then He said: 'O Mufaddal, what do the people of Kufa say about this verse: {Indeed, I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice you, so see what you think. He said: O my father, do as you are commanded; you will find me, if God wills, among the patient. And when they both submitted and he put him down upon his forehead, We called to him, 'O Abraham, you have fulfilled the vision.' Indeed, We thus reward the doers of good. Indeed, this was the clear trial. And We ransomed him with a great sacrifice}?' I said: 'My Master, do you want the saying of your followers (Shi'a) or others?' He said: 'Others besides my followers.' I said: 'They say that what Ishmael was ransomed with was a black ram that came out of Paradise.' He said: 'Glory be to God! God did not create anything in Paradise to punish it with killing! This is also from their disbelief! They claim that God brought a ram out of Paradise and sacrificed it without crime, slaughter, or sin! And God is Just and does not wrong!' 'And another thing, O Mufaddal, inform me about the ransomed (Al-Mafdiyy) and the ransomer (Al-Mufda). Which of them is greater in rank?' I said: 'The one who was ransomed with the sacrifice is greater.' He said: 'How so, when God said: {And We ransomed him with a great sacrifice}, and God made the great matter for the ransomed?' I said: 'My Master, this is something I do not know unless You teach me.' He said: 'Woe to you! If people knew the meaning of that sacrifice, their astonishment would be prolonged, their minds would be bewildered, and they would increase in disbelief and enmity towards God and His Messenger! But a veil was cast over their eyes, their hearts were sealed, and they were deprived of the knowledge of God's secret and its hidden reality. That ram with which Al-Husayn was ransomed was the Adlam¹ of Quraysh, who is the Second, and on that day he was in the form of a ram, so he was brought and slaughtered. Have you not seen its horns hanging in the Kaaba?' I said: 'Yes.' He said: 'Those are the horns of that ram with which Al-Husayn was ransomed.' Then He laughed until His molar teeth appeared. I asked: 'My Master, what made you laugh?' He said: 'When people gather at the season in Mecca, they desire to look at it, astonished that it is from Paradise. But we, by my life and by God, stand to look at it, astonished that they are the horns of the Adlam! So people are astonished by one thing, and we are astonished by something contrary to that.'