Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn ‘Ammār, from one of our companions who narrated to him, from our Master Abū ‘Abdillāh (may his glory be exalted), said: A man came, and when Abū ‘Abdillāh (may his glory be exalted) looked at him, he said: "By Allah, I shall lead him astray. By Allah, I shall confuse him." The man sat down and asked him a question, and he gave him a ruling. When the man left, Abū ‘Abdillāh (may his glory be exalted) said: "I have given him a ruling of misguidance in which there is no guidance."1
Here we see that the Imām says: "By Allah, I shall lead him astray. By Allah, I shall confuse him." Why does he lead him astray and give him a misleading ruling? Because the questioner was deserving of it...
Our Master Al-Ṣādiq (may his glory be exalted) was asked about Abū Bakr and ‘Umar (may the Almighty, the Omnipotent curse them) and he said: “They were unjust, yet fair Imāms. They were upon the truth and died upon it, so may the mercy of Allah be upon them on the Day of Resurrection.” When the gathering was empty, one of his companions asked him: “How could you say that, O son of the Messenger of Allah?!” He replied: “Yes, as for my saying: "They were Imāms," it is taken from the saying of Allah Almighty: {And We made them leaders inviting to the Fire...}”2
... to the completion of the narration in which the Imām explains the meanings of the words to his companions who deserved guidance, unlike the questioner who deserved misguidance due to his ill intent and bad deeds, so reflect upon this.
The Negligent are the Children of Israel of this Time
From Abū ‘Abdillāh (may his glory be exalted) regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: {And We conveyed to the Children of Israel in the Scripture that you would surely cause corruption on the earth twice…} He said: “The killing of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and the stabbing of Al-Ḥasan.” {and ascend to a great height}, He said: “The killing of Al-Ḥusayn (may their glory be exalted).” {So when the promise of the first of them came to pass}, so when the victory for Al-Ḥusayn's blood came, {We sent against you servants of Ours possessing great might, and they traversed [through] the homes.} A people whom Allah will send before the emergence of Al-Qā'im (may his glory be exalted).3