The Book of the Explanation of the Seventy

Those who do not procreate; the description of their attributes, qualities, types, and crafts; and what the Knower (al-‘Alim), may His Might be exalted, revealed, clarified, and warned against:

Abu ‘Ali al-Basri told us in Shiran, at his residence on al-Barmaki Street, in the month of Dhu al-Qi‘dah in the year 327 [AH]. He said: Abu al-Musayyib Sinan ibn al-Musayyib al-Badhili told me; he said: Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Taliqani told me in al-Taliqan in the year 240 [AH]; he said: Maithan ibn al-Harith al-Qurashi told me in Mecca, in the Canyon of Abu Talib (Shi'b Abi Talib); he said: Isma‘il ibn Sulayman al-’Allaf al-Kufi told me; he said: Mahan al-Abli told me, on the authority of Jabir ibn Yazid al-Ju‘fi, peace be from him, who said:

"I went on the morning of Eid al-Adha to my Master and Lord, Ja‘far ibn Muhammad, may His Might be exalted, to congratulate him. When he granted me permission to enter, I went in and found with him all those from Kufa who followed him with true Gnosis (Ma‘rifah). When he saw me, he said: 'O Jabir, what delayed you until this time, when it was incumbent upon you to be the very first to arrive?' I replied: 'O my Master, I was not aware of the gathering of those present; had I known, I would have come early in the darkness of the dawn (Ghilas).' Then he granted me permission to sit, so I sat.