Al-Hamadani narrated from Abu Sa'id, who said:

I woke up in Samarra and saw a man from the exalted Shia (ghāliyat al-shī‘ah). He told me that a guest had come to him and he gave him shelter. That man was named Saleh bin Ali al-Nili. He said: "We ate and drank and conversed until night. After we prayed the late evening prayer (al-‘Ishā’), he prayed with us and we sat discussing the beautiful hadiths. Then I rose to perform the Night Prayer (ṣalāt al-layl), but he began drinking and started peeling hazelnuts and throwing the shells at me.

When morning came, I went to greet my Master al-Hasan al-Askari—peace be upon him. When he saw me, he smiled and said to me:

'Your companion of last night is more knowing of God than you.'"

And on the authority of al-Hamadani, from Abu Sa'id, from Muhammad bin Musa, from Ali bin al-Husayn, from Muhammad bin Sinan, who said: