2. [2/74] al-Kafi: Ali b. Ibrahim from his father from Ibn Abi Najran from A’sim b. Humayd from Mansur b. Hazim who said: I said to Abi Abdillah عليه السلام: what is my condition – I ask you about an issue so you answer me in it with a certain answer, then someone other than me comes to you so you answer him in it with a different answer? He said: we answer the people with addition (in-depth) and with deletion (in-brief). I said: so inform me about the companions of the messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه واله – were they truthful about Muhammad صلى الله عليه واله or did they lie? He said: they were truthful, I said: so what was the matter with them that they differed? He said: don’t you know that a man used to come to the messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه واله and ask him about a thing so he answers him in it with an answer, then he answers him after that with that which abrogates the former answer, so the narrations superseded one another.

3. [3/75] al-Kafi: Ahmad b. Idris from Muhammad b. Abd al-Jabbar from al-Hasan b. Ali from Tha’laba b. Maymun from Zurara b. A’yan from Abi Ja’far عليه السلام, he (Zurara) said: I asked him about a matter so he answered me, then a man came to him and asked him about it so he answered him with a different answer to mine, then another man came so he answered him with a different answer to the one he gave me and the first man, so when the two men had exited I said: O the son of the messenger of Allāh – two men from the people of Iraq from among your followers came to ask you – but you answered each one of them with a different answer? He said: O Zurara, this is better and more safe for us and you, for if you were all to unite upon one position the people would believe you [in what you say] about us and that would be a threat to both our and your survival, he (Zurara) said: then I [later] said to Abi Abdillah عليه السلام: your followers – if you were to make them move in the face of arrows or on fire they would do it but they come out from you having differences! He said: so he answered me with the same reply as his father.

4. [4/76] Ilal al-Sharai: My father from Sa’d from Muhammad b. al-Walid and al-Sindi from Aban b. Uthman from Muhammad b. Bashir and Hariz from Abi Abdillah عليه السلام, he (Hariz) said: I said to him: there is nothing more difficult for me [to bear] than the differences [that exists] between our fellows, he said: that is from me (I purposely caused that).