The Book of Asceticism · Hadith 197 (#Ḥadīth #12)
Chapter 12 | Repentance, Seeking Forgiveness, Regret, and Admission (of Guilt)
القاسم بن محمد عن حبيب الخثعمي قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله عليه السلام السلام يقول: انا لنذنب ونسئ ثم نتوب إلى الله متابا. قال الحسين بن سعيد: لا خلاف بين علماءنا في أنهم عليهم السلام معصومون من كل قبيح مطلقا وأنهم عليهم السلام يسمون ترك المندوب ذنبا وسيئة بالنسبة إلى كما لهم عليهم السلام.
12.Al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad narrated from Ḥabīb al-Khathʿamī who said, “I heard Abā ʿAbdillāh say, ‘Verily we sin and we forget, then we turn back penitently to Allah.’” Al-Ḥasan ibn Saʿīd said, “There is no difference of opinion among our scholars that they (the Imams) are infallible and free of every type of ugliness [in their actions]. They refer to the abandoning of what is recommended as a sin and a misdeed in relation to their own perfection [and that is why they repent].”
Gradings are classical jarḥ-wa-taʿdīl, name-matched to a rijāl index (not individually re-verified).