The Source of Traditions on Imam al-Riḍā (Vol 1) · Hadith 140 (#Ḥadīth #32)

32 - حَدَّثَنا أَحْمَدِ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ يَحْيَى العَطَّار رَضِىَ اللهُ عَنْهُ قالَ: حَدَّثَنا سَعْدِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّه قالابْراهيمِ بْنِ هاشِم عَنْ عَلِىِّ بْنِ معبد عَنْ الحُسَيْنِ بْنِ خالِد عَنْ أَبي الحَسَن عَلىِّ بْنِ مُوسَى الرِّضا a.sُ أَنَّهُ دَخَلَ عَلَيْهِ رَجُلٌ فَقَالَ لَهُ يَا ابْنَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ مَا الدَّلِيلُ عَلَى حُدُوثِ الْعَالَمِ؟ فَقَالَ: أَنْتَ لَمْ تَكُنْ ثُمَّ كُنْتَ وَقَدْ عَلِمْتَ أَنَّكَ لَمْ تُكَوِّنْ نَفْسَكَ وَلا كَوَّنَكَ مَنْ هُوَمِثْلُك.

11-32 Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Attar (s) - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Sa’d ibn Abdullah quoted on the authority of Ali ibn Ma’bad, on the authority of Al-Hussein ibn Khalid, on the authority of Abil Hassan Ali ibn Musa Al-Ridha (s), “One day a man came to see Al-Ridha (s) and said, “O son of God’s Prophet! What is the proof that the world is created?” The Imam (s) replied, “You did not exist and were created. You know well that you were not the one who created you, and that there is no one else like you who created you.”

Gradings are classical jarḥ-wa-taʿdīl, name-matched to a rijāl index (not individually re-verified).