The Sufficient (Vol 2) · Hadith 2332 (#Ḥadīth #3)

3ـ عَنْهُ عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحَكَمِ عَنِ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ السَّرِيِّ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيهِ السَّلام) قَالَ قَالَ لا تَكْتُبْ بِسْمِ الله الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ لِفُلانٍ وَلا بَأْسَ أَنْ تَكْتُبَ عَلَى ظَهْرِ الْكِتَابِ لِفُلانٍ.

3. It is narrated from him (narrator of the Hadith above) from Ali ibn al-Hakam from al-Hassan ibn al-Sari from Abu ‘Abdillah who has said the following: “Do not write, ‘(I begin) in the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful,’ ‘for so and so’ (in a letter), but it is not an offense to write at the back of the letter, ‘for so and so’.’”

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