The Sufficient (Vol 5) · Hadith 1946 (#Ḥadīth #3)

3- عِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ إِسْمَاعِيلَ بْنِ بَزِيعٍ قَالَ سَأَلْتُ أَبَا الْحَسَنِ الرِّضَا عَنْ قِنَاعِ الْحَرَائِرِ مِنَ الْخِصْيَانِ فَقَالَ كَانُوا يَدْخُلُونَ عَلَى بَنَاتِ أَبِي الْحَسَنِ وَلا يَتَقَنَّعْنَ قُلْتُ فَكَانُوا أَحْرَاراً قَالَ لا قُلْتُ فَالأحْرَارُ يُتَقَنَّعُ مِنْهُمْ قَالَ لا.

3. A number of our people have narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from Muhammad ibn ‘Isma’il ibn Bazi’ who has said the following: “I once asked abu al-Hassan, al-Rida’ , about the veil of the free women before castrated ones. He (the Imam) said, ‘They would go in the presence of the daughters of abu al-Hassan , and they would not use veils.’ I then asked if they were free. He (the Imam) said, ‘No, they were not free.’ I then asked, ‘Is veil necessary the free ones before them (castrated) ones?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘No, it is not so.’”

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