Three types of fabricated narrations attributed to the infallibles
Husain Ibn Ahmad reported from his father that Ibrahim Ibn Abi Mahmud said: “I said to Ar-Rida (a.): O son of the Messenger of God, we have traditions about the virtues of the commander of the believers (a.) and the virtues of you Ahl-ul-Bait and they are told by your enemies and we do not know some like it from you. Do we acknowledge them?” Then he said: “O Ibn Abi Mahmud, my father told me about his father who told about his grandfather that the Messenger of God (s.) said: “Whoever listens to a speaker has already served him. If the speaker uttered what is of God, he served God, and if the speaker uttered what is of the devil, he served the devil.” Then Ar-Rida (a.) said: “O Ibn Abi Mahmud, our enemies invented traditions about our virtues and turned them into three categories: “One of them is the exaggeration, the second is the understatement of our cause and the third is the exposure of the shortcomings [Mathalib] of our enemies. Then when people hear the exaggeration about us, they declare our followers to be unbelievers and attribute to them that they take us as their lords, and when they hear the understatement they believe that about us, and when they hear the shortcomings [Mathalib] of our enemies by name, they criticize us by name, and God has already said: “Do not revile those who call on them instead of God, whereupon they revile God out of transgression without knowledge.” (6:108) [Uyun-ul-Akhbar of As-Saduq, volume 1 page 272 Hadith 63]