Muhammad ibn Munkadir reports: I never thought `Ali ibn al-Husayn to leave an excellent successor after him until I saw his son, Muhammad. I wanted to give him a lesson, but he gave me one:
On a hot day, I went to Medina where I saw Imam al-Baqir (a.s) leaning on two slaves due to corpulence. I said to my self, “A great man of Quraish working at this hour of day in search of the material world! I will certainly give him an advice.” I approached and saluted him. While he was gasping, he greeted me back. Sweat was pouring from his head and face because of hot weather. I said, “May Allah improve your affairs. A great man of Quraish seeking the world at this time of the day! What will happen if death overtakes you in this situation?” Taking his hands off the shoulders of the two slaves and leaning against the wall, he said, “By Allah, if death overtakes me and I am in this situation, I will be in a state of obedience to Allah by which I can preserve my value from you and people. I am afraid of death only when I am committing a sin!” I said, “May Allah bless you! I intended to give you advice but you gave me advice.” ( Al-Kafi: 73/5, H 1.)