Imam Jawad (A) in the Court of the King (story)

When our 9th Imam, Imam Muhammad al-Jawad (A) was a young man, king Ma'mun had arranged a question-answer session between the Imam (A) and Yahya bin Aktham, who was famous at that time for his knowledge. The court was full of people from near and far and everyone wanted to see what the outcome would be. Yahya asked the first question which was: What would be the penalty (Kaffara) of a person in lhram who hunted and killed his prey? The Imam (A) answered that the question was vague and required a lot more detail before he could even begin to answer the question.

The Imam (A) asked him,  Was the person in lhram mature (Baligh) or not?  Was the person a free man or a slave?  Did he know the laws of Shar'ia on hunting or not?  Was his lhram for Haj or 'Umra?  Did he hunt intentionally or not?  Was this the first time or one of many? Did the person in lhram hunt inside the Haram of the Ka'ba or outside?  Did he hunt in the day or at night?  Was the prey big or small?  Was the prey a bird or an animal?  Was the person sorry or not? Yahya was amazed at the response of the young Imam (A) and did not know what to say. He began to stutter and all the people present realized that his knowledge was no match for that of the Imam (A). Ma'mun asked the Imam (A) to answer Yahya's question for all of the above conditions. which the Imam (A) did. It was then the Imam's (A) turn to ask Yahya a question, but Yahya could not answer the question; so the Imam (A) answered it for him.

A hadith from the Imam

The one who lends ear to a speaker and listens to him, he has worshiped him. So if the speaker is from Allah's side (speaks the word of Allah) then he has adorned Allah and if the speaker is speaking from the tongue of Satan then he has worshiped Satan. 

1. at-Fusul al-Muhimma Fi Ahwal al-A'imma, pg 268
Tuhaf al-Uqul P 456
مَن أَصغی إِلی ناطِقِ فَقَد عَبَدَهُ،فَإن کانَ النّاطِقُ عَنِ اللهِ فَقَد عَبَدَ اللهَ،وَ إِن کانَ النّاطِقُ يَنطِقُ عَن لِسانِ إِبليسَ فَقَد عَبَدَ إِبليسَ.