Is the hadith “Be optimistic about good and you will find it” reported from the Ahl al-Bayt (a)?

In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful

We have not found this hadith in its exact wording in our books, but some scholars have cited it in their books attributed to the Prophet (s), and we have not come across a source for it. It may have been transmitted from what is commonly circulated, or they may have transmitted it from a source that we have not seen and that they did not record.

However, its meaning is correct and agrees with the narrations transmitted from the Prophet (s) and his Household that forbade taking evil omens (tatayyur), which is the opposite of optimism (tafaʾul).

Optimism, in its meaning, is expecting good from any event that takes place around a person, and in its reality it is thinking well of Allah the Exalted. Whoever thinks well of Allah, Allah will be with him; and this is what explains a person's drawing good near to himself and warding off evil from himself through psychological and intellectual effort, because in Allah's hand are the keys of affairs.

It has come from Imam al-Rida (a): “Think well of Allah, for Allah Almighty says: I am in accordance with My believing servant's good opinion of Me; if good, then good, and if evil, then evil.” ʿUyun Akhbar al-Rida, vol. 2, p. 20.

And it has been reported from Abu ʿAbdillah (a): “An evil omen is according to what you make of it: if you make light of it, it becomes light; if you make it severe, it becomes severe; and if you make it nothing, it is nothing.” Al-Kafi, vol. 8, p. 198.

And it has been reported from the Prophet (s) that he said: “And the good omen is true,” meaning that it is real and has an effect.

Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi