During the reign of Fath Ali Shah Qajaar, there lived in Yazd a scholar, by the name of Mulla Hasan Yazdi who was held in high esteem by the people. The governor of the city of Yazd used to oppress the people and treat them with great cruelty. Mulla Hasan advised him to stop his evil deeds. When he refused to mend his ways, Mulla complained to Fath Ali Shah, but this too proved unproductive.
Since Mulla was particularly assiduous with respect to the issue of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, he assembled the people of Yazd who, upon his orders, collectively threw the governor out of the city.
When Fath Ali Shah was informed of this incident, he was immensely upset and ordered Mulla Hasan Yazdi to be brought before him in Tehran.
As soon as Mulla came, Fath Ali Shah asked him about the incident in Yazd.
Mulla replied, “Your governor in Yazd was a tyrant and I wanted to relieve the people of his evils by throwing him out of Yazd.”
The answer so enraged the Shah that he ordered Mulla’s legs to be tied.
Ameen-uddaulah said to the Shah, “He is not at fault. It was without his permission that the people threw out the governor.”
In spite of his feet being fettered, Mulla Hasan spoke out:
“Why do we need to lie? I had the governor thrown out of Yazd because of his oppression.”
Eventually, due to the intervention of Ameen-uddaulah, Mulla Hasan’s legs were untied.
That night, Shah witnessed the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) in his dream and observed that two of his toes were tied.
“Why are your toes tied?” he asked the Holy Prophet.
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) replied, “It is you who has tied them.”
Shah pointed out that he had never shown such disrespect.
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) explained, “But was it not you who had ordered Mulla Hasan Yazdi’s feet to be tied?”
Shah woke up from his sleep greatly alarmed. He ordered Mulla Hasan to be given resplendent clothes and to be returned to his city with great honour and respect. Mulla Hasan refused to accept the clothes and returned to Yazd. Later, he travelled to Kerbala and remained there for the rest of his life.( Hikaayat-ha-e-Shanidani, vol. 3, pg. 146; Qisas al-U’lema, pg. 101. )
Reference : Anecdotes for Reflection – Part 1