The Indian and the Sixth Imam

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Imam Kadhim (as) narrates: “One day, I was with my father in the house when a friend entered and told my father that some people were standing outside, waiting to see him. My father asked me to find out who they were. As I went outside, I saw numerous camels laden with chests and a man seated on a horse.

“Who are you?” I asked the man.

“I am from India and seek the honour of meeting the Imam (as),” he replied.

I returned to my father and informed him about the man outside.

“Don’t let this impure and treacherous person enter the house,” he instructed, and so I did as I was told. The people pitched their tents at that very place near the house and waited for a long time till Yazid Ibn Sulaiman and Muhammad Ibn Sulaiman intervened and procured permission for them to meet my father.

When the Indian entered, he sat down before the Imam (as) with folded knees and said: “May you have good health! I am from India and the king has sent me with some presents which are to be handed over to you. For several days I have been seeking permission to enter but you have been refusing to meet me. Do the Prophets’ children conduct themselves in this manner?”

My father (as) lowered his head and answered, “You will come to know the reason for it later.” He then asked me to open the letter that the Indian had brought. In the letter, the king of India had extended his greetings. Then he had written: “It is because of you that I have been guided aright. I had been presented with an extremely beautiful slave-girl, and I found none, save you who could be worthy of possessing her and so, in addition to some clothes, ornaments and perfumes, I gift her to you. Out of one thousand persons, I selected one hundred, and from them, I selected ten and from the ten, I have short listed one person, Mizan Ibn Khabbab, who is trustworthy. I send him to you together with the slave-girl and the presents.”

My father turned to the Indian and said, “O’ Unfaithful person! Turn back, for I shall never accept a trust that has been subjected to unfaithfulness.”

The Indian swore that he had not been unfaithful, however my father told him, “If your clothes were to testify that you had been unfaithful with respect to the slave-girl, would you become a Muslim?”

“Do forgive me!” implored Mizan.

“Then write your deeds to the king of India.”

“If you know something in connection with the issue, you write it down,” said Mizan.

The man had a sheepskin over his shoulder; the Imam (as) told him to place it on the ground.

My father then offered a two-rak’at prayer after which he went into prostration and supplicated:

أَللٌّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْـئَـلُكَ بِمَعَاقِدِ الْعِزِّ… إِيْماَناً مَعَ إِيْماَنِهِمْ

then raising his head, he turned towards the sheepskin and said:

“Speak out all that you know about this Indian.”

The sheepskin began to speak as if it were a sheep, and said:

“O’ Son of the Prophet of Allah! The king considered this person to be trustworthy and had laid great emphasis with regards to protecting the slave-girl and the gifts. When we had travelled some distance, we reached a desert where heavy rains lashed us. All our belongings had become soaked due to the rain. A short while later the clouds cleared away and the sun began to shine. At that point, this unfaithful person called out to the servant, who had been accompanying the slave-girl, and dispatched him towards the city to purchase something. When the servant had gone, he said to the slave-girl: “Enter into this tent which we have pitched beneath the sun so that your clothes and body dry up. The slave-girl entered the tent and pulled up her clothes up to her calves. As soon as his eyes fell upon her legs, he became mesmerized and persuaded the slave-girl into being unfaithful.”

The Indian, disturbed and distressed at witnessing the sheepskin (speaking out his misdeed), confessed to his misdemeanour and sought forgiveness. The sheepskin returned to its original state and the Imam (as) ordered him to put it on. As soon as the Indian had placed it over his shoulder, it encircled and tightened itself around his neck and the man was almost on the verge of being strangulated when the Imam (as) said: “O’ Sheepskin! Leave him so that he can return to the king who would be the most appropriate person to punish this man for his unfaithfulness.”

The sheepskin reverted back to its original state. The Indian, overcome with fright, implored the Imam (as) to accept the gifts.

“If you become a Muslim, I shall gift the slave-girl to you,” said the Imam (as).

But he declined the offer. The Imam (as) then accepted the presents, but refused to take the slave-girl, and the man returned to India.

After a month, a letter arrived from the king of India, in which, after extending his greetings he wrote: “You accepted that which did not have any significant value, whereas rejected that which was valuable. This left me greatly disturbed and I said to myself: ‘The children of the Prophets possess divine insight and wisdom and it is possible that the person who had escorted the slave-girl, might have exhibited unfaithfulness.’ And so, I wrote a letter in your name to myself, and said to the man that your letter had reached me in which you had mentioned his unfaithfulness. I said to him: ‘Nothing, except the truth, can save you’, whereupon he confessed and related to me the entire episode of his unfaithfulness with regards to the slave-girl and the incident of the sheepskin. The slave-girl also confessed and so I ordered both of them to be beheaded.

“I bear witness to the Unity of Allah and the Prophethood of the Noble Prophet (S) and have to state that I shall personally arrive in your presence later.”

Before long, he arrived in Madinah after having abdicated his kingship and transformed himself into a true Muslim.( Pand-e-Tarikh, Volume 1, Page 217; Biharul Anwar, Volume 11, Page 136 ) 

Reference : Anecdotes for Reflection Part 2