Narrated to us Ali bin Ibrahim bin Hashim (r.a.): from his father from his grandfather Ibrahim bin Hashim from Abdus Salam bin Salih Harawi that: Dibil bin Ali Khuzai came to Abil Hasan Ali bin Musa ar-Reza (a.s.) in Merv and said to him:
“O son of Allah’s Messenger, I have composed a panegyric in your honor and I vowed that I will not recite it to anyone before you. The Imam said: Recite it for me.
And he recited as follows:
Schools of verses empty of recitations
And the House of revelation horrendously empty.
When I reached the verse:
Their property has been distributed to others
Their hands are empty of their own wealth.
Imam Ali Reza (a.s.) began to weep and said: O Dibil you have said the truth.
When Dibil reached to the verse:
When they are being oppressed they stretch to the enemies
Their hands which cannot hold the bow.
Imam Ali Reza (a.s.) began to rub his hands and then said: By Allah my hands are tied. When Dibil reached to the verse:
Indeed I am fearful of the world and the changing times
Thus I hope in peace and security after my death.
Imam Ali Reza (a.s.) said: O Dibil, May Allah keep you in His protection till the Judgment Day.
When Dibil recited the last verse of the panegyric:
There is a tomb of a purified personality in Baghdad
Whom Allah has given place in the gardens of Paradise.
Imam Ali Reza (a.s.) said: O Dibil, would it not be better if you add the following two verses at the end of your panegyric? Dibil said: Indeed, O son of Allah’s Messenger.
The Imam recited:
And a tomb shall be made in Tus by whose tragedy
The inner portion of the body will be scorched.
And this will continue till the resurrection till Allah sends a Qaim
Through him would He remove the calamities from us.
Dibil asked: O son of Allah’s Messenger, whose tomb would be made at Tus? The Imam said: Mine. I would soon move to Tus where my tomb will become a place of visitation for my Shias. Thus one who visits me in my isolation in Tus, he shall be with me on the Judgment Day and he shall get salvation.
After listening to the verses of Dibil Imam Ali Reza (a.s.) went home. A servant of the Imam came to Dibil with a hundred dinars minted in the Imam’s name and said: The Imam has sent these for your traveling expenses. Dibil said: I don’t need it and neither did I compose the panegyric for monetary gain. But I beseech the Imam to give me a cloth he has worn so that it be a blessing and honor for me. The Imam sent a gown to Dibil and also gave him the dinars saying that he would need them. Dibil took all the things and departed along with a caravan of Merv. When the caravan camped at Qauhan they were attacked by robbers who looted everything and took the travelers as hostages. Then they began to divide the loot among themselves. One of the robbers hummed the following verse of Dibil:
Their property has been distributed to others
Their hands are empty of their own wealth.
Dibil asked him: Whose verse is it? He replied: A person of the Khuzai tribe, a person called Dibil bin Ali. Dibil said: I am the same Dibil who has compose these verses. That robber took Dibil to his leader who was praying on top of a mound and he was from the Shias. When he informed the leader he himself came down to meet Dibil. He asked: Are you Dibil? Dibil said: Yes. He said: Recite that panegyric. He recited it. The robbers released all the hostages and returned with respect everything they had looted.
When Dibil reached Qom it was announced that he would recite the panegyric composed by him in the mosque. A time was fixed and people gathered in the Jame mosque. Dibil mounted the pulpit and presented the panegyric. People gifted him in cash and kind. When they came to know that Dibil had a gown of Imam Ali Reza (a.s.) they offered a thousand dinars for the same but he refused. They said: Give us a piece from this gown for a thousand dinars. But Dibil refused and he departed from Qom. He has hardly left the Qom area when a desert tribe attacked and looted the Imam’s gown also. Dibil came back and demanded them to return it, but they refused. They asked for a ransom of 8000 dinars but Dibil refused. At last when Dibil became helpless he told them to give only a piece from this gown. So they gave him a piece of gown and also gave him 8000 dinars.
Dibil returned to his hometown but on the way dacoits surrounded him and looted everything he had. He was left with only a hundred dinars that the Imam had given. Dibil converted these into 10000 dirhams. At that time he remembered the Imam’s statement that he would need that money. Dibil was also accompanied by a maidservant who was seriously ill. The doctors said that her right eye was lost, but it was possible to cure the left eye. Dibil was shocked and wept much. Then he remembered that he was having a piece of that gown. In the early evening Dibil rubbed that piece of cloth against the maid’s eyes and by the morning next both her eyes were cured and by the blessings of Maula Abul Hasan (a.s.) even the signs of disease did not remain.”