The accomplished Shaykh Hasan bin Muhammad bin Hasan Qummi, a contemporary of Shaykh Taareekh Qom[1] quoting from the book of Moneesul Hazeen fee Maarefatul Haqq wa Yaqeen;[2] by Shaykh Abu Ja’far Muhammad bin Babawayh Qummi as follows:
Saduq (r.a.) has reported in
Chapter of the construction of Masjid Jamkaran at the instruction of Imam Muhammad Mahdi (a.s.):
The reason of construction of Masjid Jamkaran was that that Shaykh Afif Saaleh Hasan bin Muthla Jamkarani says:
It was the night of Tuesday, the seventeenth of the month of Ramazan 293 A.H.[3] – and I was asleep in my house. A part of the night had passed. Some people came to my door and woke me up saying: Get up, Sahibuz Zamaan has summoned you. So I arose at once and said: All right, I’ll be there immediately.
I picked up a shirt to put it on, but a voice came from inside the house: This is not your shirt. I put on another shirt; then reached for the Pajama; again a voice came that it was not mine. So I put it down and wore another. After that I started to search for the key, but a voice came: The door is already open. At last, I reached the door to find many elders standing there. I greeted them; they replied and then conveyed me to the location where the Masjid stands today.
At that place I decried a wooden platform covered by a very fine carpet. A mattress and pillows were also arranged on it and a young man of around thirty years was seated there. Before him was an elderly gentleman, reading from a book.
Around sixty persons, some dressed in white and some in green, were busy praying. I learnt that the young man was Hazrat Hujjat and the elderly gentleman was His Eminence, Khizr (a.s.). When I reached them, His Eminence, Khizr (a.s.) offered me a seat and Hazrat Hujjat addressed me by my name and said:
“Go to Hasan Muslim and tell him: You have put this land for your personal use since some years, and you try to cultivate crops on it, but we destroy them, in spite of that you do not desist. This year also you wanted to do the same. Now, you are not permitted to do so; and return whatever you have gained from this land, so that it can be utilized for building a Masjid on it. Tell him that this is an honored place and the Almighty Allah has bestowed it a special rank over other lands, which you are trying to include in your property. Your two adolescent sons passed away, but you did not heed the warnings. If you still don’t toe the line, you will be punished in such a way that you won’t know what hit you.”
Hasan Maslah says: I said: My master, I would need a sign, as without it, no one would believe me. He said: We are leaving a sign here in order to verify your statements, you just convey the message. Go to Abul Hasan and ask him to recover from Hasan Muslim the profits he had made in last few years and hand the money over to others so that construction may commence; and the remaining expenses can be taken from the agricultural income of our lands at Rahaq. We have endowed half of this rural property in favor of this Masjid. Announce it to the people that they should become inclined to it and be devoted to it.
They should recite four units (rakats) of prayer in it: Two units (rakats) of prayer for honoring of Masjid: in each unit (rakat) of which they should recite Surah Hamd once and Surah Tauheed seven times; in Ruku and Sujood, they should recite the praises seven times. After that recite two units (rakats) of Prayer of Imam Zamaan (a.s.), in the following manner: Begin with Surah Hamd and when you come to Iyyaka Na’bodo wa iyyaka Naste’e’n, you should repeat this a hundred times and then proceed and complete Surah Hamd. The same method is to be followed in the second unit (rakat) as well. Repeat the Zikr seven times in Ruku and Sujood. After concluding the prayer, recite the Tahleel, e.g. Laa elaaha illal laaho wahdahu wahdahu. And recite Tasbeeh Fatima Zahra (s.a.). After that prostrate and recite Salawat on Muhammad and Aale Muhammad (a.s.) in prostration a hundred times. After that the Imam’s words were as follows:
If one recites the two prayers, it is as if he has prayed in the Baitul Ateeq.([4])([5])
After that Imam (a.s.) asked me to proceed. As soon as I started, he called me back and said: A goat is to be purchased from the flock of Ja’far Kashani, the shepherd; if the villagers pay for it, well and good, if not, you pay for it yourself and slaughter it here tomorrow night. The following day would be the 18th of month of Ramazan; on that day the mutton should be distributed among those who are ailing; Allah will cure those who eat from it. That goat is spotted, very hairy and having seven black and white marks the size of a dirham coin: three on one side and four on the other.
Hasan bin Maslah says: After that I returned home and remained in deep thought all night. At last it was dawn. After prayers, I went to Ali bin Mundhir and narrated the whole incident to him. Then the two of us came to that same place and found in accordance to the statement of the Imam, chains and pegs, which were supposed to be the signs.[6]
After that we came to the place of Sayyid Abul Hasan. The moment we reached his door, his servants said: The master is expecting you since dawn, are you a residents of Jamkaran? Then he was informed and I entered his place and greeted him with respect. He replied in a cordial way and offered me a seat near him. Before I could say anything, he started:
O Hasan bin Maslah, last night I saw a gentleman in dream, who told me: Hasan bin Maslah, a resident of Jamkaran, will approach you in the morning. You must testify to whatever he says and rely on his words; his statement is our statement; you must not reject his words. I am waiting for you since I saw that dream.
After that I narrated the incident in detail. Abul Hasan asked his men to saddle the horses. All of us mounted and set out from there. On reaching Jamkaran, we saw Ja’far with his herd at the side of the road. As I approached, a goat, which was at the rear, came bouncing to me. When I wanted to pay the cost to Ja’far, he swore that the goat did not belong to his herd. He said: I have never seen it before today and after that I was not able to catch it, no matter how much I tried. Thus, we brought that goat to the place that Imam (a.s.) had mentioned and slaughtered it there.
Sayyid Abul Hasan summoned Hasan Muslim and the amount was recovered from him. Monies were also taken from the income of Rahaq village and the roof of the Masjid was completed. Sayyid Abul Hasan carried those chains and pegs with him to Qom; they were kept at his home. Ailing persons came and by Allah’s permission sought cure from them by rubbing them on their bodies.
It is said that after the passing away of Sayyid Abul Hasan, when his son fell ill, the case containing the chains and pegs was opened, but nothing was found in it.[7] This, in brief, is the account of that place, which is mentioned there.
The author says: In the Persian version of Taareekh Qom, and in its Arabic version, which the prominent scholar Agha Muhammad Ali Kermanshahi has mentioned this incident briefly in the marginal notes of Rejaal Mir Mustafa in the chapter of Hasas, the date of the incident is mentioned as 293 A.H. And apparently it was abrogated and the actual date was 273 A.H., which is the meaning of seventy, because the death of Shaykh Saduq was before 290 A.H.
Method of the Prayer of Hazrat Hujjat (a.s.)
As for the two unit prayer, which is attributed to the Imam, it is a well known prayer and a number of scholars have narrated it.
First: Shaykh Tabarsi, author of Tafseer, in the book of Kunuzul Najah[8] has narrated from Ahmad bin Andarabi from Khuzama from Abu Abdullah Husain bin Muhammad Bazufari and he says that it was issued from Imam Zamana (a.s.) that one, who has a need from the Almighty Allah, he should after midnight of Thursday perform Ghusl and pray two units of prayer; in the first unit recite Surah Hamd and when he comes to Iyyaka Nabodo wa Iyyaka Naste’e’n, he should repeat it a hundred times. And after that continue the Surah Hamd. After Surah Hamd recite Surah Ahad once. Then perform the Ruku and two Sajdahs; in Ruku he should recite Subhana Rabbeyal A’zeeme wa behamdeh seven times and in each of the two Sajdahs recite Subhana Rabbeyal aalaa wa behamdeh seven times. After that perform the second Rakat like the first. After the prayer recite the following supplication. The Almighty Allah will definitely fulfill his supplication whatever it may be, except that it is for cutting off relations. The supplication is as follows:
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ اَللّٰهُمَّ اِنْ اَطَعْتُكَ فَالْمَحْمَدَةُ لَكَ وَ اِنْ عَصَيْتُكَ فَالْحُجَّةُ لَكَ مِنْكَ الرَّوْحُ وَ مِنْكَ الْفَرَجُ سُبْحَانَ مَنْ اَنْعَمَ وَ شَكَرَ سُبْحَانَ مَنْ قَدَرَ وَ غَفَرَ اَللّٰهُمَّ اِنْ كُنْتُ قَدْ عَصَيْتُكَ فَاِنِّيْ قَدْ اَطَعْتُكَ فِي اَحَبِّ الْاَشْيَاءِ اِلَيْكَ وَ هُوَ الْاِيْمَانُ بِكَ لَمْ اَتَّخِذْ لَكَ وَلَدًا وَ لَمْ اَدْعُ لَكَ شَرِيْكًا مَنًّا مِنْكَ بِهٖ عَلَيَّ لَا مَنًّا مِنِّيْ بِهٖ عَلَيْكَ وَ قَدْ عَصَيْتُكَ يَا اِلٰهِيْ عَلٰى غَيْرِ وَجْهِ الْمُكَابَرَةِ وَ لَا الْخُرُوْجِ عَنْ عُبُوْدِيَّتِكَ وَ لَا الْجُحُوْدِ لِرُبُوْبِيَّتِكَ وَ لٰكِنْ اَطَعْتُ هَوَايَ وَ اَزَلَّنِيْ الشَّيْطَانُ فَلَكَ الْحُجَّةُ عَلَيَّ وَ الْبَيَانُ فَاِنْ تُعَذِّبْنِيْ فَبِذُنُوْبِيْ غَيْرَ ظَالِمٍ وَ اِنْ تَغْفِرْ لِيْ وَ تَرْحَمْنِيْ فَاِنَّكَ جَوَادٌ كَرِيمٌ يَا كَرِيْمُ يَا كَرِيْمُ.
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. O Allah, if I obey You, You are worthy of commendation, and if I offend You, You have proof against me. All ease and relief is from You. Glory be to He Who possesses the power, but forgives. O Allah, even though I have offended You, but I have obeyed You in the thing You love most which is believing in You, I have not ascribed an offspring to You and I have not ascribed a partner to You. You have bestowed on me and I have not bestowed anything on You. O my God, verily I have offended You, but not as a result of obstinacy, nor to depart from Your service and nor denial of Your Divinity; but I have obeyed my desire and Satan has deviated me. You possess the proof against me. You will not be oppressing me if You punish me due to my sin, but if You forgive and have mercy on me, verily You are the open-handed and Generous. O the Generous.
O the Generous…(recite till you are out of breath)
Then say:
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ يَا آمِنًا مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَ كُلُّ شَيْءٍ مِنْكَ خَائِفٌ حَذِرٌ اَسْاَلُكَ بِاَمْنِكَ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَ خَوْفِ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ مِنْكَ اَنْ تُصَلِّيَ عَلٰى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تُعْطِيَنِيْ اَمَانًا لِنَفْسِيْ وَ اَهْلِي وَ وُلْدِيْ وَ سَائِرِ مَا اَنْعَمْتَ بِهٖ عَلَيَّ حَتّٰى لَا اَخَافَ اَحَدًا وَ لَا اَحْذَرَ مِنْ شَيْءٍ اَبَدًا اِنَّكَ عَلٰى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيْرٌ وَ حَسْبُنَا اللهُ وَ نِعْمَ الْوَكِيْلُ يَا كَافِيَ اِبْرَاهِيْمَ نُمْرُوْدَ وَ يَا كَافِيَ مُوسٰى فِرْعَوْنَ وَ يَا كَافِيَ مُحَمَّدٍﷺالْاَحْزَابَ اَسْاَلُكَ اَنْ تُصَلِّيَ عَلٰى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَكْفِيَنِيْ فُلَانِ بْنِ فُلَانٍ.
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. O He that is secure from everything. O He from Whom everything is afraid and cautious of. I request You of Your security from everything and the fear of everything, (I beseech You) to send blessings on Muhammad and on the family of Muhammad, and to grant security for me, my family, offspring and other privileges You have bestowed on me till I was not frightened by anyone and will not be cautious of anything forever. Verily You have the power over everything. Allah is sufficient for us as an excellent trustee. O He that sufficed Ibrahim against Nimrod. O He that sufficed Moosa against Firon, I request You to bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad and to suffice me from the evils of so and so, son of so and so.
In place of so and so mention the name of person and his father’s name, whose harm one fears and pray to the Almighty Allah to remove his harm and suffice him from that person.
So indeed the Almighty Allah sufficed against him if Allah wills. After that he prostrated and prayed for his needs and expressed humility to the Almighty Allah.
Without any doubt no believer man or woman dies having recited this prayer and this supplication with sincerity, but that doors of heavens will be opened for him or her to fulfill the needs and his or her supplication will be fulfilled at the earliest; no matter what kind of request it is; which is due to the favor of the Almighty Allah on us and the people.
Secondly: In the book of Dawaat,[9] The prominent Sayyid, Fadhlulhah Rawandi has mentioned under the method of Prayers of the infallibles (a.s.) that Prayer of Mahdi (a.s.) consists of two units; in each unit recite Surah Hamd once and a hundred time Iyyaka nabudu wa Iyyaka Nastaeen and a hundred times Salawat and his progeny (a.s.) after the prayer.
Thirdly: The respected Sayyid Ali bin Taaoos, in the book of Jamaalul Usboo’,[10] has described this prayer in the same way, but has not mentioned hundred times Salawat after the prayer. And he has added that the following supplication must be recited after the prayer:
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ اَللّٰهُمَّ عَظُمَ الْبَلَاءُ وَ بَرِحَ الْخَفَاءُ وَ انْقَطَعَ الرَّجَاءُ وَ انْكَشَفَ الْغِطَاءُ وَ ضَاقَتِ الْاَرْضُ وَ مَنَعَتِ السَّمَاءُ وَ اِلَيْكَ يَا رَبِّ الْمُشْتَكٰى وَ عَلَيْكَ الْمُعَوَّلُ فِي الشِّدَّةِ وَ الرَّخَاءِ اَللّٰهُمَّ فَصَلِّ عَلٰى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ اُوْلِي الْاَمْرِ الَّذِيْنَ فَرَضْتَ عَلَيْنَا طَاعَتَهُمْ فَعَرَّفْتَنَا بِذٰلِكَ مَنْزِلَتَهُمْ فَفَرِّجْ عَنَّا بِحَقِّهِمْ فَرَجًا عَاجِلًا كَلَمْحِ الْبَصَرِ اَوْ هُوَ اَقْرَبُ يَا مُحَمَّدُ يَا عَلِيُّ اكْفِيَانِيْ فَاِنَّكُمَا كَافِيَايَ وَ انْصُرَانِيْ فَاِنَّكُمَا نَاصِرَايَ يَا مَوْلَايَ يَا صَاحِبَ الزَّمَانِ الْغَوْثَ الْغَوْثَ الْغَوْثَ اَدْرِكْنِيْ اَدْرِكْنِيْ اَدْرِكْنِيْ.
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. O my nourisher the calamities have increased and that which was concealed has surfaced and the curtains have been raised and the hopes are shattered and the earth has become narrow and the skies has withheld (the bounties) and you are the only supporter and I complain to You, and trust is put only in you at times of troubles and ease. O Allah send blessings on Muhammad (s.a.w.a.) and the Progeny of Muhammad (s.a.w.a.) who are the masters of the orders and whose obedience You have made us recognize, then expand for one by their right and expand it soon like that of a winking of an eye; nay more closer than it, O Muhammad O Ali, O Ali, O Muhammad for answering my purpose You two are sufficient and you two help me out as both of you are helpers. O our master, O the master of the time I complain, I complain, I complain, help me, help me, help me, just now, just now, just now; hasten, hasten, hasten, O the most merciful of all mercifuls; by the right of Muhammad and his progeny, the pure.
The holy Masjid of Jamkaran is present to this day. It is situated one Farsakh from Qom approximately in the direction of Kashan. It is narrated from Barqi etc. in Taareekh Qom[11] that the name of Qom was originally Baane Ummahan; that is great buildings and the nobles of Jamkaran, as the narrators of Persia have mentioned, that the first village to be established here was Jamkaran and Jame Malik has established it; and the first village which was established with Jamkaran was Chashha, that is a small thing and it is said that when the residents of Jamkaran passed by the officers and builders, they used to remark: What have you done? They replied: Chashha in their language; that is a small thing. Thus, this village was named as such.
And that is why it is named as Waidistan and Jaleen bin Azar Nuh Azadmand[12] established Jamkaran and there is an incident concerned with it, which I shall mention in the chapter of Persians, if Allah wills.
There is a mountain in Jamkaran, known as Waishwiya and there is a lofty fort on this mountain, which is very ancient, but its owner is unknown. It is said that Alexander constructed it along with a supply of water.
It is narrated from Barqi that Jamkaran was constructed by Sulaiman bin Dawood and this report is not without dispute, because in this area, no building is attributed to Sulaiman bin Dawood. And Allah knows best.
Jamkaran has been from those places and Allah bestowed a son to him, whose name was Jaleen. He constructed a mansion in Jamkaran and it is still in existence and in the same way, he constructed ten quarters and gates; after that he added two quarters and gates to it; thus, they totaled upto twelve in all and there was a fire temples in every quarter and at every gate and he constructed gardens and settled his maids and servants. Their descendants are still settled there and they boast over each other. End of quotation.
Rahaq is a famous village even to this day and is nearer to Kashan than to Qom, but is a suburb of Qom at a distance of ten Farsakh.
[1] Persian translation of not more than five chapters of Taareekh-e-Qom by Late Abdul Malik Qummi is available. It seems that more than this is not translated. The author was not able to access the complete Arabic text of that book and he has quoted from Late Muhammad Ali Kermanshahi.
[2] It is more important than the book of Shaykh Saduq, which is presently unavailable.
[3] It is actually 273.
[4] It is the Holy Kaaba in the center of Masjidul Haraam.
[5] The prayer of Imam Zamana (a.s.) is narrated in three different methods; but the verse of Iyyaka…has to be recited a hundred times. This prayer can also be recited anywhere other than Masjid Jamkaran.
[6] The original holy Masjid Jamkaran, before its expansion was in the form of three rooms with two small arches and now it is marked with black stone floorings according to the orders of the Late Ayatullah Marashi Najafi; and in the front part, it is exactly opposite to the original arch.
[7] Jannatul Maawaa, p. 230; Saheefah Mahdiyya, p. 702; Najmus Saaqib, p. 384.
[8] Mohijjud Daawaat, pp. 294-295
[9] Daawaat, p. 89
[10] Jamaalul Usboo’, p. 181
[11] Taareekh-e-Qom, p. 60
[12] Originally it is Azad Minhu