A group of scholars of Najaf and Hilla, one of them being
Sayyid Mahdi Qazwini, have narrated the following three
incidents regarding his respected father and some of them I heard
directly from him. But since a long time has passed, and I did not
record it in writing. However, now I have recorded from him in
such a way that it is same as I heard from the late gentleman:
Thus, indeed; the Ahle Bayt (a.s.) know what is there in it.
In spite of the fact that he himself was at the pinnacle of
faith, and I was his companions during the journey to and fro
Mecca. I have seen very few like him having comprehensive
excellence.
Thus, he wrote according to what I had heard from those
people and his other brother was also an excellent scholar, Sayyid
Muhammad at the end of his letter he had written that he had
heard these three miracle acts directly from his father.
Form of the Letter: Recitation of Surah Fatiha
by Imam Asr (a.s.) for the one, who wept much
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Some righteous people of Hilla informed me: One morning I
came out from my house to go to your house for the Ziyarat of
Sayyid. On the way I stood at the tomb of Sayyid Muhammad. I
saw near his window from outside a man of a pleasing demeanor,
reciting Surah Fatiha.
I thought about him and I saw that he appeared to be an
outsider and not a native of Hilla. I said to myself: He is a
stranger and he pays tribute to this grave and recites Surah Fatiha
whereas we, who are natives of his city, we pass by without
paying any respect. So I stood up and recited Surah Fatiha and
Surah Tauheed. When I finished, I greeted that man.
He replied to the Salam and said: O Ali, will you come for
the Ziyarat of Sayyid Mahdi?
Yes, I said.
He said: I will accompany you there.
When we had walked for some time, he said: Ali, do not feel
sad about the loss you suffered this year, because you are man
whom the Almighty Allah has tested with wealth, so He wanted
to see whether you will fulfill the rights. So do what the
Almighty Allah has made obligatory on you from Hajj as money
is temporal, it comes and it goes.
This year I had made a loss, about which no one was aware
as I feared that if I divulged it, no one will deal with a loss maker.
So I became distressed and said: Glory be to Allah, my
failure has become so famous that all have become aware of it.
But he replied: Praise be to Allah in all conditions.
He said: What you have lost will soon be recovered after a period and you will return to your previous state and you will
repay your debts.
I fell silent and fell into deep thought about his statement till
we reached my place. So I stood and he also stood.
I said: Enter my master, as I am the resident of the house.
He said: You enter; I am Sahibud Daar, as I am the owner of
the house.
Sahibud Daar is a special title of Imam Asr (a.s.). So I
hesitated entering. He took my hand and made me enter before
him.
When we entered the gathering, we saw a group of students
seated there and they were waiting for the Sayyid (q.s.) to come
our from inside to take the class and his seat was empty. No one
was seated in his place as a mark of respect and in that place a
book was placed.
That person went there, sat down and took that book and
opened it. It was the Sharai of Mohaqqiq. At that time he took
out from the pages of the book some parts of the manuscript,
which was written in the hand of the Sayyid, which all could not
read easily.
He took it and started reading from it and said to the
students: Are you not surprised of these branches?
And these are parts of the book Mawahibul Afham of the
Sayyid, which is the gloss on Sharaul Islam and it is a
remarkable book having six volumes about laws of ritual
purification till the laws of burial.
My respected father has narrated: When I came out of the house I saw that man who was seated in my place. When he saw
me, he stood up and left that place. I told him to remain seated
and saw that he was a handsome man, but he was a stranger
there.
When we sat down I turned to him and ashamed to ask him
about his well being and from where he was coming.
I started the discussion and he asked some questions
regarding the subject we were discussing. His discourse
astounded me.
One of the students said: Keep quiet, what concern do you
have with this?
He smiled and fell silent. When the discussion was
concluded I asked: From where have you come, from Hilla?
He replied: From Sulaimaniya?
I said: When did you arrive?
He replied: I came from there yesterday. As soon as I left
Najib Pasha entered and conquered it; and wrought havoc over
there and apprehended Ahmad Pasha Banani, who had rebelled
there, removing him for the throne and replacing him with his
brother, Abdullah Pasha. Also, this Ahmad Pasha rebelled against
the Ottoman rule and declared his independence in Sulaimaniya.
The father of the late gentleman said: I was worried at that
news and apprehensive that this victory and its report should not
reach the rulers of Hilla and it did not occur to me to ask him
how he said: I will reach Hilla and that I have come from
Sulaimaniya yesterday and between Hilla and Sulaimaniya there
was a distance of ten days of travel for a fast rider.
At that moment, that person ordered some servants of the
house to get water for him. So the servant picked a vessel with
which water is drawn up the well.
But he called out to him not to do that, as there was a dead
creature in the vessel.
There was indeed a dead lizard in it.
So he took another vessel and brought water for him. When
he drank the water, he arose to leave. So I stood up as a mark of
respect. He bid farewell to me and went out from there.
When he went out of house, I said to those people: Why did
you not deny the report about the conquest of Sulaimaniya?
They said: Why did you not deny?
Haji Ali, who was mentioned before, informed me about
what had happened on the way and a group of the people who
were present in the gathering informed about what had happened
before I came there.
The father said: Then I said: Search for him and I don’t
think that you will find him. And Allah is the master of the affair
may our soul be sacrificed on him.
So those people went out to look for that person. They did
not find him there, nor any of his trace.
He said: I recorded that date on which Sulaimaniya was
conquered.
After that the good news of the conquest reached Hilla ten
days later and the rulers declared firing cannons as is customary to hail victories
Behaarul Anwaar, vol. 53, pp. 282-285