In that is mentioned the effect of the letter of plea of the most pious scholar, the late Sayyid Muhammad, son of Janab Sayyid Abbas, who is a resident of Jubbe Shees, a village of Jebel Amil. He suffered some oppressions at the hands of the tyrant ruler due to which he had to leave the place secretly when he had nothing to subsist on for even a single day. He was not accustomed to asking from others. After migrating from his native place, he continued to tour around the area and during that period of roaming he saw strange things in dream and wakefulness till he became the caretaker of Najaf Ashraf shrine and got the opportunity to stay in a part of the holy courtyard. Five years passed after leaving home. His death occurred at this place only. He used to visit me at times. Sometimes he borrowed books of supplications from me. He was having tight financial conditions and he often recited supplications for increase in sustenance and he did not omit any of the effective supplications. So much so that once he supplicated for forty days in the service of the master of the age in such a way that every day he wrote a application and leave the town before sunrise and at a distance of three miles where no could see him, he used to conceal that letter of plea in mud and entrusting it to one of the deputies of Imam (a.s.) used to put it in the river. Thirty-eight or thirty-nine days passed in this manner, when returning from there he narrated that I was going on my in a very sorrowful mood, when a gentlemen in Arabic attire came from behind and greeted me. I replied in very ordinary way, but I did not become attentive to him. He walked with me for a distance and addressed me in the dialect of my native village: What is the matter Sayyid Muhammad? Why do you leave before sunrise and present a letter of request? Do you think that your Imam is not aware of your need? I was very amazed at this statement as till date no one was aware of this act and neither there is anyone from Jebel Amil in Najaf, whom I am not acquainted with. All of a sudden, I realized that it seems to be the Imam of the time. Because I had always heard that no one could be compared to the Imam with regard to the delicateness and softness of his hand. So I wanted to shake his hand in order to be sure and that I should adopt a conduct suitable for the presence of the Imam. So I stretched out my hand, shook hands and found them to be same as I had heard. Then I became sure that it was the Imam. At that time I was bestowed a great favor and I had succeeded in my aim. But when I wanted to kiss the hands, I did not find anyone there and the Imam disappeared from sight.
The author says: The softness of the blessed hands, as mentioned in this incident reminds us of the similarity of His Eminence with his holy grandfather in physique as well as in habits. This is further supported by the report, which Abu Muhammad Ja’far bin Ahmad bin Ali Qummi Naziri has narrated in the book of Musalsilaat; from Husain bin Ja’far that he said: Said Muhammad bin Isa bin Abdul Karim TarToosi in Damascus that Umar bin Saeed bin Yasaar Munji said: Ahmad bin Dahqan said: Khalaf bin Tameen said: I came to Abu Hurmuz to visit him during his illness. He said: I met Anas bin Malik to pay condolence to him.
He said: I shook hands with the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) with these hands; after that I did not touch any brocade or silk, which was softer than the blessed hands of His Eminence.
Abu Hurmuz said: Then we said to Anas bin Malik: Shake hands with us with the same hands that you shook with the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.).
So he shook hands with us and said: Peace be on you.
Khalaf bin Tamim said: I asked Abu Hurmuz: Shake hands with us with the hands that you shook with Anas bin Malik; so he shook hands with us and said: Peace be on you.
Ahmad bin Dahqan said: We said to Khalaf bin Tamim: Shake hands with us with the hands that were shook with Abu Hurmuz. So he shook hands with us and said: Peace be on you.
Umar bin Saeed said: We said to Ahmad bin Dahhaan: Shake hands with us with the hands that were shook with Khalaf bin Tamim. So he shook hands with us and said: Peace be on you.
Muhammad bin Isa bin Abdul Karim said: We said to Umar bin Saeed: Shake hands with us with the hands that were shook with Ahmad bin Dahqan. So he shook hands with us and said: Peace be on you.
Husain bin Ja’far said: We said to Muhammad bin Isa: Shake hands with us with the hands that were shook with Umar bin Saeed. So he shook hands with us and said: Peace be on you.
Abu Muhammad Ja’far bin Ahmad bin Ali Raazi, the author of this book said: We said to Husain bin Ja’far: Shake hands with us with the hands that were shook with Muhammad bin Isa. So he shook hands with us and said: Peace be on you.
Supporting this is the statement of Sahib bin Abbad in the book of Muheetul Lughat that the term of ‘Shushanul Kaffain’ mentioned in the tradition describing the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) is quite well known among Ahle Sunnat and Shia and they have narrated it through reliable chains of narrators; it has come with the two dots over the Arabic letter of Taa, which is in the meaning of softness as he has mentioned there: Shutun is softer than clothes and its singular is Shatan and it is mentioned in traditions that the hands of the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) were Shatan and one, who has narrated as ‘Tha; has misquoted the tradition; but all the tradition scholars, commentators of traditional report and experts of language have recorded it as Tha. On the contrary, they regard the statement of the author of Muheet as odd.
After narrating the whole report in Maniul Akhbar[1], Shaykh Saduq says: I asked Abu Ahmad Hasan bin Abdullah bin Saeed Askari about the exegesis of this report.
He replied: So that it may be said in the explanation of the washing of hands: that is the blessed hands of His Eminence were rough and coarse and Arabs praise men with hard hands and the ladies with soft hands.
Ibne Athir Jazari says in Nihaya[2]: That is his two blessed hands were inclined to coarseness and shortcoming.
And some have said that there was hardness in his fingers without any shortcoming and this is preferred in males. Because this is more severe to them than to captivate them; that is to take something, which is the activity of males; hence this is a preferable quality in males and unprefferred in females.
His statement is supported by the fact that the hands of Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) were also hard and rough. Shaykh Mufeed has narrated in Al-Irshaad,[3] that when the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him, headed for Basra, he stopped at al-Rabadha. The last (of the returning) pilgrims met him there. They gathered together to listen to some words from him, while he was still in his tent.
Ibne Abbas, may God be pleased with him, reported:
I went to him and found him stitching a sandal. I said to him: “We have a great need (to know) what you will do in order to put right our affairs.”
He did not speak to me until he had finished his sandal. He put it next to the other one and then he asked me: “(How much do you) value them?”
“They have no value,” I answered.
“More than that,” he retorted.
“A fraction of a dirham,” I suggested.
He said: “By God, they are more lovable to me than these affairs of yours, but for the fact that I must establish (what is) true and ward off (what is) false.”
“The pilgrims have gathered together to listen to some of your words,” I said. “Would you permit me to address them? If (my words) are good, they will be yours. If they are not, then they will be mine.”
“No, I will speak,” he answered, and he put his hands on my breast. The palms were rough and hard and it hurt me. It could only be that ‘ba’ was actually ‘tha’ otherwise there is no other reason as the softness of the hand does not cause pain.
It is narrated from Yaqub bin Manqush in Kamaaluddin[4] that he said: “I went to Abu Muhammad Hasan bin Ali (a.s.) to find him sitting on his usual place in his house. There was a room to his right with a curtain at its entrance.
I asked the Imam: Who is the master of this affair?
He replied: Lift that curtain.
When I lifted the curtain A five-year-old boy came towards us…then he describes His Eminence including the statement that his hands were “Soft and clear”; and in the copy ‘ba’ is actually ‘Tha’ and Majlisi has interpreted wrongly in Behaarul Anwaar.
[1] Maniul Akhbar, p. 87
[2] An-Nihaya fee Ghareebul Hadees, vol. 2, p. 444
[3] Al-Irshaad fee Marifati Hujjajullahil Ibad, vol. 1, p. 247
[4] Kamaaluddin wa Tamaamun Ne’ma, pp. 407 & 437