«mahdi and those who have seen him»

under this title we shall set forth three fine narratives as a means of cooling the heart and not in the form of reasoning and argumentation.

firstly, shaikh abdul-wahab sha'rani in his book 'tabaqat-urafa' while writing about shaikh hassan araqi says: i went along with sayed abul-abbass harithi to meet shaikh hassan araqi. the latter said: should i narrate to you the story of my life right from its beginning until now. i shall relate in such manner that as if you have been my intimate friend right from childhood. i replied: 'yes, you may please narrate.'

he said: 'i was a youth amongst the craftsmen of damascus. on fridays, we used to occupy ourselves in playing, drinking and gambling. it was on one of those fridays that i received some sort of an inspiration from allah that: have you been created for such deeds? therefore, i gave up my usual activities and fled away from my companions. they pursued me but could not find me. i entered the mosque of bani-umayyah and saw a person on the pulpit who was speaking about hazrat mahdi. by this, i became eager in meeting mahdi. there was not a single prostration which i used to perform and not ask allah to fulfill my wish for meeting him. in one of the nights, while being engaged in the recommended prayers, i saw all of a sudden someone sitting behind me. he rubbed his hands over my back and said: 'o my son, the compassionate allah has granted your wish. i am mahdi, what do you want.'

i said: 'will you come with me to my house?'

he replied: 'yes'. then we went together and on the way he said: 'take me to some lonely place.' i took him to a lonely place and he stayed there with me for seven days.

the author of 'yanabi-ul-muwadda' narrates on page 455 (an incident) from the book 'kashful-ghumma' of shaikh ali-ibn-isa arbali who in the view of shias and sunnis is a reliable person. the said author relates as such: people narrate stories and incidents about the miracles of imam mahdi (may allah be satisfied with him) which describing them would take a long time. however i shall narrate two of them which are closer to our time and which have been narrated to me by a group of reliable brothers.

first: there lived a man named ismail-ibn-hassan between the two cities of hilla and furat. my brothers narrate from ismail that there appeared a boil on his left thigh which was the size of the palm of ones hand. doctors who looked at his boil expressed their inability in curing it. thereafter, ismail left for samerra and visited the graves of imam ali hadi and imam hassan askari (may allah be satisfied with them). later he entered sardab. there he beseeched the compassionate allah and seeked help from mahdi.

then, he entered the tigris river, took the ritual wash and changed his clothes. suddenly he saw four riders coming from the direction of the city of samerra. one of them was an old man holding a spear in his hand while the other was a youth wearing colourful clothes. the one holding the spear was coming from the right flank while the other two were coming from the left flank. the youth who had put on colourful clothes was coming from the centre. this youth asked ismail as such: «will you go tomorrow to your family?' ismail replied: «yes'. he said: «come close to me so that i can learn about your problem.' ismail went close to him. he bent down and pressed his thigh with his blessed hand and then sat back on his saddle. the old man who was holding a spear in his hand said: you have been cured. he is your imam.

the four riders left and ismail too followed them. imam said: «return back'. ismail replied: 'i shall never separate from you'. imam said: 'it is for your own good that you go back'. ismail replied: 'i shall not part from you under any circumstances.' the old man interrupted us and said: 'have you no shame! your imam has twice commanded you to go back and yet you are disobeying!?' ismail stopped. after imam went forward a few steps, he turned back towards ismail and said: 'when you will reach baghdad, the caliph mustansi billah will forcibly summon you. when he shall offer you something, you refuse to accept it. also tell our son razi'uddin to write on your behalf to ali-ibn-awaz. i will too beckon him to give you whatever you wish.'

after this hazrat left with his companions and ismail's eyes lay fixed at them until he could see them no more. he sat on the ground for some time and started to weep because of his separation from them.

he then went to samerra where the people surrounded him and said: why do we see you so much changed? what has happened?? ismail said: do you know who were these riders who had left the city and had gone towards the river? they said: they were from the nobles and are the owners of cattles. ismail said: they were imam and his companions. the one who had put on colourful clothes was imam and it was he who rubbed his blessed hand over my wound spot. they said: allow us to see for ourselves.' when ismail displayed his thigh to them there was not even a scar left to be seen. people started tearing his clothes to get lucky charm and then took him to the treasure house so that others could not reach him. later, the caliph's representative came and inquired about this incident and asked his name, his background, his native place and the purpose his exit from baghdad in the first week.

the next morning after reciting his prayers ismail left the city of samerra before a huge crowd. on the way he reached one spot where people had gathered in great number and were inquiring about his name, geneology and the place from where he came. when they saw and recognized him by the afore-said signs, they began to tear his clothes and took them away as blessings. the caliph's representative wrote a detailed report on this incident and dispatched it to baghded. the minister called in sayed raziuddin to inquire from him the authenticity of this incident. when raziuddin (who was one of ismail's companion and had been ismail's host before leaving for samerra) and some others saw ismail they descended down. when ismail showed his thigh to them and they could not see any trace of the wound, raziuddin remained fainted for almost an hour. after gaining consciousness, he caught hold of ismail's hand and took him to the minister. raziuddin cried and said: he is my brother and the most beloved of all men.

the minister inquired from ismail about that particular incident and he in turn described it in length. the minister ordered the doctors who had previously seen ismail's thigh to come forward. when they arrived he asked: when did you last see his wound? they replied: ten days before. the minister displayed ismail's thigh and when the doctors saw no trace of it, they said: this is the act of messiah. the minister said: we know who has performed this act.

the minister took ismail before the caliph. the caliph asked ismail to give account and ismail explained in detail all what had occurred for him. when the caliph presented ismail with a sum of one thousand dinars, the latter said: 'how dare i take even a little of this offer.' the caliph said: 'whom do you fear?!' he said: 'from the one who cured me because he has forbidden me from accepting anything from you'. on hearing this, the caliph began to cry.

ali-ibn-isa says: i was once narrating this incident to a group of people who were around me. shamsuddin, who was ismail's son was also present but i had then not recognized him.

shamsuddin said: 'i am ismail's son'.

i said: had you seen the wound on your father's thigh?

he replied: at that time, i was only a child. however i had heard this matter from my parents, relatives and neighbours and saw the place of wound after it had been cured. i could not find any trace of the wound and hair had grown on that spot.'

ali-ibn-isa further says: i inquired about this incident from sayed safi'uddin muhammad-ibn-muhammad and najm'uddin haider-ibn-amir too and they informed me of this incident and said: 'we had seen ismail before and after his recovery'.

moreover his son related to me that his father after his recovery, went to samerra for forty times so that he would perhaps get the honour of visiting him once again.

second: sayed baaqi athwah alawi hasani related to me that his father athwah did not acknowledge the existence of mahdi. he would often say: 'whenever mahdi comes and cures me, i will confirm the people's saying' (about mahdi). when we had all gathered for the 'isha' (night) prayers, we heard a shriek from our father. we went close to him and he said: 'imam passed from here at this very moment. look out for him.' we went in search for him but could not find anyone. we returned back and then our father said: someone approached me and said: 'o athwah! i replied: 'at thy service'. he said: 'i am mahdi. i have come to cure you'. he stretched out his hand, pressed my thing and then left.

narrator says: after this incident, he used to run like a deer and there was not a trace left.

ali-ibn-isa says: i in this incident from sayed baaqi's son and he too admitted it.