At the outset, it must be mentioned that there is a unique relationship between Imam Mahdi (as) and Imam Husain (as) – Imam Mahdi (as) is the one who will seek the revenge of Hazrat Imam Husain (as) on his reappearance. Imam Mahdi (as) is the lone successor from the children of Imam Husain (as) who is yet alive.Allamah Bahrul Uloom who was one of the greatest Shiite scholars used to travel a short distance from Karbala on the day of Ashurah to welcome the mourners along the way.
Once his students saw that the Allamah, despite his position as a scholar and his respect amongst the people, began to beat his chest with great fervour along with the mourners in the procession. The other scholars who had come with him to welcome the mourners tried their best to protect the Allamah, but to no avail. Finally they created a cordon around him and walked along with him for fear that he would lose control and fall down. When the charged atmosphere had settled down, some scholars who were close to the Allamah asked him the reason why he had involuntarily joined the mourners in their action and was beating his chest with so much fervour.
The Allamah replied, When I reached close to the procession of mourners of Imam Hussain (as), I saw Imam Mahdi (as) barefoot and with his head uncovered. He (as) was amongst the crowd of mourners and was beating his head and chest and was crying. When I saw Imam Mahdi (as) beating his chest and crying in this way, I could not control myself at this scene and threw myself into the crowd of mourners.
(Reference – Mikiyaalul Makarem volume 2 page 75)
Lessons from this incident
This incident guides that towards offering condolences to Imam Mahdi (as) for the martyrdom of his grandfather Hazrat Imam Hussain (as), especially on the day of Ashurah.
We must also adopt the practice of offering our sincere condolence of Imam Mahdi (as) after every majlis and pray for his (as) early reappearance. Imam Mahdi (as) says “I pray for the one who prays for my early reappearance after crying for Imam Hussain (as).”
