Maulana Sayyed Baqir Musawi says – In the year 1337 AH or 1338 AH, I met a scholar in the shrine of Imam Reza (as) in the holy city of Mashhad. He was approximately 50 years old. After conveying salaams, we struck a conversation.During this conversation, I realised that his person is an extremely pious person. He was impaired in his eye sight in one eye. I asked him the cause of damage in this eye to which he narrated this incident.
I had a friend by the name of Khairaat Khan. He made a programme to travel to his home town so he came up to me and said, I am planning to visit my native place for some days. So while I am away, you please sleep in my room at the madrasah (religious school). I agreed and soon thereafter he left for his home.
Once, in the early part of the night, I left for Ziyarat to the shrine of Imam Reza (as). I busied myself in the recitation of Quran, Ziyarat and other duas. After a long time I came outside and remembered my promise to sleep in my friend’s room. However I realised that it was very late and it was likely that it the door to his room would be closed. I did not know what to do. I regretted the delay and was lost in my thoughts regarding the next course of action. Finally, I started walking towards the madrasah.
I reached the madrasah and put my hand on the door. To my pleasant surprise, it opened easily. When I entered, I saw two people standing near the hawz (water pond) in the madrasah. One of them was aged and the other was young. I wondered what they were doing there at that time of the night. I observed that their faced radiated a light which illuminated the darkness of the madrasah. I was lost in my amazement of the scene, when the young person called out to me by name and said, how are you? I replied, Alhamdulillah, I am fine. He said, if you have any difficulty, then you can narrate it to me. After this he smiled at me and started conversing with me. I was so awe struck in his presence that none of my difficulties and problems came to my mind. I said, No, thank you. I have no problems.
I was facing them when they started walking towards the door of the madrasah. When they passed by me, the aged person turned towards me and said, did you recognise this person (the youth)? I replied in the negative. He said, this person is your Imam Mahdi (as). If you have a difficulty of any kind, you can narrate it to him. However even after that I was unable to gather my wits and say anything. The instant they stepped out of the madrasah, I came to my senses and rushed towards the door. But as soon as I reached the door, I saw that the door was shut and to my astonishment, the door was latched from inside. I was stunned that how they were able to go outside when the door is locked from inside. Anyways, I opened the door and stepped outside. I searched for them but could not find any sign of them. I became certain that the person was Imam Mahdi (as). I regretted that I did not recognise him.
Ref: Shiftagaan Hazrat Mahdi, volume 3, page 327
Lessons from this incident
There are several lessons which can be derived from this incident. Some of these are as follows.
When a person is purified by the recitation of dua, Quran and Ziyarat, the stages for meeting Imam Mahdi (as) become easier. Therefore one should involve oneself as much as possible in this recitation and remembrance of Allah so that it becomes a cause for our meeting with the Imam (as).
Imam Mahdi (as) has a special respect and esteem for the tullab (students)
Often it is observed in incidents like these that the person realises only after the departure of the Imam (as) that perhaps the person whom I met was none other than the Imam of the Time (as).
In the above incident, just as Imam (as) spoke to the person and asked him if he had any desire, in the same way, in the period of Ghaybat, Imam (as) wants that his Shiahs seek their legitimate desires through him. However it a lacking from our side that we are not attentive to this aspect.
Hazrat Imam Mahdi (as) says that our Shiahs should be fearless because we are praying for them; such a prayer which is not rejected by Allah. Therefore we should not be negligent from placing our desires before the Imam (as) and seeking the solutions to our difficulties from him (as).
