A devout Shiah of Ameerul Momeneen (as), Haji Mohammed Hasan had started a small tea stall during the time of the learned Allamah Sayyed Mahdi Bahrul Uloom. This tea stall was his only source of income.
One morning it rained a bit and the weather was pleasant. Haji Mohammed Hasan had just opened his stall and no customer had arrived as yet when an officer walked in. He was not of the school of Ahle Bayt (as). This became evident when he had not even begun sipping his tea when he launched a barrage of expletives towards Ahle Bayt (as). His abuses were especially directed towards Imam Ali (as) and Hazrat Fatemah Zahra (sa). He was hurling his abuses in such a manner as if he had no control at all over what he was saying. He was talking to himself and laying on the abuses. Hearing this, the blood of Mohammed Hasan began to boil and at that instant he made up his mind to kill this officer, but how?
The officer was armed with a dagger and Mohammed Hasan had no weapon. He thought to himself, Maybe it is better that I befriend him. Then I can in some way lay my hands on his dagger and kill him with it.
With this intention, he went closer to the officer and served him two of his best teas and began to talk with him in a friendly manner. He said, Sir, what a beautiful dagger you have! Where did you get it from and what is its price? The officer was taken in by his talks and said, You are right, it is a beautiful dagger and it is very expensive. Look, it even has my name inscribed on the handle.
Saying this he removed the dagger from its cover and gave it to Haji Mohammed Hasan.
Haji Mohammed took the dagger and looked at it lovingly. He was now waiting for the right opportunity to strike at the officer with his weapon. At that time, the officer turned his face away from Haji Mohammed. At that moment, Haji Mohammed struck him with the dagger and plunged it in his back to the hilt. At that time, no customer had come to the stall. Haji Mohammed left him there and turning his back began running in the direction of Basrah.
Haji Mohammed says, I was very afraid. I ran quickly and by evening I reached Basrah. I did not know what would happen to me now. In any case, I placed my life in the hands of Imam Mahdi (as) and said, O my master, I have performed this action only in your love. Saying this, I went towards the mosque to spend the night.
Towards the latter half of the night, the caretaker entered the mosque. He was blind. He shouted aloud that if any person was in the mosque, he should leave as the doors of the mosque were about to be closed. I was alone in the mosque. I did not want to leave, so I kept quiet.
The caretaker was not convinced that the mosque was completely empty. So he took his stick and began walking around the mosque. All this while, he was trying to wake up any person who may be sleeping and warning them. I kept quiet and did not say a word and managed to stay out of his way.
Finally, he seemed convinced that the mosque was empty of people and proceeded to shut the doors from the inside. The moonlight was entering the mosque from one place and in its brightness, I could see what the caretaker was doing.
After shutting the door, he went and sat on a cushion near the mehraab (prayer niche) and began knocking on the mehraab with his stick and asked, Who is it? (It was as if someone had come to the door, knocked on it and the caretaker hearing that knock was asking who is it?)
The caretaker was talking to himself, Very good! The Holy Prophet (saw) has come. He then made an action of opening the doors of the mosque, welcoming the Holy Prophet (saw) and made him (saw) sit on the cushion and presented himself with love before the Prophet (saw). In the same way, he welcome the first two caliphs.
After this, he slowly hit the walls of the mehraab with his stick in the manner of one who was knocking on the door in fear and asked, Who is it? He began talking to himself again, but this time in a very repulsive voice, Ali ibn Abi Talib! At this, the caretaker said in a very firm voice, Go away! I do not recognise you as a caliphof the people! He began to use such words, which were degrading the personality of Imam Ali (as).
Readers may note that the above incidents after the caretaker shut the door were of the imagination of the caretaker who was talking to himself while he was alone in the mosque.
Seeing this drama, I clenched the dagger with which I had killed the officer. I thought to myself, maybe it is not such a bad idea to kill this prejudiced caretaker in the same way I killed the officer. I was anyway a criminal in the eyes of the enemies of Hazrat Ali (as) and Hazrat Fatemah (sa). Now whatever has to happen will happen. With this intention, I walked towards the caretaker and killed him with the same dagger.
I then opened the doors of the mosque from inside and began running in the direction of Kufa. I reached Kufa and went straight into the mosque. I sat in one room of the mosque and began pleading with Imam Mahdi (as) – O my master, I have performed this action only in the love of Hazrat Ali (as) and Hazrat Fatemah (sa). It is now many days since I have had no news of my family.
I stayed in the mosque for 3 days. On the third day, a person knocked on the door. I stood up and opened it. The person standing there said, Sayyed Bahrul Uloom has called you and said that your master would like to meet you.
Sayyed Bahrul Uloom was sitting in the mehraab of Hazrat Ali (as) in the mosque of Kufa. I presented myself before him. He said, Imam Mahdi (as) has said that he has washed away the blood from your stall. You may go peacefully to your home. No one will trouble you on this matter.
I promised that I would obey his order. I kissed the hand of Sayyed Bahrul Uloom and left immediately for Baghdad. After listening to Sayyed Bahrul Uloom my heart was at rest and I was not worried any more.
It was noon when I reached Baghdad. I decided to go straight to my stall and see what has been happening there. As I approached my shop, I was surprised to see a crowd gathered there. There were many customers in my stall who were sitting on chairs and having tea. As I came close, I got a shock. There was a person at the counter who looked exactly like me! I stood there not knowing what to make of this phenomenon. As I came to the door of the shop, I realised that no one was paying attention to me and it seemed that they were unaware of my presence. The person at the counter (whose face and mannerisms were exactly like mine) came towards me holding a tray in his hands. He gave me the ray and the next instant disappeared from my eyes.
In order to avoid the people from noticing anything, I went to the counter and began serving my customers as if nothing had happened. Towards evening as I was about to close the shop, I realised that my wife had asked me a few days ago to bring some sugar.
I went to the market and purchased a few kilos of sugar. As I reached home, my wife opened the door. I gave her the packet of sugar, seeing which she said, Why have you brought sugar? I reminded her that she herself had asked me a few days ago to purchase some for her. She in turn told me that I had already brought it the same night. Anyway before she could ask me any more questions about my disappearance, I walked into the house. I realised that the same person who was at the shop had been coming home every night.
That night I saw that she was preparing my bed in the other room. I asked her the reason for that. She said, Since the past few days, you have not been speaking much with me and had ordered me to prepare your bed separately in that room. I said to her, From now on you can start preparing my bed in the same room as yours.
