Shaikh Abduz Zahra Kaaba was a famous, celebrated orator of his time. He narrates as follows – One afternoon, after Zohr, I went to the shrine of Hazrat Imam Husain (as). I saw a person in the courtyard near one of the rooms of the shrine selling religious books.Since I was known to him, as soon as he saw me, he turned towards me and said, Mister! I have a book just suited for you. If you want you can take it. It will be of great benefit to you. This book has beautiful verses of poetry, and what’s more, I won’t even charge you any money for it. I only want that you read it for me.
I took the book from it. As soon as I opened it, I saw that it contained the verses of praise written by Ibne Arandous Hilli. I had lost this and was searching for it for quite some time. Immediately, I took the book and said, okay, I will read it aloud for you. As soon as I started reciting it, I felt the presence of a person next to me. I turned and saw that an Arab was standing beside me. As I continued to recite, he wept profusely till such time that I recited the sentence of the elegy,
Was Husain (as) really martyred in Karbala thirsty
And was every part of his body, even the tips of his fingers not satiated with water?
As I recited the above verses, the intensity of his lamentation reached its peak and while weeping, he turned towards the zarih of Imam Husain (as) and kept on repeating the above verses. His lamentation was like that of a mother who has lost her young son.
Thereafter, I completed the recitation of the verses and turned towards the Sayyed, but, to my amazement, I did not find anyone there. I was surprised with this scene because till then he was just standing and weeping beside me. However I could not see him any longer. I asked the book seller whether he knew of the whereabouts of the Arab who was standing beside me. He replied, I did not see any person standing and weeping next to you.
I searched all over for him – inside the haram and even in the precincts of the shrine, but I could not find any trace of him. I was then 100% sure that the Arab was none other than Imam Mahdi (as).
Ref: Shiftagaan Hazrat Mahdi, volume 3, page 173
Lessons from this incident
There are many lessons which can be derived from this incident. Some of these lessons are narrated below.
Traditions highlight the merit of those who recite marsiya (elegies) for Imam Husain (as). Therefore we too should make efforts in this regard and increase the effect of its recitation by offering the reward of such recitation on behalf of Imam Mahdi (as) to his mother Hazrat Zahra (sa).
Whenever we are overcome by grief and tears come out of our eyes while reciting or listening to the sorrows of Imam Husain (as), we should pray for the early reappearance of Hazrat Imam Mahdi (as).
