القاسم بن عبد الله الحضرمي

“We went to the Abbasid Mosque, which is at a distance of two stages from Fustat and our servants left us alone. Only a Persian was left with us in the Mosque. I noticed a gentleman in a corner and he was engrossed in devotions. When it was noon, I prayed the Noon Prayer at the earliest time and invited that gentleman for dinner. He accepted the invitation. After dinner, I asked him his name, his father’s name, nativity and profession etc. He replied: My name is Muhammad bin Ubaidullah, I am from Qom and I am in search of truth since the last thirty years. I have lived in various places during this period and spent around twenty years in Mecca and Medina and studied the traditional reports. In the 29th year, I circled the Kaaba and when I reached the Place of Ibrahim, I prayed there. After that I dozed a little bit and then I heard someone reciting a supplication that I had never heard before. I was startled to see that it was a young handsome man of medium height who was reading that Dua. Then he came out of the Haram and started Sayy. I followed him, because the Almighty Allah inspired me that he was the master of the age. When he completed the Sayy, he set out from there and I followed him; but as I neared him I was stopped by a tall black man who said: “What do you want?” I began to tremble in fear and halted in my steps and that gentleman disappeared. I stood there in bewilderment for a long time. At last I returned from there condemning my own self, that why I was cowed down by a black. I returned and prayed to the Almighty Allah: I invoke You in the name of Your Prophet, please don’t waste my efforts and show me that which will satisfy and me show him to me again. After some years, I visited the tomb of the Messenger of Allah (s). One day, I dozed sitting between his tomb and pulpit when someone shook my arm. When I opened my eyes, I saw that same black man. He asked: “How are you?” “All right, but I was angry at you.” “You should not have done that. I was commanded to scold you. You should thank Allah and be pleased that you have seen him; it is enough.” Then he mentioned one of my brothers in faith and asked how he was. “He is in Barqa.” “You are right.” Then he mentioned another friend of mine, who was a very pious man. “He is in Alexandria.” He asked about many of my friends and then asked about a stranger: “How was that Nakhfur?” “I don’t know him.” “Yes, how can you know him? He is Roman and the Almighty Allah will guide him and he will come from Constantine to render help.” Then he asked about another person and I again said that I had no clue who he was. “He is from the Hayyat area and he is a helper of my lord and master. Now you may tell your associates that we are hopeful that the Almighty Allah will take revenge from the oppressors and permit us to help the oppressed. I have just conveyed the same message to some of our associates. You must not worry much; continue to obey Allah and the time of reappearance is near, if Allah wills.” [Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Khalaf says:] I ordered my cashier to bring fifty dinars and requested the aged man to accept them. He said: Brother, Allah has made unlawful for me to take anything that I don’t need just as He made it lawful for me to accept from you that which I am in need of. I asked: Has anyone other than me from the companions of the king heard about your story? He replied: Yes, your brother, Ahmad bin Husain Hamadani, who is exiled to Azerbaijan. He heard it from me and with the hope that he would also see what I saw, sought permission to go for Hajj. He performed Hajj, but that same year he was killed at the hands of Zikruya bin Mahruya. We separated and I came back to the boundary. The following year I went to Hajj and met a man named Tahir in Medina. He was among the descendants of Husain, the younger [Imam Sajjad (a.s)]. It was said that he had some knowledge about this matter [of Imamate]. I went to look for him and befriend him, so that he becomes comfortable with me and is aware of the correctness of my belief. I requested him: O son of Allah’s Messenger, I adjure you through the rights of your purified forefathers, please bestow me with knowledge of this matter of [Master of the age (a.s)] and make me like yourself. As one about whom you are confident has testified to me and informed me that Qasim bin Abdullah bin Sulaiman bin Wahab intends to eliminate me for my religion [of Twelver Shia] and has instigated my killing a number of times, but Almighty Allah saved me from his clutches. Tahir said: O brother, conceal whatever you hear from me in these mountains; those who carry provisions in the darkness of the night to a place they know, see extraordinary things and have restrained us from search and investigation. So I left him and returned.