عمرو بن

he said: I was shown Hell during my journey of Meraj. I saw a short stature man, Amr bin Lahih paying with his baton in Hell. I asked: Who is this? I was told: He is Amr bin Lahih.

Amr bin Hamama Doosi He is also a long lived human being, who lived for 400 years. Following is his own composition: I have become aged and my age is so prolonged as if I have been stung by snake that is not yet dead. Thus death did not destroy me and I was not destroyed? But years of spring and summer passed on me. I have definitely left behind three hundred years and I hope to live for four hundred years.

H 307 - Amr bin Saeed Madayani, a follower of Fathi sect, said: I came to see Imam Hadi (a.s) in a village of Syria. At that time Ayyub bin Nuh entered and stood before Imam (a.s), who ordered something to him and he went away from there. Imam (a.s) looked at me and said: O Amr, if you want to see an inmate of Paradise, you should look at this man.

“But nay! I swear by the stars that run their course (and) hide themselves.” (81:15-16) He replied: “An Imam who will go into hiding, when all who know him will be gone, in the year two hundred and sixty and then he will appear like a blazing meteor in the darkness of the night. If one lives till that time, he would find solace.”

One of them is Amr bin Lohi, whose real name was Rabia bin Haritha bin Amr Maziqiya. According to scholars of Khaza, he was the chief of the Khaza during the battle between Khaza and Jurham. He had initiated the customs of Saiba, Wasila and Haam. He brought the idols of Hubal and Manat from Syria to Mecca. He entrusted Hubal to Khazima bin Mudrika and that is why it began to be referred to as the Hubal Khazima. Then he placed Manat on Mt. Abu Qubais and he was the first to bring Nard (a dice game) to Mecca, which people played all the time in Kaaba and its vicinity.

Abul Hasan, Kadhim (a.s) will have two occultations: one would be short and the other lengthy. Till the time a person will come to you and report that he has participated in his funeral etc., in that case that person is definitely a liar. My successor will not die till he has fulfilled the duty of his successorship, and the matters of the successor are not taken up, except by the successor and if anyone else performed this duty, he would lose his eyesight.

“Once I asked Abu Ja’far al-Baqir (as) about as-Sufyani and he said: “As-Sufyani does not rise until ash-Shaysabani rises before him. He (ash-Shaysabani) will rise from Kufa. He will flow like water. He will kill your delegation. After that you expect the rising of as-Sufyani and then al-Qa’im (as).”

“O Ali! I, you and eleven of my descendants are the buttons of the earth, its pegs and its mountains. Due to us Allah has prevented the earth from swallowing its inhabitants. When the twelfth of my descendants will pass away, the earth will swallow all its inhabitants and they will not be given respite.”

Amr Aaamir Maziqiya He was also a long lived Arab. Isfahani has narrated from Abi Ais Ansari and Sharqi bin Qattami that he lived for 800 years. Four hundred years during the lifetime of his father and another four hundred years afterwards, when he was a ruler. His practice was to wear two kinds of garments everyday. Every night he tore up his clothes, so that no one else may wear them. That’s why he is known as Maziqiya (one who tears). It is said that he was called Maziqiya, because during his reign, people of Azd migrated to various parts of the world. Amr was a king of the Saba kingdom. Soothsayers told him that his country would be destroyed by the floods of Iram. So he sold his land and migrated to some other place with his subjects. Therefore all the tribes of Azd and Ansar are his descendants.

“And by the Lord of the heavens and the earth! it is most surely the truth, just as you do speak.” (51:22-23) “This is the verse of the Qaim from Aale Muhammad (a.s) and the following verse is about him: Allah has promised to those of you who believe and do good that He will most certainly make them rulers in the earth as He made rulers those before them, and that He will most certainly establish for them their religion, which He has chosen for them, and that He will most certainly, after their fear, give them security in exchange; they shall serve Me, not associating aught with Me…” (24:55)

We were about twenty persons in the house of Abu Abdullah Ja’far bin Muhammad as-Sadiq (as) when he came to us and said: “You may think that we determine the matter of the imamate as we like! By Allah, it is a covenant from Allah revealed to His messenger (as) and then to certain men one after the other until it reaches its keeper.”

“I am the first of this Ummah, Mahdi is the middle of it, and Isa is the last of it. And in between there are calamities and tyrant rulers.”

Once I was with Abu Abdullah as-Sadiq (as) in his house. The house was crowded of people. They began to ask about different things. Whatever he was asked about something, he gave the sufficient answer. I began to cry. He asked: “O Amr, why are you crying?” I said: “May I die for you! How do I not cry? Is there any other one like you in this umma? You are imprisoned here, the door is closed and the curtain is lowered before you!” He said: “O Amr, do not cry! We eat good foods and wear soft cloths. If what you say occurs, we will eat coarse foods and wear rough cloths like Amirul Mo’mineen Ali bin Abu Talib (as); otherwise putting on ties in Hell.”

“Behold, by Allah, the world will not end until Allah sends a man from my seed, who will kill from you one thousand and with the thousand another thousand and with the thousand another thousand.” I asked, “May I be your ransom. They are the sons of so-and-so and they do not reach this number.” The Imam said: “Look at you! At that time, a man will have from his seed so-and-­so many men, and their chief will be from themselves.”

“The Day of Resurrection will not come until the eye of the world is gouged out and redness appears in the sky, and this redness is the tears of the bearers of the Throne weeping for the people of the earth, and until a bad gang appears propagandizing for my progeny whereas in fact they are free from my progeny. It is a gang with no morals, prevailing over the evils, deceiving the tyrants and destroying the kings (rulers). It is a gang that appears in Kufa headed by a black-faced and black-hearted man, who is weak in faith, with no morals, hybrid, mean and rude. He is circulated among prostitute mothers from the worst progenies. May Allah have no a bit of mercy upon them. They will appear in the same year, in which my disappearing son with the red banner and the green flag will reappear. What a terrible day for the deviants between Anbar and Heet it will be! A day, on which a great misfortune will occur to the Kurds and the (Kharijites), on which there will be the destruction of the house (city) of the Pharaohs (tyrants), the abode of the arrogants, the shelter of the unjust rulers, the mother of calamities and the sister of shame! O Amr bin Sa’d, by the god of Ali, it is Baghdad! May Allah damn the mutineers of the Umayyads and the Abbasids; the traitors, who will kill my virtuous descendants, who will never regard my sanctity when killing them and who will not fear Allah when doing anything to my progeny. Woe unto the followers of the Abbasids from a war that will break out between Nahawand and ad-Daynour. It will be the war of the paupers of Ali’s Shia headed by a man from Hamadan, whose name will be like the name of the Prophet (S).”

“Gabriel came to the Prophet (S) and said: “O Muhammad! Allah orders you to marry Fatima to your brother Ali.” The Prophet (S) sent for Ali and said to him: “O Ali, I will marry my daughter Fatima, the head lady of the women of the world and the most beloved one to me, to you and there will be from you (your offspring) the two masters of the martyrs of Paradise, the oppressed bloodstained martyrs on the earth after me and the highborn progeny, with whom Allah will defeat injustice, revive the truth and finish off the untruth. Their number is like the number of the months of a year. Behind the last one of them Prophet Jesus the son of Blessed Virgin Mary (as) will offer the prayer.”

in a long tradition: “Mahdi will enter Kufa and there will be three standards, which will have become confused. They will be clear to him. He will go in until he comes to the pulpit. Then he will preach, but the people will not understand what he says, because of the wailing. This is the meaning of the statement of the Messenger of Allah (s) that: As if I can see the Hasanids and Husainids that they have raised the flags and each of them are claiming Caliphate. The Hasanid would hand over the flag to the Husainid and all would pay allegiance to him. Next Friday, the people will ask him to lead them in Friday Prayer. He will order for a place of prostration to be marked for him with red dye and he will pray there. Then he will order a river to be dug from the rear of the tomb of Imam Husain (a.s), which would flow to the Ghariyyan, so that the water descends into Najaf. At its entrance bridges and mills will be working. It is as if I could see an old woman with a sack of wheat on her head going to Kerbala to get it milled.

“A man came to Abu Ja’far al-Baqir (as) and said: “May Allah bless you! Please take these five hundred dirhams from me. They are the zakat of my wealth.” Abu Ja’far al-Baqir (as) said: “You take them and divide them among the poor Muslims of your neighbors and brothers.” Then he said: “When al-Qa’im of Ahlul Bayt rises, he will divide the wealth equally and rule justly over the people. Whoever obeys him certainly obeys Allah and whoever disobeys him disobeys Allah. He is named as Mahdi because he guides to a hidden matter. He takes the Torah and the rest of the divine Books of Allah from the cave of Antakya (Antioch). He will judge among the people of the Torah with the Torah, among the people of the Bible with the Bible, among the people of Psalms (of Prophet David) with the Psalms and among the people of the Qur’an with the Qur’an. The wealth of the world is gathered to him from above the ground and from under the ground. He says to people: Come on to the wrong you have done to your kin! Come on to the bloods you have shed wrongfully! Come on to the sins you have committed! He will offer something that no one has ever offered before him. He will fill the world with justice, equity and light after it has been filled with injustice, oppression and evil.”

This copy is the will of Amirul Momineen (a.s) to Imam Hasan Mujtaba (a.s) and it is also mentioned in Kitab Sulaym Ibn Qays Hilali, which he read out to Aban and Aban also said: I read out this will to Ali bin Husain (a.s) and he (a.s) said: Sulaym has said the truth, may Allah have mercy on him. [Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s) said:] Sulaym has said: When Amirul Momineen (a.s) made a bequest to his son, Imam Hasan (a.s), I witnessed it. The Imam made Husain (a.s), Muhammad bin Hanfiyyah, all his sons and elders of Shia and his Ahle Bayt witness this bequest and in his address to Imam Hasan (a.s), he said: My son, the Messenger of Allah (s) ordered me to make a will in your favor and transfer my books and weapons to you. After that he glanced at Imam Hasan (a.s) and said: My son, you are my successor and inheritor of my blood; if you like you have the discretion to forgive my killer; and if you like you can put him to death; but retaliate one hit only with a single hit and don’t fall into sin. Thus he mentioned the rest of the will till the end. When the will of the Imam ended, he said: May Almighty Allah protect you and guard the practice of your Prophet among you. I entrust you to Almighty Allah about you and invoke His peace and blessings for you. After that the Imam continued: ‘There is no god, except Allah,’ till he passed on the 23rd night of Ramadhan, Friday eve in the 40th year A.H. due the fatal injury that he had received on the 21st of Ramadhan.

Among the long lived persons of the world is Harith bin Kaab bin Amr bin Waala Madh-haji. Madh-haj was the mother of Malik bin Adad and the reason of her being named thus was that she was born on a hill named as Madh-haj. Abu Hatim says: When the death of Harith approached, he gathered his children and said: My children, I have reached an age of a hundred and sixty years, but so far I have neither made peace with any traitor nor befriended any transgressor or infidel, nor flirted with cousins and sisters-in-law. I have never kept a woman of loose character in my house. I have never exposed the secrets of my friends. I follow the religion of Prophet Shuaib (a.s) and except for me, Asad bin Khuzaima and Tamim bin Murrah, no one in the Arab Peninsula follows this faith. So remember my will and live on my religion. Continue to fear the Almighty Allah as He is sufficient for you in every way. Never disobey Him as you would be destroyed and your city and abode would be terrified of your destruction [It is an allusion of divine chastisement]. My sons, be united and never should you fall into discord. Without any doubt, a death of honor is better than a life of degradation and helplessness. What is destined would come to pass. Everything is of two different types. Thus time is also of two kinds: A time of prosperity and a time of troubles. People are also of two types: One kind will benefit you and another will harm you. Also remember that you should take in marriage, a woman who is compatible to your status and is chaste. Avoid foolish girls as their issues will be useless. Those who cut off relations will never get peace. There is enmity in discord with the people of your community. That is if you oppose them, they will become inimical to you. No matter how numerous you may be; if you have no unity, you are in great trouble. Goodness erases evil. To reciprocate evil with evil is to participate in evil. Sins destroy good deeds. Breaking off relations creates sorrow. Disrespect destroys blessings. Disowning of parents leads to destruction. It reduces population and houses are destroyed. Bad behavior cuts off benefits. Mutual enmity causes separations. He had composed the following couplets: I spent my youth and I wasted it; and I destroyed one day with another. I lived with three wives and all of them passed away and I have also become an old man. My food is less and my getting up is with difficulty and the long life span has shortened my steps. I remain awake the nights and observe the stars and contemplate on the hidden and apparent aspects of my life. These were some examples of Arabs who had the good fortune of having long life spans and their accounts are preserved in books of history.