About some duties of the worshippers toward Walī Asr (mGehr)

Know that, [this part is about] the customs of servitude and obedience of those who have submitted themselves to His Excellency’s command and obedience. Also, they have considered themselves to be obedient servants and humble recipients of His blessed presence. They have believed that a noble person is the Imām and intermediary for the attainment of divine graces and infinite worldly and hereafter blessings.

The Major Occultation Era is [such as] a laboratory

First: In the Occultation Era, an Individual needs to be secretive about [the cases related to] the Sir [Walī Asr (mGehr)]. It’s because of many reasons:

1-    The Sir is chaste. So, the hand does not reach his lap, and the eyes are not enlightened by the light of his beauty.

In the book “Uyūn”, in a related part, the author narrated from Imām Riḍā that he stated:

Many a time, some people are sad, bewildered, and sorrowful at the loss of a certain person in the time when “Maˈ Maʼīn”[1]is absent.

Yes, Maˈ Maʼīn refers to His Excellency Hujjah (mGher) 152

In addition, in Nudba prayer[2], it reads:

It is hard for me to I can see all creatures, but I can neither see you

Nor can I hear any whisper or confidential talk from you!

It is hard for me that ordeals encompass you, not me

And neither cry nor complaint from me can rally round you!

May my soul be ransom for you; for although you are hidden from us, you have never forsaken us.

May my soul be ransom for you; for although you are away, you have never been away from us.

May my soul be ransom for you; for you are the wish of an eager

believing man or woman who mentions you and misses you.

May my soul be ransom for you; for you are an unmatched pioneer of dignity.

May my soul be ransom for you; for you are an unrivaled origin of glory, …

(Also, the rest is an example of the heartache of one who has drunk a cup from the fountain of His Eminence’s love).

Then, Imām Huṣayn (pbuh) stated, “All blessings are at that time! Our Qa’im [mGehr] will rise and repel all of the evil.”

Imām Ṣādiq (pbuh) referred to such a point too.

And once His Excellency Amīr al Muʾminīn (pbuh) asked Mālik ibn Zumrah, “How will you feel when Shiites contradict with each other, such as:” Here, he put his hands together! There Mālik wondered, “O, Amīr al Muʾminīn (pbuh)! Won’t there be any blessing at that time?!” He replied:

 

All the blessings are at that time. Our Qa’im [mGehr] will rise. After that, there will be seventy men who lied about God and the Messenger of God (pbuh&h). So, he [Qa’im] will kill all and control the remaining ones.

Moreover, a narrator narrated from the Sir Bāqir (pbuh), that he stated:

 

O, Shiites of Ale Muḥammad (pbuh&h)! In fact, you will be tested [by God]. It’s [like] testing Kohl. In fact, the owner of the kohl can control the time of applying it to their eyes. But they don’t know when it leaves their eyes! Similarly, some individuals have been of our followers at night, but they will leave us in the next morning!

In addition, the Sir Imām Ṣādiq (pbuh) narrated:

By God, you will verily break like a glass! And in fact, the glass will definitely be restored like the first![And] By God, you will verily break like a pot jar! Yet, when the pot jar breaks, it will be repaired like before! By God, you will be filtered, separated from each other, and tested till just a few number of you remain!

There, the Imām showed his blessed palm.

Anyhow, in “Kamāl al Dīn”, Shaykh Ṣadūq narrated a lot of news from Amīr al Muʾminīn (pbuh), connoting the preceding point. The Imām stated, “O, group of Shiite! As if, I see you who are wandering like camels and ask for Pasture. But you cannot find it.”

Also, they narrated from the Sir [Imām Alī (pbuh)] that he told Abdul Raḥmān Ibn Sayābah:

How do you feel when you will be without an Imām as a guide and leader? Then, you will hate some other [Shiites]. At that time, you will be tested, separated, and filtered!

Also, they narrated from Sadir Sayyrafi, who mentioned:

[Once,] Mufaḍḍal ibn Ummer, Abu Basīr, Abān ibn Taqlab went to the service of our Mawlā “Imām Jaʿfar Ṣādiq (pbuh)”. We saw him sitting on the soil and wearing Masḥ Khaybarī[3]with short sleeves, and the Imām was overcome with grief! He was crying like a woman who had lost her darling child; like a person with a burnt liver, his righteous face clearly showed hardship and sorrow, and tears flowed from his true-seeing eyes. He was requesting:

O, my Sayyid[4]! Your Occultation has robbed me of sleep, deprived me of rest, and taken away the joy from my heart! O, my Sayyid! Your Occultation made my affliction constant, has made my troubles and misfortunes continuous. It brought tears to my eyes. It brought out groans, lamentations, and sorrow from my chest, and brought calamities upon me!

Sudair kept on:

When we saw the Excellency in that state, our minds flew and we were stunned and amazed. Also, our hearts were close to being torn apart by that pain! And we thought that the Excellency had been poisoned or that a great calamity of the world had befallen him.

Anyhow, I stated, ‘O, best human! May God never make your eye tearful! What event made you crying, what happened to you that you are mourning?’

There, the Excellency wept and sighed bitterly from his sorrowful heart. He stated, ‘In the morning, I took a look at the book “Jafr[5]”, which is a book including the knowledge of signs and calamities.’

There, it mentioned the calamities which will happen to us. Also, it mentioned the knowledge of past and future up until the Resurrection Day! And, God specialized it for Muḥammad and the [infallible] Imāms (pbu th), who have come after him.

[The Imām continued:]

 

I took a look at that book and I read about His Excellency Sāhib al Amr (mGehr) s’ birthdate, Occultation; duration of it, and his lifetime. It referred to the believers’ affliction, increasing doubts and suspicions in the people’s hearts; due to the length of his Occultation, the apostasy of most of the people, and it referred to their removing the rope of “Islam [of Allah]” that God has placed around their necks!

Hence, pity has touched me and sadness has overcome me.

This was how it was supposed to be. ¹⁵⁷

To prove this noble news, it suffices to consider his Excellency Ṣādiq (pbuh), many years before it happened, and the loss of sleep from his blessed eyes; because of the confusion, division, and affliction of the Shi’a, during the days of occultation and The confusion, division, and affliction of the Shia during the days of occultation and arising doubts in their hearts.

Accordingly, therefore, a believer who is afflicted with that great event, drowned in that boundless, dark, turbulent whirlpool, is more deserving of weeping, lamentation, lamentation, restlessness, constant sorrow, and supplication to The Most Glorious and Exalted God!

 

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1- The Imām is referred to “Maˈ Maʼīn”, which means Running Water, because Water is the source of life and the Imām brings the spiritual and terrestrial news, [and blesses] for people.

2- These are some parts of the Nudba Prayer. For further study, you can search it in Shiʼa sites.

3- It’s a piece of clothing without pockets.

4-Here, Sayyid refers to Imām Mahdī (mGehr).

5- It’s the title of a book of hadith that was written on goatskin with the dictation of the Holy Prophet (pbuh&h) and the handwriting of Imām Alī (pbuh). The book of Jafr is considered one of the testaments of the Imamate and one of the sources of Imam’s knowledge, which, according to some narrations, only the Prophet (pbuh&h) and his successors can look at. Some scholars believe that the Book of Jafr was written in code, and the knowledge of signs and calamities was recorded in it. The fact that Jafr does not decay and its ink does not disappear are other features mentioned in the hadiths for this book. Some scholars, citing the hadiths, believe that this book is now with the Imām of the Time (pbuh).

According to some narrations, in addition to the book of Jafr, the Imams (pbuh) have other Jafr that are not books but are only repositories for storing other spiritual things, such as the Torah, the Bible, and the Mushaf of Fātimā (pbuh).