Are We Truly Ready for the Reappearance of Imām Zamān (mGehr)?

The following account was related by the scholar ʿAlī Akbar Nahāvandī (mGbhs), who narrated it from the great Ayatollah Khoei (mGbhs). This story invites us to reflect on the sincerity of our faith and how well we truly know Imām Zamān (mGehr).

Ayatollah Khoei (mGbhs) related:

Once, I traveled from Najaf Ashraf to Hillah for a particular purpose. As I was walking through the bazaar, I noticed a domed structure resembling a mosque. A short passage from the Zīyārah of Imām Zamān (mGehr) was inscribed on its door. Above it were the words:

“Here is the place of Ṣāḥib al-Zamān (mGehr).”

People would come to this place, weep, plead, and seek intercession. I asked those around me, “Why is this place known by this name?”

They explained:

“There once lived a pious and devoted man named Shaykh ʿAlī, who constantly awaited the Reappearance of Imām Zamān (mGehr). He would repeatedly ask himself questions such as:

‘Why does the Imām not reappear when there are so many trustworthy people? Why does he not rise to fill the world with justice?’

One day, he left the city and went into the desert. There, he began repeating these questions aloud.

A man dressed in the traditional attire of the Bedouin Arabs approached him and asked, ‘Who are you speaking to?’

Shaykh ʿAlī replied, ‘I am speaking to Imām Zamān (mGehr). I am asking why he has not yet reappeared when there are so many trustworthy people among us!’

The Arab man responded:

‘O Shaykh ʿAlī! I am Ṣāḥib al-Zamān himself. Do not complain so much; it is not appropriate. If there were 313 true helpers, I would reappear. Among all these people, only you and that butcher are truly trustworthy.

If you wish to see this for yourself, invite those you consider trustworthy to your house on Thursday night. Ask the butcher to bring two young goats to your rooftop and keep them there.’

Shaykh ʿAlī selected the forty people he considered the most trustworthy and invited them to his house.

That night, the guests arrived, performed ablution, and began reciting dhikr and ṣalawāt. After midnight, they suddenly witnessed a magnificent, dazzling light appearing in the sky and moving toward Shaykh ʿAlī’s house.

A short while later, the Imām instructed the butcher to come up to the rooftop. When the butcher arrived, the Imām ordered him to slaughter one of the goats near the roof’s drainage outlet. The butcher obeyed, and blood began dripping into the courtyard below.

The forty guests, however, assumed that it was the butcher’s blood they were seeing.

A little later, the Imām summoned Shaykh ʿAlī to the rooftop. He went up, and, at the Imām’s command, the butcher slaughtered the second goat. Once again, blood dripped from the drainage outlet into the courtyard.

The guests, unaware of what was actually happening, assumed that the Imām had killed both the butcher and Shaykh ʿAlī.

Finally, the Imām instructed Shaykh ʿAlī:

‘Now go down to the courtyard and ask your guests to come up and meet me.’

Shaykh ʿAlī went downstairs, but when he reached the courtyard, he discovered that all the guests had fled.

The Imām then admonished him:

‘Where are those trustworthy people you spoke of? Do not complain in this manner again!’

After saying these words, the Imām disappeared.