The blessing: To be with Imām Zamān (mgehr)

O, fellows! I swear to God; we don’t know value the blessing of being with the Imām, because we haven’t experienced it! We haven’t experienced the sweetness of a look by Imām Zamān (mgehr). So, we usually don’t die for him!!

May God have mercy on the late Ayatollah Mujtahedī. [Once] he narrated a story from an old shoemaker named “Abdul Karim Kaffāsh”. [it is mentioned in the following lines:]

Abdul Karīm Kaffāsh was such a person who cried for Sayyid al Shuhadā [Imām Huṣayn (pbuh)] forty days; both in the morning and evenings. It was with the intention of visiting Imām Zamān (mgehr). Yes, his wish was fulfilled. He explained, ‘Once a week, the Imām would come to the shoe booth; he would sit down, talk to him for a few minutes, and visit and then the honorable Imām would depart.

Once the Excellency asked him, ‘Abdul Karim, we are coming to visit you every week. What if we do not come to visit you for a week? He reacted, ‘Do not talk about it, I will languish!’

[Do you know why?] It is because, he experienced the sweetness of socializing with the Imām, but we haven’t. We do not know at all, what a blessing this is! We do not realize its value at all! Let me give you some examples: We have a thousand kinds of unnecessary worldly desires! But how many times are we ready to go to Imām Riḍā (pbuh)’s shrine to appeal to him for the sake of the world?

Yes, we have a thousand kinds of unnecessary worldly desires! How many times did we go to Imām Riḍā (pbuh)’ shrine to ask him to tie our knots and do not take me out of his shrine?

Why haven’t we done our responsibility [toward our Imāms (pbu th)]?

But why don’t we know their worth?!

Because we do not know its value, we do not realize its value at all!

O, Sir [Imam Zamān (mgehr)]!  Many times we have decided to present God, ‘Thank God, that we live in the time of Imām Zamān (mgehr)!’

But we haven’t managed to! Do you know why? It’s because we do not know at all how sweet is being with Imām Zamān (mgehr)!

Sadīr Sirafi narrated:

 

[Once] I went to the door of Imām Ṣādiq (pbuh)’s house, but I heard him shouting loudly,

سیدی غیبتک نفت رقادی و ضیقت علی مهادی،

‘O, my Sayyid! Your Occultation made me sleepless! And made me suffer my sleep bed!

I said to myself, ‘Who is Imām Ṣādiq (pbuh) calling “Hujjat [proof] of God” telling?!’ But I saw no one there, and the Excellency’s eyes was welled up with tears! I wondered, ‘O, Sir! For whom [are you crying?!] He replied, ‘Our descendant who comes in the future and will have an Occultation.’

Imām Ṣādiq (pbuh) realized who Imām Zamān (mgehr)is, as he stated,

: لَوْ أَدْرَکْتُهُ لَخَدَمْتُهُ أَیامَ حَیاتِی

If I visit him in my lifetime, I will serve him.

Well, we are breathing in the time of Imām al-Zaman (mgehr), but we are not looking for him! We are not thankful for his blessings, nor we realize [the truth of] Du’a al Faraj [praying for his departure]! Because we haven’t experienced the sweetness!

Now, let’s have a [common] intention to pray for Imām al-Zaman (mgehr). Let’s hope, if Imām al-Zaman (mgehr) takes a look at us at night, he will state, ‘There are Twenty million people praying for me!’

We ought to at least, pray for him since today; in order for us to be helped by him. is to pray from today.

 

Professor: Ḥujjat al-Islām Muḥammad Mahdī Memariān