Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn ‘Abdus- Ṣamad al-Ḥārithī (Sheikh Bahāʾi), was born in 593 AH in Lebanon, Baalbek. His ancestry goes back to Al-Ḥārith al-Hamdānī, the great companion of His Majesty Alī (pbuh). He came to Iran with his father in his childhood.
He entered Isfahān during the period of Shāh Tahmāsb the first and gained too much acceptance after a short time. He was from the nobles of Shiite in the tenth and eleventh Hijri century.
He lived for about 80 years and he was buried in the vicinity of the Holy Shrine of His Excellency Alī ibn Mūsā Rīḍa (pbuh).
He traveled a lot. Once on one of his trips, he met a Shāfiʿī Sunni scholar. Shaykh Bahāʾi introduced himself as a Shāfiʿī. When that Shāfiʿī Sunni scholar realized that he had come from the Shiite center (Iran), he asked him, ‘Does the Shiite have any agreeable proof and witness for his claim?’
Shaykh Bahāʾi said, ‘I meet them sometimes. They have strong proofs’. The Shāfiʿī scholar asked, ‘Tell me one of them as an example!’
[Shaykh Bahāʾi said], ‘For example they say, ‘It has been mentioned in the book Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī that, the Holy Prophet (Pbuh&h) stated,
إِنَّ فَاطِمَةَ بَضْعَةٌ مِنِّی، مَنْ آذَاهَا فَقَدْ آذَانِی، وَ مَنْ غَاظَهَا فَقَدْ غَاظَنِی
Which means, “Fātimā (Pbuh) is part of me; whoever hurts her, they have hurt me. And whoever delights her, they have delighted me”. (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, publ. Dār Al-Jalīl, Beirut, V.7, P.47)
It also has been mentioned in four other pages that,
“وَ خَرَجَتْ فاطِمَةُ مِنَ الدُّنْیا وَ هِیَ غاضِبَةٌ عَلَیْهِما”
Which means, Fātimā (Pbuh) passed away, while she was angry with them: Abū Bakr and ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab. (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, V.9, P.185, And Faḍāʾil Khamise men al-Sahāh al-Sitta, V.3, P.190).
So, according to the principles of Sunnites, how can these two narrations fit together?
The Shāfiʿī scholar was so deep in thought for a long time, then said, ‘It sometimes happens that Shiites lie, it may be a lie too. Let me check Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī to find out whether they lie or not.
Shaykh Bahāʾi said, ‘I met him the next day. I asked him, ‘How’s it going with your reading and studies? He said, ‘As I said, Shiites lie. …’
‘The Shiites lie, as I told! Well, I checked Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī; there existed these two narrations there. But there is a gap of more than four pages between them.’ [How odd reaction! What’s the difference between five pages and fifty pages?!!! (Rawdah ul-Jannah, the biography of Shaykh Baha’i.)
It has been narrated about Shaykh Bahāʾi that, Once Shaykh Bahāʾi passed a graveyard and it was six months before his death. He heard a voice from the grave of Babā Rokneddin, (one of the scholars in 8th century). He asked the people around him, ‘Did you hear what I just heard?’ They said, ‘No!’
After that, Shaykh kept crying incessantly, resting in supplication and in the entreaty, and he paid attention to the hereafter. It continued till he passed away.
It has been quoted that, it was because of the voice he heard, ‘O, our Shaykh! Worry about yourself.’
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