English
Sayyid ‘Abd alKarim ibn Tawus has reported the following from Safwan alJammal:
During my journey with him to alKufah for meeting AbuJa’far alMansur the ‘Abbasid ruler, Imam Ja’far alSadiq (‘a) asked me to make our camels kneel down at a certain place, saying, “This is the tomb of my grandfather, the Commander of the Faithful.”
As I made the camels kneel down there, he rode off, bathed himself, changed his clothes, took off his shoes, and ordered me to imitate him in everything. He then directed towards the hillock of Najaf (aldhakwah), saying, “If you walk in short steps and nod your head to the ground, you shall be given one hundred thousand rewards for each step, one hundred thousand sins shall be erased from your sins, you shall be elevated one hundred thousand ranks, one hundred thousand of your requests shall be granted, and you shall be granted the rewards of all veracious individuals who died and all martyrs whom were slain.”
Imam alSadiq (‘a) then walked with tranquility and gravity, and I followed him, pronouncing statements of glorification and sanctification of Almighty Allah and confession of His Oneness until we reached the hillocks there. He stopped there, looked to the right and the left, sketched something on the ground with his stick, and asked me to look for the signs of the tomb. As I did, I could notice the traces of the tomb of Imam ‘Ali (‘a). Imam alSadiq (‘a) immediately shed tears down his face and said these words:
اِنَّا لِلّٰهِ وَ اِنَّا اِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُوْنَ
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ اَيُّهَا الْوَصِيُّ الْبَرُّ التَّقِيُّ
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ اَيُّهَا النَّبَاُ الْعَظِيْمُ
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ اَيُّهَا الصِّدِّيْقُ الرَّشِيْدُ
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ اَيُّهَا الْبَرُّ الزَّكِيُّ
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ يَا وَصِيَّ رَسُوْلِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِيْنَ
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ يَا خِيَرَةَ اللّٰهِ عَلَى الْخَلْقِ اَجْمَعِيْنَ
اَشْهَدُ اَنَّكَ حَبِيْبُ اللّٰهِ وَ خَآصَّةُ اللّٰهِ وَ خَالِصَتُهُ
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ يَا وَلِيَّ اللّٰهِ وَ مَوْضِعَ سِرِّهِ
وَ عَيْبَةَ عِلْمِهِ وَ خَازِنَ وَحْيِهِ
To Allah we belong and to Him is our return. Peace be upon you, O successor (of the Prophet), righteous, and pious. Peace be upon you, O Great News. Peace be upon you, O veracious and rightdirecting one. Peace be upon you, O righteous and pure. Peace be upon you, O Successor of the Messenger of the Lord of the worlds. Peace be upon you, O choice of Allah over all creatures. I bear witness that you are verily Allah’s beloved, elite, and select. Peace be upon you, O intimate servant of Allah, center of His secrets, store of His knowledge, and keeper of His Revelation.
بِاَبِيْ اَنْتَ وَ اُمِّيْ يَا اَمِيْرَ الْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ
بِاَبِيْ اَنْتَ وَ اُمِّيْ يَا حُجَّةَ الْخِصَامِ
بِاَبِيْ اَنْتَ وَ اُمِّيْ يَا بَابَ الْمَقَامِ
بِاَبِيْ اَنْتَ وَ اُمِّيْ يَا نُوْرَ اللّٰهِ التَّآمَّ
اَشْهَدُ اَنَّكَ قَدْ بَلَّغْتَ عَنِ اللّٰهِ
صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ اٰلِهِ مَا حُمِّلْتَ
وَ رَعَيْتَ مَا اسْتُحْفِظْتَ
وَ حَفِظْتَ مَا اسْتُوْدِعْتَ
وَ حَلَّلْتَ حَلَالَ اللّٰهِ
وَ حَرَّمْتَ حَرَامَ اللّٰهِ
وَ اَقَمْتَ اَحْكَامَ اللّٰهِ
وَ لَمْ تَتَعَدَّ حُدُوْدَ اللّٰهِ
وَ عَبَدْتَ اللّٰهَ مُخْلِصًا
حَتّٰى اَتَاكَ الْيَقِيْنُ
وَ عَلَى الْاَئِمَّةِ مِنْ بَعْدِكَ۔
Imam alSadiq (‘a) then threw himself on the tomb and said these words:
May Allah accept my father and mother as ransoms for you, O Commander of the Faithful! May Allah accept my father and mother as ransoms for you, O argument in controversies! May Allah accept my father and mother as ransoms for you, O door to the (elevated) position! May Allah accept my father and mother as ransoms for you, O utter light of Allah! I bear witness that you have conveyed all that which you were ordered to convey from Allah and from Allah’s Messenger, may Allah’s peace be upon him and his Household, attended to that which was kept with you, kept that which was stored with you, decided as lawful all that which Allah has deemed lawful, decided as unlawful all that which Allah has deemed unlawful, carried out the decrees of Allah, never exceeded the limits of Allah, and worshipped Allah sincerely until death came upon you. May Allah send blessings upon you and upon the Imams who came after you!
Imam alSadiq (‘a) then stood up and offered a number of units of prayer at the side of the Imam’s head. He then said to me (i.e. Safwan), “Whoever visits Amir alMu’minin with this form of Ziyarah and then offers the like of this prayer shall return home while all his sins are forgiven, all his efforts are accepted, and will have the rewards of all the angels who visit this tomb recorded for him.”
I asked, “Do you mean the reward of all the angels who visit this tomb?”
The Imam (‘a) answered, “Yes, I do. Each night, this tomb is visited by seventy thousand tribes of angels.”
“How many is a tribe of angels?” asked I.
يَا جَدَّاهُ يَا سَيِّدَاهُ
يَا طَيِّبَاهُ يَا طَاهِرَاهُ
لَا جَعَلَهُ اللّٰهُ اٰخِرَ الْعَهْدِ مِنْكَ
وَ رَزَقَنِي الْعَوْدَ اِلَيْكَ
وَ الْمَقَامَ فِيْ حَرَمِكَ
وَ مَعَ الْاَبْرَارِ مِنْ وُلْدِكَ
وَ عَلَى الْمَلَاۤئِكَةِ الْمُحْدِقِيْنَ بِكَ
“Each tribe consists of one hundred thousand angels,” answered the Imam (‘a).
The Imam (‘a) then left the place waling back but his face was still to the grave direction, uttering the following words:
O grandfather! O master! O pure! O infallible! May Allah not cause this (visit of mine) to be the last of my compliments to you. May He grant me the opportunity to visit you again, to reside at your holy shrine, and to be included with you and with the righteous ones among your sons! May Allah send blessings upon you and upon the angels surrounding you!
I then said to him, “O master! May I inform our acquaintances in alKufah about this and lead them to this tomb?”
The Imam (‘a) answered in the affirmative and gave me a sum of money to construct the tomb.