On What Has Become Apparent For The People Of Our Time From The Blessings And Signs Of This Place Of Martyrdom, And The Fulfillment Of Prayers There

I set out for the Shrine - may peace be upon its resident (Imam Ridha’) - and prayed to God near Ar-Ridha’ (a.s.)’s tomb and asked God to grant me a son. Then God the Honorable the Exalted granted me a son. Then I went to Aba Mansoor and informed him that God the Highest had fulfilled my prayer in this Shrine, favored me, granted me a son and honored me there upon.”The author of this book (a.s.heikh Sadooq) said, “I asked Rokn ul-Dowleh - the ruler - for permission to go on pilgrimage to the Shrine of Ar-Ridha’ (a.s.). He issued the permit in the (Arabic) month of Rajab of the year 352 A.H. (962 A.D.), and handed it over to me. When I left there, he called me in and said, “This is a blessed Shrine which I have already visited. I asked God the Highest for my personal needs and He fulfilled all of them for me. I ask you not to forget to pray for me there, and that you visit Ar-Ridha’ (a.s.) on my behalf, since indeed prayers would be fulfilled in that Shrine. Then I promised him that I would pray for him, and I fulfilled my promise. When I returned from that place (the Shrine) - may peace and greetings be upon its resident - and went to see him (Rukn ad-Dawla), he asked me, “Did you pray for me?” Then I said, “Yes.” Then he told me, “Excellent! Indeed it has been proven to me that prayers said in that Shrine are fulfilled.”

A man and his slave went to Mashhad and they both went to visit the Shrine. Then the man started to pray at the position of the Imam’s head, and the slave started to pray at the position of the Imam’s feet. Then when they finished praying, they both prostrated - long prostrations. Then the man rose up his head from the position of prostration before his slave did and called out to his slave. The slave rose up his head from the position of prostration and said, “Yes, my master!”Then the man asked him, “Do you want me to set you free?” He said, “Yes.” The man said, “You are set free for the sake of God the Highest. I also set my female slave in Balkh free for the sake of God. I marry her off to you for such and such an amount of nuptial gift for which I take responsibility on your behalf. I also endow such and such property for both of you, your children and your grand-children from your progeny. Be this Imam Ar-Ridha’ (a.s.) a witness to this.” Then the slave man cried and attested by God the Highest and the Imam (a.s.), that this was exactly what he had asked for in his prostration. And he recognized that prayers were quickly fulfilled by God the Highest.”

I was at the service of the military Commander-in-Chief, Abi Nasr ibn Abi Ali al-Saghani, who treated me with kindness. I accompanied him to Saghanian. His companions were jealous of me due to the way he treated me with kindness. Once he handed me a closed bag in which there were three-thousand Dirhams to turn over to his treasurer. Then I left him, sat down in a place where his gate-keeper sat, and placed the bag on the ground right in front of me. I was talking about my job with the people when the bags were stolen. I did not know what to do. The commander had a servant named Khat-lakh Tash who was present there. When I looked and saw that the bag was missing, I asked those who were present there about it. They all denied knowing anything about it and said, ‘You did not place anything here. You are just accusing us.’ I knew they were jealous of me. I did not wish to tell the Commander, Abi Nasr al-Saghani, about this worrying that he might accuse me of stealing. I was wondering and thinking about who might have stolen the bag from me. Whenever my father was grieved about something, he used to go to the Shrine of Ar-Ridha’ (a.s.), visit him and pray to God the Highest near him (a.s.). This was usually enough of a let-out and he would get relieved.The following day I went to see the Commander, and said, ’O Commander! Will you grant me permission to go to Toos? I have something to do there.’ He asked, ‘What do you have to do there?’ I said, ’I have a slave from Toos who has escaped. I have lost the bag that you had entrusted me with to turn over your treasurer. I suspect that he has stolen it?’ The Commander said, ‘Be careful not to ruin your position near me.’ I said, ’I take refuge in God from this.’ He asked, ‘Who will guarantee that you will not put off the repayment of the money in that bag?’ I said, ‘You can confiscate my house and my property, if I do not return after forty days.’ Then the Commander wrote a letter to Abil Hassan Al-Khoza’ee to confiscate all my property in Toos, and granted me permission to leave. I went from one way-station to the next until I arrived at the Shrine in Mashhad - may peace be upon its resident. Then I visited the Shrine and prayed to God the Highest at the position of the Imam’s head to let me know about the whereabouts of the bag. Then I fell asleep there. Then I saw God’s Prophet (S) in my dream. He said, ‘Stand up. God answered your prayer and fulfilled your need.’ I woke up, made ablutions and recited a lot of supplications - as many as God the Highest had willed. I also said the obligatory prayers. Then I fell asleep again, and saw God’s Prophet (S) in my dreams. The Prophet (S) told me, ‘Khat-lakh Tash has stolen it and buried it under the furnace in his house. It is still sealed and closed up with the seal of Abi Nasr Al-Saqani.’ Then (after I woke up) I returned to Commander Abi Nasr three days before my time was over. I went to see him and said, ‘My need was fulfilled.’ Then he said, ’Praise be to God.’ Then I left him, changed my clothes and returned to him. He asked, ‘Where is the bag?’ I answered, ‘The bag is with Khat-lakh Tash.’ He asked, ‘How do you know that?’ I said, ‘God’s Prophet (S) informed me about that in my dreams when I was at the tomb of Ar-Ridha’ (a.s.).’ The Commander’s body shivered, and he ordered Khat-lakh Tash to be brought to him and asked him, ‘Do you have the bag that you took?’ He denied it as he was one of the Commander’s dearest servants. The Commander then ordered that he be beaten up. I said, ‘O commander! There is no need to order that he be beaten up, since God’s Prophet (S) also told me about the location where he had placed it.’ The Commander asked, ‘Where is it?’ I said, ‘It is in his house buried under the furnace and is still sealed with the Commander’s seal.’ The Commander sent a trustworthy man to Khat-lakh Tash’s house and ordered that they dig up the ground where the furnace was located.The man went to Khat-lakh Tash’s house, dug up the ground and brought out the sealed bag. He took it back and placed it in front of the Commander. When the commander looked at the bag with his seal still on it, he told me, ‘O Abal Nasr! I did not know about your nobility before. I will increase your salary, respect and honor. Had I known that you intended to go to Mashhad, I would have had you ride on one of my horses.’” Abal Nasr added, “I was fearful of the Turks around him, and that they may get jealous of what had happened to me, and cause me trouble. Therefore, I requested the Commander’s permission to leave and returned to Neishaboor. I stayed in my store selling hay up until now. And there is no power save in God.”

Abu Ja’far Al-Otbi sent me as a messenger to Abi Mansoor Abdul Razzaq. I asked him for permission to go visit Ar-Ridha’ (a.s.), since it was Thursday. He said, “Let me tell you something about this town Mashhad. When I was young I was biased against the people of Mashhad, used to disturb the visitors on their way, seized their clothes and belongings. One day I went out to hunt. I sent my cheetah after a deer. The cheetah kept chasing the deer until the deer took refuge inside the Shrine. Then the deer stopped. The cheetah stopped right in front of it. It would not get any closer to the deer. Then no matter how hard I tried to force the cheetah to get closer to the deer, it did not obey me. Whenever the deer moved, the cheetah would just follow it until the deer reached inside the Shrine. Then the cheetah returned. The deer entered one of the recesses in the Shrine walls. I went into the yard but, could not see the deer. Then I asked Abil Nasr al-Moqri’, ‘Where did the deer which just came here go?’ He said, ‘I did not see it.’ Then I went where the deer had gone. I could see traces of it and its urination, but could not see the deer itself, and lost it. Then I made a bet with God the Highest to never again bother the pilgrims, or stop them unless I wanted to do them good. From then on whenever I had a need I went to Mashhad, visited Ar-Ridha’ (a.s.), and asked God the Highest to fulfill my need. And God always answered my prayers and fulfilled my needs. There I asked God the Highest to grant me a son and He granted me one. He grew up and matured and then he was killed.Then I went to the Shrine in Mashhad again and asked God the Highest to grant me another son. God granted me another son. There have been no occasions on which I have asked God the Highest for something in the Shrine which God has not fulfilled. And this was all due to the blessings of this Shrine - may peace be upon its resident.”

One day, Hamawayh - the Commander of the army of Khorasan - was in Al-Husayn ibn Yazid’s field in Neishaboor to see the high-ranking officials that were with him from Bab Aqil, where he had previously ordered that a hospital be built. A man passed by. Then he told his servant, ‘Go after this man and take him to my house and keep him there until I come back.’ When Commander Hamawayh returned home, he sat down to eat, with some of the high-ranking officials. Then when they sat down at the table to eat, he asked his servant, ‘Where is that man?’ The servant said, ‘He is standing at the door.’ Hamawayh said, ‘Let him come in.’ When the man entered Commander Hamawayh ordered that they bring a pan of water and said, ‘Wash this man’s hands and have him sit at the table.’ When they had finished eating, he asked the man, ‘Do you have any animals to ride on?’ The man said, ‘No.’ The Commander then ordered that he be given a donkey. Then the Commander asked him, ‘Do you have enough money for your travel expenses?’ The man said, ‘No.’ Then the Commander ordered that one-thousand Dirhams and two saddlebags and travel necessities be prepared for him. They gave it all to him. Then Hamawayh looked at the high-ranking officials and asked them, ‘Do you know who this man is?’ They said, ‘No.’ Hamawayh said, ‘Know that when I was young, I went to visit Ar-Ridha’ (a.s.) in worn-out clothes. I saw this man in the Shrine. I was praying to God the Highest beside the tomb asking him to grant me the post of governorship of Khorasan. This man was praying next to me to get what I have now prepared for him today. Since I have seen the good fulfillment of prayers by God the Highest due to the blessings of this Shrine, I really loved to see God the Highest grant me the opportunity to be the one to fulfill this man’s prayers with my own hands due to the blessings of this Shrine. However, there is a case concerning him and I for which I must retaliate.’ The high-ranking officials asked, ‘What is it?’ The Commander said, ‘This man saw me in the Shrine in those worn-out clothes. He heard what great things I waspraying for. He considered me too young at that time to be expecting such great things. Then he kicked me and asked me, ‘How can a person in your state be so greedy as to expect to become Khorasan’s governor and the Commander of the army.’ The top ranking officials said, ‘O Commander! Please forgive him for having perfected your kindness to him.’ The Commander said, ‘Of course, I forgave him.’ From then on, Hamawayh went to visit the Shrine. He married off his own daughter to Zayd ibn Muhammad ibn Ziyad al-Alawi after his father - may God be pleased with him - had been killed in war in Gorgan. He transferred Zayd to his own palace and granted him as many blessings as he should have, and this was all due to the blessings of this Shrine. Also when Abul Husayn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ziyad al-Alawi - may God have mercy upon him - rebelled and twenty-thousand people from Neishaboor pledged allegiance to him, he was arrested by the Caliph, and then dispatched to Bokhara. Then Hamawayh entered, removed the chains from Zayd and said to the Commander of Khorasan, ‘Those 20,000 people are from the progeny of God’s Prophet (S) who are hungry! It is incumbent upon you to maintain them, so that they are not forced to rebel in order to feed themselves. Then the Commander set a monthly salary for Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Alawi. He freed him and returned him to Neishaboor. This resulted in the designation of dues for the noble ones (a.s.ayyids) in Bokhara as a tradition. And this was all due to the blessings of this Shrine - may peace be upon its resident.”

I went to visit the Shrine of Ar-Ridha’ (a.s.) in Toos. Then I saw a Turkish man enter the Shrine and stand up at the position of the Imam’s head. He cried and prayed in Turkish, and said, ‘O my Lord! If my son is alive, please bring us together. However, if he has died, please let me know.’ I knew Turkish. Then I asked him, ‘What is the matter?’ He said, ‘I had a son who was with me in the Battle of IsshaqAbad. I lost him there and have had no news of him. His mother cries for him day and night. I have come here to pray to God the Highest to solve this problem, since I have heard that prayers said in this Shrine get fulfilled.’ Then I felt sorry for him. I took his hands and took him out of the Shrine to act as his host that day.Once we left the mosque, we ran into a tall, young man who had just started to grow a mustache and was wearing patched clothes. When the Turkish man saw him, he jumped towards him, hugged him and cried. They both recognized each other. This was just the son for whom he was praying in Ar-Ridha’’s (a.s.) tomb to God the Highest to be united with, or be informed of his whereabouts. I (Abul Abbas Ahmad) asked the son, ‘How did you get here?” The son said, ‘After the Battle of IsshaqAbad, I ended up in Tabaristan. A man from Daylam Abad took me to his house and raised me. Now that I have grown up, I have set out to find my parents about whose whereabouts I had no information. I was accompanying a group of people, since I did not know the way until I reached here.’ Then the Turkish man said, ‘I saw what has made my belief in this Shrine certain due to this tomb. Now I promise myself not to part with it for as long as I live.’”And praise be to God, the First and the Last, and the Ascendant (over all) and the Knower of hidden things. And blessings and peace be upon His Prophet and His Loved one Muhammad (a.s.) - the chosen one and his Household - blessings and many salutations with all respect.