How can we meet Imam Mahdi (A)? Here is a lecture by Ayatollah Sayyed Adil Alawi, translated by Muhammad Al-Najjar.
The love of Allah (SWT) can be either like light or fire. It can be like the light that will light the way, and fire like the burning of sins.
The love of Imam Mahdi (A.J) can also be like light or fire, whoever wants to meet the Yusuf of our time and yearns to meet him while he is awake or during his sleep ….
اللهم ارزقني تلك الطلعه البهيه
اللهم ارني الطلعه البهيه
اللهم ارنا ذلك الجمال البهي
ذلك الجمال البهي
تجلى في كماله وجماله في حب الله
Therefore to meet Imam Mahdi (A.J) is the wish for every Shia. Dua (supplication) Al-Nudba in the language of the lovers, the language of those who are yearning to meet him, reads:
لَيْتَ شِعْري اَيْنَ اسْتَقَرَّتْ بِكَ النَّوى، بَلْ اَيُّ اَرْض تُقِلُّكَ اَوْ ثَرى، اَبِرَضْوى اَوْ غَيْرِها اَمْ ذي طُوى، عَزيزٌ عَلَيَّ اَنْ اَرَى الْخَلْقَ وَلا تُرى وَلا اَسْمَعُ لَكَ حَسيساً وَلا نَجْوى
How I wonder! Where has farness taken you?
Or which land or soil is carrying you?
Is it on (Mount) Rathwa or elsewhere on (Mount) Tiwa ?
It is hard for me that I can see all creatures but I can neither see you
Nor can I hear any whisper or confidential talk from you!
There is a way that is narrated from our scholars to meet Imam Mahdi (A.J). One scholar said to Imam Al-Sadiq (A.S) that I want to see you in my dreams, I want to meet you in my dreams. He said: “Don’t drink any water.” He said that this person did not drink any water, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, he became very thirsty, he came back to Imam Al-Sadiq (A.S) and said: “My master, I did not drink water, however, I still did not see you in my dreams.”
Imam (AS) said to him: “What did you see?”
He said: “In these last days, I always used to see that I was on the water, in the water, or that I am drinking water”.
It is supposed to be that if you are thirsty [to meet me], you will see me. It is the same with trying to see Imam Mahdi (A.J) that If you make yourself thirsty [to meet him], you will meet Imam Mahdi (A.J) either in your sleep or in reality.
Hajj Muhamed Ali Fashandi meeting with Imam Mahdi (A.J)
I used to have a friend who is from the awliya of Allah, Hajj Muhamed Ali Fashandi. This is a story narrated from the book of Mulaqat Sahib al-Amr. I have met him inside the Shrine of Imam Ridha (A.S). He narrates a story that is really astonishing. He says: “While I was in Tehran, I was yearning to meet Imam al-Mahdi (A.J), a very strong yearning, therefore, I did some appealing (Tawassul) saying: ‘Oh my master I want to see you’. Thereafter, I saw him in my dreams and he said to me: ‘Come to Jamkaran, you will see us in Jamkaran'”. This story goes back 40-50 years back, so the Imam said: “come to Jamkaran.”
He went to Jamkaran with his wife in the hot summer sun: “One of the Sayyed scholars saw me in the car by the name of Sayyed Burqa’ii and he asked me: ‘Where are you going?’
I said: ‘I am going to Jamkaran.’
He said: ‘When you go, I have a need that needs to be fulfilled, please pray for me there’.
It is said that this scholar had the habit of praying for all the believers that had asked him for his prayers.
So he says that: “I came to Jamkaran, then I prayed and I did not see anybody. I remembered that there are [the graves of] four children [of Imams] in one of the villages near Jamkaran”.
Jamkaran is a village, and in the village of Jamkaran there are four children of the Imams that you can visit.
He says that: “I told my wife, lets go and visit these 4 children of the Imams, it is Mustahab (recommended) to visit them”.
He said that :”Along the way, I put my hand on a bottle of cold water while I was walking, since there was a distance between the Masjid and their graves. Along the way, I met someone with a high grandeur, a Holy Seyyed with light coming from his face. He began walking with me, he said: ‘Salaam’. I replied: ‘Wa alaykum Al-salam’. I saw that this Seyyed had a lot of light”.
He said to him: “Excuse me Seyyed, I noticed that you have a lot of light, and there is one of the Sayyeds that has asked me to pray for him,” and he asked him to pray for the Sayyed.
He replied and said that: “The command of the Seyyeds is in our hands”.
He said: “I didn’t understand what he meant by that, so I gave him a cup of water and when he drank it, he gave me back the cup and said: “Muhammad Ali! Our Shia are like the amount of this water that they don’t mention us, they have forgotten us. Because the thirsty ones looks for water, he searches for water but our Shia do not search for water”.
Then, he turns to his wife and says: “Do you know who that person was the one that I was speaking to?” She said: “I’ve seen you speaking to someone but I did not notice who he was”. He said: “I knew that it was Imam Mahdi (A.J) and that he had kept his promise that I will meet him”.
Therefore, the one that yearns for the visit of Imam Mahdi (A.J) has to have some thirst, some yearning, to meet Imam Mahdi (A.J).
One of the things that we should do is do what Imam Mahdi (A.J) does. For example, when prayer comes is that he should pray on time, the one that wants to wait and the one that wants to meet Imam Mahdi (A.J), he should pray on time in order for him to receive the blessings to meet Imam Al-Mahdi (A.J).
It is said that this scholar had the habit of praying for all the believers that had asked him for his prayers. When I was acquainted with him in the Holy Shrine of Imam Ridha (A.S), I noticed a Tasbeeh (beads for the rememberance of Allah (SWT)) in his hand, as he was known to be one of the chosen ones of Allah (SWT), it’s because I would notice this quality among them, so I asked him after the completion of the Ziyarat as to why he was holding the Tasbeeh?
He said: “I wasn’t doing Tasbeeh but the reason why I had a Tasbeeh in my hand was because whenever I would remember one of the people who have asked me to pray for them, I would draw one bead. Peace be upon you, for example, on someone’s name. This is the way that I would do it from the time of my Bulugh (puberty) until this time now, therefore while I am at the Shrine of Imam Ridha (A.S), I pray for all my brothers and sisters, and this was one of the matters that would attract my success. I was always advised to pray for my brothers and sisters and that would be one of the pillars of success while in Duas and Ziyarat”.
Source: en.shafaqna.com
