Selected Narrations about the Twelfth Imam volume 2

Section Forty-Three

The traditions that indicate his asceticism (zuhd)

Comprised of six traditions

713. Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī[^1]: Informed us Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Sa`īd b. `Uqda, from Aḥmad b. Yūsuf b. Ya`qūb Abū l-Ḥasan al-Ju`fī, from Ismā’īl b. Mihrān, from al-Ḥasan b. `Alī b. Abī Ḥamza, from his father and Wuhaib, from Abū Baṣīr, from (Imam) Abū `Abd-Allah, peace be on him, who said:

When the Qā’im emerges, nothing will remain between him, the Arabs, and the Quraish except the sword and he will receive nothing from them but the sword. Why are they hastening for his emergence? By Allah, his clothes will not be but coarse; his food will not be but crude barley [bread]. [Life] will be accompanied by the sword and death is beneath the shadow of the sword.

714. Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī[^2]: Informed us `Alī b. al-Ḥusayn, from Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā al-`Aṭṭār at Qum, from Muḥammad b. Ḥasan al-Rāzī, from Muḥammad b. `Alī al-Kūfī, from Mu`ammar b. Khallād who said:

The Qā’im was mentioned in of the presence of (Imam) Abū l-Ḥasan al-Riḍā, peace be on him. He said, “Today, you are more in comfort than you think you will be on that day.” They asked, “How?” He answered, “When the Qā’im, peace be on him, emerges, there will not be anything but blood, sweat, and sleeping on the saddles. The clothes of the Qā’im will not be but rough and his food will be nothing but coarse.”

715. Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī[^3]: `Alī b. al-Ḥusayn, through his chain of narrators from Muḥammad b. `Alī al-Kūfī, from al-Ḥasan b. Maḥbūb, from `Alī b. Abī Ḥamza, from Abū Baṣīr, from (Imam) Abū `Abd-Allah (al-Ṣādiq), peace be on him, who said: “Why are you in such a hurry for the appearance of the Qā’im? By Allah! His clothes are not but rough and his food is not but coarse. [Life] will be accompanied by the sword and death is beneath the shadow of the sword.”

716. Al-Kāfī[^4]: `Alī b. Ibrāhīm, from his father, from ibn Abī `Umair, from Ḥammād b. `Uthmān, from al-Mu`allā b. Khunais who said:

One day, I said to (Imam) Abū `Abd-Allah al-Ṣādiq, peace be on him, “May I be sacrificed for you! You mentioned the family of so and so (ālu fulan) and the luxury that they enjoy! Had you been in power, we would have lived with you [in luxury].” He remarked, “Never, O Mu`allā! By Allah, had this been the case [i.e. had we come to power], it would mean nothing except administration by night, traveling by the day, wearing rough clothes, and eating coarse food. [Now] these [hard tasks] have been removed [due to the Umayyads and Abbasids who have withheld our rights] and have you ever seen the withholding of a right that results in a blessing except this?”

717. Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī[^5]: Narrated to us `Abd al-Wāḥid b. `Abd-Allah b. Yūnus, from Abū Sulaimān Aḥmad b. Haudha al-Bāhilī, from Ibrāhīm b. Isḥāq al-Nahāwandī, from `Abd-Allah b. Ḥammād al-Anṣārī, from al-Mufaḍḍal b. `Umar who said:

I was with (Imam) Abū `Abd-Allah, peace be on him, performing the circumambulation (al-ṭawāf). He looked at me and asked, “O Mufaḍḍal! Why do I see you grieved and distressed?” I said to him, “May I be sacrificed for you! I see the Abbasids and the power, authority, and clout that they enjoy. Had this been for you, we would have enjoyed it with you.”

He answered, “O Mufaḍḍal! Had this been the case [i.e. had we been in power], it wouldn’t be but administration by the night, traveling by the day, eating coarse food, and wearing rough clothes similar [to the lifestyle] of Amīr al-Mu’minīn, peace be on him; otherwise, [our abode] would be the fire. Since [power and kingdom] have been removed from us, we can eat and drink [as we like]. Have you seen an oppression that Allah has turned into a blessing like this?’”

718. Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī[^6]: Abū Sulaimān, from Ibrāhīm b. Isḥāq, from `Abd-Allah b. Ḥammād, from `Amr b. Shimr who said:

I was with (Imam) Abū `Abd-Allah, peace be on him, in his house—which was filled with people. People would come forward and ask him questions; and he would not be questioned about a thing except that he answered it. I started crying from one corner of the house and he said to me, “Why are you crying, O `Amr?” I replied, “May I be sacrificed for you! And why shouldn’t I cry? Is there anyone in this nation like you? And yet, the door has been shut on you and a veil drawn over you!” He replied, “O `Amr! Don’t cry. We eat delicious [food] and wear soft clothes. Had the case been what you say [i.e. had we been in power], it wouldn’t have been but eating coarse food and wearing rough clothes like Amīr al-Mu’minīn `Alī b. Abī Ṭālib, peace be on him. [If we practiced anything other than this], the remedy would be chains in the hellfire.”

[^1]: Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, chap. 13, p. 234, no. 21; Ithbāt al-hudāt, vol. 7, chap. 32, sect. 27, p. 79, no. 504 (short version); Ḥilyat al-abrār, vol. 2, chap. 37, pp. 629–630.

[^2]: Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, chap. 15, p. 285, no. 5; Ithbāt al-hudāt, vol. 7, chap. 32, sect. 27, p. 85, no. 527.

[^3]: Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, chap. 13, p. 233, no. 20; Ghaybat al-Shaykh, p. 277, which has the following chain of narrators: “From him—meaning al-Faḍl—from `Abd al-Raḥmān [b.] Abī Hāshim, from `Alī b. Abī Ḥamza, from Abū Baṣīr, from Abū `Abd-Allah, peace be on him.” Its text is like that of Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī with the difference that it mentions the word barley before coarse; Ithbāt al-hudāt, vol. 7, chap. 32, sect. 27, p. 79, no. 503; Ḥilyat al-abrār, vol. 2, chap. 37, p. 629.

[^4]: Al-Kāfī,vol.1, p. 410, no. 2.

[^5]: Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, chap. 1, pp. 286–287, no. 7; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 52, chap. 27, p. 359, no. 127, with differences in the chain of narrators.

[^6]: Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, chap. 15, pp. 287–288, no. 8; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 52, chap. 27, p. 360, no. 128.