The Promised Mahdi (part One)

16

Chapter Sixteen: Prophecies of Soothsayers engraved on rocks

Prediction of Satih the soothsayer before reappearance

Bursa has narrated from Kaab bin Harith in hisMashariqul Anwaar , that King Dhazdan had an inquiry for which he summoned Satih the soothsayer and when he came the king placed a Dinar in his shoe below the foot and then asked him to enter. When Satih entered, he asked:

“O Satih, tell me what I have concealed and where have I concealed it?”

Satih replied, “I swear by the Kaaba, the black stone and the dark night that you have concealed a Dinar below your foot.”

“You are right,” said the king, “from where have you learnt this?”

“From a brother of mine,” replied Satih.

“Tell me what all would come to pass in the future?”

“When the righteous will be destroyed and the vile would take up leadership and values will become false and people incline to wealth and power; when breaking off relations and cruelty will be common and the mean will be prominent; when the unlawful will be considered legal; promises will be broken; no one will care for anyone; and it will be at a time when a tail like comet will appear which will terrify the Arabs. Rains will stop, water bodies will dry up, different types of storms will rage. Food grains will become dearer.

After that some people will come from the direction of Berbers riding on beautiful ponies and their destination will be Egypt. After that a person will rise from the descendants of Saqar. He will make the black flags red (by blood). He will legalize unlawful acts; wreak havoc in Kufa; shame will disappear; most women will be seen displaying their fair legs on the streets; fornication will become common.

At that time, Mahdi, a descendant of the Prophet will appear. When a victim will be killed in Medina and his cousin will be eliminated in Mecca. A secret will be exposed. At that time an unfortunate fellow will come with his oppressive group and the Romans will help in the killing of that bull. An eclipse will occur at that time when the armies will be arrayed.

Then a ruler of Sana (Yemen) will appear. He will be as white as cotton and he will be named Husain or Hasan. His advent will put an end to mischiefs. At that time will appear the holy personality and the Alawite Sayyid and he will save the people from calamities and guide them by the help of the Almighty Allah. His luminosity will remove the darkness of ignorance and oppression and the truth will be unveiled. He will distribute wealth among the people equitably. He will place the sword back into its case and then never shed any blood. People will live a life of prosperity and comfort and he will establish justice and peace in the world and restore the rights of the oppressed and deprived. There will be celebrations everywhere. Due to his justice, blindness and ignorance will disappear. He will fill the earth with justice and equity. He will doubtlessly be a sign of Judgment Day.

Ibne Ayyash has narrated through his chains from Nushjan bin Budmaran in hisAl-Muqtadhib that:

When Fars was defeated in Qadisiya and Yazdgird bin Shahryar came to know that Rustom was killed and defeated by the Arabs he thought that the whole army was killed with Rustom; meanwhile a messenger arrived with the news that 50000 soldiers were killed at Qadisiya. Yazdgird fled with his family members and standing at the Gate of Aiwan said:

O Aiwan, peace be on you; I am leaving you now, but I will return soon; and if I am unable to return a person from my descendants will come whose time had not yet arrived.

Sulaiman Dailami has say: I came to Imam Ja’far Sadiq (a.s.) and inquired about the above narration. He replied: It denotes your Imam Qaim who will be my sixth descendant and he will be a descendant of Yazdgird from the maternal side.

Abdullah bin Qasim has narrated from Abi Islam Qaji from Abdullah bin Muslim from Shobi that once Abdul Malik bin Marwan summoned him and said: O Abu Umar, a letter has come from Musa bin Nasr, governor of the western province, which says that there was a city of yellow skinned people which Prophet Sulaiman (a.s.) had constructed with the help of jinns. It is located in Andalusia desert. Prophet Sulaiman (a.s.) had buried treasures in that area. I have decided to march there but a slave has informed me that the route is long and difficult and as long as provisions are not there for the whole journey, it is difficult to go there. So far whoever has tried to reach there has failed. Only Dara bin Dara had managed to reach there. But when Alexander killed Dara he said: Except from that part of Andalusia there is no land which I have not conquered and annexed. If Dara can reach there I am more eligible to go there.

So Alexander made preparations for a year; and when he was sure that everything was ready, before that he dispatched some of his scouts to explore the route but they came back to report that there were many obstructions on the way.

Abdul Malik wrote to Musa bin Nasr that he should appoint someone as his representative and prepare to leave for that place.

So Musa made the preparations and set out for that place. He reached there and after returning from there he wrote to Abdul Malik the conditions prevailing there and wrote that when many days passed and all the provisions were exhausted, we turned to the sea shore which was full of trees and finally reached a wall on which the following verses were inscribed:

“Those who possess unlimited power, and they think that they will live in the world forever; they should know that no one will live in the world forever. If someone had lived forever; who was more powerful than Sulaiman bin Dawood (a.s.)? He should have lived forever. He commanded the jinns to make a building for himself that would last till Judgment Day. So that building was constructed adjacent to those walls and there he buried all the treasures of the world; but they sunk into the ground and no sign remained of his kingdom. It was so because that he may know that except for the kingdom of Allah no ones kingdom will endure forever. Now when

in the progeny of Adnan, from the family of Bani Hashim, a person will be born whom the Almighty Allah will give miracles and send to all the people of the world. He will have the keys of all the world. And then those keys will remain with his successors and they are his twelve caliphs who will come after him and when from those caliphs the one who will rise with the order of Allah (Qaim bi Amrillah ) his name will be announced from the sky.

When Abdul Malik read this letter and the messenger, Talib bin Mudrik also narrated the eye-witness account, at that time Muhammad bin Shahab Zuhri was seated with Abdul Malik. He asked Zuhri: “What is your opinion about this strange matter?”

Zuhri said: “In my view, jinns are guarding that place.”

“And what do you think about the call of the sky?”

“Chief of believer, its better if you don’t ask about it.”

“How can I ignore it? It is a great news. You will have to tell me about it in any case.”

“His Eminence, Ali Ibnul Husain (a.s.) has said that the call will be issued for one of the descendants of Fatima, daughter of the Prophet (s.a.).”

“He and you, are both liars, boasting all the time! He will be from my family.”

“I have only narrated a tradition of Ali Ibnul Husain (a.s.) to you; if you don’t believe me you can ask him directly and don’t blame me for lying. He alone is the source of this report.”

Abdul Malik said, “I have no need to question the descendants of Abu Turab (Imam Ali). But O Zuhri, never repeat this to anyone else.”

“All right, I will do as you say,” said I.