Imam Mahdi's (PBUH) Birth, Ascension and Rise, and the Revelation of John, Part 1

Whenever Lady Hakimah, Imam Hasan Askari's aunt (PBUT), went to visit Imam Askari (PBUH), she prayed and asked Allah to give him a son. One day when she prayed as always, Imam Hasan Askari (PBUH) told her: O' my dear aunt! He, whom you had been asking Allah to give me, will be born tonight. In breaking your fast, please be our guest tonight.

Lady Hakimah asked him who would give birth to that son; and the Imam (PBUH) confirmed that it was Narjes, the special bondmaid that Lady Hakimah loved so much.

[The time’s rulership had Imam Hasan Askari under strict surveillance lest the Savior, the twelfth Imam -whom the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH&HP)had prophesied about- be born. Thus Lady Narjes was taken secretly to Imam Hasan Askari's house (PBUT) as a bondmaid … . We cordially invite our friends to Read: “Melica’s heart story” in this site, kindfather.com]

Then Lady Hakimah went to Lady Narjes and told her: This night Allah will give you a son who is the lord of the two worlds and the Faraj (Salvation, Relief, …) of the believers.

Of her sayings, Lady Narjes felt shy and humble. Lady Hakimah then looked carefully at Narjes and finding no signs of pregnancy in her, she told Imam Hasan Askari: I do not see any sign of Pregnancy in her.

Imam (PBUH) smiled and said that they, the group of Successors, never were to come out of the wombs but out of the sides through the right legs of their mothers, for, they were the Light of Allah that uncleanness were not to make them unclean.

[... Verily, Allah wishes to take away All impurity and uncleanness from you, the Ahl-al-Bayt, and to Purify you, a Thorough Purification. (Qur’an 33:33)]

Lady Hakimah asked Imam Hasan Askari of the instant of the Birth. Imam (PBUH) said: At the break of dawn.

Lady Hakimah, after breaking her fast, slept near Narjes that night. Imam Askari stayed elsewhere in the house. When Lady Hakimah rose in the middle of the night to pray, Lady Narjes was there and still had no sign of pregnancy.

By the time Lady Hakimah got to the Wetr Salaat, she thought to herself that the dawn was breaking; an uneasiness then entered into her heart.

Imam Hasan Askari (PBUH) called out: O my dear aunt! Dawn has not broken yet!

After Lady Hakimah finished her praying, she touched Narjes and asked: Do you feel anything? She answered: Yes …

Then Lady Hakimah comprehended nothing until she heard Imam (PBUH) saying: Bring me my son!

The moment after Imam Mahdi (PBUH) was born, he sat on his knees and raised his fingers toward the sky, then sneezed and said: All Hamd (Praise …) be to Allah, and Salaam be upon Mohammad and his Ahl, the Daakher Abd (humble servant), neither Mostankef (disobedient …) nor Mostakber (arrogant and proud).

Then he (PBUH) said: Have the oppressors thought that Allah's Hojjat has become extinct?! If I was given permission I would have left no doubts for anyone!

Lady Hakimah saw him prostrating while on his right arm was written: The Truth came and the Falsehood perished, verily the falsehood has been bound to perish. (Qur’an 17:81)

Hakimah Khaatoon (Lady) embraced him and noticed that he was totally clean, then she wrapped him in a cloth and took him to his father. The Imam (PBUH) placed his tongue in his mouth and touched his body and said: My son! Speak to me! He (PBUH) said: I testify that there is no God except Allah; and I testify that Mohammad is the Rasool of Allah, and Ali, the Amir-al-Mo'menin, is the wali of Allah …; he (PBUH) pronounced the names of all the Imams until he got to his own name; then he prayed for his Awliya (those with his wilayat) asking Allah to hasten their Faraj by his hands. He then opened his eyes.

Imam Askari (PBUH) said to Hakimah Khaatoon: Take him to his mother to say Salaam to her and then bring him back. The Lady did exactly that. When Hakimah Khaatoon brought him back to his father, it was as if a veil was hanged between her and him! She saw him no more! So, she asked: O my lord! What happened to my lord?! Imam Askari (PBUH) responded: The One Who was closer to him than you took him!

Then on the seventh day he was back!

… On the seventh day, Hakimah Khaatoon went to Imam Askari, said Salaam and sat down. Imam (PBUH) asked her to Bring his son to him. She brought him to his father while he (PBUH) was wrapped in a yellow cloth. Imam did again what he did on the first day, and put his tongue in his mouth and said: O my son! Speak! Then Imam Mahdi (PBUH) said: I testify there is no God except Allah, and then he said Salawaat to Hadrat Mohammad and Amir-al-Mo'menin and all the Imams (PBUT) until he got to the name of his father. Then he said:

And We have wished to be Gracious to those who were being weak in the land, to make them the Imams and make them the heirs.

And To establish a firm place for them (grant them power) in the land, and to show Pharaoh, Haamaan and their troops, what they were dreading from them. (Qur’an 28:5 and 6)

Then Imam Askari said to him: O my son! Recite from what Allah has sent to His Prophets and His Messengers (PBUT). He (PBUH) started with reciting the Books of Adam in Syriac and then the Books of Enoch and Noah and Hoode and Saaleh and the Books of Ibrahim and the Torah of Moosa and the Zaboor of Daawood and the Enjil of ‘Eesa (PBUT) and Qur’an of the Rasool of Allah (PBUH&HP). Then he narrated the stories of the Prophets and the Messengers up to his own time.

Forty days after his birth when Hakimah Khaatoon came to Imam Askari (PBUH), she saw him walking in the house. Hakimah Khaatoon had not seen a more attractive and beautiful face than his face, and had not heard a more eloquent tongue than his tongue. Imam said to her: This child is dear to Allah, The Honored and Glorified.

Hakimah Khatoon said: O my lord! He is only forty days and I am seeing such a thing! Imam (PBUH) said: Our -the Successors’- growth in one day is tantamount to the growth of others in one week, and our growth in one week is equivalent to the growth of others in one year.

Then Hakimah Khaatoon rose and kissed his head and went home. When again she returned, she looked for him but did not see him. She asked Imam Askari (PBUH) regarding him. Imam (PBUH) said: O my dear aunt! I entrusted him to the One to Whom Moosa's mother entrusted her son. Then he (PBUH)continued:

When Allah bestowed Mahdi of this Ommat (Nation) to me, He sent two angels and they took him to the Soraadeq of Arsh (threshold of the Throne …) until he was located before Allah's Presence; and Allah said to him: O My servant! Marhaba [expressing Pleasedness, Approval, …] to you for assisting My Religion, and revealing My Amr, and guiding My servants; verily I take from My servants through you, and through you I bestow; and I forgive them through you, and based on you I reprimand them.

Allah, addressing the two angels, continued: You two angels! Return him to his father kindly; deliver him, for, he is in security, and in my protection, and under my watch, until when by him the Truth shall be fulfilled and all falsehood will perish. And the Religion has always been Mine. [1]

(Taken from the translation of the 13^th volume of Behaar-al-Anwaar, the chapter on the birth of Imam Zamaan and events regarding his mother (PBUT))

To be continued …