One of the lengthiest and most significant works on the transmitted proofs of Imamate is Ithbāt al-Hudāt bil-Nuṣūṣ wa al-Mu’jizāt, written by Shaykh al-Ḥurr al-‘Āmilī (d. 1104/1693) the author of Wasā’il al-Shī’a. This work is essentially an exhaustive collection of traditions on the prophethood of Muḥammad (p) and each of the 12 Imams (a). In chapter 33 of the book, he gathers all the traditions that speak of the miracles of Imam Mahdī (a) and after mentioning these traditions, he mentions a handful of miraculous dreams, most of which he himself had seen. He cites these dreams to further strengthen the point that the Mahdi (a) not only exists, but that his Imamate is established, and many have experienced miracles through him. What follows is the translation of these 6 dreams.1
Muḥammad al-Ḥurr the author of this book says: I have seen miracles from the Mahdī (a) in my dreams a number of times:
165 – From them: I was in my youth, around 10-years old, when I was afflicted with a severe illness. My family and close relatives had all gathered around me, as they wept and mourned, certain that I would die that night. It was then that I saw the Prophet (p) and the 12 Imams (a) while I was in the state of sleep and consciousness. I offered my greetings to them (a), shook their hands one by one, and a conversation took place between me and al-Ṣādiq (a) which I do not recall, except that he supplicated for me. When I offered my greetings to the Imam of the time (a), shook his hands and cried, I said: “O my master, I fear that I will die in this state of illness and would not have spent time in gaining knowledge and acting on it.” He (a) replied, “Do not fear, for you will not die due to this illness. Rather, Allah (swt) will cure you and you will live a long life.” Then he gave me a cup which was in his hand, and I drank from it. I recovered from that state and my illness had completely disappeared. I then sat up and my family was shocked, but I did not tell them what I saw until a few days later.
166 – From them: I saw in my dream that I was in the shrine of al-Riḍā (a) and the Mahdi (a) had entered the shrine. I asked about his location and went towards him. He was residing in the western part of the holy shrine in a garden that had a building. I entered while he was sitting and the middle of the building had a water basin. There were around 20 men in the gathering, and we spoke about an hour until the food was served; though it was little, it was very delicious. All of us ate the food and were full, but the food remained as if nothing from it had been taken. When we were finished eating, I began to think and noticed that the companions of the Mahdi (a) did not number more than forty men, so I said to myself, “My master will definitely rise while he only has a very small army. I wish I knew, given the kings of the earth will obey him, or he will fight them, how will he (a) overcome them without an army?”
He (a) turned towards me and smiled, and before I could have said anything he said, “My followers do not get weaker due to the small number of my helpers, for amongst my soldiers are men that if I were to command them, they would gather all of my enemies from amongst the kings and otherwise, and strike their necks. No one knows the soldiers of Allah (swt) except Him.” I was pleased to hear that and we spoke for an hour. He (a) then stood up and went to another room to sleep.
People then began to separate and left the garden. I left as well and while I was walking, I turned around and said to myself, “I wish he had commanded me to be at his service and had offered me a robe and some amount for honour and blessings.” When I approached the door to the garden, I did not find it in me to leave, so I sat down. Suddenly, a young boy appeared, and he had come with a white robe made of cotton and silk and an amount. He said to me, “Your master says to you, this is what you wanted, and we will command you to be at our service, so do not leave.” I then woke up.
167 – From them: I saw him (a) in my sleep, while he was sitting in the lesson in which I would sit in the holy shrine, under the large noble dome. I came towards him, offered him my greetings, kissed his hand and said, “O my master, I have questions, am I allowed to ask you about them?” He said, “Write them so that I can write the response for them for you, as that is farther away from forgetfulness.” He then gave me ink and paper, and I wrote four questions for him. I left some empty space for the response. He began writing with his hand and I got closer to him so that I could see his handwriting. I saw that his handwriting was mediocre, and it came to my mind that I used to think that the handwriting of my master (a) would be better than this. When this thought came to my mind, he (a) turned towards me and before I could say anything, he (a) said, “It is not from the conditions of the Imam that his handwriting be really good.” I said, “You have spoken the truth my master (a) – may I be ransomed upon you.”
168 – From them: I saw him (a) in my sleep and I rushed towards him, offered him my greetings, and I wished to ask him when the time of the reappearance is and when he will rise. Before I could ask him, he (a) said, “It is near God Willing – [27:65] Say, none in the heavens and earth knows the unseen except Allah.” Then a number of other things came to my mind and he informed me about them before I could ask him about them.
169 – From them: I saw him (a) in my sleep, and I was in the shrine of al-Kāẓim (a). He was residing at the house of a man who was called Ibrāhīm. I went to him (a) and entered. I wanted to ask him whether he could show me a miracle, but he responded before I could say anything and said, “This is not the time to ask for a miracle, because I have not yet risen. Once I rise, then ask me whatever you wish.” We then spoke for an hour, then he asked for his horse so he could ride it. They brought him the horse and there were just under 10 people with him. Before he rode the horse, he said, “We have a saddle which we do not need, and we have gifted it to the Shaykh so that he could seek blessings from it” and he pointed towards me. I said to myself, “How will I seek blessings with this saddle when I have not even seen a miracle from its owner?” He (a) turned towards me, smiled and said, “There is no need for a miracle here, for you will see miracles and blessings from this saddle.” Then I woke up and fell into great danger and in a near-death situation, and Allah (swt) saved me from it due to his (a) blessings.
170 – From them: We were sitting in our country in the village of Machgharah2 on the day of ‘Īd – we were a group of students and righteous individuals. I said to them, “I wish I knew whether I will be amongst those who are alive or dead in the upcoming ‘Īd.” A man whose name was Shaykh Muḥammad, a classmate of ours, said to me, “I know I will be alive the next ‘Īd, and the ‘Īd following it and the ‘Īd following it until another 26 years.” He appeared to be certain about this and was not joking. So I said to him, “You have knowledge of the unseen?” He responded, “No, but I saw the Mahdī (a) in my dream while I was severely ill and I said to him, ‘I am ill and I fear that I will die while I do not have any righteous deeds that I can present to Allah (swt).’ He replied, ‘Do not fear, for Allah (swt) will cure you of this illness, and you will not die from it, rather you will live for 26 years.’ Then he gave me a cup which was in his hand and I drank from it. My illness disappeared and I was cured. As I sat up, I knew this was not from Satan.”
When I heard the words of this man, I wrote down the year and it was the year 1049. A lot of time had passed since then and I had moved to the holy city of Mashhad in the year 1072. When it was the supposed last year, it came to my heart that this time period has lapsed. I referred back to the date and the year and saw that 26 years had passed. I said, the man must have passed away. A month or two had not passed and I received a letter from my brother from our country, informing me that the aforementioned man had passed away.
A number of traditions signify that one who sees them (a) in his sleep has most definitely seen them because Satan cannot take on their form.
Sayyid Ali studied in the seminary of Qom from 2012 to 2021, while also concurrently obtaining a M.A in Islamic Studies from the Islamic College of London in 2018. In the seminary he engaged in the study of legal theory, jurisprudence and philosophy, eventually attending the advanced kharij of Usul and Fiqh in 2018. He is currently completing his Masters of Education at the University of Toronto and is the head of a private faith-based school in Toronto, as well as an instructor at the Mizan Institute and Mufid Seminary.
Footnotes
- Volume 5, pg. 338
- Machghara is a small town in the Beka’a Valley of Lebanon.
