Agha Sibt has narrated that the Late Sayyid Ibrahim Shustari, who was a congregation leader of Ahwaz, was an extremely pious man. After marriage, he became a victim of extreme poverty and was even unable to bear the expenses of his family. At last he went to Najaf al-Ashraf and lodged with a student of Shustar in a Madressa.

After some months a caravan arrived from Shustar. People informed Sayyid Ibrah im that his wife and parents had also arrived in the caravan and they were extremely worried about him. He was very much worried, because at that time, he neither had the means to afford them shelter nor means to feed them.

In any case, he started searching for accommodation. Someone directed him to a shopkeeper, who was having the keys to a vacant house. He said: Yes, the house is vacant; but whoever has stayed in that place was involved in misfortune and died a premature death. The Sayyid said: What difference does it make? Even if I die, it would be better than this life of poverty. If I were to die, I would get rid of my deprivation sooner. So he took the keys and went to see the house.

He found that it was extremely dirty having cobwebs in every room, which showed that no one had lived there since many years. After cleaning up the place, the Sayyid lodged his family members in it. When they went to sleep at night, the Sayyid saw a person wearing an expensive head gear mount his chest with full force, saying: Sayyid, why have you trespassed on my house, I will strangle you this moment. Sayyid said: I am a Sayyid and I am a descendant of the Prophet. I have not committed any sin.

The Arab asked: Why have you occupied my house? The Sayyid said: I will do as you say; and I seek your permission to live here. The Arab said: All right go down to the cellar and clean it up. And when you remove the asbestos sheet, you will notice my grave. Clean up the grave and recite the Ziyarat of Amir ul-Mu’minin ('a) every night [apparently he said: Ziyarat Aminullah]. And you must recite Qur’an daily to such an extent. Then I will have no objection if you live in this house.

The Sayyid says: I did as he had directed. I cleaned up the cellar and reached till the grave and cleaned it as well. Every day I recited Ziyarat Aminullah and the Holy Qur’an, but I was still in a difficult financial position.

One day I was in the holy courtyard of Amir ul-Mu’minin ('a) when a person asked about my well-being. About whom I later learnt that he was an influential businessman related to an acquaintance of mine. He paid me a sum of money according to the number of my dependants and also fixed a monthly stipend. In other words, my financial condition improved and my life became comfortable.

Souls Are Attached To Their Graves

Like other incidents, this story also proves the endurance of the soul in Purgatory (Barzakh). It also shows that souls are attached to the place of their burial (their grave).

The explanation is that: Because the soul remains with the body for years and acts through it and gains recognition and performs acts of divine obedience through it. It has served through it and bore hardships in its training and development. According to scholars, the relationship of the sou l to the body is like the relationship of lover and beloved. When he dies, he would not completely severe relations with it and wherever the body is kept, it will keep it under surveillance.

Thus, if it sees that the place has become a garbage heap or a place of sin and dirt, it becomes extremely distraught. It expresses displeasure. Indeed the hatred of souls is very effective. Thus, it was mentioned in this story that those who lived in such a house; according to their mistaken notion they said that the house was unlucky, but if one kept the grave clean and performed good acts like recitation of Qur’an etc. he remained happy.

Hence, it was said what a nice reward the Sayyid earned through the blessi ngs of Ziyarat and recitation of Qur’an.

Disrespect Of The Grave Is Unlawful

We should also know that the noble soul of a believer is sacred and it commands respect in the view of Almighty Allah. So much so that it is narrated from I mam Muhammad Baqir ('a) that the respect of a believer is more than the respect of Holy Kaaba. (And in a traditional report, he says: Respect of a believer is seventy times more than the respect of Holy Kaaba.). And since the soul had remained attached to the body for a long period of time, therefore the lifeless body also commands respect, as is clear from the rituals of shrouding and burial in Islamic law; to such a limit that in Islam desecrating the grave of a believer is considered unlawful.

Like opening of the grave, making it impure, throwing garbage on it and every act that is disrespectful to it is unlawful; and that, which is against ethics. is detestable. Like sitting on a grave or walking over it or considering it to be a thorough fare and to bury a sinner and transgressor besides a grave is also an act of disrespect to it.

Miracle Of Imam Musa Kazim (‘A)

Please pay attention to this incident. It is mentioned Kashf ul-Ghumma, a reliable reference book of Shia in the chapter of miracles of the seventh Imam, Imam Musa Kazim ('a) that a vizier of Abbaside Caliph possessed much wealth and power. He was always busy in official affairs and was deeply devoted to the Caliph.

When he died, the Caliph acknowledged his valuable services and ordered that he should buried in the mausoleum of Imam Musa Kazim ('a) next to the holy grave. The caretaker of the tomb was a pious and a righteous man. He went to sleep in the chamber of the grave at night. He saw in dream that the grave of that vizier split and fire arose from it. Smoke accompanied the stench of burning of bones, till the whole mausoleum was engulfed in smoke and fire. Imam ('a) was standing on one side and addressing the caretaker in a loud voice:

Tell the Caliph that he has distressed me by burying this oppressor here. The caretaker awoke in terror and wrote to the Caliph about this. The Caliph came from Baghdad to Kazmain the same night, got the holy mausoleum vacated, ordered the opening up of the grave and taking out of the corpse to bury it somewhere else. When the grave was dug up in the presence of the Caliph, nothing, but ashes were found.

Don't Despair In Hardships

Two other points are worth explaining with relation to the story of the Sayyid. Firstly, if a person is involved in a hardship, he should not lose hope. Especially, if one trouble is following another; one should be more hopeful of relief, as is the story of that Sayyid gentleman that when his hardships increased and he began to consider death a relief, the Almighty Allah solved his problems and gave him relief.

In Muntahai ul-Aamaal, Muhaddith Qummi has narrated the statement of Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq ('a) that: When one trouble befalls you after another, you will get relief from hardships.

Amir ul-Mu’minin ('a) said: Relief lies before the end of hardships and there is comfort close to escalation of calamities.
The Almighty Allah has said in the Holy Qur’an:

"Surely with difficulty is ease” (Surah al-Inshirah 94:5).

“With difficulty is surely ease." (Surah al-Inshirah 94:6).

Also, it is narrated from Amir ul-Mu’minin ('a) that he said: Indeed, there are final limits to all worldly calamities and it is necessary that they should reach that point; thus, if a trouble befalls one of you, you must submit to it and be patient in it, till it passes over you. If you try to remove it, it only intensifies.

A Persian couplet says:
"O heart be patient and do not fall in sorrow, because at last the nigh t would end in the morning."

Consequence Of Evil Characters

Another point is that like people sometimes say: Such and such house is unlucky; one who stays in it, is afflicted with poverty. This is an absurd statement and it lacks truth, which is nothing, but taking a bad omen. The fact is that every hardship that takes one to death is the result of ones own inappropriate deeds. The Holy Qur’an says:

"And whatever affliction befalls you, it is on account of what you r hands have wrought, and (yet) He pardons most (of your faults)." (Surah ash-Shura 42:30).

Natural calamities like draught, famine and destructive earthquakes and epidemics etc. are results of communal sins and particular calamities that affect individuals, like sickness, death of child etc. are results of individual sins. Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq ('a) says: Those who die due to sins are more than those who die from destined death. In the same way, those who remain alive due to good deeds are more than those who live due to their destined lifespans.1

Immediate Effects Of Sins In The World

We should know that calamities that befall sinners are not punishment for their sins, because the world of recompense is after death. In other words, the world is only a sowing field and the hereafter is the place of the requital of deeds. Whatever the sinner gets in this world is the result of minor effects of his sins. On the basis of which, he is involved in the evil effects of his acts.

For example, the full requital of an alcoholic is in the hereafter and what he suffers in the world in form of loss of respect and other things are only the base effects of his sin. Moreover, due to his alcoholism and the vile acts that he commits, their minor effects also afflict him, but his final punishment is reserved for the hereafter as we explained in the book of Greater Sins. In that book, i t is also mentioned that as per the verse 30 of Surah Shura, the Almighty Allah keeps away the minor effects of sins as a divine favor.

 وَيَعْفُو عَنْ كَثِيرٍ 

"...and (yet) He pardons most (of your faults)." (Surah ash-Shura 42:30).

He removes them through alms, goodness to relatives, repentance and supplication of a believer. It is thus known that this verse is only talking of the worldly effects of sins, because forgiveness of sins in the hereafter is only for those who have died with faith and not for infidels, because in the world, it is possible that even a disbeliever may remain safe due to alms etc., but forgiveness of hereafter is exclusive for believers.

Sufferings Of The Pious Are Not Due To Sins

General or particular calamities, which befall the infallibles, prophets, Imams and also children and persons with mental disability; it is clear that they befall not due to their sins, because they are not sinful, on the contrary it because of the society and they are also caught up in the currents. Thus, it is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an:

وَاتَّقُوا فِتْنَةً لَا تُصِيبَنَّ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنْكُمْ خَاصَّةً

"And fear an affliction, which may not smite those of you in particular who are unjust." (Surah Anfaal 8:25).

Or it is from the necessities of this world, like the calamities caused through injustice of oppressors and greed of the greedy; or due to partial accidents; and in all these instances, as the pious remain patient, they become eligible for great rewards and stations in the hereafter. These calamities serve as blessings for them.

No Bad Omen For The Pious

As regards the ill-omen of this house, apparently the person buried in that grave was a pious man, who was buried in the house itself. It is concluded that he must have performed Ziyarat and recited Qur’an, which those who lived in that house later should also have continued, but they were unjust to him.

They plastered and concealed his grave and threw garbage on it. Instead of good deeds, they practiced so many inappropriate acts that the helpless dead man, instead of benefiting from their charitable deeds was distressed by their acts and they became eligible for his curse and finally became victims of death before the destined hour.

Since this Sayyid gentleman was a pious person and Allah wan ted him to get relief and comfort, the dead man in formed him about the travails of those who inhabited that house before. He in turn fulfilled his promise and sent gifts to the dead through recitation of Qur’an and Ziyarat and became eligible for his supplications and consequently earned a life of prosperity and relief.

• 1. Safinat ul-Bihar, Vol. 1, Pg. 488.