Approximately fifteen years ago, I heard from some scholars of Qom and Najaf that a seventy years old man, named Karbalai Muhammad Kazim Karimi Saruqi, who was absolutely unlettered, was bestowed the power of reciting the Qur’an in such a way that he became a memorizer (Hafiz) of the whole Qur’an.

On a Thursday night, Karbalai Muhammad Kazim went for Ziyarat of an lmamzada1 buried there. When he reached there, he saw two elder Sayyids, who told him to read the inscriptions around the holy tomb.

He said: Sirs, I am uneducated and I cannot read the Qur’an. They said: You can read. After their bestowal Karbalai fell in swoon and lay there till the afternoon of the following day. So much so that when people from the village came for the Ziyarat of Imamzada, they found him lying over there. They picked him up and brought him back to senses. When his sight fell on the inscription, he realized that it was Surah Jumah and he recited it till the end. After that he found that he knew the Holy Qur’an by heart. Thus, he used to recite perfectly any Surah he was requested.

Late Mirza, grandson of Aga Mirza Hasan says: I tested him a number of times and he used to tell me about whichever verse of Qur’an l asked and also to which Surah that verse belonged. Stranger is the fact that he was also able to recite every Surah backwards.

The Late Mirza also said: I was having the book of Taftir Safi with me. I opened it and said: This is Qur’an. Read it according to its text. He took the book looked at it and said: This whole book is not Qur’an. Then he placed his finger on the holy verse and said: Only this much is Qur’an or only half a line is Qur’an. In the same way, he mentioned about other verses as well, which were quoted in the book and said that the rest is not Qur’an.

I asked: How can you say that, although you are unlettered in Arabic and Persian? He replied: Sir, the discourse of Allah is effulgence. This part is luminous and other part is dark (luminosity related to Qur’an).

I also met some other scholars, who used to say: We have all tested him and realized that he was extraordinary and that he was bestowed this from the Source of all grace (Almighty Allah).

The photograph of Muhammad Kazim is printed on page 223 of the annual journal of Noor Danish (1335 A.H.) and an article entitled "Namune Az Ishraqat Rabbani" (examples of divine inspirations) is also present in this journal having testimonies of a number of scholars, who have testified to the veracity of this extraordinary phenomenon. They write that the divine nature of the miraculous incident of Karbalai Saruqi is proved through two reasonings:

1 - His being unlettered is testified by all the people of his village and no one has testified against it.

I (writer of the article) have personally investigated this and inquired from residents of Saruq in Tehran and moreover after the article was published, no one has refuted it.

2- Some characteristics of his memorization of Qur’an are beyond the circle of usual academic education and schooling.

1- If any Arabic or non-Arabic word or phrase is mentioned, he can immediately say whether it is present in Qur’an or not.

2- If he is asked about any Qur’anic word, he immediately informs that it occurs in which Part and in which Surah.

3- If a word or phrase is used in Qur’an in a number of places, he tells us the number of time it occurs without any difficulty and also recites the words following it.

4- If a single letter or vowel is recited wrongly or is missed, he points it out without thinking.

5- If portions from different Surah are recited one after another, he mentions the location of each portion, without any doubt.

6- He points out every verse and Surah of Qur’an that is given to him.

7- If a verse or a part of a verse is written on a page along with other text, he immediately distinguishes the verse, which is a difficult job even for scholars of religion.

A person with an outstanding memory cannot have such mastery over a twenty-page treatise in Persian, what can one say about one who is an expert of 6666 verses of the Holy Qur’an?

After stating the testimonies of some scholars, he writes: This Qur’anic gift of Karbalai Kazim was astonishing for those who have limited understanding and are con fined within walls of
materialism and are deniers of the supernatural. At the same time this matter led to the guidance of some misguided souls, but in spite of that in view of monotheists this was just a ray from the unlimited treasures of divine favors and not only this, such phenomena have taken place many a times at the hands of prophets and divine representatives and these incidents are mentioned and preserved in pages of history.

In the present age also such persons are present, who are in possession of miracles due to their proximity to the source of all grace, and their position is in all aspects better than this gentleman, who knew the Qur’an by heart.

At the end of this article, it is necessary to mention an important point: After this article was published and when this phenomenon became famous, I heard that during the period of Hajj Aga Yahya there was a visually challenged person named Haji Ubood who had the same expertise as Karbalai and he was a regular visitor at the Mosque of Sayyid Azizullah. In spite of being blind, he used to mention the location of verses of Qur’an and also did lstikhara from the Holy Qur’an.

It is said that once instead of Qur’an a French dictionary was handed to him. He threw it away in anger and said: It is not Qur’an! In a session where this person was also present, Ibnuddeen, University professor testified to the extraordinary capability of Haji Ubood and said that he met him and tested him in Qom at the house of Aga Misbah in the presence of the Late Ayatullah Hajj Shaykh Abdur Karim Haeri.

It is among the signs of divinity, which are displayed sometimes to exhaust the apparent proof. That is Allah's grace; He grants it to whom He pleases, and Allah is the Lord of mighty grace.

• 1. Son or grandson of Imam.