92. Greatness Of Sayyids
The same Maulavi has narrated that one day the Nizam (ruler) of Hyderabad mounted a palanquin and some idolaters were carrying it as this was the practice of royalty in those days. The Nizam felt sleepy and in stupor, dreamt that Amir ul-Mu’minin ('a) was saying:
Nizam! Are you not ashamed that you are making Sayyids carry your palanquin? The Nizam opened his eyes and asked the carriers to put the palanquin down. They asked: Have we committed some mistake? The Nizam said: No. no, but other people should be called to carry the palanquin. Thus, different porters were called and they carried the palanquin forward. When the Nizam reached his destination and returned from there, he called in private the persons who had initially carried the palanquin. He embraced and kissed them, and asked: Where have you come from? They replied: We are from such and such locality. He asked: Are you living there since ever? They said: We only know that our ancestors had come from Arabia and settled down here.
The Nizam said: Go, and see if you are having some documents from the time of your ancestors. They brought all the documents that they could find. The king also found the family tree of those people in those documents and it was learnt that they were descendants of Imam Musa Kazim ('a) and that they were Rizvi Sadaat. The Nizam started crying and asked: Why did you become Hindu, whereas you are descendants of Muslims; on the contrary you are chiefs and leaders of Muslims? They were deeply moved by this and converted and embraced Twelver Shia faith and the Nizam also bestowed huge properties and wealth to them.
It is among the definite matters of our religion that respect and honor should necessarily be shown to the Sadaat (Sayyids). This point is hinted at in the book of Greater Sins1 under the topic of doing a good turn to relatives. Details of this topic are mentioned in the book of Fadailus Sadaat. Late Noori (r.a.) has, in the book of Kalimah Tayyiba2 mentioned forty traditional reports and stories about persons, who through the blessings of honoring these people, witnessed great effects and consequences.
He has narrated from the Messenger of Allah (S) that: Accord respect to the pious Sayyids for the sake of Allah and respect other Sayyids from my sake and for the sake of my relationship.
