I have heard many times that a righteous man of his time, Hajj Muhammad Ali Fashandi Tehrani had the honor of meeting Imam Zaman ('a) and a number of incidents are narrated from him. I became eager to see him in person and hear from him directly. So in Rabi us Thani 95 A.H. in Tehran, I met the chief of scholars, Hajj Aga Moin Shirazi and along with him met Hajj Muhammad Ali. The signs of righteousness and devotion to Ahl ul-Bayt ('a) were apparent from him. I requested Hajj Aga Moin to please note down wha the respected Haji was saying. Here, I present his writing for our readers:

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

First Ziyarat

Around twenty years ago we set out for Karbala for the Ziyarat of Arbaeen. It was an occasion when everyone was supposed to pay 400 Tomans for a passport. When I got my passport, my wife said that she also wanted to accompany me. I was annoyed why she had not said so before. Thus, we set out without a passport. Our entourage consisted of 15 persons: four men and eleven ladies.

A Sayyid lady was also among us; she was related to two of my companion travelers and was aged 105 years. We traveled with her with a lot of difficulties and in spite of not having the passport easily crossed the two borders of Iran and Iraq and performed the Ziyarat of Karbala Moalla in Arbaeen. After Arbaeen, we performed the Ziyarat of Najaf al-Ashraf, and on 17th Rabi ul-Awwal, set out for Samarrah and Kazmain.

The two relatives of that Sayyid lady tried to avoid taking her and said: We will leave her in Najaf till our return. I said: I will take the responsibility of taking her. After that we set out from there. At Kazmain railway station, there was a huge crowd of people heading for Samarrah. They were waiting for the train from Kirkuk, Mosul to Baghdad, so that it might take us when it returns from Baghdad. In the presence of such a crowd it was very difficult to get tickets and reservation.

Suddenly an Arab Sayyid having a green shawl around him came to us and said: Hajj Muhammad Ali, peace be on you. You are fifteen persons, right? Yes, I replied. He said: You wait here, and take these fifteen tickets. I am going to Baghdad and will return with the train after half an hour and reserve a bogie for you. Don 'l leave your position.

After that the train arrived from Kirkuk and the Sayyid boarded it and went away. After half an hour, when the train returned the crowd milled around it. When my companions wanted to leave, I restrained them, but they were slightly displeased and all of them boarded it.

That Sayyid arrived and accommodated us in a reserved bogie; till we reached Samarrah. He said: I will take you to Sayyid Abbas Khadim. When we reached there, I said: We are fifteen persons and we would like two rooms for six days. How much do we have to pay? He replied: A Sayyid has paid your rent for six days, including food and other expenses. I will take you to the cellar (Sardab) and the holy sanctuary twice. I asked: Where is the Sayyid? He replied: He has gone down. I searched for him, but couldn't find him.

I said: I owe some money to him as he purchased fifteen tickets for us. He said: I don 't know; he has already paid for all your expenses.

In other words, we returned to Karbala after six days and met late Aga Mirza Mahdi Shirazi and narrated the whole story to him and asked about the amount we owed to the Sayyid. He asked: ls there a Sayyid among you? I said: Yes, a Sayyid lady. He said: It was Imam Zaman (‘a) and you were his guests.

This humble servant says: It is possible that he was an agent (Abdal) of the Imam.

Excellence Of Doing A Good Turn To Sayyids

The aim of narrating this story is to clarify the excellence of doing a good turn to Sayyids and especially Sayyid ladies. It makes one eligible for rewards in the hereafter and worldly benefits as is clear from this story.

When Haji Muhammad Ali proved devotion and service to that Sayyid lady how it was recompensed and how some special servants of Imam Zaman ('a) were sent to help him. After that he was entertained as a guest for six days in Samarrah.

Late Ayatullah Mahdi Shirazi (a.m.) came to know through his enlightened conscience that these blessings were from that Sayyid lady.

Thiqat ul-Islam Hajj Mirza Husayn Noori, in the book of Kalimah Tayyiba, has narrated forty traditional reports and incidents from reliable books regarding excellence and blessings of doing a good turn to Sayyids. One them is mentioned here as a token:

Debts Of Sayyids In The Account Of Ali ('A)

It is narrated from Ibrahim bin Mehran through multiple channels that he said:

1 had a good-natured neighbor in Kufa, named Abu Ja'far. Whenever a Sayyid came to him asking for something he would give it to him. If he paid for it Abu Ja 'far accepted the payment, if he didn't, Abu Ja' far instructed his assistants to record it in the ledger of debts under the name of Ali Ibn Abi Talib ('a).

This continued for quite some time and when his financial conditions worsened and he became poverty stricken he took out the ledgers and tried to recover his debts. If the debtors were alive, he sent his servants for recovery, but if that person was no more or had nothing to repay, he stroked out his name.

One day, he was sitting near the entrance of his house, poring over the ledgers when a Nasibi [one who is inimical to Ali ('a)] passed by and taunted Abu Ja 'far. "What happened to your greatest debtor, Ali? Did he repay you?" Abu Ja' far was hurt at this taunt and the same night he dreamt that the Holy Prophet (S) was sitting with Imam Hasan and Imam Husayn (‘a). The Messenger of Allah (S) asked, "Where is your father? Amir ul-Mu’minin Ali ('a) replied from behind. The Prophet ('a) asked him why he has not repaid the debt of Abu Ja'far.

Ali (‘a) said, "I have brought this for repayment." So saying he took out a white woolen bag and gave it to Abu Ja'far.

The Holy Prophet (S) told him to take it and that whenever their descendants came to ask him for something, he should not spurn them and added that after this there shall be no problem for him.

Abu Ja'far awoke and saw that he was holding the same bag that Ali (‘a) had given him. He shook his sleeping wife and told her to put on the light. When the bag was opened, it was found to contain a thousand gold coins. The wife said, "O Allah's slave! Fear Allah, I hope difficult times have not compelled you to cheat other traders."

"Certainly not!" said Abu Ja'far and narrated the whole incident.

Then he got out his ledger and calculated the total amount in Ali Ibn Ali Talib's account and found it to be exactly 1000 gold coins neither less nor more.

According to another report, he saw that the amount owed to the Imam had been erased.