Hadith record

4. Muhammad ibn abu ‘Abdallah and Ali ibn Muhammad have narrated from Ishaq ibn Muhammad al-Nakha’Isma‘il from abu Hashim Dawud ibn al-Qasim al- Ja’fari who has said the following. “Once I was in thepresence of abu Muhammad (a.s.) that permission was requested for a man from Yemen to see the Imam (a.s.). A chubby, tall and heavy man then came in and greeted the Imam with the greeting for Wilaya, the Leader with Divine Authority and received the acceptance response. The Imam (a.s.) asked him to have a sit and he sat just next to me. I then said to myself, “I wish not to have been so close to him.” Abu Muhammad (a.s.) then said, “This is of the children of the Arab lady for whom my ancestors had been printing their seals on a pebble for her and the print would take place. He has brought it with him and wants me to print my seal on it also. He then asked the man to give it to him. The man took out a pebble and on one side of there was a smooth space. Abu Muhammad (a.s.) then took it, brought his seal out, printed on it and the print took place. Even now it is as if I see the print of his (al-Hassan ibn Ali’s) seal on the pebble it. I then said to the man from Yemen, “Had you ever seen him (abu Muhammad (a.s.) before?” He said, “No, by Allah, I had always was anxious to see him until at this time a young man came to me whom I had not seen before and said, ‘Stand up and come in and I came in.” The man from Yemen then left saying, “May Allah’s grace and blessings be with you people of Ahl al-Bayt whose each generation is just the other generation. I testify before Allah that it is obligatory to preserve your rights just as it was the case with Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (a.s.) and the Imams after him, may Allah grant all of them blessings.” He then left and thereafter I never saw him. Ibn Ishaq has said that abu Hashim al-Ja’fari has said, “I asked him his name. He said, “My name is Mahja‘ ibn al-Salt ibn ‘Aqaba ibn Sam‘an ibn Ghanim ibn ’Umm Ghanim. She was the Arab lady from Yemen that had the pebble on which Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s.) had printed his seal and also his descendants up to the time of abu al-Hassan (a.s.).”

Translation: Muhammad Sarwar — attributed by Thaqalayn·The Arabic above is the original.