THE INCIDENT OF MUDLAJ IBN SUWAYD

Shaykh al-Mufid also related the following story: One day, Harun, the ‘Abbasid ruler, went out for hunting. As he approached al-Ghari neighborhood, he saw a group of antelopes there. He thus ordered hawks and hounds to be set for chasing them. For a while, these hawks and hounds chased the antelopes, but when the antelopes would resort to a hillock, these chasing animals would stop. This process was repeated more than once before the eyes of Harun who, upon seeing this, ordered his retinue to bring to him the eldest man in al-Kufah. An old man from Banu-Asad, a famous tribe, came. Hence, Harun asked him about the secret beyond that hillock.

“Do you pledge my security if I answer your question?” demanded the old man.

“I vow by Allah that I will not hurt you,” pledged the ruler.

The man then said, “My father told me that his fathers used to say that this hillock contained the tomb of ‘Ali ibn Abi-Talib; therefore, Allah made it a secured shelter for any one that resorts to it.” Here, the story ends.

“More zealous than the protector of the locusts;” this is a famous Arab proverb that is cited for describing one’s readiness to protect someone or something. This proverb is taken from the story of Mudlaj ibn Suwayd, a man belonging to the tribe of Tayy, who was at his tent when some people came to him carrying baskets. When he asked them for explanation, they told that they came to collect a swarm of locusts that fell on his land. Immediately, he rode his horse and took his lance in the hand, threatening them by saying, “How dare you collect the locust that came to my vicinity seeking my shelter?” He therefore positioned there watching and guarding these locusts until they left his land after the land had become hot due to sunlight. He thus said, “Now, you may follow that swarm of locusts after they have left my land.”

A similar story, the author of al-Qamus relates that Dhu’l-A’wad was an Arab chief who, claimed to be the grandfather of Aktham ibn Sayfi. He used to levy taxes from the tribe of Muzar, one of the major Arab tribes. Carried on a throne, he used to visit the Arab tribes to collect levies. He was such a respected and cherished personality that any fearful one who restored to his throne would be granted security, any humiliated one who approached his throne would be fortified, and any hungry one who came to his throne would be fed etc.

The incident of Ahmah as narrated by Mujeerul Jarrad:

In view of that, if a throne of an Arab man could attain such honor and sublimity, then it is not strange that Almighty Allah decides the tombs of His intimate servants, especially those whose cradles were carried by the Archangels Gabriel and Michael; namely, Imam al-Hasan and Imam al-Husayn, to be shelters for the fearful, sanctuaries for the fugitive, refuges for the depressed, and remedy for the ailed.

Wherever you are, dear reader, try to reach the holy tomb of Imam ‘Ali (‘a), to stick to it by all strength, and to implore persistently there so that he may aid and save you from perdition in this world as well as the Next World.

It seems suitable to cite these verses on this occasion:

In the book of Dar al-Islam, it is reported, on the authority of Shaykh al-Daylami on the authority of a group of righteous people of al-Najaf, that a man saw in dream that many lines were extended from the tombs inside and outside the holy shrine of Imam ‘Ali (‘a) to connect to the dome. When the man woke up, he composed the following poetic verses: