H 208 - It is narrated from Ahmad bin Ali Raazi from Muhammad bin Ali from Hanzala bin Zakariya that he said: “Ahmad bin Bilal bin Dawood, the scribe, who was a Sunni and a Nasibi, having contempt to Ahle Bayt, which he did not hide, narrated this to me. He was my friend and would express his affection to me, as it is in the spirit of the people of Iraq. He would say every time he met me, “I have news for you to rejoice, but I will not give it to you.” I would pretend to care less until one day we were brought together at a secluded spot. With much fervor, I asked him to tell me about what news he had. He said: Our houses were at Samarrah, facing the house of Ibn Ridha, (meaning the house of Imam Hasan Askari عليه السلام. For a very long time, I stayed away from the locality, going to Qazwin and other cities. Then destiny brought me back to Samarrah. When I returned, I saw that I had lost all whom I had left behind from my family and relatives, except an old woman who had raised me and she had a daughter. She was of the original disposition, veiling, protective and did not know lying. Also there were some of our cousins who had stayed at the house. I stayed with them for some days and then decided to leave. The old woman said: “Why do you make haste to return after such a long absence? Stay with us, so we may take the pleasure of your stay.” I said to her in jest, “I want to go to Kerbala.” This was a season when great many people were leaving either for mid-Shaban or the day of Arafa. “I seek refuge of Allah for you, my son, to blaspheme through this talk of ridicule.” She said: “I am going to tell you what I have seen. This happened two years after you left us. I was in this house, sleeping near the main entry hall. My daughter was with me. I was in a condition somewhere between sleep and wakefulness, when entered a man of handsome face, clean clothes, fragrant smell and said: So and so, someone will come at this hour to you to call you to your neighbor. Do not refuse to go with him and don’t be scared. I was afraid and called out to my daughter, ‘Did you notice someone entering the house?’ She said: ‘No.’ I called Allah to my heart and recited some verses and went to sleep. The same man came again and repeated what he had said earlier. I cried out to my daughter. She said: ‘No one came. Remember Allah and don’t be scared.’ I recited some verses and went to sleep again. Then it happened the third time; the man came and said: So and so, the one who is calling you is here and is knocking the door. Go with him.’ I heard the knock and went to the door. ‘Who is this?’ I asked. ‘Open and fear not,’ someone said. I recognized his word and opened the door. It was a servant in a lower garment sheet on him. He said: ‘A neighbor needs you for a very important matter. Please come.’ He covered my head with the sheet and took me to the house, which I knew. There were sets of curtains fixed in the middle. A man was seated on the side of the curtains. The servant gestured to me with his eye and I entered. There was a woman in labor and another lady was behind her as if she was delivering her. The woman asked: ‘Would you help us in this?’ I helped them in the delivery. It was but a moment that a boy was born. I held him and shouted, ‘It is a boy! It is a boy!’ I put my head out from the side of the curtains to give glad tiding to the man seated there. ‘Don’t shout,’ someone said. When I returned inside, the boy was not in my hands. The woman who was seated told me, ‘Don’t shout.’ The servant took my hand and wrapped my head with the sheet and took me out of the house. He took me to my house and gave me a bag and said: ‘Don’t tell anyone of what you saw.’ I entered the house and returned to my bed. My daughter was still sleeping. Waking her up, I asked, ‘Did you see me going out and coming back?’ She replied: ‘No.’ I opened the bag at that hour and there were ten dinars in it. I have not told this to anyone until today when you spoke these words derisively. I narrated this to you to commiserate over you, for these people (Ahle Bayt) have a lofty status and high position before Allah, the Glorified, and everything they pray for is fulfilled.” I was astonished by her narrative, but passed on with ridicule and jest. I did not ask her of its time; however, I know for sure that I had left them in two hundred and fifty and some odd year and returned to Samarrah in two hundred and eighty-one. The time when the old woman narrated this to me was during the ministry of Ubaidullah bin Sulaiman.