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Prophecy of Imam Ali (a.s.) regarding the

Martyrdom of Meesum e Tammar and its opposition

In the book ‘Al Gharaat’, it is narrated from Hasan bin Meesumi that Meesum e Tammar was a freed slave of Imam Ali (a.s.) who was at first the slave of a woman from the Bani Asad tribe. Imam (a.s.) bought him from that woman and released him. Then Imam (a.s.) asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Salim”.

Imam (a.s.) said: “ The Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) informed me that your name, that was kept by your father in ‘Ajam’ (non-Arabic) was Meesum”.

Meesum said: “Yes, Allah, His Prophet, and you o’ Amir al-Momineen speak the truth; by God, my name is Meesum”.

Imam (a.s.) said: “Return to your old name and give up Salim, and I will keep your nick as Abu Salim”.

Ahmad bin Hasan says: Imam Ali (a.s.) had taught him many sciences and had shared with him the hidden secrets of the concealed knowledge of his will, and Meesum used to speak about a few of them but a group of men from Kufa used to reject them and convict Imam (a.s.) for superstition and misrepresentation of facts, until one day when Imam Ali (a.s.) addressed Ammar while he was with a group of companions which constituted of both the sincere ones and the sceptic ones, and said:

          “O Meesum, you will be arrested after me and hanged on the gallows. On the second day, blood will fall down the openings of your nose and mouth which will colour your beard, and on the third day, you be pierced with a lance which will take your life away. Await, and the place where you will be hanged is near the door of Amr bin Huraith’s house, and you will be the tenth of those ten people, and your shaft will be smaller than the other shafts and closer to the ground, and I will show you the palm tree on which you will be hanged”.           

After two days, Imam (a.s.) showed him that palm tree.

Meesum used to come near that palm tree and pray under it, and say: “What an auspicious date tree you are for I have been born for you and you are growing for me”.

After the martyrdom of Imam Ali (a.s.), Meesum used to regularly visit that tree until it was cut down.

He always took care of that tree’s trunk and used to regularly pass by it and look at it. Whenever he saw Amr bin Huraith, he used to tell him, “I will become your neighbour, be careful about the rights of my neighbourhood”.

Amr, who was unaware of what he said, used to tell him, “Do you wish to purchase Ibn e Mas’ood’s house? Or Ibn e Hakim’s house?”

In the year of his martyrdom (60 Hijri), Meesum went for Hajj. He went to meet Umm e Salma, the Holy Prophet’s wife, in Medina.

Umm e Salma asked him, “Who are you?”

He said: “I am from Iraq”.

Umm e Salma asked him about his parentage. He said, “I am the freed slave of Ali (a.s.)”.

Umm e Salma asked: “Are you Meesum?”

He replied: “Yes, I am Meesum”.

Umm e Salma (r.a.) said: “Praise be to Allah! By God, so many times have I heard the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) speaking with Ali (a.s.) regarding you during midnights.”

Meesum asked about Hussain bin Ali (a.s.). They said, “He is in the groves (of Medina)”. He said, “Tell his holiness that I wish to greet him and that we will meet each other in the court of Allah (s.w.t.), and I don’t have time to meet him today as I wish to return”.

Meanwhile, Umm e Salma asked for a nice perfume which was brought for her, and Meesum scented his beard with that perfume.

Meesum said, “Indeed, this beard will soon be coloured with blood”.

Umm e Salma asked: ‘Who informed you of this?”

 Meesum said, “My leader informed me”.

Umm e Salma (r.a.) wept and said, “He is not your leader alone but my leader and the leader of all the Muslims as well”. Thereafter, Meesum e Tammar bid goodbye to her and returned to Iraq. When he reached Kufa, he was arrested and brought before Obaidullah bin Ziyad.

Ibn e ziyad was told that he is one of the most honourable men in the eyes of Abu Turab (a.s.).

Ibn e Ziyad said: “Woe upon you; this Ajami (non-Arab) man?”

          They said: “Yes”.

Obaidullah asked Meesum: “Where is your God?”

          Meesum said: “In ambush”.

Ibn e Ziyad said: “They have informed me about your love for Abu Turab”.

          Meesum said: “It was such to some extent but what do you want from me now?”

Ibn e Ziyad asked: “They say that you were informed by him about what you will be seeing very soon?”                                                                 

He replied: “Yes, he has informed me”.

Ibn e Ziyad asked: “What has he told you about that which I am going to do with you?”

Meesum said: “He informed me that you will hang me on the groves while I will be the tenth among the ten people, and that the shaft of my grove will be smaller than the others and I will be closer to the land than others.”

Ibn e Ziyad said: “I will definitely act against the words of Abu Turab”.

Meesum said: “Woe upon you, how do you wish to act against his words while he has given me this information from the words of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) who reported it from angel Gabriel and reported it from the Almighty Allah? How can you possibly oppose them? Indeed, by God, I know the place in Kufa where I will be hanged and I will be the first creation of God, in Islam, whose face will be curbed like the face of a horse.

          After this conversation, Ibn e Ziyad imprisoned Meesum and imprisoned Mukhtar bin Abi Obaid e Thaqai along with him. While these two were in the prison of Obaidullah bin Ziyad, Meesum said to Mukhtar, “You will be released from this prison and will rise to avenge the blood of Imam Hussain (a.s.), and you will kill the tyrant whose prison we are in, and with these legs (indicating towards Mukhtar’s legs), you will trample his face and cheeks.”

          During those days, Ibn e Ziyad called Mukhtar from the prison with the intention of killing him. Suddenly, an envoy came with a letter from Yazid bin Mu’awiyah, addressing Ibn e Ziyad, which commanded him to set Mukhtar free. This was because Mukhtar’s sister was the wife of Abdullah bin Omar. And she requested her husband to intercede before Yazid for Mukhtar. Abdullah did as requested and Yazid accepted his intercession and wrote the order of releasing Mukhtar, and sent it by a quick envoy towards Kufa. The envoy reached at a time when Mukhtar was brought out for beheading.

          In this manner, he was set free. After the freedom of Mukhtar, Meesum was brought out to be hanged. Ibn e Ziyad said, “I will act with him in the same way that Abu Turab had said about him”.

           Meanwhile, a man saw Meesum and asked him: “O Meesum, this act did not make you needless?” (He meant that Ali’s friendship did not benefit you).

          Meesum smiled and said: “I have been born for this wooden trunk and it has been nurtured for me”.

          When Meesum was hanged on the gallows, people gathered around the trunk of his gallows which was near the door of Amr bin Huraith’s house.

          Amr said: Meesum always said to me: “I will become your neighbour”. He ordered his maid to sweep, sprinkle water and light a censer to burn incense under the trunk where Meesum was hanged, every evening. And that maid used to perform all those acts for several days.

          When Meesum was hanged on the gallows, he began to speak about the greatness of the Hashem dynasty and the immorality of the Umayyad dynasty. Ibn e Ziyad was informed that this slave will disgrace you.

          Ibn e Ziyad ordered to curb Meesum, therefore, they fixed a bit on his mouth to stop him from speaking, and he was the first person to be curbed after the arrival of Islam.

          On the second day, blood started to fall from his nose and mouth and on the third day, he was pierced with a lance which cause his death. Meesum was martyred ten days before the arrival of Imam e Hussain (a.s.) in Iraq, towards the end of Zul Hijjah, in 60 Hijri.[1]

          In conclusion, I would like to clarify that the prophesies that we have mentioned in this book, are some of those prophesies of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) and Imam Ali (a.s.) that were relevant to the subjects of this book, or else, the prophesies of the Holy Progeny (a.s.) are so many in number that several volumes will be required for their collection. And this itself is a proof and evidence of the righteousness of the Shiite sect; as the Holy Quran commands: “And be with the truthful”, they have chosen to follow the truthful by following the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) and his Holy Progeny (a.s.).

            It is notable that none of the Umayyad caliphs, or those who ruled the people before or after them, did not have mention any prophesies, apart from that which they had heard from the Jews and all the other predecessors, and all of that is not even a drop if compared to the sayings of the Holy Progeny (a.s.).

          For the guiltless and innocent people, who have set aside the fanaticisms of the age of ignorance, prophecies of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) and his Holy Progeny brighten the straight path, which is the divine school and the true religion. We request all those who seek the truth and the true path, to carefully study all these prophesies mentioned in this book, and until they are blessed with the gift of life, they should strive to find the straight path, towards which they request the Almighty to lead them every day in their prayers: “Show us the straight path”, and walk on it. It is apparent that the Almighty assists and supports whoever seeks help from Him.

          All those who are aware of the sayings of Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.), know very well that his holiness has given many prophesies regarding the incidents that will occur after his demise, like the martyrdom of Lady Fatima (s.a.) and her entire progeny, and especially regarding the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (a.s.).

          Likewise, there are many prophecies of Prophet (p.b.u.h.) and his Holy Progeny (a.s.) regarding the Sufiyani - who will be from the progeny of Yazid and Mu’awiyah, and regarding his arrival before the rise of Imam Mahdi (a.t.f.s.). It can be said that the narrations regarding the arrival of Sufiyani have reached the extent of continuity or ‘Tawaatur’.

          If we wish to bring all the prophesies related to the Umayyad dynasty and their illegal caliphs in this book, it will turn into a book with thousands of pages.

          Therefore, we have restricted ourselves with these many prophesies and we pray to the Almighty that the respected readers totally benefit from the sayings of these noble personalities.

          We hope that studying this book exceeds your awareness about the ominous schemes designed by the enemies and makes you understand how the Umayyad rulers, with the help of the Jews and Christians, fought against Islam.   

                                                 

End of Volume One

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