MIRACLE 30 – THE HIDDEN SPRING OUTSIDE A MONASTERY

When Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) headed to Siffeen, his companions experienced severe thirst and whatever was in their possession was finished. So, they took to going right and left seeking the water, but they could not find any trace of it. So, Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) turned with them away from the main road and travelled a little, and a monastery appeared to them in the middle of the wilderness.

He (a.s.) travelled with them towards it until when he (a.s.) came to be in its courtyard, he (a.s.) instructed someone to call out to its dweller and come to them. They called out to him, and he came. Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) said to him: ‘Is there any water near this dwelling of yours these people can get relief with it?’

He said, ‘Far be it, and between the water there are more than two Farsakhs, and there is no water nearby me, and had it not been that I fetch sufficient water every month, I would have died of thirst’. Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) said: ‘Did you hear what the monk said?’ They said, ‘Yes, so what are you instructing us, with the travel to where he has indicated to, perhaps we shall come across the water while there is still strength with us?’

Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) said: ‘There is no need for you all to do that’. And he (a.s.) turned the neck of his mule towards the Qiblah and indicated with them to a place (which was) nearby from the monastery. He (a.s.) said: ‘Uncover the soil in this place!’ A group from them turned to the place and uncovered it with the shovels. A large rock appeared to them, shining.

They said, ‘O Ameerul Momineen (a.s.)! There is a rock over here, the shovels are not working in it’. He (a.s.) said: ‘This rock is upon the water, so if we were to move it from its place, you will find the water’. They struggled in uprooting it, and the people gathered and went on to move it, but they could not find any way to that, and it was too difficult upon them.

When he (a.s.) saw them gathering and striving in uprooting the rock, and it was being too difficult upon them, He (a.s.) twisted his leg away from the saddle until he (a.s.) came to the ground. Then he (a.s.) rolled up the sleeve from his arms and placed his fingers beneath a side of the rock and moved it. Then he (a.s.) uprooted it by his hands and threw it to many cubits.

When it moved from its place, clear water appeared to them. They rushed towards it and drank from it. It was the freshest of the water they had drunk from during their journey, and its coldest, and its cleanest. He (a.s.) said to them: ‘provide and saturate (the animals)!’ They did that. Then he (a.s.) came to the rock and grabbed it by his hand and placed it where it used to be. He (a.s.) instructed with deleting its traces with the soil while the monk was looking from above his monastery.

When the monk saw what transpired he immediately came to Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) and asked, Are you a Messenger or Prophet’? He (a.s.) replied: ‘No’. He then asked, ‘are you proximate angel?’ He (a.s.) again replied in the negative. He then asked, ‘So, who are you?’

He said, ‘I am the successor of Holy Prophet, Mohammed Bin Abdullah (s.a.w.a), the last of the Prophets’. He said, ‘Extend your hand, I shall become a Muslim for the Sake of Allah upon your hands’. He (a.s.) said to him: ‘Testify the two testimonies’.

He said, ‘I testify that there is no god except Allah, there is no associate for Him, and I testify that Mohammed (s.a.w.a.) is His servant and His Messenger, and I testify that you are the successor of Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.), and the most rightful of the people with the command from after him (s.a.w.a.)’.

Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) took the stipulations of Islam upon him, then said to him: ‘What is that which called you to Islam now after your prolonged stay in this monastery being upon the opposition?’

He said, ‘I shall inform you, O Ameerul Momineen (a.s.)! This monastery was built upon seeking the uprooter of this rock and emergence of the water from beneath it, and scholars have passed away before me and they did not come across that, and Allah, the Almighty Mighty and Majestic had Informed our scholars that in this territory there is a spring upon which is a rock. No one knows its place except either a Prophet, or a successor of a Prophet.

And surely there is no escape from a friend of Allah calling to the truth, to be given the recognition of the place of this rock, and his power upon uprooting it. And when I saw you to have done that, it became a reality, what we had been awaiting, and I reached my wishes from it. So today, I am a Muslim upon your hands and a believer in your right and your friend’.

When Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) heard it, he (a.s.) wept until his beard was damp from the tears. And he (a.s.) said: ‘The Praise is for Allah who has mentioned me in His mentioned books’.

Then he (a.s.) called the people and said: ‘Listen to what your Muslim brother is saying!’ They heard his words, and they frequented their praising Allah and their thanking upon the favour which He had favoured with upon them in their having recognised the right of Ameerul Momineen (a.s.).

Then they travelled and the monk was in front of them among the totality of his companions until he (a.s.) met the people of Syria in battle, and the monk was among the ones who were martyred. He (a.s.), prayers over him and buried him sought forgiveness for him. And whenever Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) mentioned about the monk, he said: ‘He is my friend!’’.¹

Footnotes

1. Behar al-Anwaar, Vol. 41, Chp 112, Trad 21 ↩