MIRACLE 88 – UMAR CONFESSES THE MIRACLES HE WITNESSED

It is reported from Hazrat Imam Sadiq (a.s.),

An order reached Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) from Umar al-Khattab. So he (a.s.) sent Janabe Salman (r.a.), to him and said: ‘Tell him, ‘It has reached me from you, such and such, and I dislike to fault upon you in your face. It is befitting that is should not be said regarding me except the truth, for you have usurped my right upon the stain, and I was patient until the Divine decree reaches its term’.

Janabe Salman (r.a.) got up and delivered that to him, and blamed him, and mentioned the virtues of Ameerul Momineen (a.s.), and mentioned his merits and his proofs.

Umar said, ‘With me there are a lot from the merits of Ali, and I am not denying his merits except that he breathes the sighs and revealed the hatred’.

Janabe Salman (r.a.), said to him, ‘Narrate to me with something from what you have seen from Ameerul Momineen (a.s.)’. Umar said, ‘O Abu Abdullah! Yes. He (a.s.) was alone with me one day regarding something from the matters of the army. He (a.s.) cut off from narrating to me and stood up from my presence and said, ‘Stay in your place until I return to you, for a need was just presented to me’.

He (a.s.) could not have returned to me any quicker secondly, and there was dust upon his clothes and his turban. I said to him (a.s.), ‘What is matter?’ He (a.s.) said: ‘A number of angels from the angels came, and among them was Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.), proceeding to a city in the east, the city of Jayhoun. So, I went out to greet unto him (s.a.w.a.), and this dust on my knees is from the quickness of the walking’.

Umar said, ‘I laughed in wonderment until I laid on my back and said to him (a.s.), ‘The Prophet has died and decayed, and you are claiming that you met him now and greeted unto him? This is strange and it is not possible. Imam Ali (a.s.) got angry and looked at me and said: ‘Are you belying me, O Ibn Khattab?’

I said, ‘Do not be angry and return to what we were in, for this is from what can never happen!’ He (a.s.) said: ‘Supposing you were to see him until you cannot deny anything from him, will you seek forgiveness of Allah, from what you have said, and thought, and you will start repenting from what you are in, and you will leave the right to be for me?’ I said, ‘Yes’.

He (a.s.) said: ‘Stand!’ I stood with him and we went out to the outskirts of Medina, and he (a.s.) said to me: ‘Close your eyes!’ I closed them.

He (a.s.) said: ‘Open them!’ I did that, and there I was, with Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.), with him were a number of Angels. When I prolonged the looking, He (a.s.) said to me, ‘Have you seen him (s.a.w.a.)?’ I said, ‘Yes’. He (a.s.) said: ‘Close your eyes!’ I closed them. Then he (a.s.) said: ‘Open them!’ (I did) and there was neither anything to see nor any trace’.

I said to him, ‘Have you seen from Imam Ali (a.s.), anything other than that?’ He said, ‘Yes. One day he (a.s.) met me and we went to Jabbana. There was a bow in his hand. When we came to Jabbana, He (a.s.) threw down the bow from his hand and it became a huge serpent like the serpent of Musa, and it opened its jaws and came over to swallow me.

When I saw that, my heart flew away out of fear, and I went aside and laughed in the face of Imam Ali (a.s.), and I said, ‘The safety, O Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib!

When he (a.s.) heard the words, he (a.s.) chuckled and said: ‘We are moderate in the speech and we are People of the Household. We appreciate even the little from people’. He (a.s.) struck his hand to the serpent and grabbed it by his hand, and there, it was his bow which had been in his hand’.

Then Umar said, ‘O Salman! I had concealed that from every one and I have informed you with it, O Abu Abdullah, for they are People of the Household. They are inheriting these wonders, elder from an elder, and Ibrahim had come with the like of that, and Hazrat Abu Talib (a.s.), and Janabe Abdulllah (a.s.) had both come with the like of that during the pre-Islamic period, and I cannot deny the merit of Imam Ali (a.s.), and his precedence, and his seriousness, and abundance of his knowledge. So, return to him (a.s.) and offer my excuse to him (a.s.), and praise him (a.s.) on my behalf’’.¹

Footnotes

1. Behar al-Anwaar, Vol. 42, Chp 116, Trad 15 ↩