It is narrated from Muhammad bin Ali bin Hatim from Ahmad bin Isa Washa Baghdadi from Ahmad bin Tahir from Muhammad bin Yahya bin Sahal from Ali bin Harith from Saad bin Mansur Jawashini from Ahmad bin Ali Budaili from his father from Sudair Sairafi that he said:
I along with Mufaddal Ibne Umar, Abu Basir, Aban Ibne Taghlib entered upon our master Abu Abdullah Ja’far Ibne Muhammad (pbuh). We saw him sitting on bare earth. He had a Khaibari woolen cloak that was ringed at the neck, did not have any pockets and had short sleeves. He was crying like a deeply afflicted and bereaved(deeply suffered) mother of a child from the depths of a heart that was full of mourning. Grief had appeared in the sides of his face and the change had spread on to both of his cheeks and tears were rolling on the sides of his visage, as he was saying: “My master, your occultation has taken away my night’s sleep, it has narrowed my bed for me and has snatched away the solace(comfort) from my heart. My master, your occultation has turned my tragedies into the atrocities (unpleasantness) of eternity! The loss of one after the other perishes a crowd and a multitude. No more I feel the tear that drops from my eye and the moan that faintly leaves my chest from the places of tragedies and past calamities except that it exemplifies before my eye the greatest and cruelest of catastrophes (suffering), the most dismal (depressing) and disdainful (disrespect) mishaps (accident), mixed with your wrath and calamities coupled with your anger.”
Sudair says, Our hearts and minds were overwhelmed by that terrifying scene and mortifying view. We thought that it is the sign of a dreadful shattering or times have brought him a calamity. So we said: “May Allah, O son of the best of the creation, never bring tears into your eyes. For what incidents are your eyes pouring and your tears raining and what situation has led you to this mourning?” Sudair says: Imam Sadiq (pbuh) took a deep sigh that his chest expanded and his fright enhanced and he said: “O you, I looked at the Book of Jafr this morning, and that is the book that encompasses the knowledge of deaths, trials and tribulations and the knowledge of all that has been and all that will be until Judgment Day, which Allah, glory to His name, has exclusively imparted to Muhammad and the Imams after him, peace be unto him and them. I viewed therein the birth of our Qaim(atfs) and his disappearance and its protraction(prolonging) and the length of his lifespan and the trials of the believers through him after him in that period and the generation of doubts in their hearts from the length of his disappearance and the apostasy of most of them from their religion and their removing the cord of Islam from their necks, about which Allah, glory to His name has said:
وَكُلَّ إِنسَـٰنٍ أَلْزَمْنَـٰهُ طَـٰٓئِرَهُۥ فِى عُنُقِهِ
“And We have made every man’s actions to cling to his neck…” (Surah Isra 17:13)
…which is the Wilayah. So emotions overpowered me and griefs overwhelmed me.”
We said: “O son of Allah’s Messenger, dignify us and bestow honor upon us by sharing some of what you know from the knowledge.”
He said: “Allah, the Exalted, has consigned three qualities in the Qaim(atfs) of ours, which He had consigned to three of the apostles. He foreordained his birth like the birth of Musa (pbuh); his disappearance like the disappearance of Isa (pbuh); and his longevity like the longevity of Nooh (pbuh). Moreover, He made the lifespan of His virtuous servant Khizr(pbuh) a proof of his lifespan.”
Ref : Kamaaluddin, Vol2 , Chp 33 , H.no.51
