One day...

One day, I went to him while he was in the men’s quarters and I heard some movement in the room. He suddenly called out to me, “Stay in your place and don’t move.” I didn’t dare to enter or go out. A slave-maid came out and with her was a covered thing. He then called out to me and said, “Come in,” and I went in. He called out to the slave-maid and she returned to him. He then said to her, “Uncover what you have with you.” She removed the veil [which was covering] a white handsome boy.

He uncovered his stomach and there was hair from his chest to his navel but it was green, not black. He said, “This is your master.” He then ordered her [to take him away] and she took him away. After this, I did not see him until Abū Muḥammad passed away. Al-Kāfī[^7]: `Alī b. Muḥammad, from Muḥammad b. Ismā’īl b. Mūsā b.

Ja`far—who was a very old man from the descendants of the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessings be on him and his family, in Iraq—who said: “I saw him between the two mosques, while he, peace be on him, was a young boy.” Al-Kāfī[^8]: Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā, from al-Ḥusayn b. Rizq-Allah Abū `Abd-Allah, from Mūsā b. Muḥammad b. al-Qāsim b. Ḥamzat b. Mūsā b. Ja`far, from Ḥakīma—(Imam) Muḥammad b.

`Alī’s daughter and the aunt of [the Mahdī’s] father—who said she had seen him in the night of his birth and also after that. Al-Kāfī[^9]: Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā, from al-Ḥasan b. `Alī al-Nīsābūrī, from Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad b. `Abd-Allah b. Mūsā b. Ja`far, from Abū Naṣr Ẓarīf—the servant—[who said] he had seen him, peace be on him. Al-Kāfī[^10]: `Alī b. Muḥammad from Fatḥ—the slave of al-Rāzī [al-Zurārī]—who said: “I heard Abū `Alī b.

Muṭahhar mention that he had seen him and had described his height.” The traditions with the following numbers also prove the above concept: 786–788, 796–797, 802, 804, and 808–810. [^1]: Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 2, chap. 43, p. 435, no. 2; Yanābī` al-mawadda, chap. 82, p. 460, to where he says, “we left”; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 52, chap. 18, pp. 25–26, no. 19, which says, “Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan b. `Alī’, peace be on him, showed us his son”; I`lām al-warā, fourth rukn, part 2, chap. 2, sect.

3; Tabṣirat al-walī, pp. 48–49, no. 16. [^2]: Ghaybat al-Shaykh, p. 357, no. 319; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 51, chap. 16, pp. 346–347, no. 1; Tabṣirat al-walī, pp. 183–185, no. 76; Ithbāt al-hudāt, vol. 3, chap. 31, pp. 415–416, no. 56, which is its beginning, and chap. 32, p. 511, no. 337, which is its end. [^3]: Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 2, chap. 43, p. 434, no.