Then, I went to the River Tigris, bathed, and put on some clean clothes.

Then, I went to the River Tigris, bathed, and put on some clean clothes. I filled a jug I had with me with water and mounted to set off towards the shrine. On my way, I saw four horsemen emerging from the gates of the city. On the outskirts of the city lived some nobles who watched over their sheep and I thought that these men were from them. We reached each other and I saw that there were two youths among them. One of them was a slave who was beginning to grow a beard.

They were all armed with swords. There was an old man amongst them whose face was covered and had a lance in his hand. Another was armed with a sword and had a cloak which was covering the sword and was under his armpit. The old man—who had a lance—stopped on the right side of the road and placed the end of the lance on the ground. The two youths stood on the left side of the road and the man with the cloak stood in front of me. Then, they all greeted me and I greeted them.

The man with the cloak asked, ‘Are you returning to your family tomorrow?’ I replied in the affirmative. He said, ‘Come forward so that I may see what is distressing you.’ I didn’t like them to touch me and I said to myself, ‘These are Bedouins who do not keep away from impure things (al-najāsa). I have just come out of water and my shirt is wet.’ Nevertheless, I went near him. He held me with his hand and pulled me to himself.

Then, he started feeling one side of my body from my shoulder until he reached the abscess. He squeezed it with his hand and I felt its pain. Then, he sat on his saddle as he was earlier. The old man said to me, ‘You have become successful, O Ismā’īl!’ I was amazed that he knew my name. I answered, ‘God willing, we are successful and so are you.’ The old man said to me, ‘This is the Imam.’ I rushed towards him, clung to him, and kissed his thigh.

“He started riding while I was following him and was still clinging to him. He said, ‘Go back.’ I replied, ‘I will never leave you.’ He said, ‘It is better that you return.’ But my answer was the same. The old man said, ‘O Ismā’īl! Don’t you have any shame? Your Imam has ordered you to return twice and you are disobeying him?’ Confronted with such a statement, I let go of him.

He went ahead a few steps then turned to me and said, ‘When you reach Baghdad, Abū Ja`far—meaning the caliph al-Mustanṣir—will inevitably ask for you. When you go to him and he offers you something refuse to accept it. Tell my son, Sayyid Raḍī al-Din, to write to `Alī b. `Iwaḍ.