He was Zahid (restricted himself from worldly pleasures).

He was Zahid (restricted himself from worldly pleasures). He was the foremost in worship in his time. The Sultan would also observe cautions due to his devoutness and seriousness in matters of religion. He even demanded the Sultan to respect and maintain the lawful and the unlawful rule with strictness. The Sultan exercised patience with him due to his virtuousness.

It continued as such every day until one day, Abu Al-Hassan, Musa -asws went to him while he was in the mosque and called him with a hand gesture. When he came near, the Imam -asws said, O Abu Ali, I -asws like your practice very much and it makes me happy. However, you do not have any مَعْرِفَةٌ insight. You must seek مَعْرِفَةٌ in depth understanding. He said, May Allah -azwj keep my soul in service for your cause, what is مَعْرِفَةٌ in depth recognition?

He -asws said: Go and try to understand and learn Hadith, He then asked, from whom I must learn Hadith. The Imam -asws said, Learn from the teachers of religion in Medina. Then read them before me to verify. The narrator has said that he then went, wrote (a few Hadith), came back and read them before him -asws . The Imam -asws deleted all of them and said to him, اذْهَبْ فَاعْرِفِ الْمَعْرِفَةَ Go and learn how to understand. The man was very serious in his religion.

He kept watching Abu Al-Hassan -asws , until one day he went out in search of a lost property and Abu AI-Hassan -asws , met him on the way. He said, May Allah -azwj keep my soul in service for your -asws cause, I will hold you (responsible) before Allah -azwj unless you teach me how to have understanding. The Imam -asws explained to him about Amir-ul-Momineen -asws AIi -asws Ibn Abi Talib -asws and what had happened after the Messenger -saww of Allah -azwj .

He -asws also explained to him about the two men and he agreed. Then he asked, Who was the Leader with Divine Authority after Amir-ul-Momineen -asws Ali -asws ? He -asws said, AI-Hassan -asws , was the Leader with Divine Authority, then al-Hussain -asws . He -asws mentioned, Aimmah -asws one after the other up to his -asws own self and remained silent.

The narrator has said that the man then asked, May Allah – azwj keep my soul in service for your – asws cause, who is the Leader with Divine Authority today? The Imam – asws asked, Were I – asws to tell, would you then accept? He said, May Allah – azwj keep my soul in service for your – asws cause, yes, I would accept.

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