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 Othman
bin Sayid al-Omary: Hello my friends and
welcome. I'm really glad to see that you
want to know everything about your
awaited imam (p.b). The most important
thing that you have to know, is the
duration of the minor occultation, which
I was one of its men…Do you want to know
me and my relationship with imam al-Mahdi
(p.b)?
My name is Othman bin Sayid and my
surname is Abu Omar. I'm from a tribe
which is called Bany Asad. It is an
Arabic tribe, which was known as its
love for Ahlulbayt (p.b). I think you
heard about that tribe after the battle
of Karbala. My tribe had buried the
bodies of the martyrs who were the
followers of imam al-Hosain (p.b), when
the army of bin Ziad left them in the
desert without enshrouding. Imam Zain
al-Abedin (p.b) was present at that
battle and he had buried his father's
body. By the way, the prophet's
companion Habib bin Modaher al-Asady was
a martyr with imam al-Hosain (p.b) in
that battle, is a person who belongs to
my tribe.
 So,
you have known my name and my tribe.
Now, I'm going to tell you about my
given names. I had gotten many given
names, which one of them is al-Askary. I
was given that name, because of the name
of a neighbourhood in Samera, because I
lived in there, beside Imam Ali al-Hadi.
I was given the name al-Zayat and al-Saman,
because I was selling ghee for hiding my
real job, which was the deputy of imam
al-Mahdi (p.b) and I'll talk to you
about that later. Another name, which I
was given, is al-Omary. You may ask, why
do I have such many given names? Well,
I'll make the reason clear for you. The
Abbasids were looking for imam al-Mahdi
to kill him, so imam al-Mahdi (p.b) got
hidden. Then the Abbasids started
looking for him and trying to know
everybody who attempts to visit him from
his followers. Therefore, I was changing
my given names from time to time so as
not the enemies doubt and capture me.i
think you know that imam al-Mahdi (p.b)
had gotten such much given names, al-Sayed,
al-Garim, Saheb al-Nahia and so on.
Therefore, we were making the spies and
the polices go astray.
After this long conversation, do you
want to know my relationship with the
awaited imam? And when did it start?
All right my friends. I think you know
that imam al-Mahdi (p.b) has two
occultations.
 The
minor occultation which was started
after the death of the imam's father,
imam al-Hasan al-Askary (p.b) in the
year 260 A.H and it ended in the year
329 A.H at Shaban 15th.
Therefore, after that, the longer
occultation had begun and it will be
continued until God gives him the
permission to appear. However, the minor
and the longer occultations, differ from
each other, that in the minor
occultation, imam had a connection with
his followers by the means of deputies,
who were bringing the shias' letters to
the imam and they were bringing the
letters' replies to the shias.
I am the first deputy and my son Mohamad
is the second one.
Now, I'll talk to you about my
relationship with the imam and how it
began.
While I was eleven year old, I joined to
serve imam al-Hadi (p.b) who was the
imam al-Mahdi's grandfather. Therefore,
I was beside him and I learnt a lot from
him, so he trusted in me so much. His
followers evidenced that and there you
go some of the evidences.
 Evidence
number 1:
Ahmad bin Eshaq: I am from Qom and I am
one of the imam al-Hadi's companions.
One day, I visited Imam Ali al-Hadi (p.b)
and I asked him to introduce a person
who we can trust in him to bring my
letters to the imam. Do you know what
imam al-Hadi (p.b) replied?
Imam Ali al-Hadi (p.b): This is Abu Amr.
The trusty truthful, and what he tells
you, it is from me, and what he takes
from you, he will bring it to me; so
listen up to him and obey him, because
he is the trusty truthful with us.
Ahmad bin Eshaq: This is an evidence
which Sheik al-Omary can be proud of it.
Not just this one, because after the
Imam Ali al-Hadi's death, I visited imam
al-Hasan al-Askary (p.b) and he stated.
Imam al-Hasan al-Askary (p.b): This is
Abu Amr, the trusty truthful, my
father's trust and my trust in my life
and after my death, so what he tells
you, it is from me, so listen up to him
and obey him, because he is the trusty
man with us.
 Evidence
number 2:
Badr al-Kadem: I am the imam al-Askary's
servant. One day, a group of shia had
come from Yaman to visit imam al-Hasan
al-Askary (p.b). they were bringing with
them the imam's money (Hoqooq al-Sharia).imam
was busy with his followers then, so he
asked me to call Othman bin Sayid. Then
I went after him. When he entered.
Imam al-Hasan al-Askary(p.b): Go Othman
and bring the money from the Yamanies,
because you are the deputy and the
trusty truthful of God's money.
Othman bin Sayid: I promised that I talk
to you about the meaning of deputy.
Because this word was used a lot by the
shias in that time, so the deputy is a
person who is trusted in him in
completing the missions.
I was the imam al-Hadi's and imam al-Askary's
deputy, because the Abbasids were
watching them to know who has a
connection with them from their shias,
and who brings the imam's money (Hoqooq
al-Sharia) to them. Therefore, I was a
connection between the imam and his
shias. Therefore, I was bringing the
questions to the imam and the replies to
the shias and so on. Both of the imams (p.b)
were depending on me in doing their
jobs. When imam al-Mahdi (p.b) was born.
 Imam
al-Hasan al-Askary (p.b) ordered me to
buy ten thousand pounds of bread and ten
thousand pounds of meat to divide them
to Bani Hashem because of the newborn.
He was depending on me in doing many
things, not just this one, because he
chose me as a deputy for his son imam
al-Mahdi (p.b) in front of a group of
shias. Let's listen to one of them.
Ali bin Belal: I am from Bagdad and I am
one of the followers of both imam al-Hadi
and al-Askary. Forty shias and I visited
imam al-Hasan al-Askary (p.b) to ask him
about the coming imam after him; so the
imam entered somewhere and came back
with a child. That child was as handsome
as the moon and he was the most similar
one to imam al-Askary. Then, he stated:
Imam al-Askary: this is my son al-Mahdi.
He is your leader after me and my caliph
for you; so obey him and don’t move away
after me. You have to know that you will
not see him again. you have to listen up
to Othman bin Sayid and obey him,
because he is your leader's caliph.
Othman bin Sayid: After that time, I was
known as the imam al-Mahdi's deputy. So
when imam al-Askary died, imam al-Mahdi
(p.b) ordered me to enshoud imam al-Askary
(p.b) and then, he prayed on his father.
 I
think you would like to know the meaning
of the word "deputy". Well, the deputy
is a person who delegates somebody to
other people. There is a difference
between a deputy and an agent, because
the deputy is one person, but an agent,
may be more than one person. Imam al-Mahdi
(p.b) had agents in different cities,
for example Mohamad bin Mahziar in Ahwaz
and the shias in there, were asking him.
Mohamad bin Eshaq in Qom, Mohamad bin
Shathan in Neishabour and all of them
were connecting to me and I connected to
the imam, and I was bringing their
letters to the imam; I was hiding them
secretly in the ghee's boxes.
This was a short summery of my
life…what? You want to know more? Ok, I
was narrating the sayings (al-Ahadith)
from my imams, and I had written many
books about Feqh, but most of them were
lost and there is just a little Hadiths
in the books, in addition of that, I
narrated al-Samat supplication, which is
read at the last times of Fridays. It is
a great supplication and don’t forget me
while you read it. I had two sons,
Mohamad who was the second deputy and he
will talk about himself in a coming
chapter, and another son was Ahmad.
Now, it is the time to go, good luck and
good bye. |
