Nobility of Shaykh Saduq (a.r.)

In the year 1238 A.H. (1859 A.D.) Fath Ali - the king of Qajar - ordered the building of the shrine to be reconstructed. This resulted in a demonstration of nobility. The word spread around among the people, and it was finally approved of by the government officials and the king. The details of this event have been recorded by many authors - may God have mercy upon them. Among them we can mention ROWZA by Khansari, QISAS AL-ULAMA by Tonikaboni, TANQIH AL-MAQAL by Mamaghani, MONTAKHAB UL-TAWARIKH by Khorasani and TAVA'ED AR-RAZAVIEH by Qumi. This has been recorded in ROWZA by Khansari as follows: 'This event was a demonstration of the nobility of the Sheikh. It attracted the attention of many people, and was a source of guidance for many and a cause of happiness for many enlightened people.

There once appeared a rupture in the shrine of the noble Sheikh - that is located near Ray - due to a flood. When they investigated to find the degree of damage done in order to reconstruct it, they reached a room in which he was buried. Once they entered that room they found his body naked, with his private parts covered, and in perfect shape. His face was absolutely peaceful and they could still see the polish (khadhab) on his nails. The shroud with which his body was wrapped at the time he was buried had worn out, torn into shreds and fallen down on the dirt around his corpse. The news rapidly spread around in Tehran. When Fath Ali - the grandfather of Naser ad-Din - the king of Qajar heard about this around the year 1238 A.H. (1859 A.D.), he went there in person to investigate. He consulted with the government officials whom he trusted as to whether or not he should enter the tomb in person.

They did not recommend the king entering the tomb, as they thought this was not appropriate for his rule. Then a group of religious scholars and well-known people were sent into the tomb to check the issue. When the numerous people who had entered the tomb all testified to the truth of this issue, no doubt was left for the king.

Once he was certain about the truth of this issue, he ordered the cavity to be closed off, and the building of the shrine to be reconstructed, and decorated in the best possible fashion using mirror work. I have personally seen some of the people who were present there. Some of our religious professors who are of the noble scholars have also described this event. And peace be upon him the day he is born, and the day he dies, and the day he is resurrected.'

Faazil-e-Hindi

A Child Prodigy and an intelligent youth

There is an intellectual among our scholars who led a life of anonymity. His name was Muhammad bin Hasan bin Muhammad Isfahani, and he was known by the appellation of Fazil-e-Hindi. If he is called as a great personality it is not beyond reality because he was indeed a great personality but what is actually needed is to bring out his personality from the shadows of anonymity. This is so because he was not an ordinary scholar; he has to his credit great services in the field of knowledge.

This great personality was born in 1062 A.H. in Isfahan and since he had traveled to India (Hindustan) during his childhood he began to be addressed as Fazil-e-Hindi.

His father Tajuddin Hasan bin Muhammad Isfahani was among the great scholars of his time. He is the writer of the commentary of Baher-e-Mawaj.

Fazil-e-Hindi is not known to the general readers, not even among the scholars. But the religious jurisprudents and the great Shia intellectuals know him well. Al-Hajj Mirza Husain Noori narrates from his teacher Shaykh Iraqain that the writer of Jawahir has expressed great trust in the book of Kashful Atham. Till the time he did not have this book in front of him he never wrote any portion of Jawahir and he used to say, “But for Fazil-e-Hindi the science of religious jurisprudence would have become extinct in Iran.”

The great jurisprudent Shaykh Asadullah Shustari in his first book Maqabis presents Fazil-e-Hindi in such a way as if he is arguing about Imamate and the rights of Ali (a.s.) with the Ahle Sunnat. Thus in one of his commentaries he writes, “Among his writings is the book, Al-Manahij-ul-Sawiya which is the commentary of Rawdatul Hayya. I have seen some of its volumes.”

His book Salat is authoritative, lucid and brimming with benefits and research. It was completed in 1088 A.H., which shows that the author was only twenty-five at that time. This young man also experienced those days when the Afghans created great mischief and Isfahan was broken away from Iran. Those days he spent a very difficult life of grief and calamities. Fazil-e-Hindi has written around eighty books and he expired in 1137 A.H. The most well known of his book is Kashful Atham, which is the commentary on Allamah Hilli’s Qawaid. In the introduction of this book he has repeated the words of Fakhrul Muhaqqiqin that why people are surprised if some are endowed with knowledge at a young age. Allah gives to whom He pleases.

He says, “I myself was not even thirteen when I had studied all the prevalent sciences. I was not even eleven when I had started writing and compiling books. When I was fifteen I wrote Munyatul Harees Dar Sharh Talkhis. I was only eighteen when I used to lecture on Taftazani…-

Mustadrakul Wasail, Vol. 3, pg. 402