Hadith 168

d descended in it. There I was with a rider coming with a line (of camels). I went to him, and there he was calling out to me and saying, ‘O Abu Khalid! ’ I said, ‘Here I am, may I be sacrificed for you-asws! ’
He-asws said: ‘Do you see we-asws have been loyal to you with what we-asws had promised you? What happened to the two domes which we-asws used to descend in them? ’ I said, ‘May I be sacrificed for you-asws! I have prepared them both for you-asws! ’ And I went with him-asws until he-asws descended in the two domes, which he-asws used to descend in. Then he-asws said: ‘What is the state of the shoes of the servants and their slippers? ’ I said, ‘I have repaired them, ’ and I came to him-asws with them. He-asws said: ‘O Abu Khalid! Ask me-asws for your need’. I said, ‘May I be sacrificed for you-asws! I shall inform you with what I used to be in. I was of the Zaydiite doctrine until you-asws arrived to me and asked me for the firewood, and you-asws mentioned your-asws coming on such and such day. So I came to know that you-asws are the Imam-asws Allah-azwj has Obligated his-asws obedience (unto me)! ’
He-asws said: ‘O Abu Khalid! One who dies and had not recognised his Imam-asws, dies a death of the pre-Islamic period and would be Reckoned with whatever he had done in ’’. [190]
Ali Bin Abu Hamza who said, ‘I was in isolation in Masjid Al-Kufa when Abu Ja’far Al-Ahowl came to me with a sealed letter from Abu Al-Hassan-asws. I read his-asws letter, there in it was (written): ‘When you have read my-asws small letter (note) which is in the middle of my-asws sealed letter, then preserve it until I-asws demand it from you’. Ali (Bin Abu Hamza) took the letter and entered it into a storeroom, in a locked box inside a satchel, inside a locked wooden container, and the door of the room was locked, and the keys of these locks were in his room. When it was the night, these were under his head, and no one was entering the storeroom apart from him. When the season (Hajj) presented, he went out to Makkah as a delegate (pilgrim) with entirety of he had written to him-asws of his needs. When he entered to see him-asws, Al-Ab Al-Salih (Musa-asws Bin Ja’far-asws) said to him: ‘O Ali! What happened to the small letter (note) which I-asws had written to you in it that I-asws wanted you to preserve? ’ I told him-asws. He-asws said: ‘If you were to look at the letter, would you recognise it? ’ I said, ‘Yes’. He-asws raised the prayer mat, and there it was, he-asws had extracted it to me. He-asws said: ‘Preserve it, for if you were to know what is in it, your chest would be constricted’. He (Ali Bin Abu Hamza) said, ‘I returned to Al-Kufa and the letter was with me. I brought it out and put it in my top pocket by my armpit’. The letter was in his pocket during his lifetime. When Ali died, Muhammad and Hassan, his two sons said, ‘There was no concern for us except the letter. We missed it, and we knew that the letter had gone back to him-asws’’. [191]