In the website of Ayatollah Seyyid Mahmoud Mojtahid Sistani, there is story narrated by him of his Father’s meeting with the Imam Mahdi. The narration follows, with light editing:
To see Imam Mahdi, our father decided to recite Ziyarat Ashura on forty Fridays, each time in one of Mashhad’s mosques. In one of the last Fridays, he saw a light emanating from a house. He goes over to the house; and finds out that Imam Mahdi is one of the rooms in that house.
In the middle of the room was a body covered in white sheet. Imam Mahdi told him, “Why do you bother yourself so much? Be like this–pointing to the body–and I will come after you myself.” The Imam said, this is a lady who didn’t come out of her house in the seven years of Kashf-e hijab, to avoid a non-mahram gaze upon her.
Clarification
- Kashf-e hijab was a period of the of banning all Islamic veils (including headscarf and chador) during Reza Shah Pahlavi’s rein.
- Seyyid Mohammad Baghr is the father of the famed Ayatollah Sistani.
- This story is also narrated by Mr. Masoud Aali.
