Prayer of the Lord of the Age^(a)

After offering the first two unit (raka’at) salutation prayer of the Holy Mosque, another two units with the intention of “the prayer of Wali al-'Asr^(a)” should be recited in the following manner:

In each unit (raka’a), whilst reciting Sūrah al-Hamd, when you reach at the verse: “Iyyaaka na'budu wa lyyaaka nasta'een”¹, repeat it one hundred times (you can count using a rosary) and then finish the rest of Sūrah al-Hamd.

Then recite Sūrah al-Ikhlāṣ once, but during the ruku’ and the sujud, recite the invocation (dhikr) seven times (like the Prayer of the Salutation of Mosque).

After completing the prayer, recite “Lā ‘ilāha ‘illa Allāh”² once. Then perform the Tasbīḥ of Lady Fāṭīma^(a)3.

Finally, prostrate and recite one hundred times: “Allāhumma Ṣallī ‘Alā Muḥammadin Wa ‘ālī Muḥammad”⁴.

After prescribing the above acts of worship to Ḥasan b. Mathleh, Imām al-Mahdī^(a) said: “O Ḥasan! Anyone who has offered these prayers in this Holy Mosque is tantamount to having offered prayers in the Holy Kaʿba.”

Ḥasan b. Mathleh says: “As soon as I started to convey this message and having taken only a few steps, again I was commanded by the Lord of the Age^(a) as follows:

“O Ḥasan! There is a goat in the herd of the shepherd Jaʿfar al-Kāshānī - a goat partly coloured and hairy, having seven black and white spots altogether, three being on the right side, and the remaining four on the left side - you must purchase this goat with your own personal money, and with the help of other people bring this goat to this place the next night for sacrifice. After sacrificing the goat distribute the meat of sacrifice on Wednesday the 18th day of the blessed month of Ramaḍān among the sick people. God Almighty will cure them through this meat of sacrifice.”

Because, our aim is to present only a brief summary of the above story, therefore it would not be appropriate to continue the remaining story as narrated by Ḥasan b. Mathleh, but in summary:

Ḥasan b. Mathleh described the previous night's episode to one of his close friends ʿAlī b. Mandar, and together they went to visit the sacred place, which was shown to Ḥasan by the Imām^(a). As promised, they encountered the signs in the form of nails and chains marking the boundaries of the Holy Mosque; immediately they returned to Qom to see Sayyid Abū al-Ḥasan, who was eagerly awaiting for their arrival, because of his having seen the same whole episode in a dream the previous night.

Together, they started towards Jamkarān and encountered the herd of Jaʿfar al-Kāshānī. As soon as Ḥasan b. Mathleh approached this flock he saw a goat with the exact signs as described by Imām^(a) coming behind the herd towards him. He approached the shepherd Jaʿfar al-Kāshānī for the payment of the goat, who in turn was completely surprised and swore that he had never before noticed this particular goat in his flock.

Finally, they brought the said animal towards the sacred place as directed by the Imām^(a) for sacrifice and distributed the meat among the sick people who were cured. Then they started laying the foundation of the Holy Mosque of Jamkarān, and with the earnings of the real estates of Ardhaal, completed the roof of the mosque. The nails and chains left by the Imām^(a) were taken by Sayyid Abū al-Ḥasan to his house and every time sick people, with sincerity and belief, neared themselves to these things, they became cured.

After Sayyid Abū al-Ḥasan's passing, one of his children became sick and seeking to get cured, he opened the box containing these chains and nails, only to find them missing; his search for finding these missing items produced no positive result. The story of Ḥasan b. Mathleh al-Jamkarānī and his being assigned by the Imām^(a) for the building of the Holy Jamkarān Mosque has been narrated in the following books:

1. Biḥār al-ʾAnwār, vol. 53, p. 230.

2. Al-Najm al-Thāqib, p.294.

3. Ilzām al-Nāṣib, vol.2, p.55.