(451) In the sense of the calls we have gathered is what Muhammad ibn Sinan—peace be upon him—narrated, saying: I looked at Bashshar al-Sha'iri—peace be upon him—while he was calling out in the city of the mosque of the Messenger of God—exalted be his glory: "Labbaika, O First of the first two! Labbaika, O Last of the last ones! Labbaika, O Ja'far!" Our companions found that repulsive and denounced him for it, saying: "You have broadcast God's secret before its time and were not commanded to do so." He replied: "Leave me, woe to you! I entered upon my Master al-Sadiq—exalted be his glory—and found him sitting upon the wing of an eagle in a garden of light. When I saw him, I fell prostrate. He said to me: 'O Bashshar, raise your head. A time shall surely come upon the people when they shall pray toward me.'" I said: "When shall that be, O You besides whom there is no deity?" He replied: "When the nation gathers and it is called out upon the hermitages: Ali is the Lord of the worlds."

(452) The discourse returns to what I related from my sheikh — may God be pleased with him — before appending this section. When Isa ibn Musa — may God curse him — returned from Baghdad to Kufa, he passed by the mosque of the Khattabiyya one night. He saw it dark, without light, silent and hearing no voice from it. He used to pass by it before the event and hear their recitation, their night vigils in the stillness of the night, and their prayers, and he had found comfort in them. He stopped and said to the chief of police: "What has become of the folk who were in this mosque? We used to find comfort in them through the sweetness of their recitation and the beauty of their prayer¹ and vigils." They replied: "They are the folk you killed yesterday with Abu al-Khattab, the companion of Ja'far ibn Muhammad, for they were of his Shia." He said: "To God we belong and to Him we return; we have indeed killed righteous people from the best of the inhabitants of Kufa."