Jabir said: "Then I approached I approached my Lord, prostrating, and said to Him: "O my Lord, how much [mystery] Your servant Jabir has had to bear! Indeed, this is magnificent." He replied: "[It is] so that the Truth may be distinguished from Falsehood, and the wicked from the good." Then He said: "Raise your head, O Jabir." I raised my head, and I saw nothing of what I had just been witnessing. He said: "March, O Jabir." So I marched through that land as if I had never beheld anything in it. This was among the proofs He manifested to me while He was heading toward [the encounter with] the Kharijites; thus the report is concluded.

Reflect, O Master who seeks the Path of Reality through detachment (Tajrid): what manifest proof or overpowering miracle is greater than these decisive evidences emanating from the Reality of the Essence (Haqiqat al-Dhat), by which He guides and directs the people of knowledge and worship!

Ali showing Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari the Construction of Baghdad

A parallel to this very miracle and a proof similar to it is what He also displayed to Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari, revealing to him the building of Baghdad before its existence. He showed him its markets, its people, its commoners (qumashaha), and its foundations. He showed him its livestock (kira'aha) and everything it contained during the height of its prosperity and construction.