Unreturned Love

A friend and I watched a lecture a few days back about the Imam of our time, may God hasten his reappearance. There was a story in the lecture, which I hope I can narrate as accurately as possible.

Allama al Hilli was a great scholar, an expert in his field, but he had two dillemas; the first was that he didn't understand Imam al Baqir's (as) hadith, where he said that God would cure sins the size of the ocean for one who shed a tear the size of the wing of a mosquito for Imam Hussein (as). The second was that he wanted to know if one actually meets the Imam of our time if he or she goes to Kufa for forty Thursdays in a row.

It was the fortieth Thursday and Allama al Hilli was walking towards Kufa. As he was drawing closer, an Arab man approached him and asked him where he was headed. Allama al Hilli replied that he was going to Kufa. The Arab man asked him why, to which Allama al Hilli said that he wanted to meet the Imam of his time. Again, the Arab man asked the reason. Allama al Hilli replied that he had a question to ask the Imam (af). When the Arab man asked what his quesiton was, Allama al Hilli explained his first dillema and said that he was confident that he would meet the Imam, it being his fortieth Thursday visiting Kufa.

The Arab man asked Allama al Hilli if he would permit him to answer his question, to which the scholar was slightly hesitant. However, the Arab man insisted he be given a chance to ease Allama al Hilli's first dillema. He narrated the following story:

There was once a king who, with his army, proceeded towards a war. However, he lost his army and was left deserted in a forest, where he saw a small cabin. The king approached this cabin and knocked on the door. When an old woman answered, the king explained his situation and asked the old lady if she could let him stay with her for a few nights for safety. The woman explained that she lived alone with her son, and that the king was more than welcome to stay.

The woman and her son gave everything they had- they had only one animal, which they sacrificed for the hungry king. After he ate, he promised the woman and her son that when he returned to his kingdom, he would repay them for their favour, and he left.

Months passed, but the woman and her son heard nothing from the king, so her son decided to approach the palace to remind him of his promise. Her son approached the king in his palace, and asked the king if he remembered the time when he was deserted in the forest. The king immediately remembered, and wondred how he could have forgotten his promise. The king turned to one of his advisors and asked how he should repay the young man and his mother. The advisor suggested to give them some treasure. Another advisor suggested some land.

The king looked at the advisors and said, "How unjust both of you are. This young man and his mother gave away everything they had, for me. Therefore, if I am just, I want to give away everything I have, for them."

The Arab man explained that if a normal king could be as generous as to give away everything he had in return for a single sacrificed animal, then the King of kings could undoubtedly give away His repentance to the man who gave everything away for Him on the tenth of Muharram.

Allama al Hilli narrated that he began to cry when he heard this answer to his dillema. The Arab man then said to Allama al Hilli, "Tell our followers that when they visit us and they need our help, I will always be there to help them." As soon as Allama al Hilli realised that the Arab man was the Imam of our time, the Imam had gone.

After listening to this story, I feel ashamed. Here is a man, someone we claim to follow and be loyal to, who probably cares more about our actions than we do ourselves, who wants to offer us a route salvation and loves us, and yet we don't return this love- instead, we keep him waiting. We fail to be the soldiers that he so desperately wants.