Articles/Submissions > Imam Ali's Grave - A Place of Refuge and Mercy

Imam Ali's Grave - A Place of Refuge and Mercy
By Azra

Sheikh Mufid has stated that once Haroon Rasheed went out of Kufa for hunting and proceeded towards Gharyayn and Thawiyyah.  He saw some deer and ordered that the hawks of prey and dogs be set free to catch them.

When they commenced the chase, the deer noticed them and ran to a small hill and took refuge there.  The hawks did not attack!

Haroon Rasheed was astonished by the event. 

In a while, the deer descended from the hill into a valley and immediately the hawks and the dogs started to chase and attack them.  The deer returned to the same place to take refuge and the hawks and the dogs gave up the chase.

This happened three times which astonished Haroon Rasheed. 

Haroon ordered his attendants to immediately bring to him people knowledgeable about the place.  They rushed away and brought to him an old man from the tribe of Bani Asad.  Haroon asked him about the place on the small hill.  He agreed to reveal to him what he knew of the place if he would be assured total safety. 

After getting the assurance, the old man explained that his father had told him what he had learnt from his father that the holy grave of Imam Ali(a.s.) was in that small hill and that Allah had ordained it a place of refuge and safety.

Source:
Mafatih-ul-Jinan
by Sheikh Abbas Qummi
(translated by Murtaza Ahmed Lakha)