On Sunday, the 25th of February 2024 A.D. (the 15th of Shaʹbān 1445 A.H.)
The Birthday of the twelfth Imam (Imam al-Mahdi) occurred on Friday daybreak, on the 15th of Shaʹbān in 255 A.H. (869 A.D.) in Samarra (a town in Iraq). According to a narration quoted in kamāl al-Dīn, vol. 2, p. 424-426, Lady Hakīmah, the honorable aunt of the eleventh Imam (al-Hasan al-ʹAskarī) says,
“Imam al-Hassan al-‘Askarī, (the eleventh Imam) sent for me and said, ‘O aunt, have your Iftār (dinner) tonight with us. This is the night of mid-Sha‘bān and Allah, the High, will bring forth the Hujjah (Imam al-Mahdi) on this night. He will be Allah’s Hujjah on His earth. (a proof from Allah on earth)’”
Lady Hakīmah says, “I said to him, ‘And who is his mother?’ and he replied, ‘Narjis’. I again uttered, “There is no sign (of pregnancy) in her.” He responded, “It is as I will tell you.” Lady Hakīmah says, “I came and when I greeted and sat, Lady Narjis came to take off my shoes and said, “O My lady! How are you this evening?” I responded, “Rather, you are my lady and the lady of my household.” She turned my word down and said, “What is this that you came here, dear aunt?” I told, “My dear daughter, Allah, the Exalted, will grant you in this night of yours a boy, a master in this world and in the hereafter.” She sat and felt shy and embarrassed.
When I finished the ‘Ishā’ prayer and had my dinner, I went to bed and slept. When it was in the middle of the night, I got up to perform prayers. I finished my prayers and she was sleeping and there was no sign of any kind of pregnancy in her. I sat saying some supplication, then I went to the bed, and then I woke up suddenly and somehow I was horrified. She was still asleep. She then woke up and rose and performed prayers and then slept. Lady Hakīmah says, “As doubts came to me, Abu Muhammad (Imam al-Hassan al-‘Askarī who became aware of my thought) called out, ‘Do not haste, aunt, the affair has come near.’” I recited Sūrahs Sajda and Yāsīn. And as I was doing that, Lady Narjis woke up suddenly; I rushed towards her and read the name of Allah on her and then I asked, “Do you feel anything?” and she said, “Yes, aunt.” I told her “Be prepared and do not be scared. It will be as I told you.”
Lady Hakīmah says, “And then faintness overwhelmed me and her. Then I recovered sensing my Master. I removed the sheet from him, and there he was, prostrating touching the earth with his forehead and palms and knees and toes; I pulled him to myself and there he was pure and clean. Abū Muhammad (the eleventh Imam) called on me, ‘Bring my son to me, Aunt.’ I took his son to him. He put his hands under his thighs and back and put the infant’s feet on his chest. He then put his tongue in his mouth and touched his eyes, ears, and joints with his hands and said to him “My son, talk.” The baby said, “I bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah, the One without a partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah’s Messenger.” He then beseeched blessings for the Commander of the Faithful (Imam Ali) and the Imams until he reached at his father and then respectfully stopped.
Abu Muhammad said, “Aunt, take him to his mother so he may give her greetings and then bring him to me.” I took her to his mother and he greeted her. Then I brought him back and put him in the sitting room. He then said, “Aunt, when it is the seventh day, come to us.”
Lady Hakīmah says, “In the morning, I came to offer my greetings to Abu Muhammad. I removed the curtain looking for my Master. Not seeing him, I asked his father, ‘May I be your ransom, where is my Master?’ He said, ‘We entrusted him to the one that mother of Moses had entrusted Moses to.’ When it was the seventh day, I came and greeted and sat. He said, ‘Bring to me my son.’ I brought my Master in a wrap. He acted towards his son in the same way he had acted the first time. Then he put his tongue into his mouth; seemed as if he was feeding him milk or honey. Then he said, ‘Talk O’ my son.’ The blessed infant repeated the same words as before and send blessing to all Imams until his father. Then he said, ‘In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate’ and recited this verse,
"وَنُرِیدُ أَنْ نَمُنَّ عَلَى الَّذِینَ اسْتُضْعِفُوا فِی الأَرْضِ وَنَجْعَلَهُمْ أَئِمَّةً وَنَجْعَلَهُمُ الْوَارِثِینَ * وَنُمَکِّنَ لَهُمْ فِی الأَرْضِ وَنُرِی فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا مِنْهُمْ مَا کَانُوا یَحْذَرُونَ"
“And we desire to confer kindness upon those who have been enfeebled on earth and make them Imams and make them heirs and give them power on earth and show Pharaoh and Hāmān and their armies from them what they feared to happen to them.” (Quran, 28:5-6)
In another narration it is said that when Imam al-Mahdi was born, his father slaughtered seventy male sheep and distributed the meet among people. (Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 13, p. 4)
Moreover, he commanded his deputy, ‘Uthmān bin Sa’īd al-‘Amrī to buy ten thousand Ritls of bread (around three thousand kilos) and thsy much of meet and distribute them among the people of Bani Hāshim. (kamāl al-Dīn, vol. 2, p. 431.)
