This strange event [the shepherd’s dream and the upcoming
death of Siyyid Kázim] was noised abroad. It brought sadness to the heart of
the true lovers of Siyyid Kázim. To these he, with infinite tenderness and joy,
addressed words of cheer and comfort. He calmed their troubled hearts,
fortified their faith, and inflamed their zeal. With dignity and calm he
completed his pilgrimage and returned to Karbilá. The very day of his arrival
he fell ill, and was confined to bed. His enemies spread the rumour that he had
been poisoned by the Governor of Baghdád. This was sheer calumny and downright
falsehood, inasmuch as the Governor himself had placed his unqualified
confidence in Siyyid Kázim, and had always regarded him as a highly talented
leader endowed with keen perception and possessed of irreproachable character.
On the day of Árafih, in the year 1259 A.H., [December 31, 1843 A.D] at the ripe age of sixty, Siyyid Kázim, in
accordance with the vision of that lowly shepherd, bade farewell to this world,
leaving behind him a band of earnest and devoted disciples who, purged of all
worldly desire, set out in quest of their promised Beloved.
(Chapter 2, ‘The
Dawn-Breakers’)
