Appointed Representative / Emissary : Uthman bin Saeed Amri(a.r.)

Appointed Representative / Emissary : Uthman bin Saeed Amri(a.r.)

(Reference : Behaarul Anwaar Vol. 51)

The author says: Then Shaykh Tusi mentions some of the companions of the Imams, Divine bliss be for them, who have been praised. And then he says, Of the emissaries in the time of the minor occultation, who have been extolled, their first one is the person appointed by Abul Hasan Ali Ibne Muhammad Askari and his son Abu Muhammad Hasan Ibne Ali Ibne Muhammad, peace be with them all. He was the reliable scholar Abu Amr Uthman Ibne Saeed Amari and was from the tribe of Asad. He has been called Amari on the virtue of the narration of Abu Nasr Hibatullah Ibne MuhammadIbne Ahmad Katib Ibne binte Abi Ja’far Amari saying, He was from the Asad,and is known by his grandfather’s name and therefore, it is said Amari.

A group of the Shia has said: Abu Muhammad Hasan Ibne Ali (a.s.) said:“The names Ibne Uthman and Abu Amr shall not gather in one man,” and ordered him to break his patronymic, so he was called Amari. He is also called Askari, because he was from the Askar of Samarrah. He is also called Samman, because he used to trade in grease in order to conceal his task. When the Shia carried their religious dues to Imam Hasan Askari (a.s.),they would send it to Abu Amr, which he would place in containers that were used for grease and carry them to Imam Hasan Askari (a.s.) because of Taqayyah and fear. A group of scholars narrated to me from Abu Muhammad Harun Ibne Musa from Abu Ali Muhammad Ibne Himam Iskafi, who said Ahmad Ibne Ishaq Ibne Saad Qummi narrated to us, saying, I entered on a certain dayu pon Abul Hasan Ali Ibne Muhammad, peace be with him (a.s.). I said:

“O my master, many a time, I go away and then come to your vicinity, yet I am still not able to find access to you every time I come nearby. So whose word should we accept and whose order should we obey?” The Imam (a.s.) said: “This is Abu Amr. He is trustworthy and honest. He is the trustworthy man of the past and my man of trust in my lifetime and after my death. Whatever he says to you, he says it from us; whatever he delivers to you, he does so from me.”

Abu Muhammad Harun said: Abu Ali said: Abul Abbas Himyari said: We would often discuss this narration and extol the eminence of Abu Amr. A group of scholars narrated to us from Abu Muhammad Harun from Muhammad Ibne Himam from Abdullah Ibne Ja’far, saying, On a certain year after the demise of Imam Hasan Askari (a.s.), we performed Hajj. I went to Ahmad Ibne Ishaq at Medina and saw Abu Amr with him. I said: “This Shaykh,” pointing to Ahmad Ibne Ishaq, “and he is a trustworthy and admirable man before us, has narrated to us,” such and such. I narrated to him all of the narrative, which we have mentioned above on the account of the eminent position of Abu Amr. I said: “You are now someone whose word and truthfulness is not doubtable. I beseech you for the sake of Allah and the sake of the two Imams who have declared you trustworthy, have you seen the son of Abu Muhammad who is the Master of the Age?” He wept and then said: “You cannot inform anyone with this regard so long as I am alive.” I said: “Sure so.” He said: “I have verily seen him and his neck is like this.” He wanted to say that he has the most beautiful and wholesome of the necks. I asked, “And the name?” He said: “You have been all forbidden from that.”Abul Abbas Ahmad Ibne Ali Ibne Nuh Abul Abbas Sairafi narrates through the chain of narration from Muhammad Ibne Ismail Hasin and AliIbne Abdullah Hasin, that the two men said: We entered upon Abu Muhammad Hasan (a.s.) at Samarrah. There were a group of his devotees and his Shia in his presence when Badr, his servant, entered and said: “O my master, there is a nation, streaked in dust and with uncombed hair, at the gate.” The Imam said: “They are a group of our Shia from Yemen.”The narration is long. The two narrators say, Hasan (a.s.) said to Badr,“Go and bring Uthman Ibne Saeed Amari to us.” It was not long that Uthman entered. Our master Imam Hasan Askari (a.s.) said to him, “O Uthman go, for you are the representative and the reliable and entrusted man with respect to God’s money. Take from these Yemeni gentlemen the religious dues they have brought.” Then the two narrators continue their narrative until they say:Then we all said: “O our Master, by Allah, Uthman is of the best of your Shia. You increased our knowledge with respect to his position in your service and that he is your representative and your reliable man in God’s money.”He said: “Yes, and bear witness for me that Uthman Ibne Saeed Amari is my representative and that his son Muhammad is the representative of my son, your Mahdi.”

It is mentioned in Ghaibat of Shaykh Tusi that Abu Nasr, who is the great grandson of Amari’s daughter, narrates through his chain of narration that when Hasan Ibne Ali (a.s.) passed away, Uthman Ibne Saeed attended his burial bath and served in all of his rituals of shrouding, scenting, and burial. He was ordered to be the caretaker in the superficies, and superficies cannot be rejected but through the rejection of the reality of things because of their appearances. The letters of the Master of the Affair (a.s.) to his Shia and the intimated evotees of his father, Imam Hasan Askari (a.s.), containing orders and prohibitions and answers to their queries when they needed to pose questions, would come through Uthman Ibne Saeed and his son Abu Ja’far Muhammad Ibne Uthman. These letters were in the same handwriting that used to come in the lifetime of Hasan (a.s.). The Shia continued to recognize him as a righteous man until Uthman Ibne Saeed died and his son Abu Ja’far gave him the burial bath and took over the task. Then onwards, all undertakings were accomplished through Abu Ja’far and the Shia remained unanimous on his uprightness and trustworthiness and honesty due to the narration recorded during his father’s lifetime that enunciated his honesty and uprightness and commanded the Shia to refer to him in the lifetime of Hasan (a.s.) as well as after his death.

Ahmad Ibne Ali Ibne Nuh Abul Abbas Sairafi narrates on the authority of a number of named narrators in a long well-known narration, in which they all say, We gathered before Abu Muhammad Hasan Ibne Ali (a.s.) to ask him about the Hujjah after him. There were forty men in the gathering. Uthman Ibne Saeed Ibne Amr Amari rose and said: “O son of the Messenger of Allah, I want to ask you about a great subject which you know better than me” “Sit down, O Uthman,” he told him. Uthman rose to leave.The Imam said: “No one leaves.” None of us left. It was an hour that the Imam called Uthman. Uthman who rose on his feet. The Imam said: “Shall I inform you why you have come?” They said: “Yes, O son of the Messenger of Allah.” He said: “You have come to ask me about the Hujjah after me.”

They said: “Yes.”Suddenly, there came a boy, as he were a piece of the moon and more similar to Imam Hasan Askari (a.s.) than all the people. The Imam said: ‘This is your Imam after me and my caliph over you. Obey him and do not dispers eafter me, lest you will perish in your religions. Behold, you will not see him after this day of yours until ages pass. So, accept from Uthman what he says and obey his order and accept his word, because he is the caliph of your Imam and the affairs are in his hands.”

Abu Nasr Hibtullah Ibne Muhammad bin Ahmad says in a narration, The tomb of Uthman Ibne Saeed is on the western side of Baghdad in the street of the turf. It is in the beginning of the famous place in the gate known as the gate of Hubla, in the gate of the Mosque on the right side. The tomb is in the very Qibla of the mosque. Shaykh Tusi has said: I saw his tomb in the said spot. A wall had been erected at its face at which the mosque’s mihrab stood. On its side is a gate that goes to the tomb in a dark and small room. We used to enter that room and visit him every month. Such was my practice from the time of my arrival at Baghdad, which was at the year four hundred and eight, until the year four hundred and thirty and something. Then the Chief Abu Mansur Muhammad Ibne Faraj tore down that wall and manifested the tomb to view and built a sepulchre over it. It is under a ceiling and anyone who desires can enter and visit it. The neighbours seek blessing by visiting him and believe that he is a virtuous man. They often say he is the son of the woman who raised the Doyen of the Martyrs Husain (a.s.) and do not know the reality about him. This condition continues until this day of ours, which is the year four hundred and forty seven.