Table of Contents
Siyyid Kázim’s exceptional intellect and spiritual depth set him apart at a young age. His family were merchants of repute, but it was clear from childhood that his was a different life path. By age eleven, he had committed the entire Qur’án to memory, a remarkable feat. By fourteen, he had expanded his knowledge further by
One night, Siyyid Kázim had a dream23ACT1 in which the seventh Imám, Imám Músá-Kázim,24 appeared to him. In the dream, the Imám instructed Siyyid Kázim to seek out Shaykh Ahmad and become his disciple. Without hesitation, the 22-year-old Siyyid Kázim gathered his belongings and embarked on a lengthy journey to Yazd, where Shaykh Ahmad resided. Upon his arrival, Shaykh Ahmad immediately recognized Siyyid Kázim as the second Awakener after himself. Welcoming him warmly, Shaykh Ahmad exclaimed, “I welcome you, my friend! I have eagerly awaited your arrival to help liberate me from the arrogance of these misguided people!” He then cited a verse from the Qur’án: “We did indeed offer the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: But man undertook it; and he, verily, hath proved unjust, ignorant.”25ACT1 Siyyid Kázim grasped the many profound truths in this verse, one of which may be thought of as this: The divine Trust is the soul of man, with its capacity to know and love God; and this Trust can only be actualized fully by the soul recognizing and following the Manifestation of God of the time the soul is born in. And in this day, it meant preparing for and recognizing the soon to appear Promised One.
18 Siyyid means the person is a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad – which for the Shí’a is through the descendants of Imám ‘Alí and Fátima [see Appendix: Brief Background on Shí’a Islam]. They are usually distinguished by wearing a green turban or a black turban and a green shawl or sash.
Also called Traditions, the hadíth are oral sayings attributed to the Prophet Mohammad and the Imáms and given very high importance – second only to the Qur’án. For more details on hadíth see Appendix: Brief Background on Shí’a Islam.
20For the list of Imáms, see Appendix: Brief Background on Shí’a Islam. The main branch of the Shí’a believes in twelve Imáms, of which the twelfth is said to have disappeared and expected to reappear on the Day of Judgement as the Promised One.
21 The Verse of the Throne [Qur’án 2:255]
22 Dawn-Breakers Chapter 1, p9-10 and p9 footnote 2.
23 Dawn-Breakers Chapter 1, p9 footnote 2 quoting A Traveller’s Narrative, note E, p238.
24 The significance of the seventh Imám appearing in the dream is related to that Siyyid Kázim lived at that time in Ardibíl close to the tomb of saint that was descended from the seventh Imám. Dawn-Breakers Chapter 1, p9 footnote 2.