Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) — Jabir ibn Yazid al-Ju'fi said: When the caliphate passed to Bani Umayya, they shed sacred blood and for a thousand months they cursed Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) from the pulpits and disavowed him. And they began to secretly kill the Shia in every city ... I complained to the manifest Imam, the purest of the pure, Zayn al-Abidin, master of the ascetics and the caliph of Allah over the servants, Ali ibn al-Husayn (peace be upon him), about Bani Umayya and their followers ... When the Imam (peace be upon him) heard these words from me, he fixed his gaze upon the sky and said: "O Allah, You are transcendent! O our Master, how great is Your forbearance! Exalted are You in patience and higher still is Your dominion. O Allah! You have granted Your servants such respite that they suppose they have been given respite forever. All these matters are before Your sight; Your decree cannot be overcome and the certain outcome of Your planning cannot be turned back — however and whenever You will. And You know it better than we do." Then he called for his son Muhammad (peace be upon him) and said to him: "My son!" He said: "At your service, my master!" He said: "Tomorrow morning, go to the mosque of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). Take the thread that Jibril brought down for our grandfather and shake it gently. Beware of shaking it hard! Beware of doing such a thing, for then all the people will perish." Jabir said: "I went with his honour to the mosque. He prayed two rak'ats, then placed his cheek upon the dust and uttered certain words. Then he raised his head and drew out of his sleeve a fine thread from which the scent of musk wafted, and it was thinner in appearance than a tailor's thread. He said to me: 'Take one end of the thread and walk a little. Beware of moving it!' I took the end of the thread and went a few steps. He said: 'Jabir, stop!' I stopped. He shook the thread so gently that it was as though he was not moving it at all. Then he said: 'Give me the end of the thread.' I gave him the end and said: 'What have you done, O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)?' He said: 'Woe to you! Go out and see what state the people are in!' I went out of the mosque. Suddenly I heard the sound of a great uproar and wailing rising from every direction. An earthquake and tremors had caused all the houses of Medina to collapse and be ruined, and more than thirty thousand men and women had been killed. I saw people coming out of the alleys and markets weeping and lamenting and crying out loudly, saying: إِنَّا لِلهِ وَ إِنَّا إِلَیْهِ راجِعُونَ [Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we shall return] (al-Baqarah/156). The Resurrection has begun, the Event has come to pass, and the people have died!' Another group said: 'An earthquake and destruction!' And another group said: 'Devastation and the Resurrection — all the people have died!' I saw a group coming and weeping and heading toward the mosque, saying to one another: 'How is it that the earth has not swallowed us, when we have abandoned enjoining good and forbidding evil, and depravity and immorality have appeared openly, and fornication, usury, wine-drinking and same-sex union have become widespread! By Allah, worse than this will descend upon us if we do not reform ourselves!' Jabir said: "I stood bewildered and dazed, watching the people going toward the mosque in groups, wailing and lamenting. My heart ached for them, so much that from their weeping I too began to weep. They did not know what the cause of the event was or from which side it had befallen them. I went to Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) and saw the people gathered around him, saying: 'O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Do you not see what has come upon us beside the shrine of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)? The people have died and been destroyed. Pray for us!' He said: 'Take refuge in prayer, give alms, and supplicate.' Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) turned to me and said: 'Jabir! In what state are the people?' I said: 'Do not ask, O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! The houses have been ruined, the palaces demolished, and the people have perished. My heart ached at seeing them.' He said: 'May Allah never have mercy on them! Surely some trace still remains in your heart, otherwise your heart would not ache for our enemies and the enemies of our friends.' Then he said: 'Away with them! Away with them! Far be it, far be it, from the wrongdoing people! By Allah, had I moved the thread even the slightest movement, the oppressors would all have died, and they would have been turned upside down, and no house or palace would have remained. But my master and lord commanded me not to move it hard.' Then he went up the minaret. The people did not see him. He cried out at the top of his voice: 'O misguided, denying people!' The people supposed it was a voice from the sky. They cast themselves to the dust, their hearts pounded, and in prostration they said: 'Safety! Safety!' They heard the voice but did not see its owner. Then he gestured with his hand. I saw him, but the people did not see him. [Again] a light earthquake shook Medina, not like the first, and many houses were destroyed. Then he recited this verse: "That was the recompense We gave them for their transgression." (al-An'am/146); and after coming down [from the minaret] he recited these two verses: "And when Our command came, We turned that [town and land] upside down and rained upon them stones of layered baked clay, [stones] marked from your Lord for the transgressors" (Hud/82–83).