Imam Reza's Miracle in Austria

One of my very close relatives was a young man, strong and handsome and full of life and vigor. He was a tradesman in the bazaar. All of a sudden he got an eye disease as a result of which he lost his eyesight. Several days passed without any recovery. He consulted some of the formerly well-known ophthalmologists of Tehran, such as Dr. Lashgari, Dr. Muhsin-zadeh, Dr. Darrabi and their likes, and all of them told him that at the farthest point under the eye a blood clot in the artery had interrupted vital blood supply to the eye. They told him that it was a case of thrombosis of the eye and was incurable by medical treatment or surgery. They told him that there was no chance of recovery, wherever he might go for treatment, and that what they had told him was a fact. The only chance he had, one which was very slight, was that the clot might move from its place.

Accordingly, they forbade him from taking certain foods such as eggs, oil, red meat and so on and they gave him anticoagulant tablets. He regularly kept on using those medicines but without any result. Gradually there appeared in him three other symptoms:

First, his eyes began losing their normal shape. They became contracted and the eyelids were covered with a dense scurf, and, as it is said, the eye was dying. The doctors had said that the other eye might also be affected, and the symptoms of the disease gradually became apparent in the other eye.

Secondly, his gums began to bleed due to the abnormal anticoagulation tendency in blood due to the medicines.

Thirdly, everyday he had convulsions and they became so severe at times that they would continue for five or ten minutes or even half an hour.

This young man, once hale and hearty, was now confined to his home, having lost his bodily strength. Days and at nights the sounds of weeping of relatives and kinsmen grieved over his condition would rise from his fathers house, where he lived at that time, and could be heard by neighbors. Relations, who continually came to visit him, and the family members within the house, cried at times like people attending a mourning gathering.

As a result of this affliction, this young man, who had a wife and children lost his spirits and morale. He had no will power nor the capacity to take any decision. As a result, he had no control over anything that was done for him nor he had any say in the matter. At that time those who were around decided to send him to Spain or Austria where two of the world's most eminent ophthalmologists were. After consultations they preferred Austria. His passport was soon arranged and he was flown from Tehran to London, from where he was to be accompanied to Austria by a young acquaintance, an Iranian student. An appointment had been arranged with the physician.

If you can imagine the scene of the day when this young man in this condition was taken to Tehran's Mehrabad Airport - where his old father, relatives, friends and acquaintances had gathered to bid him farewell - and his weakness, which was such that he was unable to climb the stairs to the airplane, you will get some idea of the indescribable miracle worked by Hadrat Imam Reza(A.S.).

This young man arrived in London. Within days he reached Austria and was hospitalized at the famous eye hospital there under the care of that ophthalmologist. He also told him that surgery was not possible. However, by the means of a certain apparatus they dislodged the eye and applied medicines at its base. Ultimately, whit a procedure which was more like physiotherapy than medical therapy, they tried to remove that clot but without success.

The youth remained there for two full months without making any progress. In fact one more problem was added to the existing ones: the eyeball had changed its position in the cavity with the black side of the pupil having turned inwards and the white side showing out. The physician had said, "All that I can do, and that too by the means of medicines in the long run, is to restore the eye to its previous condition. It is not possible for me to restore your eyesight."

These are things that this young man himself told me on his return. Therefore, I will recount what he said so that the matter may be clear He said: "The nurses at that hospital, most of whom were Christian nuns, felt very sorry for me. But what could they do, poor folks? One night when my companion had gone to London on some personal work - and on his return he was to make arrangements for my return home - I got up and prayed for a long time.

Then I said, "O 'Ali ibn Musa al-Reza(A.S.)! You are witness that I make recourse to you in all important matters, and I used to perform your ziyarah very often. If it were in my own hands I would not have allowed them to bring me here, in this town of Christians and unbelievers. Definitely, I would have come to your threshold and obtained my request. It were you who did me such and such a favor... It were you who did me such and such a kindness'. And I began recounting each and every one of my pleas that were answered by the Hadrat and which were beyond the power of anyone to carry out.

I also wept a lot and I said to him, 'We Shi'is have been taught that for an Infallible Imam life and death do not make any difference and the east and the west are the same to him. Here, now, I see myself in blessed shrine and I want you to cure my eye.' I said these things and went to sleep.