عَنِ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ الْجَهْمِ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ الرِّضَاؑ يَقُولُ مَا قَالَ فِينَا مُؤْمِنٌ شِعْراً يَمْدَحُنَا بِهِ اِلَّا بَنَى اللهُ تَعَالَى لَهُ مَدِينَةً فِي الْجَنَّةِ اَوْسَعَ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا سَبْعَ مَرَّاتٍ يَزُورُهُ فِيهَا كُلُّ مَلَكٍ مُقَرَّبٍ وَ كُلُّ نَبِيٍّ مُرْسَلٍ
Al-Hasan Ibn al-Jahm reports, “I heard (al-Imam) al-Reza (peace be upon him) say,
‘No believer says a couplet in our glory through which he praises us but that Allah – the High – builds for him a city in Paradise, seven times vaster than this world; every proximate angel and sent Messenger visits him in it’.”
Notes:
1) In this narration, Imam (peace be upon him) informs that a city will be built for him while in the previous narration, a house will be built for him. Obviously, the difference can be for various reasons like the level of the recognition of the person and the poem, the concept conveyed, etc. Allah knows the best.
2) Importantly, the condition laid is that the poet should be a ‘believer’ and not a non-believer like a hypocrite, Jew, Christian, infidel, polytheist, etc.
3) The importance of this believer is underlined when infallible beings like proximate angels and sent Messengers (peace be on them all) visit this believer, who is not infallible. Obviously, he has attained this great position due to his glorification of the Ahle Bait (peace be upon them).
4) If we cannot write such poems or read them, the least we can do is to attend such gatherings where the Ahle Bait (peace be upon them) are praised and also take our children and family members along so that they are trained and brought up in such an atmosphere.
References:
1. Oyoon Akhbaar al-Reza (peace be upon him), vol. 1, p. 7, H. 3
2. Behaar al-Anwaar, vol. 26, p. 231, H. 5
3. Wasaael al-Shiah, vol. 14, p. 598, H. 19893