ABSTRACT
Our first two chapters have established the challenges and potential rewards of a life lived under divine auspices. These challenges were formulated and pursued through human endeavors, focusing on myriad experiences that make up human life – from individual reflection to social interaction. Having considered these mechanisms of interpretation and adaptation, we have yet to encounter the immediate source of our mediated lives. Pondering will not prepare us for the indisputable reality of this encounter. For the protagonist of the final text we will examine from Dastan-e Rastan, it occurs with a bang.
Ahmad bne Muhammad bne Abinasr Baznati – who was one of sages of the age – conducted a lengthy correspondence with Imam Reza (PBUH). The two asked one another questions and answered them. After they had corresponded for some time, Baznati asked to meet the Imam himself. “I wish to come to your house and make use of your presence,” he wrote. “Of course, only when your work does not prevent it and my presence will not impede you when you are occupied with affairs of state.” One day, Imam Reza sent his personal chariot and summoned Baznati to
him. They sat up until midnight that night, busy with questions and answers on issues of religion. Obviously, Baznati brought up his questions and the Imam answered them. Baznati felt great pride during this time, as though he could not contain the happiness which filled him. The evening passed, and it was time for bed. The Imam turned to his
servant and said: “I ask that you prepare my personal bed for Bazanti, so that he may rest.” This gesture of affection moved Baznati very much. The bird of his ima-
gination took flight. In his heart, he said to himself: “No one in the world is luckier and happier than I am. The Imam sent his personal chariot to summon me, and brought me into his home. Later he sat up with me half the night and answered my questions. And then, when it was time for bed, he ordered his own personal bed to be made for me. Who is happier and luckier than I am in the whole world?”
