Seeking Help Through The Name of Imam Sadiq (a.s.)

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It is narrated that Dawood al-Raqqi said: I was in the presence of Abu Abdillah, Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him). 

He (peace be upon him) said to me: “Why do I see the colour of your face changed?”

I replied: “It is because of a burdensome, humiliating debt. I had intended to travel by sea to Sind to go to my brother [so-and-so].” He (peace be upon him) said: “If you wish.” I said: “The terrors of the sea and its turbulence frighten me from it.”

He (peace be upon him) said: “The One who protects on land is your Protector at sea. O Dawood, were it not for my name and my spirit, the rivers would not flow, the fruits would not ripen, and the trees would not turn green.”

Dawood said: So, I embarked upon the sea until I reached a point on the coast as Allah willed, after a journey of 120 days. I disembarked before midday on Friday, and the sky was overcast. Suddenly, a radiant light appeared, stretching from the horizon of the sky to the surface of the earth.

Then I heard a hidden voice saying: “O Dawood, this is the time for the settling of your debt. Raise your head; you are safe.”

So I raised my head and was called: “Proceed to what is beyond the red hill.” I went there and found red plates of gold, one side smooth, and on the other side written: “This is Our gift, so bestow or withhold without account.” [Surah Sad (38): Verse 39]

I gathered them, and they were of a value beyond measure. I said to myself: “I will not produce this (in front of anyone) until I return to Madinah”. 

When I arrived in Madinah, I entered upon him (Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him). He said to me: “O Dawood, our true gift to you was the light that shone for you – not the gold and silver you went after. But that too is for you, pure and pleasant, as a gift from a Noble Lord. So, praise Allah.”

Dawood said: Then I asked his servant Mu’attib, and he said: “At that very time, he (Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him) was speaking with his companions – among them were Khaythamah, Humran, and Abd al-A‘la – facing them, and narrating to them the same account you mentioned. When the prayer time came, he stood and led them in prayer. I later asked all of them, and they all recounted the same story to me.”

References: 

1. Al-Kharaaej wa al-Jaraaeh, vol. 2, pp. 622-623, H. 23; 

2. Behaar al-Anwaar, vol. 47, p. 100, H. 120