From the signs of Imamate and being a proof of God is foretelling the future and being aware of individual’s inner secrets; that is the Imam should know the future, the past and whatever is asked from him. Here we mention a narration:
Bakr b. Salih said: “I went to Imam Reza (a) and said, my wife – who is the sister of Muhammad ibn Sinan, one of your companions and Shiites – is pregnant and I request you to pray that God grant me a son”.
Imam (a) said: “You will have two babies”. (While in 1300 years ago, there was no device like ultrasound or etc., that could determine the number and gender of unborn babies and this is a sign of Imamate.)
When I was leaving the Imam, I said to myself: “I will name one Muhammad and the other Ali”. But suddenly, the Imam called me and without asking anything, he said to me: “Name one Ali and the other Umm Amr (girl’s name)”. When I arrived in Kufa, my wife had given birth to a boy and a girl, and I named them as Imam had said. I said to my mother: “What is the meaning of Umm Amr?” She replied: “Your grandmother’s name was Umm Amr”.
Sources:
Al-Fusul al-Muhimma, p. 246; Nur al-Absar, p. 243; Akhbar al-Duwal wa Athar al-Awwal, Baghdad, Iraq, p. 114; Jami’ Kiramat al-Awliya’, vol. 2, p. 313; Al-Ithaf Bi-hubb al-Ashraf, p. 316.
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