Heraclius, the king of Rome, sent a man from Ghassan to Medina to bring him the news of the Prophet. And he said to that man: Pay attention to his three deeds and let me know:
1. What does he sit on?
2. Who is on his right?
3. If you can, look at the seal of prophecy that is between his shoulders.
When a Ghassani man came to the presence of the Prophet in Madinah, he saw the Prophet sitting on the ground and Ali bin Abi Talib (his successor) was on the right side, and the Messenger of God had dipped his feet in the water of a spring. He asked the people:
“Who is the person sitting on his right side?” They said: He is his cousin.
He wrote these signs but forgot the third order.
The Prophet said to him: “Come and see what your Lord has ordered.”
So he looked at the seal of prophecy and then went to Heraclius.
Heraclius asked: What did you do? He said: I saw him sitting on the ground and dipping his feet into the water of a spring, and Ali-7- his cousin was sitting on his right side. But I had forgotten to look at the seal of prophecy.
He himself reminded me and said: Come, see what they ordered you to see!
Heraclius said: This is the person whose arrival was announced by Hazrat Jesus-7 and he said that he will ride a camel and you should follow him and confirm him.
Then he said to the messenger: Go and inform my brother about this fact. Because he is my partner in government[1].
Source:
[1] Bahar: 20/378, Hadith 2.
