In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Imam Hassan al-Askari (AS) and the Miracle of Praying for Rain (for 10 years old and more)
In One incident when Imam Hassan al-Askari (AS) was imprisoned, there was a drought in Samarra. People suffered immensely as all the water dried up and their crops died. The Muslims organized many prayers for rain but no rain came.
For three days, people went outside the city to take part in the prayer for rain but there was no sign of any rain. On the fourth day, the Christian high priest went to the desert and prayed for rain; and lo! heavy rain started to fall. The same thing was repeated the next day.
The Muslims were surprised; doubts started occurring in their minds about the truth of Islam vis-a-vis Christianity. The Caliph did not know what to do. Finally, he came to the prison and asked Imam Hassan al-Askari (AS) for help and said to him “Save the nation (ummah) of your grandfather, because people are in doubt of Islam”
Imam Hassan al-Askari (AS) was taken to see the Christian priest as he prayed and he noticed the priest was raising one hand with a closed fist. He asked Caliph’s soldiers to take away what was in the priest’s fist and they found a small bone in it. The Imam then told the priest to pray again without it and even though the clouds had started to gather earlier, they all cleared away and the sun shone brightly and there was no rain.
Imam Hassan al-Askari (AS) then revealed the priest’s secret. The tiny piece of bone was taken from the grave of a Prophet and whenever a prophet’s bone is raised to the heavens, it brings rain as a Mercy from Allah.
The caliph’s people examined the bone and found that what our Imam was saying was the truth. The Imam placed that bone in a piece of cloth and covered it and put it aside.
Then Imam Hassan al-Askari (AS) raised his hands in prayer. Even though he was not a nabi, he of course, was the flesh and blood of Rasulullah [PBUH] and the direct descendant of Nabi Ibrahim (AS) through all the prophets. He was the inheritor of all the prophets and messengers and the Imam of the Time. And as he prayed, it began raining heavily and the people rejoiced.
The Caliph now could not imprison the Imam right away so he allowed him to return home.
