From Asma, daughter of Wathila ibn al-Asqa, who said: I heard Asma bint Umays al-Khath'amiyya say: My lady Fatima (AS) says: On the night that Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS) came in to me, he startled me in my bed. I said: And with what did he startle you, O Mistress of Women? She said: I heard the earth speaking with him and he speaking with it, and I rose in the morning frightened. I told my father, God's blessings be upon him, and he prostrated a long prostration, then raised his head and said: O Fatima, rejoice in a goodly progeny, for God has favoured your husband above the rest of His creation, and has commanded the earth to tell him its tidings and what passes upon its face, from its east to its west. (Iqbal al-A'mal, vol. 2, p. 585)
Asma bint Umays (the wife of Abu Bakr and mother of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, who later became the wife of Ali (AS)) narrates from Fatima (AS): In the early days of my marriage to Ali (AS) I noticed that in private he was speaking with the earth and the earth was speaking with him. I was frightened and went to my father and told him what had happened. My father (PBUH) laid his head down in prostration, and his prostration was long. When he raised his head he said: My daughter! A pure progeny shall come into being from you, for God has favoured your husband, Ali, above all other men. The earth confides to your husband its tidings and the events that take place in its east and its west.
Kumayl ibn Ziyad said: I was sitting with my master the Commander of the Faithful (AS) in the mosque of Basra, and with him was a group of his companions. One of them said: What is the meaning of the words of God, Mighty and Majestic, 'Therein every wise command is made distinct' [Qur'an 44:4]? He (AS) said: It is the night of mid-Sha'ban. By Him in whose hand is Ali's soul, there is no servant but that all the good and evil that shall befall him is apportioned to him on the night of mid-Sha'ban, up to the end of the year, at the coming of the like of that night. And there is no servant who keeps that night alive in worship and prays the supplication of al-Khidr (AS) but that he is answered. When he departed, I came to him by night, and he (AS) said: What has brought you, O Kumayl? I said: O Commander of the Faithful, the supplication of al-Khidr. He said: Sit, O Kumayl. When you have memorized this supplication, pray it every Thursday night, or once a month, or once a year, or once in your lifetime: you will be sufficed, and given victory, and provided for, and you will never lack forgiveness. O Kumayl, the long companionship you have kept with us makes it incumbent upon us that we be generous to you with what you have asked. Then he said: Write: O God, I ask You by Your mercy which encompasses all things … (Iqbal al-A'mal, vol. 2, p. 706)
Kumayl ibn Ziyad says: We were sitting with a company in the congregational mosque of Basra together with the Commander of the Faithful (AS). Someone asked: What is the meaning of 'Therein every wise command is made distinct' [Qur'an 44:4]? The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: What is meant is the night of mid-Sha'ban, on which the yearly decree for creation is written. Whoever keeps that night alive in worship and recites the supplication of al-Khidr (AS), what he has asked for will be granted. When the Commander of the Faithful (AS) had said this he rose, and everyone rose, and the gathering came to an end. That night I came to him. He said: What do you want, Kumayl? I said: The supplication of al-Khidr! He said: Write it down, and recite it every Thursday night, or at least once a month, or at the very least once a year. This supplication will suffice you, will increase your provision, and is a cause of victory and of forgiveness. Because of all these years of companionship with us, you are worthy to possess this supplication. Then he began to dictate and I began to write: O God, I ask You by Your mercy which encompasses all things … to the end of the Supplication of Kumayl.