The Arbaʿin Ziyarah Is Light upon Light
Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
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When (the truth) is a stranger, having no helper, no supporter, no ally and no backer, what is required of the rational person is to adhere to (the truth) and not to feel lonely on its path because of the fewness of those who tread it, or the absence of those who support it, or the rarity of those who hold fast to it. For the truth is in itself a value, and because it is the title to which people resort, hoping to cling to it and to be characterized by it, this justifies the obligation of holding fast to its rope and the necessity of taking it up; and the one who resorts to falsehood, upon which the great majority of people are, will have no excuse or justification whatsoever.
And if (the truth) comes to have wide spaces, great adoption and far-reaching spread, this feature reinforces the truth's spread and the breadth of its reach, giving it strength upon strength; for the truth is strong by its proof, and surging in reality gives it additional strength, because it makes the general public sense the presence, and by making them sense it, it points to the proof. It is thereby a truthful media instrument that gives expression to the truth.
We read this recurring truth in Surat al-Nasr, in the words of the Exalted: “When Allah’s help comes with victory, and you see the people entering Allah’s religion in throngs, celebrate the praise of your Lord, and plead to Him for forgiveness. Indeed, He is all-clement.” (Qurʾan 110:1–3)
Through awareness of that introduction, we can grasp the profound and great importance of the ziyārah (visitation) of Imam al-Husayn (a) on the twentieth of Safar, which is called (the Arbaʿin ziyarah) because forty days have passed since the tragedy of the killing of Imam al-Husayn (a) on the tenth of Muharram. The Arbaʿin ziyarah is light upon light; it is strength added to strength. The strength of the Imamate embodied in Imam al-Husayn (a), who became a banner pointing to the truth, a lamp of guidance from misguidance, and an ark of salvation from the Fire, this strength, which was acquired from the strength of proof and demonstration, has had another strength added to it: the surging multitude of devotees, the reflection of the impact on souls in reality, and the wilaʾi manifestation that the devotees express, each in his own way. This great momentum of impact is strength upon strength, and it is light upon light.
From here we can comprehend the reason for the fear of the tyrannical authorities, the currents that hate the Ahl al-Bayt (a), the misleading media machine, and the various political wills: they fear Imam al-Husayn (a) as a thought and a method supported by demonstrations and proofs, and in addition to that they fear the surging reality and the outward manifestation of that thought, embodied specifically in the Arbaʿin ziyarah.
Imam al-Hasan al-ʿAskari (a) mentioned, by way of both (establishment) and (description) together, the ziyarah of Imam al-Husayn on the Arbaʿin as being among the signs of the believer, as in the well-known hadith: (The signs of the believer are five: wearing a ring on the right hand, fifty-one prayers, saying “In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful” aloud, rubbing the forehead in the dust, and the Arbaʿin ziyarah).
So the ziyarah of Imam al-Husayn (a), (as a description) of a reality, is a natural response to the tragedy of Imam al-Husayn (a), over which forty days of grief and sorrow pass. The forty are the period in which the heavens wept blood over Imam al-Husayn (a), and the angels wept, as has been reported from Zurara from Abu ʿAbd Allah (a): The heavens wept over al-Husayn (a) for forty mornings with blood, and the earth with eclipse and redness, and the angels wept over him for forty mornings. No woman among us dyed with henna, nor applied oil, nor applied kohl, nor combed her hair until the head of ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyad came to us, and we have remained in tears ever since.
In an ascending course of the believers' feelings over the tragedy of Imam al-Husayn (a), the day of the Arbaʿin comes as the peak point, the remembrance of the tragedy, the renewal of sorrows and the close of the commemoration. Therefore the Arbaʿin ziyarah has become a sign of the believer who revives the Husayni rites (shaʿāʾir) and carries their banner.
From an (establishing) aspect, in the wording of the narration reported from Imam al-ʿAskari (a), it is a call to the believers to give attention to this day and to this ziyarah, in order to make the great event and to create the human surge, so that all raise the slogan of Imam al-Husayn (a) to the world. This ziyarah thus becomes a sign of the believers and an expression of their identity, and a truthful media instrument for (the truth) and for the people of truth.
The conclusion we arrive at is that the Arbaʿin ziyarah poses a great challenge to the falsity of the misleading media and to everyone who claims justice and fairness; it exposes the half-intellectuals, those who claim academic standing and objectivity, and everyone who places himself on the path of false and counterfeit claims. That is why the tyrannical and misleading media fear conveying the Arbaʿin event as it is; that is why the leaders of misguidance work to deal blows to weaken it; and that is why the tyrants strive to prevent the event and restrict it. But they will not be able to extinguish the light of Allah.
