- Author:
- Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
- Pages:
- 96
- Price:
- Free
- Country of publication:
- Bahrain
- Publication date:
- 1441
- Book file:
About the book:
All of a person's steps are his breaths toward death, except the steps by which he heads toward the shrine of Imam al-Husayn (a) as a visitor; for they are breaths of life, and his breaths toward life.
Every moment that human beings spend diminishes the edges of their lifespans, except the time that visitors spend in the presence of nearness to Imam al-Husayn, kneeling at his pure thresholds; that is a time which Allah has taken out of the accounts of diminution and deposited in the accounts of increase in lifespans and appointed terms.
The standing of the ziyārah (visitation) of Imam al-Husayn (a), its bounties and its blessings have been traced by the hand of divine power and made to flow on the tongues of the Household of Infallibility, so that they might scatter its seeds in the hearts of the people of the earth, that they may stir and swell and begin their steps on the path to Allah the Exalted.
Thus the ziyarah of Imam al-Husayn (a) is a unique act of worship, to which the Ahl al-Bayt (a) gave firm attention; and the heart of every believer became the good land that received those directives, so their hearts glowed with faith in them, and their hopes held fast to its firmest handle.
From here the ziyarah became a unique and exceptional rite of worship in its various aspects, and it came to have its pivotal place in a person's religiosity and in building his mind and the inclination of his heart. For the Shiʿi mind is distinguished by having contained the culture of Islam in all its details, and the school of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) has embodied Islam in its reality, because of its connection to the sources of light without interruption: after the Greatest Messenger (s), the firm rope of Allah extended between heaven and earth was not cut, but remained connected and continuous through the Ahl al-Bayt (a), whom the Messenger (s) left behind for the Umma as a guarantee of guidance and as a protection from misguidance.
As a form of continuing the bond and strengthening the relationship, there gushed forth from the inexhaustible springs of the Household of Infallibility and Purity their directives concerning the ziyarah of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) and setting out on journeys to their graves and their pure resting places, so as to practice ziyarah as an act of worship expressing the spirit of religion and its goals.
Given the standing that the ziyarah of the graves of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) has attained, especially the ziyarah of Imam al-Husayn (a) in its many seasons, it was necessary for us to turn to it by shedding light on its nature, its motives and its effects, in order to formulate a balanced culture regarding ziyarah, to preserve its limits and attain the abundance of its effects, and to bring out its features and its essence, so that every seeker of knowledge may come to know it, and so that the visitor's ziyarah may truly be a reflection of what the Ahl al-Bayt (a) intended, within their method, which matches the Qurʾan and does not part from it until the people come to the Messenger of Allah (s) at the Pool on the Day of Resurrection.
As for our methodology in this book, which brings out and crystallizes the culture of (ziyarah): we will mostly rely on formulating the idea through the texts of the ziyarat that have been reported from the Ahl al-Bayt (a). For the many ziyarat of Imam al-Husayn (a), which we single out for study, are noble narrations overflowing with knowledge and learning, and they are reported from the Infallible, whose words are a proof (hujja) upon the Muslims.
We will draw insights from them to form an integrated vision of the culture of ziyarah, because of what we have seen of the epistemic horizons and deep directives they contain, which are meant to be repeated on the tongues of visitors at all times, so that their souls, hearts and minds may be steeped in them, so as to produce upright faith in which there is no wavering and which no defect afflicts.
The texts of the ziyarat draw for us the culture of ziyarah and the culture of the visitor, and give him sight through the insights of truth in this act of worship.
We will notice that the texts of the ziyarat contain a wondrous integration of diverse divine teachings. This integrative objectivity, which constitutes the harmony of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) with the Qurʾan, is a reflection of the method of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) in spreading the awareness of faith that is meant to proceed on the path of perfection without fragmentation and without shortcoming; for the method of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) looks at all Islamic teachings in an integrated way. This is what you will notice and see while reading this book, if Allah the Exalted wills.
The Ahl al-Bayt (a) spread in the texts of the ziyarat the ideas that chart the path of the believing person toward Allah the Exalted, in many aspects, among them:
1/ Sound doctrinal grounding in monotheism (tawhid).
2/ Knowing the wilayah and the Imamate and its great station, and explaining the rights and duties toward the wilayah.
3/ Strengthening the qualities of faith and upright conduct.
4/ Arousing the responsibilities of the mission and great aspirations in raising high the word of Allah, and taking the sound stance toward the two fronts of truth and falsehood.
5/ Firmly grounding faith in the Hereafter, and raising the ambition to occupy high ranks in Paradise.
6/ Documenting the most important landmarks of Islamic history, and preserving the most important conflicts that distinguished the divine line from the satanic line.
And other teachings and insights that can be drawn upon in forming firm faith, penetrating insight and upright conduct, for the sake of a good end.
We ask Allah, the Most High, the All-powerful, to guide us aright in bringing out the culture of ziyarah by explaining the divine features it encompasses, and by explaining its educational effects in shaping the human being and directing his conduct.
And I ask Allah to grant us the ziyarah of Imam al-Husayn (a) in this world, and not to deprive us of his intercession on the Day of Arrival; indeed He is All-hearing, the Answerer of supplication.
“O Allah, place me among Your delegation to the best of Your lands and the best of Your creation. O Allah, curse al-Jibt and al-Taghut.”