The Prophets visit the grave of Imam Husayn (a.s.)
The Prophets visit the grave of Imam Husayn (a.s.)
The Prophets visit the grave of Imam Husayn (a.s.): Shaikh Abul Qasim Ja’far bin Muhammad bin Quwlawyh relates from his father, who relates from Ibn Mahboob, who relates from Husayn, the grandson of Abu Hamza Sumali, that during the last days of the caliphate of Bani Marwan, I left for the pilgrimage to the grave of Imam Husayn (a.s.) hiding from the Syrians. I reached Karbala and took shelter in a corner of the desert.
At midnight I went towards the grave, and when I reached further, a man came and stood facing me saying, “Your reward is with Allah! Return back, for you shall not reach the grave”. I returned back, and when it was early morning, I went towards the grave. When I reached there, the same man approached me and said, “O slave of Allah! You shall not reach the grave”. I said, “May Allah pardon you! Why would I not reach it when I have come from Kufa for the pilgrimage? Do not desist me, for I fear lest it dawns and the Syrians find me here and kill me”.
He replied, “Wait for a moment, for (Prophet) Moosa bin Imran (a.s.) has solicited permission from Allah to visit the grave of Imam Husayn (a.s.), he has received permission and has descended from the heavens accompanied by seventy thousand Angels. They are in his (Imam’s) presence since the beginning of the night and are awaiting dawn so as to return back to the heavens”. I asked him, “May Allah pardon you! Who are you?” And he replied, “I am one of the Angels appointed to guard the grave of Imam Husayn (a.s.) and invoke forgiveness for his pilgrims”.
I returned back and wondered whether my intellect would part away having heard his words. I again went to the head of the grave after dawn, while there was none to desist me now. I offered salutations and cursed his murderers, and then I offered the morning Prayers and hastened back in fear of the Syrians.
He (Ibn Qawlawayh) relates through his chain of authorities from Ishaq bin Ammar, that I asked Imam Ja’far as Sadiq (a.s.) that, “May I be your ransom, O son of the Prophet of Allah! On the night of Arafah I was in the Shrine of Imam Husayn (a.s.) and I witnessed three thousand men with glowing countenance, emitting fragrance and adorning white clothes praying there until the morning. And as much as I tried to reach near the grave and recite invocations, I could not do so due to the immense crowd of men. When it dawned, I fell into prostration, and when I lifted my head, not a single one of them was visible”. Imam Sadiq (a.s.) replied, “Do you know who they were?”
and I replied in the negative. Imam (a.s.) continued, “My father has related to me from his father, that when Imam Husayn (a.s.) was being martyred, four thousand angels passed by and flew upon the heavens. Allah revealed to them: ‘O group of Angels! You passed by the son of my friend and beloved Muhammad (S) while they killed him when he was in severity and you did not assist him?’ Then return back to the earth and reside at the head of his grave, and weep with disheveled hair and smeared in sand until the day of Qiyamah. Thus they remain at his grave until the arrival of the time”.
He (Ibn Qawlawayh) relates through his chain of authorities from Mufazzal bin Umar, who says, that Imam Jafar as Sadiq (a.s.) told me, “By Allah! It is as if I see the Angels obstructing the believers near the grave of Imam Husayn (a.s.)”.
I asked, “Are they seen there?” He (a.s.) replied, “Far be it! Far be it! By Allah! They serve the believers, to the extent that they rub their hands upon their faces. Allah sends down the dishes of Paradise every morning and evening for the pilgrims of Imam Husayn (a.s.) while the Angels serve them. And no man desires anything from his desires of this world or the hereafter, except that it is fulfilled”.
I said, “By Allah! This is excellent”! Imam Sadiq (a.s.) asked, “O Mufazzal! Should I narrate to you something more?”
I replied, “Verily yes, O my master”! And he (a.s.) continued, “It is as if I see an illuminated plank on which is kept a dome of red rubies studded with gems. Imam Husayn (a.s.) is seated upon it, while ninety thousand green domes are around him. It is as if the believers visit him and offer salutations, while Allah, the Mighty, the Sublime, tells them: ‘O my friends! Ask of Me, for it is quite a long period that you have borne severity and been humiliated and persecuted, while this is the day that whatever of your desires, whether of this world or the hereafter, that you wish from Me, shall be fulfilled.’ And their food and drink is from Paradise. While by Allah, this is the excellence which is unparalleled”.
Allamah Majlisi says that the descending of food and drink upon them is meant in Barzakh,(The intermediate period between death and Qiyamah, wherein a person enjoys riches and happiness if he is a good-doer, or suffers torment if he is an evil-doer. Ref. Qur’anic Verse: ‘And after them shall be a barrier (barzakh) until the day they shall be raised again.’ (Surah al Mu’menoon, 23:100) while the erection of the domes will be during the days of the Raj’at (of Aimmah), for it is said, “Desires of this world as well as the hereafter”.
He (Ibn Qawlawayh) relates through his chain of authorities from Abdullah bin Imad Basari, that Imam Ja’far as Sadiq (a.s.) told me that, “There exists an excellence close to you, the similitude of which has not been bestowed upon anyone else, and I presume that you are unaware of it’s essence. You do not defend it genuinely nor do you arise for it, and there are ones specialized for it who have been chosen for it, and that has not been bestowed upon them due to their own might and power, except whatever Allah had bestowed upon them. While this felicity has been bestowed upon them by Allah through His Grace and Benevolence”.
I asked, “May I be your ransom! What is that, the attributes of which you have narrated? And why have you not named it?”
He (a.s.) replied, “It is none other than the pilgrimage (to the grave) of my grandfather Husayn (a.s.), who is far away from his home-town and upon an alien land. Then the one who visits him and weeps upon him, as also the one who does not visit him but remains grief-stricken for him. And the one who was not available for him and his heart burns for him, he sends blessings upon him. The one who beholds the grave of his son (buried) at his feet upon the barren earth, where he had no relatives and family and was deprived of his rights. The apostates united until they killed him and wasted him and exposed him to the wild beasts, and they blocked access to the water of Euphrates, which was available for the dogs. They dishonored the right of the Prophet of Allah (S) and did not consider his testimony regarding himself and his Progeny (a.s.). Then he lay in his grave in a persecuted state and he fell upon the earth along with his family and Shi’ah, and he entered the earth of an alien and dreadful desert, upon the land where none goes to him except those whose hearts have been tested with belief by Allah”.
I said, “May I be your ransom! I would go for his pilgrimage until I got involved in the matters of the sovereign and was handed over the charge to safeguard their wealth. I have become quite renowned among them and have therefore abandoned the pilgrimage due to dissimulation (Taqiyyah), but am aware of the virtue involved”. Imam (a.s.) said, “Do you know what are the merits of those who visit his grave and what abundant fairness do they possess near us?”
I replied in the negative, and Imam (a.s.) continued, “Their merit is that the heavenly Angels glorify them, while the goodness near us is that every morning and evening we pray for blessings to be descended upon them. And my father has related to me, that from the time he (Imam Husayn) was martyred, his grave has never been vacant of those offering Prayers, be it from the Angels, genie or men and beasts. There is none who does not envy his pilgrims or touches them, and everything looks at him with hope of virtue, for he has beholded his grave”.
Imam Sadiq (a.s.) then retorted, “I have been informed, that in the middle of the month of Sha’ban, a group of one of the districts of Kufa and other men, accompanied by the wailing women visit his grave. One of them recites the Qu’ran and the other narrates the events, while still another weeps and the other recites elegies”.
I replied, “Verily yes, may I be your ransom! I have seen them as you describe”. He replied, “Praise be to Allah, that He has placed among men those who come to us and glorify us, recite elegies for us, and also placed among men our enemies who reproach them (our friends) for it, be it from our own relatives or others, so as to misguide them, and they consider this act of their’s to be ugly”.