English
DUA IN THE HOLY SHRINE OF IMAM HUSAYN (A)
Fifteenth: Among the recommended acts in the shrine of Imam alHusayn (‘a) is to say the supplicatory prayer of the oppressed against the oppressor. In other words, one who has been exposed to wronging by an oppressor is advised to pray Almighty Allah with this supplicatory prayer in the holy shrine of Imam alHusayn (‘a). This supplicatory prayer, which has been recorded by Shaykh alTusi in his book of Misbah alMutahajjid to be one of the recommended acts on Fridays, is as follows:
اَللّٰهُمَّ اِنِّيۤ اَعْتَزُّ بِدِيْنِكَ
وَ اَكْرَمُ بِهِدَايَتِكَ
وَ فُلَانٌ يُذِلُّنِيْ بِشَرِّهِ
وَ يُهِيْنُنِيْ بِاَذِيَّتِهِ
وَ يُعِيْبُنِيْ بِوِلَاۤءِ اَوْلِيَاۤئِكَ
وَ يَبْهَتُنِيْ بِدَعْوَاهُ
وَ قَدْ جِئْتُ اِلٰى مَوْضِعِ الدُّعَاۤءِ
وَ ضَمَانِكَ الْاِجَابَةَ
اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلٰى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اٰلِ مُحَمَّدٍ
وَ اَعْدِنِيْ عَلَيْهِ السَّاعَةَ السَّاعَةَ
O Allah, I obtain my dignity from following Your religion and I am honored because of You have guided me, but [so-and-so] is humiliating me by his evil, insulting me by harming me, imputing dishonor to me because I am loyal to Your Representatives, and charging me with false claims. I have come to the center of supplication and the guarantee of response. O Allah, (please) send blessings upon Muhammad and his Household and support me against him at this very hour! At this very hour!
مَظْلُوْمٌ ۟اِسْتَعْدٰى عَلٰى ظَالِمِهِ
You may then throw yourself on the grave and say,
O my master and leader, (I have been) oppressed and (I am) seeking your support against him who has oppressed me. Grant me support! Grant me support!
The last statement may be repeated as many times as one breath may take.
يَاۤ اَبَا عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ
اَشْهَدُ اَنَّكَ تَشْهَدُ مَقَامِيْ
وَ اَنَّكَ حَيٌّ عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ تُرْزَقُ
فَاسْاَلْ رَبَّكَ وَ رَبِّيْ فِيْ قَضَاۤءِ حَوَاۤئِجِيْ۔
Sixteenth: Among the acts in the holy shrine of Imam alHusayn (‘a) is to say the following supplicatory prayer, which has been reported by Ibn Fahad in his book of ‘Uddat alDa’i:
He who wants his request to be granted by Almighty Allah may stop at the side of Imam alHusayn’s head and say the following words:
O Abu-'Abdullah, I bear witness that you can now see my situation and hear my words and that you are alive with Your Lord and you are receiving sustenance from Him. So (please) ask your and my Lord to grant me my requests.
He who says this supplication will have his requested granted by Almighty Allah, God willing.
Seventeenth: Among the other recommended acts in Imam alHusayn’s holy shrine is to offer a twounit prayer at the side of the head, reciting Surah alFatihah and Surah alRahman in the first unit and Surah alFatihah and Surah alMulk (No. 76) in the second.
On the word of Sayyid Ibn Tawus, one who offers this prayer will be granted the reward of having performed an admitted and acceptable ritual pilgrimage (hajj) with the Holy Prophet (s) for twenty times.
اَسْتَخِيْرُ اللهَ بِرَحْمَتِهِ خِيَرَةً فِىْ عَافِيَةٍ
Eighteenth: Istikharah (i.e. asking Almighty Allah to make one choose for the best of two or more choices through a certain process when one fails to decide on a certain choice) is one of the most recommended acts to be done under the supreme dome of Imam alHusayn’s holy shrine. According to ‘Aliamah alMajlisi who quotes from the book of Qurb alIsnad by alHimyari, Imam alSadiq (‘a) is reported through an authentic chain of authority to have said, “If a servants repeats the process of Istikharah one hundred times next to the side of the head of Imam alHusayn (‘a) and says:
All praise be to Allah. There is no god save Allah. All glory be to Allah.
and then praises Almighty Allah, professes that there is no god save Him, all glory belong to Him alone, all magnificence is His alone, commends Him by suitable statements, and then asks Him to choose the best for him one hundred times if he does all that, Almighty Allah shall most certainly inspire him to choose the best of the two choices.”
According to another tradition, the process of Istikharah is to repeat the following statement one hundred times:
I ask Allah to guide me to decide on the best choice that achieves me wellbeing, out of His mercy.
Nineteenth: The lofty and great Shaykh Abu’lQasim Ja’far ibn Qawlawayh alQummi, may Allah have mercy upon him, has reported Imam alSadiq (‘a) to have said, “When you visit Abu’Abdullah alHusayn (‘a), you should keep silent except for good wording. The recording angels of days and nights present themselves before the angels of Imam alHusayn’s holy shrine to shake hands with them, but the angels of Imam alHusayn’s shrine cannot respond to their greetings because they are too busy weeping for Imam alHusayn to have a chance to respond to these angels. The angels of Imam alHusayn’s shrine never stop weeping and wailing except at midday and at dawn. The recording angels therefore wait for these two times to come and talk to these angels and ask them about some matters related to the heavens. Thus, the angels of Imam alHusayn’s shrine do not stop praying and weeping all the time between these two hours (of midday and dawn).”
Imam alSadiq (‘a) is also reported to have said, “Almighty Allah has appointed four thousand angels, with dusty hair and appearance like people of consolation ceremony, to weep around the tomb of alHusayn (‘a) from dawn to midday. After midday, they may ascend to the heavens to be substituted by the same number of other angels who weep from that time up to dawn.”
From this tradition and the like, which are numerous, we can understand that it is recommended to weep for Imam alHusayn (‘a) in his shrine.
Actually, to weep for Imam alHusayn (‘a) must be held one of the advisable acts at his holy shrine, which is the center of expressing grief for him by his adherents and loyalists.
According to the report of Safwan from Imam alSadiq (‘a), one will never find the taste of food and drink if one knows about the earnest imprecation of the angels to Almighty Allah to curse the killers of Imam ‘Ali Amir alMu’minin and Imam alHusayn (‘a), the wailings of jinn for them, and the weeping and grief of the angels who surround the holy tomb of Imam alHusayn (‘a).
‘Abdullah ibn Hammad alBasri (i.e. of Basrah) has reported that Imam alSadiq (‘a) asked him, “I have been informed that some people from the outskirt of alKufah, others from other places, and women came to wail over Imam alHusayn (‘a). Some of them recite (divine texts), others recount (the misfortunes of his martyrdom), others wail (over him), and others compose elegies on him. Is this true?”
“Yes,” answered ‘Abdullah, “this is true. I myself have witnessed some of that.”
The Imam (‘a) expressed, “All praise be to Allah Who has made some people visit, praise, and elegize us. He has also made some people criticize and find fault with these peoples for what they do. Verily, these are our enemies, be they our relatives or not.”
However, the following statement has been quoted from the aforesaid tradition:
“Every one who visits him weeps for him. Every one who could not visit him feels sad for him. Every one who could not witness him burns regretfully. Every one whose eyes fall on the grave of his son next to the side of his feet in a desert where there is neither relative nor close friend will definitely sympathize him. He was deprived of his right; the apostates supported each other against him until they slew him, violated his rights, exposed his body to the beasts, prevented him from tasting the water of the Euphrates, which even dogs can have, and violated the right and instructions of Allah’s Messenger about his household and him.”
Ibn Qawlawayh has also reported on the authority of alHarith alA’war that Imam ‘Ali Amir alMu’minin (‘a) predicted the martyrdom of his son, saying,
“May my father and mother be ransoms for alHusayn who will be martyred in an area at the back of alKufah. By Allah (I swear), I see coming that all species of the beasts of deserts will extend their necks on his grave to weep for him all the night up to morning. When this will take place, beware of alienating him (by refraining from visiting his tomb).”
Many other traditions have carried such predictions.