THIRD ZIYARAH
Sayyid ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Tawus has reported the following from Safwan al-Jammal:
During my journey with him to al-Kufah for meeting Abu-Ja’far al-Mansur the ‘Abbasid ruler, Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (‘a) asked me to make our camels kneel down at a certain place, saying, “This is the tomb of my grandfather, the Commander of the Faithful.”
As I made the camels kneel down there, he rode off, bathed himself, changed his clothes, took off his shoes, and ordered me to imitate him in everything. He then directed towards the hillock of Najaf (al-dhakwah), saying, “If you walk in short steps and nod your head to the ground, you shall be given one hundred thousand rewards for each step, one hundred thousand sins shall be erased from your sins, you shall be elevated one hundred thousand ranks, one hundred thousand of your requests shall be granted, and you shall be granted the rewards of all veracious individuals who died and all martyrs whom were slain.”
Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) then walked with tranquility and gravity, and I followed him, pronouncing statements of glorification and sanctification of Almighty Allah and confession of His Oneness until we reached the hillocks there. He stopped there, looked to the right and the left, sketched something on the ground with his stick, and asked me to look for the signs of the tomb. As I did, I could notice the traces of the tomb of Imam ‘Ali (‘a). Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) immediately shed tears down his face and said these words:
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ اَيُّهَا الْوَصِيُّ الْبَرُّ التَّقِيُّ
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ اَيُّهَا النَّبَاُ الْعَظِيْمُ
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ اَيُّهَا الصِّدِّيْقُ الرَّشِيْدُ
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ اَيُّهَا الْبَرُّ الزَّكِيُّ
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ يَا وَصِيَّ رَسُوْلِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِيْنَ
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ يَا خِيَرَةَ اللّٰهِ عَلَى الْخَلْقِ اَجْمَعِيْنَ
اَشْهَدُ اَنَّكَ حَبِيْبُ اللّٰهِ وَ خَآصَّةُ اللّٰهِ وَ خَالِصَتُهُ
اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ يَا وَلِيَّ اللّٰهِ وَ مَوْضِعَ سِرِّهِ
وَ عَيْبَةَ عِلْمِهِ وَ خَازِنَ وَحْيِهِ
Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) then threw himself on the tomb and said these words:
بِاَبِيْ اَنْتَ وَ اُمِّيْ يَا اَمِيْرَ الْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ
بِاَبِيْ اَنْتَ وَ اُمِّيْ يَا حُجَّةَ الْخِصَامِ
بِاَبِيْ اَنْتَ وَ اُمِّيْ يَا بَابَ الْمَقَامِ
بِاَبِيْ اَنْتَ وَ اُمِّيْ يَا نُوْرَ اللّٰهِ التَّآمَّ
اَشْهَدُ اَنَّكَ قَدْ بَلَّغْتَ عَنِ اللّٰهِ
وَ عَنْ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ
صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ اٰلِهِ مَا حُمِّلْتَ
وَ رَعَيْتَ مَا اسْتُحْفِظْتَ
وَ حَفِظْتَ مَا اسْتُوْدِعْتَ
وَ حَلَّلْتَ حَلَالَ اللّٰهِ
وَ حَرَّمْتَ حَرَامَ اللّٰهِ
وَ اَقَمْتَ اَحْكَامَ اللّٰهِ
وَ لَمْ تَتَعَدَّ حُدُوْدَ اللّٰهِ
وَ عَبَدْتَ اللّٰهَ مُخْلِصًا
حَتّٰى اَتَاكَ الْيَقِيْنُ
صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْكَ
وَ عَلَى الْاَئِمَّةِ مِنْ بَعْدِكَ۔
Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) then stood up and offered a number of units of prayer at the side of the Imam’s head. He then said to me (i.e. Safwan), “Whoever visits Amir al-Mu’minin with this form of Ziyarah and then offers the like of this prayer shall return home while all his sins are forgiven, all his efforts are accepted, and will have the rewards of all the angels who visit this tomb recorded for him.”
I asked, “Do you mean the reward of all the angels who visit this tomb?”
The Imam (‘a) answered, “Yes, I do. Each night, this tomb is visited by seventy thousand tribes of angels.”
“How many is a tribe of angels?” asked I.
“Each tribe consists of one hundred thousand angels,” answered the Imam (‘a).
The Imam (‘a) then left the place waling back but his face was still to the grave direction, uttering the following words:
يَا جَدَّاهُ يَا سَيِّدَاهُ
يَا طَيِّبَاهُ يَا طَاهِرَاهُ
لَا جَعَلَهُ اللّٰهُ اٰخِرَ الْعَهْدِ مِنْكَ
وَ رَزَقَنِي الْعَوْدَ اِلَيْكَ
وَ الْمَقَامَ فِيْ حَرَمِكَ
وَ الْكَوْنَ مَعَكَ
وَ مَعَ الْاَبْرَارِ مِنْ وُلْدِكَ
صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْكَ
وَ عَلَى الْمَلَاۤئِكَةِ الْمُحْدِقِيْنَ بِكَ
I then said to him, “O master! May I inform our acquaintances in al-Kufah about this and lead them to this tomb?”
The Imam (‘a) answered in the affirmative and gave me a sum of money to construct the tomb.
