MORE CONFIRMATIONS

In the book of al-Najm al-Thaqib (by al-Nuri), the story of the attendance of Hajj Sayyid Ahmad al-Rashti in the presence of the Imam of the Age, may our souls be accepted as ransoms from him, during his journey of the hajj pilgrimage, has been told in details. In one of the details of this story, which will be cited in this book after the Major Comprehensive Form of ziyarah (al-Ziyarah al-Jami’ah al-Kabirah), the Imam (‘a) said to al-Rashti with confirmation, “Why do you not (frequently) recite the ziyarah of ‘Ashura’, ‘Ashura’, ‘Ashura’, ‘Ashura’...?”

Commenting on this, our trustworthy mentor Shaykh al-Nuri said:

One of the unparalleled merits and points of honor of ziyarah of ‘Ashura’ is that its form is not similar to the other ordinary forms of ziyarah, which have been composed and dictated by the Holy Infallibles apparently, although nothing is issued from the immaculate hearts of these Holy Infallibles except statements proving that they have received these words from the Most High Origin. The ziyarah of ‘Ashura’, however, is similar to the Words of Almighty Allah that He revealed to Archangel Gabriel. This fact can be noticed in the words of this form of ziyarah, including the statements of invoking curses (on the enemies), the statements of invoking blessings (on the Imam and his companions), and the supplicatory statements. Hence, Archangel Gabriel conveyed these words to the Seal of the Prophets. As maintained by tangible experiences, this form of ziyarah is unique in achieving the requests, gaining the needs, and warding off the enemies if a visitor recites it continuously for forty days or even less. However, the most astonishing effect of preserving in reciting this form of ziyarah can be touched in the following story, mentioned in the book of Dar al-Salam. However, I will mention it in brief:

Hasan al-Yazdi the trustworthy, righteous, and pious Hajj and Mawla who lived in the vicinity of the holy shrine in al-Ghari (i.e. al-Najaf) and who was one of those who acted faithfully as regards neighboring this holy place and practiced acts of worship painstakingly, has reported the following incident from Muhammad ‘Ali al-Yazdi the trustworthy and honest Hajj:

In Yazd, there was a righteous and virtuous man who used to preoccupy himself (with acts of worship) and make preparations for his next life in his grave. He used to spend nights in a graveyard in the skirts of the city of Yazd, known as Mazar, in which a group of righteous people were buried. He had a neighbor who grew up with him since infanthood and both joined the same school and studied under the same mentor. Nevertheless, this neighbor became a tither (i.e. he seizes tenth of the people’s gains by means of power and injustice). He did not quit this process until he died. He was then buried in that graveyard in a grave near the place where the righteous man used to stay overnight.

In less than one month after the death of this tither, his righteous neighbor saw him in sleep in a good-looking costume as if he was enjoying the brightness of bliss. The righteous man approached the dead man and asked him, “I know very well your origin and your end, and your open appearance and your hidden manners. You were not one of those whom are expected to have righteous inner self and your deeds would bring you nothing but torment and chastisement. How could you attain this status?”

The dead replied, “What you have just said is exactly the truth. I had been placed in the most terrible torture since my death up to yesterday when the wife of Ashraf, the blacksmith, died and was buried in this place.” The dead pointed to a definite side, which was about one hundred arms away from his burial place. He then went on, “At the night of her burial, Abu-’Abdullah (Imam al-Husayn) visited her three times. In the third time, he ordered torture to be stopped from all the dead inhabitants of this graveyard. Since then, I was turned into bliss, luxury, comfort, and coziness.”

When the righteous man woke up, he was deeply perplexed. He therefore went to the market of the blacksmiths to ask about the man whose wife had recently died, because he had no familiarity with that man. When he found the blacksmith, he asked him, “Did you have a wife?” The blacksmith answered, “Yes, I had. She died recently and she was buried in such-and-such place.” The man mentioned the very place to which the dead tither pointed in the dream of the righteous man. “Had she ever visited the tomb of Abu-’Abdullah?” the righteous man asked. “No, she had not,” answered her widower. “Did she usually mention the misfortunes that the Imam (‘a) had to encounter?” asked the righteous man. “No, she did not,” answered her widower. “Was she usually holding consolation ceremonies for Imam al-Husayn (‘a)?” asked the righteous man. “No, she was not,” answered her widower, who added, “What for are you putting such questions?” Here, the righteous man narrated the whole story of his dream. The widower then said, “Yes, she used to recite ziyarah of ‘Ashura’ very frequently.”