VISITING THE TOMBS OF DESCENDANTS OF THE HOLY IMAMS (A)

The descendants of the Holy Imams are the sons of the true kings. Their tombs are sources of divine abundance and benedictions and places where the mercy and care of Almighty Allah are sent down. Scholars have advised of visiting their tombs, which are scattered in the majority of the countries of the Shi’ah and even in small villages, deserts, mountains, and valleys. At all times, these tombs are taken by people as refuge for the distressed, havens for the miserable, shelters for the oppressed, and source of entertainment for withering hearts. They will keep acting this role up to the Resurrection Day. In many of such holy shrines, people have noticed many extraordinary matters, as signs of Almighty Allah’s honoring the one entombed there.

All the same, an individual who intends to visit such holy places, trusting that he will attain items of Almighty Allah’s mercy and will have his agonies relieved, must first of all be sure of two matters that act as conditions of visiting such places:

First Condition: A visitor is required to acquaint himself with the sublimity, great importance, and authentic lineage of the visited person. These matters can be obtained from the books of traditions, lineages, and history.

Second Condition: A visitor must make sure that the visited tomb is validly ascribed to the person.

Unfortunately, these two conditions cannot be found except in a very few number of places of pilgrimage. In my book of Hadiyyat al-Za’ir, I have referred to a number of shrines that meet these two conditions. In my books of Nafthat al-Masdur and Muntaha al-Amal, I have mentioned something about the tomb of Muhsin ibn al-Husayn. However, I cannot mention such details in this book; therefore, I will refer to two places of pilgrimage only: