THE HOLY PROPHET AND IMAM ALI

In this connection, one may wonder that on the occasions that are related to the Holy Prophet (s), such as his birthday or the day of the Divine Mission (al-mab’ath), it is supposed that private forms of ziyarah must be dedicated to the holy tomb of the Holy Prophet (s), not the holy tomb of Imam ‘Ali (‘a). However, we notice that there is big recommendation on visiting the holy tomb of Imam ‘Ali (‘a) on occasions related to the Holy Prophet (s).

To answer, this is because of the firm connection between these two great individual and because of the perfect union between these two personalities. In view of that, to visit Imam ‘Ali (‘a) is as same as visiting the Holy Prophet (s). This fact has been mentioned in the Holy Qur’an Surah Ale Imran : Ayat 61.

In this holy verse, Almighty Allah has combined Imam ‘Ali (‘a) to the Holy Prophet (s) by referring to both of them by saying, ‘our selves’.

Besides, this fact has been confirmed by many narrations and reports, such as the narration of Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Mashhadi who has reported the following event on the authority of Imam al-Sadiq (‘a):

A Bedouin man came to the Holy Prophet (s) and said, “My house is far away from yours; and it happened that when I intended to visit and see you, I could not; therefore, I visit ‘Ali ibn Abi-Talib whose discourse and advices would entertain me. Whenever I left him, grief and sadness joined me over again because I could not see you.”

The Holy Prophet (s) answered, “He who visits ‘Ali has in fact visited me; he who loves ‘Ali has in fact loved me; he who antagonizes ‘Ali has in fact antagonized me. You may convey this to your people. Similarly, he who intends to visit ‘Ali has in fact visited me and I will reward him for so on the Resurrection Day. So will Archangel Gabriel and the righteous believers.”

According to another authoritative narration, Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) is reported to have said, “Whenever you visit the district of al-Najaf, you may visit there the bones of Adam (‘a), the corpse of Noah, and the body of ‘Ali ibn Abi-Talib. So, you will visit the past forefathers, Muhammad the seal of the Prophets, and ‘Ali the best of the Prophets’ successors.”

Finally, the previously mentioned sixth form of untimed ziyarah has contained statements that can act as support of this fact. These statements read as follows:

You may face the tomb of Imam ‘Ali (‘a) and say the following:

In this respect too, Shaykh Jabir, referring to the dome of Imam ‘Ali’s holy shrine, has excellently composed poetic verses as commentary on the famous poem of al-Azri, saying: