ZIYARAH ON THE DAY OF ARBAEEN; THE TWENTIETH OF SAFAR

Shaykh al-Tusi, in Tahdhib al-Ahkam and in Misbah al-Mutahajjid, has reported Imam al-Hasan al-’Askari (‘a) as saying, “The signs of a faithful believer are five: (1) offering fifty-one units of prayer (a day): seventeen units of the obligatory prayers and thirty-four units of the supererogatory (mustahab / nafilah) prayers, (2) visitation (of Imam al-Husayn’s tomb) on the Arba’in Day: the twentieth of Safar; forty days after the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn, (3) wearing a ring in the right hand, (4) pressing the forehead (by very frequent prostration before Almighty Allah), and (5) raising the voice with bismi-llahir-rahmanir-rahim (basmalah: In the Name of Allah; the All-beneficent, the All-merciful).

Two forms of ziyarah on the Arba’in Day have been mentioned in traditions:

FIRST FORM OF ZIYARAH ON THE ARBAEEN DAY

The first has been reported by Shaykh al-Tusi, in Tahdhib al-Ahkam and Misbah al-Mutahajjid, from Safwan al-Jammal who said: My master al-Sadiq, Allah’s blessings be upon him, instructed me to visit Imam al-Husayn (‘a) on the Arba’in Day, advisably in the early forenoon, and to say the following words:

You may then offer a two-unit prayer and then pray Almighty Allah for anything you like. Then, you may return.

SECOND FORM OF ZIYARAH ON THE ARBA’IN DAY

The second form of ziyarah of Imam al-Husayn (‘a) on the Arba’in Day is reported from Jabir. ‘Ata has reported the following:

I was accompanying Jabir ibn ‘Abdullah al-Ansari on the twentieth of Safar (the Arba’in Day). When we arrived at al-Ghaziriyyah,( ) he bathed himself from the water of its river and then put a pure (i.e. clean and ceremonially pure (ghusl)) shirt that he had carried with him. After that, he asked me, “Do you carry with you any fragrance, ‘Ata?” As I answered in the affirmative, I handed some fragrance over to him and he put some of it on his head and other organs. He then walked barefooted until he stopped at the side of Imam al-Husayn’s head. He then repeated three times the Takbir statement. He then fell to the ground fainted. When he recovered consciousness, I could hear him saying these words:

This is the very form of ziyarah previously cited under the title “Ziyarah on the 15th of Rajab.”

Yet, there is a difference in a very few statements, which, as maintained by Shaykh al-Tusi, came from the difference in the manuscripts of this form of ziyarah.

Hence, one can say the previously mentioned form of ziyarah on the fifteenth of Rajab.