Arbaeen, the Resurrection of 2010’s

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

Saturday October 19 in Iran coincides with Arbaeen and it may be on October 20 in Iraq. Arbaeen is a Muslim religious observance that occurs forty days after the Day of Ashura and martyrdom of Imam Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, who was martyred on the 10th day of the month of Muharram. In the past twenty years and before the roots of this big religious event turned into fruit trees for the growth and becoming main symbol of receiving Zainabi message, nobody believed that this young sapling itself would become one day a media that maybe today, it would shape the most popular international rally outcome of an idea and thought.

Texts of several books in Shiite culture, namely, the easy manner and behavior of Hazrat Ali (A), the first Imam of Shiites, and the book “Misbah ul-Mojtahed” written by respected scholar of Shiites Shaykh Tusi which is the result of Tusi’s logical and precise choice present 20^th of month of Safar, namely,  Arbaeen, as the day when relatives and family of Imam Hossein (A), namely, hostages’ convoy, returned from Levant (the then Syria) to Medina and it is the day that Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari, the Prophet Muhammad (S)’s ally, arrived from Medina to Karbala in order to visit the shrine of Imam Hossein (A) and he was the first one who visited the shrine of that Hazrat.

On this day, reading the text of pilgrimage of Imam Hossein (A) is mustahabb (favored or virtuous) and reading this pilgrimage text is like reading Arbaeen pilgrimage text which is seen and reflected abundantly in prayer and text pilgrimage books. Shaykh Tusi’s book has also mentioned the pilgrimage text of Arbaeen with document being quoted from Imam Jafar Sadeq (A).This quotation is what this esteemed, reliable and educated Shiite scholar of the fifth century has brought in his book about Arbaeen.

Actually due to the credit and significance of the day among Shiites, Shiites read Arbaeen pilgrimage to observe it and if they could, they would have gathered together like Jabir at the Shrine of Imam Hossein (A) to pay homage to him. This tradition has been observed and followed in Iraq since then and every year we witness millions of Shiites gather at the Shrine of Imam Hossein (A).

The first issue regarding Arbaeen which draws our attention is the interpretation from Arbaeen in religious books. I should first mention some point as prelude. Essentially we should notice that in the correct religious attitude, the numbers as just being numbers do not have any significant role in inspiring certain meanings. It means we cannot have a certain deduction just because in this or that issue numbers like 7, o 12 or 40 or 70 have been employed.

This notice was because some religious sects especially those which have had or still have tendency towards esotericism and sometimes they attributed themselves to Shia. And some of quasi-philosophers have been also affected by thoughts about numbers or letters as they believed that those numbers mentioned in the religious quotations could be based on a Divine calculation but that these numbers could be used in other cases and without any religious evidence is not acceptable.

For example, several times in the prayer books, the number of 100 have been used like ‘you should repeat such dhikr (short prayer) 100 times” but it does not necessarily mean 100 is a sacred number. In another words, there is no reason to commemorate number 40 but we should first see why Arbaeen has today gained resurrectional fame in the world.

The most important point on Arbaeen can be noticed in a quotation from Imam Hassan Askari (A), namely, the 11^th Imam of Shiites and father of Imam Zaman (A). He has said, “Signs of a believer are five: First, saying 51 rakats (single unit of Islamic prayer) of prayers (17 rakats of obligatory prayers+ 11 rakats of night prayers+ 23 rakats of complementary prayers to daily prayers); Second, visiting Imam Hossein (A)’s shrine and paying homage to him during days called Arbaeen; Third, wearing a ring in the right hand finger; Fourth, trace of prostration on the forehead of a believer and the fifth is reading loudly “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” in daily prayers.

We should say that this hadith (record of the words, actions, and the silent approval of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)) is the only reliable document that has stipulated both Arbaeen pilgrimage and Imam Hossein (A)’s Arbaeen and commemorating the day.

Today commemoration and Arbaeen pilgrimage in form of a mustahab (favorable) act has turned into a political symbol. Since this act is both an educational journey in epistemology and show of the power of spirituality and resistance in the culture of fighting tyranny, it has automatically become universal and it is considered on of the signs of Resurrection and a prelude to re-appearance of Hazrat Mahdi (A), the 12^th Imam of Shiites who is to invite the world to the justice in a public.

 By: Hamid Reza Naghashian