Salaam dear young friends, how are you? Hope you are fine by the Grace of Almighty Allah. The weather has become cold and in few day the Alborz Mountain Range on the northern rim of Tehran will be snow-capped. So, try to keep yourself warm and avoid catching cold by taking precautionary measures.
Well friends, do we have any special occasion to mark in the coming days? Yes, we do have. Friday as you all know is the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), the 11th Infallible Heir of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA).
It was on the 8th of Rabi al-Awwal, 1180 lunar years to be exact, that the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (may God hasten his appearance) became an orphan at the tender age of 5 years.
Imagine the situation in Samarra, when Imam Askari (AS) left the world at the young age of 28 years on being fatally poisoned by Mu’tamed, the self-styled caliph of the Abbasid regime.
There was no one to console the little boy, since his mother had already died, and he was being raised in secrecy by his father, unknown to most people, except for a few staunch and steadfast followers of the Ahl al-Bayt.
Imam Askari (AS) needs no introduction. During his 6-year imamate he spread the pure and pristine teachings of the Prophet. He elaborated on the meanings and purport of the ayahs of the holy Qur’an.
He taught the genuine Hadith of the Prophet. He was a picture of piety and possessed immaculate manners. These virtues unnerved the regime.
Once the caliph called the Imam to his palace and ordered his army to march past before him. He wanted to boast or to impress the Imam of his power.
When the march past was over, the Imam asked the caliph to gaze between two of his fingers. What the caliph saw was a huge army of angels extending from the sky to the earth and equipped with the most sophisticated arms. The caliph became speechless, but harboured malice against the Imam deep down in his heart.
The Abbasids resorted to the cowardly practice of poison to martyr the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt, and Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS) fell victim to Mu’tamed in 260 AH.
The plan was to prevent the birth of the 12th Imam, but it went awry, since unknown to the conspirators, the Awaited Saviour of mankind had been born five years earlier in 255 AH and was being raised in secrecy in order to materialize God’s promise.
Before bidding you goodbye we wish to remind you that Saturday, corresponding to November 17, is the auspicious 9th of Rabi al-Awwal, the start of the imamate of the Imam of the Age.
It is also the anniversary of the execution of the accursed Omar ibn Sa’d, the Omayyad commander who perpetrated the heartrending tragedy of Karbala.
God bless you until we meet again next week.