Imam Askari (AS) & the Significance of the Arba’een Pilgrimage

Date: 14 November 2018 - 21:33

News ID: ۵۹۶۷۶

By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz
Recently we saw some twenty million pilgrims from all over the world converging upon Karbala to pay homage to the Chief of Martyrs, Imam Husain (AS), on the occasion of the anniversary of Arba’een or the traditional 40th day of his martyrdom.
This grand spectacle, which is in progress for the past few years, ever since Iraq was unshackled from the repressive rule of the ungodly Ba’th minority regime, has jolted human conscience worldwide and made the conscientious, irrespective of their beliefs, as to what is the mystery and success behind this growing orderly phenomenon.
It is undoubtedly the world’s largest annual gathering, whose spiritual aspects has amazed world thinkers, regarding the attraction the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) continues to hold for humanity despite the passing of over a millennium and three-and-a-half centuries since he was cruelly martyred along with his male family members and steadfast companions by the forces of darkness.
The answer is not that difficult for the seekers of truth. The 8th of Rabi al-Awwal, which we commemorate every year as the martyrdom anniversary of the Prophet’s 11th Infallible Heir, guides our minds and hearts to the truth behind the reality of Karbala.
Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), during his short period of imamate, which was cut short in the prime of his youth at the age of 28, due to a fatal dose of poison given to him on the orders of the Abbasid caliph, Mo’tamed in 260 AH (874 AD) in Samarra, did not mince words, when he explicitly referred to the Ziyarah (visitation, salutation) on the Day of Arba’een of his illustrious grandfather Imam Husain (AS), as among the 5 signs of a true believer.
Imam Askari (AS) needs no introduction. As the Penultimate Imam in the unbroken chain of 12 divinely-decreed successors of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger to mankind, he taught the believers how to be steadfast in the face of calamities.
During his 6-year period of imamate, he so splendidly expounded the meanings of God’s Revealed Word (the holy Qur’an) as well as the pristine Sunnah and Seerah (practice and behaviour) of the Prophet that the cowardly Abbasid caliph schemed to martyr him through poisoning.
The fear of the Abbasid regime was obvious. The self-styled caliphs were terrified about the approaching figure of "Twelve Imams” of the Ahl al-Bayt in view of the Prophet’s famous hadith that his successors will be "Twelve” and the Last One will rise as Qa’em al-Mahdi to end tyranny on earth by establishing the global government of peace, prosperity and justice.
But why were the Heirs of the Prophet deprived of their right of political leadership of the Ummah, and how did these self-styled caliphs rose to power and tarnished the image of Islam?
Answers to these questions could be found by studying, evaluating and pondering upon the events that occurred in Medina immediately after the passing away of the Prophet.
While the Prophet’s Household, especially his divinely-decreed vicegerent the One and Only Righteous Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Taleb (AS), were busy in the last rites, some power-hungry Arabs who had infiltrated the circle of the companions of the Messenger of Mercy, chose one of them as ‘caliph’ after a fistfight amongst themselves.
They then stormed the blessed threshold of the Prophet’s Immaculate Daughter, Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA) and flung the burning door of her house upon her, demanding that Imam Ali (AS), the person whom the Prophet had proclaimed as his successor on the command of God Almighty at Ghadeer-Khom, while returning from his Farewell Pilgrimage, should give oath of allegiance to their illegal rule.
These are the very days in which these tragic incidents took place and resulted in the martyrdom of the first member of the Prophet’s Household, his stillborn grandson, Muhsin.
While commemorating Ayyam-e Muhsiniyya these days let us visualize the erratic course of the caliphate that after the brief four-and-a-half year rule of justice of Imam Ali (AS) during which hypocrites of all shades raised their ugly heads, was seized through deceit from the Prophet’s elder grandson, Imam Hasan (AS), by Mu’awiya ibn Abu Sufyan, who had been placed as governor of Syria by the coup leaders of Saqifa Bani Sa’da.
Time and space do not permit me to dwell on the heartrending tragedy of Karbala, or the seizure of the caliphate from the Godless Omayyads by the equally ungodly Abbasids, on the ruse of giving back the political rule of the Islamic state to the Prophet’s progeny.
The Abbasids resorted to the cowardly practice of poison to martyr the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt, and 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.
The 11th Imam used to say: Thank God that He did not take me away from this world without showing me my successor. He (my son) is closest to the Prophet in his features and character. God will keep him for a while in occultation and then He will cause him to emerge so that he will fill the earth with justice and equity.

Condolences on the Martyrdom Anniversary of Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS)