The Torch of Perpetual Guidance, an Exposé on Ziyarat Ashura of al-Imam al-Husayn b. Ali

Section Nineteen

“And I ask Him (Allah) that He enables me to reach to the honoured station with you in the presence of Allah and that He grant me the ability to seek the revenge of you with the rightly guided Imam from you, who shall surely come and speak the truth.”

The honoured station (Maqaam al-Mahmood) is not one which everybody can reach to and it is for this reason that in Suratul Isra (17), we read, “...and in the night perform the recommended prayers (Salatul Lail). Perhaps is through this act that Your Lord may grant you an honoured station (Maqaam al-Mahmood).” Thus, the only way to soar to the peaks of closeness with Allah is through the spiritual travels – one of them being closeness to the Ahlul Bayt in the true sense of the word.

Although the tafseer of this verse has limited the true Maqaam al-Mahmood as belonging to the Prophet Muhammad and his power of Intercession for all who Allah permits him to intercede for, however there are others who, according to numerous ahadith, will have the permission to intercede for others – the teacher will be able to intercede for his students; the Shaheed will be able to intercede for family members and other categories which the hadith speak about.

However, the term Maqaam al-Mahmood used in this section is of a ‘general’ nature of a lofty status and not that rank of the Prophet of Islam.

The mention of the 12th Imam is once again seen in this Ziyarat and we once again ask Allah that we are given the opportunity to be with our Imam in seeking revenge for this great act of murder on the plains of Karbala’. This Imam will come and will take the revenge for his family who were wronged and one of the Du’as of each true believer should be that he is present and fighting with the Imam rather than against the Imam.