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

Section Twenty One and Twenty Two

أَللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْنِي فِي مَقَامِي هذَا مِمَّنْ تَنالُهُ مِنْكَ صَلَواتٌ وَرَحْمَةٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ

“O’ Allah! Make me at this moment, one who receives from You prayers, mercy and forgiveness.”

The meaning of “...make me at this moment...” is that point in time when a person is reciting this Ziyarat since, as mentioned before, one is able to attain closeness to Allah and His chosen personalities through love and affinity for the Prophet Muhammad and his chosen family members.

Thus, as we seek nearness to Allah through the Ahlul Bayt, we ask Allah for His prayers, mercy and His forgiveness from our sins and transgressions.

أَللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْ مَحْيايَ مَحْيا مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِ مُحَمَّدٍ، وَمَماتِي مَماتَ مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِ مُحَمَّدٍ.

“O’ Allah! Make me live the life of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad and permit me to die the death of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.”

We know the way of life of Muhammad and his family – they led a life of piety, humility and humbleness. They did not indulge in extravagance, nor were they miserly in their spending. Whatever they did was for Allah and to seek nearness to Allah. This is what we ask for in the first part of this section. We also know that they stood up for truth and justice and when the time came to give their life for the protection of the faith of Islam, they did as they needed.

The positive traits and noble ethical qualities which the Prophet and his family possess are too numerous to mention here, however we ask Allah to bless our life and permit us to live the same sort of life that they had.

As for the second portion in which we ask that we ‘...die the death of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad...’ this is a far more important aspect. In essence, we are asking Allah for a noble and glorious death – a death that the family of the Prophet welcomed in which they were killed defending the cause of Allah and His faith since generally speaking, the way we live is the way we die.

It is not possible for a person to live his life as a ‘Husayni’ but die as a ‘Yazidi’ – as long as the ‘Husayni’ traits are deeply engrained in his psyche and essence, he will never leave this path. Similarly, it is not possible for a person to live his entire life as a ‘Yazidi’ but die as a ‘Husayni’ as his heart would be so polluted with sins and evil, that it would be very hard, if not impossible to return back to the straight path. Granted there are those who have led less than pious lives and have died on the path of Islam however for them we can state that they had not arrived to a state in which their entire presence had been covered over with sins – people such as Hurr b. Yazid al-Riyaahi.

Thus, in this life of the Ziyarat we are asking for the death of a Shaheed – Martyr – as this is the noblest way of leaving the world especially keeping in mind that we could die in many ways such as crossing the street, riding a bike or something of this nature...