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

Section Twenty Five and Twenty Six

“O’ Allah! Surely I seek nearness to you on this day (the Day of ‘Ashura) and in this place (which I am in) and in all days of my life by disassociating myself from these people and sending curses upon them and through my love and friendship to Your Prophet and the family of Your Prophet, peace be upon him and upon all of them.”

Once again, we return to the over-riding theme in all of our supplications and Ziyarat which is the Monotheism of Allah and seeking nearness to Him through individuals whom He has appointed as our guides.

This line of the Ziyarat shows that the closeness which we ask Allah for is not limited to a particular day or place we are in – rather, it is for all time and for anywhere in which we remember the Imam and his sacrifice.

In actuality, this line of the Ziyarat is a summary of the entire visitation – love and hate – which we have covered in previous sections of this exposition.

“O’ Allah! Curse the first tyrant who oppressed the right of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad and the next person who followed him on this path. O’ Allah! Curse the group who fought against Husayn and those who followed them and supported them and assisted them in killing him. O’ Allah, curse all of them!”

The meaning of “...the first oppressor...” is not necessarily the first person who oppressed the family, just as the meaning of “...the next person...” does not necessarily mean the second one who followed. Rather, it means those individuals who initiated the oppression against the Prophet and his family and those who continued and perpetuated this act – even up until today (those who are happy and content and supportive of what was carried out).

Can someone actually “...oppress the rights of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad?” Without doubt, this does not refer to the status of Prophethood and Imamate as these are Allah Given and no one can take them away. Thus, what this means is that we are sending curses upon those who prevented the Prophet and his family from enacting the status which they were given and from leading the community based on their Imamate. Thus, ‘oppressing the rights...’ means preventing the Imam from fulfilling his Imamate over the nation and ensuring that all of the Islamic commandments are put into practice which was obviously not done during the ruling ‘Caliphs’.

We have been recommended to recite this section 100 times in order for our Ziyarat to be ‘complete’, however, what is the reason for this? One possible reason for the recitation is to instil a sense of hatred and enmity for the killers of the grandson of the Prophet. It is possible that out of these 100 times, our attention may slip away a few times, thus rendering these curses as not coming from the bottom of our heart, however without doubt, if we repeat it 100 times, we are guarantee that atleast one of these 100 would be done sincerely and with true faith in what we are saying.