Imam Hussain is the grandson of Prophet Muhammad

The infallible Imams (peace be upon them) gave the visit to the grave of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) great care and special attention, and they urged their Shiites to perform this sacred ritual and emphasize it in many cases. Many hadiths and narrations were reported from them (peace be upon them) in the virtue of visiting Hussein. And the great reward that his visitor receives by visiting him.  Among these hadiths is what was narrated on the authority of Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him): (Tell our Shiites to visit the grave of Al-Hussein, for coming to it is obligatory for every believer who acknowledges Al-Hussein’s imamate from God Almighty), and in another hadith of his also (peace be upon him) when he was asked: What is the right of a visitor to Al-Hussein? The reward? He, peace be upon him, said: (God will secure him on the day of greatest terror, and the angels will meet him with the good news and it will be said to him: Do not be afraid and do not be sad, this is your day in which you will win). 

The narrations also came with their authentic chains of transmission from the Prophet (may God’s prayers and peace be upon him and his family) and the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) that God compensated Al-Hussein for his martyrdom and sacrifice: (that healing would be in his soil and the imams would be made from his descendants and prayers would be answered at his dome), and (that God would look at the visitors The grave of Al-Hussein on the eve of Arafat before he looked at the pilgrims to his Sacred House) This is because Al-Hussein preserved the sanctity of the Sacred House, and this was confirmed by his saying (peace be upon him) to Ibn Abbas when he left Mecca before completing his Hajj: O Ibn Abbas, if I had not gone out, the sanctity of the House would have been violated. It was narrated on the authority of Imam al-Baqir (peace be upon him): (Al-Hussein was killed unjustly, so I pray to God that no oppressed person will come to the grave of Al-Hussein, but He will take care of redressing his injustice. And Al-Hussein was killed while distressed, sad, and depressed, so I pray to God that no distressed person will come to the grave of Al-Hussein, except that he will be relieved). 

In addition to many and many of these well-regarded hadiths, the Shiites used to, and still do, go to visit the grave of Al-Hussein (peace be upon him) from remote countries and distant countries, so the Imams (peace be upon them) used to pray for the visitors. From a long supplication of Imam Al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) in his prostration, we quote this passage from it to make it clearer. We have the extent of the interest that they (peace be upon them) paid to this ritual and the call to it. He (peace be upon him) said: (O God, forgive me and my brothers and the visitors to the grave of Al-Hussein who spent their money and sacrificed their bodies out of desire for our righteousness and hope for what You have in our connection and the joy that they brought to Your Prophet.) Since the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him), the Shiites have been keen to make the connection vibrant, alive and continuous between them and Karbala. The words of Uqba bin Amr al-Sahmi indicate to us that the grave of Hussein has remained, since his martyrdom, the darling of hearts and the Kaaba of the faithful. Uqba says: I passed by the grave of Hussein in Karbala*** Then my tears flooded over him abundantly, and I still weep for him and lament his grief. *** Their tears and their exhalations make my eyes happy, and I wept after Hussein in agony. *** Their graves circled around him from either side of him. When the eye becomes soothed in life, and you *** fear in this world, its light is darkened. 

Peace be upon the people of the graves in Karbala. ** And say to her, “My peace.” May peace visit her in the evening and morning hours. *** It is carried away by the ravages and blows of the winds. And the visitors of his grave will not go away. *** It smells of its musk and its fragrance. Al-Sayyid Muhsin Al-Amin (1), Al-Turaihi (2) and Sibt bin Al-Jawzi (3) have agreed that these verses are the first verses of poetry spoken in lamentation for Al-Hussein (peace be upon him). Uqba was one of the poets of the first hundred years of the Hijra, and the last verse of his poetry indicates to us that The grave of Al-Hussein was not devoid of visitors since the first days of his martyrdom. The repentants used to hold funerals at the grave. Al-Jawahiri says in his masterpiece (I Believed in Al-Hussein): And I walked around your grave like a raft of imagination, *** in the hermitage of the creative inspiration, and I left, and the memories flew *** with my soul to a higher world, where the ages can seek refuge. Prostration *** on both sides of him, and whoever kneels, the visit of the fortieth. One of the most important specific visits that our pure Imams emphasized to the grave of Imam Hussein is (the visit of the fortieth), as many narrations were reported from the infallible Imams (peace be upon them) regarding the specificity of the fortieth day and the virtue of visiting Hussein on that day.

It was narrated Al-Nouri, on the authority of Zurara bin Ayan, on the authority of Abu Abdullah Al-Sadiq (peace be upon him), that he said: (The sky wept over Hussein for forty mornings with blood, and the earth wept over him for forty mornings with blackness, and the sun wept over him for forty mornings with eclipse and redness, and the angels wept over him for forty mornings, and no woman dyed her hair. And I did not apply oil, nor did I use kohl, nor did I put on my face until the head of Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad came to us, and we will continue to be an example after him.” (4)  Ibn Qulwayh also narrated on the authority of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (peace be upon him) that he said: (The sky wept over Al-Hussein for forty mornings) (5). As for the visit of Imam Hussein on the fortieth day, many hadiths were reported from the infallible Imams (peace be upon him) regarding its virtue, including what was narrated on the authority of Imam Hassan Al-Askari (peace be upon him), which was mentioned by many sources that he said: The signs of a believer are five: loudly pronouncing “In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful,” and praying. Fifty-one, visiting the fortieth, sealing the oath, and dusting the forehead). 

As for the famous visit on the fortieth day, known as (Arba’een), it was narrated in two narrations. The first narration was narrated by Safwan al-Jamal on the authority of Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him), who said: My lord al-Sadiq said to me: You visit al-Husayn at the break of day and say... Then he recited the visit. As for the second narration: It was narrated on the authority of Atta, on the authority of Jabir bin Abdullah Al-Ansari, who said: I was with Jabir on the twentieth of Safar, and when we arrived at Al-Ghadhariya, he took a bath according to its law and put on a pure shirt that he had with him, then he said to me: Do you have any perfume, Atta? I said: Saad, so he put some of it on his head and the rest of his body, then he walked barefoot until he stopped at the head of Al-Hussein and said “Allahu Akbar” three times, then he fell unconscious, and when he woke up, I heard him say:... Then he recited the visitation. 

Many eminent scholars have mentioned the virtue of visiting Al-Hussein on the fortieth day, and they have cited as evidence for this the narrations of the infallible Imams (peace be upon them), including: 1 - Abu Jaafar Muhammad bin Al-Hasan Al-Tusi, after he narrated the hadiths in the virtue of visiting him (peace be upon him), mentioned those restricted to special times. He mentioned the month of Safar and its events, then said: On the twentieth day of it, the wife of Abu Abdullah Al-Hussein (peace be upon him) returned from the Levant to the city of the Messenger (may God bless him and his family) and the arrival of Jabir bin Abdullah Al-Ansari to Karbala to visit Abu Abdullah Al-Hussein (peace be upon him). Peace be upon him. He was the first person to visit him, which was the fortieth visit. Then he narrated the hadith of Imam Hassan al-Askari (peace be upon him) (6) and he also narrated that in his book (Misbah al-Mutahajjid) (7). 2 - Abu Al-Rayhan Al-Biruni: On the twentieth of Safar, the honorable head was returned to his body and buried with it, and it included the visit of the fortieth and the arrival of his wife after their departure from the Levant (8). 3- Allama Al-Hilli: It is desirable to visit Al-Hussein on the twentieth of Safar, then he narrated the hadith of Imam Al-Askari (peace be upon him). (9) 4- Allamah Al-Majlisi (10). 5- Al-Sayyid Ibn Tawoos (11). 6 - Sheikh Youssef Al-Bahrani (12). 7 - Sheikh Al-Mufid (13). 8 - Allama Al-Hilli (14). 9 - Mullah Mohsen Al-Fayd Al-Kashani (15). 10 - Sheikh Al-Baha’i (16). 11 - Sheikh Abbas Al-Qummi (17). 

The peculiarity of the Arbaeen visit also comes in recalling the tragedies, pains and tragedies that took place on the captives of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon him), as the holding of the Husseini rituals on the Arbaeen day coincides with the anniversary of the return of the honorable head from the Levant to Iraq, and its burial with the pure body on the twentieth day of Safar. It was mentioned in the narrations that this day in Iraq is called “Mard al-Ras.” Rituals are performed in remembrance of this painful incident, and sorrows are renewed. There were many narrations that the captives, after they were expelled from the Levant, headed to Karbala and reached it on the twentieth of Safar. They found Jabir bin Abdullah Al-Ansari, the companion, and with him a group of Shiites who had come to visit the grave of Al-Hussein, so the captives of the captives met with them and continued to weep and lament. This has been stated in many well-regarded books. Dr. Bint Al-Shati mentioned in describing the journey from the Levant to Medina the following: “Zeinab (peace be upon her) once said to the guide: ‘If you took us to Karbala.’ The guide replied sadly: I will do it, and he continued with them until They overlooked the ill-fated square. Forty days had passed since the massacre, and the ground was still stained with stains of the blood of the martyrs and the remains of fresh remains spared by the beast of the desert. The wailing women wailed and remained there for three days, and their pain did not subside, nor did they shed a tear. Then the exhausted caravan made its way to City of the Messenger). 

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The narrations also say: Yazid ordered the return of the captives and captives from the Levant to Medina in the Hijaz, accompanying the heads under the supervision of a group of heralds headed by Al-Numan bin Bashir Al-Ansari. When the caravan reached the land of Iraq on its way to the city of the Messenger, Zainab said to the guide: He passed us on the road to Karbala and proceeded. They even supervised the fateful killing field. Jabir bin Abdullah Al-Ansari, the great companion, and a group of Banu Hashim and men from the family of the Messenger had come to Iraq to visit the grave of Hussein. Sayyed Ali bin Tawoos says: (So they arrived at the same time and met with crying, sadness, and slapping. They held funerals that were painful for the livers, and they gathered together. The people of darkness were upon them, and they remained in that state for days.) (19)

Jaber bin Abdullah Al-Ansari had headed from Medina towards the land of Karbala after he heard of the killing of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) - and he had lost his sight - and Attiya Al-Awfi, who was accompanying Jaber, said: (When we reached Al-Ghadhriyah on the shore of the Euphrates River, Jaber bathed in its law. He put on his purest clothes, then opened a bundle containing Saad - meaning perfume - and spread it over his body. Then he did not take a step without mentioning God Almighty, until when he approached the grave, he said: Touch him, O Atiya. So I touched him, and he fell on the grave unconscious, and I sprinkled water on him, and when he woke up, he said “O Hussein” - three times - then he said: A lover does not answer his beloved. Then he said: How can you get an answer when your cheeks have turned gray over your clothes, and your body and head are separated? I bear witness that you are the son of the best of the prophets, the son of the master of the guardians, the son of the ally of piety, the descendant of guidance, the fifth of the people of clothing, the son of the master of the niqab, and the son of the master of the niqab. Fatima, the Lady of Women...etc. Until the narration says: Then they saw dust in the distance, indicating the arrival of people, and it was from the direction of the Levant.

So Attiya went to see who were coming from the direction of the Levant, but quickly returned, saying: O Jabir, arise and meet the wife of the Messenger of God. This Zayn al-Abidin had brought his paternal aunts and sisters, so Jabir stood barefoot and with his head uncovered until he approached Imam Zain al-Abidin (peace be upon him). The Imam told him about what had happened to them of killing, captivity, and displacement, and among what he (peace be upon him) said was: (O Jabir, here, by God, our men have been killed and slaughtered. Our children, our women were taken captive, and our tents were burned. Since that day, the twentieth of Safar, this date has become witnessed, as millions of visitors flock to Karbala to visit Imam Hussein, perform rituals, and renew this painful memory. Muhammad Taher Al-Saffa