Ziyarat Arbaeen part 1
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Part One
Sending our greetings of peace, prayers and salutations upon the Master of the Martyrs
أَلسَّلاَمُ عَلىٰ وَلِيِّ اللهِ وَحَبِيبِهِ،
أَلسَّلاَمُ عَلىٰ خَلِيلِ اللهِ وَنَجِيبِهِ.
أَلسَّلاَمُ عَلىٰ صَفِيِّ اللهِ وَابْنِ صَفِيِّهِ
أَلسَّلاَمُ عَلىٰ الْحُسَيْنِ الْـمَظْلُومِ الشَّهِيدِ،
أَلسَّلاَمُ عَلىٰ أَسِيرِ الْكُرُبَاتِ وَقَتِيلِ الْعَبَرَاتِ
Peace be upon the hostage surrounded by the tightening circle of sorrow and grief, killed by a horde of savages.
Explanation
In the introductory salutations of the ziyarat, Imam as-Sadiq, peace be upon him, discusses the spiritual lineage of Imam al-Husayn, peace be upon him, and mentions that he is the son of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his family – the one who is the most beloved to Allah. Some of the Prophets of Allah are referred to by their titles which they are well-known by; Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him, who is known as the Friend of Allah; Prophet Musa, peace be upon him, who is known as the one who spoke to Allah; Prophet Isa, peace be upon him, who is the Word of Allah; Prophet Nuh, peace be upon him, who is the Prophet of Allah – keeping in mind that he (Prophet Nuh) was the first one to attain the status of nubuwwah; Prophet Adam, peace be upon him, who was the Chosen of Allah and finally, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him and his family, who is the Most Beloved of Allah.
In regards to the phrase “Peace be upon you” (السلام عليك) – many different meanings have been given:
1. As-Salam (The Peace) is one of the names of Allah, the Grand and Majestic and thus in this meaning, we are asking for Allah’s protection to be on Imam al-Husayn, peace be upon him.
2. As-Salam (The Peace) in the meaning of pure and complete submission.
3. As-Salam (The Peace) in the meaning of safety and security.
With these different interpretations given, whose over all meaning is that of safety and security, we can understand that when we greet Imam al-Husayn, peace be upon him, with this phrase, what we are saying is that we, who are visiting the Imam or are reciting this visitation from far away, that we are promising the Imam that no harm or infliction of grief will ever emanate from us unto the Imam – not at that particular time that we are addressing him, nor at any other time – meaning that we will do our best to keep away from breaking the laws which they promulgated.
We understand that their entire purpose of existence was to guide and rectify humanity and to keep us on the path of tawheed and the obedience of Allah and this includes the obedience of all of their teachings – including the moral illnesses such as pride, arrogance, boasting, miserliness, love of the self, love of power, backbiting, etc…
Thus, when we recite these passages we must also work to ensure that we remove all such negative ethical traits from within ourselves so that we do not cause hurt or grief to the Imam.
When we have done this, then our ‘Salam’ towards the Imam will be truthful and sincere. It is through the recitation of the greeting and its repetition that we seek spiritual closeness to the Imam and we instill the love for the Imam and his teachings within our lives and we work to remove all of the negative traits which may have built up within ourselves over the years.
Such greetings to the Imam and his companions and family members announce to Allah, the Prophet, the Imam and to our own inner heart that we will not rest until we have removed and annihilated all of the inner demons we carry and that we will also not rest until all external evil forces have been destroyed and reduced to mere mention in the books of history.