المجالس العاشورية

(691)

was made to run over the grave of al-Hussein (peace be upon him) to wipe out its trace, it dried up (1).

أجري على قبر الحسين ( عليه السلام ) ليمحي أثره نضُب ⁽¹⁾.

Ibn al-Athir said: Al-Mutawakkil harbored hostility and deviation, so he demolished this place and the dwellings around it, ordered that it be sown, and prevented the people from coming to it (2). Ibn Khallikan said: Thus the historians have related it. And in the year two hundred thirty-seven, he effaced the grave of the martyr al-Hussein (peace be upon him) and the dwellings around it. So the people wrote curses against al-Mutawakkil on the walls, and the poets satirized him, such as Di'bil and others. He said: And al-Mutawakkil was a great tyrant (3).

وقال ابن الأثير : وكان المتوكل فيه نصبٌ وانحراف ، فهدم هذا المكان وما حوله من الدور ، وأمر من يزرع ، ومنع الناس من إتيانه ⁽²⁾ ، وقال ابن خلكان : هكذا قاله أرباب التواريخ ، وفي سنة سبع وثلاثين ومائتين عفَّى قبر الشهيد الحسين ( عليه السلام ) وما حوله من الدور ، فكتب الناس شتم المتوكل على الحيطان ، وهجته الشعراء كدعبل وغيره ، قال : وكان المتوكل ظلوماً ⁽³⁾.

Al-Zirikli said, concerning the reason the grave of al-Hussein (peace be upon him) was called "al-Ha'ir": Al-Ha'ir is the grave of al-Hussein the martyr. It was called al-Ha'ir because, when al-Mutawakkil destroyed it and sent water over it, the water swirled (hara) and did not rise above it. So it was called al-Ha'ir from that time — the honored one (4).

وقال الزركلي في سبب تسمية قبر الحسين ( عليه السلام ) بالحائر : الحائر : هو قبر الحسين الشهيد ، سُمِّي الحائر; لأنه لمَّا خرَّبه المتوكل وأرسل عليه الماء حار الماء ولم يعلُ عليه ، فسمِّي الحائر من ذلك الحين ـ المشرف ⁽⁴⁾.

Now, some poets recorded this painful event and mentioned it in their verses, denouncing al-Mutawakkil for his abominable deed. The poets satirized him, such as Di'bil and others. Among this is what Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani related from one of them, who said:

هذا وقد سجَّل بعض الشعراء هذه الحادثة الأليمة ، وذكروها في أشعارهم ، وأنكروا على المتوكل فعاله الشنيعة ، وهجته الشعراء كدعبل وغيره ، ومن ذلك ما ذكره أبو الفرج الإصفهاني لبعضهم قال :

My very soul be ransom for those whose anguish over you choked them,
for they were cast aside before death and made to gasp in their final throes;
yet you were not content until you had stirred up their graves
with your dogs from it — black-coated and dark-hued (5).

بنفسي الأُلَى كَظَّتْهُمُ حَسَرَاتُكُمْ فَقَدْ عُزِلُوا قَبْلَ المَمَاتِ وَحُشْرِجُوا ولم تَقْنَعُوا حتى استثارت قُبُورُهُمْ كِلاَبَكُمُ منها بهيمٌ وَدَيْزَجُ ⁽⁵⁾

He said: Al-Dayzaj was the one who dug up the grave of al-Hussein (peace be upon him) in the days of al-Mutawakkil, and the water gushed over it, and he prevented the people from visiting it until al-Mutawakkil was killed (5).

وقال : الديزج الذي كان نبش قبر الحسين ( عليه السلام ) في أيام المتوكل ، ونبق فيه الماء ، ومنع الناس الزيارة إلى أن قُتل المتوكل ⁽⁵⁾.

1 ـ البداية والنهاية ، ابن كثير : 8/221.
2 ـ الكامل ، ابن الأثير : 7/55.
3 ـ وفيات الأعيان ، ابن خلكان : 3/365.
4 ـ الأعلام ، خير الدين الزركلي : 8/30.
5 ـ مقاتل الطالبيين ، أبو الفرج الأصفهاني : 428.

(692)

Among them was al-Bassami the poet — he is Abu al-Hasan, known as al-Bassami, the famous poet in the time of al-Muqtadir the Abbasid. Among this is what he said concerning al-Mutawakkil's destruction of the grave of al-Hussein ibn Ali (peace be upon him), and his order that it be sown and its trace effaced. He was severe in his enmity toward Ali and his children (peace be upon them). Ibn Bassam said the following in that regard:

ومنهم البسامي الشاعر ، وهو أبو الحسن ، المعروف بالبسامي ، الشاعر المشهور في زمن المقتدر العباسي ، فمن ذلك قوله في تخريب المتوكل قبر الحسين بن علي ( عليه السلام ) ، وأمره بأن يُزرع ويُمحى رسمه ، وكان شديد التحامل على علي وولده ( عليهم السلام ) ، قال ابن بسَّام هذا في ذلك :

By God, if the Umayyads once came
to slay the son of their Prophet's daughter, wronged,
then the sons of his own father have come with the like of it —
this, by your life, is his grave, demolished.
They grieved that they had not shared
in his killing, so they pursued him even as moldering bones (1).

تَاللهِ إنْ كانت أُميَّةُ قَدْ أَتَتْ قَتْلَ ابنِ بِنْتِ نبيِّها مظلوما فَلَقَدْ أَتَاهُ بنو أبيه بمِثْلِهِ هذا لَعَمْرُكَ قَبْرُهُ مهدوما أَسِفُوا على أَنْ لا يكونوا شَارَكوا في قَتْلِهِ فَتَتَبَّعُوه رَمِيما ⁽¹⁾

It is related in al-Durr al-Nazim and elsewhere: from Hisham ibn Muhammad, who said: When the water was made to run over the grave of al-Hussein (peace be upon him), it dried up after forty days, and the trace of the grave was effaced. Then a Bedouin of the Banu Asad came and began taking handful after handful and smelling it, until he came upon the grave of al-Hussein (peace be upon him). He wept when he smelled it and said: May my father and mother be your ransom! How fragrant you were, and how fragrant your grave and your soil! Then he began to recite:

وجاء في الدر النظيم وغيره : عن هشام بن محمد ، قال : لمَّا أُجري الماء على قبر الحسين ( عليه السلام ) نضُب بعد أربعين يوماً ، وامتحى أثر القبر ، فجاء أعرابي من بني أسد ، فجعل يأخذ قبضة قبضة ويشمّه ، حتى وقع على قبر الحسين ( عليه السلام ) فبكى حين شمَّه ، وقال : بأبي وأمي ، ما كان أطيبك! وأطيب قبرك وتربتك! ثمَّ أنشأ يقول :

They sought to hide his grave from his devoted friend,
yet the fragrance of the grave's soil pointed to the grave (2).

أَرَادُوا لِيُخْفُوا قَبْرَه عن وَلِيِّهِ فَطِيْبُ تُرَابِ الْقَبْرِ دَلَّ على الْقَبَرِ ⁽²⁾

How fitting for him (the blessings and peace of God be upon him) is this lofty phrase in his noble ziyarah: I bear witness that through you God made the soil fragrant, and through you He made the Book clear.

فما أحقَّه صلوات الله وسلامه عليه بهذه الفقرة المنيفة في زيارته الشريفة : أشهد لقد طيَّب الله بك التراب ، وأوضح بك الكتاب.

1 ـ البداية والنهاية ، ابن كثير : 11/143 ، سير أعلام النبلاء ، الذهبي : 12/35.
2 ـ الدر النظيم ، ابن حاتم الشامي : 572 ، تاريخ مدينة دمشق ، ابن عساكر : 14/245.

(693)

Al-Mas'udi mentioned that when al-Muntasir became caliph, the people felt safe. He gave orders to refrain from harming the family of Abu Talib, to stop investigating their affairs, and that no one be prevented from visiting al-Ha'ir at the grave of al-Hussein (peace be upon him), nor the grave of any other of the family of Abu Talib. He ordered that Fadak be returned to the children of al-Hasan and al-Hussein (peace be upon them), released the endowments of the family of Abu Talib, ceased harassing their Shia, and warded off harm from them (1).

ذكر المسعودي أن المنتصر لمَّا استخلف أمِنَ الناس ، وتقدَّم بالكفِّ عن آل أبي طالب ، وترك البحث عن أخبارهم ، وأن لا يُمنع أحدٌ زيارة الحيرة لقبر الحسين ( عليه السلام ) ، ولا قبر غيره من آل أبي طالب ، وأمر بردّ فدك إلى ولد الحسن والحسين ( عليهما السلام ) ، وأطلق أوقاف آل أبي طالب ، وترك التعرّض لشيعتهم ، ودفع الأذى عنهم ⁽¹⁾.

And how excellent are the words of the learned authority Sheikh Ali al-Jishi (may God's mercy be upon him), when he says:

ولله درّ الحجة الشيخ علي الجشي عليه الرحمة إذ يقول :

My two friends, turn aside with me to al-Taff, for I see
no journey praised save to the valley of Karbala.
If you come to it, then alight upon its courtyards,
alighting as one grieved, and recall what came to pass there:
the morning when al-Hussein and his companions lay
by the edge of swords, like sacrifices upon the dust;
his head was severed in tyranny from the back of the neck,
and paraded high upon a spearhead, displayed for all;
the daughters of revelation were driven as captives, while his body —
in spite of them — was left behind, smeared with dust;
they were paraded through the markets, between the gloating one
and the seeker of vengeance who beheld what he had longed for.
So from the lands of Sham she made pilgrimage to the courtyard of Karbala,
and laid down the staff of travel only upon its hills.
When the courtyard of al-Taff came into view, she let out
sighs that were followed by sorrow upon sorrow;
she set loose her gazes across those courtyards,
but she saw nothing save mounds and graves.
She stayed three days in mourning, and the flame
of anguish in her heart, blazing high, was not quenched.
She called out to them, in apology: Not out of any aversion to you
do we depart, nor has weariness come upon us from our staying (2).

خليليَّ عُوجَا بي على الطفِّ لاَ أَرَى إلى غَيْرِ وادي كربلا يُحْمَدُ السُّرَى فَإِنْ جِئْتَُماهَا فَانْزِلاَ في عِرَاصِها نُزُولَ حزين وَاذْكُرَا مَابِهَا جَرَى غداةَ بها أمسى الحسينُ وصَحْبُهُ بِحَدِّ المواضي كالضَّحَايَا عَلَى الثَّرَى وَقَدْ حُزَّ منه الرَّأْسُ بَغْياً من القَفَا وَسُيِّرَ في عَالِي السِّنَانِ مُشَهَّرَا وَسِيْقَت بَنَاتُ الْوَحْيِ أَسْرَى وَجِسْمُهُ على الرَّغْمِ منها خَلَّفَتْهُ مُعَفَّرا وَشُهِّرْنَ في الأسواقِ ما بينَ شَامِت وَطَلاَّبِ وِتْر مَا تَمَنَّاهُ أَبْصَرَا فَحَجَّتْ مِنَ الشَّامَاتِ عَرْصَةَ كربلا ولم تُلْقِ إلاَّ في رُبَاهَا عَصَا السُّرَى فَلَمَّا تَرَاءَت عَرْصَةُ الطفِّ أرسلت لها زَفَرَات أَعْقَبَتْها تَحَسُّرَا وَسَرَّحْنَ في تلك العِرَاصِ نَوَاظِرَاً فَمَا نَظَرَت إلاَّ تِلاَعَاً وَأَقْبُرا أقامت ثَلاَثاً لِلْعَزَاءِ وَمَا انطفى لَهِيبُ جَوَىً في قَلْبِها قَدْ تَسَعَّرَا وَنَادَتْهُمُ عُذْراً فَلاَ عَنْ قَلاً لَكُمْ رَحَلْنا وَلاَ مِنْ مَكْثِنَا سَأَمٌ عَرَا ⁽²⁾

And may God bless Muhammad and his pure family. Glory be to your Lord, the Lord of Might, above what they ascribe, and peace be upon the messengers, and praise be to God, Lord of the worlds.

وصلى الله على محمد وآله الطاهرين ، وسبحان ربك رب العزّة عما يصفون وسلام على المرسلين ، والحمد لله رب العالمين.

1 ـ مروج الذهب ، المسعودي : 4/51 ـ 52.
2 ـ ديوان العلامة الجشي : 216 ـ 217.

المجالس العاشورية في المآتم الحسينية

The ʿĀshūrāʾ gatherings in the Ḥusaynī mourning assemblies