Story 1

Cure of Cholera through Ziyārat ʻĀshūrāʼ

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The late Āyatullāh Sheikh ʻAbd al-Karīm al-Ḥāʼirī al-Yazdī1 (may Allāh elevate his status) said:

During my time in Sāmarrāʼ, and while busy studying religious sciences, the locals were afflicted with an epidemic, and many of them were dying daily.

One day, several scholars and I were at the house of my late teacher, Sayyid Muḥammad al-Fishārakī (ra)2, when suddenly the late Mirza Muḥammad Taqi al-Shīrāzī3 - who was academically on par with the late Āyatullāh al-Fishārakī - joined us and started talking about the epidemic and the plague, and how all people were at risk of death.

Then, the late Āyatullāh al-Fishārakī (ra)4 said: If I issue a Ḥukm5, will it be obeyed? He then asked: Do you believe that I am a Mujtahid6 who fulfills all the conditions (of Marjiʻīyah7)?

Those present replied: Yes.

He said: I order the Shīʻa of Sāmarrāʼ to commit to reciting Ziyārat ʻĀshūrāʼ for ten days8, and to dedicate its reward to the soul of the pure Lady Narjis Khātūn, the mother of Imām al-Ḥujjah(a), and to make her an intercessor for us with her son. So that he may intercede for us with Allāh(s). I guarantee that anyone who commits to reading this Ziyārah will not be affected by this epidemic.

He said: Because the situation was dire, as soon as this Ḥukm was issued, all the Shīʻa of Sāmarrāʼ committed to reading the Ziyārah. Indeed, after reading the Ziyārah, the infections stopped. On the other hand, many other Muslims were dying every day, and due to their extreme embarrassment, they would bury their dead at night9.

Some of these Muslims asked the Shīʻa about the reason why fatalities among them have come to an end, to which they replied: We recite Ziyārat ʻĀshūrāʼ. They too started reading this blessed Ziyārah, and thus were relieved from the calamity. 10

Some of these Muslims came to Imām al-Hādī(a) and Imām al-ʿAskarī(a) and said: We greet you just as the Shīʻa do11. In this way, the calamity and disease were lifted from all the people of Sāmarrā12.

Footnotes

  1. He is Sheikh ʻAbd al-Karīm b. al-Mawlá Muḥammad Jaʻfar al-Ḥāʼirī al-Yazdī, a jurisprudent, Uṣūlī and a great scholar. He was born in the year 1276 A.H. He settled in the esteemed city of Qom in the month of Rajab in the year 1340 A.H. and established its Islamic seminary that was split between Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad, and some other cities. He became the religious authority there until he fell ill, and his symptoms worsened. He passed away in the year 1355 A.H. and was buried in the portico of Lady Fāṭimah al-Maʻṣūmah. ↩

  2. Sayyid Muḥammad b. al-Mīrzā Qāsim al-Ṭabāṭabāʼī al-Fishārkī al-Iṣfahānī, he migrated to Sāmarrā with his friend Mīrzā Muḥammad Taqī al-Shīrāzī and attended the lesson of the al-Mujaddid al-Shīrāzī there. Many scholars studied under him, such as al-Nāʼīnī, Sheikh ʻAbd-al-Karīm al-Ḥāʼirī, and al-Iṣfahānī al-Kombānī. He passed away in the holy city of Najaf in the year 1316 A.H. ↩

  3. He is Mīrzā Muḥammad Taqī b. Muiḥib ʻAlī b. Muḥammad ʻAlī al-Shīrāzī. He was born in Shiraz, moved to Iraq, and there studied under al-Mujaddid al-Shīrāzī in Sāmarrā. The leadership of the Shia was appointed to him after the death of al-Mujaddid al-Shīrāzī (the leader of the Tobacco Movement), he stayed in Sāmarrā until he passed away in the year 1338 A.H. ↩

  4. As such in the collection of memoirs of the late Āyatullāh Ḥājj Sheikh Murtaḍá al-Ḥāʼirī, the son of Sheikh ʻAbd al-Karīm(ra), and in the book (al-Kalām Yajurru al-Kalām) by the late Āyatullāh Sayyid Aḥmad al-Zanjānī. However, it is mentioned in the book "al-Qiṣaṣ al-ʻAjībah" by the late Sayyid Dastghayb al-Shīrāzī, p. 459 as follows: "The late Āyatullāh Mīrzā Muḥammad Taqī al-Shīrāzī said..." and so on. ↩

  5. Ḥukm refers to a ruling or legal verdict regarding specific actions, practices, or matters within the framework of Islamic law (Sharīʻah). It is a determination made by a qualified jurist (Mujtahid) based on the interpretation of religious sources, such as the Quran, Hadith, consensus of scholars (Ijmāʻ), and rational deduction (Ijtihād). ↩

  6. A person who is competent to interpret Sharia law in matters of religion. ↩

  7. "Marjiʻīya" refers to the concept of religious authority and emulation. Marjiʻīya represents the highest level of religious scholarship and leadership within the Shia community. A Marjaʻ (plural: Marajiʻ) is an individual who possesses deep knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence and is recognized as an authoritative figure in matters of religious guidance and interpretation. ↩

  8. The late Dastghayb al-Shīrāzī said: "There is no doubt or hesitation that the status of Mīrzā Muḥammad Taqī al-Shīrāzī is too high for him to say anything on his own accord. Perhaps he had evidence for this. Reciting Ziyārat ʻĀshūrāʼ for ten days is not mentioned in the narrations of the infallible Imāms(a), and it might have come through a truthful vision, revelation, or seeing the Imām(a); hence how this judgment was made." - al-Qiṣaṣ al-ʻAjībah, p. 496. ↩

  9. Memoirs of the late Ḥājj Sheikh Murtaḍá al-Ḥāʼirī, p. 27 and 28. ↩

  10. al-Qiṣaṣ al-ʻAjībah, p. 494. ↩

  11. Memoirs of the late Sheikh, Āyatullāh Ḥājj Sheikh Murtaḍá al-Ḥāʼirī. ↩

  12. I have conveyed this matter from different sources, and through the students of Āyatullāh al-Ḥāʼirī. The reader can review the following sources where this incident is mentioned: al-Qiṣaṣ al-ʻAjībah, p. 494, no. 148. A collection of memoirs of the late Āyatullāh Murtaḍá al-Ḥāʼirī, p. 27. Hadīyat al-Zāʼir, p. 164. al-Kalām Yajurru al-Kalām by Sayyid Aḥmad al-Zanjānī, vol. 1, p. 54. The Introduction of ` Shifāʼ al-Ṣudūr fī Sharḥ Ziyārat al-ʻĀshūr`, vol. 1. ↩

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