The Shiites and Al-Aqsa - Karbala!!

Karbala is Superior to the Ka’bah and Al-Aqsa Mosque!!

It is in the habit of the Shiites to regard as sacred, places that are not designated so in the Book of Allah or in the Sunnah of His Messenger, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him. One of these places they regard as holy is Karbala, especially, the grave of Husayn ibn ‘Ali – may Allah be pleased with him and his father.

It is reported from Abu Abdullaah that he said: “If you want to perform Hajj and you are not able to do so; then go to the grave of Husayn. For, a reward of Hajj will be recorded for you. If you want to perform ‘Umrah and you are unable to do so; then go to the grave of Husayn. For, a reward of ‘Umrah will be recorded for you.”[1]

A report in ‘Bihaar al-Anwaar’ goes thus: “Allah selected the land of Karbala as a safe and blessed sanctuary twenty four thousand years before He created the land of the Ka’bah and selected it as a sanctuary. He sanctified and blessed it; and it remained blessed and sanctified before Allah created the creation. It will continue to be blessed and sanctified until Allah will make it the most superior spot in Paradise and the best abode where the saints will abide in Paradise.”[2]

Their belief in the superiority of visiting the grave of Husayn is so extreme that, in their estimation, visiting Husayn’s grave in Karbala is more meritorious than performing Hajj. It is reported that Abu Abdullaah said: “Whoever visits Husayn’s grave on the day of ‘Arafah, Allah will record for him the reward of a million Hajj with Al-Qaim, reward of a million ‘Umrah with Allah’s Messenger, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, reward of manumission of a thousand bondsmen and reward of provision of a thousand horses in the way of Allah. Allah, High and Exalted will say, ‘My truthful slave believes in My promise!’ And the angels will say, ‘Such and such is a truthful servant, Allah commends him from over His Throne; and in the earth, he is called Karubiy[3].”[4]

It is not only that visiting Husayn’s grave is more meritorious than Hajj in the estimation of these people. They also believe that it is the best act of worship, according to their narrations. One of these narrations goes thus: “Among the best acts of worship is to visit Husayn’s grave.”[5]

Al-Majlisi titled a chapter, ‘Visiting Husayn’s grave is the best of all deeds’. In this chapter, he mentioned narrations that are similar to the above in meaning.[6]

Their sheikh, Al-Faidh Al-Kaashaani, in his commentary on the narrations indicating the superiority of visiting Husayn’s grave, said: “This is not much for someone whom Allah has made the leader of the believers, for whom He created the heavens and the earth; and whom He made His path, the guide unto Him and His door through whom He is reached and His cord that links Him with His servants from among His messengers and prophets. This is in spite of the fact that visiting this grave involves financial obligations, physical stress, travelling out of one’s hometown and bearing of hardships.”[7]

This is just a few of the merits that the Shiites believe that Kufah mosque and the land of Karbala have. The reader can refer to Imamite books of Fiqh and Mazaaraat and other Shiite narration books for more of this.

There is no doubt that the Shiite animosity towards the Umayyad and their excessive hatred for them led to their condemnation of the former for their reconstruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the city of Jerusalem. This is one of the reasons for the Shiites’ disparaging of Al-Aqsa Mosque and giving other places a position and merit higher than that of Al-Aqsa Mosque in their belief. This extremism led them into giving their own so-called holy places a position higher than that of the three Mosques to which Muslims are allowed to undertake a journey for the purpose of worship.

The Shiites also perfected the act of spreading venoms in order to weaken the established beliefs of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah by insisting on casting doubt on all that is recorded concerning the virtue of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Qur’aan and the Sunnah.

How could Jerusalem has a place in their hearts since it was ‘Umar – may Allah be pleased with him – who won it for Islam, and it was Salahuddeen Al-Ayyubi – may Allah have mercy upon him – who liberated it and it became the lighthouse of knowledge and the base of the scholars for ages?!!

In spite of all this, the Shiite belief concerning the position of Al-Aqsa Mosque and its very location in the earth or in the heaven can still be regarded as confused due to the confusion in their narrations. Some of them say that Al-Aqsa Mosque is the one in Palestine and enumerated its virtues. At-Toosi mentioned this in his work, ‘Al-Khilaaf’, and Al-Haliy in his work, ‘Tahreer al-Ahkaam’ and ‘Tadhkirah al-Huffaz’. However, the majority of the Shiites believe that Kufah mosque is better than Al-Aqsa Mosque.[8]

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[1] Wasaa’il Ash-Shee’ah 10/332

[2] 11011/107

[3] In reference to Karbala

[4] Wasaa’il Ash-Shee’ah 10/360

[5] Kaamil Az-Ziyaaraat p. 146; and Bihaar Al-Anwaar 101/49

[6] See his work, ‘Bihaar Al-Anwaar’ 1-1/49

[7] Al-Waafi 8/224

[8] In spite of all this, the Shiites publicly claim that their utmost concern is Al-Aqsa Mosque and that they are with the oppressed people of Palestine and that they are the ones who will lead the battle to liberate Al-Aqsa Mosque!! They even went as far as marking what they called ‘Quds Day’ annually. They named one of their armed groups ‘the Quds Army’ and they have a radio station named ‘Radio Quds’. They have a road which they called, ‘Road to Quds’, while the road actually led to Afghanistan and Iraq and not Quds!!! We are still expecting to see, who among the Persians, is ready to sacrifice his blood on the earth of Al-Quds!!