Saturday 17 March 2012

Is Ziyarat Ashoora’ Authentic?


A number of people have raised questions and doubts as of late about the authenticity of Ziyarat Ashoora’. The questions raised fall into three groups: 1) Does the Ziyarah even have a proper chain of narration which indicates that an Imam said it? 2) Does this proper chain of narration cover the statements of cursing that is found in the Ziyarah or are these statements added at a later point? 3) Why would AhlulBayt (A) spend their time cursing others and ask their followers to do the same?. The last question is one of interpretation and goes to the philosophy and wisdom of cursing and whether it’s proper or not and that is outside the scope of this entry but will be answered later on. We will tackle the first two questions and look at the words of our Maraji’ and respected scholars on the topic.

Important Notes

Before we begin this analysis and discussion on the chain of narration of Ziyarat Ashoora’ there are a few points that need to be clarified about those who continue to raise doubts about different Ziyarat and Du’aas:
  • Most of our Ziyarat and Du’aas include statements of belief. The purpose of a Ziyarah is to state your admission of the position of the Imam and pay allegiance and respect to him. If a Ziyarah is weak in its chain of narration that does not mean the Ziyarah was not said by the Imam and it does not mean that the statements of belief within that Ziyarah is not well established in other Hadeeths.
  • Many of the people who raise doubts and questions about Ziyarat Ashoora and other Ziyarat and Du’aas do not specify where the weakness is in the chain of narration but simply state that the Ziyarah has a weak chain and that’s not a method of scholarly debate or discussion, it’s simply a baseless accusation and attack. Therefore, when faced with such a statement one should ask, where is the weakness? what is your basis for denying or rejecting the Ziyarah or Du’aa so that we can research it and figure out the truth.
For illustration we give the following example:

Person A: May Allah curse Yazeed.
Person B: Why are you cursing him? that’s not from the religion.
Person A: Yes it is. It is in Ziyarat Ashoora’
Person B: I heard C speaker say that Ziyarat Ashoora’ has a weak chain of narration so it’s not from the religion.
The problem is many people today base their beliefs in religion on rumors and attribution to individuals who have no expertise in the field. Furthermore, even if the Hadeeth is weak it does not mean it’s false nor is that proof that the content is wrong; there could be 20 other Hadeeths with the same content.

The Chain of Narration for Ziyarat Ashoora’

Ziyarat Ashoora’ is agreed upon by the top Shia scholars over the years and we will list some of the Fatwas from the Maraji’ later on. However, some of our Maraji’ have published studies of the chain of narration for the Ziyarah in response to some of the question marks that have been posed as of late. Also some of our respected scholars have done the same we list some of these works for those who want to research this further:
  1. “Ziyarat Ashoora’ Fawq Alshubuhat”, Grand Ayatollah and Leader of Hawza in Qum at His Time Shaikh Meerza Jawad Altabrizi
  2. “Sanad Ziyarat Ashoora’”, Grand Ayatollah Shaikh Ja’far Alsubhani
  3. “Sanad Ziyarat Ashoora’”, Sayyid Yaseen Almoosawi
  4. “Sharh Ziyarat Ashoora’”, Shaikh Abulfadl Allankrti
All four of these respect scholars have examined the chain of narration to various degrees. Sh. Subhani went through the narration one by one and evaluated the people in the chain and said that the chain is correct and meets the standards set by our scholars and the others came to the same conclusion.
They trace the Ziyarah back to two main scholars: The Leader of the Shia’ Shaikh Altoosi in his book “Misbah” and Shaikh Ibn Qolawaih in his book “Kaml Alziyarat”. We will mention two chains of narration as a sample and you may refer to the books for more details.
  1. From Shaikh Altoosi in Misbah narrated from : Mohammad Ibn Ismail from Saif Ibn Omairah, from Alqamah Ibn Mohammad Alkhorimi from Imam Albaqir.
  2. From Shaikh Altoosi in Misbah narrated from Mohammad Ibn Khalid Altilasi from Saif Ibn Omairah, from Safwan Ibn Mahran from Imam Alsadiq
Shaikh Subhani said all of these individuals meet the criteria of being trustworthy either directly or through the circumstances of other Hadeeths and therefore the Ziyarah under these chains of narration is correct and authentic.

Was the Statement of Cursing and Salutations 100 Times Added Later On?

Some people did not deny the authenticity of the actual Ziyarah but they questioned whether it has been modified from its original form. Unfortunately, there were some copies of the Ziyarah where these statements were missing and that raised question to which version is more authentic: the one with the statements of cursing and salutations or the one without. This was addressed thoroughly by the work mentioned above of Shaikh Tabrizi and we will give a brief summary of his conclusion and attach the images that came from his book:
  • He concludes that the chain of narration of the Ziyarah is authentic and correct.
  • He states that everyone who copied the Ziyarah from Almisbah (the book of Sh. Toosi which is one of the two sources of the Ziyarah) listed the statements of cursing and Salam as part of the Ziyarah except for S. Ibn Tawoos.
  • He states that S. Ibn Tawoos also mentions the statements but from a different book and then he analyzes the different versions of Misbah to see if the cursing and Salam were in the original book or not and he mentions four versions:
  1. Version in the library of S. Broojardi and it dates back to the time of Sh. Toosi and has the complete Ziyarah.
  2. Version of Mawla Ahamd Altooni and it is a hand copy of the Misbah which dates back to the time of the author and has the full Ziyarah (picture below).
  3. Version of Ibn Abi Aljood which also dates back to the time of the author and is a hand copy which has the full Ziyarah.
  4. A copy found in the Maktaba Radawya dating back to 502 H. The version is unclear and has the statement “Allah I ask you to curse the first oppressor and start with him all of them”. As it is clear from the statement, part of it has been cut because its grammar is incorrect which is the part found in all the other copies. He concludes that because this is a later version and the scholars all listing the statements of cursing and Salam without question,  the circumstances support that the part has been deleted rather than added in the other versions.
  • Picture of the handwritten copy of Ibn Abi Aljood which dates back to the time of Sh. Toosi.
  • Picture of the handwritten copy of Mawla Tooni which dates back to the the time of Sh. Toosi.

Opinions of Current and Recent Maraji’ About the Authenticity of Ziyarat Ashoora’

Marji’ Grand Ayatollah S. Mohammad Saeed Alhakeem: His office states that Ziyarat Ashoora’ is authentic in all its parts according to the analysis of S. Alhakeem..
    Marji’ Grand Ayatollah S. Ali Alsistani: He states that Ziyarat Ashoora’ has been accepted by the highest of Shia Scholars and it has been known to have great effects and amazing results. He also states that the statements in it have been said in many other Hadeeths and the content is certain (mutwatar) to have come from Ahlulbayt (A).
      Marji’ Grand Ayatollah Sh. Ja’far Alsubhani: His book is referenced earlier but we add this answer from his website for completion purposes.
        Marji’ Grand Ayatollah S. Mohammad Alhussaini Alshahroodi:He asserts that Ziyarat Ashoora’ is authentic and the content is certain to have come from Ahlulbayt (A).
          Marji’ Grand Ayatollah S. Mohammad Sadiq Alrohani: He asserts that Ziyarat Ashoora’ has a correct chain of narration and even if there was doubt about the narration it should be respected as a Ziyarah according to the treatment applied in analyzing recommended actions.
            Marji’ Grand Ayatollah Sh. Meerza Jawad Altabrizi: His work is detailed above but also this is one of his answers regarding the Ziyarah.
              • These are only examples and by no means an exhaustive list. You may also ask your Marji’ if there is any doubt left.
              Does the Chain of Narration End with Allah (SWT)?
              Some of the Hadeeths that we have are called Hadeeth Qudsi. This label is given to those Hadeeths with the chain of narration ending with the Prophet (S) from Jibra’eel (A) from Allah (SWT).
              The second chain of narration listed above,the narration from Imam Saddiq (A) which Sh. Subhani approved and other scholars as well, has a part where the Imam (A) discusses the reward of the Ziyarah. He narrates that the Imam (A) said that whoever reads the Ziyarah along with the Du’aa which follows it, their Ziyarah will be accepted whether its from far or near, nothing will block it and his need will be granted. Then the Imam (A) said this is a guarantee I have seen from my father (A), from his father (A) from Imam Hussain (A) from Imam Hassan (A), from Imam Ali (A), from the Prophet (S), from Jibra’eel (A), from Allah (SWT) all guaranteeing this reward. Because of this some of the scholars including Marji’ Grand Ayatollah Sh. Mohammad Taqi Bahjat say that the Ziyarah itself is a Hadeeth Qudsi.

              Conclusion:

              As explained in details above Ziyarat Ashoora’ in the view of Shia Scholars is beyond doubt in terms of its authenticity and content. However, the attacks on the narration of the Ziyarah are only an excuse to attack the content of it which goes counter to certain agenda of some people or their preference. Instead of attacking the narration of the Ziyarah, it would be more useful to try to understand the statements of the Ziyarah. To that end we will try to address the issue of cursing in an upcoming article, God willing.

              References:

              • “Ziyarat Ashoora’ Fawq Alshubuhat”, Grand Ayatollah and Leader of Hawza in Qum at His Time Shaikh Meerza Jawad Altabrizi
              • “Sanad Ziyarat Ashoora’”, Grand Ayatollah Shaikh Ja’far Alsubhani
              • “Sharh Ziyarat Ashoora’”, Shaikh Abulfadl Allankrti
              • “Ziyarat Ahsoora Alsunnah Alilahyah Aluthma”, Fuwad Alshabeeb.

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