Ziyarah Arba’een

Shaykh al-Tusi, in Tahdhib al-Ahkam and in Misbah al-Mutahajjid, has reported Imam al-Hasan al-’Askari (‘a) as saying,

The signs of a faithful believer are five:
(1) offering fifty-one rakāt of prayer (a day): seventeen rakāt of the obligatory prayers and thirty-four rakāt of the supererogatory prayers (nāfilah),
(2) visitation (of Imam al-Husayn’s shrine) on the day of Arba’een — the twentieth of Safar; forty days after the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn,
(3) wearing a ring in the right hand,
(4) putting one’s forehead on earth i.e turbah (prostrating before Almighty Allah), and
(5) raising the voice with بِسْمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحْمٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ (Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīmi: In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful).

Two forms of Ziyarah on the day of Arba’een have been mentioned in traditions:

FIRST FORM OF ZIYARAH ON THE ARBA’EEN DAY

The first has been reported by Shaykh al-Tusi, in Tahdhib al-Ahkam and Misbah al-Mutahajjid, from Safwan al-Jammal who said: My master al-Sadiq, Allah’s blessings be upon him, instructed me to visit Imam al-Husayn (‘a) on the day of Arba’een, advisably in the early forenoon, and to recite the following:

You may then offer a two-rakāt prayer and then pray Almighty Allah for anything you like. Then, you may return.

SECOND FORM OF ZIYARAH ON THE ARBA’EEN DAY

The second form of Ziyarah of Imam al-Husayn (‘a) on the day of Arba’een is reported from Jabir b. Abdullah al-Ansari. ‘Ata has reported the following:

I was accompanying Jabir ibn ‘Abdullah al-Ansari on the 20th of Safar (the day of Arba’een). When we arrived at al-Ghaziriyyah, he bathed himself from the water of its river and then put a pure (i.e. clean and ceremonially pure) shirt that he had carried with him. After that, he asked me, “Do you carry with you any fragrance, ‘Ata?” As I answered in the affirmative, I handed some fragrance over to him and he put some of it on his head and other parts of the body. He then walked barefoot until he stopped at the side of Imam al-Husayn’s head. He then repeated three times the Takbir statement. He then fell to the ground fainted. When he recovered consciousness, I could hear him saying these words:

This is the very form of Ziyarah mentioned under the title “Form of Ziyarah on the Fifteenth of Rajab.”

Yet, there is a difference in a very few statements, which, as maintained by Shaykh al-Tusi, came from the difference in the manuscripts of this form of ziyarah.

Hence, one can say the previously mentioned form of Ziyarah on the fifteenth of Rajab.

ZIYARAH ON THE 15TH OF RAJAB — To be recited on the day of Arba’een

In his book of al-Mazar, Shaykh al-Mufid mentioned another form of ziyarah, different from the previous one, dedicated to the fifteenth of Rajab. This night is called ghufaylah (the unattended night), because the majority of people do not make it the object of their attention.
When you want to visit Imam al-Husayn’s tomb at this night, you may enter the holy shrine and repeat the following statement three times:

Then, you may stop at the shrine and say the following words:

You may then kiss the holy shrine and direct towards the shrine of ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn (‘a) in order to visit him. You may say the following words there:

You may then walk to the shrines of the martyrs – pleasure of Allah be upon them – and stop there to say the following words:

You may then walk to the holy shrine of al-’Abbas the son of Amir al-Mu’minin, peace be upon both of them. When you reach there, you may stop at the gate of the dome and say the same previously mentioned words of visiting him.