AN EXPLANATION OF ZIYARA (VISITATION) By: Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch (Berkeley, CA) via: alfityanu.org/news.html Human beings are social creatures. As social creatures, we are only reflecting the interconnected nature of the cosmos in a particular, or microcosmic way. God’s love is the bond between creatures, whether they realize it or not. I was a treasure that was not known, and I loved to be known. Hence I created the creatures and I made myself known to them, and thus they came to know Me.’ The interaction between objects then, the attraction that occurs began with love and all actions since then are nothing but a chain reaction of love; One thing inclining toward another thing in a continual chain of affection. The root word Z.W.R. when expressed as a past perfect verb means, “he met him with his chest” (zaarahu) meaning he inclined towards him. Some as, “the inclination of the heart” defines love. Therefore a meeting, based on the love that exists between two people is called a Ziyaara. The English rendition of Ziyaara is visit. In language we find the term visit to mean: come to (a person) to comfort or benefit, to go to see, come to inspect, frequentative of visere behold, visit (a person or place) ,to see, notice, observe. This word was originally related to observe the deity, later of pastors and doctors.1 With regard to seeing someone, or having a vision we find its original meaning: something seen in the imagination or in the supernatural. 2 Therefore, a visitation not only means a physical encounter, inspired by love, but also contains the idea gaining benefit, by seeing something, either in the imagination (i.e. inside oneself) or in the supernatural (i.e. outside one’s self and all things). It is in light of the language provided above that we can infer deeper meanings from the greatest of all visitations; the Miraaj (Ascension) of the Prophet, may Allah shower him with mercy and grant him peace. God said, Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al- Masjid al- Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing.”3 He also said: “The heart did not lie [about] what it saw.”4 So ziyaara is a sunna (prophetic habit) of the Prophet, may Allah shower him with mercy and grant him peace, full of benefits and secrets, and he said about his practice: “Whoever desires other than my Sunnah (Way), then he is not from me.”5 In the books of the jurists we find the likes of Ash Shaadhili 6 saying: “When one leaves Mecca, then their intention should be to visit the Prophet, may Allah’s mercy and peace be upon him, as visiting him, may Allah’s mercy and peace be upon him, is an agreed upon sunnah and its virtue is sought. Once he has made up his mind to visit him then he is not to mix any other intention with it because he is followed, upon him be God’s mercy and peace, is followed and not a follower (of some other thing).” He later mentions: “After making the appropriate visitation, he then turns to right and says, “Peace be upon you O Aba Bakr As Siddiq!” and then further to the right saying, “Peace be upon you O Aba Hafs Umar al Faarooq”. He sends his salutations, in this manner, every time he comes in and out of their presence.”7 In the world of meaning, visiting those who remind one of God is an imitation of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, visiting Allah himself. Asir ibn Jaabir radhiallahu `anhu narrated: Whenever people would come from Yemen, `Umar radhiallahu `anhu would ask them, Is Uways Al-Qaranee amongst you? until, one year, he met Uways. He said, Are you Uways Al-Qaranee? He said, Yes.” ‘Umar continued, From Muraad, then Quran? He said, Yes.” ‘Umar then asked, Were you once afflicted with leprosy and your skin healed except for a dirham’s area? Uways said, Yes.” ‘Umar finally asked, Do you have a mother (that is alive)? He said, Yes.” ‘Umar then said, I heard the Messenger of Allah – sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam – say, ‘Uways ibn Aamir will come to you with the delegations from Yemen, from Muraad, then from Qaran. He was once afflicted with leprosy and his skin healed except for a dirham’s area. He has a mother, and he treats her kindly. If he were to ever swear by Allah (for something), Allah would fulfill his oath. If you can, request that he ask forgiveness for you. `Umar then requested from Uways, Ask forgiveness for me. And Uways Al-Qaranee did.8 A contemporary man of Allah, who served as an embodiment of the tradition itself Shaikh Hassan Cisse, may God ennoble his grave with Muhammadan lights, said, “Ziyaara is Ziyaada” meaning “visitation is an increase.” From experience, one can verify this wisdom. Never does God supply one with the opportunity to visit another Muslim, except that there be an increase in one’s gracious allotment from God. The greatest gift is the love of God Himself: Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, A man visited a brother of his in a village, so Allah put an angel in wait for him on the road. He asked, Where are you going? He replied, To a brother of mine in this village. He said, Is he responsible for some blessing you have? He said, No, I love him for Allah. He said, I am a messenger of Allah to you. Allah loves you as you love him.9 Ṣāliḥ wuld Etḥfagha al-Fayḍawī, gave us a beautiful example of the nature of visitation in saying, “In one of his speeches in Nigeria, Shaykh Ibrāhīm Niāss, may Allah be well- pleased with him, said that a ziyāra fi-Allah is always beneficial even if one of the both (the visitor or the visited) is bad. He said that there was a person who had a very ill son. His case was hopeless. All doctors couldn’t do any thing for his son. So, the son was just dying. Then, the father got the idea to invite the righteous people [ṣālihīn] of his city so he can ask them to make duʿāʾ for his ill son. So he asked his wife to prepare a lot of food. In that same city, there was a group of thieves. The thieves had heard of the big invitation, so they decided to go there to steal the shoes of the guests. It had happened that the bandits arrived before the guests. So when the father saw the thieves he warmly welcomed them thinking that they were a group of the expected guests (group of ṣālihīn) and called his wife to bring the food for them. After the thieves finished eating, the father brought them a bowl and some water to wash their hands. Then he took the bowl with the dirty water in it to his son and he washed his son with it. His son was cured. Right away the father rushed to the group of thieves and said to them, “Jazakum Allah khayran! My son was very sick and he was cured by the blessing [baraka] of the water you washed your hands with,” and continued to describe them with all good qualities. When the thieves left, they felt bad and decided to repent and stop doing bad deeds. So they went back to the father and told him the truth and asked him to forgive them.”10 In fact, the secret of ziyaara is a good opinion because a good opinion is based in love for the sake of Allah. The importance of love cannot be overstressed, consider the following tradition: Abu Dharr said, I asked, Messenger of Allah, what if a man loves a people but cannot join them? He replied, Abu Dharr, you are with the one you love. I said, I love Allah and His Messenger. He said, Abu Dharr, you are with the one you love.11 Via Ismaeel Bakare
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 00:12:32 +0000
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