`A'SHURA' - THE TENTH OF MUHARRAM
The Commentary of the Bab on the Hadith, "Every Day is `Ā'shūrā’",
The “tenth” of Muḥarram, the date of the martyrdom of Imam Ḥusayn (in 61 AH or 680 CE).
Beta Translation in Progress, August-September - 2022.
Last corrected and uploaded 07-11-2023.
Stephen Lambden, UC Merced,
The Twelver Shi`i Hadith "kull Yawm `Ā'shūrā’", "Every Day is `Ā'shūrā’" can be found in
Several mss. of this short (roughly three page), early, perhaps 1260-1261/1844-5 Arabic work of the Bab exist. MacEoin in his Sources lists four mss:
- 1. Tehran 4011C, pp.118-121.
- 2. Tehran 6006C, pp. 70-72.
- 3, Tehran 6010C, pp. 499-490 = INBMC 14: 468-477.
- 4. INBMC 67, pp.141-143. PDf.
Within the text the Bab cited (part of) this brief Hadith (or quasi-hadith. tradition), namely, "Kull Yawm `Āshūrā’", "Every Day is `Āshūrā’" as will be seen in the translation below.
Translated from INBMC 67:141-3 and other Mss.
Tafsir "Kull Yawn `Āshūrā’... Every Day is `Āshūrā’..."
[0]
In th Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
[1]
What is [the meaning of] this [portion of the alleged] Hadith, "Every Day is.`Āshūrā’" (kull yawm `Āshūrā’)?
[2] Reply (al-Jawab): This [quasi-Hadith] was not set forth in any [particular] place and I did not hear of it from [any of] the `ulama' [Shi`i clerics] until I become certain about its text by means of the lips of the illustrious ones (al-alsan al-mashhur) [the Imams?] and as accords with the specified injunction of his [determinitive] Being (fard kuni-hi) for the Hadith is "abstruse, bewilderingly abstruse" (sa`b mustasa`b) ... [3] It is such that none can bear it save an angel [messenger] brought near (malak muqarrib), a divinely sent prophet figure (nabi mursal) or even a believer whose heart God hath previously tested with respect to his faith..*..
[II]
[1] And know that the Day of `Āshūrā’ is the Day of the martyrdom of our Lord (mawla), the Sayyid al-Shuhada' (the Lord of Martyrs) [Imam Husayn, d.61/680]. [2] He marks the First Day (awwal yawm) for God created it [him, Imam Husayn] - Glorified be he - to be the Genesis (al-bada') of the Logos-Self of the Seal (nafs al-khatm) [of cyclic ending and continuity] at the time of his ascension [martyrdom] (fi'l-su`ud) [3] This since he [Imam Husayn], in his Essence, is the very Day of the Manifestation of the [messianic] Qa'im (yawm zuhur al-qa'im) - may God hasten his appointed time! [4] He is thus the Pivot of the Days (qutb al-ayyam) since his martyrdom centered itself as the very Pivot of the Greatest Macrocosm (qutb al-`alam al-akbar) in that all of the [coming] "Days" (kull al-ayyam) expresses the [era of the advent of the] Divine Manifestation [Theophany] (zuhur). [5] He-It is a "Day" before God which is Mighty (kabir) relating to the Martyrdom of His Lord (sahib).
[1] So when my Lord (sayyidi) [Imam Husayn], the Forbear of the Servant of God (Abu `Abd-Allah) [the Bab-the Qa'im]- upon him be peace - was martyred, everything was incinerated [burned into oblivion] resulting in the burning up of his inner being. [2] This shattered in pieces his inmost being (al-akbad) for it gravely afflicted his inner self and perplexed the Pivot of the Days (qutb al-ayyam) on account of the sheer severity of the calamity (shadda musibat)! [3] Thus when the Divine Purpose (amr) was realized through the "except" [God] (min illa) it was not the "Day of `Āshūrā’" though when it came to be the Day of His martyrdom - upon him be peace - it was nigh the (`ind al-jawarij) and the heart (al-qalb) was inclined in the direction of the "except" [God] (jiha illa) to the end that everything ("all things"; kull shay') might weep over him for forty days
NOTES
* These lines are based on a hadith registered in the al-Usul min al-Kafi of al-Kulayni and numerous other sources,]
