Three Important lessons from Imam Hussein's Prayers on the day of Arafah

On the day of Arafat, nearly 2 million Muslim pilgrims make their way from Mecca to a nearby hillside and plain called mount Arafat or Mount of Mercy (Jabal ar-Rahmah) which is a granite hill, east of Mecca. According to the Islamic teachings, Arafat is the place where the repentance of Adam was accepted by God after his fall from heaven, and the word Arafat literally means Knowledge and Science, that’s why Arafat is a site for prayer, supplication and repentance. One of the Hajj rituals centers on the prophet Abraham test to sacrifice his son, but his son (Ishmael) was saved, [1] hence, the honor was destined for Ishmael’s descendants, Imam Hussein, Ali Asgher and other martyrs of Karbala who were martyred under the most tragic and dreadful conditions on the 10th Muharram known as Ashura, 61 A.H (680 A.D).

Since Arafat is the best place for performing prayers and reciting Duas, Imam Hossain (A) said his famous prayers on the day of Arafat [9th Zul Hajja], narrated by Bashar and Bashir (the sons of Ghaleb-Asadi) as follows: In the day of Arafah in Arafaat we were honored to be with the Imam and he came out of his tent with his Ahlulbayt, children and his Shias, He humbly stood on the left side of the mountain and looked towards the Kaba' and kept his hands in front of his face (like a needy asking for food) and read the following prayer:

Praise be to Allah Whose determination cannot be repelled by anything, Whose gifts cannot be stopped by anything, and Whose making cannot be resembled by the making of anyone. He is the All-magnanimous, the All-liberal. He originated the genus of the wonderfully created things and He perfected the made things by His wisdom. [2]

In this first phrase of his prayers, the Holy Imam (A) starts with praising and glorifying Almighty Allah (J) Who is the most merciful and compassionate. His mercy upon the world and mankind would never stop rather it includes all creatures, based on such sayings of Imam, everyone has the right to beg Allah’s mercy wherever and whenever possible. However, there are some specific times and places where we have better temper to say prayer. Amongst other times like the Night of power (Qadr), Night of Ascension (Meraj), Night of deliverance (Barrat), and etc. the night and the day of Arafat (Great gathering), is one of the best times for supplication and seeking Allah’s forgiveness.

Imam Hussein (A), in the continuation of His Dua, emphasizes the most perfect way of creation, through which almighty Allah (J) originated the universe and the creatures wonderfully and unexceptionably. The main reason behind this is Allah’s wisdom, because God, Himself, is the originator, donor and giver of intellect and reason, logically, the giver of something must himself have that thing perfectly so that he could donate it to others.

There is no god other than Him, and there is nothing equivalent to Him, and nothing like a likeness of Him, and He is the All-hearing, the All-seeing, the All-gentle, the All-aware. [3]

Elsewhere, Imam (A) mentions the oneness and unity of Gad saying that there is no God except Allah (J), as well there is no similarity between Him and His creatures. It means that God is utterly other than everyone and everything. He is the All-hearing, the All-seeing and the All-aware but none except Him can be the same. Because Almighty Allah’s knowledge is absolute and unlimited whereas all human beings do not have such knowledge and even capacity of having such knowledge. Imam (A) focuses on the importance of oneness of God to make it clear that unity of God must be considered as the first and the most essential and foundational principle.

Your kindness to me, and Your compassion to me— in the government of the heads of unbelief who breached their covenant with You and denied Your messengers. However, You took me out on account of the guidance that You have already known about me and You have made easy the way to it, and You have brought me up in it. Even before that, You had compassion on me, through Your excellent conferral.[4]

In another part of His prayers, Imam Hossain (A) informs us of the importance of Islam as a religion of peace and mercy. According to the Imam (A), before the emergence of Islam the people were living under the rule of disbelievers, on the time of ignorance, but Islam and the Holy Prophet Mohammad (P) delivered people from the ignorance and evil. Based on the aforementioned points, the Holy Prophet Mohammad (S) is the savior so His followers like Imam Hossain (A) must also be the savior and deliverer of the mankind from the oppression and oppressors. Due to these facts Imam Hossain (A) along with his sincere followers resisted against Yazid in Karbala and were martyred there.

Finally, it could be concluded from the mentioned phrases of Imam’s prayers that Imam taught us three main lessons through his well-known Dua. First we must praise Allah for his bounties and we must remain thankful to Him forever. Secondly, a Muslim must be fully aware of God’s attributes, specially, His oneness, he or she must know that God is completely other and there is no similarity between Him and His creatures.  Thirdly, we must resist and fight against the oppressors in order to deliver the oppressed people from bad conditions and provide them with a better life.

Notes:
[1] “O, Abraham! Of course thou hast faithfully fulfilled the dream, thou art of the truthful ones, but verily it is an open test, we have substituted it with a Greater sacrifice. We have transferred it to later generation” {Quran 37:105-108}.
[2] الْحَمْدُ لله الَّذى لَیْسَ لِقَضآئِهِ دافِعٌ وَلا لِعَطائِهِ مانِعٌ وَلا کَصُنْعِهِ صُنْعُ صانِعٍ وَهُوَ الْجَوادُ الْواسِعُ فَطَرَ اَجْناسَ الْبَدائِعِ واَتْقَنَ بِحِکْمَتِهِ الصَّنائِعَ
[3]فَلاَ إِلٰهَ غَيْرُهُ وَلاَ شَيْءَ يَعْدِلُهُ وَلَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ ٱللَّطِيفُ ٱلْخَبِيرُ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
[4] لُطْفِکَ لى وَاِحْسانِکَ اِلَىَّ فى دَوْلَهِ اَئِمَّهِ الْکُفْرِ الَّذینَ نَقَضُوا عَهْدَکَ وَکَذَّبُوا رُسُلَکَلکِنَّکَ اَخْرَجْتَنى لِلَّذى سَبَقَلى مِنَ الْهُدَى الَّذى لَهُ یَسَّرْتَنى