Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Map of the Middle East
- Introduction
- 1 Etic Concepts and Emic Terms
- 2 The State of the Art
- Part One A Sacred Place: The Shrine of al-Husayn’s Head
- Part Two A Sacred Time: The Month of Rajab
- Final Comments: Spacial and Temporal Sanctity
- Works Cited
- Index
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 October 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Map of the Middle East
- Introduction
- 1 Etic Concepts and Emic Terms
- 2 The State of the Art
- Part One A Sacred Place: The Shrine of al-Husayn’s Head
- Part Two A Sacred Time: The Month of Rajab
- Final Comments: Spacial and Temporal Sanctity
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
God, the Sublime, assigned an angel known as the Summoner [al-dāʿī] to the seventh sky. On each and every night of the month of Rajab, from nightfall to sunrise, that angel calls out: ‘Blessings [ṭūbā] to those who remember God, blessings to those who worship [Him]’. And God answers: ‘I am one with those who seek Me, accommodating with those who obey Me, forgiving to those who ask for My forgiveness. The month [of Rajab] is My month, the worshipper is My worshipper, and the mercy is My mercy. On this month, I answer those who beseech Me, I fulfill the requests of those who entreat Me, and I guide those who ask for My guidance. I have made this month a rope that connects between Me and My devotees. Those who cling to it will reach Me’.
Ibn Tawus (d. 664/1266)The way Ibn Tawus uses this vivid Qurʾanic image of a physical link between God and the faithful calls to mind Mircae Eliade's depiction of holy places as symbolic ladders, pillars, or mountains that connect the earth to heaven; the axis mundi in the imagined sacred geography of various cultures. In the quotation above, it is a sacred time rather than a sacred place that bridges the enormous gap between heaven and earth, using the image of ḥabl Allāh (the rope of God). It is included in chapter seven of Ibn Tawus's al-Iqbāl bi-l-Aʿmāl al-Ḥasana (Devoting Oneself to Good Works), a bulky compendium of supererogatory prayers and devotions for special days on the Islamic calendar, arranged by month. With respect to Rajab, the author, a renowned Shiʿi Imami scholar, recommends visiting shrines (ziyārat al-mashāhid), particularly those associated with al-Husayn (the martyred grandson of the Prophet), on the first and fifteenth of the month. He considers these days no less than God's ‘most blessed and cherished time (aḥabb al-awqāt)’, as well as the anniversary of seminal events, such as the beginning of the Prophet's mission and the marriage of his daughter Fatima to ʿAli.
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- Information
- Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle EastA Historical Perspective, pp. 1 - 8Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2020