Ziaraat of Atraf (surroundings)was another interesting part of the tour of Iraq .Our mission to visit the holy land of Karbala would be incomplete until or unless we have to visit these Rosa’s e moqqdassas situated in its surrounding. According to a pictorial image of the battle of Karbala available online and I would share here too, there was an army of 72 shuhadas who sacrificed their lives for the cause and safety of Muhammad (pbuh) ‘ din e Islam which was at stake due to unsuitable and tyrant ruler Yazid1 the son of Ameer Muawiya the then ruler of Syria and Iraq.
After attending the chehlum at the haram e Imam Hussain and Ghazi Abbas a. s. we paid great tributes and salams at their zaris, we said salams at the roza e Habib ibn e muzaihir, qatalgah(maqtalgah)ganj e shuhadas, and hazard Ibrahim salam o alahim. Soon after we went further ahead and saw tilla e zainabiya (under construction) and khamagah the residing place of Haram e Imam Hussain a. s (ahle bayt members) and the place of their kujawas (arabi word for used for travelling) also present just entering the khamaas. The sequence of khamas were as follows:first the khamaa of ghazi Abbas a. s, then 2nd Imam Hussain and bibi zainab a. s., then in the end is the Khama e Imam zainul abaedeen a. s. Just beside in the left is the Khala of shehzada qasim a. s.
The most tragic place to visit was the khaf e Abbas a. s. right and left in the street of 19 to 21 fasing his zari e mubarak. We moved ahead towards nehr e alkama situated at a distance in other direction. It was a sabeeh of nehr furat or Eupherate which in fact is now has moved to other direction as told by the people of nearby. We were directed to visit to Imam e Jafar al sadiq and imam Mehdi atjf bagahat and did ziaraat of them. In another direction were the qatalgahas of hazrat Ali Akbar and shehzada Ali Asghar a. s. and did Salam there .
On Saturday morning our caravan salaar arranged for ziaraat of a very distant places like mosayyib, hilla and others say about an hour and half journey from karbala and towards najf. The holy places we visited were of the great suhabe meesum e timmar, sons of hazrat zainaib a. s Aun and Mohammad whose father was Abdullah and grandfather ibn jafar.After some times journey we managed to reach at the roza of sons of Muslim ibn aqeel and did ziaraat and offered nimaz and nowafils.on our way there were also rozas of bibi sharifa, and son of hazrat musa kazim a. s. But could not go due to too much rainy weather.
We came back to our fundoq o moatam qasr e jawad in the night and had dinner .we slept early because next morning Sunday 5 November we have to visit famous city of Imam Ali a. s. especially his mosque known in history as masjid e kufat, nearby mosque masjid e sahlaa when most of the prophets such as hazard Ibrahim and many were used to say their prayers and which according to show faith is the residing place of the Imam e zamanna atjf would reappear bahukam e khuda almighty.
Visit to masjid e kufa was my dream as I read much about it in history books besides almost all prophets of Allah has said their meditation and ibadate there but it’s significant due to permanent place of hazrat Ali a. s who used to deliver lectures on religion of Islam, fiqa and ahadis He had his sitting place known as radiat e adl and tashtul qazaat to decide about criminal cases and punishments according to crime. There is a famous saying about his true justice that he was even killed due to depart the true justice amongst the people.
After moving ahead we were found ourselves in the midst of masjid e kufa. It was a beautiful place inside the mosque, nearby was the mimber e Imam ali a statired like sitting place. There were mosalas of Imam Khizr, hazrat e Noah a. s. Hazrat’t Adam a. s. Hazrat adris, etc. We offered two raakat nowafils and qasr magrib, esha nimaz. There were presenting few mosallas which have remained rest of the signs had been vanished or made them vanished either of the one as a result of destruction at the hands of saljuks, Mongols.inside masjid were the roza of famous martyrs sweet tribe known in history as the Muslim bin Aqeel r. a. and hazrat e Mukhtar e saqqafi r. a. and just opposite of it was the mosometimes of horwa bin hani r. a.. We had our lunch there in front of masjid e kufa. But it’s still raining continuously. We again came back in the night after 3 and a half journey of life and suburb of Basra.
This is all the holy places in the holy city of Karbala during our 13 days long stay here in connection of our visit to Iraq for commemoration of chehlum e Imam Hussain a. s.
To be continued.
Rehana Bukhari
