THE HOLY SHRINE OF ABBAS (PEACE BE UPON HIM)

Since the dictatorial regime collapsed, many friends and readers reminded me about a article I published in Alif-Ba magazine. This was in August 1998. The article was published under the title “The secrets of Abbas purified shrine.”  In fact, friends are asking me to rewrite the story with freedom, because they believe that I did not mention many facts and secrets due to the fact that I might be under watch and afraid, etc.

 I finally received a request from our correspondent from Basra, saying many readers are requesting that the article should be published again.

 The insistence increased on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) in the month of Muharram, especially because many readers did not get the Alif-Ba magazine, where the article was originally published. I was told that by friends at the magazine that, even in archives of the magazine the supply was exhausted. I was told by Sayyid Abudi, “Abu Ahmed,” the office director and chairman of editing, that the supervisor in the presidential council and the ministers were asking for a copy of this magazine, one month after it was published. It appeared to me that republishing this article might not be allowed at that time in particular, but after a year I republished the article in a tour magazine, when the supervisors of that magazine requested it.

 However, the request of the readers at Basra and the importance of the month of Muharram made me feel that it is appropriate to answer many questions that are raised concerning the article, particularly those questions that I was not able to answer previously.  I shall answer them by narrating the whole story.

 What makes me feel proud about this article is that I am the first journalist to descend into the shrine of Imam Abbas (peace be upon him) and write about it. In the beginning, there was a question raised on the days of Muharram during a family gathering. A woman asked me about a river, Al-Qami, flowing under Imam Abbas’s shrine (peace be upon him);  the conversation developed about how some people believe that Imam Abbas’ corpse is still on the river, it has not moved from the time he was martyred until now. The story seems surreal, but people believe it, and I heard it more than once, especially after some weekly newspapers that are supervised by Udai published the news about taking some water from Imam Abbas’s grave (peace be upon him) for treatment, and it was sold for high prices.

 My friend’s wife suggested that I write an article after visiting the shrine that will answer many questions. And as you know, the obligation of a journalist is finding the truth and refuting the lies.  By doing that I will obtain a big reward from Allah, said my friend’s wife.

 In the beginning I thought it would be difficult to write this article concerning the original grave of Imam Abbas (peace be upon him).  How can I descend into Al-Qami? What made me so excited is what I heard from someone, saying one of his relatives descended into original grave of Imam Abbas with one of the religious scholars and he saw the river is still running under the shrine. Moreover, he witnessed Imam Abbas’ arm still fresh and bleeding at the shore of the river.

 My explanation of these beliefs was that this was a time of hunger and oppression, but I have experience to research the story. Indeed, the next day I went to professor Amir Al-Huluw, the editor in-chief of Alif-Ba Magazine, and I explained everything to him and I asked him to provide me a note to take to governor of Karbala province in order for him to allow me to descend in to Imam Abbas’s original grave.  Amir Al-Huluw laughed and said: The issue is sensitive and it might cause some problems, especially because I am from Najaf and you are from the south, and this can make it easy for the government to accuse us as sectarianism.

 I explained to him the reasons why I am adopting this subject, and there is no any sectarianism or religious reason in this issue. The danger about the issue is that, we are exchanging rumors and myths at the time of media and satellites. The editor in-chief understood me very well. He provide me with information that what exists is water around the grave, because when he was general director of the tour, they tried to pull off the water from under the Imam Abbas holy grave, and they had agreement with an Indian company about it; the engineers suggested that, pulling the water under the grave will cause damage to the shrine. Then they used a technique to inject the floor by cement before pulling off the water, but with all the work, it was not successful. After that the editor in-chief agreed to provide me with a note which will make it easy for me to go to Karbala, even though the note does not have any details about allowing me to descend to the grave, he said to me:

 "You and your intellect, think about how to convince the governor of Karbala to let you descend in the grave. But keep off from talking about miracles, because that might cause problem for you, due to the fact that they are sensitive about these issues."

IN KARBALA...FEARS AND MIRACLES:

From the nobility of the standing of the golden dome and the high minarets, because it does have humbleness, reverence, glory, clear and hidden evidence of history towards the land that is kneaded with the pure blood which consolidated the Islamic nation with a strongest word of “No” that has memorized by human being and became minaret for all revolutionaries on the whole world.

 Indeed, it was a difficult journey, and the most difficult about it is that, it is journey searching about the certainty.

 I took the first step to Sayyid Mahdi Al-Ghurabi the supervisor of the Abbas holy shrine at that time. The man received us with kind of self-restraint even though he welcomed us very well, and we requested from him to descend to the down stairs of the holy grave, he replied saying, that is impossible, it is not allowed for anybody to descend under the grave except by the presidential council. But I did not leave him, rather I started to explain things to him to make him understand that what we are trying to do is a service to Islam. He then started to understand and said, some people are taking advantage of the water under the grave to make money (the claimed water) where they sell a bottle of that water to Iranian visitors between $100 – 200. Some newspaper even accused Al-Ghurabi of making business with the water which they said washes Al-Abbas’s body. I was silent for sometime and then said to Ghurabi, we trust in you and we came to you so you can defend your self against false accusation that the weekly newspaper accused you with. He then said he will explain everything to us in details as the geography of the down stairs and the grave. Then I said I do not write about what I hear, I write of what I see with my eyes.

After one hour of talking with Al-Ghurabi, the issue changed, he said, I can not take you under the grave, because I don’t have the key, the key is with the governor. Therefore you have to get his permission and I don’t have any problem. I asked him, is Sabir Al-Duri is he the governor? He said what is wrong?

 I said, how can I talk to him and he is director of the information and former director of intelligence as well as one of the closest people to the president? I am afraid he will accuse me of sectarianism; and in any case he is a military man and he is an intelligent and works with the investigation bureau.  He said, with all that he is a nice man, try visiting him.

 I took my things with a friend of mine the camera man, Sameer Hadi and went to the province building where we met the poet Hasan Al-Nuwab.  After an exhausting effort, we were able to meet governor of Karbala Sabir Abdul Aziz Al-Duri. This was with the help of Hasan Al-Nawab. While I was looking for a way to start my speech, the governor apologized to me for delaying his meeting with me.  This first sentence broke my notions wherein I thought he would be merciless. This might be due to some personal reasons, because if I am afraid to talk to an intelligent man, how much can I talk to the intelligence agency general director as well as military intelligence at the time of war between Iran and Iraq?? 

 The fact that I was scared made me to gather all and the best knowledge and the ways that I have to convince him. The man was listening to me very carefully while I was talking along with a great movements of his eyes which indicates about his acumen, and when I repeat saying, I will not write about the miracles but I rather want to discover the facts for our people for serving the community, the religion and the country. He then asked me with nervousness saying, "Why you will not write about the miracles of Al-Abbas?  You are writing about our master Al-Abbas," and I replied, "I am afraid I will be accused with sectarianism, and besides, it is not allowed to discuss miracles in the newspapers and media." 

 Then he asked me, "Are you afraid of the government?"  I smiled and was confused and before I answered he added: "This has nothing to do with sectarian or the government instructions. Almighty Allah has power of placing His signs in everything, if so, the why will we disdain that Almighty Allah has placed His signs in this good servant our master Al-Abbas, peace be upon him. Al-Abbas who forbid himself from drinking 

a water for the reason that the son of the Holy Prophet was thirsty; then our Lord honored him by making his grave surrounded with water, isn’t this a reasonable explanation?" 

 I answered, saying "Yes it is. But some people say the water is groundwater."

 He said, "That is right, but why the water did not appear in Imam Hussein’s grave? Which has the same depth and is not that far from Al-Abbas’s grave, isn’t this is a miracle?  I will write that on my responsibility when I want. I personally had witnessed the miracles of that water, some weeks ago, president of the presidential council  Ahmed Hussein Khudair had communicated me by phone, and told me that, there is an Indian professor whose daughter was suffering from epilepsy and other sickness, then the father was advisee in a dream that he should take his daughter to Al-Abbas’s grave, if not his daughter will never be cured. The Indian professor then called Saddam Hussein and asked him a permission of visiting the underground of the grave, as well as taking some water from it. Saddam Hussein allowed him to visit and actually the professor came with his daughter and went in the underground and his daughter took a bath from that water and she was cured immediately. I have many stories about this."

 I told him, "I trust you and I believe all what you said, but you know that the media is under the control of the country, for example Alif-Ba official magazine."

 Al-Durri asked me, do you have ability of descending under the grave and facing our master Al-Abbas’s grave?

 In fact the way he asked me the question made me feel scared, as if it were a warning and a challenge. But I answered him saying yes, I can, I know I am undertaking a great mission that concerns millions of Muslims. It also relates to many people who believe the body of Imam Al-Abbas is still on the river and the river is still running.

 I would like to inform you that after the story of the Indian professor, Qasim Salaam, the member of the civil leadership and the in- charge of the group in Yemen had contacted me and asked me to enter into the grave. In fact he came, but as at he descended on the second step of the stairs going down, his knees started shaking and he started crying and ended up collapsed. We then took him out before reaching to the holy shrine. 

 I am giving you this picture for you to know what is the meaning of visiting the holy shrine of our master Al-Abbas (peace be upon him).

 Indeed, I am ready for that and I am aware of things more than what I mentioned about miracles of Al-Abbas peace be upon him.

 So Sabir Al-Durri picked up the phone and talked to Sayyid Ghurabi and asked him to open the down stairs door for us to descend in to the holy shrine, and to allow me to do whatever I want without any question or limitations. He then put his phone down and turned to me and said, enter into the grave, write what ever you want to, and take pictures, but please don’t betray me in your writing.

STORY OF THE RIVER:

 In those two days that we were given to spend in both holy shrines of Imam Hussein and Al-Abbas, (peace be upon them) we put an effort to come out with the answers to dozens of questions. We started our research from the river of Al-Qami, is it true that the river runs under the holy shrine or no?

 According to some books in the both libraries of Imam Hussein and Al-Abbas, we had found that Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) had chosen the battle field to be Karbala, this is according to his previous military view, whereas he set up his tents between hills that surrounded villages called Al-Fakhiriyyah, Nawawis, Ninawaih and Kur-Babul which were named after Karbala. And behind him there is hill of Zainabi. There are is a river was created as a natural protection behind military of Imam Hussein peace be upon him. And in front of him there is a river of Al-Alqami, which is also a branch of the old river of Al-Furat, which is far from the holy Shrine of Al-Abbas between 150-200 meters, close from where his left hand fell. In fact those places indicates his movement (peace be upon him), when he went and fetched water, and then his right hand was cut, then his left hand. This was before he was martyred at his current place.

BANAZIR BUTO PREVENTS FROM TAKING THE PICTURE OF HOLY GRAVE:

My friend, the photographer, Sameer Hadi made himself ready for taking a picture of the grave, because he will descend in the grave and discover the realities by the picture. So when we reach at the door and Sayyid Ghurabi noticed preparations of the photographer, he then said to me, it is true that the governor has accepted you take the picture, but I still have a request from you, and the request is that, you are Moslems, and I believe that, but taking a picture of this holy shrine will be a disgrace to the Imam Al-Abbas. I do not want to stop you, but this is my belief.

 I would like to narrate to you a story that was narrated to us by Banazir Buto and her husband Asif Zaadeh when we visited them in Pakistan some years ago where an Islamic conference was held. Buto and her husband invited an Iraqi guest, which I can remember among what he said was that, Aasif Zadah lost an election with his wife Banazir, "But we are not surprised about our losing the election as well as accusing us with corruption. The reason behind all that is because we invaded the holiness of the grave of Al-Abbas (peace be upon him). Because when we visited his holy shrine and entered in his grave in the down stairs. And that is not right. Is like entering upon a president while he is asleep in his pajamas, is this a right thing? Then why did we do that to Al-Abbas (peace be upon him)? Knowing that when Buto entered the down stairs she stopped the photographers that came with her from taking any picture of the grave, in the name of respect to Al-Abbas (peace be upon him), As soon as I heard that I asked my friend Sameer Hadi not to photograph it, and indeed, he responded to my request and he put his camera back in the bag and returned to Baghdad. After that, we descended in the holy shrine of Abbas peace be upon him.

 A silver door was opened for us at the northwest part corner of the shrine in the women’s mosque, we also entered in a four square room in that mosque, and he asked us to take off our clothes. This was after a friend Hasan Nuwab closed the door behind us, even though he was one of the associates, he then started raising some questions, as if he was scared, like he is confused about descending in the holy shrine. But Sayyid Zaki who undertook keeping us company and performing the rituals of the visitation called me and said, depend on Allah, he said this after he opened the doors and raised the iron windows that closes the entrance of the down stairs.

 I then witnessed, from outside, water which was a story of the stories to many people. We then descended from the white passage ornamented with black writings, it has eight steps, the more I descend on each step the water ascends over my legs until it was over my knee. I then found myself in a corridor where the depth is almost two meters and the width is more than a meter. It was extended in front of me in an equal depth, but it does curves like a circle, looked like rib, shining by unusual electricity. The water was so clear, like fresh and pure water, to the extent that I can see the lines of my nails in details. This is despite the fact that there are some dust from the side breaches to the end two corridors.

 The first thing I did was to drink the water to see how it tasted, and it was delicious and pure; it was not salty like other groundwater.  I knew that the water had stayed level, even though the surface of the groundwater of the land of Karbala was changed.

 When we moved forward, the pureness of the water did not change even though Sayyid Zaki preceded before me and performed the traditions of the visiting, such as saying "In the name of Allah, there is no power and might but Allah. He also praised the holy prophet and so on.  The roof of the corridor which is built as a floor of the holy shrine and the top of it was built with a cement, and the sides was built by blocks; the other side of the outside is also built by the modern blocks.  As for inside which is built as a cover of the circled lump that rounded the corridor, most of it was built from the old paved blocks that returns to the past years. This is according to the reparation. Some of parts of the building is built from the cement and some parts ware built from ashes etc, this was due to lack of cement at that time.

 The circled lump that surrounded the corridor is almost the area of the holy shrine. Whereas there is a box and a ring, which are was made of the first class sheet iron and full of shells and ornaments, which are very rare. And on top of it there is a window made of silver, covered with pure gold, adorned with verses of the holy Qur’an as well as plant ornament and arts. As to the corridor we were walking in, is looks like it is roaming over the window completely.

 After few steps another circled lump opened in another corridor which was a narrow and looks like another region, and in the middle of the diameter which is middle of the circled lump, there is a powerful light shining over the whole shrine. The light was in form of square which can be estimated as 3x3 meters. That is where I found my self I cant believe my about what I am seeing concerning the moon of the Hashimids the perfumed with the blood of martyrdom with no hands, the most great aura of glory created by the holy lineage as well as his position and death of the hero.

 At that moment I was confused. I did not know the right from the false, then I remembered what was said about Al-Abbass, peace be upon him, that, I was not surprised at what was circulating among people concerning about this righteous and virtuous man, if you view him as mythological, you might see him as ordinary person according to information of "death of hero." Then how can you view him with all these prophetic traditions and history narrating that when attacked  the tyrants who prevented the holy prophet’s progeny from reaching the water, they all spread, and he found his way to the water, some of them were looking at him, being brave and handsome, which entitled him the name "the moon of Hashimids."  This is addition to his huge body. It was mentioned that when he (Al-Abbas, peace be upon him) rode on the horse his legs touch the ground.  This virtuous man was martyred at the age of 34 years.

 Indeed, I have found that cement covers huge light and piety even though these are some the secrets of our holy land. Hasan An-Nawab asked me "Do you smell this good smell?"  I did not answer him; Because at that moment I was standing on a place where Imam Hussein sat, peace be upon him, after his brother and the holder of his flag was martyred.  I then moved from my place and put my head down, trying to find the place where Imam Hussein, peace be upon him, sat and placed his brother’s head on his thighs.

 Is it Al-Abbas the felled, or Imam Hussein, the lone (peace be upon them), I feel like I am listening to their conversation, the clatter of the swords and behavior of maliciousness. The place did not change, that is what put my imagination on fire, the corpse of Al-Abbas, (peace be upon him) was the only corpse that was not carried to another place for burial; he was buried at the place he was martyred, while blood was glowing listening closely to their conversation. But the scared voice of Hawraa Zainab came from the hill, the hill that is named as Zainab’s hill, because soldiers of son of Sa’ad set the women and the children’s camps on fire. So she came out calling. What a great ordeal descended on master of the martyrs at that moment and that very day. 

 What a difficult conversation between Imam Hussein and the holder of his flag while he (Al-Abbas) was breathing last breath of his life. What a wailing of women and orphans, being scared of the fire which was set on their clothes. Indeed, the master of the martyrs, Imam Hussein, found himself very confused in that situation; I did not hear or read the last words of farewell of Imam Hussein peace be upon him.

 He rose and took his sword to protect the dignity of the holy prophet’s progeny.

 In that place there is a space between the holy shrine and the circled lump where there is an old carpet that started to fray due to being old. It was mixed upon the light and the water. In that place there ware papers floating between the water and the light, I picked them up opened them, and even though they were wet but I tried to read the words which had a disastrous smell that can be felt from the ink spread from the paper which was caused by the water. After some seconds I found two pictures stuck to each other, and the water has caused deforms to the pictures. Then I asked my self, how did those letters and pictures reach here? And why did people seek refuge from a righteous man who has no arms, shackled with cement? Then I remembered what Sabir Al-Durri told me, saying regardless of the fact that I believe in science, it does not surprise me that Almighty Allah might place His verses and miracles in some of His righteous servants. Then that means it is absolute belief in Almighty Allah and His righteous servants.

 I drew forth in the corridor, passed the middle of the left side of the circled lump and stopped at the other side of the central corridor that is formed as diameter looking at the holy shrine once again. The water does not prevail the holy shrine - it reaches to the middle of the height of the shrine. There is also a space between the holy shrine and the circled lump designed with a Karbala’s floor tiles that appears under the water. The floor is of the shrine is also pave all across the holy shrine. It looks like it has been separated between the grave and he who wants to come close to the holy shrine.

  There is a split in the cement that covers the grave as if it will lead me to see what is inside the grave, and the two cut and muscular arms from the forearm. His canteen was torn by arrows. In fact, a powerful defeat that germinated thirsty. When the tricks were few and the path is glorified. Crying of being thirsty. Where were the water at that time of thirst?

 I raised my head and turned to the right side of the circled lump, I then found the third Corridor that leads to the middle of the circle of the holy shrine. But that is small and too narrow to allow me to put my head into it. This indicates that the history of the corridor returns to many years ago. I left that place to find myself back at the starting point, because the circle had come to an end. I climbed the alabaster steps carrying answers to a lot of questions which were unclear before descending in the holy shrine. I found Sayyid Al-Ghurabi was waiting for me.

 BOXES AND VALUABLES:

 Al-Ghurabi asked me, did you find something such as stories, boxes and valuable thrown on the grave?  I replied saying, no, I did not find anything, where are the boxes?  Then he started describing that the boxes so valuables and very rare, they are kept at a place that it Can not be  accessed, he has some records that special for him and some of them at donations center and some at council of state.

In fact those boxes contain valuables, full of gold and silver. Some of the precious stones and pearls were given as gift from the kings, princes, presidents and personalities in different historical times and places. There are also some valuables, expensive and rare carpets, besides the library that contains precious writings and rare books, all these are one of the secrets of this holy shrine which Al-Ghurabi did not tell me about, despite the fact that we became friends after that, and I visited the holy shrine more than once along with some friends. I asked Ghurabi at that time saying, "Did Saddam add something to these boxes?"  Then he smiled as he understood the question: he said, the president continued taking care of the religious holy shrines, and the last thing he donated to this holy shrine of Al-Abbas was 44 kilograms of gold and 150 grams of silver for gilding the holy shrine.  The question is where did he get all this amount of gold?

 Al-Ghurabi held my hand and pulled me to himself and whispered in my ears saying:

 "The gold belongs to Al-Abbas, (peace be upon him) and it came from vows that we gathered, and we still have a big amount of it, but Saddam does command us to use some amount of it, saying it is noble deed but the fact is that, it is not from him or from his money."

THE HISTORY OF THE HOLY SHRINE:

 Imam Al-Abbas, his brother Imam Hussein (peace be upon them) and the martyrs of Karbala were buried three days after their martyrdoms, which means they were buried on the thirteenth of Muharram, and there were not any features building on their graves. The first building to be made on his holy grave was a shed built by Al-Mukhtar son of Abdullah Athaqafi, in year 67 A.H. Before that, the graves were featured by Imam Zainul Aabideen Ali, son of Hussein, peace be upon them. The grave was built during the caliphate time of Umayyads and the first caliph of Abbasid. In year 247 A.H. the Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakil destroyed both the holy shrine of Imam Hussein and Al-Abbas, peace be upon them, He then planted on the both graves and made bulls plowing on the graves. While he did that, his wife was working underground in order not to erase the sign. This continued until Al-Mutawakil died, then his son came and rebuilt both graves, and brought the dignity back to the graves.

 In year 369 A.H. Abbasid caliph At-Ta’i’e lilah son of Al-Mutee’ lillah built a nice building which is considered the first huge building to be built on the shrines. In year 1221 A.H. the first dome and both minarets were built by state treasure As-Sadr al-A’azam and he covered them with Karbala’s flagstones.

  In year 1306 A.H The empire sultan the second Abdul Hamid commanded that, the large sitting room should be shed with valuable sheet iron. In fact, develop have been made in building the holy shrine in year 1339 A.H when the front of the large sitting room collapsed. That was the first time gold to be built on the shrine. As it was mentioned.

 In year 1955 A.D. the dome was covered with gold after it was covered with Karbala flagstones.

ECHO

 After publishing the article in Alif-Ba magazine many echoes occurred either on the way or on the level of the states. Because the article was discussed in gatherings of council of ministers, in which they decided to form a committee that takes care of pulling out the internal water, at the same time Sabir Al-Duri contacted me by a friend Hussein Fauzi, the editing director of Alif-Ba magazine.  He invited me and my family, I indeed went to Karbala with one of my friends, he told me, I was not happy for a long time, but you made me happy by writing your article, so how can I make you happy in return?

I replied saying, I was happy when you allowed me to obtain this unique opportunity in being first with this newspaper. Then he said you and I have to be friends, because you write in a polite way which called attention of the leaders. Therefore I would like to bring forth an important article which will give another scoop for you, the article concerns the holy shrine of Imam Hussein, peace be upon him.  

He then started narrating a long story about the rock that Imam Hussein’s holy head was cut off on, that exists at a place in the holy shrine, which a unique fragrant smell.  It is said that the smell is Fatimatu Al-Zahra’s breathing peace be upon her), when she sobbed at the time of cutting off her son’s head, so that continues until now.

He emphasized that he could not believe in the article until the trusted until last hour when the person who takes care of the holy shrine by cleaning and washing the holy shrine. He then visited the rock and smelled it.  Al-Durri has emphasized saying, this is one of the miracles of Aalulbait must be written about.

Then I asked him, do you think that those in charge will believe what I am writing, and who will protect me among them?

He replied, these are facts.

I said: will you protect me?

He said: I don’t interfere in the media.

Generally, it is a nice initiative from the man. He loved Alhlulbait and the people of Karbala and he was sincere to them.

I hope to have, or anybody to have such an opportunity to write about this topic.