Marking the Urs of Imam Hassan (as) - a gorgeous first!

The Urs Mubarik of Hazrat Imam Hassan (as)

 

Translated from the Punjabi from a narration by Pir Naseeruddin Naseer (Ra):

 

“One day the blessed Imam (as), the eldest son of Bibi Fatima az Zahra (as), was passing through a street sitting on a donkey, (the preferred ride of the Prophets and Auliya Karam, the Friends of God). By the road side sat an old beggar. His clothes were tattered and torn and he was covered in dirt and grime. The man was getting ready to eat some stale bread and broth that he seemed to have made by crushing pieces of the bread itself.

 

The Imam (as) looked handsome in his garments as he came by. He was always most beautifully dressed. As he passed, the old man called out to him, ‘Come Sarkar (O lord), join me to eat my food.’”

 

The term of calling out to someone in Punjabi is called Sad, Pir Sahib explained. For example, the way one might invite a person to sit with them to eat something. In this particular case of being asked by a stranger, we all normally say, “No thank you, please continue, Bismillah!”

 

Then he continued the story:

 

“So this man was sitting on the ground. The Imam (as) turned his attention towards the beggar and saw his state, his broken pieces of bread scattered on the earth in front of him. For a moment the thought came to him, “Look at me and look at him, look at where I am and look at where he is.”

 

But then instantly, his eyes turned towards the Heavens and he was reminded as he thought of His Lord, “Allah is Al Ghani, The Generous One, He is As Samad, The One who is above everything. You are not an ordinary man. You are the grand-son of the Prophet of God (peace be upon him and his family). You are the semblance of Mustafa (peace be upon him and his family). There has never been one like you before and there will never be one like you again.”

 

Imam Hassan (as) alighted from the donkey in his clean, new clothes and sat down on the road beside the old man who offered him the broken bits of the bread.

 

Pir Sahib (ra) interjected again. “You and me, we can’t eat that food. We would be disgusted by it. But Hassan (as) was born in the house of his grandfather, the one who chose faqr himself and said, “Al faqro fakhri – Modesty is my pride.”

 

The Imam (as) ate a little bit of the food as every passerby stared at him. Then he took his leave. As he left he asked the man, “Are you happy?” The old man replied, “Indeed, I am happy.”

 

When the Imam (as) rode past him, the old man called out behind him. “No doubt, there goes the son of Prophets.”

 

The Incident of His Passing

 

Also translated from a narration by Pir Naseeruddin Naseer (ra):

 

When the Imam (as) was poisoned, he was 47. It is recorded that when he passed away, the men and women of Medina wept for three days. For a whole year, the women of Bani Hashim mourned.

 

When the funeral was taking place and the coffin was lifted, Marwan Ibn Hakam started crying as well. Marwan was the arch enemy of the Imam (as). The same Marwan who created turmoil in his life throughout it, that Marwan wept. Hazrat Ayesha (ratu) was in a state of deep sadness and offered her space of burial next to Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him and his family) for Imam Hassan (as). Marwan was the one who refused to allow the burial to take place there and obstructed it.

 

But still he wept.

 

When Imam Hussain (as) saw him crying he turned to him and said, “There wasn’t single cruelty you did not subject my older brother to in every living moment of his life. So what is it that is making you so sad today? Where are these tears coming from for him?”

 

Then Marwan replied (and Pir Sahib (ra) marks the moment with the audience with the words, ‘Listen to the words from an enemy’): “The way that I behaved with him all of these years, the way that I treated him, there is no one on this entire Earth that could have borne that kind of mistreatment in the manner that he did.

 

So today I cry because I am reminded of his hilm, (the trait of being haleem – to be calm, forbearing, not hasty, exhibiting moderation, lenience). I cry to pay tribute to his patience and his steadfastness. I cry today thinking, he was like a mountain. Who will ever be like Hassan again…”

 

All of my trip in Hunza, in constant awe of scale, I thought of the Imam (as) and I uttered Allah Subhanahu's Name - Al Haleem, seeing it for the first time with my eyes.

 

From the root ha, laam, meem, which has the following classical Arabic connotations the word Haleem means: to be forbearing, mild, lenient, clement, to be forgiving, gentle, deliberate to be leisurely in manner, not hasty, to be calm, serene, to manage one’s temper, to exhibit moderation.

 

200. The kind word and seeking forgiveness is better than giving harshly. And Allah is Ghani un, Haleem

 

‏ قَوْلٌۭ مَّعْرُوفٌۭ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ خَيْرٌۭ مِّن صَدَقَةٍۢ يَتْبَعُهَآ أَذًۭى ۗ

وَٱللَّهُ غَنِىٌّ حَلِيمٌۭ ‎

 

A kind word and seeking forgiveness are far better than charity followed by hurting his heart.

And Allah is All-Sufficient, All-Forbearing.

Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 264

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Qaulum ma’roof-un: A kind word, beautifully turning away a sa’il, the one asking for something, this refusal must emerge in the best etiquette…

 

Wa maghfirat-un: and seeking forgiveness from Allah after refusing the person, deeply regretful of the absence of the blessing of spending.

 

Khair-un min sadqatayy yatba’uha ada-an: Far better is this than the charitable deed followed by hurting a heart because this manner of speaking (kindly) will bring rewards and giving this kind of sadqa, that injures someone’s feelings, is deserving of Allah’s Wrath.

 

Wallahu Ghani-un: And Allah Subhanahu is Self-Sufficient, (unaffected) by your spending, whether you give kindly or rudely to the poor who are from the family of Allah.

 

Haleem: He does not haste in holding to task the one who gives or the one who hurts.

 

212. The Prophet Ibrahim (as) is the sigher and he is haleem.

 

إِنَّ إِبْرَهِيمَ لَأَوَّهٌ حَلِيمٌۭ

 

Indeed, Ibrahim was compassionate, understanding.

Surah At Tauba, Verse 114

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Inna Ibrahima: Indeed, Ibrahim (as), despite him being steadfast in his friendship with Allah…

 

La awwahun: surely, he was the most sighing one, sighing frequently and feeling sadness in such things (asking forgiveness for his uncle)…

 

Haleem-un: most affectionate and merciful towards the Ahlal

Ghaflat, the people who are heedless and in forgetfulness because it (his sighing and affection) appeared due to his tenderness and his beauty.

 

Subhan Allah!

 

213. And everything sings His Praises, the seven skies and earth and He is Haleem-un Ghafoor.

 

‏تُسَبِّحُ لَهُ ٱلسَّمَوَتُ ٱلسَّبْعُ وَٱلْأَرْضُ وَمَن فِيهِنَّ ۚ

وَإِن مِّن شَىْءٍ إِلَّا يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِۦ وَلَكِن لَّا تَفْقَهُونَ تَسْبِيحَهُمْ ۗ

إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ حَلِيمًا غَفُورًۭا ‎

 

Glorify to Him the heavens seven and the earth and whatever is in them.

And there is not any thing except glorifies His Praise, but not you understand their glorification. Indeed, He is Ever-Forbearing, Oft-Forgiving.

Surah Al-Isra’, Verse 44

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

How do you forget and become unaware of the proofs of His Truthful Tauheed, One-ness and His witnessing, O ones who are wayward and make others astray as well, even though you have been set up on the nature of Ma’rifat, Recognition and Tauheed, One-ness, and despite that…

 

Tusabbihu lahu: (The Seven Heavens) praise Him and His Essence is hallowed from association and children and anyone like Him or an example of Him…

 

As samawatu as-saba’u: which are storied upon each other, hanging, stacked in rows, which are organized upon the highest mechanism and how amazing it is, along with what is in them from the different coloured planets and shapes and orbits and movements and effects layered in them.

 

And along with that in them are from wonders of creation and strange innovations and upgradation which we had no knowledge of except that we have been told without its count. All of this reveals the One-ness of The One who created it and its Originator…

 

Wal ardo: and the Earth as well and what is in it from the varieties of vegetation and metals and animals which are impossible to count for the tongues of the ones seeing and using their intellect, who take lessons and reflect upon the creations of Allah Al Haqq and His amazing inventions…

 

Wa man fi hinna: and who is between them (Heavens and Earth) from the angels and humans and Jinn, set up upon the worship of Al Haqq, The Truth and His Mari’fat, Recognition.

 

Wa: And overall…

 

In min shay-in: there is nothing which is called a thing and upon it is a shadow of being in existence…

 

Illa yusabbiho bi hamdihi: except that it speaks His Praise i.e. it sanctifies Him and glorifies Him (free) from the mixture of happening and possibility, some of them in states and some by words, especially the strongest signs of possibility which are giving birth and being born from.

 

Wa lakin la tafqahoona: But you do not understand, O ones who are absorbed in a state of being transgressors and willfulness…

 

Tasbiyhahum: their praises because of the absence of your occupation on pondering and consideration upon the creations of Allah and reflecting upon His Signs. Actually you deny them and persist upon finding faults in them with stubborn determination and with arrogance and associate others with Him, may Allah give us refuge from this.

 

For this reason, you become deserving of extreme punishment and being made an example of. Still, He gives you time…

 

Innahu kana Haleem-an: indeed He is Haleem, not hasty in revenge and punishment in the hope that perhaps, maybe you will gain admonition and return with repentance and regret upon the way of sincerity, so He forgives your mistakes, all of them.

 

Indeed, He is…

 

Ghafoor-an: All Forgiving for the ones who return and repent and the ones who keep returning to Him with complete nadam, regret and ikhlas, sincerity, even though their mistakes are great and their sins extreme.

 

 

Done