The duty of the Shia In Ashura

The duty of the Shia is to share in the sorrow and joy of the Imams of the pure Ahl al-Bayt.

Imam Reza (peace be upon him) said to Ibn Shabib:

“O son of Shabib! If you wish to be with us in the highest ranks of Paradise, then grieve for our sorrow and rejoice for our happiness, and be devoted to our Wilayah. If a man is devoted to a stone, God will resurrect him with it on the Day of Judgment.”

Imam Reza (peace be upon him) said to Hasan ibn Fazal: “Whoever makes the day of Ashura a day of mourning and does not engage in his own work, God will fulfill his worldly and afterlife needs. And whoever makes the day of Ashura a day of grief and sorrow, God will make the Day of Resurrection a day of joy and satisfaction for him, and his eyes will be brightened upon seeing us in Paradise.

But whoever considers Ashura a day of blessing and gathers provisions for his household on that day, the blessing will be taken away from him, and on the Day of Judgment, he will be resurrected with Yazid, Ibn Ziyad, and Umar ibn Sa’d.”

Imam Reza (peace be upon him) said to Ibrahim ibn Abi Mahmoud: “The day of Ashura made our tears flow and wounded our eyelids, and it humiliated our dear one in the land of Karbala in such a way that grief and sorrow will never leave us until the Day of Judgment. Therefore, those who weep should weep for Husayn because weeping for him purifies great sins.” Then Imam Reza (peace be upon him) said: “When the month of Muharram arrived, no one saw my father smiling; grief and sorrow overwhelmed him until the day of Ashura, and on Ashura, it was a day of mourning, grief, and weeping for him, and he would say:

‘Ashura is the day when Husayn (peace be upon him) was martyred.'”

This crying, wailing, and mourning by the Shia from the beginning of Muharram and the public holiday on Ashura, and even on Tasua, are all expressions of their love for the pure Imams and their rejection of the enemies of religion.

The pure Imams have encouraged the Shia to cry for Husayn and mourn for him, even to the point of lamentation. It is narrated from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him):

“All lamentation and weeping are disliked except for the lamentation and weeping for Husayn.”

In the narration of Ibn Shabib from Imam Reza (peace be upon him), it is said: “If you want to cry for something, then cry for Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib… If you cry for Husayn until your tears run down your cheeks, God will forgive all your sins, whether they are small or large, few or many.”

The Imams (peace be upon them) ordered the Shia to hold gatherings and revive the matters of the Imams (peace be upon them). In “Wasa’il al-Shia,” it is narrated from “Azdi” who narrated from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) that he said to Fudhayl:

“Do you sit and discuss? Fudhayl replied: ‘Yes, may I be your ransom!’ Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: ‘I love those gatherings. So, revive our matter, O Fudhayl, and may God have mercy on those who revive our matter. O Fudhayl, whoever remembers us or is reminded of us and sheds tears as small as the wing of a fly, God will forgive his sins, even if they are more than the foam of the sea.'”

The gatherings where Shia sit together and narrate the virtues and tragedies of the Imams (peace be upon them) contribute to reviving the matter of the Imams. May God have mercy on those who revive the matter of the Imams. Whoever mentions the tragedy of the Imams (peace be upon them) and weeps, or it is narrated to him, and he weeps, and tears as small as the wing of a fly flow from his eyes, God will forgive his sins, even if they are as abundant as the foam of the sea. This hadith is not limited to the mention of the tragedy of Sayyid al-Shuhada (peace be upon him), but it also includes the tragedies of the Prophet and the pure Imams.