| GREAT IMPRESSIONS --- A ZIYARAT TRAVELOGUE (3) Syed-Mohsin Naquvi January 2009 IN KARBALA After four days' stay in Najaf we took a bus ride to Karbala. For security reasons our bus stopped more than a mile away from our hotel. Our baggage and all the passengers were loaded into the three-wheeler motor-rickshaws. After a twenty minute hectic ride on the unmade and broken roads of Karbala we arrived at our hotel. Before we go any further let me explain how security has been organized in Iraq around the various shrines and why. One member of our group told us the following story. Back in 2007 when there were no passenger flights landing inside Iraq, the Zaa-e-reen used to fly into Amman, Jordan or Damascus, Syria and then take a twelve hour bus ride to Karbala. One such caravan was proceeding towards Karbala from Amman. On the way a nineteen year old girl approached that caravan and begged them to let her come along up to Karbala. She was a simple girl clad in a long Burqa. The caravan accepted her and she came along. Some fifty miles from Karbala night fell and the caravan decided to camp there for the night. The following morning as the members of the party were hurrying to move on, someone noticed that that girl was still sleeping. Some women in the group tried to wake her up and noticed that she was dead. So, they decide to bury her in that area before moving on. When her clothing was removed for the bathing and shrouding they saw that she was a suicide bomber fully loaded with an explosives belt. In fact a snake had bitten the young woman in her sleep and that is how she had died. The interesting thing was that the snake did not bite anyone else in the group and some people had actually noticed the snake slipping away from the area. That incident and the bombing of the Samarrah shrine back in February 2006 had made the managers of the various shrines take extra ordinary precautions. Now every shrine in Iraq has three concentric security circles. ON the periphery of each security circle there are check points where elaborate searches are conducted on each visitor. Men are searched by men and women have to go inside a secluded enclosure where their persons are searched by female security personnel. Only people known to the security staff are allowed to carry any kind of baggage with them inside the security zones. That way the shrines have been protected from terroristic actions against them. Our hotel in Karbala was located inside the first security circle around the twin shrines of Imam Husayn and that of Hazrat Abbas. That is why our buses had to leave us more than a mile away from the hotel. It was a small hotel and the rooms had no windows; actually it was quite depressing. Well, we only came to our rooms for sleeping. Our hotel was located in a narrow street both sides of which were lined with shops. The road was broken and there were puddles of water and mud here and there. The shops would remain open until quite late. It was an amazing feeling. After all the destruction, rubble and mud-puddles the street (and actually every street in the inner city) was oozing with life. Most of the workers in the hotel were Bangladeshis. We tried to converse with them in Urdu and it worked. The hotel was owned by a family of three, a father and his two sons. They tried very hard to make our stay as pleasant as possible. We were allowed internet access once a day for an hour – a facility that we did not have in Najaf. We also had two Iraqi young men as volunteers to help us find our way in the streets and in and around the shrines. They would not accept money from us. I was able to give them some warm clothes after a lot of insistence. One thing that was noticeable very clearly was the fact that there were very few beggars on the streets. Even the ten and eleven year old boys, most of whom were orphans, were running around with hand carts offering their services rather than begging. They would carry your shopping and even people in the carts for some little compensation. The Iraqi people are a proud people. Karbala is a very crowded city. Most roads are either broken or unmade. Our hotel was located at a distance of three minutes walk from the twin shrines. We would go to the shrines either in groups or individually and spend hours at length in the holy precincts. Karbala is a very safe city. Our children would stay in the shrine until quite late in the night and some times return after the Salat-ul-Fajr walking on their own. Every entrance to the shrines has a Kafsh-bardaar (shoe-minder) stall. You have to leave your camera and mobile telephones as well. They do not charge any money for that service. THE TWIN SHRINES OF KARBALA The twin shrines have a common court yard which is as long as a foot-ball field. On either side of the open court yard porticos have been erected. After the Isha prayers hundreds of people who do not have money to rent a hotel room sleep under those porticos. Imam Husayn had arrived at the plane of Karbala on the 2nd of Muharram in the 61st year of Hijra. He had called the tribe of Banu Asad who had been living there and asked them if they would sell that land. They had sold that land for 65,000 Dirham to Imam Husayn. The Imam then gifted the land back to Banu Asad and asked them to promise him three things. (1) He told them that there would be a short battle there in a few days in which the men in his party would all be killed. He asked the Banu Asad to come after the armies had left and bury the dead bodies of the martyrs. (2) The Imam asked them not to cultivate the land where the graves would be made. (3) He also told them that there would be visitors to the graves. The Imam asked them to be hospitable to the visitors and provide them with food and shelter. We saw with our own eyes how the Imam's wishes were being fulfilled after all these centuries in those penniless Zaa-e-reen sleeping under those porticos. Actually it was quite cold in Karbala during the days we were there. Some philanthropist had donated hundreds of blankets to the shrine. The blankets were distributed every evening among those sleepers under the porticos and recollected every morning for reuse. The management of the shrines provides that service free of charge. Imam Husayn's shrine is much larger than that of Hazrat Abbas. Now even that size of Imam Husayn's shrine is becoming too small to be able to accommodate the large number of Zaa-e-reen at peak times of the pilgrimage such as the day of Ashoora, the 3rd of Sha'abaan and particularly at the Arba'een time. So the management has decided to cover the outside court of Imam Husayn's shrine on all four sides of the original building. That has actually marred the original beauty of the architecture. The new roof under construction is fairly high – I guess over twenty-five feet. Because of that, anyone standing in the open court yard cannot see the dome and the two minarets. Two main entrances on opposite sides of the building have been left exposed in the original condition. Other than that the shrine is totally surrounded by the new construction. The roof is not finished yet. There were scaffoldings around the building and inside the building as construction work was in progress. There were exposed openings in the roof at various places. That had made the precincts very cold particularly in the evenings. However, it was not enough to deter the stream of the faithful devotees of Imam Husayn to enter the shrine and congregate in that cold. About sixteen different congregations would be held in that area around the shrine at five times for the Wajib Salat – various different ulema leading the congregations. An announcer will announce the name of the prayer leader at each one of those congregations. No congregational prayers were done inside the main building of the shrine. That gave free access to pilgrims at all time. Inside the shrines people would be doing Ziyarat and Mustahab Ziyarat salat. In spite of the great crowd that is always moving in and out of the shrine and the elaborate security arrangements around the shrines one does not notice the slightest trace of chaos or any mismanagement. Yes, there is a lot of pushing and pulling and rubbing shoulders but everyone is kind to every one else. I have seen Hajis fighting with shoes in their hands trying to hit each other inside the Grand Mosque in Makka. But the scene inside and around the shrines in Karbala was totally different. When you stand in or around the shrines you get a strange feeling of peace and tranquility. It appears as if a benevolent king's court is in order and his subjects are going about their business without bothering each other. Husayn in his martyrdom rules the hearts and minds of people. I do not know about other people but my strong feelings in Karbala were that I want to live here and die here. AT one of the congregations at Imam Husayn's shrine we met with Hujjatul-Islam Murtada Qazweeni who had been spending time in Los Angeles. One of our group members named Mehdi Zaidi also from Los Angeles, knew him personally. Agha-e-Qazweeni was very pleased to see us. He visited us at our hotel the next morning and invited us to visit the orphanage/school he had established in Karbala. I was surprised to see that his car was allowed to drive inside the security area up to the entrance of our hotel. Agha-e Qazweeni is doing good work in Karbala. He has established the orphanage/school which has 335 children. The school is located about 2-3 miles outside of the center city. It is a very nice purpose built modern building. He is also working on establishing a hospital in Karbala. I must emphasize that Agha-e-Qazweeni very humbly explained to us that he was not among the great Mujtahids of Iraq. For reference I should explain to our readers that Agha-e Qazweeni's two sons live in the United States. His elder son named Mustafa Qazweeni manages an Islamic center in Los Angeles and his other son Hasan Qazweeni has established the largest mosque in the US which is situated in Dearborn, Mi. One of my daughters was overwhelmed by the children intently working in their class rooms and the teachers busy in teaching. She shared some learning material with the kids and inquired with Agha-e Qazweeni if she could come to Karbala and teach at his school. He was pleased with the idea and said that he would help any would-be teacher to get a working permit in Iraq. I think they need most of all English teachers. All subjects are being taught in Arabic and there are Iraqi teachers available to fill those positions. (.... to be continued) | 
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