A Hobby that never took off!

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An Itinerary full of Blessings & Peace

Dec 2019 / Jan 2020 was the time when me and my family had a lifetime opportunity to visit few places that are full of Blessings & Peace - Karbala, Kufa and Najaf in Iraq. These places hosts ziyarat of several grand personalities of Islam like Imam Hussain (a.s), Maula Abbas (a.s.), Imam Ali (a.s.), Shaheeds of Battle of Karbala, Muslim Bin Aqeel, Hani bin Urwa, Prophet Adam (a.s), Prophet Nooh (a.s) to name a few. It is said that one can only visit Karbala if we get an invitation from Maula Abbas (a.s).

A million thanks to Allah and Maula Abbas (a.s.) for giving me and my family (my mum, wife and kids) this chance in visiting these Shrines. Alhamdolillah!

Getting Iraqi visa from Melbourne is not straight forward. One has to contact an agent who can get visas for you. Tricky part is that you won’t get visa earlier than few days before date of your travel. The agent had sort of scared us by saying that my mum’s visa my get rejected as she has an Indian passport. But he also assured that if that happens, he will have to apply visas again using our OCIs. But luckily all went well and we got the visa by 23rd Dec.  

Landed in Najaf on 31st December. Flight from Doha to Najaf was quite deserted. Najaf airport is one of the most basic international airports of the world. Still it does the job! Had to pay a tax. Amount of tax varies as per few unknown factors. After paying tax and a rather confusing immigration we were happy to be out of the airport after an hour’s time. Our guide / Maulana was waiting outside for our welcome to Iraq.

Day 1: Settling down at Karbala

Traveled to Karbala from Najaf by private car.

Distance: ~ 80 KM.

Time:  1 hour 15 mins.

Road conditions - good.

On the way from Najaf to Karbala as we hit the road towards Karbala, we start seeing numbered poles. These numbers start from 1 and run up to 1300 which gives an indication of the distance remaining to Karbala. These numbers benefit the visitors who walk their way to Karbala from Najaf during Arba’een.

After a long travel of around 18 hours, sleep deprivation and a jet lag, we all needed time to settle down. But at the same time the urge to visit the shrines was strong enough to take us at the doorstep of Maula Abbas (a.s) and Imam Hussain (a.s). Shrines were a short 5 min walk from our hotel - Al Hayat 2.

Day 2 to Day 6: Getting the blessings from Shohada of Karbala (Protectors of Islam)

Visiting the shrines was the greatest privilege that I have ever got. It’s hard not to get reminded of the tragedy of Karbala as you enter the shrines. It’s also amazingly peaceful in the shrines. As we touch the zari, it feels as if all our worries and troubles are melting out. You would want to be in that state forever when suddenly someone from behind you will ask you to move and unfortunately you will have to. As you are touching and kissing the zari, you will see money in different currencies lying beneath the Shohada’s kabr mubarak. It is kind of proving that the things that we spend most of our lives running after are nothing but pieces of paper for the Mubarak Souls lying down there!

Day 7: Hilla, Mussayyib on the way to Najaf

The hardest part probably would be to say the Aakhri salams and to leave Karbala. Questions would start popping up your mind: Did you spend enough time in the Haram? Did you probably sleep more than you should have? Did you spend more time in the hotel room than you should have? Nevertheless, any number of days will not be enough! You just pray that you get another chance and yet another and yet another to visit Karbala again.

In Karbala, you can also visit roza of Hur (a.s) and Hazrat Aun. Got a chance to go the real kabr underneath at Aun (a.s)’s roza where construction was in progress. As we were heading to Najaf, we went to Mussayyib to visit the shrines of sons of Muslim bin Aqeel (a.s) - Muhammad & Ibrahim. These young kids aged approximately 13 to 14 years gave their lives in the name of Hussain and Islam. There are other places on the way as well like Maqam e Ibrahim Nabi (a.s), Nabiyallah Ayub (a.s) and Rashid al Hijri’s kabr. Rashid al Hijri was a shagird of Imam Ali (a.s).

Day 8 : Imam Ali (a.s), Wadi as Salam and Sharif Shah

Visited Imam Ali(a.s)’s shrine that also hosts kabr mubarak of Adam Nabi (a.s) and Nooh Nabi (a.s). Just few minutes of walk from Imam Ali (a.s)’s haram takes you to Wadi as Salam that is one of the largest cemeteries of the world. It is said that those who are to enter Jannah after death, their souls will recide in Wadi as salam.

Behind Imam Ali (a.s)’s roza, we have a shrine of Sharif Shah who was a great companion of Imam Ali (a.s.).

Day 9: Kufa

Kufa city hosts one of the most renowned mosques of the world: Masjid-e-Kufa. This is the mosque where several Prophets and Imams have prayed namaz. The peace and serenity that you experience while in the mosque is out of this world. There are 15 different maqams in the mosque where there is a history associated like one where Prophet Adam (a.s) prayed seeking forgiveness, one where Imam Ali (a.s) used to hold courts to give judgments, place where Imam Ali(a.s) was fatally wounded while doing sajda during Fajr namaz, maqam e Imam Zainul Abedin (a.s) and more. 

It is said that praying namaz in Masjid-e-Kufa gives tremendous sawabs!

Masjid-e-Kufa also hosts kabr mubarak of Muslim bin Aqeel, Hani bin Urwa and Mukhtar al-Thaqafi. 

In Kufa we also visited Masjid-al-Salah which also has a great historical significance. There are 7 maqams in this masjid as well where a 2 rakat namaz is recommended at each of them.

Day 10 : Karbala (once again!)

We had planned to visit the shrine of Salman Farsi on Day 10. But due to unsafe environment near Baghdad, our guide suggested against going there. He suggested we can go to Karbala again and we agreed. 

What a privilege! 

Day 11: Winding down!

As the final day approaches, you start wishing you had more days to stay. And like Karbala, any number of days will not be enough to satisfy your souls!

But you will be surely feeling proud, happy, content and lucky that you were able to receive blessings from the Imams and Prophets of Islam.  

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Muharrum 1437 - My takeaways from Majlis (Oct 2015)

I learn few things from every Majlis I attend but fail to implement any of those. As a first step, I thought it would be good to write few things and share it with others too. 

This year’s majlis at Melbourne was recited by Maulana Syed Nasir Zaidi. I perceived that Maulana has done a lot of research on Qur’aan and its applicability in today’s age. There is a lot to learn from him. I don't think time was enough to cover each and every aspect of his research. But he has definitely left me thinking differently. 

Maulana Zaidi’s viewpoint was very positive. This is unlike most other Maulana’s who are always angry and disappointed with others.

Following are few points that I learnt this year:

1. Recitation of Qur’aan is only the first stage - One should not think that once they have recited Qur’aan they achieved all stages. Recitation of Quraan is just the first stage. Although there is sawaab in recitation, the next stage is to understand what its trying to say and most important is to implement what it is saying.

2. Quality of Ibaadat is much more important than quantity - When we are doing our aamal / ibaadat, quantity is less important than quality. There is no point in performing salaah when you are constantly thinking about worldly matters. 

3. Are we really on the path shown by Allah? - This question was put forward in a very atypical way by Maulana. It has made so much impact that I cant get it out of my head. Are Muslims really on the path shown by Allah - if we were, would we be fighting? He asked to imagine a city where all the Prophets stay together. Will they fight with each other any time?

4. One should not think that if they are doing Nek amal’s they have made their way to Jannah. Similarly, if one knows they have done a lot of sins, should not get upset as Allah can still forgive. One should not think that when you listen to Majlis-e-Hussain or when you do maatam and azaadari, you have the right to go to Jannah. Maulana chose a funny phrase to describe it that “there are few who keep distributing tickets for Jannah every now and then”. 

Maulana insisted that there is no point in doing Maatam if the person who does Maatam is not behaving in a good way with others and family. 

5. Our self-esteem should be such great that we cannot utter anything that is sub standard. 

6. Maulana also criticized other scholars who go on a mimbar and use abusive language to address other communities. This should end and everyone should be taught to live in harmony.

Overall, I found that Maulana is quite and calm in his approach. Every word of him was a result of a research that he has done over years. I will definitely try to follow point 1 and 2 above. Thanks to Allah (swt) for guiding me in the right direction and thanks to Maulana for sharing his thoughts.