Discussion on the Significance of Karbala

Peace be upon you, and God’s mercy and blessings. Brothers, some young men ask

which is more honored in God’s sight,

Karbala

or the Kaaba, Karbala or Mecca?

They ask this question and want me to cite the evidence.

I will cite the evidence from one book, namely Kamil al-Ziyarat.

And Al-Mazar by Sheikh Ja'far ibn Qulawayh al-Qummi,

known as the Second Martyr, known as the Martyr

the Second.

Dar al-Murtada, page 245.

Chapter. Chapter eighty-eight, on the virtue of

Karbala and visiting Hussein, peace be upon him.

I will omit the chain of transmission and only mention it from

the Imam from whom this hadith was narrated.

Hadith number two. He said,

narrated from al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, who said: The land

of the Kaaba said, the land of the Kaaba said,

“Who is like me, when the House of God was built upon my back,

and people come to me from every distant pass,

and I was made God’s sanctuary and place of safety?”

That is, the Kaaba boasted. So God revealed to it,

“Enough, and be still.

By My might and majesty, the favor—the favor

I have bestowed is not greater than the favor I have bestowed in

giving the land of Karbala, except by the measure of

A needle dipped in the sea carries water from the

sea. How much can a needle carry?

What can a tiny drop carry? This compares the merit of

Karbala to the merit of

the Kaaba.

He continues, God Almighty says, “Were it not for the soil of Karbala, I would not have favored you,

and were it not for what the land of

Karbala contains,” meaning Hussein’s pure body, “I would not have

created you, nor created the House which you boasted

of. Be humble,

settle down, and be

lowly, humble, and disgraced

before the land of Karbala, without disdain or arrogance,

otherwise I will cause you to sink and cast you down

into Hellfire.”

The other hadith is narrated

from

Abu Ja'far, from Abu Ja'far al-Baqir, peace be

upon him, who says, “God, Blessed and Exalted, created the land of Karbala

before He created the Kaaba by twenty-four

thousand years.

He sanctified and blessed it.

It had remained before God created,

it had remained before God created creation, sanctified

and blessed, and it will remain so until

God makes it the finest land in Paradise

and the finest abode, dwelling, and residence

in which God will settle His saints in

the gardens.”

The other hadith from Ali ibn al-Husayn, peace be upon him, says

God made the land of Karbala a safe, blessed sanctuary before

He created the land of the Kaaba and made it a sanctuary

by 24,000 years, and when God, Blessed and Exalted,

shakes the earth and sets it in motion,

Karbala will be raised, meaning it will be raised

with its pure, luminous soil,

and placed in the finest garden among the gardens

of Paradise, and the finest dwelling in Paradise, where none may dwell

except the prophets and messengers, or, he said, those of resolve

among the messengers. This uncertainty is from the narrator, and it

will shine among the gardens of Paradise—the plural of garden is

gardens—

as the brilliant star shines among the stars for the people

of Earth. Its light will overwhelm the sight of all the people of Paradise,

and it will call out, “I am God’s

holy, pure, blessed land, which

contained the Master of Martyrs and the Master of the Youth

of Paradise.”

The final hadith with which I will conclude is narrated

from the Commander of the Faithful, from the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him and his family,

who said, “My son will be buried in a land called

Karbala. It is the spot where

the Ark of Islam was, upon which God saved

the believers who

believed with Noah

during the flood,

meaning it is the land upon which it came to rest.

Noah's Ark, as this hadith and another like it mention.

Do not forget me in your sincere prayers. Peace and God's mercy be upon you,

and His blessings.