BB00332: Ziyarat-i-Shah-’Abdu’l-’Azim

He is the Adored One, the Praised One, the Desired One

Peace be upon him whom God distinguished through Muhammad, His Beloved, whom He selected from the midst of eternity above all contingent beings. And peace be upon him whom God chose through Ali, His Friend, whom He fashioned for Himself and made the Guardian over all created things. And peace be upon him whom God selected through Hasan, His Proof, whom He was well-pleased with for His Cause and made him the station of His Self in all stations. And peace be upon him whom God chose through Husayn, His Vengeance, whom He gifted with martyrdom and made him the sign of His Countenance in all proofs.

Peace be upon you, O Light radiating from the embroidery of Oneness, and Splendor shining from the garments of the Countenance of Unity, and Star rising from the horizon of Muhammad’s realm, and Planet dawning from the heaven of Ali’s dominion, and Radiance connected to the Throne of Hasan’s excellence. How can I recount your praise, O son of the divine Tree and the blessed eternal Leaf and the ethereal heavenly Fruit and the radiant celestial Countenance and the shining angelic Garments? And how can I describe your connection to the essence of the Primal Remembrance from eternity, whose one pillar indicates the essence of the Will in its substance, and whose pillar indicates the essence of Purpose in its abstraction, and whose pillar indicates the soul of Destiny and its vastness, and whose pillar indicates the identity of Decree and its manifestation?

How sweet, O son of him who drew nigh and approached until he was at the distance of two bows’ length or closer, is your remembrance! And how sweet, O son of him who was manifested by his appearance to all in the heavens and the Throne and who spoke from behind the veils to the ear of God with one who drew nigh above or closer, is your station! And how hidden is your rank, O son of him through whom prospered all who believed in him and feared God! And how evident is your seat in the highest Paradise near the Lote-Tree of the Uttermost End, where lies the Garden of Refuge!

May my father and mother be a sacrifice for you, O you who feared and was conscious of God with true God-consciousness! For through Muhammad, your greatest ancestor, were realized the essences from the abstract realities in the thicket of the reeds of the realm of divinity. Then through Ali, your lion-like ancestor, were embodied the substances from the essential realities in the thicket of the reeds of the realm of might. Then through Hasan, your leonine ancestor, were manifested the material realities from contingent beings in the thicket of the reeds of the earthly and heavenly realms.

And through them did hearts taste the virgin gardens of their outpouring in the gardens of paradise upon the ground of ruby. And through them did beings find one who is in the highest summit of Paradise, as he stands beneath the shades of the dark cypresses in the realm of humanity.

By Him Who made my tongue speak forth in your praise, I have fallen short in properly praising you, while the decreed matters have rendered me unable to praise you befittingly. And how could it be otherwise, when God’s conclusive proof has made the excellence of visiting your praised shrine equal to visiting Husayn, peace be upon him, even though no excellence in the heavens or earth equals his? For he said—may my spirit and all in the kingdom of creation and command be sacrificed for him—“Whoever visits Husayn, peace be upon him, knowing his true station, is like one who has visited God above His throne.”

I call God and His angels and His prophets and His messengers to witness that this is the truth about which there is no doubt. To thee do I voice My plaint regarding those who prevented me from visiting thee and arriving at the carpet of thy glory. For by Him in Whose hand is my soul, if God were to give me all that is on earth, I would give it to enter your sanctuary, for it is a piece of the gardens of Paradise and its ruling flows according to the ruling of the Holy One in the blessed spot for those who behold with their own eyes the ruling of the Bayan. But God is witness that I desired you to my utmost effort, yet was unable, as you know best about your station with your pure forefathers.

So bear witness for me on the Day of Resurrection that I bear witness to God as His Essence bore witness to His Essence, and I bear witness to Muhammad and his successors, the Imams of religion, with what God willed for them in the knowledge of the unseen, then to myself that I am a servant who believed in God and His signs and desired naught but God and His good-pleasure—and He suffices as a witness. Then I bear witness through all things with what God loves and is pleased with, and verily He is the Self-Sufficient, the Most High.