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| Najaf, 1914 (Wikipedia) |
Bereft of all earthly possessions, and detached from all
save God, he, in the early days of the thirteenth century of the Hegira, when
forty years of age, arose to dedicate the remaining days of his life to the
task he felt impelled to shoulder. He first proceeded to Najaf and Karbilá, [1]
where in a few years he acquired familiarity with the prevailing thoughts and
standards current among the learned men of Islám. There he came to be
recognised as one of the authorised expounders of the Islámic Holy Writ, was
declared a mujtahid, and soon obtained an ascendancy over the rest of his
colleagues, who either visited or were residing in those holy cities. These
came to regard him as one initiated into the mysteries of Divine Revelation,
and qualified to unravel the abstruse utterances of Muhammad and of the imáms
of the Faith. As his influence increased, and the scope of his authority
widened, he found himself besieged on every side by an ever-increasing number
of devoted enquirers who asked to be enlightened regarding the intricacies of
the Faith, all of which he ably and fully expounded. By his knowledge and
fearlessness he struck terror to the hearts of the Súfís and Neo-Platonists and
other kindred schools of thought, who envied his learning and feared his
ruthlessness. Thereby he acquired added favour in the eyes of those learned divines,
who looked upon these sects as the disseminators of obscure and heretical
doctrines. Yet, great as was his fame and universal as was the esteem in which
he was regarded, he despised all the honours which his admirers lavished upon
him. He marvelled at their servile devotion to dignity and rank, and refused
resolutely to associate himself with the objects of their pursuits and desires.
(‘The Dawn-Breakers’, Chapter 1)
[1] “Karbilá is about 55 miles S.W. of Baghdád on the banks
of the Euphrates.... The tomb of Husayn is in the centre of the city, and of
his brother Abbás in the S.E. quarter are the chief buildings.” (C. R.
Markham’s “A General Sketch of the History of Persia,’ p. 486.) Najaf is
revered by the shí’ahs, as it enshrines the tomb of Imám ‘Alí.
