Sayyid Fadlallah on Ziyarat al-Arba’een
Sayed Fadlallah made the statement that: the only author to report that Imam al-Husayn’s women reached Medina from Syria, is Sayyid ibn Tawus in al-Luhuf - in which he (according to Sayyid Fadlallah) “denies” the event or at least doesn’t support it in his other works. And that this story is not mentioned in reliable books at all.
في حين أنّ المؤلّف الوحيد الذي يذكر هذا الموضوع، هو السيّد ابن طاووس في كتابه (اللّهوف على قتلى الطفوف) لكنَّه هو نفسه كذَّب ذلك، أوعلى الأقل لم يؤيّده في مؤلفاته الأخرى؛ وهذه القصة غير مذكورة في الكتب المعتبرة إطلاقاً،
http://sayedfadlullah.com/article/1009
—
Sayyid Fadlallah does not mention that Sayyid ibn Tawus is quoting from al-Tusi’s Misbah al-Mutahajjid:
فصل: ووجدت في المصباح ان حرم الحسين عليه السلام وصلوا المدينة مع مولانا علي بن الحسين يوم العشرين من صفر
And that Ibn Tawus poses questions from a purely logical perspective - some questions and statements upholding the idea that the women of Imam Husayn reached Medina on the 40th. Other questions and statements going against it. Perhaps, Ibn Tawus wants the reader to look at these two different perspectives and think for themselves.
One may look at the questions & statements of Ibn Tawus in his book Iqbal al-A’mal, vol 3, page 100-101.
It’s worth mentioning Ibn Tawus isn’t denying Ziyarat al-Arba’een, and in fact - affirms it as a ziyara narrated from the Imams on page 100 and following pages (until page 104). Rather he is simply posing questions that makes the reader ponder on how the event defining Arba’een took place, from a logical viewpoint.
On page 104, Ibn Tawus encourages performing Ziyarat al-Arba’een:
“As for the Ziyara of Abbas son of our master Amir al-Mu’mineen and the ziyara of martyrs along with Husayj - you perform ziyara to them on this day (i.e, Arba’een) in the same way you perform ziyara to them on Ashura - or if you want, from other ziyarat quoted from the chosen ones (i.e, infallibles”
واما زيارة العباس بن مولانا أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام وزيارة الشهداء مع مولانا الحسين، فتزورهم في هذا اليوم بما قدمناه من زيارتهم في يوم عاشوراء، وان شاء بغيرها من زياراتهم المنقولة عن الأصفياء.
—-
Ibn Tawus quotes from Shaykh al-Tusi who seems to have quoted his information shown here regarding Ziyarat al-Arba’een from his teacher Shaykh al-Mufid’s book on history of the Shi’a, as seen below:
(Shaykh al-Mufid, Masar al-Shi’a page 46)
“And on the twentieth day of (Safar), it was the day of return of the women of our master Abi Abdilah Al-Husayn ibn Ali bin Abi Talib, peace be upon them both, from al-Sham (Levant) to the city of the Rasul Allah, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him and his family.
And it is the day on which it was reported that Jabir ibn Abdillah ibn Haram al-Ansari, the companion of the Messenger of God, came from Madina to Karbala to visit the tomb of Abi Abdullah, peace be upon him, and he was the first person to visit it.”
وفي اليوم العشرين منه كان رجوع حرم سيدنا ومولانا أبي عبد الله عليه السلام من الشام إلى مدينة الرسول صلى الله عليه وآله، وهو اليومالذي ورد فيه جابر بن عبد الله بن حزام (1) الأنصاري - صاحب رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله ورضي الله تعالى عنه - من المدينة إلى كربلاءلزيارة قبر سيدنا أبي عبد الله (2) عليه السلام، فكان أول من زاره من الناس (3).
