Ziyarah Meaning

ZIYĀRAH (زيارة‎), from the root zaur, “to visit,” visitation, particularly of the tomb of the Prophet, and of the grave of any martyr or saint of the Muḥammadan faith. In India and Central Asia, the word, always pronounced ziyārat, is, by way of abbreviation, used for ziyārat-gāh, i.e. for the place of such visitation, or the shrine connected with it.

Although it is held by Wahhābīs and other Muslim puritans that the Prophet forbade the visitation of graves for the purposes of devotion, the custom has become so common, that it may be considered part of the Muḥammadan religion. And, indeed, it is difficult to believe that a religious teacher of Muḥammad’s cast of mind should have in principle opposed a practice which is so natural to the human heart. However much he may have objected to the clamorous wailings and lamentations over the dead, in which the pagan Arabs of the ignorance, especially the women, indulged, he was not likely to be insensible to the solemn lesson which the resting-place of the departed teaches the living, [714]or to stifle in his followers the pious remembrance of beloved friends and kindred who have gone before. We see, therefore, no reason to doubt the genuineness of the following traditions, which we translate from a manuscript of the Mishkāt, belonging to the Library of the India Office (Arabic MSS., No. 2143, New Catalogue, 154), and which the compiler of that work has taken from such authorities as Muslim, Ibn Mājah, at-Tirmiẕī, &c.

Buraidah related, the Apostle of God said: “(Formerly) I forbade you to visit the graves, but you may visit them now.…” (Muslim.) Abū Hurairah related: the Prophet visited the grave of his mother, and he wept and caused those who were around him to weep also. Then he said: “I begged leave from my Lord to ask forgiveness for her, but it was not granted me; then I begged leave to visit her grave, and it was granted me; visit therefore the graves, for they remind you of death.” (Muslim.)

Buraidah related: The Apostle of God used to instruct them, when they issued forth to the burial-places, to pronounce the words: “Peace be upon you, O ye people of these abodes from amongst the Believers and the Resigned; and we, if God please, are surely overtaking you to ask salvation from God for us and you.” (Muslim.)

Ibn ʿAbbās related: The Prophet passed by some graves in al-Madīnah, and he turned his face towards them and said: “Peace be upon you, O ye people of the graves; may God forgive us and you; ye are the van of us and we (following) in your steps.”

ʿĀyishah related that when the turn of her night had come on the Prophet’s part, he used to step out towards the end of the night into al-Baqīʿ (the burial-ground of al-Madīnah) and to say: “Peace be with the abode of a believing people; and the time that has been promised you as your appointed term may come to you on the morrow (speedily); and we, if please God, are overtaking you. O God, grant forgiveness to the people of Baqīʿu ʾl-Garqad.” She asked: “What shall I say, O Apostle of God, to wit, on visiting the graves?” He replied: “Say, Peace be upon the people of these abodes from amongst the Believers and the Resigned, and God have compassion on those of us that go before and those that follow; and we, if please God, are overtaking you.” (Muslim.)

Muḥammad ibn Nuʿām related, the Prophet said: “He who visits the grave of his father and mother, or of either of them, on every Friday, his sins are forgiven, and he is written down as one pious.” (Baihaqī).

Ibn Masʿūd related, the Apostle of God said: “I had forbidden you to visit the graves, but now ye may visit them, for they detach from this world and remind of the world to come.” (Ibn Mājah.)

Abū Hurairah related: “The Apostle of God cursed women visiting the graves.” To this the compiler of the Mishkāt adds: At-Tirmiẕī calls this tradition a well-supported and genuine one, and says: “Some of the learned are of opinion that this happened before the Prophet permitted the visitation of the graves, but that when he did so, both men and women were included in the permission; and some again allege, that he only disapproved of women visiting the graves, because they are but little given to patience and much to fear.”

In the face of these texts we cannot wonder that the practice of visiting the graves forms a marked feature in the religious life of the Muḥammadans, and that the tomb of the founder of Islām and the burial-places of its chief confessors have become the objects of great devotional reverence. Pilgrims to Makkah (except the Wahhābīs) always proceed to al-Madīnah to visit the Prophet’s shrine and to claim an interest in his intercessions, and in all Muḥammadan countries there are ziyārats or “shrines,” which are visited by devotees in order to obtain the intercessions of the departed saint. Such a ziyārat is the grave of K͟hwājah ʿAbdu ʾllāh Anṣārī, who flourished about the time of our King John, A.D. 1200, and who established such a reputation for sanctity that even to this day his tomb, at Gazarghaiah near Herat, is visited by pilgrims from all parts of the province. This tomb is an exceedingly fine piece of Oriental sculpture. Upon its marble slabs are inscribed, in the finest s̤ulus̤ writing, verses from the Qurʾān. But the chief historic interest in the shrine of this saint is found in the fact that Dost Muḥammad K͟hān, the great Afghān Ameer of Cabul (A.D. 1863), requested that his bones should be interred at the feet of K͟hwājah ʿAbdu ʾllāh, in order that his dark deeds of blood may obtain forgiveness through the potent intercession of this ancient saint. Such is one of the many instances of the great importance which Eastern rulers have attached to the sanctity of the very ground in which have been buried the remains of some great teacher or ascetic.

In towns and in great centres of population, the tombs which are visited as ziyārats are usually substantial structures; but in villages they are often the most simple graves, marked by a few flags, and surrounded by a low wall to keep the sacred spot free from defilement. Oftentimes the Eastern traveller will find a ziyārat on the road-side of some desert highway. Probably it is the resting-place of some pilgrim who, returning from Makkah, died of disease or was slain by highway robbers, in either case, according to the doctrines of Islām, suffering a martyr’s death. [MARTYR.] Such a ziyārat will be taken charge of by some poor darwesh or faqīr, who will erect a shed near the sacred spot, and supply the weary traveller with a cup of cold water, as he stops and raises his hands in supplication at the shrine of the martyred saint.

The cures performed at ziyārats are diversified. Some will be celebrated as the place where rheumatism can be cured, others are suitable for small-pox patients, whilst some have even gained a reputation as places of healing for those who are bitten by mad dogs. The grave of K͟hushhal K͟hān K͟hatak the warrior poet of the Afghāns, in the Peshawar [715]valley, is visited by thousands of childless women.

The ziyārats are always visited with the feet uncovered, and when the grave is covered with stones or pebbles, these are used to rub upon the afflicted limbs. Some more substantial monuments are supplied with brushes, which are used for the double purpose of cleaning up the court-yard and for rubbing upon the diseased body of the devotee.

These ziyārats are always lighted up with small lamps on Thursday evening, which is the beginning of the Eastern Friday. But Sunday is held to be a propitious day for visiting shrines.

Adjoining many ziyārats of eminence, there will be mosques supported by large endowments, in which will be found a large number of students. Such is the renowned ziyārat of Kaka Ṣāḥib in the K͟hatak hills on the Afghān frontier. Many ziyārats are very largely endowed by princes and nobles, who have believed that they have obtained assistance from the intercessions of the departed saint. There is, however, no proof that Muḥammad ever encouraged the belief that the prayers of departed saints were of any avail in the presence of the Almighty. Indeed, it is a distinctive teaching of Islām that even the Prophet himself cannot intercede for his own people until the Day of Judgment. [INTERCESSION.]