ভূমিকা

Many commentators of Ziyarat ‘Ashura’ have rendered the phrase ‘ thar Allah ’ as ‘blood of Allah’. ‘Allama al-Tabataba`i likewise is reported to have said the same thing when asked about its meaning.[^1] In order for this verse to be comprehensible, a mudhaf (first particle of a genetive construction) is taken to be elliptical and hidden before the word thar . The sentence would originally read “ ya sahiba tharillah ” (O possessor of the blood of Allah’.

Therefore when we say “ ya thar Allah ”, we actually mean “ ya sahiba tharillah ”. Obviously Allah is free from any kind of anthropomorphic attribute (Qur`an, 42:11), and thus the meaning of ‘blood of Allah’ should not be taken as ‘the blood that is a part of Allah’, far is He from any kind of imperfection whatsoever.

The possibility that thar Allah means ‘the blood owned by Allah’ is although correct in the real sense, for Almighty Allah has absolute ownership over every entity (Qur`an, 3:189), it is not meant in the present case. This is because the appellation ‘ thar Allah ’ here denotes a distinct characteristic of al-Husayn (AS) whereas ‘ thar Allah ’ in its general sense refers to every human being.

Unless, however, we would like to express the nobility ( sharafa ) of the blood of Imam al-Husayn (AS), which was sacrificed in the way of Allah. We do have similar instances in the Arabic language such as baytullah (house of Allah), ruhullah (spirit of Allah), naqatallah (camel of Allah: 91:13), etc. Annexing the name Allah in such instances is in order to reveal the nobility of the first particle of the genetive construction.