ভূমিকা

And the calamity that befell you is reckoned by all the inhabitants of the heavens in the heavens as great and severe. Commentary يَا أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ... O utterly obedient servant of Allah... Once again we call Imam al-Husayn (AS), although we realize that he can listen to us and behold our presence wherever we are. And why employ the vocative particle ya to call him? We said in the beginning that ya is used for a person who is quite far.

The reason is that we would like to express our deep veneration for his exalted self. This is because although he may ontologically be very close to us, his exalted spirit is utterly remote from our inferior level. The most important thing, however, is to be able to see his noble self when we address him. If we purify our souls and behold the realm beyond this world we may be able to vision what most of the people are deprived of due to their accumulation of sins.

The very fact that we address Imam al-Husayn (AS) presumes that the mukhatab (addressee) is present before us. Otherwise why don’t we employ the third person pronoun and invoke salam on his exalted being? And since the traditions of the (AS) teach the believers to always aspire for the best, whenever we recite this salutation we must crave to attain the station that can facilitate a direct communication with Aba ‘Abdillah al-Husayn (AS).