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Abbasiya
One
I was riding the bus to al-Azhar Street
to pray in al-Azhar mosque, and there was an old man sitting next to
me whom I did not really know, but we started chatting for the
purpose of letting the time pass faster. There was congestion in the
streets, and the cars were going so slow. He asked me where I was
going. And I told him “I am going to al-Azhar Street”. He said “what
a coincidence! Me too, it is my destination too”. I asked him “For
what reason?”. He said “To visit and pray”. I asked him “you mean to
pray in al-Azhar mosque?” He said “I am going to the mosque of
Sayyduna al-Hussein” I asked him in a sarcastic way “I thought that
you only say that word when you refer to Allah? Why would you add
‘our master’ before the name of al-Hussein?” and I was laughing to
myself. But he said “admitting ignorance is not a shame, but the
real shame is when you pretend that you’re knowledgeable when you
are not”. His words hit me as if he had slapped me on the face, and
I intended to pay him back. So, I looked at him and said “show me
what you have got, I am listening”.
He said “the Prophet [PPBUH]
said (I am the master of Adam’s sons)”
but I interrupted him and said “On the day of Resurrection” He said
“Well, there are two different narrations of the Hadith, one said on
the day of Resurrection, and the other did not say that. Anyways, I
will speak of your version of the Hadith. If mastery was to Allah,
Almighty, in the worldly life as you think, is it logical that He
Almighty will give it to his Messenger on the
 Resurrection
Day? It is supposed to be the opposite, and to prove it let’s look
at the meaning of ownership, we say that ‘he/she owns this house,
he/she owns this piece of land, or he/she owns this town…etc. right?
On the Resurrection Day, Allah Almighty will command that all people
on earth and heavens die, and He will then say [To
whom belongs sovereignty today?]
and he almighty will answer himself and say [To
Allah, the One, the Prevailing]
Ghafir 40:16.
Am I
right?” he repeated “Am I right?” but I could not answer him, I
could not find words to argue with him, I did not expect him to
bring evidence from Qur'an or Hadith, I thought he would explain
philosophical theories that I could debate on, but he made me see my
reality and unrevealed my ignorance. He added “did not the Almighty
in the Holy book- addressing the prophet Zachariah when he called
and asked him to bestow him a good offspring-say [And
the angels called to him as he stood praying in the mihrab ‘Allah
gives you glad tidings of Yahya, to confirm a word from Allah – a
master and chaste and a prophet of the righteous’]
Aal-Imran
3:39. Isn’t this from Qur'an?
Didn’t Allah Almighty himself say ‘master’?” I did not answer, there
was no need to. He asked me "Do you know the meaning of the word
'master' and for whom it is said?" I thought that this was my chance
to prove to him that I was not ignorant. So I carefully chose my
words to define it and I finally said “the Master who has high moral
qualities with followers and servants whom he is responsible for,
and he must be obeyed”. I proudly looked at him and did not expect
him to continue with his talk, but I was extremely wrong because of
what he said to me afterwards “You looked at the word ‘master’ as if
it can’t be used except for describing Allah Almighty, although you
defined it as ‘he must be obeyed’ and you surly know that there are
so many people who do not obey Allah, would that mean that Allah
cannot be their Master? So you basically confirmed that the
characteristic of the master only belongs to Allah Almighty and at
the same time you denied it” I was shocked of what he said, until he
continued “you know that in the Arab countries, prior to the king’s
entrance to any place, his servant has to announce his arrival by
saying ‘His majesty, the king’ and clearly no one objects or
disagree to call him this way, and no one says that they worship him
for being the king, right?” I was hardly breathing after I heard
what he has just said, and I tried to end this conversation but it
was too late because the bus driver and even the passengers have
been paying attention to what we were debating on. So I decided to
continue until I beat him. So I asked him to
 continue
with his explanation. He said “The word ‘Lord’ refers to the
tolerant, the pious, the honored by Allah, the noble, the
knowledgeable, and thethe head of everyone in his age; he is the one
who we seek for consultation, and he is never a slave of one who is
not beaten with his anger. They also said that he is the advanced
one and the one who is reference for everyone. They also said that
he is advanced from the people of his era, and he masters his
people, also he is not a slave for any creature and a slave only to
Allah. Now do you see? I said “why do you have to say our Master
al-Hussein?” and I noticed that everyone on the bus was eagerly
waiting to hear the answer. Even the bus driver asked him to
explain. He said “didn’t the Prophet [PPBUH] say (I am the
master of Adam’s sons). So, the
son of the master becomes a master too, right?” everyone on the bus
said “Yes, becomes a master” the man laughed and said “the Prophet [PPBUH]
also said (al-Hassan and al-Hussein are the masters of all young
men in heaven) so is it logic that you deny their nastery during
life and expect them to recognize you in the hereafter!!” I looked
through the window then asked him “Why don’t you come to pray at
al-Azhar mosque with me” but he said “and why al-Azhar mosque?” I
said “because it is not just a mosque, it is also a university that
many scientists graduate from” but he interrupted me and asked “I
see, but specifically, what about the inside of the mosque?” I said
“there are people” he said “all mosques have people inside. I am
asking about the essence of the place” I could not really find an
answer for his question, so I had to ask him “you tell me what is so
special about where you want to pray, its essence I mean” he said
“its light” I laughed and said “all mosques have electricity” but he
said “I am talking about the light of the heart, the light of
guidance, the light of faith, I am talking about the light of our
master al-Hussein.” I said “but how? I don’t understand” and he said
“why don’t you come pray with me and I will tell you how” I
hesitated a bit but finally decided to go with him.
Right before
entering the mosque, we met a man who was wearing a multicolor
outfit who stared at me then stared at the man’s face and said
“Abbasiya one, Abbasiya one…” as if he was a bus driver calling for
passengers to ride on the bus, just like those who do in the bus
stations. I was actually surprised by his attitude, but I was more
surprised of what the man said to him “nothing comes to us except
what comes us”.
After we
prayed, he said “let’s visit and give greetings first then we can
talk” so I followed him to the shrine where I found many people
kissing its iron bars, others were kissing the ground around it, and
those who were asking for blessing to heal the illness. I remained
silent until we finished our visit then we sat in a quiet corner in
the mosque. He asked me
 “do
you read Qur'an?” I said “I know some of it, and I listen to the
Qur'an radio channel, and I also watch some of the religious TV
channels” he said “so you are familiar with the verse that says [There has come to you indeed from Allah a Light and
a clear Book]
al Ma’idah 5:15.
And the interpretations said that the light refers to the Prophet [PPBUH]
and the book refers to the Qur'an.” I said “Yes, I heard that
before, but you are talking about the Prophet [PPBUH]
and he is now in Saudi Arabia, and you are saying that there was
light in this place, here?” he said “Have you read the Hadith that
was written on the door of the mosque before you entered?” I said
“Yes, it said (I am from al-Hussein and al-Hussein is from me),
what does that mean?” He continued “We agreed that the Prophet [PPBUH] is made of light, so when he [PPBUH]
said (I am from al-Hussein) that means that his light is
coming from al-Hussein, and he closed his Hadith by saying (and
al-Hussein is from me) which means that al-Hussein was created
from his light [PPBUH]
as well. So, do you now realized what is the essence of this place?”
And those were the last words I heard before I lost my conscious and
became sadly confused. I kept repeating “Light…yes, light, our
master al-Hussein is from the prophet [PPBUH],
and the Prophet [PPBUH]
was created from light, so our master al-Hussein is created from the
same light, yes he was created from light too” while I was leaving
the mosque, I met the same weird looking man who was wearing
colorful clothes who laughed and said “Abbasiya two, Abbasiya two…”
but I did not really pay attention because I was busy thinking about
the LIGHT!
Written by Ahmed
Abbas
Translated by Shayma Basiouni
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