Defence Against the Plague and a Criterion for the Elect of God — Page 9
Defence Against the Plague & A Criterion for the Elect of God 9 or those Muslims who honour Sayyid ‘Abdul-Q a dir J i l a n i , Sh a h Madar, or Sakh i Sarwar to the point of worship. What are they to do? Moreover, are all of these sects not already offering prayers; indeed, every single sect, fear-stricken, is beseeching its respective deity. Visit a Shiite neighbourhood and there will not be a single house upon whose door the following verse is not inscribed: ْ بھَا حَر َّ الْوَبَاء ِ الحَاطِمَہ ى ْ خَمْسَۃ ٌ اُطْفِ ى لِ 1 و َ ابْنَاھُمَا وَالْفَاطِمَہ ى ٰ وَالْمُرْتَض ى ٰ اَلْمُصْطَف My [childhood] tutor was a revered Shiite. He would often say that the only cure for an epidemic is َّ ال تَو [ tawall a ] and ا ّ تَبَر [ tabarr a ]—in other words, to love the Imams of the Ahl-e-Bait to the point of worship, and to continue cursing the Companions [of the Holy Prophet saw ], may Allah be pleased with them. There is no better remedy than this [according to him]. I have heard that when the plague first broke out in Bombay, the initial view of the people was that this was a miracle of Imam Husain, because the epidemic first broke out among certain Hindus who had been in dispute with the Shiites. But when the same disease broke out among the Shiites, their slogans calling upon Imam Husain abated. Such are the ideas that the Muslims have proposed to eradicate the plague. people should be saved from a calamity. It would not be surprising if this calamity refers to the plague, and obedience to the one commissioned by God leads to its eventual eradication from the country. —Author 1. Translation: ‘There are five persons through whom I extinguish the heat of every crushing calamity; the Mu st af a [i. e. Holy Prophet Muhammad, the Chosen One], the Murt ada [i. e. Hadrat Ali, who won the pleasure of Allah], their two sons [i. e. H asan and H usain], and F at imah. ’ [Publisher]