Hawzah News Agency- According to Ayatollah’s account, in the year 1216 AH, Wahhabi forces launched a sudden and devastating assault on Karbala, massacring its inhabitants. While their attempt to attack Najaf failed due to the defenders’ readiness, the people of Karbala were caught by surprise. In their rampage, the attackers sought out the renowned jurist and head of the Karbala clergy, the late Sahib al-Riyadh, intending to kill him.
At the time, his family managed to flee, but Sahib al-Riyadh himself remained hidden under a large basket with an infant in his arms. In what Ayatollah Shobeiri described as a clear sign of divine intervention, the infant remained silent throughout the house search, allowing the assailants to pass without discovering him.
Meanwhile, in Najaf, Sayyid Kazim—a devoted student of Sahib al-Riyadh and father of Mirza Abul Qassim, the founder of the Mirzai family of Zanjan—heard of the attack. Without hesitation, he rushed to Karbala, reached the house of his master, and rescued Sahib al-Riyadh and the infant, who were near death from exhaustion.
After ensuring his master’s safety, Sayyid Kazim proposed that they visit the shrine of Imam Hussein (AS). Upon arrival, they were met with a heart-wrenching sight: the Wahhabis had desecrated the sacred enclosure, dismantled and burned parts of it, and—ironically, despite considering coffee forbidden—had used its remnants to make coffee.
As they approached the grave, they saw that a section had been torn open. Sayyid Kazim remarked, “I sense a fragment of the sacred body of the Imam.” Sahib al-Riyadh agreed. Sayyid Kazim then took out a white handkerchief, gathered some of the blessed soil from the grave, and placed it inside. Immediately, the handkerchief turned red with the sacred essence. He kept part of it for himself and gave part to Sahib al-Riyadh.
After Sayyid Kazim’s passing, his brother—unaware of the relic’s sanctity—fashioned the soil into seals and distributed them. The young Mirza Abul Qassim, only thirteen or fourteen at the time, searched persistently until he obtained one of these seals. This relic remained in his household for years, with instructions to his descendants to treasure it as a source of immense blessing.
This incident, preserved in A Sip of the Sea (Vol. 2, p. 333), stands as a testament to the sanctity of the shrine of Imam Hussein (AS) and the unseen protection it brings to the faithful. It is a reminder of the divine blessing that continues to flow from Karbala—a light that neither tyranny nor desecration can extinguish.
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