Al-Bayda'

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Al-Baydāʾ (Arabic: البَیداء) or Dhāt al-Jaysh (Arabic: ذات‌ُالجَیش) is a place between Mecca and Medina where Sufyani’s army will perish in the End Time. According to narrations, Sufyani’s army will go to Mecca to fight with Imam al-Mahdi (a) and will miraculously sink into the ground in this place.

Shia jurists consider praying in this place disliked. Also, according to them, it is better for pilgrims who ride from Medina to Mecca to delay talbiya until they pass al-Bayda'.

The location and significance

In hadiths, al-Bayda' refers to a place between Mecca and Medina.[1] According to Ibn Idris al-Hilli, its distance from Dhu l-Hulayfa Mosque (miqat for the people who come from Medina) is about three farsakhs.[2] The word bayda' literally means a desert where nothing (no water or plants) exists.[3]

It has been mentioned in the chapter regarding the signs of the reappearance of Imam al-Mahdi (a) in the books of hadith,[4] and also in the chapters of prayer[5] and hajj[6] in the books of jurisprudence.

Al-Khasf al-Bayda', a sign of reappearance of Imam al-Mahdi (a)

According to narrations, al-Khasf al-Bayda' is one of the signs of the reappearance of Imam al-Mahdi (a).[7] It refers to the invasion of Sufyani’s army in the land of al-Bayda', which would go to Mecca to fight with Imam al-Mahdi (a).[8] Therefore, in some hadiths, the land of al-Bayda' is also referred to as Dhat al-Jaysh (the place of the army).[9]

In a narration from Imam al-Baqir (a), it is said that in the last of ages, when the army of Sufyani enters al-Bayda', there will be a call from the sky: O plain! Destroy these people; then, the earth will sink Sufyani’s army and all of them will perish except three people.[10]

Jurisprudential rulings

There are some rulings about al-Bayda' in the books of jurisprudence:

  • Praying there being disliked: based on some hadiths mentioned in jurisprudential sources, it is disliked to pray in al-Bayda'.[11] The jurists consider the reason for this ruling to be the future perishing of the Sufyani army in this place.[12]
  • Delaying talbiya: (saying labbayk) according to the fatwa of some jurists, it is better for a pilgrim who goes to hajj from Medina, to say talbiya (labbayka Allahhumma labbayk, labbayka la sharika laka labbayk, inna l-hamda wa l-ni'mata laka wa l-mulk, la sharika laka labbayk) until they pass al-Bayda'.[13] Some consider this ruling to be specific to pilgrims who ride to hajj.[14] According to the Muhammad Hasan al-Najafi, when a pilgrim’s vehicle reaches al-Bayda', it is recommended that he raises his voice when saying talbiya.[15]

Notes

  1. Ibn Athīr, al-Nihāya, vol. 1, p. 171; Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī, Muʿjam al-buldān, vol. 1, p. 523.
  2. Ḥillī, Kitāb al-sarāʾir, vol. 1, p. 265.
  3. Ibn Athīr, al-Nihāya, vol. 1, p. 171.
  4. Nuʿmanī, Kitāb al-ghayba, p. 257, hadith 15.
  5. Ḥillī, Kitāb al-sarāʾir, vol. 1, p. 265; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 8, p. 349.
  6. Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 18, p. 278.
  7. Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 8, p. 310; Ṣadūq, al-Khiṣāl, vol. 1, p. 3.3, hadith 82; Nuʿmanī, Kitāb al-ghayba, p. 257, hadith 15; Ṣanʿānī, al-Muṣannaf, vol. 11, p. 371, hadith 20769.
  8. Salīmīyān, Farhangnāma-ye mahdawīyyat, p. 211.
  9. Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 3, p. 90.
  10. Nuʿmanī, Kitāb al-ghayba, p. 280, hadith 67.
  11. Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 8, p. 349.
  12. Ḥillī, Kitāb al-sarāʾir, vol. 1, p. 265.
  13. Ḥakīm, Mustamsak al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 11, p. 411, issue 20.
  14. Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 18, p. 278.
  15. Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 18, p. 278.

References

  • Ḥakīm, Muḥsin. Mustamsak al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, [n.d].
  • Ḥillī, Ibn Idrīs al-. Kitāb al-sarāʾir al-ḥāwī li taḥrīr al-fatāwī. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1410 AH.
  • Ibn Athīr, Majd al-Dīn Mubārak. Al-Nihāya fī gharīb al-ḥadīth wa al-athar. Edited by Ṭāhir Aḥmad Zāwī and Maḥmūd Muḥammad Ṭanāhī. Beirut: al-Maktabat al-Ilmīyya, 1979.
  • Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-. Al-Kāfī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1407 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Khiṣāl. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. Qom: Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn-i Ḥawza-yi ʿIlmiyya, 1362 Sh.
  • Najafī, Muḥammad Ḥasan al-. Jawāhir al-kalām fī sharḥ sharāʾiʿ al-Islām. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1362 Sh.
  • Nuʿmanī, Muḥammad b. Ibāḥīm al-. Kitāb al-ghayba. Tehran, Maktaba al-Saduq, 1397 AH.
  • Salīmīyān, Khudāmurād. Farhangnāma-ye mahdawīyyat. Tehran: Bunyād-i Farhangī-yi Haḍrat-i Mahdī-yi Mawʿūd, 1388 Sh.
  • Ṣanʿānī, ʿAbd al-Razzāq b. Humām. Al-Muṣannaf. Edited by Ḥabīb al-Raḥmān Aʿzamī. Beirut: 1403 AH.
  • Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī. Muʿjam al-buldān. Second edition. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1995.