Nafthat al-masdur (book)

Nafthat al-masdur

Author	Shaykh Abbas Qummi
Original title	نَفْثَةُ المَصْدور فیما یَتَجَدَّدُ بِه حُزنُ الْعاشور
Language	Arabic
Subject	Maqtal of Imam al-Husayn (a)

Nafthat al-maṣdūr fī-mā yatajaddad bih ḥuzn al-ʿāshūr (Arabic: نَفْثَةُ المَصْدور فیما یَتَجَدَّدُ بِه حُزنُ الْعاشور, literally: the sigh of a sad heart for what reminds the tragedy of the Day of Ashura) is a short essay written by Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi concerning the murder of Imam al-Husayn (a). He wrote this book after writing, and appended it to, Nafas al-mahmum. The key part of the book consists of twenty pieces of advice the author wrote in the epilogue for lament reciters and eulogists of Imam al-Husayn (a).

Author

Main article: Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi

Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi, known as Muḥaddith Qummi, was a prominent Shi'a figure in the fourteenth/twentieth century in the fields of hadith, Islamic history, sermons (wa'z), and religious orations (khataba). He has authored many books in different domains the best-known of which are Mafatih al-jinan, Safinat al-bihar, and Muntaha al-amal.

Shaykh 'Abbas passed away in 1359/1941 in Najaf, and the Holy Shrine of Imam Ali (a).

Contents

The book is a short condensed maqtal organized by Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi into several chapters and sections.

Nafthat al-masdur includes eleven chapters, three sections under the title of "fa'ida" (literally, beneficial point), and an epilogue:

Chapters

Chapter one: Virtues of Imam al-Husayn (a).

Chapter two: The courage of Imam al-Husayn (a).

Chapter three : Imam al-Husayn's (a) companions.

Chapter four: About al-Hurr b. Yazid al-Riyahi.

Chapter five: About Habib b. Muzahir al-Asadi.

Chapter six: A biography of Ali al-Akbar.

Chapter seven: A comparison of Abu Talib's support of the Prophet (s) and al-'Abbas's (a) support of his brother, al-Husayn b. Ali (a).

Chapter eight: A biography of al-'Abbas (a).

Chapter nine: The Prophet's (s) mercy for the daughter of Hatam al-Ta'i after she was kept captive by Muslims, and the way Ibn Ziyad treated Zaynab al-Kubra (a).

Chapter ten: About al-Hasan al-Muthanna, the son of Imam al-Mujtaba (a).

Chapter eleven: About an unborn baby of Imam al-Husayn (a) who was aborted in Mount Jawshan.

Beneficial Points

1. virtues of those present, though not martyred, in the Battle of Karbala.
2. The virtue of performing a ghusl in Karbala.
3. A hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (a) according to which al-Husayn b. 'Ali (a) dyed his hair and then covered his head with a piece of cloth which is kept by later Imams (a).

Epilogue

Before embarking on this part, the author says:

"At the end of the book, there are some helpful pieces of advice and preaching that I deem fit to share with people who go on minbars and eulogists of the pure household. For it is essential that they observe certain things to count as people who honor divine rites and have succeeded in guiding the servants of God. In this regard, 20 pieces of advice and recommendations occur to my mind in the hope that these people acknowledge them."

Here are the twenty pieces of advice:

• Sincerity and avoidance of pretense (or riya')
• Truthfulness
• Avoiding wealth
• Refraining from propagating falsities
• Refraining from insulting senior figures
• Refraining from revealing the secrets of the Household of Muhammad
• Refraining from causing corruptions and seditions on the earth
• Refraining from helping unjust and oppressing people
• Refraining from giving pride to the ignorant
• Refraining from belittling the sins
• Refraining from expressing personal interpretations
• Refraining from interpreting hadiths by drawing on false views
• Refraining from issuing fatwas
• Respect for the place of prophets
• Refraining from causing skepticisms in people's principles of beliefs
• Mercifulness in the propagation of the religion
• Lack of personal partiality
• Honoring the status of martyrs
• Enjoining the good and forbidding the evil
• Preserving the honor and dignity of Ahl al-Bayt.