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Nisan Rain Water

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Broken Nastaliq calligraphy. Handwriting of Mir Muhammad Baqir Khatunabadi (1070/1660-1127/1715) in the treatise Āb-i Naysān.

Nisan Rain Water (Arabic: ماء المطر في شهر نيسان) refers to rainwater collected during the month of Nissan (approximately April in the solar calendar). According to a hadith cited in the book Muhaj al-da'awat, specific Suras of the Qur'an and Dhikrs are recited over this water after its collection, and healing properties have been attributed to it.

Narrations concerning Nisan rainwater have appeared in Shi'a hadith sources since the 7th/13th century. Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi considers the narration attributed to the Prophet (s) regarding Nisan rainwater to be weak, but regards a similar narration from Imam al-Sadiq (a) as reliable.

Definition and Time of Collection

Nisan is the water collected from rains falling in the month of Nisan.[1] Nisan is the seventh month of the Syriac calendar,[2] corresponding to the Roman month of April[3] and the Persian month of Urdibihisht.[4] This month begins on April 12[5] or April 13[6] and continues for thirty days.[7]

Properties

According to a narration cited in Muhaj al-da'awat by Sayyid Ibn Tawus from Prophet Muhammad (s), Āb-i Naysān possesses therapeutic properties. These properties include curing certain diseases such as epilepsy, infertility, hemorrhoids, and eye pain; reducing phlegm; strengthening teeth; and preventing ailments such as colds, stomach pain, insanity, leprosy, vitiligo, and toothache. It is also said to remove moral vices such as stinginess, greed, and arrogance (takabbur) from the human soul.[8]

Rituals of Preparation

Based on the narration in Muhaj al-daʿawāt, the Prophet (s) instructed Imam Ali (a) to collect rainwater in a vessel during the month of Nissan. Then, Sura al-Fatiha (Qur'an 1), Ayat al-Kursi (Qur'an 2:255), Sura al-Ikhlas (Qur'an 112), Sura al-Falaq (Qur'an 113), Sura al-Nas (Qur'an 114), and Sura al-Kafirun (Qur'an 109) should each be recited over it seventy times. The water is then to be drunk morning and evening for seven consecutive days.[9] In another version, Sura al-Qadr (Qur'an 97) is also recited seventy times in addition to the aforementioned Suras.[10]

In Zad al-ma'ad , Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi quotes Imam al-Sadiq (a) stating that Sura al-Fatiha (Qur'an 1), Ayat al-Kursi (Qur'an 2:255), Sura al-Kafirun (Qur'an 109), Sura al-A'la (Qur'an 87), Sura al-Falaq (Qur'an 113), Sura al-Nas (Qur'an 114), Sura al-Tawḥīd (Qur'an 112), Tahlil (Lā ilāha illā Allāh), Takbir (Allāhu Akbar), Salawat, and Al-Tasbihat al-Arba'a (Subḥān Allāh wa l-ḥamdu li-llāh wa lā ilāha illā Allāh wa Allāhu Akbar) should each be recited seventy times over the water, which is then drunk morning and evening.[11] According to al-Majlisi, if the recitation is performed in a group, it is preferable for each individual to recite the invocations seventy times separately.[12]

Assessment of the Narration

The narration concerning Nisan rainwater has been cited in sources from the 7th/13th century onwards, including Muhaj al-da'awat,[13] Bihar al-anwar,[14] Zad al-ma'ad,[15] Khazāʾin by Ahmad al-Naraqi,[16] Mustadrak al-wasa'il,[17] Mafatih al-jinan,[18] and al-Tafsir al-athari al-jami'.[19]

Al-Majlisi considers the narration attributed to the Prophet regarding Nisan rainwater to be weak due to the presence of Abd Allah b. Umar in the chain of transmission; however, he regards a similar narration transmitted from Imam al-Sadiq (a) as valid.[20] Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin, in A'yan al-Shi'a,[21] characterizes the practice of collecting Nisan rainwater and seeking blessings (tabarruk) from it as a popular superstition.[22]

Notes

  1. ↑ Muʿīn, Farhang-i Fārsī-yi Muʿīn, 1384 Sh, p. 2005.
  2. ↑ Ḥusaynī Zubaydī, Tāj al-ʿarūs, 1414 AH, vol. 9, p. 28; Muʿīn, Farhang-i Fārsī-yi Muʿīn, 1384 Sh, p. 2005.
  3. ↑ Muʿīn, Farhang-i Fārsī-yi Muʿīn, 1384 Sh, p. 2005.
  4. ↑ ʿAmīd, Farhang-i Fārsī-yi ʿAmīd, 1388 Sh, p. 928; Majlisī, Lawāmiʿ-i ṣāḥibqarānī, 1414 AH, vol. 3, p. 186.
  5. ↑ Majlisī, Zād al-maʿād, 1423 AH, p. 330.
  6. ↑ Narāqī, Khazāʾin, 1380 Sh, p. 231.
  7. ↑ Narāqī, Khazāʾin, 1380 Sh, p. 231; Muʿīn, Farhang-i Fārsī-yi Muʿīn, 1384 Sh, p. 2005.
  8. ↑ Ibn Ṭāwūs, Muhaj al-daʿawāt, 1411 AH, p. 356.
  9. ↑ Ibn Ṭāwūs, Muhaj al-daʿawāt, 1411 AH, p. 356.
  10. ↑ Ibn Ṭāwūs, Muhaj al-daʿawāt, 1411 AH, p. 357.
  11. ↑ Majlisī, Zād al-maʿād, 1423 AH, p. 330.
  12. ↑ Majlisī, Zād al-maʿād, 1423 AH, p. 330.
  13. ↑ Ibn Ṭāwūs, Muhaj al-daʿawāt, 1411 AH, p. 356.
  14. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 1403 AH, vol. 63, p. 476.
  15. ↑ Majlisī, Zād al-maʿād, 1423 AH, p. 330.
  16. ↑ Narāqī, Khazāʾin, 1380 Sh, p. 231.
  17. ↑ Nūrī, Mustadrak al-wasāʾil, 1408 AH, vol. 17, p. 32.
  18. ↑ Qummī, Mafātīḥ al-jinān, 1389 Sh, p. 471.
  19. ↑ Maʿrifat, Al-Tafsīr al-atharī al-jāmiʿ, 1429 AH, vol. 1, p. 269.
  20. ↑ Majlisī, Zād al-maʿād, 1423 AH, p. 330.
  21. ↑ Sayyid Muḥsin al-Amīn was a social critic and observer of common customs in his valuable book Khiṭaṭ Jabal ʿĀmil. He dedicated a specific chapter in this book to common customs (pp. 118-121), mentioning a number of their social and religious beliefs and habits where superstition mixes with religious faith and popular experience. For example, he mentions that they... uncover their heads under the rain of Nissan, collect it in vessels, and seek blessings from it (Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, 1403 AH, vol. 12, p. 25).
  22. ↑ Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, 1403 AH, vol. 12, p. 25.

References

  • ʿAmīd, Ḥasan. Farhang-i Fārsī-yi ʿAmīd. Tehran, Farhang Namā, 1st ed., 1388 Sh.
  • Amīn, Sayyid Muḥsin. Aʿyān al-Shīʿa. Beirut, Dār al-Taʿāruf li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1403 AH.
  • Ḥusaynī Zubaydī, Muḥammad Murtaḍā. Tāj al-ʿarūs min jawāhir al-qāmūs. Edited by ʿAlī Hilālī & ʿAlī Sīrī. Beirut, Dār al-Fikr, 1st ed., 1414 AH.
  • Ibn Ṭāwūs, ʿAlī b. Mūsā. Muhaj al-daʿawāt wa manhaj al-ʿibādāt. Edited by Abū Ṭālib Kirmānī & Muḥammad Ḥasan Muḥarrir. Qom, Dār al-Dhakhāʾir, 1st ed., 1411 AH.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār. Edited by a group of researchers. Beirut, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 2nd ed., 1403 AH.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Zād al-maʿād: Miftāḥ al-jinān. Edited by ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Aʿlamī. Beirut, Muʾassisa al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1st ed., 1423 AH.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Taqī al-. Lawāmiʿ-i ṣāḥibqarānī. Qom, Muʾassisa-yi Ismāʿīliyān, 2nd ed., 1414 AH.
  • Maʿrifat, Muḥammad Hādī. Al-Tafsīr al-atharī al-jāmiʿ. Qom, Muʾassisa-yi Farhangī-yi Intishārātī-yi al-Tamhīd, 1429 AH.
  • Muʿīn, Muḥammad. Farhang-i Fārsī-yi Muʿīn. Tehran, Adinā, 3rd ed., 1384 Sh.
  • Narāqī, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad Mahdī. Khazāʾin. Edited by Ḥasan Ḥasan Zāda. Qom, Qiyām, 1380 Sh.
  • Nūrī, Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad Taqī. Mustadrak al-wasāʾil wa mustanbaṭ al-masāʾil. Edited by Muʾassisa Āl al-Bayt (a). Qom, Muʾassisa Āl al-Bayt (a), 1st ed., 1408 AH.
  • Qummī, ʿAbbās. Mafātīḥ al-jinān. Qom, Nashtā, 3rd ed., 1389 Sh.
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