Maqam Mahmud

Priority: c, Quality: c
From wikishia
(Redirected from Praiseworthy station)
The calligraphy of "Maqam Mahmud", verse 79 of Sura Isra

Maqām Maḥmūd, (Arabic: مقام مَحمود) or the Praiseworthy Station, is a position given by God to the Prophet (s) because of his vigilance. In their interpretations of verse 79 of Qur'an 17, Quranic exegetes have construed the position as that of the Prophet's (s) ability to intercede for people.

Some Quranic exegetes believe that the "Praiseworthy Station" is the Prophet's (s) ability to monitor all the creatures and his utmost proximity to God, which includes the position of intercession as well. According to part of Ziyara Ashura, Imam al-Husayn (a) also has the Praiseworthy Station.

The Verse

A Praiseworthy Station for the Prophet (s)

Muslim scholars and exegetes believe that the Praiseworthy Station is an exalted position given by God to the Prophet (s)[1] because of his vigilance and his performance of Night Prayers.[2]

There are different accounts of the Praiseworthy Station means, but they all agree that it involves a position of intercession:

  • The position of intercession: many Shi'a[3] and Sunni[4] exegetes of the Quran draw on hadiths to show that the Praiseworthy Station is the position of intercession.[5] For example, there is a hadith to the effect that "maqam Mahmud" in verse 79 of Qur'an 17 is that in which he intercedes for his people, or a hadith from Imam al-Baqir (a) or Imam al-Sadiq (a) in the interpretation of the same verse, according to which the Praiseworthy Station is the position of intercession.[6] A number of Quranic exegetes have referred to the position as the "major intercession."[7] Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tihrani (d. 1416/1995) suggests that the position of intercession given by God to the Prophet (s) is because of his Praiseworthy Station.[8] In his view, all divine beauty and perfection are in the Praiseworthy Station, which is given to the Prophet (s) in an absolute, unqualified manner; that is, any praise from any person to any person belongs to the Prophet (s).[9]
  • Monitoring the creatures: A number of Quranic exegetes believe that the Praiseworthy Station is one in which the prophet (s) monitors all the creatures, and in which God gives him whatever he wants, including intercession for his people.[10]
  • Utmost proximity to God: In Tafsir-i nimuna, the possibility is proposed that the Praiseworthy Station is the utmost proximity to God, which implies major intercession as well.[11]

The Praiseworthy Station for the Imams (a)

In some Ziyara-texts, Imam Ali (a),[12] Imam al-Husayn (a),[13] and Imam al-Rida (a)[14] are also described as having the Praiseworthy Station. One part of Ziyara Ashura reads: "I beseech Allah … to include me with you in this world and the Hereafter … I also beseech Him to make me attain the praiseworthy status that you enjoy with Allah."[15]

According to Nasir Makarim Shirazi, a Shi'a exegete of the Quran, although Qur'an 17:79 is about the Prophet (s), it can probably include others as well, in the sense that a believer who keeps vigilant at nights and performs Night Prayers can enjoy part of the Praiseworthy Station and intercede for others, to the extent to his or her closeness to God.[16]

Notes

  1. Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 6, p. 510-511; Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 6, p. 671; Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī, vo. 3, p. 210; Baḥrānī, al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 3, p. 569; ʿAyyāshī, Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, vol. 2, p. 314; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 1, p. 178; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 12, p. 232; Jawādī Āmulī, Tafsīr-i tasnīm, vol. 4, p. 285; Shubbar, Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-karīm, p. 286; Fakhr al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, vol. 21, p. 386-387; Qurṭubī, Yawm al-fazaʿ al-akbar, p. 185.
  2. Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 6, p. 670; Ṭabrisī, Tafsīr-i jawāmiʾ al-jāmiʾ, vol. 2, p. 341.
  3. Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 6, p. 512; Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 6, p. 671; Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī, vo. 3, p. 211-212; Baḥrānī, al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 3, p. 570-574; ʿAyyāshī, Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, vol. 2, p. 314; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 1, p. 178; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 12, p. 232; Jawādī Āmulī, Tafsīr-i tasnīm, vol. 4, p. 285; Shubbar, Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-karīm, p. 286.
  4. Fakhr al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, vol. 21, p. 387; Qurṭubī, Yawm al-fazaʿ al-akbar, p. 185.
  5. Ibn Ḥanbal, al-Musnad, vol. 2, p. 441.
  6. ʿAyyāshī, Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, vol. 2, p. 314.
  7. Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 1, p. 178; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 12, p. 232; Jawādī Āmulī, Tafsīr-i tasnīm, vol. 4, p. 285.
  8. Ḥusaynī Tehrānī Imāmshināsī, vol. 9, p. 164.
  9. Ḥusaynī Tehrānī Imāmshināsī, vol. 9, p. 164.
  10. Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 6, p. 671; Muḥyi al-Dīn al-ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya, vol. 4, p. 57; Ḥuwayzī, Tafsīr nūr al-thaqalayn, vol. 3, p. 206.
  11. Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 12, p. 231-232.
  12. Ṭūsī, Tahdhīb al-aḥkām, vol. 6, p. 30.
  13. Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 101, p. 292.
  14. Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 2, p. 605; Ṭūsī, Tahdhīb al-aḥkām, vol. 6, p. 88.
  15. Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 101, p. 292.
  16. Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 12, p. 231-232.

References

  • ʿAyyāshī, Muḥammad b. Masʿūd al-. Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī. Tehran: Chāpkhāna-yi ʿIlmiyya, 1380 Sh.
  • Baḥrānī, Hāshim b. Sulaymān al-. Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Bunyād-i Biʿthat, 1416 AH.
  • Fakhr al-Rāzī, Muḥammad b. al-ʿUmar al-. Mafātīḥ al-ghayb. Third edition. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1420 AH.
  • Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, Mullā Muḥsin. Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i al-Ṣadr, 1415 AH.
  • Ḥuwayzī, ʿAbd ʿAlī b. al-Jumʿa al-. Tafsīr nūr al-thaqalayn. Qom: Intishārāt-i ʿIsmāʿilīyān, 1415 AH.
  • Ḥusaynī Tehrānī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Imāmshināsī. [n.p]. [n.d].
  • Ibn Ḥanbal, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad. Al-Musnad. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, [n.d].
  • Jawādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. Tafsīr-i tasnīm. Edited by ʿAlī Islāmī. Qom: Markaz-i Nashr-i Asrāʾ, 1378 Sh.
  • Muḥyi al-Dīn al-ʿArabī, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī. Al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya. Qom: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt li-Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth, [n.d].
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār al-jāmiʿa li-durar akhbār al-aʾimmat al-aṭhār. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1403 AH.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1370 Sh.
  • Qurṭubī, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-. Yawm al-fazaʿ al-akbar. Edited by Muḥammad Ibrāhīm Salīm. Egypt: al-Ṭabʿ wa al-Nashr Maktabat al-Qurʾān, [n.d].
  • Shubbar, Sayyid ʿAbd Allāh. Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-karīm. Beirut: Dār al-Balāgha li-ṭibaʿat wa al-Nashr, 1412 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh. 2nd edition. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1413 AH.
  • Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1377 SH.
  • Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Tafsīr-i jawāmiʾ al-jāmiʾ. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Dānishgāh-i Tehrān wa Mudīrīyat Ḥawza-yi Ilmīya-yi Qom, 1377 Sh.
  • Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Nāṣir Khusraw, 1372 Sh.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, [n.d].
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Tahdhīb al-aḥkām. Edited by Sayyid Ḥasan al-Khirsān. 4th edition. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1407 AH.