Sacred Side: Difference between revisions

'''Al-Nāḥīya al-Muqaddasa''' (Arabic: {{ia|الناحیَة المُقَدَّسَة}}, literally: the Sacred Zone) is a secret word used by the [[Shi'a]] since the first half of the 3rd/9th century until the end of the [[Minor Occultation]] (329/941). It refers to [[al-'Askariyyayn]] and [[Imam al-Mahdi (a)]] or to [[Special Deputies]]. In many letters by the three Imams (a), the word, "al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa", is used to refer to the Imam. Two [[Ziyarah Texts|Ziyaras]] of [[Imam al-Husayn (a)]] are referred to as Ziyara of al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa.

==The Notion==

"Al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa" means a sacred zone. The term was used by the Shi'a since the first half of the 3rd/9th century during the [[imamate]] of [[Imam al-Hadi (a)]] until the end of the Minor Occultation (329/941) because of tough political and social circumstances of the Shi'a and restrictions placed by [[Abbasid Caliphs]] on social communications of [[al-'Askariyyayn]]. When they cited the sayings of or talked about, Imam al-Hadi (a), [[Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari (a)]] and Imam al-Mahdi (a), the Shi'a used the term, "al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa", instead of the Imam's (a) name. Thus, the use of this term to refer to Imam al-Mahdi (a) or his [[Special Deputies]] is believed to be out of [[taqiyya]] (or dissimulation).

The term was used during the Minor Occultation as a title for Imam al-Mahdi (a). Abu l-Hasan al-Irbili takes "al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa" to be a secret word used by the Shi'a to refer to the [[Twelfth Imam (a)]].

The term, "al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa", was used by people who wrote letters (tawqi'at) to, and received replies from, al-'Askariyyayn (a) and Imam al-Mahdi (a). Some letters are cited in Shiite [[hadith]] collections written to, or received from, "al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa". [[Al-'Allama al-Majlisi]] compiled a book under ''Tawqi'at al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa'' (Letters of the Sacred Zone) in which letters from [[Imam al-Zaman (a)]] to the Shi'a are collected.