Sacred Side: Difference between revisions

'''Al-Nāḥīya al-Muqaddasa''' (Arabic: {{ia|الناحیَة المُقَدَّسَة}}, literally: The Sacred Body) is a secret word used by the [[Shi'a]] since the first half of the 3rd/[[ninth]] century until the end of the [[Minor Occultation]] ([[329]]/941). It refers to [[al-'Askariyyayn]] ([[Imam al-Hadi (a)]] and [[Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari (a)]]) 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]] of [[Imam al-Husayn (a)]] are referred to as [[ziyarah al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa]].

"Al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa" means "The Sacred Body".<ref>Dihkhudā, Lughatnāma, Under the word {{ia|ناحیه}}.</ref> The term was used by the Shi'a since the first half of the 3rd/ninth 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 Imams. When they cited the sayings of or talked about Imam al-Hadi (a), Imam al-'Askari (a) or Imam al-Mahdi (a), the Shi'a used the term "al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa", instead of the Imam's (a) name.<ref>Muḥammadī Riyshahrī, ''Dānishnāma-yi Imām Ḥusayn'', vol. 12, p. 271.</ref> Thus, the use of this term to refer to Imam al-Mahdi (a) or his [[Special Deputies]] is believed to be out of [[taqiyya]] (precautionary dissimulation).<ref>Nūrī, ''al-Najm al-thāqib'', vol. 1, p. 167.</ref>

The term, "al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa", was used by people who wrote letters to, and received replies ([[tawqi']]) from Imam al-Hadi (a), Imam al-'Askari (a) or Imam al-Mahdi (a).<ref>Ṣadūq, ''Kamāl al-dīn'', vol. 2, p. 520; Majlisī, ''Biḥār al-anwār'', vol. 93, p. 184; vol. 100, p. 82.</ref> Some letters are cited in Shiite [[hadith]] collections written to or received from "al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa".<ref>Majlisī, ''Biḥār al-anwār'', vol. 52, p. 92; Ṭūsī, ''Miṣbāḥ al-mutuhajjid'', vol. 2, p. 803; Ṭabrisī, ''al-Iḥtijāj'', vol. 2, p. 492-495.</ref> [[Al-'Allama al-Majlisi]] compiled a book under ''Tawqi'at al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa'' (letters of The Sacred Body) in which letters from [[Imam al-Mahdi (a)]] to the Shi'a are collected.