Jump to content

Walking Ziyara

Add links
From wikishia
Pilgrims in the Arba'in procession on Ṭarīq al-'Ulama (the Scholars’ Road)

Walking Ziyara or Ziyara on foot is considered a recommended (mustahabb) practice in Ziyara. Narrations emphasize performing Hajj and visiting the shrines of the Infallibles (a), especially Imam al-Husayn (a), on foot. Shi'a scholars, relying on the Sira of the Imams (a) who performed Hajj and Ziyara on foot many times, and jurists consider it to have independent reward.

In addition to walking on occasions such as Arba'in and Mid-Sha'ban toward the Holy Shrine of Imam al-Husayn (a), pilgrims also walk every year on the martyrdom anniversaries of Imam al-Kazim (a) and Imam al-Rida (a), as well as on Safar 28 toward the Holy Shrine of Imam Ali (a).

Multiple reasons are cited for the superiority of walking Ziyara over riding, including Qur'an 9:120, hadiths on the virtue of visiting Imam al-Husayn (a) on foot, the recommendation of being barefoot during Ziyara, reports of Prophets walking barefoot from Dhu Tuwa to Mecca, hadiths on the virtue of walking Hajj, and the rule "The best of deeds are the hardest ones" (Arabic: افضل الاعمال احمزها).

Status and Importance

Walking Ziyara refers to traveling the path to shrines on foot and is considered a recommended practice of Ziyara.[1] In narrations, walking to the Ka'ba[2] and the shrines of the Fourteen Infallibles (a)[3] especially the Ziyara of Imam al-Husayn (a) is emphasized.[4] Some Shi'a scholars also traveled to Ziyara on foot.[5] Some consider walking a sign of greater humility before the one being visited.[6]

Shi'a jurists, citing the Sira of the Imams (a) who went to Hajj on foot many times despite the availability of mounts,[7] consider walking an act with independent reward.[8] However, it has been said that the main virtue lies in the Ziyara itself[9] and it is better for the pilgrim to spend their time on the Ziyara itself.[10]

Walking toward the shrines of some Shi'a Imams is performed on various occasions. Shi'as walk to the Holy Shrine of Imam al-Husayn (a) every year on Arba'in[11] and Mid-Sha'ban.[12] On the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam al-Kazim (a)[13] and Imam al-Rida (a)[14] pilgrims also walk to their shrines. Also, on Safar 28, which coincides with the anniversary of the Demise of the Prophet (s) and is a Ziyara day and the commencement of Imam Ali's (a) Wilaya,[15] they walk toward the Holy Shrine of Imam Ali (a).[16]

Superiority of Walking over Riding

Several reasons have been cited to prove the superiority of walking Ziyara over riding. Some of these include:

Difficulty of the Act: Given the hardships of walking, some have considered walking Ziyara to possess greater virtue based on Qur'an 9:120.[17] They also count this act among the instances of the rule "The best of deeds are the hardest ones" (Arabic: افضل الاعمال احمزها),[18] the content of which is also reported in narrations.[19]

Narrations on the Virtue of Walking for Ziyara of Imams (a):[20] Especially narrations related to the Ziyara of Imam al-Husayn (a).[21] In one of these narrations from Imam al-Sadiq (a), it is stated that whoever goes to the grave of al-Husayn (a) on foot, Allah writes for him one thousand good deeds for every step, erases one thousand sins from him, and raises his rank by one thousand degrees.[22]

Narrations on the Virtue of Walking for Hajj:[23] In Prophetic hadiths, the superiority of pedestrians in Hajj over riders is likened to the superiority of the full moon over the stars.[24]

Barefoot Recommendation: Narrations recommend being barefoot when visiting the Imams (a)[25] as well as when entering the Meccan Sanctuary and during Tawaf.[26] Also, the report of seventy Prophets traversing the path from Dhu Tuwa to Mecca barefoot.[27]

Sira of Imams and Scholars in Walking Hajj:According to reports, Imam al-Hasan (a) performed Hajj on foot 20 to 25 times, and Imam al-Husayn (a) performed it many times on foot and sometimes barefoot.[28] It is also narrated that Imam al-Sajjad (a) would travel the path between Mecca and Medina in twenty days.[29] A supplication from Imam al-Sadiq (a) for companions who were setting out for Mecca on foot has been reported.[30] According to some accounts, Imam al-Mahdi (a) also performed Hajj on foot every year during the Minor Occultation.[31] Reports of walking Hajj by some scholars have also been recorded.

For demonstrating the virtue of the Procession of Arba'in, reasons such as the exaltation of rituals, mourning for Imam al-Husayn (a), and tablighof religion have been mentioned.[32]

Notes

  1. ↑ See: Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 17, p. 313; Shāhrūdī, Kitāb al-Ḥajj, vol. 1, p. 414; Jamʿī az nivīsandigān, Rasāʾil al-shaʿāʾir al-Ḥusayniyya, vol. 3, p. 110; Sanad, Al-Shaʿāʾir al-Ḥusayniyya, vol. 3, pp. 163-164.
  2. ↑ Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 2, p. 218; Barqī, Al-Maḥāsin, vol. 1, p. 70.
  3. ↑ Ṭūsī, Tahdhīb al-aḥkām, vol. 6, p. 21; ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 14, p. 380.
  4. ↑ Ibn Qūlawayh, Kāmil al-ziyārāt, pp. 132-135; ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 14, pp. 439-441.
  5. ↑ Amīn, Mustadrakāt aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 3, p. 68; Subḥānī, Mawsūʿat ṭabaqāt al-fuqahāʾ, vol. 3, p. 84.
  6. ↑ Jawādī Āmulī, Jurʿa-ī az ṣahbā-yi ḥajj, p. 43.
  7. ↑ Ṭūsī, Tahdhīb al-aḥkām, vol. 5, p. 13.
  8. ↑ Ibn Fahd al-Ḥillī, Al-Muhadhdhab al-bāriʿ, vol. 2, p. 127; ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, Muntahā l-maṭlab, vol. 10, pp. 30-31.
  9. ↑ See: Zaʿfarānī, "Gūna-shināsī wa dalālat-sanjī", pp. 32-33.
  10. ↑ "Charā dar ʿaṣr-i surʿat hanūz pāy-i piyāda ba sū-yi Sayyid al-Shuhadā (a) mīravīm?", Hawzah News Agency.
  11. ↑ "Al-ʿAtaba al-ʿAbbāsiyya al-Muqaddasa: ʿAdad zāʾirī l-Arbaʿīn hādhā l-ʿām balagh 21 milyūnan wa 280 alfan wa 525 zāʾiran", Iraqi News Agency (INA).
  12. ↑ "Muḥāfiẓ Karbalāʾ: ʿAdad al-zāʾirīn khilāl ziyārat al-niṣf min Shaʿbān balagh akthar min 5 malāyīn zāʾir", National Iraqi News Agency (NINA).
  13. ↑ "Al-ʿAtaba al-Kāẓimiyya al-Muqaddasa tuʿlin mushārakat akthar min 14 milyūn zāʾir bi-ziyārat dhikrā istishhād al-Imām al-Kāẓim (a)", National Iraqi News Agency (NINA).
  14. ↑ "Tārīkhcha-yi ziyārat-i piyāda-yi ḥaram-i Imām Riḍā (a); az Shāh ʿAbbās tā zāʾirān-i Baḥraynī", Mehr News Agency.
  15. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 100, p. 384.
  16. ↑ "Al-ʿAtaba al-ʿAlawiyya al-Muqaddasa tuʿlin mushārakat naḥw 5 malāyīn zāʾir fī iḥyāʾ dhikrā wafāt al-Rasūl (s)", Iraqi News Agency (INA).
  17. ↑ ʿAndalībī, "Ziyārat-i Arbaʿīn az dīdgāh-i fiqh", p. 15.
  18. ↑ Zaʿfarānī, "Gūna-shināsī wa dalālat-sanjī", p. 16.
  19. ↑ Nahj al-balāgha, wisdom 241, p. 450.
  20. ↑ Ṭūsī, Tahdhīb al-aḥkām, vol. 6, p. 21; ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 14, p. 380.
  21. ↑ Ibn Qūlawayh, Kāmil al-ziyārāt, pp. 132-135.
  22. ↑ Ibn Qūlawayh, Kāmil al-ziyārāt, p. 133.
  23. ↑ Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 2, p. 218; Ṭūsī, Al-Istibṣār, vol. 2, pp. 141-142.
  24. ↑ Fākihī, Akhbār Makka, vol. 1, p. 398.
  25. ↑ Ṭūsī, Tahdhīb al-aḥkām, vol. 6, pp. 54, 86.
  26. ↑ Barqī, Al-Maḥāsin, vol. 1, p. 68; Kulaynī, Al-Kāfī, vol. 4, pp. 398, 412.
  27. ↑ Marʿashlī, Talkhīṣ al-jubayr, vol. 7, p. 275.
  28. ↑ Barqī, Al-Maḥāsin, vol. 1, p. 70; Fākihī, Akhbār Makka, vol. 1, p. 397; Ṭabarānī, Al-Muʿjam al-kabīr, vol. 3, p. 115.
  29. ↑ Mufīd, Al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 144; Ibn Shahrāshūb, Al-Manāqib, vol. 4, p. 137.
  30. ↑ ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 11, p. 408.
  31. ↑ Kulaynī, Al-Kāfī, vol. 1, p. 332; Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 2, pp. 472-473.
  32. ↑ ʿAndalībī, "Ziyārat-i Arbaʿīn az dīdgāh-i fiqh", pp. 24-27.

References

  • Ibn Shahrāshūb, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī. Al-Manāqib. Qom: Nashr-i ʿAllāma, n.d.
  • Ibn Fahd al-Ḥillī, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad. Al-Muhadhdhab al-bāriʿ fī sharḥ al-Mukhtaṣar al-nāfiʿ. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī (affiliated with Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn of Qom Seminary), 1407 AH.
  • Ibn Qūlawayh, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad. Kāmil al-ziyārāt. Najaf: Dār al-Murtaḍawiyya, 1398 AH.
  • Amīn, Ḥasan. Mustadrakāt aʿyān al-Shīʿa. Beirut: Dār al-Taʿāruf li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1408 AH.
  • Barqī, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Khālid al-. Al-Maḥāsin. Qom: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1371 AH.
  • Bayhaqī, Aḥmad b. al-Ḥusayn al-. Al-Sunan al-kubrā. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1424 AH.
  • پیاده‌روی زوار به سوی حرم حضرت علی(ع) (Pilgrims walking toward the shrine of Imam Ali (a)). Mashregh News. Date: 14 October 2020. Accessed: 25 November 2025.
  • تاریخچه زیارت پیاده حرم امام رضا(ع)؛ از شاه عباس تا زائران بحرینی (History of the walking pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam Reza (a), from Shah Abbas to Bahraini pilgrims). Mehr News Agency. Date: 4 September 2024. Accessed: 25 November 2025.
  • Jamʿī az nivīsandigān. Rasāʾil al-shaʿāʾir al-Ḥusayniyya. Compiled by Muḥammad Ḥassūn. Qom: Dalīl-i Mā, 1441 AH.
  • Jawādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. Jurʿa-ī az ṣahbā-yi ḥajj. Tehran: Mashʿar, 1386 Sh.
  • چرا در عصر سرعت هنوز پای پیاده به سوی سیدالشهدا(ع) می‌رویم؟ (Why, in the age of speed, do people still walk toward Sayyid al-Shuhada (a)?). Hawzah News Agency. Date: 9 August 2025. Accessed: 24 November 2025.
  • Ḥākim al-Naysābūrī, Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-. Al-Mustadrak ʿalā l-ṣaḥīḥayn. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1411 AH.
  • ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Ḥurr al-. Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa. Qom: Muʾassasat Āl al-Bayt (a), 1409 AH.
  • Zaʿfarānī, Hānī. روایات زیارت امام حسین(ع) با پای پیاده؛ گونه‌شناسی و دلالت‌سنجی (Narrations on visiting Imam Husayn (a) on foot: typology and semantic analysis). Dānish-hā wa āmūza-hā-yi Qurʾān wa Ḥadīth, no. 13, Summer 1400 Sh.
  • Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. Mawsūʿat ṭabaqāt al-fuqahāʾ. Qom: Muʾassasat al-Imām al-Ṣādiq (a), 1418 AH.
  • سفر زیارتی و پیاده‌روی اربعین از سیره علما (Pilgrimage journeys and the Arba'in walk in the practice of scholars). Hawzah Information Portal. Date: 13 October 2018. Accessed: 24 November 2025.
  • Sanad, Muḥammad. Al-Shaʿāʾir al-Ḥusayniyya. Qom: Dār al-Ghadīr, 2014.
  • Sharīf al-Raḍī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn al-. Nahj al-balāgha. Edited by ʿAzīzullāh ʿAṭṭāradī. Qom: Muʾassasat Nahj al-Balāgha, 1414 AH.
  • Shāhrūdī, Sayyid Maḥmūd. Kitāb al-Ḥajj. Qom: Muʾassasat Anṣāriyān, 1402 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Kamāl al-dīn. Tehran: Islāmiyya, 1395 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī (affiliated with Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn of Qom Seminary), 1413 AH.
  • Ṭabarānī, Sulaymān b. Aḥmad al-. Al-Muʿjam al-kabīr. Cairo: Maktabat Ibn Taymiyya, n.d.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Istibṣār fī-mā ukhtulifa min al-akhbār. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1390 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Tahdhīb al-aḥkām. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1407 AH.
  • العتبة العباسية المقدسة: عدد زائري الأربعين هذا العام بلغ 21 مليوناً و280 ألفاً و525 زائراً (The Holy Abbasid Shrine: The number of Arba'in pilgrims this year reached 21,280,525). Iraqi News Agency (INA). Date: 25 August 2024. Accessed: 3 December 2025.
  • العتبة العلوية المقدسة تعلن مشاركة نحو 5 ملايين زائر في إحياء ذكرى وفاة الرسول(ص) (The Holy Alawite Shrine announces the participation of about 5 million pilgrims in commemorating the death of the Prophet (s)). Iraqi News Agency (INA). Date: 9 February 2024. Accessed: 3 December 2025.
  • العتبة الكاظمية المقدسة تعلن مشاركة أكثر من 14 مليون زائر بزيارة ذكرى استشهاد الإمام الكاظم(ع) (The Holy Kadhimiya Shrine announces the participation of more than 14 million pilgrims in commemorating the martyrdom of Imam al-Kazim (a)). National Iraqi News Agency (NINA). Date: 26 January 2025. Accessed: 3 December 2025.
  • ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, Ḥasan b. Yūsuf al-. Muntahā l-maṭlab fī taḥqīq al-madhhab. Mashhad: Majmaʿ al-Buḥūth al-Islāmiyya, 1412 AH.
  • ʿAndalībī, Riḍā. "Ziyārat-i Arbaʿīn az manẓar-i fiqh". Farhang-i Ziyārat, no. 27, Summer 1395 Sh.
  • Fākihī, Muḥammad b. Isḥāq al-. Akhbār Makka fī qadīm al-dahr wa ḥadīthih. Beirut: Dār Khiḍr, 1414 AH.
  • Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-. Al-Kāfī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1407 AH.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Wafāʾ, 1403 AH.
  • محافظ كربلاء: عدد الزائرين خلال زيارة النصف من شعبان بلغ أكثر من 5 ملايين زائر (The governor of Karbala: The number of visitors during the mid-Sha'ban pilgrimage exceeded 5 million). National Iraqi News Agency (NINA). Date: 14 February 2025. Accessed: 3 December 2025.
  • Marʿashlī, Yūsuf. Talkhīṣ al-jubayr. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, 1406 AH.
  • Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-. Al-Irshād. Qom: Kungira-yi Shaykh Mufīd, 1413 AH.
  • Najafī, Muḥammad Ḥasan al-. Jawāhir al-kalām. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1404 AH.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikishia.net/w/index.php?title=Walking_Ziyara&oldid=200637"