Grand Ayatollah Shirazi: Answering of prayers is not limited to Imam al-Hussein’s dome and shrine, but rather is true about whole of Karbala

The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadegh al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Tuesday, the 16th of Muharram. In this session, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various jurisprudential issues.

Explaining the hadiths about the answering of prayers under the dome of Sayyed al-Shuhada in consideration of the fact that there was no dome built during the time of the Imams and even long after that, Grand Ayatollah Shirazi said: At the time these hadiths were stated, there was merely one grave for Imam al-Hussain, peace be upon him, at some point, and at some other point of time, there was not even a grave, because it had been destroyed by the enemies of the Ahlul-Bayt, peace be upon them, and so there was not even a sign or stone marking his Majesty’s grave.

His eminence continued: The term “dome” is used in hadiths for the sake of eloquence in speech, just as the Persian expression transliterated as “being under someone’s shadow” is used to imply being under the care and attention of an authority or distinguished person.

He also emphasized: Answering of prayers is not limited to the dome and the shrine, but it is true about the whole of Karbala, because at the time these hadiths were stated, there was no dome, and so these traditions should be interpreted as the quality of answering of prayers applies to the whole of Karbala and the entire surroundings of the Shrine of Sayyed al-Shuhada, peace be upon him.