Grand Ayatollah Shirazi Remarks on Prayer in Holy Karbala During Daily Scholarly Session

Grand Ayatollah Shirazi Remarks on Prayer in Holy Karbala During Daily Scholarly Session
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Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Sadiq al-Husseini al-Shirazi, during a recent daily scholarly meeting, answered questions regarding prayers in holy sites. He addressed the issue of performing a full prayer (as opposed to a shortened traveler’s prayer) in Karbala, stating that multiple narrations exist with varying interpretations of the boundaries.

According to some narrations, the ruling to pray in full applies only to the sacred precinct (Al-Ha’ir Al-Husseini), a boundary of 25 cubits (12.5 meters) from all sides of the holy tomb of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him). However, His Eminence stated that a group of jurists, including the late Sayyid Mohammad Kazem Tabataba’i, the author of Urwat al-Wuthqa, believe the ruling applies to the entire city of Karbala. He affirmed this view, citing valid narrations that refer to Karbala as the “sanctuary of Imam Hussein,” thereby extending the full prayer ruling to the entire city.

The Supreme Marja also added that, based on this same viewpoint, the ruling to perform full prayers also applies to the entire cities of Mecca, Medina, and Kufa.