Travels of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa

18. The calling upon the "Expected Imām" al-ʿAskarī

Hillah (Hilla, al-Ḥilla)
Title
The calling upon the "Expected Imām" al-ʿAskarī
Short description
A ritual calling upon the shīite "Expected Imam" al-ʿAskarī performed with musical instruments every evening. Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī (844/847-873) is the eleventh Imām of the Twelver Shīʿa. At his death, some held that he was al-Qāʾim and would return; others regarded his childless death as proof of their error in supporting his Imāmate and turned to his brother Jaʿfar (see Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, EI-2) .
Text on source
وأهل هذه المدينة كلها إمامية اثنا عشرية، وهم طائفتان؛ إحداهما تُعْرَف بالأكراد، والأخرى تُعْرَف بأهل الجامعين، والفتنة بينهم متصلة والقتال قائم أبدًا، وبمقربة من السوق الأعظم بهذه المدينة مسجد على بابه ستر حرير مسدول وهم يسمونه مشهد صاحب الزمان. ومن عاداتهم أنه يخرج في كل ليلة مائة رجل من أهل المدينة عليهم السلاح وبأيديهم سيوف مشهورة، فيأتون أمير المدينة بعد صلاة العصرفيأخذون منه فرسًا مُسَرَّجًا ملجّمًا أو بغلة كذلك ويضربون الطبول والأنفار والبوقات أمام تلك الدابة ويتقدمها خمسون منهم ويتبعها مثلهم ويمشي آخرون عن يمينها وشمالها ويأتون مشهد صاحب الزمان، فيقفون بالباب ويقولون: باسم لله يا صاحب الزمان، باسم لله اخرج قد ظَهَر الفساد وكَثُرَ الظلم، وهذا أوان خروجك فيَفْرِق لله بك بين الحق والباطل، ولا يزالون كذلك وهم يضربون الأبواق والأطبال والأنفار إلى صلاة المغرب، وهم يقولون: إن محمد بن الحسن العسكري دَخَلَ ذلك المسجد وغاب فيه وأنه سيخرج، وهو الإمام المنتظر عندهم [ص. ١٥٧]
English translation
The inhabitants of this city are all of them Imāmīs [Shī'ites] of the Twelver' sect, and are divided into two factions, one known as 'the Kurds' and the other as 'men of the Two Mosques'. Factional strife between them is never interrupted, and fighting is always going on. Near the principal bazaar in this town there is a mosque, over the door of which a silk curtain is suspended. They call this 'the Sanctuary of the Master of the Age'. It is one of their customs that every evening a hundred of the townsmen come out, carrying arms and with drawn swords in their hands, and go to the governor of the city after the afternoon prayer; they receive from him a horse or mule, saddled and bridled, and [with this they go in procession] beating drums [ṭubūl] and playing straight trumpets [anfār] and coiled trumpets [būqāt] in front of this animal. Fifty of them march ahead of it and the same number behind it, while others walk to right and left, and so they come to the Sanctuary of the Master of the Age. Then they stand at the door and say 'In the name of God, O Master of the Age, in the name of God come forth! Corruption is abroad and tyranny is rife! This is the hour for thy advent, that by thee God may divide the true from the False.' They continue to call in this way, sounding the coiled trumpets [abwāq] and drums [aṭbāl] and straight trumpets [anfār], until the hour of the sunset prayer; for they assert that Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī entered this mosque and disappeared from sight in it, and that he will emerge from it since he is, in their view, the 'Expected Imam'.
Folios/Pages
324-325
Date
1331 circa
Observations on the events description
In this passage, we find again the usual list of three musical instruments that the author mentions in almost the whole travelogue. The number of 100 participants may be conventional.
The dots on the map indicate the places where sound and music events were described. They don't represent travel stages.

Participants
No other participants in this event description.


How to quote
Pintimalli A., "The calling upon the "Expected Imām" al-ʿAskarī" (Event description), Echos. Sound Ecosystems in Travelogues. Published 2024 07 10.

doi: 10.25430/echos.travels.130

This work is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0