The 9th of Rabi‘ al-Awwal is a Festival of the Ahl al-Bayt (the Joy of al-Zahra’, may God’s blessings be upon her). Is the joy over the appointment or over something else?

Answer:

a) After the Shia became able to openly practice their rites in both times of mourning and times of rejoicing, they began to manifest joy on the 9th of Rabi al-Awwal, regarding it as one of the festivals. This festival came to be known among them as "the Joy of al-Zahra" (may God's blessings be upon her).

b) The reason for taking the 9th of Rabi al-Awwal as a festival is hidden from many people. It appears that the concealment of the reason is due to a matter that required dissimulation (taqiyyah) and conciliation (mudarat).

c) Some have considered that the appointment of Imam al-Hujjah (may God hasten his reappearance) on the second day after the martyrdom of his father, Imam al-Zaki al-Askari (may God's blessings be upon him), is the reason for taking the 9th of Rabi al-Awwal as a festival. This view does not withstand criticism, for the following reasons:

Reasons for rejecting that the appointment is the cause for taking the 9th of Rabi al-Awwal as a day of festival:

1. The claim that the reason for celebrating the 9th of Rabi al-Awwal is the appointment of Imam al-Hujjah (may God hasten his noble reappearance), despite the fact that we have found no narrational evidence for this, entails that the Shia themselves instituted it without proof. This cannot be accepted, because taking a particular day as a festival and performing certain recommended practices on it (such as ritual washing, for example) requires religious legislation. The Shia, especially their scholars, cannot practice without a textual basis.

2. There is no doubt that it is not appropriate for a community that believes its Imams are the vicegerents of God on His earth to take, without narrational evidence, the second day after the departure of the preceding Imam as a festival, rejoicing at the Imamate of the succeeding one. This is especially so when the predecessor is the father of the successor and was killed by poison before reaching the age of thirty of his noble life. Moreover, there is no reason for the succeeding Imam himself to rejoice, because rejoicing at that would include rejoicing at the departure of his father. Far be it from the vicegerents of God that they should be like that. So if the succeeding Imam has no reason to rejoice, why should his Shia rejoice?

3. It might be said: "What you have said is correct in general but not in every respect. Since the succeeding Imam is the savior of humanity who will fill it with equity and justice as it was filled with oppression and injustice, it is then legitimate for the community to take a day to rejoice at his appointment after the departure of his predecessor." The reply is: If this were valid, then rejoicing would be valid after the death of every Imam at the appointment of the one who follows him, on the grounds that every time an Imam departs, the community draws nearer to the era of the Savior (may God hasten his reappearance).

4. Furthermore, it is well known among the Shia that the Imams were appointed by God, the Exalted, before the creation of the world. The succeeding Imam is only permitted to assume the burdens of the outward Imamate after the departure of his predecessor. Accordingly, there is no "appointment" or "coronation" involved. Even the Festival of Ghadir was not an appointment that established the Imamate of the Commander of the Faithful (may God's blessings be upon him); rather, it was a manifestation of it and of the Imamate of the Imams from his progeny, and the establishment of the proof against the community, and that has already taken place.

5. Those who say that the 9th of Rabi al-Awwal is "a joy over the appointment" did not rely on any narrational report. They said it merely as an interpretive justification for the actual practice of the Shia in taking the 9th as a festival and performing certain recommended acts on it. The one who holds the view of the appointment either did not notice or did not rely upon the narration that explicitly states another reason, namely, the narration of Ahmad ibn Ishaq al-Qummi. Those who did not rely on it found no other justification for the joy of the Shia except the claim of joy over the appointment, for which, as we have indicated, we have found no evidence.

6. Moreover, if what is meant by appointment is the assumption of the burdens of the outward Imamate, that occurred in the very moment the preceding Imam departed this world, that is, on the 8th, not the 9th. And if what is meant is celebrating that, this is not among the ethics of the infallible Imams nor of their Shia, as we have already stated.

7. It might be said: "Even if we accept that it is not a festival over the appointment, but how can we take the 9th of Rabi al-Awwal as a festival when Imam al-Askari (peace be upon him) was martyred on the 8th of it?" The answer is: Imam al-Askari (peace be upon him) was martyred on the 8th of Rabi al-Awwal in the year 260 AH, and the Shia did not begin taking the 9th of Rabi al-Awwal as a festival in that same year (260 AH). Rather, according to the narration, the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) had regarded the 9th of Rabi al-Awwal as a festival since the time of the Prophet (may God bless him and his family) because of their knowledge of its special status, even if they did not make it public to the generality of the Shia for a beneficial reason. To illustrate, we say that the Eid al-Fitr is the first of Shawwal every year, even before the year in which the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) was martyred. He was martyred eight or nine days before the Eid in the year 40 AH, yet the Eid al-Fitr retained its special status. Of course, there is no doubt that in the year of his martyrdom, the Shia did not celebrate that Eid joyfully, out of mourning for their Imam, but this changed in the following years.

8. Of course, we seek an excuse for those who said it was over the appointment, whether out of dissimulation, conciliation, or even oversight. However, the conclusion is that appointment cannot be accepted as the reason for taking the 9th of Rabi al-Awwal as a festival. There must therefore be another reason. We know of no reason that has reached us from the Pure Ones (may God's blessings be upon them) except the destruction of their bitterest enemy, which is what the narration of Ahmad ibn Ishaq al-Qummi from Imam al-Hadi (may God's blessings be upon him) explicitly states. That narration includes several recommended practices, among them the removal of black clothing and the ritual washing, which a number of jurists have issued fatwas concerning either as recommended or in hope of reward. And praise be to God, Lord of the worlds.