He claimed to be avenging al-Ḥusayn, then proceeded to propagate blatant lies about Allah. Among his supporters was al-Ḥajjāj (1) ibn Yūsuf, who was biased against ʿAlī and his followers and was a ruthless exterminator (2).
These people are steeped in innovation and misguidance, and those (3) people are likewise steeped in innovation and misguidance—though the Shiʿah are the greater liars and in a worse state.
Even so, no one is permitted to alter any part of the Sacred Law on anyone’s account. Publicly displaying joy and festivity on the Day of ʿĀshūrāʾ and enlarging one’s spending on that day are newly introduced practices devised (4) as a reaction to the Rāfiḍah. To justify them, forged ḥadīths were fabricated extolling supposed merits such as bathing, applying kohl, and other acts on that day.
Some people even declared these reports authentic—among them Ibn Nāṣir (5) and others—yet none of them withstands scrutiny. The narrations nonetheless reached individuals who assumed they were sound, acted upon them, and were unaware that they were fabricated. This case is just like the other.
(1) Al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf b. al-Hakam al-Thaqafi was the Umayyad governor of Iraq under ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwan and later his son al-Walid. Notorious for his firm yet oppressive rule, he died in 95 AH/714 CE. See Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-Aʿyan, 2:29–54.
(2) al-Mubir (the destroyer) is an epithet for one who brings ruin; the verb abara means “to destroy.” Al-Hajjaj was so called because of the large numbers he killed. See Mukhtar al-Sihah, s.v. b-w-r, p. 68.
(3) From this point up to the author’s words “the factor that would render it recommended is itself reprehensible” (about three pages later), the text is missing in MS D.
(4) The practice referred to here arose as a reaction to the Shi‘a, who had exaggerated their mourning and funeral ceremonies on this day; others went to the opposite extreme, turning ‘Ashura into a celebration resembling a feast day. Both groups instituted practices that Allah never legislated.
(5) Abu al-Fadl Muhammad b. Nasir b. Muhammad b. ‘Ali b. ‘Umar al-Baghdadi, known as al-Salami, was a sixth-century scholar. He studied hadith and jurisprudence according to the Shafi‘i school, was renowned for his prodigious memory and command of literature, grammar, and lexicography, and late in life adopted the Hanbali school in both creed and law. He was born in 467 AH/1075 CE and died in 551 AH/1156 CE. See Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-Aʿyan, 4:293–94; 6:624; 7:330; and Ibn Rajab, Dhayl ‘ala Tabaqat al-Hanabila, 1:225–29 (no. 113).