The Significance of Didaar - the Vision of the Imam

Mubarak! We are overjoyed at the prospect of Didaar in a few days. Alhamdulillah! The Jamaat is very fortunate to receive the news of this blessing and as we await the event, we are preparing ourselves for this momentous event in the life of an Ismaili.

We are very fortunate to be receiving the Didaar in our lifetimes. The Tajikistan and Central Asian Jamaat had to wait over 600 years for the physical Didaar of the Imam and when it happened, it was an electrically charged event for both the Imam and the Jamaat.

Al Muayyad, our famous Dai in Fatimid times, was finally able to pay his respects to the Imam after much resistance from the ministers and courtiers who would not allow any man of learning to see the Imam personally until they submitted to their dicates. After many tries, he was successful in receiving the Didaar. Describing this experience, he writes:

"I was taken near the place wherefrom I saw the bright Light of the Prophethood. My eyes were dazzled by the Light. I shed tears of joy and felt as if I was looking at the face of the Prophet of Allah and of the Commander of the Faithful, Hazrat Ali. I prostrated myself before the one who is the fittest person to bow to. I wanted to say something, but 1 was awe-struck... I tried to speak but my tongue refused to move. People asked me to say what I wished to say. I could say nothing. The Imam said, 'Leave him. Let his fear and awe subside.' After this, I rose. I took the holy hand of the Imam, placed it on my eyes and on my chest and then kissed it. I left the place with immense joy."

Al Muayyad was the teacher of Nasir Khusraw who converted to Ismailism by Al Muayyad's teachings. Nasir Khusraw's teachings were responsible for the immense love the Ismailis of Central Asia preserved in their lives for over 6 centuries. When Mowlana Hazar Imam gave Didaar in 1995, the Jamaat symbolically presented Nasir Khusraw's book "Wahj-i Deen," 'The Face of Faith' alluding to the verse in the Quran - "the Face of Allah is everywhere."

Nasir Khusraw visited Cairo in 439 A.H./1047. C.E., where he met Al Muayyad and praises him in his Diwan. He says, "I searched in the world for Taawil-e-mutashabihat (The meaning of the allegories of the Holy Quran) but I could not find them anywhere except with the Fatimid Caliphs".

"Kih kard az khatir-i-khwaja Muayyid Dar-i-Hikmat kushada bar tu yazdan shab-i-man rooz-i raushan kard Khwaja za burhanha-i-choon khurshid-ipakhshan.

Mara binamood hazir har do aakm ba yak ja dar tanam paida pinhan."

"From the heart of Al-Muayyad, God has opened for thee the doors of wisdom. Khwaja changed my night into a shiny day by his arguments right like sun. He showed me both the worlds in my person, he made me behold them openly as well as secretly in one, in my person."

http://www.amaana.org/imam/didaararticle.htm

Ismailiworld - Be Unite
ismailiworld@gmail.com