Angels Hastening

The Karbalāʾ Dreams

When, on an autumn Medina night in 61/680, the night that saw al-Ḥusayn killed, Umm Salama was torn from her sleep by an apparition of a long-dead Muḥammad, she slipped effortlessly into a progression of her co-religionists who, irrespective of status, gender or standing with God, were the recipients of dark and arresting visions. At the core of those Delphian dreams, peopled by angels or ğinn or esteemed forbears and textured with Iraqi dust and martyrs’ blood, was the Karbalāʾ event. Her dream would be recounted by an array of Muslim scholars, from al-Tirmiḏī, stellar pupil of al-Buḫārī, and Ibn ʿAsākir, untiring chronicler of Syrian history, to bibliophile theologian Ibn Ṭāʾūs and Egyptian polymath al-Suyūṭī. But this was not Umm Salama’s only otherworldly encounter and she was not the only one to have al-Ḥusayn’s fate disturb her nights. This is their story.

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Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC

SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-4209-1

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- Hardback (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-4209-1

Publication Status: In Print

Series: Islamic History and Thought22

Publication Date: Mar 12,2021

Interior Color: Black

Trim Size: 6 x 9

Page Count: 280

Languages: English

ISBN: 978-1-4632-4209-1

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When, on an autumn Medina night in 61/680, the night that saw al-Ḥusayn killed, Umm Salama was torn from her sleep by an apparition of a long-dead Muḥammad, she slipped effortlessly into a progression of her co-religionists who, irrespective of status, gender or standing with God, were the recipients of dark and arresting visions. At the core of those Delphian dreams, peopled by angels or ğinn or esteemed forbears and textured with Iraqi dust and martyrs’ blood, was the Karbalāʾ event. Her dream would be recounted by an array of Muslim scholars, from al-Tirmiḏī, stellar pupil of al-Buḫārī, and Ibn ʿAsākir, untiring chronicler of Syrian history, to bibliophile theologian Ibn Ṭāʾūs and Egyptian polymath al-Suyūṭī. But this was not Umm Salama’s only otherworldly encounter and she was not the only one to have al-Ḥusayn’s fate disturb her nights.

This is their story.

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When, on an autumn Medina night in 61/680, the night that saw al-Ḥusayn killed, Umm Salama was torn from her sleep by an apparition of a long-dead Muḥammad, she slipped effortlessly into a progression of her co-religionists who, irrespective of status, gender or standing with God, were the recipients of dark and arresting visions. At the core of those Delphian dreams, peopled by angels or ğinn or esteemed forbears and textured with Iraqi dust and martyrs’ blood, was the Karbalāʾ event. Her dream would be recounted by an array of Muslim scholars, from al-Tirmiḏī, stellar pupil of al-Buḫārī, and Ibn ʿAsākir, untiring chronicler of Syrian history, to bibliophile theologian Ibn Ṭāʾūs and Egyptian polymath al-Suyūṭī. But this was not Umm Salama’s only otherworldly encounter and she was not the only one to have al-Ḥusayn’s fate disturb her nights.

This is their story.

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	Contributor	Biography
	ChristopherClohessy	Christopher Clohessy is a South African Catholic priest who holds a BST from the Pontifical Urbanianum University in Rome and a PhD from the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI), also in Rome. He is at present a faculty member of that Institute, lecturing there in Shīʿī Islamic studies, Qurʾānic Studies, Islamic Ethics and Christian-Muslim dialogue, and he is visiting lecturer at the Pontifical Beda College in Rome, where he lectures in Fundamental Theology, Ecclesiology, Islam and Mariology. He is author of three books: Fāṭima, Daughter of Muḥammad (2009, 2018 2nd edition), Half of My Heart: The Narratives of Zaynab bt. ʿAlī (2018) and Angels Hastening. The Karbala’ Dreams (2021), all published by Gorgias Press. In 2021 he was one of the recipients of the Iranian World Book Award, with the nomination ‘Distinguished Researcher’.

Table of Contents (v)
Quotations, Translations and Transliteration (vii)
List of Abbreviations (ix)
Preface (xiii)
Introduction (1)
The Shade of God. Dreams in the Prophet’s Household (37)
The Odour of Paradise. In the House of Umm Salama (93)
Voices in the Night. A Medley of Dreams and Visions (149)
Afterword (207)
Appendix One: The Writing on the Wall (223)
Appendix Two: Table of Sunnī and Shīʿī Arabic Sources (235)
Bibliography (249)
Index of proper names (255)

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