Based on a Sermon by
Dr. Aḥmad al-Buṣaylī al-Azharī
علاقة سيدنا الحسين بمصر علاقة قديمة.
The relationship of Sayyidunā al-Ḥusayn with Egypt is an ancient one.
A NOTE ON THIS TRACT
This text is a rendering in English of a recent sermon delivered by Dr. Aḥmad al-Buṣaylī al-Azharī on the spiritual and historical bond between Sayyidunā al-Ḥusayn — may God be pleased with him — and the land of Egypt. The Shaykh draws upon classical chronicles to illuminate a relationship that predates the martyrdom of Karbalaʾ by over a decade, and which deepened across the centuries into the living devotion felt by Egyptians to this day.
Key Arabic passages have been retained throughout, with translations provided beneath them. A full verbatim transcript of the original Arabic sermon follows at the end.
I. A VISIT RECORDED IN THE CLASSICAL CHRONICLES
While reading the major chronicles of Islamic civilization, Shaykh al-Buṣaylī came upon a report that he describes as “remarkable” — remarkable not because it was obscure, but because it had received so little attention in modern devotional discourse. The report appears in several independent classical works:
Fatūḥ Miṣr wa al-Maghrib — Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam
al-Mawāʿẓ wa al-Iʿtibār bi Dhikr al-Khiṭaṭ wa al-Āthār — al-Maqrīzī
Tārīkh al-Umam wa al-Mulūk — al-Ṭabarī
The report concerns the year 50 AH — eleven years before the martyrdom at Karbalāʾ in 61 AH. It was the custom of Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyan, during his caliphate, to dispatch distinguished men of Quraysh to the various provinces. Egypt, which had been opened in 20 AH during the reign of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb through the campaign of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAṣ, was honored in that year with a singular presence: Sayyidunā al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī — upon him peace.
He came not as a soldier. He came, as the Shaykh is at pains to say, neither as guest nor as stranger. He came as one who confers honour by his presence. He resided in al-Fusṭāṭ in a house known as Dār al-Ḥusayn, also called Dār al-Điyāfah — the House of Hospitality — near the site of the Mosque of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAṣ.
جاء سيدنا الحسين زائرًا — ولا أقول ضيفًا، وإنما مُضيفًا لشعب مصر.
“Sayyidunā al-Ḥusayn came as a visitor — not as a guest, but as one who hosted the people of Egypt.”
This distinction, which the Shaykh draws with evident care, is theological as much as rhetorical. A guest receives; a host gives. Al-Ḥusayn’s visit is framed as a bestowal — of prayer, of blessing, of prophetic light — upon a land and people who received him with love.
II. THE PRAYER FOR THE CHILDREN OF EGYPT
Among the accounts preserved in these chronicles is a scene of quiet, domestic tenderness. Sayyidunā al-Ḥusayn is described as sitting among the children of Egypt — passing his hand over their heads, as a grandfather might, and making duʿāʾ on their behalf.
«اللهم بارك في أطفال مصر فإنهم زهرة هذا البلد.»
“O God, bless the children of Egypt, for they are the flower of this land.”
One child replied:
«وأنت زهرة آل بيت رسول الله.»
“And you are the flower of the Household of the Messenger of God.”
He smiled. And from the satchel he carried, he gave the child some dates.
The scene is preserved as a devotional memory: a small, luminous moment in which the Prophet’s grandson and an Egyptian child exchange recognition. Egypt was a land touched by the duʿāʾ of al-Ḥusayn — a supplication that, in the understanding of the people of spiritual witnessing, has not been withdrawn.
III. 548 AH: THE ARRIVAL OF THE ḤUSAYNĪ LIGHTS
Centuries passed. In 548 AH / 1153 CE, during the Fatimid period, Egypt received what memory describes as the most sacred of all its inheritances: the head of Sayyidunā al-Ḥusayn, transferred from its resting place and enshrined in the mosque that bears his name in Cairo.
The Shaykh pauses here to reframe the event with care:
أنا ما بحبش أقول قدوم الرأس الحسينية، وإنما قدوم الأنوار الحسينية.
“I do not like to say ‘the arrival of the Ḥusaynī head,’ but rather ‘the arrival of the Ḥusaynī lights.’”
The distinction guards against reducing al-Ḥusayn to a relic. Light (“nūr”) is not a remnant; it is a living reality that illumines whatever it touches. Egypt was not merely the custodian of a sacred object. Egypt became, in this understanding, a sanctuary of prophetic radiance.
The Shaykh then addresses the question that hovers over this site: how are we to understand the separation of head and body? He responds:
فما كان الله ليجمع على سيدنا الحسين فصلًا بين الرأس والجسد
في عالم الدنيا ولا في عالم البرزخ.
“God would not decree for Sayyidunā al-Ḥusayn a separation between head and body — in this world nor in the intermediate realm.”
Outwardly — according to the chronicles and academic documentation — the head of al-Ḥusayn is with us in Cairo.
Inwardly — according to the people of spiritual witnessing and divine gnosis (ahl al-shuhūd wa al-ʿirfan) — al-Ḥusayn is present in his entirety: soul and body, head and form, in Egypt.
The mosque that stands today at the heart of Islamic Cairo is not merely a site of historical memory. For millions of Egyptians, it is a living presence.
IV. DEVOTIONAL GEOGRAPHY: THE PRIDE OF EGYPT
The Shaykh brings the sermon to a close with verses that articulate what might be called a theology of sacred geography — the idea that divine honor is distributed across the earth through the presence of the Prophet’s family.
Madīnah holds the Messenger of God − may God bless him and grant him peace. This is her glory. Egypt holds the lights of al-Ḥusayn and Zaynab. This is her glory. Neither diminishes the other; together they map a sacred inheritance that unites the Muslim nation across geography and time.
― القصيدة ―
حبُّ الحسين وسيلةُ السعداء
وضياؤُه قد عمَّ في الأرجاء
سبطْ تفرَّعَ منه نسلُ المصطفى
وأضاءَ مصرَ بوجهِه الوضَّاء
فهو الكريمُ ابنُ الكريم، وجدُّه
خيرُ الأنام وسيِّدُ الشفعاء
من حقِّ طيبةَ أن تتيهَ على الورى
بمقامِ خير الخلق مولانا النبي
ولمصرَ حقّؒ أن تتيهَ بدورها
بأنوار الإمام الحسين وزينبي
― Translation ―
Love of al-Ḥusayn is the path of the felicitous,
His light has spread across all horizons.
A grandson from whom the lineage of al-Muṣṭafā branched,
He illuminated Egypt with his radiant face.
He is the noble son of the noble; his grandfather
Is the best of creation and master of intercessors.
―
Madīnah has the right to take pride among humanity
In hosting the best of creation, our master the Prophet;
And Egypt has the right to take pride in turn
In the lights of Imām al-Ḥusayn and Zaynab.
This tract situates Egypt not merely within the political history of early Islam, but within what the tradition calls “sacred geography”: a map of the earth drawn not by conquest alone, but by the presence of light. Al-Ḥusayn came to Egypt in 50 AH. His duʿāʾ rested upon its children. His lights arrived in 548 AH and have not departed. For the student of knowledge, the lesson is one that joins history to spirituality, ṣanād to love, and scholarly discipline to the living tradition of devotion to the Prophet’s household. To know this history is not merely to know a date or a name. It is to stand within a relationship — between a land, a people, and the light of prophetic grace.
وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين
May God’s blessings be upon our master Muḥammad, his family, and all his companions.
APPENDIX
Verbatim Arabic Transcript of the Original Sermon
علاقة سيدنا الحسين بمصر علاقة قديمة.
إليكم هذه المعلومة العجيبة التي عرفتُها قريبًا. كنت أقرأ في كتاب فتوح مصر والمغرب لابن عبد الحكم، فوجدت هذه
المعلومة, ثم وجدتها كذلك في كتاب المواعظ والاعتبار بذكر الخطط والآثار للمقريزي، ثم وجدتها أيضًا في الخطط
للمقريزي، وكذلك في تاريخ الأمم والملوك للطبري، وغيرهم.
في سنة 50 من الهجرة — ونحن نعلم أن سيدنا الحسين استُشهد سنة 61 عليه السلام — كان من عادة معاوية بن أبي سفيان
أن يُرسل أشراف قريش إلى البلدان والأمصار. فكان من نصيب مصر أن أُرسل إليها سيدنا الحسين سنة 50 هـ،
فأقام في داره التي كانت تُسمّى دار الحسين، وكانت تُعرف أيضًا بـ دار الضيافة في الفسطاط.
فتح مصر كان سنة 20 هـ في عهد سيدنا عمر. وقد شارك سيدنا الحسين في فتح إفريقيا في عهد سيدنا عثمان،
وشارك في فتح مصر في جيش عمرو بن العاص.
ولما كان في عهد معاوية، كان من نصيب مصر أن جاءها سيدنا الحسين زائرًا — ولا أقول ضيفًا، وإنما مُضيفًا لشعب مصر.
وكان يجلس مع الأطفال المصريين، ويمسح على رؤوسهم، ويدعو لهم ويقول:
«اللهم بارك في أطفال مصر فإنهم زهرة هذا البلد.»
فناداه طفل منهم وقال:
«وأنت زهرة آل بيت رسول الله.»
فابتسم له الإمام الحسين، وأعطاه بعضًا من التمر الذي كان في جعبته.
فعلاقة سيدنا الحسين بمصر علاقة قديمة، سلمًا وحربًا وفتحًا ومنحًا.
حتى سنة 548 من الهجرة، إذ شرَّف الله مصر في هذا العام بقدوم الأنوار الحسينية — وأنا لا أحب أن أقول قدوم الرأس الحسينية،
وإنما قدوم الأنوار الحسينية — فما كان الله ليجمع على سيدنا الحسين فصلًا بين الرأس والجسد في عالم الدنيا ولا في عالم البرزخ.
فطبقًا للظاهر والكتب والعلم الأكاديمي، رأس الحسين عندنا عليه السلام.
وطبقًا لأهل الشهود والعرفان، الحسين روحًا وجسدًا، رأسًا وبدنًا، عندنا هنا في مصر.
حب الحسين وسيلة السعداء،
وضياؤه قد عمّ في الأرجاء.
سبط تفرّع منه نسل المصطفى،
وأضاء مصر بوجهه الوضّاء.
فهو الكريم ابن الكريم، وجدّه
خير الأنام وسيّد الشفعاء.
من حقّ طيبة أن تتيه على الورى
بمقام خير الخلق مولانا النبي،
ولمصر حقّ أن تتيه بدورها
بأنوار الإمام الحسين وزينبي.
―――
English Translation of the Transcript
The relationship of Sayyidunā al-Ḥusayn with Egypt is an ancient one.
Here is a remarkable piece of information that I came to know only recently. I was reading The Conquest of Egypt and the Maghrib by Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, and I found this report. Then I found the same information in al-Mawāʿiẓ wa al-Iʿtibār by al-Maqrīzī, and again in his Khiṭaṭ, and also in The History of Nations and Kings by al-Ṭabarī, and in other works as well.
In the year 50 AH — and we know that Sayyidunā al-Ḥusayn was martyred in 61 AH — it was the custom of Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān to send leading figures of Quraysh to various provinces. Egypt’s share was Sayyidunā al-Ḥusayn in the year 50 AH. He resided in his house, known as Dār al-Ḥusayn, also called Dār al-Ḍiyāfah, in al-Fusṭāṭ.
Egypt was opened in 20 AH during the caliphate of Sayyidunā ʿUmar. Sayyidunā al-Ḥusayn had participated in the conquest of Africa during the caliphate of Sayyidunā ʿUthmān, and he also participated in the conquest of Egypt in the army of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ.
During the time of Muʿāwiyah, Egypt was honored by his visit — and I do not say that he came as a guest, but rather as one who hosted the people of Egypt.
He would sit with Egyptian children, wipe over their heads, and supplicate:
“O God, bless the children of Egypt, for they are the flower of this land.”
One of the children called out to him:
“And you are the flower of the Household of the Messenger of God.”
He smiled and gave him some of the dates he carried.
Thus, the relationship of Sayyidunā al-Ḥusayn with Egypt is ancient — in peace and in war, in conquest and in generosity.
Until the year 548 AH, when God honored Egypt in that year with the arrival of the Ḥusaynī lights — and I do not like to say the arrival of the Ḥusaynī head, but rather the arrival of the Ḥusaynī lights — for God would not decree for Sayyidunā al-Ḥusayn a separation between head and body in this world nor in the intermediate realm.
Outwardly, according to the books and academic knowledge, the head of al-Ḥusayn is with us.
According to the people of spiritual witnessing and gnosis, al-Ḥusayn — spirit and body, head and form — is with us here in Egypt.
Love of al-Ḥusayn is the path of the felicitous,
His light has spread across the horizons.
A grandson from whom the lineage of al-Muṣṭafā branched,
He illuminated Egypt with his radiant face.
He is the noble son of the noble; his grandfather
Is the best of creation and master of intercessors.
Madinah has the right to take pride among humanity
In hosting the best of creation, our master the Prophet;
And Egypt has the right to take pride in turn
In the lights of Imām al-Ḥusayn and Zaynab.
