By brother TripolySunni with slight edition:

The respectable Twelver shiite scholar on the popular shiite TV channel Al Anwar talks about the fiqh of eating Husseini sand:

Translation and highlight of speech:

The guy holding the microphone asks the question, “It is mentioned by the Prophet (sallalahu alaihi wa ali) that it is haram to eat sand, does this include the sand of Hussein’s grave?”

Now the scholarly answer:

“Generally it is unaccepted to eat sand in our fiqh but at the same time it is Mustahabb (Loved by Allah and his Prophet) for a believer to eat a small quantity of sand “as Big as a grain of Hummus” of the sand of Hussein’s grave because it has healing properties.

Generally there are many sahih hadiths about the turbah/sand of hussein’s grave.  There are narrations about mixing it with water from the Iraqi river of Furat and rubbing it on the gums of a newborn baby ((Muslims have a narration About Dates and water if I recall, these guys replaced the dates with Husseini Sand)). It is also mustahabb to put a little bit of his sand in the grave of any deceased person, it is also mentioned that it’s Mustahabb to carry a little bit of it when travelling and so on..”

Of course it is important for all twelvers to know that it must not be bigger than a grain of Hummus because they usually have a bad Habit of swallowing a handful.

Kulayni in “al-Kafi” (6/378) narrated that Abul Hasan (alaihi salam) said:

كُلُّ طِينٍ حَرَامٌ مِثْلُ الْمَيْتَةِ وَ الدَّمِ وَ لَحْمِ الْخِنْزِيرِ إِلَّا طِينَ قَبْرِ الْحُسَيْنِ ( عليه السلام ) فَإِنَّ فِيهِ شِفَاءً مِنْ كُلِّ دَاءٍ وَ لَكِنْ لَا يُكْثَرُ مِنْهُ وَ فِيهِ أَمَانٌ مِنْ كُلِّ خَوْفٍ

Eating clay is haram just like eating the dead, blood and pig meat. Except for the Mud/Clay of Hussein’s grave for it has healing properties and is a cure for all diseases. But do not consume much of it and it has peace from every threat.

And in “Mafatih al-Jinnan” (547) written:

لا يجوز مطلقا على المشهور بين العلماء أكل شيء من التراب أو الطين إلا تربة الحسين المقدسة استشفاء من دون قصد الإلتذاذ بها بقدر الحمصة. والأحوط أن لا يزيد قدرها على العدسة، ويحسن أن يضع التربة في فمه ثم يشرب جرعة من الماء ويقول: اللهم اجعله رزقا واسعا وعلما نافعا وشفاء من كل داء وسقم

According to what is popular amongst the scholars that it is strictly forbidden to eat any mud or sand except the Holy Sand of Hussein’s grave to seek the healing powers and not because of liking the taste and take as much as a grain of Hummus. And better that it does not go beyond the size of a lentil and it is even better to put this in his mouth then drink water and say: O Allah Make us benefit from our knowledge and increase our wealth and cure us from each disease and illness.

And we should than Allah that they are eating dust, and not taking other easy way to heaven.

https://gift2shias.com/2010/05/21/easy-way-to-heaven/