Adil Najam
Today is the 10th of Muharram. Ashura.
It commemorates a struggle that is steeped in deep spiritual meaning, not only for Islamic history but for all humanity. It is a struggle between good and evil, between just and unjust, between weak and powerful, between immediate and the eternal, between principle and ambition. The power of Ashura is not only in the epic events that it commemorates, it is in the narrative of those events, in the symbolisms that we construct. Ultimately, it is in the meanings that we derive from those events.
Muharram is, of course, of special significance to Shias. But the events and meaning of Ashura is of significance and relevance to all Muslims, and I would suggest, to all humans everywhere.
Like so many others growing up in a Sunni household I grew up observing ehteram-i-Muharram and am always drawn in the days leading up to Ashura towards thinking about the meaning of religion and of faith. To me these have always been days of deep spiritual reflection; especially of intellectual enquiry into the meaning of justice (the concept of ‘adl’ holds a deep significance to me given the name I was given at birth and therefore I have always interpreted Ashura particularly as a time to reflect on what justice is).
Growing up in Pakistan, the night of Ashura was always defined for me by the Majlis i Shaam i Gharibaan (often by Allama Naseer ul Ijtihaadi) on PTV on the night of dasveen Muharram, which was followed immediately – and at right about midnight – by Syed Nasir Jahan’s soulful recitation of Salam-i-Akhir.
Bachay to aglay baras hum hain aur yeh gham phir hai
Jo chal basay tou yeh appna salam-i-akhir hai
His soulful voice, so pregnant with a deep and heartfelt pain, always echoes in my head when I read of continuing sectarian violence and the instigation of sectarian hatred.
Also echoing in my head are memories of the eloquent narratives of those PTV Shaam i Gharibaan’s. What I took from my yearly ritual of sitting glued to the screen was that the message of Ashura, of Karbala, is a universal and humanist messages. Justice is a universal message. Courage is a universal message. Conviction is a universal message. Sacrifice is a universal message.
It is the universality of the messages of Ashura that I hope we will all reflect upon. Every one of these messages is literally torn asunder each Muharram when the merchants of sectarianism highjack these commemorations with their vitriolic politics of fear, of difference, of hatred.
While these are universal messages, they are also – as they must be – messages of Pakistaniat. Yasser Hamdani sent me this quote from Mohammad Ali Jinnah published in a souvenir commemorating the 1300th anniversay of Imam Hussain’s shahadat.
There cannot be a better and more illustrious example than that of Husein who was the greatest embodiment of courage, conviction and sacrifice and every Mussalman in particular should take the great example of his life and service and follow it.
Jinnah was right. He would probably be pained to see how not only his own message, but that of Imam Hussain’s life -and death – have been so very lost on so many of his countrymen today.
Jawed Ch about Yazeediat
[quote comment=”32292″][quote comment=”32282″]Aqeel Syed: You have quoted hadith, I am not sure how valid these are. Mourning and bringing tears in the eyes is a natural phenomenon, but the way it is described in the poetry etc is not the historical facts. We don’t talk about the lessons and the political aspects of it. How many shias and sunnies fast, say prayers and read quran on this day? All you see is dramatization on the roads & TV. I don’t think Islam is dramatization and joke, wheather you are a shia or a sunni.[/quote]
Salaam,
I am new here, so apologies if my comments are rather direct. Bhatti Sahib, a lot of people both Shia and Sunni fast and read the Qur’an on Ashur. Moreover a lot of “Niaz” is distributed amongst all the people and “Sabeels” set up where people are asked to drink and remember the thirst of the Shaheedan e Karbala.
While we should remember the lessons of Karbala and also discuss the political aspects of it, we should not condemn/prevent people from exhibiting thier devotion especially if this devotion drives people to good deeds and as Mr. Roshan Malik has pointed brings out the unity and amongst communities.
Our people are passionate and our society is devoted and when they see similar things amongst thier bretheren will they come together and overcome any and all suspisions and misunderstandings. We cannot and should not reduce our faith to a set of rituals robbed of devotion and passion for that will only bring out the differences (e.g. who prays with thier hands folded and who with their hands open…whether the pronunciation is “walazzualeen” or “waladdualeen” or “walthualin” etc.)[/quote]
Well truly said; Totally agree with you DOC.
…and yes, Mr. Moeen Bhati. These hadiths are valid, they are farameen of Aima Tahreen. Meanwhile its worth mentioning that Matam, Shabieh, Majalish, they all are proved by Quran, history and Ahadees.
I don’t have much knowledge about religion but if you are interested I can find proves by reaserch.
But I think we are spoiling the main aspect and spirit of this post that is about the actual spirit of Karbala. I earlier said in comments, ”We have just rememberd the events and forget the spirit, the real spirit of Karbala. We remember the sacrifise of Imam Hussain A.S and his companions but we forget the spirit of this sacrifise…
I’m a Shia Muslim, in Pakistan millions of people are on roads, they are in Ashora Majalis, in Jaloos. Infact they are protesting against Yazeed, Yazeediat and remembering the sacrifise of Imam Hussain A.S but I admit we forget the real spirit of Imam Hussain A.S”.
to all the pakistaniat community members, it brings me to tears by reading most coomments n verses…
,moreso from the solidarity shown by all members..
Maula sub ko koi gham na dien siwaye gham e Hussain(AS) ke….
hazar sar hain namazain jinhain bachati hai
Namaz ko jo bachaye woh sar Hussain(a.s) ka hai
@ibn-e-adam: Thanks for giving the link of Taqi sahab’s article. I also dared to write few words on my site about Moharram/Ashura history, one can read here and here
[quote post=”550″]Muharram is, of course, of special significance to Shias. But the events and meaning of Ashura is of significance and relevance to all Muslims, and I would suggest, to all humans everywhere.[/quote]
Very well said and very true. Hussain[RA] is respectable for every muslims regardless of any sect.
[quote post=”550″]I am a shia muslim but all my best friends have been sunny.[/quote]
and majority of my good friends are shias and I don’t remember we ever got into trouble due to different school of thoughts.