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.
I will tell you what is really is HISTORICA NONSENCE… it is the stuff you are spreading through inuendo.
That someone will try to purposely incite hatred as Dr. Shaukat is trying to do but referring to a BOOK HE HAS NOT READ AND IS QUOTED TO HIM BY SOMEONE HE CANOT NAME…..
[quote comment=”32366″]THE MORE I STUDY THE SUBJECT.[/quote]
I am sorry it is quite obvious from your message that you have NOT studied the subject at all. You say so yourself. Just becasue the internet gives you annonymity does not mean you have the right to spread baseless drivel under the guise of “I heard from someone”. Maybe you should stop talking to these hatemongers who are telling you such nonsense.
WITH DUE RESPECT TO ALL,I DONT WISH TO HURT ANY ONES FEELINGS,BUT THE MORE I STUDY THE SUBJECT OF KARBALA THE MORE I GET CONFUSED.SINCE CHILDHOOD WE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT THE KARBALA INCIDENT WAS A BATTLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL.WE WERE TOLD THAT MR YAZID WAS AN EVIL PERSON ETC.THERE IS A BOOK THAT I CANT FIND ANY WHERE IT WAS SUPPOSEDLY OUTLAWED BY HIGHCOURT BUT REINSITATED BY SUPEREME COURT CALLED KHILAFAT E YAZID U MAWYIA.THE PERSON WHO HAS READ THE BOOK
TOLD ME THAT THE AUTHOR HAS DONE EXTENSIVE RESEARCH AND SO MANY STORIES WE HAVE BEEN TOLD ARE BASED ON HISTORICAL NON SENSE .COULD ANY ONE THROW ANY LIGHT WITH SOLID HISTORIC SOURCES
ON THIS UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT.
I read that article by Javed Chaudhry… and frankly I disagree with it completely.
The conflict at Karbala was essentially a power struggle between Banu Omeyya and Banu Hashim… Muawiyah, being a prudent and wise man, had sought to compromise with the family of the Prophet (PBUH)… but his son made the huge mistake of antagonizing the masses by ordering the butchery at Karbala… we mourn the family of the prophet because it was a great tragedy.
Taliban on the other hand persecuted inter alia the shias, sunnis, hazaras, women etc… how can anyone compare them to Imam Hussain’s sacrifice… god knows. Perhaps Mongol Horde under Genghis Khan is a much better analogy But then you have people like Mullah Zaheer running amuck… making a mockery of our country, our people and our religion… and people like Javed Chaudhry around to encourage this.
Mr. Bhatti raised the question about quran and prayers and fasting on Ashura. With regards to that, Shias spend the night between the 9th and 10th of muharram reciting quran. In south asia the night is also called Shab Bedari. More over, the proceedings of the day of ashura start at fajar followed by special namaz and duas that were offered by the Aima e Tahireen or the lineage of Imams that followed Hussain (AS).
The procession is a show of support to the message of Hussain(AS) that his sacrifice has not gone in vain and his message continues to live and flourish. In light of this, I would appreciate if you refrain from using words like HULLA GULLA to describe the procession. It is in no way even close to that.
Furthermore, the procession breaks at prayer timings and prayers are offered on the street. In Karachi, the procession is managed in such a way that a zohur congregation is always held at Regal chowk. Student voluteers use water bowsers create a make shift system for the attendees to perform wuzu as well.
Now to the matter of Fasting on the day of Ashura. Shias do not fast on the day of Ashura, we just observe a Faqa which ends at the time of asr prayers. It was actually Yazid’s army that was specifically fasting that day. You may go on to argue the religious significane of fasting on Ashura and how it is a sunnat. But you have to the know the histroy. Mohammed (SAW) fasted on the 10th of moharram when he moved to Medina. The reason for that was that Jews of Medina were commemporating Yom Kippur on that day and it was a gesture of solidarity from the Holy Propher (SAW) . But jews follow the gregorian calendar and not the islamic calendar and it was a pure coincidence that Yom Kippur and 10th Muharram fell on the same day. It was also the time when fasting during Ramzan was not made farz on muslims. However, the following year Propher Mohammed (SAW) made it compulsory to fast during ramzan and not the 10th of Moharram.
I hope this helps eliminate any misgivings you had with regards to the observance of Ashura.
Husain tujh pe kahe’n kia salaam hum jaisey
ke tu azeem hai, be-nang-o-naam hum jaisey
(Ahmed Faraz)