Adil Najam
I write these lines as midnight strikes in Pakistan on the night between 9th and 10th Moharram. I write these lines as the news on television flashes news about blasts and bombs all around. How much more poignant could the message of Ashura be than it is today? Each year, it seems, the message of Ashura becomes more poignant and more important than the year before. But each year, it also seems, that the message becomes less understood. Each of us has to understand what that message means to us. All I can do today is to repeat my own understanding, in the very same words I had used the last two years.
To me, Ashura 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 these 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, 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
Today, as I listen to him again, so many more layers of meaning unfold. So many deep wounds open up. So many new thoughts come flooding in. And, yet, I have nothing new to say. Maybe you can share what the message of Ashura means to you in a world that continues to be unjust and unjustly violent?
Complete ignorance. Assura has nothing to do with the events of Karbala. It was declared a sacred day much earlier than the events at Karbala by the Prophet (saw). The significance of this day is that it was the day Allah saved Prophet Musa and his companions from Fir’awn and since we have more right over Musa than the Jews (as the Prophet (saw) said) then it is recommended that we fast on this day.
The real reason for its sacredness is lost on most people amongst celebrating the many bid’aat associated with this day. Also, the whole month is sacred (as the name suggests) and not just the day of Assura. It was one of the four sacred months declared in the Qur’an and explained in a hadith in saheeh al-Bukhari.
The fact that Ashra processions are now a target for suicide bombers of the Taliban shows just how cruel and uncaring these people are. How much more low could they go.
Unfortunately, we have made Ashura a ritual and too many people fail to use it as a day of thinking and introspection into the meaning of this great tragedy. The purpose of rememberance on this day is really to think about the lessons of Ashura and not just the rituals.
Nasir Jahan’s salam i aakhir is amazingly powerful
Yes, the message of Moharram is Justice and that is the message we need to take today. The world needs justice today than ever before and that is what we should learn from this day.