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?
Growing up in Shia household, listening to Marsias and Salaams, new meanings appears and every year my spirit is revived. I observe, participate, commemorate journey of Imam Hussain from Madina to Karbala, his and family’s sacrifice, saving Islam and humanity…….but I sometimes wondered, what if I was not a Shia, would it effect me the same way? what meaning I will find, so I came across what others have said about Imam Hussain, see below:
Mahatma Gandhi
“My faith is that the progress of Islam does not depend on the use of sword by its believers, but the result of the supreme sacrifice of Hussain (ﮫﻨﻋﻰﻠﺎﻌﺘﷲﺍﻰﻀﺮ), the great saint.”
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
“Imam Hussain’s (ﮫﻨﻋﻰﻠﺎﻌﺘﷲﺍﻰﻀﺮ) sacrifice is for all groups and communities, an example of the path of rightousness.”
Reynold Alleyne Nicholson
“Hussain (ﮫﻨﻋﻰﻠﺎﻌﺘﷲﺍﻰﻀﺮ) fell, pierced by an arrow, and his brave followers were cut down beside him to the last man. Muhammadan tradition, which with rare exceptions is uniformly hostile to the Umayyad dynasty, regards Hussain (ﮫﻨﻋﻰﻠﺎﻌﺘﷲﺍﻰﻀﺮ) as a martyr and Yazid as his murderer.”
[A Literary History of the Arabs, Cambridge, 1930, p197]
Edward Gibbon
“In a distant age and climate the tragic scene of the death of Hussain (ﮫﻨﻋﻰﻠﺎﻌﺘﷲﺍﻰﻀﺮ) will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.”
[The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, London, 1911, volume 5, pp391-2]
Rabindranath Tagore
“In order to keep alive justice and truth, instead of an army or weapons, success can be achieved by sacrificing lives, exactly what Imam Hussain (ﮫﻨﻋﻰﻠﺎﻌﺘﷲﺍﻰﻀﺮ) did.”
Dr. Rajendra Prasad
“The sacrifice of Imam Hussain (ﮫﻨﻋﻰﻠﺎﻌﺘﷲﺍﻰﻀﺮ) is not limited to one country, or nation, but it is the hereditary state of the brotherhood of all mankind.”
Dr. Radha Krishnan
“Though Imam Hussain (ﮫﻨﻋﻰﻠﺎﻌﺘﷲﺍﻰﻀﺮ) gave his life almost 1300 years ago, but his indestructible soul rules the hearts of people even today.”
Swami Shankaracharya
“It is Hussain’s (ﮫﻨﻋﻰﻠﺎﻌﺘﷲﺍﻰﻀﺮ) sacrifice that has kept Islam alive or else in this world there would be no one left to take Islam’s name.”
Mrs. Sarojini Naidu
“I congratulate Muslims that from among them, Hussain (ﮫﻨﻋﻰﻠﺎﻌﺘﷲﺍﻰﻀﺮ), a great human being was born, who is reverted and honored totally by all communities.”
“…and Sahih Bukhari the book which was written after 200 years of death of Rasool Allah” – yes absoloutely, sounds like the perfect time, towards the passing away of the best generation, just as innovations and shirk was creeping into the deen.
“Agar sab shahzaday hein then Who are the Munafiq addressed in Surah-e-Munafiqoon in quran? clearly they are some people around Rasool…” – I understand the false claims and accusations which you are alluding to, and they are baseless. How? Because clearly you have no knowledge of Arabic grammar which dispels your slander…Maybe your imam told you not to read or study the quran because it would be beyond your comprehension?
“Quran which clearly prescribed the rememberence of sacred and loved ones.. ” – Of course the Holy Quran prescribes the rememberance of the dead, and the Sunnah confirms HOW we remember them, any other way is an innovation and in the fire, as confirmed in the following hadith narrated Aiesha [RA]:
“Whoever innovates anything in this matter of ours (i.e., Islaam), that is not part of it will have it rejected”
Reported in Saheeh Bukhaari, Volume 3, Book 49, Number 861
“Maybe you can share what the message of Ashura means to you in a world that continues to be unjust and unjustly violent?” ..This is what Ashura means to me….
Ibn `Abbas, radhiallahu `anhu, reported: “The Prophet, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, came to al-Madeenah and saw the Jews fasting on the day of `Aashooraa’. He asked them about that. They replied, “This is a good day, the day on which Allah rescued Baani Israa’eel from their enemy. So Moosa observed fast on this day.” The Prophet said, “We have more claim over Moosa than you.” So the Prophet, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, observed fast on that day and ordered (the Muslims) to observe fast (on that day).” [Saheeh al-Bukhari, Muslim]
Once some Jewish scholars said to Sayyidna Umar bin Khattab, Radi-Allahu unhu, “The Qur’an contains a verse that if it had been revealed to us, we would have designated a day to celebrate its revelation.” Upon enquiry they mentioned the verse: “This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.” [Al-Maida 5:3] “Yes, I know, the time and place when it was revealed,” he replied.
Indeed it was a historic day. It was the day of Arafa during the farewell Hajj of Prophet Muhammad (SAW .
Ashura or Eid Milad —all sorts of these rituals ought to be restricted to homes. Disturbing the whole city by taking out showy processions and creating nuisance for others on roads is not what Islam preaches.
The world has been full of Karbala’s everywhere. NO day goes without a Karbala….
Wouldn’t you term the killings and arson committed by criminals on the Ashura lately as Karbala for the affected???
the ashura of Eran is very well ashura
It does not matter whether you call yourself a Shia, Sunni, or even a Muslim. The lesson of justice that is the core of Ashura is universal and for everyone.