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?
Here is my nazm for the Muslims to rise up against wahabis, deobandis, and kharjis. Please read the last couplet, it truly reflects their character.
Dil ki awaz sunoo logoon,
toor do zuban par lagay talay
Islam ki jaan kay lagay hain la-lay
Sunoo! Sunoo!!
Jinko samjhtay ho mullah
Ye Mullah nahi, malaoon hain
Gokay, mimbar per bethay hain
Ye Islam ka “paanchwan sutoon” hain. [fifth column = hypocrites]
Inkay tareeqay niralay hain
Pahallay piyar se samjhatay hain, behlatay hain
Phir Daratay hain, dhamkatay hain
taish mein hosh gunwa-tay hain
jo na manay unko qabroon se nikal kar latkatay hain
Horoon kay khawab mein, Auratoon per koray barsatay hain
Logoon ye waqt bara kara hai,
Islam ki peeth mein chura goonpa hai
Mujrim wohi hai, jo masjid mein madarsay mein chuppa hai.
Ye Musalman nahi, daharye hain.
Ye Insan nahi, baharye hain.
Dear Adnan Siddiqui,
I did check, that verse is not from Iqbal and is not in any book from Iqbal. Yet, I see you also have it on your blog with the lie that it is from Iqbal.
So, either give us a reference to exactly where it is from or have the decency to apologize and say I am sorry I was mistaken. Or, just accept that you were deliberately lying. BUT that will not surprise anyone, yo Taliban mullah types regularly lie even when you quote the Quran, making up things and saying they are from the Quran when they are not, so who is Iqbal for you guys to lie about. The enemies of Islam have always lied about the Quran and the Prophet, so lying about the Prophet’s family or about Iqbal is what you and other enemies of Islam are trained to do. Ever since the days of the Prophet in Mecca the enemies of Islam have been making up these lies about Islam, you are just fulfilling these traditions of lying.
And, if yo are not lying about it, then maybe you can tell us where this verse that you proudly claim to be from Iqbal is really from?
Watan Aziz: Rest assured, following visual was not prescribed by Zia or any other right wing infidels/Talibans yet it’s practiced every where. What do you say about this gruesome image?
tinyurl.com/yjtfwll
@Watan Aziz: Is it not ironic that in post Muhammad(saw) era a sect “injected” different meaning in the book and formed a new belief and a creed? Yeah right! curse Zia for the things happened around 1100 years ago!
@Ammar: I wonder your belief is based on what Iqbal said or what God had ordered? It’s just like a Christian believes more in Wikipedia version of Bible than Original one. If you are just trying to say Iqbal was a shia then I don’t mind. When Jinnah could be a secular for others then why Iqbal can’t be something else.lol!
If Hussain(RA) is a Shaheed then Shaheed are alive(a/c to Quran) hence one does not mourn. And if someone is mourning then that the person is just discrediting the status of Martyrdom of Hussain(ra)
@BenCastle aka Musalman: The shyr was taken from the same book where the guy above quoted Iqbal. Since you got the collection, you may search in it. A good weekend task for you. :-)
Shiver me timbers!
With more text inserted than the actual words of the good book, to give a desired shape and a form, people might as well add the name of the their chosen one and prove (s)he is the one!
With this methodology, people of any or all books can add dimensions of Brittany Spears in any chapter, any verse; and declare her their goddess.
No wonder sycophants of Zia, the criminal usurper, made him believe that he was the “new” amirul momeneen.
As always, in matters of faith, only Khaliq knows best.