Contemplation on the Ashura Tragedy

Heartfelt condolences to all our listeners on the anniversary of the most heart- wrenching event the world has ever seen, and which despite the passing over a millennium and three-and-a-half centuries, continues to interact with human conscience in every age and era to guide people and nations towards reforms and the quest for social justice based on dignity.

       "O Allah, exalted is Your station, great is Your power, and stupendous Your might! You have no need of the creatures, Your supremacy is all-embracing, and You have the power to do whatever You wish. Your mercy is near, Your promise is true, Your blessings are plenteous, and Your tests are beautiful…

      "I call You in the hour of my need and beseech You in the moment of my destitution! … I turn to Your help in my weakness and put my trust in You as being sufficient for me.

     "Judge between us and our people [with justice], for indeed they have dealt with us deceitfully and treacherously, forsaken us and betrayed us, and spilled our blood, though we are the progeny of Your Prophet and the offspring of Your beloved, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, whom You chose for Your apostleship and trusted with Your revelation…!"

The passages that you heard are excerpts from the famous supplication recited by Imam Husain (AS) on the day of his martyrdom in Karbala on the 10th of Muharram 61 AH (corresponding to 680 AD).

Today, a millennium, three centuries and seventy-nine years after history's most bloodcurdling tragedy the immortal saga of the grandson of the Seal of Divine Messengers, continues to be commemorated, not just in the land where he was treacherously martyred, but all over the world wherever are found the devout followers of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA).

We use the term "devout followers", since devotion is the highest degree of love and affection for the Prophet's person and his God-given position, coupled with practical adherence to his way of life and teachings (that is, Sunnah/Sirah).

Moreover, without devotion, the mere claim to be a follower could be dubious, as is clear from the words of Imam Husain (AS) in the above supplication that he and the other members of the Prophet's family were the victims of the treachery and deceit – not of adherents of other creeds but of those styling themselves as Muslims.

It is an irony of Muslim history that Imam Husain (AS) – as a member of the immaculate Ahl al-Bayt whose spotless purity God has vouched in the Holy Qur'an (ayah 33 of Surah al-Ahzaab), and decreed love and affection for them as token of a believer's gratitude to the Prophet for enlightening him/her with the message of Islam (as is evident by ayah 23 of Surah Shura) – was slain on the orders of a person claiming to be the political heir of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA).

Thus, although the Day of Ashura and the mourning ceremonies of Muharram and the subsequent month of Safar, might be expressions of devotional grief by the faithful and renewal of their allegiance to Imam Husain's (AS) ideals of justice and refusal to bow to tyranny, this annual commemoration definitely raises questions in the minds of conscientious non-Muslim observers.

They ask: How Yazid and the Omayyad regime climbed to the apex of power of the Islamic realm, since as late as 8 AH and the fall of Mecca (two years before the Prophet's departure from the world), Yazid's father Mua'wiyah, and grandfather, Abu Sufyan, were hardcore heathens, never missing an opportunity to strike at Islam and Muslims?

And if it is claimed that Omayyad rule was legitimate and as per the commandments of God in the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), what unpardonable offence had Imam Husain (AS) committed to deserve such a tragic death along with 18 other male members of the Prophet's family including his 6-month old infant son?

Both Muslims and non-Muslims ought to ponder on these questions. If the verdict is in favour of the righteousness of the stand of Imam Husain (AS) and against Yazid and his Omayyad hordes, then they should be true to their conscience and probe in a diligently scientific manner as to what went wrong after the passing away of the Prophet that a tragedy of such a bestial magnitude occurred in Karbala, which did not even spare the womenfolk and children of the Prophet's Household from imprisonment.

It is an irony of Islamic history that in 19 AH (640 AD) Mua'wiyah was given the governorship of the vast province of Shaam – made up of today's Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine including the illegal entity called Israel.

In the subsequent years, Mua'wiyah, who is on record as saying that every time the Muezzin recites the Prophet's name in the Azan, he feels intense hatred deep down in his heart, came out into open armed rebellion against Imam Ali (AS). He next intimidated and bribed the Iraqis to betray Imam Hasan (AS) so as to seize the caliphate in 41 AH (661 AD). Then in violation of the clauses of the treaty with the elder grandson of the Prophet – whom he martyred through a fatal dose of poison in 50 AH (670 AD) – he nominated the libertine Yazid as his successor in 60 AH.

These are the bitter realities of Muslim history that climaxed at Karbala 61 AH (680 AD), where only the sacrifice on such a grand scale by the Prophet's younger grandson could salvage Islam. It ripped off the mask of hypocrisy from the face of Yazid, for the tyrant on seeing the head of Imam Husain (AS) in a tray before him, burst out saying that he had avenged his heathen ancestors killed in the battles of Badr and Ohad, which his grandfather Abu Sufyan had imposed on the Prophet and Muslims.

It should now be clear that the killers of Imam Husain (AS) were not Jews, not Christians, not Hindus, not Zoroastrians, not Buddhists, not Shamanists, not pagans, and not atheists, but people who called themselves Muslims, and knew him very well with full knowledge that he was a paragon of virtue.

Most of them had heard – either directly, or indirectly from their elders – the Prophet's immortal phrase "Inn al-Husain Misbah al-Huda wa Safinat an-Najah", whose English rendering is: "Indeed Husain is the Beacon of Guidance and the Ark of Salvation."

For the true believers, this wasn't the doting of a middle-aged grandfather, especially when God says that His Prophet neither errs nor speaks out of desire, and it is nothing but revelation revealed – as said in ayahs 2 to 4 of Surah Najm.

Perhaps, some of the Prophet's companions, who before becoming Muslims had spent the greater part of their life worshipping idols and indulging in all sorts of cardinal sins, might not have properly gauged the words of the Seal of Divine Messengers regarding his grandson or the rest of his Immaculate Ahl al-Bayt, whose spotless purity the Holy Qur'an vouches.

If they had, Islamic history would have been spared of the greatest ever discord as a result of their violation of Divine Commandments. If they had, 50 years after the Prophet's departure, Imam Husain (AS) would not have been so tragically martyred.

Now, we understand why the Prophet used to say in such explicit words: "Husainun minni wa ana min al-Husain" (Husain is from me and I am from Husain).

We also begin to comprehend his other immortal phrase regarding his two grandsons: "al-Hasan wa'l-Husain Seyyedai Shabab ahl al-Jannah" (Hasan and Husain are the Leaders of the Youth of Paradise).

Thus, it becomes obvious to us what Imam Husain (AS) means and to whom he refers in his supplication to God (cited at the start of this programme) when he speaks of the treachery, deceit and betrayal of the Ahl al-Bayt. 

Ashura and the ziyarat we recite on this day have drawn the clearest line between truth and falsehood for the guidance of human societies. For on this day blood triumphed over naked swords to jolt human conscience and present to mankind the most endurable barometer for ascertaining one's faith.

The Day of Ashura thus freshens up our memories every year of the heroic stand of the Prophet's grandson who refused to give his hand in allegiance to a tyrant, by preferring the glory of martyrdom to an abject life under an oppressive and corrupt system. Here is a passage from the famous Ziyarah or salutation to Imam Husain (AS) on this day:

"O Aba Abdallah, your martyrdom was a great calamity and the cause of great distress for us and all followers of Islam! It was a tremendous calamity that befell the heavens and which affected all the denizens of the heavens! May Allah’s curse be on those who instituted a regime of wrongdoing and injustice against you Ahl al-Bayt! May Allah’s curse be on those who sidelined you from your rightful station and withheld from you the status that Allah had assigned you! May Allah’s curse be on those who slew you, and may His curse be on those who paved the way for them making it possible to wage war against you! Before God and you, I repudiate them, their supporters, their followers and those who befriend them!

Muharram, rejoining families, promoting intimacy

By Maryam Qarehgozlou

Once I grew old enough to figure out the main reasons behind the mourning rituals of Muharram I became genuinely fond of it, as it is not just a month grieve, but a time to heighten the strong sense of intimacy.

The mourning of Muharram or Muharram observances marks the anniversary of the Battle of Karbala (October 10, 680 AD) in present-day Iraq. The battle took place between a small group of supporters and relatives of Prophet Mohammad (PBHU) grandson, Imam Hossein (AS), and a larger military detachment from the forces of Yazid I, the Umayyad caliph.

Imam Hossein (AS) was martyred and beheaded in the battle, along with most of his family members and companions, including his six-month-old son, Ali al-Asghar, with the women and children taken as prisoners.

The battle has a central place in Shia history, tradition and theology and it has frequently been recounted in Shia Islamic literature. However, for me the month is not just about mourning the unfortunate events of the Battle of Karbala.  

The month of Muharram is inextricably tied with my childhood memories. Being pre-occupied with the thought of wearing black clothes (a tradition observed in this month to show the sorrow at the events of Karbala), asking my older cousins to let me help with preparing Nazri food (charity food being distributed among the mourners) and the smell of dried capsules of esfand mixed with other ingredients which were placed onto red hot charcoal, and the sound of little popping noises once they explode.

While we, as children felt great sorrow for Imam Hossein (AS) and his family and the way Umayyad caliph had treated them and could actually relate to them by thinking how hard it was to lose all your loved ones, we also felt good because we knew all we did was in a good cause. 

Being almost 28, I remember experiencing Muharram both during long and hot summer days and freezing winter days. 

My grandmother’s house, a fairly spacious two-story home with a big yard, was the best place to stay during the mourning days of Muharram. Staying up all night to prepare Nazri food, taking turns to stir the food in big pots, either during chilly nights of winter or short summer nights with the soft breeze sweeping through the trees, are the nostalgic, treasured memories of my childhood.

Boys used to go out with their fathers to take part in mourning rituals such as Sineh-Zani (chest beating), and we girls used to stay at home with our mothers and aunts to prepare Nazri food. 

Actually women in our family, my grandmother above everyone else, were on top of everything to prepare the best food and drinks they could and distribute it among the mourners especially on the ninth and tenth days of Muharram (Tasu’a and Ashura).

On cold winter days I can vividly remember big pots of milk boiling on the stove and once we heard voices of mourners passing our street we hurried to pour milk in small cups to dish them out among them. 

And likewise, during summer, when the scorching sun made everyone to work up a thirst we distributed cold homemade drinks to quench the mourners thirst. 

In addition to Nazri food, we also used to make Halva (sweet confections), in memory of those of our loved ones who passed away over the past years. 

In my view that’s how the Battle of Karbala, and what Imam Hossein accomplished by sacrificing himself and his family not only kept Islam truly alive, but also kept humanity alive. 

On a smaller scale, the months is an opportunity for many of us, who are apart from each other for almost all year round swamped with works and private affairs, to rejoin those we care about and remember people who used to be among us. 

And that’s why for me, Muharram is not simply a month to mourn, it’s a time for us to reunite with our families and to remember those we lost, it reminds us to cherish what we already have and develops deep intimacy between us.