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Significance of the Months of Muharram & Safar in Islam
The
months of Muharram and Safar offer the yearly
opportunity to commemorate the martyrdom of al‑Husayn
ibn `Ali (A), the grandson of the Prophet (S) and the
third Imam of the Shiite Muslims, at Karbala' on the
tenth of Muharram in the year 61. The tragedy and
heroism of the event, the resistance and self‑sacrifice
of the martyrs, are remembered during these days by the
Shi`ah and the Ahl al‑Sunnah alike, and by the Shi`ah
with a special ardour, fervour and enthusiasm.
It
would not be an exaggeration to say that the ardour and
enthusiasm inspired by the martyrs of Karbala' is
something unsurpassed in the history of religions. No
individual or group in the history of the world has
attracted such sustained admiration and love in the
hearts of their followers as the martyrs of Karbala' and
in particular the figure of al‑Husayn ibn `Ali (A), an
admiration which has not dwindled in the course of more
than thirteen and a half centuries that have elapsed
since that event.
Mourning ceremonies are held by Muslims throughout
Muharram and Safar, and in gatherings which are called `majalis'
(sing. majlis) elegies are recited and sermons are
delivered from the minbar, the Islamic pulpit, in which
the sufferings undergone by al‑Imam al‑Husayn, the
members of his household and his companions are
narrated. For the Shi'ah sect, the majlis and the
sermons delivered therein are the primary source of
religious education for the children, the illiterate and
even educated adults.
However, with the general decline and deterioration in
the Muslim Ummah, of which the Shi'ah community is a
part, the great educative potential of the majlis has
slowly eroded, to the extent that not only the great
educative purpose that lies behind mourning for al-Imam
al‑Husayn has been forgotten, the majalis has become a
platform for intensification of sectarian animosities
and propagation of misconceived beliefs that conflict
with the spirit of the Islamic faith. With the general
decline of the Islamic culture there has been a parallel
deterioration in the educative level of the sermons that
are delivered from the minbar.
The spreading ignorance and inertia of the majlis
audience has laid diminishing demands on the learning
and capacity of the religious speaker, called `dhakir'
in India and Pakistan and rawdeh khan in Iran and Iraq.
The lamentable ignorance of the masses and the
deplorable negligence or absence of the sense of duty on
the part of many dhakirs have converted most majalis
into mere sources of nourishment of sectarian conceits
and delusions. Shi'ism, which implies a voluntary and
aware choice to shoulder greater responsibility as
member of the Ummah and devoted obedience to the wajib
al‑'ita'ah (i.e. those whose obedience is obligatory)
Imams of the Household of the Prophet (A), its meaning
has gradually degenerated into a mere emotional
attachment for the Ahl al‑Bayt (A), devoid of any sense
of ethical or social responsibility for the present‑day
condition of Islam and Muslims. We, the self‑declared
Shi'ah of al‑Husayn ibn `Ali (A), should pause and
meditate at the answer given by him to a man who
proclaimed to the Imam, "O son of the Prophet, I am
one of your Shi'ah." Al‑Husayn ibn `Ali (A) said to
him:
Fear God, and do not make such a claim that God, the
Almighty, should say to you, "You lied insolently by
making this claim." Indeed our Shi'ah is one whose heart
is free from every kind of deception, adulteration,
hatred, malice, and corruption. If you are not such then
say, "I am one of your admirers and supporters."
The Responsibility of the Dhakir
The Qur'an repeatedly calls its audience to meditate
about its verses and to draw instruction from them,
What, do they not meditate in the Quran?
.... (4:82)
What do they not meditate in the Quran? Or is it that
there are locks upon their hearts?
(47:24)
A Book We have sent down to thee, blessed, that men of
understanding may ponder its verses and so remember.
(38:29)
Whereas the Holy Book calls the believers to emulate the
Prophet (S) as the sublimest model of humanhood,
You have a good example in God's Messenger for whosoever
hopes for God and the Last Day, and remembers God oft.
(33:21)
the dhakir struggles to project the Prophet (S) and the
Imams (A) as supernatural beings to be admired and
extolled, not to be imitated and obeyed. He strives to
drive home the point that the Qur'an is understandable
only for God or the Holy Prophet (S) or the Imams (A), a
book of sacred and abstruse meanings opaque to human
understanding, a book so holy that it is impertinent
even to try to understand it.
The Duty of Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil
The Qur'an and hadith lay great emphasis on the duty of
al‑'amr bil ma'ruf wa al‑nahy `an al‑munkar, and it is
recognized as one of the most important duties of
Muslims in general and the `ulama' in particular.
Unfortunately this duty is discreetly shunned by the
dhakir who is averse to disturb the complacence of his
audience and to venture to guide them at the cost of his
own popularity. The strategy of connivance, though full
of perils in the Hereafter, yields immediate returns.
The strategy of reducing (seemingly, elevating) the
wajib al‑ita'ah Imams of the Ahl al‑Bayt (A), obedience
to whom is obligatory, into holy inimitable metaphysical
figure‑heads to be admired and implored in supplications
for worldly benefits, may serve to attract applausing
crowds but does no service to the religion of God and
does no justice to the great teachers of mankind, which
the Ahl al‑Bayt (A) in fact were.
In some cases the attitude goes further than mere
connivance, where the dhakir tries to soothe and appease
bad religious conscience by proving on his own authority
that absence of obedience to the commands of the
religion of the Ahl al‑Bayt (A) will not hurt the
believer as long as he remains their passionate admirer,
as if such a thing were possible. When such disastrous
attitudes are consciously cultivated among the people,
when the mourning assemblies‑which were originally
instituted to propagate the message of al‑Imam al‑Husayn
- are held without paying any attention to al‑'amr bil
ma`ruf wa al‑nahy`an al‑munkar and to the sublime goals
of al‑Imam al‑Husayn and the sacred purposes behind his
resistance against the regime of Yazid, it is not
strange that those goals should gradually lose their
relevance in the Muslim society, and the ahkam should
become unimportant for the Muslim masses.
The Sermon of al-Husayn ibn ‘Ali (A)
The following sermon of al‑Husayn ibn 'Ali (A) delivered
during Mu'awiyah's reign at the time of Hajj in a
gathering of eminent personalities of the period, not
only shows the kind of issues that should be discussed
during Hajj, but also is a good guideline for sermons
which are delivered in majalis during Muharram and
Safar:
O people! Take a lesson from God's warning to His
friends through His censure on the rabbis, when He says:
Why do the bishops and rabbis not forbid them to utter
sin, [and consume the unlawful? Evil is the thing they
are doing.] (5:63)
And when He says:
Cursed were the unbelievers of the Children of Israel by
the tongue. of David, and of Jesus, Mary's son; that for
their rebelling and their transgression. They forbade
not one another any dishonour that they committed;
surely evil were the things that they did. (5:78‑79)
God has reproved them because they beheld the open vices
and corruption of the oppressors, but did not forbid
them from that on account of attachment to their favours
and fear of what periled them. Whereas God says: ...So
fear not men, but fear me .... (5:44)
And He says: And the believers, the men and the women,
are friends of one another; they bid to honour and
forbid dishonour (i.e. perform the duty of al‑ amr bil
ma'ruf wd al‑nahy `an al‑munkar), they perform the
prayer, and pay the alms, and they obey God and His
Messenger. They‑upon them God shall have mercy; God is
Almighty, All‑wise. (9:71)
God mentions the duty of al‑amr bil ma'ruf wa al‑nahy
`an al‑munkar before all other duties, because He knows
that if it is performed and established in the society
all other duties, the easy and the difficult, are also
established. That is why al‑amr bil ma'ruf wa al‑nahy`an
al‑munkar signifies invitation to Islam together with
resistance against injustice, opposition to the
oppressor, [proper] division of the public funds and
booty, collection of alms and their correct
distribution.
Then you, O company of men well‑known for your learning!
You, who have a good name and are known [among the
people] for your goodwill. God has given you honour with
the people. The illustrious venerate you and the weak
respect you. You. are preferred by him over whom you
have no merit and over whom you have no power.
The deprived seek your intercession in need, and you
walk on the road with the majesty of kings and princes.
Is it not that you have such honour and dignity because
people place their hopes in you to stand for the
establishment of Divine duties? If you fail to discharge
most of those duties, then you have scorned the duties
of leaders.
You have forfeited the rights of the weak, though you
have obtained your own claims. Neither you had to
sacrifice your wealth nor endanger your lives for the
sake of Him Who created you. Nevertheless, you desire
that God should put you in the Paradise in the
neighbourhood of His apostles, and you hope to be safe
from His chastisement. Indeed I am afraid that you who
harbour such hopes from God shall have to taste His
vengeance. Because God had honoured you and raised you
in station above others, for there are many servants of
God who are not held in such high esteem as God has
granted you among the people.
God's covenants are broken before your very eyes, yet
you are not dismayed, although you are alarmed if some
of your ancestral compacts are endangered; as if the
compact of the Messenger of Allah (S) were some
insignificant and paltry thing!
The blind, the dumb and the handicapped in towns are
without protection and mercy, but you neither act as
demanded by your high station nor care and have regard
for one who attends to them. You have made your own life
safe and secure by getting along with the oppressors and
showing lenience and connivance in regard to their
injustices, which God had commanded you to oppose and
forbid. Indeed if you understand, the calamity that has
befallen you is greater than the one which afflicts the
people; because you have failed to safeguard the
responsibility of the learned. Since the implementation
of the laws and running of the affairs lie with the men
of Divine knowledge, who are custodians of His [laws
regarding the] haram and halal.
But you have been wrested of this status. And it was not
taken away from you except for your departure from
righteousness, and on account of your disagreement
regarding the Sunnah, after that it had been made clear
and evident to you.
Had you the endurance to put up with adversities and
hardships for the sake of God, the affairs of God would
have returned into your hands and your lost authority
would have turned to you again. But you allowed the
oppressors to take your place and handed over the
affairs of God into their hands, that they may act
dubiously and indulge in their lusts.
They got their authority because of your running away
from death [which is inevitable] and due to your love of
life, which shall [anyhow] depart from you. In this
fashion, you submitted the weak into their hands, to be
enslaved and exploited, permitting them to run the
affairs of the country according to their whims, and to
make ignominy their way of life through their
[unchecked] desires, following the perverse and
disobeying the Almighty.
They have appointed a loud‑voiced orator for every
pulpit in every town, and the country lies open and
unprotected at their mercy. Their hands are free to do
whatever they like, and the defenseless people are at
the disposal of their mercy. Among them are merciless
tyrants who oppress the weak, and men of authority who
know neither the creation nor the Day of Resurrection.
It is surprising‑and why shouldn't I be surprised‑when
the country is in the hands of a faithless tyrant and
the ruler of the believers is one who has no mercy for
them. Indeed God is a judge between us in our disputes
and contentions.
My God, You Know that whatever I have said is not for
the sake of rivalry for power, nor for the sake of
futile vanities of the world, but because we desire
establishment of the landmarks of Thy religion, reform
in Thy lands, security of Thy oppressed creatures, and
the practice of Thy commands and the duties laid down
by Thee.
And you, [O company of the elect of the Ummah] , assist
us and do us due justice. The oppressors have power over
you and they act to extinguish the light of your Prophet
(S).
And God suffices us, and in Him we put our trust.
Towards Him do we turn, and towards Him all things shall
return.
The present situation in the Muslim world is no better
than the conditions that prevailed during the later
decades of the life of al‑Husayn ibn `Ali (A). All
way-marks of the Islamic culture have been washed away
in the deluge of modern paganism. The greater part of
the Muslim world is under direct or indirect domination
of non‑Muslims. The sad signs described in a prediction
of al‑Imam `Ali (A) have already come true:
A time will come when nothing will remain of the Qur'an
except its script, and nothing of Islam except its name.
The mosques in those days will be flourishing with
regard to architecture, but desolate with regard to
guidance. Those staying in them and those visiting them
will be the worst of all on the earth. From them
mischief will spring up and towards them all wrong will
turn. If anyone isolates himself from it (mischief) they
will fling him back towards it, and if anyone hesitates,
they will push him towards it ....
Contextualizing the Struggle with the Current State of
Muslims
In such conditions how can any discourse about the
great struggle of al‑Husayn ibn `Ali (A) be
unaccompanied with a discussion of the lamentable
condition of the Muslim Ummah? Is it not the height of
callousness and even hypocrisy to pass by in silence the
aims and ideals for which he took a stand against the
regime of Yazid and sacrificed everything? Is it not the
very extreme of injustice to deprive the Muslim children
and adults of the great potential of the majalis which
are held in the memory of al‑Imam al‑Husayn (A)? Is it
right not to use the great devotion of the Muslim masses
to the Ahl al‑Bayt (A) and their great enthusiasm and
zeal during the months of Muharram and Safar‑a time when
the hearts are softened by the stupendous tragedy of
Karbala' to receive the teachings of the martyrs who
sacrificed their lives with al-Imam al‑Husayn‑to inform
and educate our children and adults about the ahkam of
the Shari’ah and the akhlaq of the Ahl al‑Bayt (A)? The
Shiites have admired `Ali and his sons (A), their
leaders and guides, for centuries, and wept over
accounts of their sufferings. Is it not time that we
should start following them in deed, in all walks of our
life? After all they are our Imams, our leaders and our
teachers, who underwent those sufferings and hardships
in order to instruct us and guide us on the Straight
Path of Allah? Should we not question our sincerity if
we persist in our refusal to be benefited by their
efforts to improve our lot, to purify our souls and to
guide our intellects?
The majlis should inform and instruct. It should inspire
and enlighten. Like al‑Husayn ibn 'Ali (A), his dhakir,
who occupies the minbar of the Ahl al‑Bayt (A), should
aim at resurrecting the spirit of Islam and the message
of the Qur'an. The majlis should instruct the people in
the usul and the ahkam of the Shari’ah and the akhlaq of
the Imams (A). If the majalis of al‑Imam al‑Husayn (A)
do not help our youths and adults to understand Islam
profoundly, who else can stop them from falling into the
clutches of deviate philosophical schools and from being
swept away by the tide of the pagan Western culture?
Would it not be more beneficial to discuss the great
merits of the Ahl al‑Bayt (A) as ideal human beings and
ideal teachers of mankind, instead of discussing them as
metaphysical entities to be revered but not to be
obeyed, to be glorified but not to be emulated, to be
invoked for assistance in worldly needs and affairs and
to be ignored in vital matters of our duties,
obligations, and responsibilities as Muslims?
Only when our majalis become classes. for dissemination
of the teachings of the Ahl al‑Bayt (A) which lie buried
in hadith texts, only when our majalis become platforms
of Muslim unity instead of being instruments of division
and disunity, only when our majalis and manabir become
the seats of the duty of al‑amr bil ma`ruf wa al‑nahy
`an al‑munkar, only when the Qur'an is made again the
book of our life and the light of our majalis, only then
can it be said that our majalis and manabir are doing
justice to al‑Imam al‑Husayn (A) and to the people whom
the majalis were originally instituted to nourish
spiritually, morally, and intellectually.
by Al-Tawhid Editor
Tehran
Muharram, 1405
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