By
Zahir Ebrahim | Project
Humanbeingsfirst.org
AOA
(as-salamu 'alaykum), Peace be with you.
Muslims
are already most knowledgeable about the religious significance of
Karbala, and of this fact I have no doubt. Throughout the world
Muslims annually commemorate the “Gum-e-Hussein” (the
public's sorrow of Imam Hussein), and what transpired in 61 A.H. (680
A.D.) at the hands of the Muslim caliph Yazid's army, with utmost
devotion. The scion of Ahlul-Bayt, the beneficiary of the verse of
purification of the Holy Qur'an (33:33),
the noble grandson of the noble Prophet of Islam, son of Imam Ali
ibne Abi Talib and lady Fatima binte Muhammad, Hussein ibne Ali, not
only refused to take oath of fealty at the hands of the new
tyrannical ruler of his time who had become caliph upon the death of
his father, but initiated his “naizat” (mission) against
him and his despotic rule from his home town Medina, the abode in the
desert of Arabia that the noble Prophet of Islam had made the capital
of the Muslim city-state and given it that name some sixty years
earlier.
The
story of the Imam's long journey after making his resolution known to
the people of Medina and inviting them to join him in his “naizat”,
traveling from Medina to Mecca, making his resolve known in Mecca
both to its elites and to the foreign Muslim pilgrims who had started
to arrive from all over the Muslim lands for the coming Haj season,
waiting in Mecca until the actual onset of Haj, not completing his
Haj because of the far greater moral imperative of standing up to
Yazid being the need and duty of the hour, and instead abandoning
performing his own Haj altogether by taking off his “ahram”
(unstitched garment worn on Haj) on the very day when all the rest of
the tens of thousands of Hajis who had come from the world over to
perform Haj were obligatorily putting on their own “ahram”
to commence their Haj, bidding them all farewell and disappointed at
how few Muslims from the twin centers of Islam had chosen to heed his
invitation to accompany him on his “naizat” while the
pious rank and file and learned scholars alike stayed rather
unconcerned and busy in their religious rituals seeking Islam's
promised Heaven; leaving Mecca for his final destination and being
stopped in the desert-plains of Karbala in Iraq by Yazid's fearless
General, named Hur-ibne-Riayee, and the subsequent inhumanity that
was inflicted upon the Ahlul Bayt of the Prophet of Islam by none
other than the Muslim state army, culminating in the inhuman massacre
of most male members of the Imam's family including his thirsty
children one of whom was only six month old baby, and the aftermath
of the women and children of Ahlul Bayt being made prisoners and
marched in chains to Damascus to Yazid's court, is all quite well
known among most Muslims.
This
gloomy and sorrowful narrative of Karbala is amply rehearsed and
reenacted in passion-plays every year and therefore, this bird's eye
view of mere headlines must suffice for our purpose. The reader can
read a book on Karbala or listen to the majalis on the internet to
learn its gory details, some real and some imaginary, which created a
new micro civilization of Islam among Muslims exclusively for the
Shias of Imam Ali and the Ahlul Bayt that has become centered for the
past thirteen hundred years on the singular remembrance of Karbala.
This heritage of Shiadom is peerless and unparalleled in history
among any peoples – for, the remembrance of Imam Hussein often
surpasses the mourning for one's own family members. The following
analysis dissects the exaggerations accumulated over the centuries
and demonstrates how even the ritual remembrance of the Imam's
“naizat” has not been spared the narrow selfish interests
of, and cultural embellishments by, pulpits and poets alike: Lectures
on Ashura by Allama Murtada Mutahhari – Misrepresentations and
Distortions.
What
is not well known and which is the purpose of this open letter, is
the categorical imperative that was birth-panged by the
deliberate and premeditated actions of the noble Imam against the
tyrannical government of his time and which is ably captured in the
slogan that is often on the lips and worn on black T-shirts in every
Muharram-ul Haram by the devotees to publicly proclaim both personal
piety and devotion to the Imam, but unfortunately seldom followed up
in practice: “Qullo yomin Ashura, Qullo Ardin Karbala.”
The
sorrowful narration of Imam Hussein's travails every year brings even
the most hardened hearts to spontaneous tears, Muslims' and non
Muslims' alike, but often mainly as an act of religious piety for
Shia Muslims, as the fast-path to Heaven in their Afterlife for most,
and mainly as remembrance of a noble act of profound courage and a
monumental crime against humanity committed against the Ahlul Bayt
for the rest. At the end of the remembrance rituals, all go home,
most feeling cleansed at having remembered the Imam and his sacrifice
as a religious obligation. The rest of the year life returns to
normal which is mostly business as usual – the pursuit of
personal happiness and profit, and when even mildly religious, the
selective pursuit of Heaven with selective morality, all at the
expense of engendering “banality of evil”, completely
unmindful of the Qur'anic categorical imperative exemplified
by Imam Hussein with his unparalleled mission and its unparalleled
conclusion that remains unsurpassed in the annals of recorded
history.
So
I begin this open letter by asking the essential question which, at
least to my mind, is calculatingly omitted in the entire enactment of
rituals and remembrance of the Imam's travails in this first month of
the Islamic calendar year --- our new year:
Is
that the purpose of Imam Hussein's ritualistic remembrance, to shed
some genuine tears which, as one is informed from the mimbars
(pulpits) year after year, will take one to Heaven after death?
This
idea has evidently become an intimate part of the religious as well
as cultural ethos of the followers of the Ahlul Bayt (see What
does the Holy Qur'an say about the Ahlul Bayt).
It drives the rank and file of Shia Muslims the world over. It keeps
the tradition of Muharram alive to retell the story of Karbala, and
to reenact its lament, so that the world of tyranny, at least
symbolically, may never forget that there was Imam Hussein. More
significantly however, it spontaneously gathers the flock without any
central authority driving them.
Each
year, wherever Shia Muslims live, this remembrance of Imam Hussein is
spontaneously reenacted, from home to home, center to center, and
street to street. The main raison d'être of the devotees
themselves --- the fast path to Heaven. The remembrance of Karbala
has become a ritualistic holy act with Heavenly blessings presumed to
be attached it.
This
de facto canonization into holy act also works well for
governments, both good and bad, to keep a people culturally inclined
towards the ideals of Imam Hussein, preoccupied in rituals seeking
Heaven in their remembrance of Karbala, lest a group arise to
actually reenact the act of Imam Hussein rather than just his ritual
remembrance.
There
are many deep questions buried in that entire epic journey of Imam
Hussein, the noble grandson of the noble Prophet of Islam, where the
Imam's “qayaam” (categorical stance, to put a stake in
the ground, to draw a line in the sand) took place in specific
stages. From Medina to Mecca to Kufa, which was of course interdicted
in Karbala at the beginning of 61 A.H before reaching Kufa, where,
finally, on the 10th day of Muharram, the exemplar of Islam returned
his soul back to his Creator at the zenith of nafs-e-mutmahinnah: “O
soul that art at rest! Return to your Lord, well-pleased (with him),
well-pleasing (Him)”, (Holy Qur'an, Surah Al-Fajr, 89:27,
89:28,
يَٰٓأَيَّتُهَا
ٱلنَّفْسُ
ٱلْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ
ٱرْجِعِىٓ
إِلَىٰ رَبِّكِ
رَاضِيَةً
مَّرْضِيَّةً
).
And
at each stage there was a stay by the Imam, and an invitation to the
"khawas" of the area to join his final mission, and his
explanations of the mission to individual “khawas” who
questioned him and tried to change his mind, or joined him. These
conversations between the Imam and the “khawas”
transpiring throughout the Imam's journey, and the letters he wrote
to other “khawas”, are most interesting and hide a
well-spring of lessons to be learnt.
Even
its preliminary study reveals an ocean of insight into sociology,
psychology, and perceptive capture of the forces that drive ordinary
human beings, both “khawas” (elites) and “awam”
(public), to the "banality of evil" that has become so well
known as the primary sociological dysfunction of our own modern era.
The
dysfunction of Imam Hussein's era, and our own modernity, is driven
by exactly the same primal forces, as revealed from the perceptive
words and conversations of Imam Hussein which become the mirror of
history to examine one's own times in. This points to the real
significance of the Imam's mission to Karbala – to convey to
his own people, as well as to posterity, the clear demonstration of
how to overcome their own “banality of evil” as per the
clear purpose of the clear teachings of the Religion of Islam brought
by the Noble Prophet of Islam.
The
expression “banality of evil”, the ordinariness of those
who easily become party to extreme evil, by either commission of the
evil, or by their omission to stop the evil, is the neologism of the
Jewish writer Hannah Arendt. It captures a behavioral as well as a
spiritual truth which Islam has focussed on a great deal in the Holy
Qur'an. Human beings are capable of extreme evil, and they don't have
to be sociopaths, psychopaths and hardened criminals to do so.
The
behavior of the largely virtuous and pious Muslims, and especially
the Muslim “khawas” and respected elders, whom Imam
Hussein met and addressed throughout his journey, from Medina to
Mecca to places en route to Kufa, until its culmination in Karbala on
the day of Ashura, exemplifies this truth. Only a tiny tiny handful
joined the Imam in his “qayaam” against the tyrant of his
day. The majority stayed aloof, busy in piety, and the people who had
gathered in Mecca for the Haj season, chose to perform their Haj
instead of pay heed to the Imam's call to overcome their “banality
of evil”.
All
their religious prayers, all their religious piety, and yet they had
learnt to resist the temptation to join the noble grandson of the
noble Prophet of Islam even as they saw him being only accompanied by
his womenfolk and children, which clearly meant that there was an
important principle at stake other than mere rebelling for power. The
tens of thousands of pious Muslims of 60 A.H. had kept the outer
shell of Islam and thrown away its fruit.
For
the Muslims in Yazid's army who participated in the slaughter of the
children of the Prophet of Islam in Karbala, and those Muslims who
silently watched or profited from this evil, their “banality of
evil” is captured in the following remarkable words of Hannah
Arendt from her Report on the Banality of Evil, written in 1963. This
passage captures the German public's behavior under the totalitarian
Nazi Third Reich in 1940s with just as much veracity as it captures
the Muslim public's behavior under the totalitarian Yazid's Ummayad
Dynasty, arguably the Muslim First Reich, in that tragic epoch of 60
A.H. “Evil in the Third Reich had lost the outstanding
quality by which most people recognize it -- the quality of
temptation. Many Germans and many Nazis, probably an overwhelming
majority of them, must have been tempted not to murder, not to rob,
not to let their neighbors part towards their doom (for that the Jews
were transported to their doom they knew of course, even though many
of them might not have known the gruesome details), and not to become
accomplices of all these crimes by benefitting from them. But God
knows, they had learned how to resist temptation.” (Hannah
Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem – A Report on the Banality of
Evil, 1963, ch VIII, last page, pg. 121)
The
words and conversations of Imam Hussein demonstrate that Imam
Hussein's Islam was not the Islam of the “khawas”
(leading elites and prominent peoples) of his time, and nor was it
the Islam of the virtuous rank and file “awam” busy
performing the Haj pilgrimage. Nor is it the Islam that is
culturalized, socialized, and adapted to the taste of the rulers. It
is also not the Islam which Bernard Lewis, “a leading Western
scholar of Islam”, argued: “It is difficult to
generalize about Islam. To begin with, the word itself is commonly
used with two related but distinct meanings, as the equivalents both
of Christianity, and Christendom. In the one sense, it denotes a
religion, as system of beliefs and worship; in the other, the
civilization that grew up and flourished under the aegis of that
religion. The word Islam thus denotes more than fourteen centuries of
history, a billion and a third people, and a religious and cultural
tradition of enormous diversity.” (Bernard Lewis, Crisis of
Islam – Holy War and Unholy Terror, 2003, pg. 1)
The
word Islam only denotes what the Religion of Islam itself defined it:
“This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed
My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion; (Holy Qur'an,
Surah Al-Maeda verse fragment 5:3,
الْيَوْمَ
أَكْمَلْتُ
لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ
وَأَتْمَمْتُ
عَلَيْكُمْ
نِعْمَتِي
وَرَضِيتُ
لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ
دِينًا ۚ
)
The
lessons buried in that entire journey of the pious Imam, and not just
the final ten days of it, or the last day of it called “Ashura”,
are so profound, and transformative, that I have to lamentably
observe that it remaining largely hidden among the ardent followers
of the Ahlul Bayt throughout the ages since Karbala, is its own
tragedy.
The
truth of these words, that it has indeed remain hidden, is empirical.
It is even explained by the very definition of “Gum-e-Hussein”
that the rank and file followers of Ahlul Bayt typically live by.
This
is where I am indebted to the inexplicable new rising scholar of
Islam, Hujjatul Islam Allama Syed Jawad Naqvi [1],
of the Shia Islamic Seminary named Jamea Orwathul
Wuthqa, Lahore, Pakistan, for his outstanding “tajziya”
(analysis) of the words, sentences, letters, speeches, khutbas,
conversations – in full sociological context of that time –
of the pious Imam himself to explain the Imam's own “Gum-e-Hussein”.
What
was Imam Hussein's own “gum”, his own angst, his own
grief, that caused him to launch his “naizat” against the
tyrant of his time?
We
know what his adherents' “gum” is whenever we think of
“Gum-e-Hussein”. It has largely been the same ever since
61 A.H. It is the tragedy of Karbala, of what Yazid's forces did to
the noble family of the noble Prophet of Islam and to the surviving
women and children of Karbala. Muslims are sorrowful and sad because
Yazid killed and tortured the Imam and his family. That is the
public's “Gum-e-Hussein”, their sorrow and anger over
what Imam Hussein and his family were subjected to.
But
what was Imam Hussein's own “gum”? His own anger? His own
“Gum-e-Hussein”? Karbala and Ashura had not yet
transpired when the Imam started his “naizat” in Medina
in 60 A.H. [2]
How,
and indeed why, has Imam's Hussein's own “gum” become
masked off from the pulpit by the paid narrators who mount the
mimbars, and by the hundreds of thousands of devout and devoted elegy
writers, poets, scholars, and khatibs throughout Muslim history?
Why
has the Imam's own “gum” not become the common “gum”
and shared ethos of his own steadfast adherents among both the
“khawas” and the “awam” throughout history?
Had
that been so, there would indeed have been Karbala every place and
Ashura every day, as per the Imams of the Ahlul Bayt's
explanation of the perennial import of Karbala: “Qullo yomin
Ashura, Qullo Ardin Karbala.”
Whereas,
what has actually transpired is that the followers of Ahlul Bayt,
worldwide, mainly only remember the Karbala of 61 A.H. They offer
their sorrows and laments to the Imam for what happened to his
family. And after having paid their full respects for ten days to the
noble family of the Prophet of Islam, and having said their
“al-widas” (goodbyes) and their “see you next year
if life remaining”, return home to business as usual. The
poignant pithy saying of the sixth Imam of the Ahlul Bayt has become
relegated to mere poetry, elegies, posters, and fine art tee-shirts.
In
the same way, many other religious concepts whose principal purpose
is to induce voluntary transformation in every society in every day
and age, such as “safina-tun-nijaat” (the ship of
refuge, reference to Prophet Nuh's Ark (Noah's Ark) that gave
“nijaat” to all those who willingly came on board from
the pestilence of the global floods; referring to the fundamental
ideals and core principles of the religion of Islam that Imam Hussein
is seen as the uncompromising exemplar of, the ship of refuge
from all falsehoods and tyranny for anyone who willingly climbs
aboard that exemplariness, in the words of the Prophet of Islam:
“Innal Hussein misbah-ul-huda wa safina-tun-nijaat”),
etc., have also become relegated to merely reciting in elegies. And
to be worn on expensive silkscreened tee-shirts to display one's
faith in the Imamate of the holy Imams of the Ahlul Bayt.
This
is particularly felt important every time Shia Muslims are under
assault, and rather than cower in intimidation, remembering the
courage of Imam Hussein and his uncompromising stance at Karbala, put
on a bold display of faith before the world with these holy
sayings printed on posters and tee-shirts.
More
Machiavellianly however, these slogans and the name of Imam Hussein
is carried aloft for corralling the flock behind any agenda, to show
any mission of self-interest as the mission of Hussein, no
differently than how in the Battle of Siffin
in 37 AH., Muawiyah ibne Abi Sufyan's forces at the brink of defeat,
cunningly raised their copies of the Holy Qur'an on their spears as
the ones on the righteous path, to confront Imam Ali's soldiers. Imam
Ali's army, despite their Imam's effort in telling them that this was
a diabolical ruse to get them to lay down their arms when the battle
had reached a decisive stage in their favor, did precisely what
Muawiyah had anticipated the simpletons in the Imam's army would do.
That momentous event of Muslim history set the precedent for holding
any holy flag of Islam
over the public head when it serves a political agenda.
That
exercise is not limited to Muslim states waging self-righteous holy
wars in the name of Islam,
both in offense as its own la mission civilisatrice, as well
as in self-defence, internecine or otherwise.
It
also encompasses the cunning of: a) deliberately keeping the public
preoccupied in the fast-path to Heaven in the name of Imam Hussein by
misdirecting attention to what Yazid did to Imam Hussein in the
plains of Karbala, lest the public focus on what Imam Hussein did to
Yazid and rise-up against their own oppressors; and b) rallying the
public to senselessly lay down their own lives “united we
stand” for what is propagandistically deemed holy mission,
and holy defence, by rulers, in the name of what Imam Hussein
did in the plains of Karbala with the same promise of Heaven
awaiting. The dispensers of Heaven among Muslims throughout its short
fourteen century history have arguably far surpassed the papacy at
its peak influence.
The
perceptive understanding of “Gum-e-Hussein” from the
Imam's own point of view however, with sophistication and
wherewithal, frees all these revolutionary constructs of Islam from
the straight-jackets of gut-wrenching elegiac poetry, fine
literature, scholarly humanities, and Machiavellian misdirection that
they have become enshrined in over the ages.
Indeed,
I do not see the Imam's own “gum” having become the “gum”
of his most ardent matamis (self-flagellators), jooloosies (flock in
processions), khatibs (mounters of pulpit), poets, scholars,
mourners, and believers of his Imamat in general.
In
fact, the Imam's most ardent devotees among the rank and file, in
their exaggerated public expression of “Gum-e-Hussein”,
so transcend the bounds of human dignity in their ritualistic
remembrance of the tragedy of Karbala that their blood-letting in the
name of Imam Hussein, would surely be part of Imam's own
“Gum-e-Hussein”. The ubiquitous Shia pulpit that silently
condones what has now become enshrined as the
public face of Shia Islam,
has occasionally been checked
by the rare Shia jurist, but at best in advisory tones as employed
by Ayatollah Khamenei
(cached),
who, as the anointed Valih-e-faqih-e-Muslimeen and legal head of
state whose religious influence extends far beyond Iranian borders,
has the power and authority to categorically ban it by both religious
fatwa as well as legal injunction. At least Khamenei has termed it
“wrongful”. The trend however among the highest echelons
of religious power in Shiadom even in this day and age, is either to
be stone deaf, dumb and blind on this matter, to hear no evil, speak
no evil, see no evil, like Ayatullah-ul-Uzma Ali al-Sistani whose
office has categorically stated that the Grand Ayatullah has issued
no opinion on the matter in clarification of fabricated fatwas in his
name. Or, as the case of this fiercely pious fellow,
Ayatullah-ul-Uzma
Bashir Najafi,
issue fatwa actively encouraging blood-letting self-flagellation not
only as an act of faith to earn the intercession of the Ahlul Bayt in
Afterlife (the fastpath to Heaven), but also for conveying the
bloodbath at Karbala to the world, both as an invitation to Islam as
well as to the misery of Imam Hussein the remembrance of which will
take anyone to Heaven. Somebody forgot to inform this poor fellow and
all those grand Ayatullah “marjai-taqlids” (worthy of
emulation) who exercise mass behavior control in Shiadom in the name
of God (see What
does the Holy Qur'an say about Taqlid),
who live upon the mastery of thousand year old books as the source of
divine authority over their flock, that mankind no longer lives in
the dark ages when it might have been impressed by such absurdly
unintelligent invitation! The appeal of this barbarism is strictly
limited to incestuous self-reinforcement within the flock
already socialized into this practice, demonstrating an unarguable
example of cultural pollution of religion. The rational mind just
shivers in revulsion at such scholarship of the Dark Ages having
found air to breathe among Muslims in this day and age in the name of
Islam. There are of course many other cultural cancers that continue
to find theological sanctuary in Muslim societies in the guise of
religion, but the focus here is unveiling the mystery of Karbala.
Thus,
we clearly evidence that the construct “Gum-e-Hussein”
has come to have two distinct and separate meanings which have rarely
coalesced throughout the fourteen centuries that it has been
commemorated:
- There is the public's “Gum-e-Hussein” which is ingrained by socialization from birth and which is usually aided and abetted by religious scholars and religious tradition as the “wasilah” for the fulfillment of prayers in this life, and the fastpath to Heaven in Afterlife;
- and there is Imam Hussein's own “Gum-e-Hussein” which is almost always ignored.
In
the age of universal tyranny, the public's “Gum-e-Hussein”
is supposed to have led to adopting the Imam's own angst, his own
grief, his own “Gum-e-Hussein”, to strike at the very
heart of tyrants and its systems of oppression.
Has
that happened? Which meaning should one rationally adopt in our own
age of universal tyranny, almost fourteen centuries (and counting)
after Imam Hussein exemplified his own “Gum-e-Hussein”?
Is
Imam Hussein the private property of Shia Muslims that its rank and
file can do whatever it likes in his memory? The Imam is an
exemplifier for all Muslims, nay, for all humanity, for wherever
tyranny exists.
It
is fortunate that rational people are inspired directly by the
categorical imperative that Imam Hussein not only stood for,
but equally demonstrated in his acts with the same uncompromising
fervor, much like the Kantian categorical imperative that the
West is likely more familiar with. And not turned off by the
ritualistic excesses of his devoted followers who tend to largely
ignore the categorical imperative of the Imam and focus on
that one instance of the act itself.
What
this means as a philosophical principle, is that every act of Imam
Hussein underlies a principle which can become a general principle.
When that is true, it is what Kant defined as the categorical
imperative for moral existence based on reason. As a general
principle therefore, anyone and everyone can adopt it for the same
purposes in their own individual acts regardless of time and space,
regardless of their caste, creed, national origin and religion –-
and each of their individual acts in turn become a categorical
imperative in the Kantian sense.
Meaning, they do not act in a manner such that its underlying
principle cannot be made into a general principle. Thus, to cut open
one's head with a sword can hardly be made into a general principle
of mourning.
That
timeless power of Imam Hussein, to be the singular and unparalleled
exemplar of Kant's categorical imperative principle for moral
existence to this degree of belief and commitment a thousand
years before German philosopher Immanuel Kant was even born; to offer
his and his family's lives in ransom as a categorical
imperative in the unflinching way that he did at Karbala, that he
sacrificed everything including his children, for a principle that he
held dearly, is presumably what attracts the thoughtful mind to Imam
Hussein even fourteen centuries later.
Here,
in the philosophical sense, it is arguably immaterial what
specifically Imam Hussein believed, but only that his principled
acts, driven by the courage of his convictions, is illustrative of
the Kantian categorical imperative of moral existence.
That is Imam Hussein's attraction to many thinking peoples, as the
unsurpassed exemplar of having the courage of one's convictions.
It
is this idea that inspires many to stand their ground against all
odds even when they may not be Muslim, or even religious. Hindus are
as inspired by Imam Hussein's categorical imperative
for instance – when they do not even believe in the religion of
Islam. So, clearly, the specific religious beliefs of Imam Hussein
has no significance for them. Only his actions, his “naizat”,
and his deliberate and premeditated supreme sacrifice born of the
courage of his personal convictions against a tyrannical government
of his time. That is the fount of inspiration for all who proclaim
human rights, human dignity, and for those who are forced to live in
bondage and under the jack boots of one Nazi or another. It is also
the fount for recognizing hypocrites who send others to their death
in the name of liberty and justice. And for recognizing murderers who
kill innocent civilians in mass numbers under the sound of trumpet
and in the name of freedom and justice. This is why, as the poet
famously said in his couplet in Urdu, translated: let
people be awakened and informed, and all nations will proclaim
Hussein is ours!
The
rank and file mind is of course least bothered with principles and
philosophies, or perhaps fairer to say, is not as attracted to the
underlying principles as to the act itself. Such a mindless public,
by ignoring the principles underlying the Imam's acts, despoil the
Imam's sacrifice. It was indeed the only raison d'être
of the Imam's “qayaam” all the way to his supreme
sacrifice at Karbala. The Imam did not then, nor surely now, want
tears of sympathy. The Imam did not call people watching him depart
at each stage of his “qayaam”, to shed tears for him or
his family in lieu of their accompanying him. He called them to join
him solely as a shared categorical imperative which he tried
to educate them as their duty and obligation far surpassing Haj. The
statement narrated from the sixth Imam of the Ahlul Bayt who lived to
see the transition of Islam's distorted pulpit from one tyrannical
dynasty to another, Imam Jaffer as Sadiq, quoted earlier, translated
into English: Every day is Ashura, Every place is Karbala,
reinforces this point that Imam Hussein's acts and behavior during
his “naizat” is a timeless general principle; a
categorical imperative
against tyranny where the tyrant shall always lose in the end, but
this will be at a cost, the cost of taking on the sea of troubles to
end them!
We
see from this short discussion that Imam Hussein's “Gum-e-Hussein”
is what drives the Imam to his categorical imperative, and the
public's “Gum-e-Hussein” is what drives them to recall
the act of Imam Hussein but not to his categorical imperative!
It
also appears to me that it was indeed the Islamic Revolution in Iran
that brought this distinction out on the surface in our own era ---
but not from the lips of Qom trained ullema who have become
professional pulpit occupiers worldwide, earning their livelihood in
the name of the miseries of Ahlul Bayt. The “Gum-e-Hussein”
the turbans have preached for centuries, and continue to rehearse
today, is the public's variety. For it is the public that pays for
their keep.
From
homes to religious centers, a paid turban, whether trained in a
seminary or self-taught with diligent practice, brings the devotees
to tears as their fast path to Heaven, and charges a hefty fees for
that service. This has become the de facto public
face of Shiadom.
The
wide chasm between the Imam's own “Gum-e-Hussein” and the
public's “Gum-e-Hussein” cannot be more unbridgeable
under the present system of ritualized, superstitious, fast-path
driven, Shiadom. This serves the interests of the control systems of
tyranny just fine.
Jawad
Naqvi is the first exception I have seen to the typical Qom and Iraq
trained religious scholars, khatibs, alims, and various and sundry
Hujjatul Islams and Ayatollahs. And because of this exceptional find,
I have spent hundreds of hours, literally, going through Jawad
Naqvi's remarkable collection of speeches archived on his website,
islamimarkaz.com, to extract the gems, and to leave aside the shells.
This
rational signal to noise ratio filtering in epistemology
is the prerequisite for intelligently parsing all narratives of
history and current affairs for every student of truth, be it a lowly
student like myself, or the Grand scholar of the universe as captured
in imposing titles like “Ayatollah Uzma”, “Grand
Mufti”, etc.
Instead
of making history sacrosanct, as Muslims remember the events of
Karbala in every Muharram-ul Haram as the fastpath to Heaven, and as
the wasilah for fulfillment of prayers, we might also endeavor to
study the categorical imperative birth-panged in Karbala by
the exemplification of deen-ul-haq. We might ask why the
religion of Islam in the Holy Qur'an is called deen-ul-haq, if
not to endeavor to create heaven right here in this world for
everyone by establishing justice for everyone, and ask how, if not by
breaking all bonds of servitude to fellow man. We might ask how that
lofty categorical imperative of Islam got morphed into the
selfish individual goal of seeking Heaven in Afterlife while leaving
the tyrants in this world alone. Karbala exemplified that principal
teaching of the religion of Islam as deen-ul-haq for all time
and space. While no Muslim denies that fact, Karbala has become
relegated to an isolated act of history for history. And the rest of
Islam's preaching for establishing justice is left to Eschatology!
Instead
of making the history of Karbala sacred for extracting individual
tears by imaginative narratives, Muslims might examine our own age
and era in the mirror of the history of Karbala. Instead of beating
one's own chest in unstoppable tears and feeling having given justice
to the memory of the martyrs of Karbala, we might offer our chests to
the tyrants of our own time as the categorical imperative of
Karbala.
That
is the real face of Shiadom which has remain occulted for centuries.
The public face of Shiadom instead of becoming an expression of the
categorical imperatives of Islam, has exclusively become an
expression of sorrow for the fate of the Ahlul Bayt of the Prophet of
Islam, often with absurd rituals which in this day and age seem to be
a throwback to barbarianism.
Just
as Muslims have not understood the message of Karbala and have become
engrossed in memorializing it in rituals as a religious element
despite fourteen centuries of rehearsals, Muslims have also not
understood the religion of Islam and become engrossed in its rituals.
The evidence for this statement is obvious and quite empirical ---
just look around us, fourteen centuries of Islam with full mosques on
every street corner, millions performing Haj each year, million
feeding the poor, and still living in bondage to despotic rulers and
empires with almost a fifth or sixth of the world population living
in hunger and deprivation! It is as if no Prophets ever came to
enlighten mankind.
The
people of the world understanding Karbala in all its dimensions frees
not just Muslims from bondage to fellow man, but the entire world
from tyranny of fellow man.
Karbala
is the singular recipe of moral resistance. It is also the mirror of
history to understand our own times for our own banality of evil
---- for the same sociological principles remain in play again and
again that determine the rise and fall of civilizations.
History,
all history, is only a mirror of learning, and the fount of wisdom,
when it is responsibly used to navigate for a better tomorrow. But,
obviously, not when the mirror is held to the blind!
This
is the lamentable tragedy of man. History has become the manipulative
tool of choice for behavior control in virtually all societies.
Narratives of history are used to instill false beliefs, draw
specious or misdirected lessons, and to implant and perpetuate myths
and ideologies. Once these narratives become part of culture and its
intellectual tradition, the social norms that result from cultural
ethos automatically determines the aggregate public behavior. This is
the principal reason for the existence of Shias and Sunnis, mainly
their differing views of the same history of Islam! Otherwise, both
should have the same beliefs and practices and understanding of Islam
because our Holy Book, the Holy Qur'an, and our Holy Prophet, and his
Ahlul Bayt, are one and the same! Unfortunately, each has been breast
fed their preferred narrative of history in such a way that for both,
tyrants, rulers and empires have come and gone over the past fourteen
centuries but nothing has disturbed their ritual piety! And nothing
disturbs it today either.
Only
when the public understands this subversion of their mind in which
they are voluntarily made to pay homage to their rulers as virtue,
made to agree to tyrannical rule with either apathy or willingness,
Machiavellianly kept busy in pious rituals, awarded peace prizes to
look the other way, all by writing a history that suits the rulers,
or a particular agenda, and socializing the public mind into that
narrative as “their holy truth”, can we ever begin to
free ourselves from its web of control.
This
is why history is a dual edged sword. In the hands of compassionate
wisdom, it charts the course of action in the present to avoid the
same pitfalls. In the hands of Machiavelli, it permits villainy to
rule endlessly.
Come
visit Karbala afresh. While the tender heart will surely forever
lament the barbarianism visited upon the martyrs of Karbala as part
of the culture of Shiadom, let's begin the scholarly journey of the
mind afresh by recalling not what Yazid did to Imam Hussein and to
the Ahlul Bayt, but by comprehending what Imam Hussein and the Ahlul
Bayt did to Yazid!
The
latter study is a lesson for peoples of all faiths, and no faith, for
all times. The deliberate and premeditated sacrifice of Imam Hussein
and his family is more than the story of courage and perseverance.
Its natural appeal to all peoples lies in the strength that it is the
singular story of the courage of one's convictions to confront the
forces of evil without becoming evil; without becoming barbarian in
one's resistance to evil; offering the resistance of only one's own
self and one's own near and dear ones as ransom to brutality. It is
the heartening story of courage to reinstantiate morality and human
excellence which had fallen prey after the death of Prophet of Islam,
to primacy as the new virtue. Silence to vice and oppression had
become the new good, black had been turned into white, and people had
become unable to make the distinction between right and wrong, with
all wrongs cast as the new right.
That
surreal society surely makes for a most instructive sociological
mirror for the study of our own times which also relies more on
perception management and tickling the baser human instincts than the
bayonet to make the public's mind. Today, in our own modern
democratic dispensation and full spectrum media control of our
senses, we also offer our willing consent to abhorrence and to rule
by tyranny in no less a measure than in that and other periods of
imperial history.
Karbala
was not an accident of history. It was the result of a categorical
decision made by Imam Hussein to say No to the “banality of
evil”, of spectating in silence and apathy, as a decadent
despot came to power as the new ruler of the large Muslim empire. If
the martyrs of Karbala made a choice to be there to offer their lives
in ransom to rebirth the message of Islam as the forgotten
deen-ul-haq, then, surely, as obvious as the sun is bright on
a cloudless afternoon, they do not want centuries of mere tears and
salaams of their devotees in response to Imam Hussein's evergreen
call in Karbala: “Hull min nasireen yan soor na” (who
will come to help me in my cause). The noble Imam wanted then,
and for every age and for every time hence, only “nasireens”,
helpers, aiders and abettor, for the mission of enacting justice, for
standing up against tyranny, for asserting what's moral and what's
immoral, unequivocally demonstrating that no sacrifice is too great
to stand up to tyranny, whether it be under the sword on the day of
Ashura and its aftermath, or it be the tyranny of falsehood presented
as virtue, rectification of which became the mission of the surviving
family members of Imam Hussein in the aftermath of Karbala.
The
whole hearted stance of Imam Hussein against tyranny is rather
obvious and self-evident, even to the innocent child when she asks
the puzzling question that why did Imam Hussein knowingly take his
six month old baby with him to a mission as fatal as standing up to
the evil Yazid, especially when none of the other pious Muslims in
the multitude of millions at the time dared to join him, many
cautioning him that he would be killed for sure? That child's
question opens a Pandora's box of questions for examination ---- and
as the legend promises, when you dig down to the very bottom, all
mystery is revealed.
But
this is never obvious when the sanctimonious pulpit has hijacked
Karbala in the service of empire, when the indoctrinated public mind
gathers around it to remember the event in rituals of tears and with
hopes for salvation. It is never obvious when pretentious piety comes
to occupy the public mind year after year, generation after
generation, centuries after centuries. It is never obvious when paid
professionals are engaged to extract the public's tears as an act of
piety. It is never obvious when respected high ranking scholars with
large followings use their learnedness to foster the public's
“Gum-e-Hussein” instead of developing Imam Hussein's
categorical imperative among their flock. And it is never
obvious when emotions take over the ability to reason from an event
of history that touches the heart to its very core. Books after books
have been filled with the narratives of Karbala but few teach its
categorical imperative as the singular duty imposed by the
religion of Islam upon its followers. The failure to recognize
commonsense, in fact, its total absence among the laity when
remembering the horrors of Karbala and its aftermath, and virtually
its total absence among the clergy who rehearse Karbala as a
profession, who earn their livelihood and their scholarship from the
blood of Karbala, is the tragedy not just of Shiadom, but of Islam
and all Muslims. When the clergy class of a religion becomes co-opted
by either drought of intelligence (the dumbest in society are
attracted to it as the profession of easy living), or self-interest
(Machiavelli and ubermensch wear the robe and turban), one can
either recite “fatiha” (eulogy) for that religion or
celebrate. Why celebrate? Because, this social weakness, absurdities
and myths becoming religion, presents the opportunity for rational
scrutiny to liberate belief systems from the clutches of “Jahiliya”.
Karbala
is a uniting force for Muslims, nay all humanity, if people can only
realize its full significance. The significance of a real man, not in
mythology or in theory, willingly standing up for the highest ideals
of man --- to live in freedom and justice without fear and indignity
and no price being high enough for seeking that virtue.
Unlike
abstract theological principles like the Biblical Golden Rule (“Do
unto others as you have others do unto you”) never put into
practice so as to ever become exemplary for all peoples, Karbala is a
real exemplary event that defined a real categorical imperative
enacted by the courage of Imam Hussein. It can attract all humanity
if some Muslims don't despoil its name with strange behaviors,
superstitions, or its minimization. Karbala is the singular
categorical imperative to create a just world ---- not by
endlessly talking about it in utopian platitudes and moral clichés
as virtually all religions and utopian philosophies do, but by
fighting oppression in practice in the style of dignity and
perseverance of Imam Hussein and his family at Karbala! Imam Hussein
is the inspiration for all to withstand calamity with dignity. Imam
Hussein is the hope of every oppressed that someday justice shall
prevail. And Karbala is that road to justice for any self-respecting
people empowered to strive to make that someday happen today.
In
a just world, by definition, all peoples of all persuasions can find
space for themselves, each according to their own beliefs, traditions
and culture. All high minded theories like the Golden Rule easily
become a practical categorical imperative and put into
practice by all in a just society, but only in a just society where
all abide by the same rules enacted by the fiat of just laws in which
no one takes undue advantage of another. That can only transpire when
tyrants, their special interests, and their systems of oppression to
keep the people in bondage of one kind or another, are defeated, and
perpetually kept defeated. This is the straightforward meaning of
Every day is Ashura, every place is Karbala ---- for indeed,
tyranny is everywhere, and will continue to rise its head everywhere,
in every era, and therefore, by the logic of freedom and liberty
being a desirable virtue for all (unless one asserts that living in
bondage to the ubermensch is virtue), its antidote must also
arise in every place, in every era.
Mankind
to this day knows of no other exemplary resistance against tyranny
among any peoples and civilizations that parallels Karbala. One does
not even have to believe in the religion of Islam, or God, to be
inspired by the resistance of Imam Hussein and his family members in
Karbala!
It
is high time this travesty in misunderstanding Karbala is recognized
by the public themselves and its holy narratives liberated from
artificial sacrosanctness and antediluvian superstitions which have
now become enshrined in the
public face of Shiadom.
The world public today cannot accept this throwback to the dark ages
as liberating philosophy of resistance, let alone be attracted to it
as a categorical imperative of moral existence!
So
come revisit Karbala as the timeless categorical imperative of
Islam gifted to all humanity, on how to rise up to systems of
oppression without yourself becoming a barbarian in the process.
Watch Islamophobes and their Machiavellian concoctions like “militant
Islam” scurry for cover.
As
we gather to commemorate Imam Hussein's “naizat” in this
Muharram, and in every Muharram, let's not forget the categorical
imperative that the noble Imam's “naizat” made
incumbent upon every human being, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. To
strive to live free of tyranny and oppression is surely the most
important Haj, the most important prayer, the most important guidance
of the religion of Islam to all mankind.
In
shared “Gum-e-Hussein” of the captain of
“safinah-tun-nijaat” for all mankind,
as-salamu
'alayka ya Sayed-us-Shuhada
Yours
sincerely,
Zahir
Ebrahim | Project Humanbeingsfirst.org
[1]
It is necessary to state that as an ordinary student of reality, I
have some principled difference of opinion on fundamental matters
with scholar extraordinaire, Allama Jawad Naqvi. Specifically, why he
persistently chooses to ignore the British royalty's knighthood title
“Sir” awarded to its stooges in its colonies as he makes
“Sir”
Allama Iqbal
out to be the “alamabardar” of “deen-e-shabbiri”
(the flag bearer of the religion of Hussein, i.e., religion of Islam
as exemplified by Imam Hussein at Karbala). The inconsistency between
his pious poetry and vulgar acts of supporting the British Empire and
being knighted for his labors evidently does not perturb Jawad Naqvi!
What does that say about him? From his silence to my letter
of inquiry in my report: The Rise of Revolutionary Islam in Pakistan
– A Report on Behavior Control,
I have unfortunately concluded that Hujjatul Islam Allama Syed Jawad
Naqvi, either carefully lies by omission when convenient or necessary
to push his ideological doctrines through; or he is victim of both:
data availability bias and confirmation bias, which
permits him to weave his narrative to unwittingly only state what is
consistent with his own theology. That is arguably not the hallmark
of a student of truth about reality (one who seeks truth in all
matters regardless of what it is, discover reality the way it
actually is by distancing the observer from the observed), but that
of an ideological doctrinaire (one who expounds his own “truth”,
his own beliefs, his own ideology). There is a marked difference
between the two attitudes. The former when presented with a fact or
analysis that goes against his presuppositions or instincts, easily
accepts the new fact. The latter discards that fact as inconvenient, or denies
it, or minimizes it, or rationalizes it away as inconsequential or
immaterial. Secondly, Allama Jawad Naqvi has never responded to my
critical analysis of the entire concept of Taqlid,
and Vilayat-i
Faqih,
in which I have tried to understand the matter directly from my own
meagre study of the Holy Qur'an, and asked the world of Islam
scholars to find the reasoning flaw in it so that either I, a humble
student of reality (and not its master), may come to the right
understanding of reality and stop being mistaken, or they, as
imposing ideological scholars of Islam socialized into their thinking
and their ethos no differently than the common man, change their
mind. Since both paths cannot both be true when they appear to be
opposites (yes I understand the circle, thank you). See Preface:
Hijacking The Holy Qur'an And Its Religion Islam.
Obviously, no “khawas” is really interested in putting an
ordinary fellow of the “awam” straight. Regardless, I
cast aside those principled differences of opinion for this profound
topic because of the truth of the matter. I find Jawad Naqvi's clear,
lucid, and analytical deconstruction of this tragic, even criminal,
trajectory of Muslim history both interesting and perceptive. His
focus on the Imam's categorical imperative is refreshing. And I can
only humbly thank him for making use of the pulpit as it should be
used --- to help educate the public how to make heaven right hear on
earth for all mankind by standing up to man's tyranny. Minimally, the
study of Karbala as a categorical imperative, transcending its
superficial rituals and its self-propounded religious significance,
opens the door to further analytical study for the curious minds –
for indeed, only the curious mind will dare probe further, and the
tender heart be inspired to rise above ritual remembrance to act upon
the categorical imperative.
|
27
Rajab 60 A.H. Medina, Imam called by Walid, governor of Medina,
to his office to quietly take oath of fealty to Yazid. Imam
declined to take oath in private and said he will let him know
the next day.
|
|
28
Rajab 60 A.H. Imam publicly announced his refusal to take oath to
Yazid and left Medina for Mecca with family and few companions
despite advice by all and sundry against his “naizat”.
In a letter bearing his Last Will and Testament that he gave to
his half-brother Muhammad ibne Hannafiya, Imam explained his
"naizat" at length and stated his final destination
after Mecca to be Kufa.
|
|
3
Shabaan 60 A.H. Imam arrived in Mecca and invited people to his
mission for 4 months non-stop, explaining his “naizat”
in every namaz which he led every day, in personal meetings with
the “khawas”, in public khutbas to the pilgrims
gathering for Haj, and in letters and through emissaries sent to
distant cities.
|
|
8
Zilhajja 60 A.H. Imam left Mecca on the very day Hajis were
putting on their “ahram”, for a place between Nawawis
and Karbala, and not Kufa, with only two additional “nasireens”
joining him despite 4 months of invitation.
|
|
2
Muharram 61 A.H. Imam arrived in Karbala.
|
|
10
Muharram 61 A.H., 680 A.D., Ashura
|
In
his series of lectures, Allama Jawad Naqvi, evidently a fount of
knowledge and understanding on this subject, explains in great
lucidity the actual “Gum-e-Hussein”, Imam Hussein's own
“gum” from Imam Hussein's own words, to unravel the
entire “ma'ajjra” of Karbala. Jawad Naqvi points out some
very interesting sociological questions and its import to our own
times. Specifically, the principal observation: the
same sociological and psychological principles that characterized the
role of the elites in making the public mind that eventually led to
the acceptance of, or acquiescence to, a ruler like Yazid coming to
power (which led to Karbala), whenever and wherever these principles
shall exist, will beget the same conditions, the same “banality
of evil”. And it
is only the “banality of evil”, the unconcerned and
apathetic attitude of the “awam” and their “khawas”,
that begets tyrants and tyranny ---- when good men and women stay
silent looking from the side, do not speak up, do not take up arms
against the sea of troubles to end them. It is virtually the timeless
sociological law of civilizations that gives rise to tyrants and
tyranny. None can be soundly skeptical about that observation,
for it is, arguably, a demonstrated truism. We see it around us even
today.
I
invite you to listen to Allama Jawad Naqvi's lectures for these are
unlike any other analyses I have seen. His profound dissection of the
mystery of Karbala also reflect my own general understanding. I agree
with his deconstruction up to a point. I believe more work is still
needed in comprehending the abnormal psychology where the soldiers of
fortune of the Yazid's army mercilessly butcher and trample those
whom they actually respect, as the standard narrative depicting the
atrocities in Karbala indicates. This has never known to occur in any
warfare without first implanting hatred of the enemy. Which is why,
dehumanization of the enemy has been the long running standard tactic
of warfare in order for soldiers to even be willing to kill another
human being, let alone become merciless under the sound of trumpet.
Karbala presents a dilemma for the modern mind --- the same butchers
of Karbala were drawn from the army who had just a month earlier
given allegiance to the Imam's representative, Muslim ibne Aqeel, in
Kufa; this Yazid's army besieging the Imam in Karbala had not
traveled from Damascus where the seat of government of Yazid and his
father Muawiyah had been brain washing the public with propaganda
warfare against the Ahlul Bayt for two decades. The Kufan soldiers of
Yazid's army in Karbala even used to pray behind Imam Hussein during
their inhuman siege where they even deprived the Imam and his
entourage of water.
Therefore
the question arises, under what psychological forces did Yazid's army
not only mercilessly kill Imam Hussein and his family, but also
deliberately trample their corpses under war horses, put the noble
women folk of the noble family of the Prophet of Islam in chains,
marching them all the way to Damascus to Yazid's court ---- all
against the norms and protocol of the Arabs themselves, against their
own manly traditions of warfare. These were presumably seasoned
warriors. There is no record of them having conducted themselves in
such disgrace in any of their other military adventures under the
reign of the Caliphs and Muawiyah, as these same Arab soldiers of the
Muslim army now stationed in Kufa had spread the frontiers of Islam
from Arabia to Persia and the Roman empire.
Why
was such uncharacteristic barbarianism visited upon Imam Hussein and
his family when these seasoned and professional soldiers in Yazid's
army clearly even respected the noble Imam; not only did they know
that Hussein was the grandson of the noble Prophet of Islam, but also
realized that he was the unsurpassed spiritual leader of Muslims of
his time and preferred to pray behind him rather than anyone else
even in the days of his siege up to the day of Ashura --- as
presented in the standard narrative of the history of Karbala. Either
the standard narrative has problems, or this anomaly begs deeper
psychological explanation. Adolf Eichmann is stated to have killed 6
million Jews in gas chambers during World War II. Jewish sociologist
Hannah Arendt had observed of Eichmann in her reports that in the
courtroom in Jerusalem, he seemed to be just an ordinary fellow
unlike how the media reports had made him out to be as the devil
himself, and who claimed in his defence that he was just “following
orders”. This seminal trial of Eichmann in Jerusalem led to an
entire new field of research in the West, especially in the United
States of America, on the power of obedience to authority and
behavior control, the psychological forces that can get ordinary
people to commit extraordinary atrocities. None of these modern
insights necessarily explain the behavior of the soldiers of fortune
in Karbala, especially when they knew the holiness of the people they
were slaughtering. These soldiers followed orders too --- but that is
not a very compelling explanation in this case.
The
“authority” over Eichmann was the perceived holiness of
Adolf Hitler in the Third Reich, and his disciplined military chain
of command which inspired both fear and awe in the nation. Hitler was
deemed Germany's savior. He appeared invincible to not just the
German rank and file, but also to the German elite who created and
managed his war and propaganda machinery. Hitler's spell-binding
rhetoric and large scale national reconstruction projects had united
the disillusioned and badly defeated Germany after World War I under
his command as their lord god, the Christian God's vicegerent on
earth! Hitler's war call that was emblazoned on Nazi soldiers' belt
buckles was “Gott mit uns” (God with us). There was an
aura of Hitler's authority that had subjugated entire Germany into a
disciplined United we Stand force. There was no such holiness
attributed to the trashy Yazid or to his mercenary chain of command.
Eichmann was not a mercenary ---- he thought he was following the
divine mandate of Hitler. Thus, Eichmann's obedience to authority was
not by the mere force of bayonet, or even the outcome of personal
greed or profit.
Karbala
was entirely different. Yazid and his chain of command did not enjoy
any kind of moral authority over the soldiers or the public. The
state army, composed in Kufa Iraq, far from the center of government
in Damascus Syria, were there in Karbala from self-interest and for
pecuniary gain under the threat of the bayonet of ibne Ziayad, the
barbarian governor tasked by Yazid for the submission of Imam
Hussein. Obedience to him and to his military chain of command was at
the threat of bayonet, and by greed and bribery alone. These overt
and baser forces are insufficient to explain the psychology of
monumental barbarianism visited by them upon the martyrs of Karbala
when the professional soldiers were acutely aware of the nobility of
the souls of the family of Prophet of Islam they were butchering by
the methods that went far beyond their own military culture.
The
sociological explanations offered by Allama Jawad Naqvi in the series
of lectures linked below, “pecuniary gain” for the
soldiers and their commanders, “banality of evil” for the
onlookers, greed, lack of courage, love of this world, and return to
the age of Jahiliya and tribalism, being the general unseen forces
that gave birth to the conditions where a ruler like Yazid and his
father Muawiyah could come to occupy the throne of Islam within just
decades of the death of the Prophet of Islam, are all pertinent and
important chapters in the book of understanding the mystery of
Karbala. But still insufficient to explain the entire mystery of
barbarism visited at Karbala. Some additional chapters are surely
needed to unravel all the psychological forces at play in the light
of modern understanding of the psychology of warfare and behavior
control, in order to explain the standard historical narrative of
Karbala --- and improving its signal to noise ratio is obviously the
first epistemological chapter begging attention. Since these lectures
are in Urdu, if circumstances permit, translation in English will be
forthcoming. The value of these lectures for the public in this day
and age when the (dumbed down) public's (often non-existent) passion
for reading and (seriously lacking) seriousness in disposition has
been outright replaced by obsession with Facebook and Twitter, can be
enormous. The age of Jahiliya has returned with a vengeance when
“likkha-parrha jahils” (morons with advanced university
degrees) abound --- if it had ever left (which is seriously in
doubt).
Hamasa-e-Karbala
1439 Muharram-ul Haram, 2017: Qayam-e-Imam Hussain Ka Makki
Marhala (the Meccan stage of Imam Hussein's stance), Sociology of the
period (what led to luke warm support of Imam Hussein in Mecca
despite his preaching to them for 4 months),
http://islamimarkaz.com/imi/view_lecture.aspx?id=2339
Direct
links to Jawad Naqvi's 1439 AH Muharram video lectures in Urdu for
your convenience:
Hamasa-e-Karbala
1438 Muharram-ul Haram, 2016: Qayam-e-Imam Hussain Ka Makki
Marhala (the Meccan stage of Imam Hussein's stance), Khawas ka Kirdar
(the role of Meccan elite),
http://islamimarkaz.com/imi/view_lecture.aspx?id=2203
Direct
links to Jawad Naqvi's 1438 AH Muharram video lectures in Urdu for
your convenience:
-
### -
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URL:
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updated Muharram-ul Haram 16, 1439 A.H., Saturday, October 7, 2017
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Categorical
Imperative and Karbala – Open Letter to Muslims and Non
Muslims By Zahir Ebrahim 22/22