I’ve been lying on the bed most of the day and the only think i managed to do was babysitting Alexis and shopping. ridiculously i got lost on my way back home though my sense of direction sucks, i never forget the path once gone.
my mind is somewhere else and i can’t and don’t wanna bring it here cos i enjoy recalling the memory. it’s 10th of Muharram,the first month of the Islamic year. yeah, you don’t care and have NFI why you have to care! well you don’t.
there were a few moments and places in my life that shook my heart and soul so hard, i changed my directions 90-180 degrees. i don’t wanna name them cos they’re pretty personal.
there’s this weird feelings in holy places and holy days. i haven’t felt it in Jewish or Christian places but the Islamic ones.
it’s really hard to understand how they can mourn so passionately after 14 centuries. i still remember this time last year, i was just a witness than rather part of the crowd, and i really wanted to join them but i couldn’t.
the belief and faith must be so strong and woven so close to the heart that you mourn like that, otherwise you’re just a witness, you see them but you can’t understand and the curiosity drives you up the walls that you want to spend days reading books to feel like them a bit.
and i read a few books and now i regret why i didn’t read more.
but i’m not a good translator and i don’t have those books now so i googled the word and it really didn’t satisfy me but it’s worth reading once.
And the history amaze me, Soldiers and many other people are dying everyday in the same place aka Karbala and no one or just a few people mourn.
this time in 61 AH they murdered Hussein and his followers in the most unforgivable way, and now i really don’t know who is murdering who!
but i do believe in “stop war” and i thank all American soldiers but fuck ‘em all, it was never our war, how many innocents should die before they realize the bloodshed? what are they looking for?
14 centuries ago only 72 innocent people died, people still mourn for them and some still remember the reasons they were killed so innocently; you don’t need to be Muslim to understand the tragedy. all you need is to know the real story.
and i dunno what people gonna think 14 centuries later, i’m sure it’s gonna be forgiven in less than 2-3 centuries. only the movies made based on some truth and fucked up with Hollywood’s effects may be viewed to find out how stupid we were.
i doubt 14 centuries later there would be any earth on the solar system.
i don’t fucking care about Vietnam war, WWI WWII cos i had to remember so many foolish names in history lessons; so don’t expect our children to remember anything or want to know how stupid their parents were.
i wish i could understand but i can’t. ALL i know is “stop that fucking war” cos i’m tired of working more than 50 hours a week to pay those fucking taxes mostly used to killing innocents than doing something useful for the people living in US of A!
I rest my case. now i wanna cry for those innocent people murdered 14 centuries ago and more than that i wanna cry for myself.
*****
What is Ashura?
The day of Ashura is marked by Muslims as a whole, but for Shia Muslims it is a major religious festival which commemorates the martyrdom at Karbala of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad.
For Shia Muslims, Ashura is a solemn day mourning the martyrdom of Hussein in 680 AD at Karbala in modern-day Iraq.
It is made up of mourning rituals and passion plays re-enacting the martyrdom.
Shia men and women dressed in black also parade through the streets slapping their chests and chanting.
Some Shia men seek to emulate the suffering of Hussein by flagellating themselves with chains or cutting their foreheads until blood streams from their bodies. (not nowadays!)
Some Shia leaders and groups discourage the bloodletting, saying it creates a backward and negative image of Shia Muslims. Such leaders encourage people to donate blood.
Islamic schism
The killing of Hussein was an event that led to the split in Islam into two main sects – Sunnis and Shias.
In early Islamic history the Shia were a political faction (known as the “party of Ali”) that supported Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed and the fourth caliph (temporal and spiritual ruler) of the Muslim community.
Ali was murdered in AD 661 and his chief opponent, Muawiya, became caliph. The great schism between Sunnis and Shias occurred when Imam Ali did not succeed as leader of the Islamic community at the death of the Prophet.
Caliph Muawiya was later succeeded by his son Yazid, but Ali’s son Hussein refused to accept his legitimacy and fighting between the two resulted.
Hussein and his followers were massacred in battle near Karbala in AD 680.
Both Ali’s and Hussein’s deaths gave rise to the Shia cult of martyrdom, and to their sense of betrayal and struggle against injustice, oppression and tyranny.
Who is Hussein ?
The leader of the small band of men who were martyred in Karbala was none other than Hussein, son of Ali bin Abi Talib and grandson of the Holy Prophet. Who was Husain? He was the son of Fatima for whom the Holy Prophet said, “Hussein is from me and I am from Hussein. May God love whoever loves Hussein.”
With the passing away of his brother Hasan in 50 AH, Hussein became the leader of the household of the Holy Prophet. He respected the agreement of peace signed by Hasan and Muawiya, and, despite the urging of his followers, he did not undertake any activity that threatened the political status quo. Rather he continued with the responsibility of looking after the religious needs of the people and was recognized for his knowledge, piety and generosity. An example of the depth of his perception can be seen in his beautiful du’a(prayer) on the day of Arafat, wherein he begins by explaining the qualities of Allah, saying:
” (Oh Allah) How could an argument be given about Your Existence by a being whose total and complete existence is in need of you? When did you ever disappear so that you might need an evidence and logic to lead (the people) towards You? And when did You ever become away and distant so that your signs and effects made the people get in touch with you? Blind be the eye which does not see You (whereas) You are observing him. What did the one who missed You find? And what does the one who finds You lack? Certainly, the one who got pleased and inclined toward other than You, came to nothingness (failed).”
On the other hand, we have Yazid, whose father (Muawiya) and grandfather (Abu Sufyan – the arch-enemy of the Prophet) had always tried to sabotage the mission of the Holy Prophet, and who showed his true color by stating in a poem, “Bani Hashim had staged a play to obtain kingdom, there was neither any news from God nor any revelation.”
Mas’udi writes that Yazid was a pleasure-seeking person, given to wine drinking and playing with pets. It is no wonder that Husain’s response to Yazid’s governor, when asked to pay allegiance to Yazid was, “We are the household of the prophethood, the source of messengership, the descending-place of the angels, through us Allah had began (showering His favors) and with us He has perfected (His favors), whereas Yazid is a sinful person, a drunkard, the killer of innocent people and one who openly indulges in sinful acts. A person like me can never pledge allegiance to a person like him …”
The revolution of Hussein was an Islamic movement spearheaded by one of the great leaders of Islam. The principles and laws of Islam demanded that Hussein act to warn the Ummah of the evil situation which it was in, and to stand in the way of the deviating ruler. As Hussein himself remarked when he left Madina for the last time, “I am not rising (against Yazid) as an insolent or an arrogant person, or a mischief-monger or tyrant. I have risen (against Yazid) as I seek to reform the Ummah of my grandfather. I wish to bid the good and forbid the evil.”
Hussein was killed on the battlefield as he did Sajdah. His head was removed from his body on the plains of Karbala, mounted on a spear, and paraded through villages and towns as it was taken to Damascus and presented at the feet of Yazid.
Why remember Ashura ?
Why is Hussein regarded as the “leader of the martyrs” ? It is because he was not just the victim of an ambitious ruler. There is no doubt that the tragedy of Karbala, when ascribed to the killers, is a criminal and terrible act. However when ascribed to Hussein himself, it represents a conscious confrontation and a courageous resistance for a sacred cause. The whole nation had failed to stand up to Yazid. They had succumbed to his will, and deviation and regression towards the pre-Islamic ways were increasing.
Passiveness by Hussein in this situation would have meant the end of Islam thus Hussein took upon himself the responsibility of the whole nation. The greatest tragedy was that one who stood up for the noblest of causes, the defense of Islam, was cut down in so cruel a manner.
It is for this reason that the sacrifice of Hussein is commemorated annually throughout the Muslim world.
:-X
Ash
