1,400 years after the tragic events of Karbala, how much has the Muslim world, particularly Pakistan, learnt? Tahira Abdullah examines the issue and raises important questions
The impact of the inimitable documentary filmmaker Mushtaq Gazdar’s “Ten Days of Lamentation” was profound, but this film is not my earliest recollection of Muharram observances. For that, I would have to go back to when I was 7-years old and accompanied my enlightened, progressive, non-sectarian parents to a majlis in an imambargah: at the invitation of equally enlightened Ahle Tashi friends.
Many decades later, I am still attending majaalis at the invitation of inclusionary, magnanimous Shia friends, but in 2015, I am saddened and outraged to hear a few takfeeri mullahs frothing at the mouth on both sides of that, by now insurmountable, gulf (double entendre intended) – that schism created immediately after the passing of the Prophet of Islam (pbuh).
There is no justifying the unimaginably hefty amounts being expended to fight deadly proxy wars between the powers propagating the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam on our soil. But the real question is: Who amongst us are up for sale to the highest bidders, and why?
Avoidable inflammatory and provocative language is openly used on many Pakistani TV channels, as well as in mosque/imambargah sermons, madrassahs, and sectarian hate literature. There is no justifying the unimaginably hefty amounts being expended to fight deadly proxy wars between the powers propagating the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam on our soil. But the real question is: Who amongst us are up for sale to the highest bidders, and why? Where is their loyalty to Pakistan? Where is their commitment to non-sectarian, non-violent, peaceful Islam?
Did it have to come to such an unfortunate pass that Pakistani Muslims now require a war-like crisis scenario, with mobile cell phone and internet services shut down, and army contingents called out to assist police, rangers, FC and other LEAs, to address the very real threat of bomb blasts, to protect and ensure peaceful worship in imambargahs and mosques, and to prevent further bloodshed during Muharram processions?
Grave sites for Hazara Shias who lost their lives during an attack in Balochistan, 2013
Do we collectively no longer mind becoming a laughing-stock and an object of condemnation, scorn and ridicule the world over? Do we even realise the incalculable harm Muslims are collectively causing to Islam in projecting such a bloodthirsty image of it? The Muslim world does not need external enemies, for it is its own worst enemy.
Has the Sunni majority never paused, at any eureka moment in the past 14 centuries, to attempt to comprehend or ponder the incalculable pain, pathos and the towering injustice of the events at Karbala?
On the other hand – notable exceptions notwithstanding – why have the oppressed Shia collectively not attempted to reach out widely, to explain the terrible wrongs, injustice and heart-wrenching evil committed against the family of the Prophet (pbuh), as opposed to simply lamenting, falling into eternal victimhood, and just observing Muharram rituals as a cathartic annual event, or as a stairway to personal salvation?
Caring Muslims must learn to not just passively tolerate each other's sects, rituals and ideology, for that is just the first step. Pakistani Muslims need to accept and respect people of all Muslim sects and all religions (i.e. non-Muslim Pakistanis)
Powerful poetry, recited in the form of eulogies as marsiyas, nohaas, soze and salaam, serves as an eternal remembrance of oppression and injustice towards the Prophet’s (pbuh) beloved grandson, Imam Hussain (as), his family and companions, and also of their courage and endurance, lest we forget.
For instance, “Hashr takk soch, adl-e-insaani, sirf Ali Asghar ka khoon bahaa kiya hai?” [O Just Humankind, ponder till the Day of Judgement, what will be the retribution, compensation or blood-vengeance of Ali Asghar alone?] It must be noted that the 6-month old son of Imam Hussain (as), Ali Asghar, was the youngest of the 72 martyrs of Karbala]. Justice here is thus seen to be both delayed and denied.
Pakistani Shias are indeed a targeted and threatened community, some more so than others, for instance, the unchecked genocide of the Hazara Shia of Quetta, the target killing of Shia in Gilgit-Baltistan and in the specific Shia-populated areas of Karachi.
The Shia case was strong, and it remains so – and the cause is just. However, we are now living in the 21st century – an era of universally recognised human rights and principles of egalitarianism, secularism, justice and democracy, combined with an abhorrence of monarchic, feudal, tribal, dynastic, despotic, dictatorial, extremist, theocratic, or autocratic rule. More importantly, it is also an era of cynicism and fashionable suspension of belief and faith. There are, thus, too few advocates for this cause.
The site of a suicide attack at an imambargah in Bolan’s Goth Chalghari area on October 23, 2015
Yet, one’s own non-denominational reason and logic compels one to agree with the scholar, Ayatollah Syed Aqeel al-Gharav,i when he asks with eloquent simplicity: how is it possible for a self-professed Muslim to love the beloved Prophet (pbuh) of God, but simultaneously hate and revile his beloved grandchildren and family? [“Who would have imagined that his followers would use the Prophet’s (pbuh) lamp, not to light the path, but to burn and destroy his legacy?”]
Amongst today’s women’s rights activists, and those working to end the use of violence against women and girls as an instrument of war, who can deny the role of the brave women of Karbala? Their endurance of hunger, thirst, murder, torture, captivity, abuse and ridicule, along with their loss of family and liberty, did not rob them of their innate dignity or their courage.
The fortitude of Rubaab (as), the love of Sakina (as) and Shehrbano (as) and the indomitable courage of Zainab (as) are reflected in Zainab’s soul-stirring speech, as a captive at the court of Yazeed, the usurper who was responsible for the murder of her brother Hussain (as) and the 72 martyrs of Karbala.
Irrespective of the conservative patriarchal orthodox Shia view that the Prophet’s (pbuh) lineage is carried on through the man who survived the carnage at Karbala, Imam al-Sajjad Ali ibn Hussain (as), the feminists amongst us know the reality: the Prophet’s (pbuh) beloved daughter, Fatima Zehra (as)’s daughter Zainab kept the Imam alive through her entreaty to Yazeed to spare him. And, if it were not for the immortal speech Zainab had the courage to enunciate for posterity, the world might have forgotten Karbala 1,400 years ago, along with the Prophet’s (pbuh) family.
Zainab thus upheld her father, Ali Ibn Abi Taalib (as)’s edict that speaking the truth to Power – an oppressive, cruel, unjust ruler – is the highest form of jihad. Today, it is pertinent to wonder why she is not recognized as an illustrious role model for all Muslims, male or female, feminist or otherwise.
It is a fact that all hadith scholars of all sects and fiqhs are agreed on the sanad (verification and authentication) of thehadith that says in effect: “Hussain is from me and I am from Hussain.” And there is also the impeccable sanad of anotherhadith, to the effect that: “I am the House of Knowledge and Ali is the door to that House.”
Devout Muslims need to focus on the commonalities, rather than emphasising the wide religio-political chasms and conflicts between Sunnis and Shias. Sordid international geo-politics must not be allowed to take any more lives – far too many Muslims have killed Muslims already for power politics, thinly garbed as religious, doctrinal and sectarian strife.
Caring Muslims must learn to not just passively tolerate each other’s sects, rituals and ideology, for that is just the first step. Pakistani Muslims need to accept and respect people of all Muslim sects and all religions (i.e. non-Muslim Pakistanis). Ethnocentrism, arrogance and superiority complexes have no place in the ideology of Islam or of Pakistan. Pluralism, unity in diversity, harmony, peaceful co-existence and mutual respect are not an impossible pipe-dream or armchair philosophy.
However, real efforts are needed to achieve this, including a thorough revamping of the public schools’ and madrassahs’ curricula, text books (especially religious instruction and Pakistan Studies), pedagogy, teachers’ training, language/semantics, ideology and narratives; along with legislation to criminalise and actively punish the abuse of revered figures and hate speech in mosque/imambargah sermons, hate literature and provocative, inflammatory fatwas (edicts); as well as extremists’ abuse and misuse of the blasphemy law and impunity for mob vigilantism; and taking concrete legal action against the identified “banned” extremist and sectarian organisations, i.e. simply upholding the rule of law without fear or favour.
To achieve this huge transformation, not just civil and military LEAs, but all pillars of the state, as well as all segments of our fractured society have to be willing to be on board: particularly the conservative, patriarchal, orthodox majority in the media and in the politicised clergy.
One way to initiate this long and difficult process would be to start feeling Karbala: in all its complexity, pain and pathos - juxtaposed with its spell-binding bravery, courage and dignity. All it requires is a bit of empathy, a caring heart, an open mind and above all: a sincere commitment to peace.
Tahira Abdullah is a researcher, development worker and activist for peace and human rights. She is based in Islamabad
