The forgotten message of Karbala
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The forgotten message of Karbala

Imam Hussain (RA) is light beyond the limit of space and time. That doesn't emit the radiance only in a particular time. It is eternal and enlightening all who have set out to find the truth in its absoluteness

Post by on Thursday, August 19, 2021

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The battle of Karbala undoubtedly upheld the human values of truth, justice and steadfastness. Symbolically, this event bears an intrinsic message for all human beings of all times to uplift the human spirit beyond short-sighted materialistic pursuits and establish a just and equitable order in society.
 
Every year, in the month of Muharram, millions of Muslims (both Shias and Sunnis) mourn the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (RA), his family and friends. Some do it to the highest level of emotional and sentimental state and others equally feel the pain of agony experienced by the martyrs.
 
But, a few among all ponder over the spirit behind the sacred sacrifice offered by the elders, young and little children at Karbala. Offering blood, bodies and heads was for the supreme cause because sacrifice is always made for the cause, bigger.
 
Expressing the flow of love, emotions and attachment over the death of near and dear ones is a natural phenomena so is done with the martyrs of Karbala by all who identify themselves with them. 
 
Karbala martyrs are alive in the truest sense of life. It is evident that even after fourteen centuries, the mournings, feelings, wailing and the expression of unprecedented grief over the martyrdom get refreshed year after year. What makes it so fresh and recent-like? What is behind the fact? This is what honestly a true believer in Husainiyat needs to search out.
 
If the sacrifices were not for any supreme goal then only the personal attachment and love with Hazrat Imam Husain (RA) and other martyrs could not have survived the longest ever mourning and eulogy. Had the martyrs loved their self more than the cause, they couldn't have offered their blood so generously. Their sacrifice is a rational proof that they loved the mission more than their own souls and bodies. 
 
They inscribed an eternal message on the frows of sand through their blood that protecting truth and rejecting evil even the sacrifice of little angels like children and groom like young boys could be presented with utmost pleasure and thankfulness.
 
They proved that Islam is much more to be taken care of than their inflictions and agonies in the dry land of Karbala. They were supremely contended that their throats remained dry for days together but didn't bend before wrong. They offered all what they had but didn't like to shake their faith they had in righteousness.
 
The goal was not to grab the power. Not at all. Any one studying the magnanimous familial structure and traditions and grandiose values of Imam Hussain (RA) would not preoccupy his cognitive faculty, unnecessarily, that Imam (RA), for lust of power, had caused the bloodshed among Muslims. There was no such historical evidence even before the tragedy of Karbala.
 
The thought which actually made Imam Hussain (RA) restless was the moral and ethical erosion of society and state. The Islamic spirit and temperament to govern the state affairs and to establish an ideal and just society had been vanishing under state patronage. This turned him to be a non-conformist. He expressed his genuine reactions against the pathology all around. To all this, he was a non-combatant with no war schemes to put in place. But at the same time, he demonstrated that life, property and honour are secondary to faith and righteous path.
 
Now, do we ever ponder over the supreme legacy the Imam (RA) has left behind? Taking out processions, organising mourning gatherings and preparing feasts and "sabeels"- both by Shias and Sunnis, shall not exonerate us of our commitment which we owe to the pious blood of Imam Hussain (RA) and other innocents (May Allah (SWT) be pleased with all of them). Imam Hussain (RA) is light beyond the limit of space and time. That doesn't emit the radiance only in a particular time. It is eternal and enlightening all who have set out to find the truth in its absoluteness.
 
The mourning is undoubtedly increasing. The participation is higher. The wailing is surcharged with unprecedented love and emotions. But the traces of Husaini mission are hardly seen in our society. Both, rights of Allah (SWT) and His servants are willingly violated. Injustice is rampant with corruption as a fuel. Inequality is dangerously widening in society with poor fighting day-in and day-out for survival and the riches badly caught in vulgar display of wealth and fell short of time to show it off more vulgarly, save a few.
 
Revulsion with aversion, antagonism and repugnance at all moral fronts has become ubiquitous, now. Ignorance and impatience are in a tone which begets void, hatred and finally violence. This is more prominently seen among different groups of Muslims themselves. And this is an open subversion with the actual mission of martyrs being put in oblivion. This needs to be equally mourned, equally eulogized but unequivocally re-established by taking the lesson from the patience and resilience the martyrs had brought with them from Madina to Karbala and finally to Damascus and to the humanity as a whole.
 
(Author works in Education Department and he can be reached at:  reyazmir58@gmail.com)
 
 
Box: Karbala martyrs are alive in the truest sense of life. It is evident that even after fourteen centuries, the mournings, feelings, wailing and the expression of unprecedented grief over the martyrdom get refreshed year after year