They all had a common goal: to stop the oppressive nature of the Abu Bakr-started regime, and this battle ended with 72 martyrs, including Imam Hussein; the leader of the movement. Who was Abu Bakr, you may ask.
During the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAWH,) there was no such thing as Shia, Suni, Ismaeli, etc. Islam ([the philosophy of] submission) was just that--Islam. A famous narration by the Prophet says "I have come to reform your manners." This was Islam until the death of the Prophet. Indeed, when a reformer comes to a land, the "reformed" tend to revert back to their old ways after he leaves. Refer to this paper for a discussion on this topic. This is exactly what happened to Islam. Those of you who asked me "who are the Suni," because of the repeated references I made to them in the rebuttal, I will answer you now.
Before the Prophet died, he had made his son in law, Ali, his successor. The first person to accept this decision and acknowledge it was Abu Bakr. Ironically, this was the first man to turn against the Prophet after he died.
After the death of the Prophet, Abu Bakr mentioned that Prophet had not left a successor. Two miles away from the Masjid of Kufa, Abu Bakr gathered his close friends and held elections. Naturally, he was elected to be the successor of Islam. Bare in mind that this position was supposed to be held by Ali, not Abu Bakr.
Meanwhile, back in Kufa, Ali was overseeing the burial of the Prophet (yes, the Prophet hadn't even been buried yet!)
During the reign of Abu Bakr, several things were happening to the religion of Islam. Most notably was the corruption that ensued. Several narrations tell us that Abu Bakr enjoyed drinking to a great extent. We know that Alcohol is forbidden in Islam. Further, Abu Bakr himself has stated on many occasions that "had it not been for Ali, my reign would not have lasted." Whether he liked it or not, Abu Bakr had to accept Ali, in the end, as his adviser. (Ali was eventually given the leadership of Islam, but only after three rulers: Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman.) After Ali came Muawiya who started the Umayyad dynasty. Until then, tensions between Suni and Shia escalated. This was because, while Ali was to have the leadership from the beginning, the Suni took it and then proceeded to corrupt Islam. Thus, we can view the Shia as the reformists.
During the reign of Muawiya, Imam Hussein, the third descendant of the Prophet, was told to bow to Yazid--the commander of the army of Muawiya. He was told to either bow or die. Hussein chose death, and that is why, today, we commemorate Ashoorah on the tenth day of Muharram every year. Instead of giving in to the corruption, Imam Hussein stood his ground and said "no" to corruption and tyranny. This is the very reason why people from several different faiths fought alongside him. This is why Suni-Shia conflicts are still ongoing.
A common Suni argument is, "we follow the Prophet, the Shia follow someone else besides the Prophet, which is against Islam's teachings." Not only is this claim logically false, it is also factually false. Remember that Prophet had declared Ali as his successor (at Ghadeer-E-Qum.) Thus, to not accept Ali as the leader of Islam after the Prophet's death is going against the very wishes of the Prophet. Further, to follow someone does not mean to worship them. We follow Ali because the Prophet said " if I am your master, Ali is your master." In another narration he says "I am from Ali, and Ali is from me."
Next, bare in mind that the Suni follow someone who instigated (and later carried out) the killing of the grandson of the Prophet. What better way to say "I love Islam" than to kill the Prophet's grandson?
On Ashoorah, we commemorate the brutal killings of the 72 martyrs in Karbala, Iraq. That night--after all the men had been killed--the ladies of Islam who were in the tents were dragged from the tents, their hijab torn and the tents burned. This, my dear reader, was done by the leader of the Suni sect of Islam! The suni attack us by saying "crying and wailing is against Islam." Show me a narration that supports it. They also say "grieving is against Islam." My dear reader, Prophet Jacob, the father of Prophet Youssef (may peace and blessings be on both of them) cried until he went blind when his son was supposedly killed by a pack of wolves--and the Suni sect is saying the Prophet's actions were forbidden. This statement defies the very logic of the infallibility of the prophethood in Islam.
Today, we find that the suicide bombs are all Suni. We find that Saddam Hussein continued oppressing Shia until his death. We find that women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia because of the way the Suni sect continues to degrade its women. Ashoorah represents the day our Imam (leader) took a bold stand against the Umayyad government to save his Shia people from falling into the hands of corruption. His blood was spilled; his head was cut and speared. Narrations tell us the government rode on horseback carrying the Imam's head on a stick (they did this to the grandson of the Prophet!)
During the day of Ashoorah, the troops of Hussein were cut off from the water supply; Muawiya's army had surrounded the river of Karbala. Hussein's son, Ali Asgar, who was still an infant at the time was dehydrated. Hussein took him to the opposition and begged them to give him water at least, stating "maybe you hate me, but this child has done nothing wrong to you." You know what they gave the infant? An arrow that went in to his right ear and came out of the left. This, my dear reader, is the same exact leader the Suni sect follows. In fact, you will see a lot of them celebrating on Yomul Ashoorah.
Today, history books have misinterpreted history, saying that the Suni sect believes in elections and the Shia sect believes in blood royalty. If Abu Bakr--the elected representative of Islam confessed that his reign was saved because of Ali's advice, who seems more qualified and knowledgeable to you, the Suni Abu Bakr, or the Shia Imam Ali (may peace and blessings be upon him?) When I used to teach at the local Islamic school, one of my students told me she had some Suni friends who were smoking weed. When she confronted them, they claimed that Abu Bakr smoked weed so it was fine for them to do it because he was the leader of Islam. Can you see how corrupt their mentallity is? Today, when you go to Suni gatherings you will notice a lot of their women shedding their hijab; they call it "modernization" of Islam. Suni people have completely thrown their religion away; they have fabricated it to such a great extent that today all Muslims are suffering because of the fabricated narrations to debase the Prophet in order to raise the status of Abu Bakr. Refer to this paper for a discussion on this topic. I asked an instructor a couple years ago why Suni people fabricated the narrations of the Prophet; it brought no favor to Islam. He answered me with logic and said "think about it. Set aside all the Shia Suni stuff. Why would you debase someone like that? Because they stole the leadership position, and needed a way to debase the Prophet--put him below them." This answer made so much sense to me, and I see that debasement today. They blinded their followers.
There is a narration concerning the event of Ashoorah where the fourth descendant of the Prophet (who took over after Imam Hussein was martyred) was shackled to a carriage and lead through the city of Kufa. An old man approached him and started insulting him (the propaganda had begun against the family of the Prophet.) The fourth Imam, Zainul Abi-Deen, stopped him and said "have you read the verse in the Quran that states that a man who gives charity during prostration in prayer will be your [Prophet Muhammad's] successor?" The man said "yes." The imam replied "we are from his family!" The man broke down and cried "I have been lied to!" The man the Quran talks about was Ali. A narration states that he was in prayer while a woman came into the Mosque to ask for assistance. The Imam stuck out his ring finger to signal for her to take the ring he was wearing; she did. He did this while in prostration and this is the very man against whom injustice was done by your fellow Suni suicide bombers!
Peace be on you, O Abu 'Abdillah
Peace be on you, O son of the Messenger of Allah
Peace be upon you, O the chosen one and the son of the chosen one
Peace be on you, O son of the Commander of the Faithful and the son of the chief of the successors.
Peace be on you, O son of Fatima, the leading lady of the worlds
Peace be on you, O fearless warrior of Allah, the one who was killed, but to whom blood revenge is still denied
Peace be on you, and on the souls who died with you.
I send peace of Allah on all of you forever, so long as I remain alive, and the night and day remains.
O Abu Abdillah,
Great is the loss,
And unbearable and great is your tragedy for us, and for all the Muslims,
And unbearable and great is your tragedy in the heavens, and for all the dwellers of the heavens.
May Allah curse the people, who laid down the basis of oppression and wrongs against you, people of the House
May Allah curse those who removed you from your position, and removed you from the rank in which Allah had placed you.
May Allah curse the people who killed you,
And those who facilitated for them the means for your killing
I turn to Allah and to you, away from them,
And from their adherents, their followers, and their friends
O Abu 'Abdillah,
I am at peace with those who make peace with you,
And I am at war with those who make war with you, till the Day of Judgement.
May Allah curse, the family of Ziyad, and the family of Marwan,
And May Allah curse Bani Umayya entirely,
And May Allah curse Ibn Marjanah
And May Allah curse 'Umar ibne Sa'ad,
And may Allah curse Shimr
And May Allah curse the people who, carried out, saw, and tried to conceal, your killing
My father and mother be sacrificed for you, great is my sorrow for you.
I pray to Allah who has honoured your status, and honoured me through you,
To grant me an opportunity to seek your revenge with a victorious Imam, from the family of Muhammad, blessings of Allah be on him and his family.
O Allah, make me of a worthy status in your eyes, through Hussein, peace be on him, in this world and the Hereafter.
O Abu 'Abdillah,
I seek nearness to Allah,
and to His Messenger,
and to the Commander of the Faithful,
and to Fatima,
and to Hassan,
and to you, through the love and dedication to you,
and through disassociating with those who killed you, and prepared to fight you
and disassociating with those who established the foundations of tyranny, and wrongs against you (O Ahlul Bayt).
I turn to Allah, and His Messenger, away from those who laid grounds for it,
and those who built the house of injustice upon it,
and carried out oppression and cruelty, against you and your followers.
I turn to Allah, and to you, away from them,
and seek nearness to Allah, and then to you through love for you and your friends,
and by disassociating with your enemies, and those who went to war with you,
and by disassociating with their adherents and those who follow them.
I am at peace with those who made peace with you,
and I am at war with those who went to war with you.
I befriend those who befriended you,
and I am the enemy with those who were your enemies.
I pray to Allah, who has honoured me with awareness of you, and my awareness of your friends
and has enabled me to disassociate from your enemies.
(I pray) that He may place me with you in this world and the Hereafter.
And (I Pray) that He may strengthen for me a truthful stance in this world and the Hereafter.
And I pray that He may enable me to reach, your honoured station with Allah
And that He may grant me the opportunity to seek victory, along with a rightly guided Imam from amongst you, who will manifest and speak the, truth.
I ask Allah by your station, and by the honoured position you have with Him,
That He grants me for the grief at your sorrows, more than the personal grief that troubles anyone in tragedy.
What great sorrows (you experienced)! How great was your tragedy, for Islam and in all the Heavens and the earth!
O Allah, make me, at this moment, one who receives from You, blessings, mercy, and forgiveness.
O Allah make me live the life of Muhammad and his family,
and make me die the death of Muhammad and his family.
O Allah, this is a day when Bani Umayya rejoiced, and so too the son of the she who eats the liver of man.
the condemned son of the condemned as said by You, and Your Prophet blessings of Allah be on him and his family,
at every location and occasion in which Your Prophet stood.
O Allah, curse Abu Sufyan, and Muawiya, and Yazid son of Muawiya an everlasting curse
And this is a day when the family of Ziyad was happy, and the family of Marwan because of their murder of Hussein, (blessings of Allah be on him).
O Allah, so increase the curse on them from You, and the painful punishment.
O Allah, I seek nearness to You on this day, and in this position, and for the rest of my life,
through disassociating from them (the enemies) and cursing them,
and though the love of Your Prophet, and his family, peace be on them.
O Allah, curse the first tyrant who oppressed the right of Muhammad and his family,
and the last one who followed him on that.
O Allah, curse the group who fought al-Hussein,
and the group which followed and supported, and joined hands to kill him.
O Allah curse them all.
Peace be on You O Abu Abdillah and on the souls that died with you.
Greetings of Peace of Allah be on you, from me, forever so long as I live and so long as the night and day remain.
May Allah not make this my last pledge of your visitation (ziyarat)
Peace be on Hussein,
and on Ali the son of Hussein,
on the sons of Hussein,
and the companions of Hussein.
O Allah, curse particularly the first tyrant
and begin with him first,
then the second, the third, and the fourth.
O Allah, curse the fifth one, Yazid,
and 'Ubaydullah bin Ziyad,
and Ibne Marjanah,
and 'Umar ibne Sa'ad,
and Shimr,
and the family of Abu Sufyan,
the family of Ziyad,
and the family of Marwan, till the Day of Judgement.
O Allah, for You is Praise, Praise of those who thank You during tragedy.
Praise be to Allah for my intense grief.
O Allah, grant me the intercession of al-Hussein, on the Day of appearance (before You),
and strengthen for me a truthful stand by You, with Hussein and the companions of Hussein,
who sacrificed everything, for Hussein, peace be on him.
[ Sallutations Of the Day Of Ashoorah]
You can read more about Abu Bakr at a Web site which is dedicated to him and his reign: www.abubakr.org.
Munawar
4 comments:
Salaamun Alaykum my dear brother, may Allah (SWT) and his ahlulbayt (A.S), richly reward you again and again for the unique eloquence, talent and truth you have displayed in this post. These are the issues that even we shia rarely talk about, we hide the truth in an attempt to create unity with the suni, and, while I do fully accept the need for unity, for debate and inter-sect dialogue, the truth remains the truth, and during these sacred days of sorrow in particular, we simply cannot hide the truth! May Allah (SWT) bless you and your ibada during these days. Please remember me in your muherram duas and please keep up the excellent work you are doing!
With salaams and duas,
Roshni.
Sallams,
Thanks so much for your comment and for reading. I agree with you about the need for unity. However, I have seen Suni people turn away from this "compromise" and that is partly what drove me to write this post and throw away all attempts at unity. They have even walked away from prayer because I, as a Shia, was leading them (despite me removing mention of Imam Ali's name from the prayer call!) It seems to me that they do not wish to compromise with us, and the more we try and unite with them the more our hhistory is being shoved in the background "for the sake of unity." They have made no such compromise for their part. Thanks for pointing that out.
Munawar,
I enjoyed reading your post; it shed much light on many of the things we talked about the other day. Thank you for letting me pick your brain!
Keep writing,
Katherine
Hi Katherine,
Thanks so much for your comment and for reading. I didn't mind the questions at all, thanks for asking. I've always believed that the only way to really gain knowledge is to ask versus walking around with preconceived notions. A lot of what I know I got through asking questions left and right...It pays off in the end. :). This is especially true about Muslims since there is so much propaganda going around about us because of the US war effort. Take care and keep your open mindedness--it's the reason I bothered answering you in the first place. I heard a statement from Sayed Amar Naxwani (he's a prominent lecturer) and he said that people will come to you to ask questions for two reasons: either to mock, or to REALLY understand. You seem to be the latter and we need more people like you around.
What corrupted the Saudi Arabians and Afghans so much was their harshness and their unwillingness to see things from a different angle. With this attitude, they not only totally twisted the so-called "Islam law [Shariah]", but even banned their women from driving! While Islam is 100% against their actions, they don't care about that; even when the very God they claim to follow says they are the losers. Unfortunately though, people like Geert Wilders and Robert Spencer have taken their actions and ran with them, claiming that if the Saudis and Afghans do it, Islam supports it...because they're Arabic speaking.
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