Every year on the tenth day of the Islamic month of Muharam there is a commemoration known as Ashura, a day in which it was traditionally believed that God saved his prophets and their communities. This was the day that Moses brought his people out of Egypt, and also the day the Ark of Noah came to rest on dry land. Freedom from tyranny and oppression are the theme of the day.The day of Ashura, which comes right after the Islamic New Year according to the Muslim calendar is also a reminder of a far more tragic set of circumstances, a a token of a bloody and chaotic past that gradually became the condition of the Islamic state right after the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632 AD. The decision as to who would be the caliph of the revolutionary and progressive state that Muhammad founded was a problem indeed. The Meccans, led by Abu Sufyan and his family, former pagans and avowed enemies of Muhammad, didn’t take the loss of their power too lightly. Once persecutors of Muhammad and his message, keepers of the Kaaba and Lords of the Hejaz, they were now the conquered and vanquished losers of the struggle that lasted ever since Muhammad came down from that cave where he conversed with the angel Gabriel. Muhammad entered Mecca triumphant, showing mercy to the defeated Sufyans. He cleared the Kaaba of the idols and proclaimed ‘truthhood has come, and falsehood has vanished’. Then, in a demonstration of equality for all human beings, he sent Bilal, a former African slave who waited and served the Meccan elite to the top of the house that Abraham built and ordered him to sound the azan, the call to prayer that is familiar in all Muslim countries, a call that one hears five times a day.
We should at this point stop and put ourselves into the shoes of the defeated Meccan families like the proud Sufyans who now had to bear the indignity of having a familiar former slave stand atop the building that gave Mecca it’s pride and wealth and see and hear him call all to the word of the God who commanded Abraham to build this house in the first place. ‘The lowest of the low’, they must have thought, now stands far above all of us.
This must have been a great blow to Meccan pride and tribal glory. Add to this Muhammad’s revolutionary changes towards women, minorities, ‘people of the book’, government, forcing the rich to share their wealth, and all the other drastic changes that Meccan society badly needed, and it is not surprising that the families did not voluntarily kill themselves outright. Islam’s blow to Meccan pride was, in the eyes of the Meccans, unforgivable and completely unacceptable.
It is often explained in Muslim circles that Muhammad entered Mecca, and his former enemies entered Islam, bringing about an end to the struggle between monotheism and paganism that was the hallmark of much of Muhammad’s career. Anyone who reads the Quran will read the verses that call for armed struggle against the unbelievers, and many of these verses seem to be right out of an Old Testament God’s command to destroy the Meccans as Joshua was willing and able to destroy the enemies of God in his time, or as when the prophet Samuel commanded Saul to ‘leave no polytheists alive in the land’. This was warfare of the desert at it’s most violent and bloody. No, jihad and it’s scriptural manifestation is not pretty, nor is it really good and inspired reading. We could read the Illiad, the German Sagas, King Arthur or the Persian Shah Nameh for literature that describes gory bloodletting in detail. What does this have to do with faith? The struggle between Muhammad and his enemies was a struggle to the death in the semi barbaric atmosphere of 7th century Arabia. To bring about an improvement in the social and religious life of his people, Muhammad had to go up against some of history’s cruelest and most tyrannical leaders who saw themselves as above any God or his supposed messenger.
Not content with their new position that made them equals to former slaves, women and other monotheists who were from other formerly feuding tribes, the Meccan familes such as the Sufyans bided their time and waited for the inevitable to happen. They knew that the common denominator, the great equalizer called death took everyone, poet, peasant and prophet. When Muhammad died, the need to replace him with someone with leadership skills became priority. After Abu Bakr, the discontent began to grow, with the Sufyans as well as with Muhammad’s own family, with Ali ibn Abu Talib passed over time and again. There was none closer to Muhammad than Ali, but his election to the caliphate would not happen. What happened during these years reads like a political and criminal novel, with even Muhammad’s wives involved in the intrigue and political turmoil that was unfolding. Aisha, the youngest wife and daughter of Muhammad’s friend and first caliph Abu Bakr, had to struggle with the independent Khadija’s memory, as well as with the other, older wives. She even commanded an army against the honorable Ali, such was the breakup of the household of Muhammad. Fatima, Muhammad’s beloved daughter, was killed when a burning door was broken down supposedly by an angry Umar, the second caliph known for his determined faith but also for a bad temper, as he demanded that Ali her husband open the door and let him in. Ali wanted no part of the selfish, egotistical celebrations going on. Rather than faith, political intrigue was the order of the day. This period of inner turmoil, too involved to go into detail here, is called the period of ‘al fitna’. It reads like the rise of a crime family story.
All the while, the Sufyans played their cards, and played them well. Muawiya, the son of the cruel Hind, wife of Abu Sufyan, is one of history’s great deceivers and political tyrants. Centuries before Macchiavelli, he was an expert at dividing families and friends, and adept at causing people to hate one another. A relative of the Sufyans, Uthman, became the third caliph. An honest and hard working man, he ordered the compilation of the Quran, the version we have today, and collected the first ‘hadith’ the stories of Muhammad and his sayings, habits and doings according to his friends. Those Quranic verses and hadith that were seen as ‘not authentic’ were burned. Remember that Uthman was under pressure, with blood ties and clan connections. He was a relative of the Sufyans. Uthman, a good but weak leader, was assassinated under mysterious circumstances. Muawiya displayed his bloodied shirt, and the old man’s wife’s severed finger lost while trying to ward off Uthman’s attackers, in what was becoming the new Muslim capital of Damascus. Muawiya stirred the political pot and pit brother against brother, cousin against cousin, father against son, and started down the road to vengeance against Muhammad’s family. Ali ibn Abu Talib came to the relief of the faltering Islamic community, fought hard to preserve the essence of Muhammad’s original teachings, but was killed by an assassin as he prayed the morning prayer in the mosque on the 19th of Ramadan. Ali’s son Hasan was also murdered, and it came to the honorable Hussein to take the reins of leadership. Like his father Ali, Hussein preferred not to involve himself in this selfish political turmoil. But destiny had other plans for him. While the new Muslim alliance was becoming an empire that received wealth and revenues from afar, with the family of Muawiya ruling from his capital in Damascus, Hussein’s noble countenance could not allow the self centered, imperialistic changes to become the norm for the society that his grandfather Muhammad had struggled to bring forth. For Hussein, tyranny was evil, and must be fought against at all costs without compromise.
Hussein finally went, with about 70 followers to a place in Iraq called Karbala, hoping to to secure a truce. Perhaps bloodshed could be avoided and common sense would prevail. The deceivers had other plans, however. Surrounded by a large force, the little group of dedicated Muslims, which included some Jewish and Christian allies who loved Hussein and the memory of his just and righteous father Ali, were besieged on all fronts. The battle of Karabala commenced. Fighting like wolves, the followers of Hussein beat back the forces of the Sufyan Yazid time and again. They heroically fought and held on. Then, at one point, Hussein asked for a respite from the fighting to get some water for his infant son, parched with thirst. The forces of Yazid shot arrows at father and son as Hussein gathered water. Hussein’s son was killed. Finally, on the tenth of Ashura, Yazid made his last attack. Unable to bring down the son of the noble Ali in hand to hand combat, he ordered his archers to draw their bows and shot at Hussein with their arrows, ending the noble man’s life. Hussein was beheaded, the head brought as a trophy to Damascus.
The Ummayads were now able to rule on their own, without any influential interference from their former enemy, Muhammad. Most of the people close to him and his family who loved him were now dead. Hind and Abu Sufyan, in essence, had their vengeance. They conquered and ruled an empire that was more extensive than the Roman and Persian empire at their greatest heights combined. They ruled from Spain in the west to the wall of China in the east. And history will remember this as the ‘Arab Empire’, the civilization of Islam. An era of intellectual pursuit, science and education developed. And it was the Ummayads who spread this concept of what we would come to know as Islam. Just as the Romans first persecuted Christianity, then adopted it’s noble tenets and spread it, with the the sword where needed, the Ummayads would take a revolution and use that very revolution to rule and manipulate whole populations in the name of a religion that at first brought them down. Jesus’s sermon on the mount and Paul’s letters would prove useful to a dynasty that felt it had the right and duty to rule. So would Muhammad’s words and the actions of his person, whether authentic or fabricated. The essence of these teachings remain inspirational and uplifting, no matter who claims to uphold them. And while they find themselves in alternate positions, the teachings manifest themselves time and again, in the form of religious offshoots and orders, schisms and alternate protesting variations of the generally accepted faith. Shi’ism is the first split that ripped Islam, a political rather than a religious movement, which eventually developed into another faith with it’s own set of practices, beliefs and dogma that would be questioned today by the supposed personalities Muhammad, Ali and Hussein in detail. Shi'ism's leaders in modern Iran would be held accountable for imitating the very style of Muawiya or Yazid, as the regime there is guilty of tyranny, falsehood and demonstrating a lack of compassion and tolerance while maintaining they are the true voice of true Islam.
Muhammad’s innovations and his social revolution could not be stifled. In fact, the Ummayads recognized this, and did what they could to undermine and usurp the man’s philosophy for their own agenda. For example, non Muslims pay a tax rather than get force converted, this being a brilliant way to collect revenues for the state. But discrimination was the order of the day: you can practice your faith, but not too loudly, keep the bells at a minimum, and the chants of the monks should be quiet. Don’t repair churches and synagogues if they fall into disrepair. Other conquerors of the day forced everyone to adopt the faith of the conquerors. Muslims saw a chance to finance their conquests. While there were enlightened emirs who followed an equitable rule, based on the teahings of early Islam, most followed the way of the Ummayad conquerors and were interested in gold and revenue, not faith. The Romans and the Persians were the models to follow, and the caliphs lived well, ate well, got fat and eventually died of gout.
The real Islam- the living, practicing, and sharing Islam, the attempt at unifying the diverse groups of peoples and faiths of Arabia, finally died at Karbala. The attempt to integrate people of many faiths into one cohesive family of believers disappeared. The dream of the time died at Karbala. The tolerance of sharing with Christians, Jews, Manichaeans and Sabaeans and treating them equally rather than exploit them for revenue began to come to an end. The freedom and respect given and demonstrated to women too, died. The Ummayads would have no part of Muhammad’s feminism. Women were for the pleasure and service of man, period. Compassion, equality, the feeling of humbleness towards God and his creation died on that hot plain in Iraq centuries ago. The idea that a ‘religion is good for the soul but good government a must for the people’, a saying of Ali ibn Abu Talib, remained in the books but not in the soulful practice, as the ulema became powerful and influential in Islamic civilization, causing it to crumble one day like a piece of halvah. The love and respect for the people of the book, the deep mystical understanding and acknowledgement of their scriptures as coming from the same source, the equity towards one's fellow beings, the dream that was Muhammad’s revelation from God to Man, was lost at Karbala. The secrets were lost, but elements were found again through the centuries, as people such as the Sufis searched within the text of the Quran for meaning and inspiration, only to unveil more tyranny and injustice in the state, as the likes of Mansur Hallaj and others were put to death for speaking their own secret and revealing the words of light that were extinguished on that hot, bloody Ashura day. The Abbasids slaughtered the last of the Umayyads and while they encouraged an era of intellectual pursuit and education, they also encouraged the creation of a clerical Islam which eventually would silence the free, critical thinking that was the hallmark of early Islam. Slowly, Islam would sink into the abyss.
The human dignity demonstrated by the lives of Ali, Hussein and those who sacrificed their lives for the cause of freedom and righteousness, their fight against religious extremism and hypocrisy, continues to inspire us to this day. When we begin to understand the tragedy of Karbala and it’s implications, we can begin to understand the problems we see within Islam today, and hopefully we will eventually find a way to separate the facts from the created fiction, much of which has come down to us as what we acknowledge as ‘religion’ and dogma. The message of Karbala moves beyond religious affiliation and sect. It is a message that every human can relate to, if they have the fire of liberty in their hearts. We must be ready to sacrifice our willingness to support and maintain devotional beliefs that we, in our heart of hearts question whether they are indeed useful and real for us. This is what Hussein had to do. He had to stand for truth even though it was against his own people whom he knew from stories were at one time companions and friends of his grandfather.
Much more than a religious devotion, the saga of Karbala is a call for all peoples to truth and freedom. Hussein and the fallen of Karbala forfeited their lives so that we would have an example of true bravery and courage, standing up for what is right and just. Is it too much to ask of us to stand up for truth in our comfortable lives today? Or are we content simply to go along with what has come about in the form of organized religion due to the acts of criminals, murderers and political scoundrels? The choice is ours. The example is already there, exemplified by those who sacrificed everything for the cause of righteousness...at a hot, dusty place called Karbala.
On that plain so hot and dry
There died heroes who reasoned not, nor why
They were called to stand for truth
Though cut down in the prime of youth
A thought, a memory, the dream of a man
A return to mercy amid strife in the land
When evil takes a turn for worse
With greedy hands in wallet and purse
Making the claim to God’s own path
While deceiving masses with cruelty and wrath
Usurp the claim, lie through the teeth
A dynasty of hate they would bequeath
Lest one stands strong and oppose their way
To block the demon in his disguise, oh say…
Have you seen him lead the prayer and call
The faithful to believe in no faith at all?
Through his cunning and fearful cry
To this day we suffer that dreadful sigh…religion!
In a palace, Damascus, Yazid, Satan’s own
Grinding men to dust and bone
But the son of Haidar would not be still
He knew not his fate, but rather God’s very will
And so he went up to Karbala plain
The place where soil lacks the rain
And watered the Earth with blood and tears
To relieved us our tensions and deliver our fears
When shown to us, evil must be fought
Whatever the cost, whatever is brought
Silence is servitude, action the rule
When fighting God’s enemy, who teaches the fool
That love, compassion and tolerance are meek
Mere words that flow from the tongues of the weak
But noble is the lover of the Lord
Who stands in the way of such dismal accord
And fights with his last ounce of courage and breath
To set an example before his death
So those hypocrites who lie may live some years
But how to live ‘mid slavery and fears?
When the word of the Almighty has touched one’s soul
’Tis a duty to live up to that role
So honor the heroes of that Ashura day
Whom to manifested hypocrisy, they would cry ‘nay!’
They died to honor a broken dream
The vision of a man, to all would it seem
A message of hope, a stance we must take
Whenever confronted by liar and fake
So rise, men and women, the enemy is within
The house, the ummah, our leaders in sin
Like Muawiya, Yazid, they call for our demise
By teaching us falsehood, deceit and lies
Leave behind the imam and mullah
The cleric and qadi, the mufti and ayatollah
There is no guidance in Al Azhar
Nor in majlis councils of Tehran, Qoms and Isfahan
This can’t be Islam, this can’t be the way
This cannot be what the Prophet did say
What good would such hypocrisy be?
If this is what faith is defined to be
What? Slayers of sons who thirst for water?
Rapists, murderers of Mohammed’s daughter!
Fatima and Abbas, with broken hand
And fourteen innocent children, dead upon the land
Unable to face the hero in battle
They surrounded him like a herd of cattle
With arrows did they slay Hussein
And young Ali Ashgar, there on that hot, dry plain
Cruelty in our world knows no bounds
Preserved in the memory of those hallowed grounds
Women, now widowed, carried off as slaves
Forbidden to bid farewell to their loved ones at the graves
In their hearts they mourned with great pain
As the sky that day in blood, did it rain
Justice and righteousness would be no more
The seat of mercy would close it’s door
Until the end of time, they say
When all will be called to account
For that awful, terrible day
A burden mankind now must bear
Tyranny found Earth to be it’s lair
Never will we rest or sleep
For all our joys shall be tainted with evil, deep
We had our chance to make it well
Instead we chose to live in hell
Again and again we seem to kill those we love
Though they be gentle as the morning dove
The cries of those mothers for their children lost
Can still be heard in the voices of those paying the cost
In brothels, ghettos, among those forced to marry
Against their will, other’s children they carry
Hold up as in a prison of the body and the mind
Their pain is ever present, though they are hard to find
For purdah makes them invisible, unseen and unheard
Their equality taken, as well as their word
Women feel the injustice most of all
Faces covered, moving but silent like brick in a wall
As long as men and women recount the tale
Of those who suffered under sword and flail
So their deaths would not have been in vain
Upon that dry and dusty plain
Recite their story, learn of their fate
And teach your children to love, not hate
But stand for good and banish wrong
As humanity one day will sing together, a beautiful song
Know this, heirs of Muawiya and Yazid from afar
We stand against you, in our hands is ‘Zulfiqar’
United in love and faith, humanity will toil
To free all souls from hypocrisy’s spoil
Our inspiration, from those who died that day
When righteousness was put to the sword and heroes lay
On that hot, dusty plain
Every day is Ashura, every place Karbala
Until truth will come and falsehood, vanish
Upon my tongue and in my heart I hear their voices
Crying for redemption…
Karbala, Karbala, Karbala
No comments:
Post a Comment