History of Muharram
A Brief Description of the Question:
I want to know the history behind Muharram and why Shias mourn on those ten days. what is the right way to celebrate it
The Answer:
The important event behind Muharram is Karbala in which Hadrath Hussein and his followers were murdered. Such heartbreaking event happened on the 10th day of Muharram. The main reason for the mourning of Shia is this event.
The right way to celebrate this month is to worship and to pray Allah for the unity of Muslims, and it is narrated that to fast during the first ten days of this month is very meritorious.
In this connection, A QUESTION may be asked: Although Ali, with his extraordinary bravery and profound knowledge in addition to his kinship to Allah's Messenger, greatly deserved to be Caliph, why did he not precede others in holding the Caliphate, and why did Islam experience such disorder during his caliphate?
ANSWER:
A great saint from the Prophet's Family is reported as saying, "Allah's Messenger had desired the caliphate of Ali, but it was made known to him from the Unseen that the will of Allah Almighty was different.
He then abandoned his desire, submitting himself to Allah's will." One of the reasons why Allah's will was different could have been that after the demise of Allah's Messenger, when the Companions were more than ever in need of alliance and unity, if Ali had taken the leadership, this would most probably have aroused in many persons and tribes a tendency to compete, because of his pious, fearless, dignified, heroic and independent personality and his widely known courage -as was indeed the case during his caliphate- and divisions among the believers would have resulted.
Another reason for the delay of Ali's caliphate is the following: at the time of his caliphate, the Muslim community, which had rapidly developing through the intermingling of many tribes and peoples, possessed such traits as reflected the opinions of the seventy-three sects that Allah's Messenger had predicted would evolve in due time.
Therefore, in the face of such disturbances, someone was needed with the wondrous strength, courage, respectability and sagacity of Ali, someone having the force of the respected Hashimites and the Prophet's Family, so that he could resist such hardships. And indeed he did so, in a fashion conformable to the prediction of the Prophet, who had said to him, "I have fought for the revelation of the Qur'an; you will fight for its explanation. " A further reason for this delay is that without Ali, the magnificence of sovereignty would most probably have caused the Umayyad dynasty to go completely astray.
However, having to cater to the opposition of Ali and the Prophet's Family, and to preserve their prestige before the Muslims, the leaders of the Umayyad dynasty, willingly or unwillingly but in any case with full vigor, worked for at least encouraged their subjects and followers to do so- for the protection and propagation of the truths of faith and Islam and the Qur'anic order. Thus, thousands of punctilious expounders of the Islamic law, distinguished traditionists, saints and men of purity emerged during their reign. Had it not faced the strong religiosity, sainthood and virtuousness of Ali and of the Prophet's Family, the Umayyad dynasty would from the very beginning have pursued its own course, as happened at the end of its rule and that of the Abbasid dynasty.
It might also be asked, 'Why did the Islamic Caliphate not remain in the Prophet's Family, since they were the most deserving and fitted for it?"
ANSWER:
Worldly sovereignty is deceptive, and the Prophet's Family had been appointed to protect the Qur'anic order and the truths of Islam. Not to be deceived by the magnificence of sovereignty or the Caliphate, one should be as sinless as a prophet, or as pious and pure hearted as the Four Caliphs, Omar b. Abdul-Aziz or the Mahdi of the Abbasids.
In fact, the Fatimid dynasty that was established in Egypt in the name of the Prophet's Family, the rule of the Almohads in Africa and that of the Safavids in Persia, all show that worldly sovereignty is not suitable for the Prophet's Family, for it causes them to neglect their primary duty, the protection of religion and the service of Islam. When, on the other hand, they refrained from sovereignty, they brilliantly and most successfully served Islam and the Qur'an. Now see: of the poles of sainthood descending from Hasan -especially the Four Poles [*] and above all
[*] The four poles of sainthood, namely, Abdul Qadir Gilani, Ahmad Rufa'i, Ahmad Badawi and Ibrahim Dasuqi.
Abdul Qadir Gilani- and those imams from the lineage of Husain especially Zayn al Abidin and Jafar as Siddiq- each became a revivalist in his own right, dispelled the darkness of wrongdoing, spread the light of the Qur'an and the truths of faith, and in so doing that he was a true heir of his noble ancestor.
It may be asked, "What was the Divine Wisdom lying behind the awesome and bloody disturbances that befell the blessed Companions and sacred Islam, for they did not deserve such deep sorrow and losses?"
ANSWER:
Just as a heavy spring rain storm activates and improves the various dispositions inherent in various vegetables, seeds and trees, making them bloom and flourish each in its own fashion, so to the disturbances that befell the Companions and their successors activated their various talents. It gave every group of them the fear that Islam was in danger, made them hurry to the protection of Islam, so that everyone within his means shouldered a function from among the various duties in the Muslim community and strove in utmost earnest.
Each group fulfilled a different function, some working for the preservation of the prophetic traditions, some for the maintenance of the Qur'an and the truths of faith, and so on. Thus did they strive fervently in performing Islamic duties, thus did the flowers of different colors blossom forth, and thus were the seeds planted in the vast regions of the Muslim world and half of the globe changed into rose gardens. Sadly, with those roses, came the thorns of the deviant sects.
It was as if the Hand of Power had shaken that era with wrath, rotated it with intense vigor, electrified the men of zeal. And electrified by the centrifugal force of that movement, a great many enlightened expounders, luminous traditionists, gifted scholars, men of purity and poles of sainthood emigrated to the remote corners of the Muslim World. By causing this to come about, the Hand of Power inspires all the Muslims, from the East to the West, with enthusiasm, and awakened them to the treasures of the Qur'an.
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