A beautiful remembrance of Imam Husayn (A.S.)

The fact that human are subject to many kinds of hardship and suffering during the course of their worldly existence is all too evident; illnesses, accidents, corporal and mental poundings, are but a few of the conditions that we have to endure during life. Some of these are the effect of external causes outside our own control while others are brought about by our own actions.
Religions in general have tried to make sense of the sufferings we go through. From the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) to the religion of the East (Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism...) the concept of human suffering has been explained and justified according to different worldviews.
In some religious traditions suffering is seen as a necessary process towards the purification of the soul while in others is a means for the atonement for one’s sins.
In antiquity and among prehistoric cultures, ceremonial whippings were performed in rites of initiation, purification, and fertility, which often included other forms of physical suffering. Floggings and mutilations were sometimes self-inflicted. In the ancient Mediterranean, ritual floggings were practiced by the Spartans, and Roman heretics were whipped with thongs of oxtail, leather, or parchment strips, some being weighted with lead. [1] Identification with the suffering of a particular religious personality is also another reason to explain some form of self inflicted physical pain.
To the extremity of this spectrum there are those who have elaborated the theory that self induced pain (in the form of physical mortification) does work towards the above mentioned objectives.
The most well-known of these groups, among the Abrahamic religions, are found among some Catholic Christians and some Shi’a Muslims.
For the Christians the reference point is the suffering of Jesus (as) during his last moments on this earthly life. The film the `Passion of Christ` of Mel Gibson gives a vivid description of the kind of punishment it is believed Jesus was subjected to by the Roman soldiers. During the Easter season the practice of self flagellation has been in place among some Christians. Today the observance of the `Passion of Jesus Christ` with ritual self flagellation is practiced publicly among Catholics in the Philippine, South America and in a much reduced form, in Italy. The practice includes self whipping with sharp blades, cutting to bleed with sharp glasses, scratching the skin with needle pads to allow blood to come out etc…
In the world of Islam a similar phenomenon has developed, possibly under Christian influences, in relation to the commemoration of the Ashura rituals, an event of the Islamic Calendar in which the martyrdom of Imam Husayn (as), grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (s) is commemorated. Imam Husayn (as) stood up to the tyrant of the day, Yazid in order to save Islam and humanity from despotism and oppression, and to make the ultimate point about justice. On the 10th day of the Islamic month of Muharram (Ashura) - in the year 680CE - the caravan of Imam Husayn (as) which had been intercepted a few days earlier, by a large army at a place called Karbala in Iraq, was attacked.
After a valiant fight Husayn (as) was beheaded and his body mutilated and the few among his followers who survived were humiliatingly made to march on foot to the palace of Yazid in Damascus.
It is said that the beginning of the commemoration of this event took place soon after the survivors were released. The functions must have been of private nature where member and close followers of the Alids would gather for supplication and prayer.
As the event became more public especially during the reign of the Buwayhids [2], (900 CE) reports describe public procession with display of self-flagellation. Subsequent Shi’a dynasties like the Savafids in Iran also encouraged it as a sign of identification and opposition to the Ottomans Sunnis with which they were at war for a long period.
In brief self-flagellation known as zanjeer zani in Persian or latmya in Arabic, has become part of Shia Muslim practice over the last few hundred years. This practice is conducted among some Shiites in the Middle East and Asia. Whilst self-harm is forbidden in Islam, certain sects of Shia Muslims found mostly in rural areas, perform self-flagellation when participating in the zanjeer zani. Most Shiites usually beat their chests with their hands (a symbolic gesture of pain and sorrow); this is called seeneh zani, however zanjeer zani the use of metal chains and spikes is an extreme form which is still practiced. Also less practiced is qama zani. The person performing this ritual cuts his head using a dagger or small type of sword, known as qama.
After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 progressive and intellectual Shi’a clergymen began to question the traditional way in which the commemorations of the Martyrdom of Imam Husayn (as) were conducted, not only in terms of contents but in its form. One of the leading scholars and activist of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Shahid Mutahhari in one of his books questions the origins of self -flagellations (qama zani, zanjeer zani that draw blood) identifying it as a practice borrowed by the Ghazghani Orthodox Christians from Ghazghan the region on the borders between Russia and Iran. He writes: `Blood shedding in its present form has not rational or religious backing. It is a clear instance of deviation. At least, in the present day it causes Shiaism to be questioned. Programs that do not have any relation to the goals of Imam Husayn (as) are razors, blades, and locks. Striking the head with a blade is the same. This is a mistake. Some people take blades and strike their heads making blood flow – for what? This action is not mourning. [3]
The leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (ra) asked his followers not to follow these ritual actions. [4].
The most clear and unequivocal rulings came from the successor to Imam Khomeini (r) Ayatollah Khamenei who in his usually bold and courageous stand issued the following fatwa: `In addition to the fact that it is not held in the common view as manifestations of mourning and grief and it has no precedent at the lifetime of Imams (a) and even after that and we have not received any traditions quoted from the infallibles (as) about any support of this act, be it privately or publicly, this practice would, at the present time, give others a bad image of our school of thought. Therefore, there is no way that it can be considered permissible.` [5]
The small proponents of this dubious practice tend to confuse the issue by labelling those who oppose qama zani as the ones who are trying to undermine the practice of the commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Husayn (as).
Commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Husayn (as) is a practice written in stone by our Imams who have left us innumerable traditions over the 250 years of their existence, exhorting us to commemorate this event every year.
As Muslims living in the 21st century and in the West we are not and should not be interested in carrying with us cultural baggage borrowed from God knows where and turned into obligation by a small minority of narrow minded individuals.
In the words of Ayatollah Nouri Hamadani: `It is necessary for the mourning sessions to be conducted in a beautiful way; that is a way that is in congruence with Islamic logic. Respected mourners must, instead of hitting their heads with a blade, think about hitting the enemy’s head who is occupying and weakening them, who is usurping their benefits and putting their Islam in danger on a daily basis.` [6]
Notes:
[1] Encyclopaedia Britannica
[2] An Islamic Dynasty from the Caspian Sea region who had embraced Shi’a Islam and found themselves at odd with the Abbasid Caliph.
[3] Ayatollah Mutahhari, Howza va Ruhaniat, v.2, p.173
[4] `Do not perform blood matam or the likes in the present state. …` Istifta’at Imam, v.3, miscellaneous questions, question 37
[5] Ayatollah Khamenei’s Ajwabah al-Istifta’at, q. 1450
[6] Ayatollah Nouri Hamadani’s Istifta’at, v.2, p.597