A Life like – Ali Ibn Abi Talib - and a Death Like – Imam Hussain - to Cherish
By
Arman Neyazi, New Age Islam
17 August
2021
Rather
Than Taking Lessons To Fight For The Essence Of Truth And Establishment Of
Justice In Favour Of Humane Ethos The Mourners Of The ‘Mourning Gatherings’ Of
Muharram Ul Haram Seem To Be A Mechanical Part Of The Annual Routine
Main
Points:
1. Allah the
Most Compassionate is the guide of all human beings life and death.
2. The
righteous beings like Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib and Imam Hussain (AS) take life as
a journey full of trials and tribulations
3. The
principles for which the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (AS) at Karbala happened are
almost forgotten.
4. It will be
better for us to take the righteous path specified by the martyrdom at Karbala
than establishing our self-made religious cultural and social ethos.
------
Allah the
Most Compassionate is the guide of all human beings life and death. We rejoice
in the birth and grief of the death. In worldly parlance, we see life as a
meeting and death as a departure whereas according to divinity life is a
journey full of trials and tribulations and a temporary phenomenon whereas
death is a route to our permanent heavenly abode. The common man looks at life
and death from his point of view as happiness and sorrow. Humankind very well knows that all those who
have taken birth will have to die as the Holy Quran says: Every soul will taste
death - Surah Ali 'Imran – 185 but they tend to live as if it is their
permanent abode.
Death is an
occasion of grief only for those who have taken the world as a permanent abode
and believe in not believing the unseen. But for those who never forget their
death and live here as a tenant, not as an owner, death is an occasion to
rejoice as death is the route to the heavenly abode, where there are no trials
and tribulations if one is a righteous person.
Spiritually
divine and blessed people live like Ali (AS) who battled his whole life for the
establishment of righteousness and the just rule of the law, formulated by
Allah, the Most Gracious and followed by the Holy Prophet (SAW), on the
land. And those who follow the path of
the Quran and Sunnah, die like Hussain (AS) for the sake of Islam, the religion
of Allah, the Most Gracious and the Sunnah established by his maternal
grandfather, Prophet Muhammad (SAW). The righteous beings like Imam Ali Ibn Abi
Talib and Imam Hussain (AS) take life as a journey full of trials and
tribulations and fight their way to heaven treading the righteous path guided
by Allah the Almighty and His Messenger Prophet Muhammad Pbuh. Righteous people
take life as a journey and death as a destination.
Imam
Hazrat Ali Ibn Abi Talib
Ali,
Karamullah Wajhu is Prophet Muhammad Pbuh’s cousin and son in law. Ali
Karamullah Wajhu is the father of Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Hussain (AS).
Prophet Muhammad Pbuh gave Ali Ibn Abi Taalib the name Asadullah (Lion of God)
after the Battle of the Trench and from then on he is known as ‘Sher e Khuda’,
the Lion of the God (شیر خدا).
Ali Karamullah Wajhu was a warrior of the highest order was the first from the
family of Muhammad Pbuh to accept Islam.
Imam Ali
(AS) was a man of the letter. He is regarded
as an exegesis to a range of disciplines - from theology to calligraphy and
numerology to law and mysticism. He is regarded as the founder of spiritualism.
Prophet Muhammad Pbuh was aware of his genius and, perhaps, because of this
reason he called him the 'gate to the city of prophetic science’. Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) says:
“I am the
Master of the revealed letter (of the Quran), and ‘Ali is the master of the
spiritual hermeneutics.” (Hadith quoted by Muhammad Ali Amir -Moezzi, The
Tafsir of al-Hibari)
“Ali b. Abi
Talib is the one who has the knowledge of the exoteric (Zahir) as well as of
esoteric (Batin).” (Narrated by Ibn ‘Abbas, Sulayman b Ibrahim al-Qunduzi)
“Ali is with the Qur’an and the Quran is with
Ali. They will not separate from each other until they return to me at the
pool.”(Cited by Reza Shah Kazmi in his Chapter: Imam Ali, The Shi’i World,
Pathways in Traditions and Modernity)
Prophetic
traditions given below are the annexures of the love, respect and trust Prophet
Muhammad Pbuh has shown and exhibited for Ali Ibn Abi Talib (RA).
Prophetic
Traditions about Hazrat Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib (RA)
“This
(‘Ali) is my brother, my executor, and my successor among you. Hearken to him
and obey him.” (Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul
Allah, tr. A Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, 118)
“God placed
the children of all prophets in their backbone but placed my children in the
backbone of Ali”. (Al-Tabataba’i, Muhammad H. Shi’ite Islam. Suny Press. p.
180)
“There is
no chivalrous person but Ali. There is no sword but Dhu al-Fiqar.” _ Prophet
Muhammad (SAW)
Sa'd b. Abi
Waqqas reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) left 'Ali b. Abi
Talib behind him (as he proceeded) to the expedition of Tabuk, whereupon he
('Ali) said: Allah's Messenger, are you leaving me behind amongst women 4nd
children? Thereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: Aren't you satisfied with being
unto me what Aaron was unto Moses but with this exception that there would be
no prophet after me. (Book 31, Number 5914)
Hazrat
Imam Hussain (AS)
Hazrat Imam
Hussain (AS), the second son of Hazrat Fatimah (Razi Allahu Anha) and Imam
Hazrat Ali Ibn Abi Talib was born on 3 Shabaan 4th year of Hijri, i.e. 10.1.626
AD. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) took the baby Hussain in His pious arms and called
Azan and Iqamah in his ears. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had tears in his eyes. When
Fatima (Razi Allahu Anha) asked the reason for the tears in his pious eyes, the
Apostle of Allah informed her of the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS).
Imam
Hussain (AS) embraced his martyrdom for the establishment of the religion of
Allah, the Most Gracious and the Sunnah of his maternal grandfather, the
Apostle of Allah, Prophet Muhammad Pbuh. His martyrdom is the greatest battle
that is won in defeat and that established the victory of divinity, truth and
humanity on the evil, lies and inhuman acts of Yazid. As the saying in Urdu
goes, ‘اسلام زیندہ ہوتا ہے ہر کفبلا کے بعد’, Islam took a new turn and
trod the path of victory after the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS).
Traditions
Related to Imam Husain (AS) and His Personality
O Allah, I
love him, so love him and whoever loves him - Prophet Muhammad Pbuh (Sahih
Bukhari 216, Muslim 2421)
'Al-Hasan
and Al-Hussain are the leaders of the youth of Paradise.' - Prophet Muhammad
Pbuh (Tirmidhi Vol. 1, Book 1, Hadith 143)
'Hussain is
from me, and I am from Hussain' - Prophet Muhammad Pbuh (Tirmidhi Vol. 1, Book
46, Hadith 3775)
'Indeed
Al-Hasan and Al-Hussain- they are my two fragrant flowers in the world.' -
Prophet Muhammad Pbuh (Tirmidhi Vol. 1, Book 46, Hadith 3770)
'The Prophet
Pbuh took Hasan and Hussain by the hand and said: 'Whoever loves me and loves
these two, and their father and mother, he shall be with me in my level on the
Day of Judgement.' - Prophet Muhammad Pbuh (Tirmidhi Vol. 1, Book 46, Hadith
3733)
There are
no eyes and no tears more loved by Allah than those eyes that wept and those
tears that were shed over Imam Hussain (a). Whosoever weeps over Imam Hussain
(a) becomes associated with Syeda Fatima (RA) and supports her in her grief,
and becomes associated with the Prophet of God (S), and becomes a fulfiller of
our rights.” -Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (a), (Kamil al-Ziarat)
Need of
the Hour Is to Follow Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS)
The
principles for which the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (AS) at Karbala happened are
almost forgotten. The religious gatherings on the occasion of Ashura in the
month of Muharram (Majalis) organised by the Shia and the Sunni communities
have taken the form of mere rituals. Recitation of poetry (نوحہ
خانی) in
remembrance of the martyrdom of the family members of Imam Hussain AS has been
reduced to nothing more than a social festive gathering like all other
festivals. People gather to remember the greatest martyrdom ever happened in
the world, since its inception and has to remain so till the day of resurrection,
but the people there do not look like mourners but alive to their worldly
engagements. Rather than taking lessons to fight for the essence of truth and
establishment of justice in favour of humane ethos the mourners of the day seem
to just be a part of the annual routine of Muharram ul Haram.
Our time is
passing through one of the most difficult times. Organisations like the
Taliban, ISIS, Boko Haram and many others are more inclined to establish their
supremacy than establishing Islamic traits of love, compassion, brotherhood and
inclusivity. The worst part of this is that they are beheading people, abusing
the human rights bestowed by Allah, the Almighty upon His creation in the name
of establishing the religious rule.
It will be better for us to take the righteous
path specified by the martyrdom at Karbala than establishing our self-made
religious cultural and social ethos.
And
Allah Knows the Best.
---
Arman
Neyazi is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-personalities/ali-abi-talib-imam-hussain/d/125228