Hindus commemorating
Muharram....from a BBC documentary
Testimony of a Christian academic (from "HUSAYN-The sacrifice for
mankind" by Imam Muhammad Shirazi)
"Here we
record the testimony of a Christian academic who specialises in
the study of human societies and their traditions and customs, the Lebanese
Maronite, Doctor Paul Joseph al-Hilw. He has been a professor and lecturer at
several Lebanese universities and is a writer and linguist in many scientific
and academic circles. The testimony of Doctor al-Hilw is of increased
importance because of the dissertation he prepared in the past for his
masters degree which was entitled: ‘The Salafi Movement and its Effects
on the Islamic World.’ Presently he is preparing an academic study
entitled: ‘Comparisons Between Christianity and the Imamiyyah . . . An
Analytical Study.’ His Doctoral thesis was entitled: ‘The Area of Juzein
Over 80 Years . . . An Economic, Cultural and Sociological Study.’ This is
the thesis which earned him his doctorate in the University of The Holy
Spirit in Lebanon.
We took the opportunity of directing some questions to him about this
subject as well as other questions about the noble Husayni revolution. The
answers given by Dr al-Hilw, which bore the hallmark of the analytical
method, were more than beneficial. What follows is an edited version of
the conversation that took place.
al-Minbar: Why has the voice of the Husayni revolution not subsided
and what is the secret of its survival and the renewal it experiences every
year?
- According to my belief, the Husayni condition is not confined to the
Shi’a alone. It is general and all-inclusive. Hence we find that the Husayni
revolution’s connection with the principle of resisting oppression has
made it very relevant to a person whatever his religion or beliefs might be,
because as long as there are oppressors and oppressed then there will
always be Yazid and Husayn as two fundamental symbols of oppressor
and oppressed. This is from a philosophical and spiritual standpoint. From
a practical and existential viewpoint, the rituals that are practised by the
Shi’a, during the days of the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam
attach an aspect of renewal to this revolution by which it is made
to be continuously present in the human mindset.
al-Minbar: How so?
- The sociological view of these rituals or ceremonies is that they are
international or universal ceremonies, which express the idea of resisting
oppression and aiding the oppressed. This expression is what gives these
ceremonies a universal flavour and which makes them accepted on a
societal level in many different environments and cultures. That a
revolution should take place in a certain place and time and also remain
alive until our time means that this revolution is connected with universal
human concepts on the one hand, and also that it relies upon recurring
social interactions on the other. These interactions take the form of these
rituals or ceremonies, which take place in the days of Muharram and
particularly on the tenth day.
al-Minbar: Then you believe that these rituals are a source for the
survival of this revolution . . . correct?
- Naturally, because when we remember a person the way we remember
Husayn, it is not enough that we pray for his soul or remember his deeds
or virtues, but rather, something palpable and something painful must be
brought into the equation.
al-Minbar: Painful?!
- Yes, painful. For that which does not cause pain to the body does not
persist. It is the pain that preserves the issue and the memory and is what
allows them to be implemented on an existential level and to have effects
on cultural and social movements. The persistence of the memory and its
survival in the human mind must be accompanied by tangible physical
pain and this is what the Husayni rituals accomplish. When one feels pain
in one’s body, one will contemplate its source and when this
contemplation leads one to the pains that befell Husayn, then one will
evoke his revolution and his principles and goals in a spontaneous way.
al-Minbar: There are those who believe that Husayni rituals are
superstitions, which cause a negative view of those who practise them in
the eyes of the world. Is this true in your view?
- This is nonsense and is far from scientific realities. As we know, a
superstition is something invented by the human mind to explain a certain
form or image that he finds difficult to understand. Hence we see that with
the development of the human mind the superstition does not persist. The
principle as regards superstition is that it does not persist and does not
remain but ceases to be when its inventor ceases to be. Religious rituals
and ceremonies however, are based on doctrine and faith, which know no
imperfection or middle ground; hence they have persisted and survived.
There is a difference between belief and mythology. Mythology consists
of imaginings invented by man in order to arrive at what is behind natural
phenomena and these imaginings are what generally drives man towards
superstitions until he comes close to understanding and comprehending
these phenomena. Most of these superstitions are now obsolete; for
instance, we can see how those who used to worship the sun or the moon
are now extinct except for some in isolated places in Africa. This is
because their superstition cannot remain in the face of the tremendous
progress that has occurred in scientific discoveries.
The Husaynian ceremonies however, because of their intellectual aspects
and living values, have persisted throughout all these centuries and this is
because they are practises, which have a connection with the
psychological mechanism of human belief. For a person who believes in a
thing is not like one who invents a superstition and if these ceremonies
were superstitions they would not have persisted for the past fourteen
hundred years and would not still be perceptibly increasing every year.
al-Minbar: What then is the cause of this clamour that has been stirred
up about the Husayni ceremonies?
- In truth, I have only seen the existence of this clamour amongst you
(Muslims)! In any case, any movement whose fate it is to persist and
succeed will naturally find many enemies and critics and whenever the
enemies and critics are numerous, the movement always becomes stronger
on the condition that it is based upon authentic foundations connected with
the psychological belief mechanism as I mentioned.
al-Minbar: And what about the tatbir that the Shi’a practice on the day
of Ashura out of grief for their Imam Husayn alayhis-salam, what is your
evaluation of it as a ritual?
- Tatbir is one method of evoking physical pain to attain a state of
complete remembrance as I have already explained. Tatbir is, in my view,
the ritual which is most effective in stimulating feelings and sentiments.
al-Minbar: From your academic studies, are there any examples of this
ritual in other societies?
- Yes, you are not alone in this field. Indeed, we Christians practice rituals
which are very similar to the Husayni rituals you practice. Some Christian
ceremonies go as far as bloodletting as well and this is similar to tatbir.
Some Christians hit their bodies with whips during what we call the ‘Week
of Pains’ that is the pains of Christ. In some Christian areas of the Far
East, nails are hammered into wrists so that the pain of Christ crucified is
felt. Wounds to various places of the body to draw blood also happen there
and this is none other than tatbir itself. So do not assume that you are the
only ones who practice tatbir over Husayn, for we practice tatbir over
Christ. I also do not rule out the possibility that some Christians in
Lebanon also practice tatbir over Husayn particularly as Husayn has a
special station amongst Christians generally and Lebanese Christians in
particular.
al-Minbar: What is this station?
He has a prominent position in Christian thought but here is not the place
to discuss it. However, you may sense this station by analysing the reasons
for the presence of images of Husayn in Christian churches, some of
which I have seen myself. I have also seen images of Imam ‘Ali and Lady
Fatima al-Zahra who has a special place in Portugal named ‘Fatima’. The
Vatican has acknowledged it as a holy site and it is said that Fatima al-
Zahra manifested herself there at one time. Overall, Christian ideology
recognises these personalities as holy personalities which have their own
stations. And let us not confine the position of Husayn to Christian thought
alone, for he has a prominent station in many different religions and
philosophical schools of thought. This is because the revolution of Husayn
has a humanistic and universal aspect to it, which aims at moulding the
concepts of mankind by instilling the concepts of freedom and justice and
socialism and equality and resisting oppression and these concepts are
present in the majority of human ideologies and belief systems. Hence we
see that a revolution started by one man - Husayn – along with a few
helpers has changed now into a universal world revolution whose helpers
number millions!
Useful
Links:The Holy Quraan:arabic,translations,commentary:
Al-islam.orgIslamic books including free books:
winbookshop.com
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