Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and sisters … Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/videos/videos/show/12282715-imam-muhammad-al-asi-on-undisturbed-thoughts-about-imam-Husayn-02-02-2009- (02-02-2009) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSUnIJMcXSE UNDISTRUBED THOUGHTS ABOUT IMAM HUSAYN I'd like to begin by saying (that) speaking about Al Imam Al Husayn (alayhi as salaam wa radi Allahu anhu) is a subject matter that is not as clear cut, obvious (or) crystal clear as his position was. What has happened in almost fourteen centuries is an accumulation of traditions, conventions and customs on all sides that to speak in Husayn in an objective manner has become very difficult. It's become very difficult because on one side it is charged with a lot of emotions; on the other side it is almost passivic. So when you come to speak about an issue as central and as sensitive as the life time and the last days and then finally the Shahadah/martyrdom of Husayn it's unavoidable that fourteen-hundred years of the cumulative effects that we have on both sides of looking at this personality is unavoidable. Therefore we will say to you, to begin with, that what we express come out of my heart and mind and we don't mean to trample on anyone's feeling, we don't mean to demean anyone, (whatever your background is, whatever conviction you have, whatever persuasion you come from); we don't man any of that. We're just trying to speak the truth about this matter as we humbly see it. Let us say that in the many years of observation that we have on this subject, inevitably when a person evokes the life time, the struggle and the tragic ending of the life of Husayn; when a person looks at this in its ever expanding meanings, our observation is that this event solicits most of the attention of the Muslim public- it doesn't matter what type of Muslim public we're speaking about. If there's an article in the newspaper about Husayn or about Shi'is or about Sunnis you'll see everyone zeroing-in on this matter and then responding to it or replying to it more than any other issue. We've been living in the recent past and the issue of Sunni-Shi'i has come up, especially by those who wish no good for the Muslim public in the world- if these were newspaper articles, or if these were dissertations, or if these were researches on the subject they still solicit much more attention than even issue that have to do with issues of our common destiny such as the occupation of Palestine or the occupation of Makkah and Al Madinah. Now, let me make a comment here before I being our short discourse: many times certain rulers in Islamic history are referred to as Khulafa'/Khalifahs which is the plural of Khalifah. We heard in some of the presentations that we just heard a reference to Yazid and Mu'awiyah as being two Khalkifahs.We take very strong issue with that. It happens to be that those who consider themselves Sunnis and those who consider themselves Shi'is, both portions of the Muslim Ummah, feel comfortable for their own reasons and for their own explanations referring to Mu'awiyah and Yazid and the rest of the rulers that would follow after them as Khulafa'/Khalifahs. We don't think that's the case. We think these were Kings. Khilafah is a form of governing that tried its best, (we're trying here to skip over a lot of details), to live at the standards that were left to that first generation of Muslims by Allah's Prophet. That ended, for all practical purposes, with the rule of Al Imam Ali (alayhi as salaam). After that there's no Khilafah; there's no Khulafa'. We know that this is a bold statement. We know that many of you are not accustomed to saying this but I'm saying this out of our heart and out of our mind. So whatever we speak about Mu'awiyah and Yazid and the rest from Bani Umayyah and Bani Abbas and the rest of them we simply call them Kings and Monarchs. Let's clear the air on this subject. When Husayn came to assume the responsibility that in the course of the previous years had been receding and that is that those who are qualified to lead the Muslims should lead the Muslims, not a drunkard like Yazid. Yes, this is blunt language and this is the way its supposed to be. We have to express these facts without trying to score points. When some people come and try to express these issues (its) as if there's a grudge against other Muslims. The grudge is misplaced. If there is to be a grudge and if there is to be pent up feelings there should be against the rulers over the Muslims, not the general Muslim public. So when Husayn came to this deteriorating political condition that the Muslims had found themselves in he didn't just reach that moment out of no where. When they said "Indeed Yusuf and his brother is more beloved to our father and we are a group solidarity…" (Surah Yusuf verse 8) This is the first statement that describes to us the psychological deviation that was later on going to manifest in ideological and political positions assumed by Bani Isra'eel. So the Qur'an refers to this character and this type of behaviour. What was to happen in the time of Husayn was there was going to be a replay of this dynamic by another crowd of people called Bani Umayyah. Bani Isra'eel - Bani Umayyah. Husayn was to take at the appropriate time the necessary action against this deviation that wasn't a creation of its own. You see, this struggle many times is presented as one that is a hostility between Husayn and Yazid ibn Mu'awiyah and to a certain extent that is true, but that is a partial presentation of the larger fact of the matter. The larger fact of the matter is that there is a tendency by societies to monopolise power on the basis of Asabiyyah. You see- the transformation that happened in the time of Allah's Prophet brought people/a society, (that was a type of nomadic society), out of its status quo. Way ahead into the future and the type of people who were there could not sustain this transformation. This breakthrough transformation that happened in the time of Allah's Prophet would as human nature and the nature of society of that time and that place begin to recede at the expense of al haqq and al adl. This manifested itself with Bani Umayyah assuming power of this Asabiyyah/clannish solidarity which in today's world can be called Nationalism or its cousin called Racism or parallel to that Sectarianism. All of these can serve as a basis of Asabiyyah/ clannish solidarity. So if you think of yourself as a Nationalist and are trying to remember Husayn or you're thinking of yourself as a person whose race is superior to other races and at the same time you think you belong to Husayn or you think that you belong to a certain sect and you can trace that sect even to Husayn then you don't know the contradiction that you are living. You are, (we say this with respect, but as we said at the beginning, we're trying to express the truth), in a sense you are an oxymoron. You can't belong in a collective manner to Yazid and then in a psychological manner belong to Husayn! It doesn't work that way. But this is what we have. This is the truth of the matter unfortunately. If you go around and you see, even those who like, want and would desire to live, remember and demonstrate the idealism and the heroism of Husayn in today's world are they free of the same forces that assaulted and then martyred Husayn? Are you free of that? (Can't) you see (that) when Mu'awiyah and Yazid came to power, they didn't come to power in a vacuum. They played up the spirit of Nationalism in their own people- that's why they had a lot of people on their side. Of course, they combined with that other factors. It's not easy to argue against the type of Nationalism or Racism or Sectarianism that undermined Islam because in the minds of those people who say "we are practical; we are not reckless, we are not idealists, we are not revolutionaries, we are not crazies- we are pragmatic and we are practical" this is the argument that extends itself in defence of Nationalism. So (its) true- Husayn and Mu'awiyah and Yazid as far as characters were concerned were enemies but the picture is much larger than that because the enemy is not an individual. If it was just two individuals (or) characters who were against Husayn and his father Ali we wouldn't have had this history; but we had individuals who were ahead of their time who now were being targeted by the clannish solidarity of their own people. That would be like in our time in today's world a person who belongs to the Arabic context or the Persian context or the Turkish context or whatever taking issue with the Nationalism of that context and then being killed by the Nationalists of that context. But how many of us understand this lesson of We have never commissioned a Messenger except that he speaks the language of his people… (Surah Ibrahim verse 4) Why do we speak another language? Who are we? What is our mission? What are we going to accomplish if we're going to keep on going around in a vicious cycle of a Nationalist, cultural, traditional and sectarian character? Where are you going with this? It should be enough to understand that Husayn in just a footnote of the lessons that we can learn from his lifetime, from his struggle, from his jihad, from his shahadah, from his martyrdom to be able to shed this Asabiyyah that we have. It was this Asabiyyah that killed him and it is this Asabiyyah that is stifling and killing us. That's why we are fifty-to-sixty nation states in the world. That's another way of saying "long live Mu'awiyah and Yazid." But how many of us are tuned in to this fact? Allah says … and this is your Ummah, one Ummah … (Surah Al Anbiya' verse 92) Why are we not one Ummah? We have people, (we're attending a lot of sessions a lot of presentations), many learned individuals speak about an Ummah. We ask them "where? What Ummah are you speaking about?" Allah says that … we are an Ummah when we are one Ummah … (Surah Al Anbiya' verse 92) But if we are not one Ummah we are no Ummah. It was early at that time before things got out of political control that Husayn tried to stop this political flow in the wrong direction and the Nationalist current overcame him. Why haven't we leant in all of these years to put an end to this Nationalist current? There's a lot to say but there's only a limited time that I was given. We hope we've communicated to you something. We know we weren't very conventional and very traditional in what we said and we will say it again- we did not mean to harm anyone's feelings; we did not mean to score any points. The only thing we tried to do is to try to communicate the truth to you as we understand it from mind and from heart together. Wa This presentation was presented by Imam Muhammad Al Asi on the occasion of Aa'shura and |
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