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When we remember past events and recite the stories of the incidences that took place at Karbala and draw lessons from them we are fulfilling a qur'anic entreaty to call to mind past occurrences and draw lessons from them. Just as the qur'an is a book of guidance for us, from God, so also is the universe, the world which we inhabit, a "book" of God replete with signs (ayats) and waymarks - a guidance to those whose hearts are inclined to seek guidance and who strive to understand the significance of human actions in this world.
This is a difficult task and that is why the qur'an places emphasis on
the effort required to achieve correct understanding. It requests an
effort of mind, will, intellect, and heart in contemplating both the
book of revelation and the book of the universe, of existence. It
cautions against seeking simplistic answers or blindly following past
generations who may have made a habit and virtue of beliefs and
practices devoid of correct intellectual content or deep reflection.
"We make clear the communications
(only) for a people who reflect."
(Qur'an 10:24)
Our approach to all activity in this world, all events in our lives,
should be as towards a book of Allah. This world is a book which is
still unfolding, still being written and our lives are books whose
pages we are busy filling through our actions, our words, our thoughts
and their impact on the world and on our own inner selves. That which
is past is fixed but that which is happening now is what we are
privileged to interact with.
"That is a people that have passed
away; they shall have what they
earned and you shall have what you earn" (2:134)
If we look at the lives of the Prophets and the Imams it seems as if
the substance of the qur'an, it's deep meanings, was infused into the
very essence of their own selves. They dealt with everything that
happened
around them, to them, every encounter, every word spoken, as if they
were engaged simultaneously in a tafsir and a tawil of the events. The
tafsir is the interpretation, the explanation of the significance, and
tawil is the process by which signs (ayats) are followed back to their
point of origin so that one can draw closer to the Originator.
Tanzil (meaning "descent") is the process by which ayats of the qur'an
descended from God to the heart of the Prophet and then to the verbal
level at which we received them from the Prophet. Tanzil is also the
process by which God creates his various creations - causing them to
descend from His inexhaustible treasuries to the realm of space and
time which we inhabit.
Tawil is the reverse process by which those ayats (whether qur'anic
verses or things in creation) are decoded and understood so that the
understanding leads one from mere words and things, to comprehension,
to certainty, to a transformation of the soul, and to recognition of
the source of the ayats - God.
So the Imams engaged in a constant tafsir - interpreting the
significance of the events of their time - and in a constant tawil - so
that every event, positive or negative, became for them and their
companions a means of drawing near to God - of unraveling the true
meaning of an event and their correct place within it.
They approached each situation in a unique way, in the most effective
manner possible. They did not act according to rigid formulas based on
narrow understandings or simplistic criteria. So often, their followers
were caught off balance by the manner in which they acted - they
confounded the expectations of people who acted according to fixed
slogans and a narrow static knowledge.
Through their tawil of events, through connecting themselves to the
Source of all events, they (each Imam in his own way) transformed
themselves into living ayats demonstrating the beauty of the qur'an put
into action within the tumult, upheaval, fortune and misfortune of an
endlessly transforming world. Imam Husayn (a.s.) and the shuhada
(martyrs) of Karbala wrote the difficult, heart-rending tafsir of their
time, of early Islamic history, in words of blood that no succeeding
generation could ignore.
And for us, in our times, we can only strive to follow the advice of
the qur'an to remember and reflect and thereby grow in understanding so
that we may be capable of undertaking a correct tafsir and tawil of the
events that are unfolding in our era and affecting our lives. To this
end we relate the narratives of Karbala in our gatherings and turn the
focus of our
hearts and minds to reflect searchingly upon them.
"Therefore relate the narrative that
they may reflect." (Qur'an 7:176)
- Irshaad Hussain
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Martyrdom (Looking towards God)
This poem is attributed to Rabab, the beloved wife of Imam Husayn:
"He who was a light, shining, is murdered;
Murdered in Karbala, and unburied.
Descendant of the Prophet, may God reward you well;
May you be spared judgement on the day when deeds are weighed:
For you were to me as a mountain, solid, in which I could take refuge;
And you treated us always with utmost kindness, and according to religion.
O who shall speak now for the orphans, for the petitioners;
By whom shall all these wretched be protected,
in whom shall they take refuge?
I swear by God, never will I wish to exchange marriage with you for
another;
No, not until I am covered; covered in the grave."
(marthiya attributed to Rabab - translated by L. Clarke)