Celebrating or Lamenting: Easter or Ashura View

In the early days of Islam, Hadhrat Hamza ibni Abdul Muttalib who was martyred at Uhud was designated Sayyidu Sshuhadaa. The Prophet SAWW wished to seeHadhrat Hamza AS mourned and people gathered at Hadhrat Hamza’s house to weep over him. These people earned The Prophet SAWW’s gratitude. After Karbala, the title of Sayyidu Sshuhadaa went to Imam Hussein AS and the tradition established by The Prophet SAWW himself has taken a firm root and will continue to the Day of Judgment. Today this tradition [majlise azaa] is carried out in our Imambarghas, Mahfils, Husainiyas or Islamic Centers as well as in private homes. Indeed, by gathering to mourn Imam Hussein AS, we are fulfilling The Prophet SAWW’s prophesy of a community created by Allah SWT to console Hadhrat Fatima AS, after she had asked who would be there to mourn her slain son at Karbala?

A martyr evokes sympathy and zeal among his devotees. Thus, by weeping over a martyr, people participate with him in his noble deed, harmonize with his spirit and follow in his footsteps. There are those who gratuitously criticize this lamenting upon martyrs as a negative perception to martyrdom. They erroneously think that such lamenting results in negative social repercussions and make a community weak and backward.

Such naysayers have drawn comparisons between the approaches to “Christ’s martyrdom” on the cross at Easter and Imam HusseinAS’ martyrdom in Karbala. Christians celebrate Easter and do not mourn Christ. Muslims ardently and visibly mourn the Imam AS.Thus, it is conceived that one community laments for 1000 years because it considers martyrdom as a defeat, whereas another celebrates it for 2000 years because it see martyrdom as a success and honor. Herein lies the difference in approaches. Those who celebrate martyrdom, they see it as an individual act, whereas Islam views martyrdom as a social phenomenon. This is why our Aimmah AS have emphasized collective lamentation upon Imam HusseinAS ^.

To understand this dichotomy, we first need to look at the concept of death. Is death acceptable to an individual? Does the individual regard it as success? Should others regard a martyr’s death as a heroic deed? The answers to these questions lie in how the relationship between the body and the soul is perceived.

There are those who believe that the soul is trapped like a bird in a golden cage. Once the soul is released, it becomes free. Hence, suicide is considered acceptable in some societies and death becomes a celebration of the freedom of the soul. There are those who believe that death is annihilation and cessation of existence. Naturally, such a belief perceives death negatively and subscribers to this philosophy do not wish to die. The third viewpoint is that death is transfer of the soul from one world to another. In this case, the relationship between the body and the soul is not like a bird and the cage; rather, it is like the relationship between a student and his school or a farmer and his field. A student has to forsake certain things for the sake of a better future, viz. entertainment, family, friends etc and toil and moil over schoolwork. Similarly, a farmer expends all his time and energy to cultivate the field to enjoy future sustenance.Thus, we have two types of people, those who waste their lives and those who make theirs productive.

Secondly, when martyrdom comes, they accept it enthusiastically because it combines two desires of the Awliyaa, namely, {1} having done good works to attain perfection beyond which there is no more good deed left, and {2} to transfer to the next world. This explains Imam Ali AS’ words. Imam Ali AS, who desired martyrdom on the battlefield during The Prophet SAWW’s lifetime, becomes happy when The Prophet SAWW prophesied his martyrdom at the hands of “a shaqii”. His words, when struck by Ibn Muljam’s sword, “Fuztu bi Rabbil Ka’bah.” [By The Lord of The Ka’bah I have succeeded] illustrate these two achievements.

Thus from an individual point of view, martyrdom represents greatest success and the most desirable state for a martyr. Thus, Imam HusseinAS courted martyrdom rather than victory on the battlefield.In this respect, martyrdom as an individual feat would be a cause to celebrate. The Aimmah AS view the larger picture, the societal viewpoint of martyrdom, because martyrdom is the result of social circumstances. Thus, our reaction is not to the individual’s success at attaining martyrdom, but towards the causes and perpetrators of the causes leading to martyrdom. The Aimmah AS bring home to us the fact that Imam Hussein AS did not embrace martyrdom to achieve a personal ambition or to atone for the sins of the ummah. Christ is believed to have gone on the cross to atone for his people’s sins, and losing his life. The Bible shows Christ frightened of deathand querying God for forsaking him!^. Imam HusseinAS invited death to himself to save Islam. His words evidence this: “If the religion of Muhammad cannot survive save by my death, O swords! Come and get me.”

Yet, this lamentation is not a sign of weakness or defeatism. It spurs the mourner to resolve never to behave like Yazeed or Ibn Ziyaad and to fight evil, corruption, injustice and cruelty everywhere in the world. Yet another lesson is that such evil deeds will happen again. In our own lifetime, we have seen tyrants ruthlessly killing men, women, and children and asserting their will by force of arms. Someone who stands up to such evil is considered a hero and more such heroes arise because martyrdom is a heroic deed that rekindles the spirit of a martyr in the people. Thus, lamenting for martyrs is the society’s way of participating in the zeal of the martyr, harmonizing with his spirit and moving in his direction. Celebrating martyrdom with parties does not really bind the martyr to the society, gatherings to weep and mourn for him certainly do.