Source: http://blogs.thenews.com.pk/blogs/2013/11/why-do-azadari-in-muharram/
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 18:17:00+00:00

Document:
The Newsblog – Why do Azadari in Muharram?
Contrary to the popular belief by some who assert that holding Majlis is a rather contemporary tradition, the first Majlis-e-Hussain (AS) was organized by his sister Syeda Zainab (AS) whose veil was torn off by the assassins Prophet’s (PBUH) grandson.
Who is not aware of the history of Karbala? – of the tragic incident that took place after 60 years of the death of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Dialectics behind Karbala need no glossing over, but what does need to be highlighted is its influence on people over centuries’ span. From languages to countries, from styles to rituals, the Azadari transformed a lot and now while living in Virginia I’m conveniently listening the lectures and “Marsiyas” in English., at my own place.
Currently, people in all parts of the world are seen mourning for Imam Hussain’s death in destitution. The journey of Azadari traveled with his sister from Damascus to Karbala and to Medina. She returned with some family members which includes son and grandson of Imam HussainAS. His son and grandsons always encouraged the performance of Azadari but in their time it was performed in utmost secrecy as the regime was opposed to any remembrance of Karbala.
Therefore, parents of that generation started transferring the Azadari’s material in English. They started translating the Marsiyas of Mir Anees and many Persian elegies. Ali Abbas, an English Nauha writer and reciter from Maryland told me, “9 years ago, a scholar from London said to me that English has global reach, and has potential of influencing people of all communities; therefore, poetry in English will convey the pathos of the tragedy of Karbala more effectively.” He said, “Since then I am writing one Nauha every year”.
Ammar Nakshwani, a renowned scholar from London, said that Azadari in English brings Shiite community of different countries under one roof; English Azadari unites people of all countries and spread the message more effectively to other communities.
Ali Abbas believed that imam Hussain’s message is universal and his influence has truly been global as well. While quoting the example of Gandhi; when Gandhi took 72 people in his nonviolent protest against British Raj to mimic Imam Hussain’s 72 companions in Karbala; said that even those who don’t understand the religious significance of it relate it with personal courage, integrity, patience and sacrifice.
Now the youth who is born and raised in West is writing Nauhas on western rhythm which is a way of understanding the responsibilities of learning and teaching Azadari. The trend of writing elegies in English is growing but it will take time, but this transformation has proven one thing that Azadari will grow in different languages and countries. The way it has spread, many say that this is the miracle of Imam HussainAS that how everyone recalls his sacrifices every year in Muharram in different languages.
Azadari to a westerner is a continued mourning of an unfortunate incident of over 1400 years back. They fail to understand and often ask a simple question after observing a procession of beating chests in deep mourning. They ask, if Shias reject the main-stream Islam in such a vociferous way known to the world as Sunni Islam, then what really is Islam?
There is a need for explaining the real essence of Islam to the world as given to us by our Holy Prophet (PBUH) and starting efforts to bridge the dividing gap between, not only sects, but also faiths, as the Prophet (PBUH) would have liked us to do. We have enough of guidance in Shariah, if we have a mind to read and find our way.
Dear brother, Thank for your concern and good wishes for Islam.
There is only one Islam brought by the prophet Mohammed (SAWW). There is no difference between Shia & Sunni because you cannot be a shia if you are not sunni and vice versa. The difference is between our ignorance. We are not aware of each other’s strengths. There is no difference between a true shia and a true sunni. Please read history as an independent reader you will get all the answers yourself. Allah will open your heart and mind.
Regarding Azadari – the first Azadar was the prophet himself when Jibrael(AS) came to congratulate him, he smiled and then started crying because he was told what would happen to the Imam(AS). There are millions of our sunni brothers participate in Azadari of the Imam , of course in their own ways because it is sunnat…Let us all remember the Imam together like we used to in the past at least.
Every year, Muslims around the world commemorate the tragedy of Karbala. They attend mourning meetings and processions in which the story of Karbala is retold, lamentations are held and special poetic readers using dramatic techniques and symbolism recite eulogies to mark the events of the day of Ashura. All these commemorative meetings not only serve to convey the events and message of Karbala but also provide opportunities for us to learn about Islam in general.
We commemorate Ashura’ to symbolise and express our grief and emotions towards the martyrdom of Imam al-Hussain (AS), to keep Imam al-Hussain’s (AS) cause alive in our hearts and to be committed to his cause. Also, we want to extract lessons from the tragedy of Karbala and apply them to our daily lives. We want to pay our condolences to the Holy Prophet (S) and the Ahlul Bayt (AS). You might then ask why we do not commemorate the death of the Holy Prophet (S) who has a much higher rank than Imam al-Hussain (AS). The answer to this is that although we do commemorate and mourn the death of the Holy Prophet (S), it is the way and circumstance in which Imam al-Hussain (AS) was martyred which makes all the difference, the fact that he was martyred for refusing a government headed by the wretched Yazid, who drank, gambled and indulged in many corrupt practices, the fact that those who savagely slaughtered Imam al-Hussain (AS) called themselves Muslims is what makes us mourn and lament his martyrdom the way we do.
Imagine, it is afternoon on the day of Ashura’. Imam al-Hussain (AS) is standing on the blood-drenched soil of Karbala in the heat of the scorching sun awaiting to meet his beloved. His head is wounded and blood is streaming slowly down his holy face soaking his blessed beard. He looks around, searching for members of his family and his companions, only to find them brutally slaughtered and slain like sacrificial lambs, lying there on the ground soaked in blood. He hears the innocent crying and wailing of the children and the women. Tears flow down his holy face. He takes a piece of cloth to wipe the blood from his face, whereupon an archer from the army of Yazid (may Allah’s curse be upon him) shoots a triple-headed arrow, which lodges into Imam al-Hussain’s (AS) heart.
Ibn Saad, Ali bin Muhammad, Yahya bin Zakariya, a man heard it from ‘Amir al-Sha’bi say: “When Ali (as) passed by Karbalaa in his march to Siffien and lined up with Nainawa – a village on the Euphrates – he stopped and called one of them men: Tell aba ‘Abdullah (al-Hussain (AS)) what this land is called? He said: Karbala. Then he cried until the earth was wet from his tears. He then said: I entered on the messenger of Allah (S) and he was crying. So I said: What makes you cry?
In conclusion, we cry for Imam al-Hussain (AS) because so did the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (S). Every year we continue and revive the message of Karbala by mourning and crying over the injustice which the Ahlul Bayt (AS) suffered on the plains of Karbala, and through this we renew our pledge of allegiance to the Imam (AS) and keep his noble cause alive in our hearts.
1.Nadra al-Azdiya, a woman who was contemporary of Imam al –Hussain (AS), is said to have reported: “When al-Hussain b. ‘Ali was killed, the sky rained down blood, so that next morning we found our wells and water jugs filled with it.” This hadith is narrated by Ibn Hajar.
2.The Holy Qur’an, Aqa Mirza Mahdi Puya, p. 681, pub. Peermohammed Trust (Pakistan). This hadith is recorded under the tafsir of the verse (19:12-15). Aqa Mahdi Puya says that what is meant by “the heavens wept” (in the hadith of Imam as-Sadiq) is that the sun became extraordinarily red.
3.al-Suyuti reports in his commentary on the verse (19:13) describing Allah’s compassion towards the ancient martyr John son of Zachariah that “The heavens did not weep for the death of anyone except John son of Zachariah and al-Hussain b. Ali. Its redness [at sunset] is the sign of its weeping”.
4.The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon (1911), v. 5, pp. 391-2.
5.The Holy Qur’an, (19:58); also refer to (17:109).
6.Thakhaer al-Uqba, Muhibbuldeen al-Tabari, p. 148.
7.al-Mustadrak al-Sahih, al-Hafidh al-Hakim al-Nisapouri, v. 3, p. 176, (al-Hakim said: “This is an authentic hadith (Sahih) on the conditions of Bukhari and Muslim but they did not print it”); Dalael al-Nubouwa, al-Hafidh al-Bayhaqi under the subject of al-Hussain (AS); Cf. Ibn al-A’tham IV, (Hyderabad, 1971), p. 211-2, the author narrates this hadith using a different chain of narration.
8.al-Musannaf, al-Hafidh abu Bakr bin abi Shaibah, v. 12.
9.al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, Ibn Saad; al-Musannaf, Ibn Abi Shaibeh, v. 12 (with “Patience aba ‘Abdullah, patience aba ‘Abdullah”); al-Moejam al-Kabeer, al-Tabarani, v. 1; Tareekh al-Shamm, Ibn ‘Asakir.
10.al-Musnad, Ahmad bin Hanbal, v. 2, p. 60-61; al-Taba’qat al-Kubra, Ibn Saad; al-Moejam al-Kabeer, al-Hafidh al-Tabarani (on subject of al-Hussain); A’lam al-Nubuwwah, al-Mawardi al-Shafi ‘I; Kanz al-Ummal, al-Muttaqi al-Hindi.
11.al-Khasa’is, al-Suyuti al-Shafi’I, 2:125; al-Manaqib, al-Magazili, p. 313; al-Musnad, Ahmad bin Hanbal, 6:294; Tarikh al-Islam, al-Dimishqi, 3:11; al-Bidayah wal-Nihayah, 6:230; al-’Aqd al-Farid, ibn ‘Abd Rabbah, 2:219; Kanz al-Ummal, al-Muttaqi al-Hindi; Cf. Ibn al-A’tham IV, 212-4; Sahih al- Tirmidhi; Mishkat al-Masabih, an-Nawawi, English Version, Tradition # 6157.
12.Tarikh al-Kabir, al-Bukhari (author of the famous Sahih), v. 4, Part 1, p. 26; Fadha’il al-Sahaba, Amhmad Ibn Hanbal, v. 2, p. 776, tradition # 1373; Tabarani, v. 3, p.130-1; Tahdhib, v. 7, p.404.
I request Miss Maheen to use(RA) instead of (AS). Further, Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) and Hazrat Imama Hassan are “SARDAR” of Hannat. How a muslim can deny this. So we all Muslims feels like this.
But Can someone quote some examples from Hazrat Zainab (RA) life or from the life of Hazrat Imam Ul Aabideen that they hold holding Majlis/Auzadari or Marseea in such a way that present day Shias are doing.
A peter pan never grows up.
You will also say “long live the tradition of tabbarrah-dari”.
I assume your reference to Anees & Dabeer is the aesthete in you – and not an admirer of exagerrated myth making. With distortions of history having become an artform, past consequences of mixing power politics of tribal nature with matters of simple faith?! should inspire many more marsiagos to be vocal about what Islam and Muslim has cone to mean today!!!
A very good and appropriate rejoinder.
The nasty turns of events in the world call for a thorough scientific investigation into history to find out who created the killing virus of sects in Islam and find ways and means to revive the real Islam as lived and given to us by our Holy Prophet (PBUH).
It is infinite wisdom of Allah (SWT) that, non of the three sons of Prophet (PBUH) was given a life beyond childhood that could have started dynastic lineage after the Prophet (PBUH).
No grievance with exaggerations but when they turn into dry, fanning wind on a hit day, the unexaggerated, dry “ghass phoos” turns into a fuel from a feed!
Agree infinitum ” Please no TYRANNY of the Majoritism” (or minorities).
My apologies for the lack of clarity on my part that led you to a certain conclusion. The intent is not a fatwa on a partisan basis – who am I to expel anyone from the circle of Islam if they profess the singularity of God and the prophethood of Muhammed (p.b.u.h) and want to be known as Muslims?!
Sorry for delay because this blog is no more active.
For a simple clarification, I want to remind that, Islamic year based upon lunar movement is of 355 days against 365 days of the Western Calendar based upon Solar year.
Multiplying 50 with 365 and dividing with 355 would give 51.4 Islamic years for 50 solar years, while 50 lunar years would equal 50 x 355/365= 48.6 solar years.

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