“My ummah are like a single body, if one part is injured, the whole body feels the pain.”

Holy Prophet (S)

Anaesthesia is a pharmacologically-induced state of amnesia through the administration of an analgesic that temporarily blocks the sensory experience resulting in a loss of responsiveness. Feeling the pain of another is a deferred method of feeling the pain from within. Islam teaches us through the inculcation of faith and the conviction of deed how to align our emotions with a higher spiritual realm, how to nurture the knowledge we acquire in order to reach enlightenment, how to feel what another feels by virtue of identification with the same values, sharing the same ideology and how to transcend the boundaries of suffering and sacrifice to evolve as human beings and drink from the same pool of life irrespective of nationality or social standing. This is all a life tutorial on how to become “real”, ascribing to that which is “Absolute”, tangible and extricating the dilute, muffled, insensate “relative”.

As the moon of Thul-Hijjah dissolves the lunar year, the blood-tainted dawn of Muharram cyclically ascends. We once again attest to the butchery visited upon the Household of the Holy Prophet (S) besmirching the pages of history since 680-681AD. No lies or trickery, dishonesty nor blatant fraud can conceal the absolute horror of its tenth day. No forgeries through convoluted rhetoric falling off forked tongues from the most fetid of mouths can debase what has become one of the single most defining points in human history. Fact - Islam in its infancy had through the malice of its early followers eviscerated itself by lying bare on those blistering sands, the pierced flesh, the shredded clothes, the shrieking wails, the toil and suffering of Sayyidi Shababe Ahlul Jannah. No amount of masked calumny against the Prophet (S) and his Illustrious Family (AS) will ever stand up to the signature scribed in Husayn’s (AS) sanctimonious blood.

Like the guffawing bray of donkeys, attempts to slander Shi’a (or followers of the Illustrious Imams) in the name of “protecting the pureness of Sunni” does nothing but undermine the very foundation of Islam itself and instead exposes the stench of malevolent intent. That the Umayyads could whip up an entire army at the command of a whim is one matter. But today, 1330 years later, we still have thugs in flowing robes putridly ejecting the same vitriol in poisonous tones “In the Name of Islam”. This leads one to re-imagine the battlefield on ‘Ashura day, where there were those who had memorized Qur’an and sold themselves to the demonic forces of Yazid (May he be cursed) for a pittance called Hell. The recent Wikileaks exposure on the role of some of the Arab States in urging the US on to attack Iran is another excellent case study. Whether the facts are true or not, the reality is as follows. The labour of nations and people who strive to shed themselves of the burden of slavery and servitude to hegemonic rule, history will indelibly expose the repulsive face of those who try and subvert these pure efforts.

If “my ummah are like a single body”, how are we anaesthetized to the terror of Afghanistan, Iraq or Palestine that supposedly throbs in our veins to the point where we haemorrhage as a consequence, as if WE ourselves endure their suffering and tears? The answer lies in the manner which we engage with our history and the reality of our own existence in this world. The greatest paradox is that the very detractors of Karbala today (and its real place in Islamic history) would naturally react defensively if THEIR own lives or that of their families were at risk. What do they then feel when Sayyidatun Nisa al-Aalameen cried from the heavens when her son was slaughtered in such a vile way? Probably the same feelings educed when their allies bomb the innocent in the Afghan mountains or blow up the children on the streets of Basra, Najaf and Baghdad – ANAESTHETISED.

A time comes in the life of an individual or society where theories and philosophy can provide no tangible solution to the problems facing humanity. A point is reached, where nothing can bring about change except to act upon that which is right and true and to enact the truth in its unadulterated sense as God (SWT) Himself instructed. Imam Husayn (AS) faced that juncture in 60AH and acted in a manner that would come to define the cause as greater than the individual sacrifice. Many times one may be tempted to question how it was possible that God Almighty (SWT) could allow one of his beloved to perish in such a horrifying manner. Unless of course it was to practically demonstrate that “if our bodies are meant to die and decay, is it not then best to be cut to pieces in Allah’s way?” (Imam Husayn {AS}). Many seek to use this against Shi’a in drawing parallels to Christianity by using the analogy of sacrifice. The Glorious Qur’an itself is clear on the role of sacrifice as the most potent tool in the life of human society for the achievement of lofty goals. Struggle and ascension to the state of perfection through perfect surrender.

“And Say: ‘Truth has arrived, and falsehood perished, for falsehood is by its very nature bound to perish’” (Qur’an 17:81). The accuracy and certainty of the events that led up to the calamity at Karbala is almost as sure and true as the existence of the event itself. Suffice to say that the major reason for the decrepit Muslim condition today, is that we have been numbed to our existential reality as human beings. This is not entirely due to the rampant domination of material forces, but more so due to the complicity of our very own Muslim brethren in this process of subjugation through their sabotage, duplicity, treason and betrayal of the core values which Islam stands for. No amount of pain inflicted upon our own selves wounds more than being betrayed by “your own”. This is the hideous face that Imam Husayn (AS) so cogently exposed not through idle talk, tedious deliberation or mulling argument, but through gallant deed. Peace be on you Oh Husayn, Peace be on you, ‘Ali son of Husayn, Peace be on you Oh followers of Husayn, and Peace be on the children of Husayn.

Mansoor Mollagee