Voices of Islam (91 page)
Authors: Vincent J. Cornell
122
Voices of the Spirit
experienced at Karbala. The willingness of the ritual participants to offer their bodies up for self-inflicted pain is also symbolic of their willingness to be martyred for Husayn. Self-infl cted punishment is also seen as an act of penance for the sins of the Muslim community, who abandoned Husayn and his followers to their tragic fate on the days leading up to ‘Ashura.
In addition to the more spiritual or doctrinal functions of the rituals of ‘Ashura, these rituals have also served a wide variety of other social and politi- cal functions. They have served to strengthen communal identities, especially in relation to Sunni Muslims, but also among ethnic, tribal, neighborhood, and other societal groups. They have helped to cement bonds between patrons and clients, especially in the premodern era. They have been used by modern political movements, including rulers, nationalists, reformists, rebels, and revolutionaries. They have served a wide variety of social functions, such as promoting and preserving social networks and enhancing the social status of individuals and groups, including governments and opposition groups. Many have even argued that ‘Ashura rituals serve a variety of psychological or emotional functions for individuals. In short, the rituals of ‘Ashura have served, and continue to serve, a dynamic function in Shiite societies. It is therefore reasonable to assume that they will continue to serve important spiritual, ethical, political, and social functions in the foreseeable future.
NOTES
Portions of this chapter are based on material from my two recently published books:
The Martyrs of Karbala: Shi‘i Symbols and Rituals in Modern Iran
(Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 2004) and
The Women of Karbala: The Gender Dynamics of Ritual Performances and Symbolic Discourses of Modern Shi‘i Islam
(Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 2005). Other material may be found in a forthcoming encyclopedia article, ‘‘Ashura’’ in
Encyclopedia of Islam Third Edi- tion,
edited by Rudi Matthee and published by E.J. Brill in Leiden, The Netherlands. Please consult these publications for more detailed discussions of ‘Ashura.
Early Muslim sources state that when the Prophet Muhammad and his followers emigrated from Mecca to Medina in 622
CE
he instructed Muslims to fast on the 10th day of the month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. Within the next couple of years, after the month of Ramadan (the ninth month) was prescribed for Muslims as an obligatory period of fasting, the Muharram fast was transformed into an optional fast. There are numerous traditions that describe the events surrounding the adoption of ‘Ashura as a holy day. All of these accounts agree that Muslims practiced the fast shortly after the emigration (
hijra
) to Medina and that they abandoned it upon the adoption of the fasting month of Ramadan. However, they disagree on the precise origins of the practice. Some say that Muhammad saw the Jews fasting on the 10th day of the first month of their calendar in commemora- tion of how God had saved the Israelites from the Egyptians. Other accounts stress the pre-Islamic Arab origins of the holy day, explaining that Muhammad’s tribe ofThe Passion of ‘Ashura in Shiite Islam
123Quraysh, and indeed Muhammad himself, used to fast on the day of ‘Ashura in the so-called ‘‘Period of Ignorance’’ (
Jahiliyya
) before the revelation of the Qur’an. Modern scholars have tended to favor the theory of the Jewish origins of the ‘Ashura fast, but there is no consensus on the issue. Given the scant historical sources that we have for this early period, scholars must rely on the interpretation of the Hadith and the few other sources that have survived. This is greatly complicated by the fact that the Hadith and other sources, such as the biographical texts about Muhammad (
Sira
), were not written down until one or two centuries after the events they describe. Therefore, it is difficult to resolve this debate definitively.This hadith was reported by the famous Sunni traditionist Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855
CE
) in his collection,
al-Musnad
. Moojan Momen,
An Introduction to Shi‘i Islam
(New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1985), 14.
3. Ibid., 17.
For a detailed discussion of the crisis of succession to the Prophet Muhammad, see Wilferd Madelung,
The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari,
The History of al-Tabari: Volume 16, The Community Divided,
trans. Adrian Brockett (Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1997), 52.Muhammad Muhammadi Eshtehardi,
Hazrat Zaynab, payam risan-i shahidan-i Karbala
(Tehran: Nashr-i Mutahhar, 1997), 26–28.This elegy was written by Sahib Ibn ‘Abbad, a prominent poet from the Buyid era (ca. 945–1055
CE
). It comes from the collection by Abu Bakr al-Khwarazmi called
Maqtal al-Husayn
(The Killing of Husayn). See Mayel Baktash, ‘‘Ta‘ziyeh and its Philosophy,’’ in
Ta‘ziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran,
ed. Peter J. Chelkowski (New York: New York University Press and Soroush Press, 1979), 97.Ibn Kathir,
al-Bidaya wa al-nihaya
(Cairo: Matba‘a al-Sa‘ada, 1939). The translated passage is adapted from Michel M. Mazzaoui, ‘‘Shi‘ism and Ashura in South Lebanon,’’ in
Ta‘ziyeh,
231.For a modern edition of this work, see Mulla Husayn Va‘iz Kashifi
Rawzat al-shuhada’
(Tehran: Chapkhanah-i Khavar, 1962).The orators at
Rawza Khanis
are usually men, although sometimes, female orators give sermons in private
Rawza Khanis
attended exclusively by women.Jean Calmard, ‘‘Le Patronage des Ta‘ziyeh: Elements pour une Etude globale,’’ in
Ta‘ziyeh,
122.For detailed discussions of the
Ta’ziyeh
traditions of Iran, please refer to the following books. In English, Peter J. Chelkowski,
Ta‘ziyeh
and Samuel Peterson, ed.,
Ta‘ziyeh: Ritual and Popular Beliefs in Iran
(Hartford, Connecticut: Trinity College, 1988). In Persian, Sadiq Humayuni,
Ta‘ziyeh dar Iran
(Shiraz: Intisharat-i Navid, 1989); Inayatallah Shahidi and ‘Ali Bulukbashi,
Pazhuhishi dar ta‘ziyah va ta‘ziyah khani az aghaz ta payan-i dowrah-i Qajar dar Tihran
(Tehran: Daftar-i Pazhuhish-ha-i Farhangi, Iran UNESCO Commission, 2001); Jaber Anasari, ed.,
Shabih khani, kuhan ulgu-i nimayishha-i Irani
(Tehran: Chapkhanah-i Ramin, 1992); Muhammad Ibrahim Ayati,
Barrisi-i tarikh-i Ashura,
9th ed. (Tehran: Nashr-i Sadduq, 1996); and Laleh Taqiyan,
Ta‘ziyah va ti’atr dar Iran
(Tehran: Nashr-e Markaz, 1995).124
Voices of the SpiritVernon James Schubel,
Religious Performance in Contemporary Islam: Shi‘i Devotional Rituals in South Asia
(Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1993) 110.Juan R.I. Cole,
The Roots of North Indian Shi‘ism in Iran and Iraq: Religion and State in Awadh, 1722–1859
(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1988), 22–27; see also, A. N. al-Naqvi,
A Historical Review of the Institution of Azadari for Imam Husain
(Karachi, Pakistan: Peer Mahomed Ebrahim Trust, 1974).See Cole,
Roots of North Indian Shi‘ism,
22–35; Frank J. Korom,
Hosay Trinidad: Muharram Performances in an Indo-Caribbean Diaspora
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003); al-Naqvi,
Institution of Azadari.For Shi‘i rituals outside Iran please refer to the following studies: Schubel,
Religious Performance;
Augustus Richard Norton,
Shi‘ism and the Ashura Ritual in Lebanon
(New York: Al-Saqi Books, 2003); Cole,
Roots of North Indian Shi‘ism;
Yitzhak Nakash,
The Shi‘is of Iraq
(Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1994); David Pinault,
The Horse of Karbala: Muslim Devotional Life in India
(New York: Palgrave, 2001); David Pinault,
The Shi‘ites, Ritual, and Popular Piety in a Muslim Community
(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992); Frederic Maatouk,
La representation de la mort de l’imam Hussein a Nabatieh
(Beirut: Universite´ libanaise, Institut des sciences sociales, Centre de recherches, 1974); and Waddah Shararah,
Transformations d’une manifestation religieuse dans un village du Liban- Sud (Asura)
(Beirut: al-Jami‘a al-Lubnaniyya, Ma‘had al-‘Ulum al-Ijtima‘iyya, 1968).
T
HE
H
IDDEN AND THE
M
OST
H
IDDEN
: T
HE
H
EART AS A
S
OURCE OF
S
PIRITUAL
G
UIDANCE
•
Shaykh ‘Ali Jum‘a
Every Friday thousands of Muslims in Cairo hear the call to prayer and make their way to Sultan Hasan, a fourteenth-century mosque located in the heart of the old city, to pray and listen to the
khutba
(the Friday talk) of Shaykh ‘Ali Jum‘a. As one enters the courtyard of the mosque, framed by four enormous vaulted halls, one is struck by the simplicity, beauty, and scale of the structure. It arouses the feeling of man and his Creator.
Shaykh ‘Ali climbs the stairs to the
minbar,
faces the congregation, and begins his talk. He invokes the Name of Allah with such intensity that men weep, for it has been said that when you hear the Name of Allah you should weep, and if you do not weep, you should weep because you do not. After the prayer almost the entire congregation remains to hear the lesson that Shaykh ‘Ali presents. As he speaks, his soft eyes penetrate, his voice rings with strength and quivers with emotion. He is the embodiment of intelligence and light.
It was after a Friday prayer on a hot Cairo evening that we spoke of the heart. This is the first time Shaykh ‘Ali’s words have been translated into English.
Shaykh ‘Ali Jum‘a is now the
Mufti
(chief jurisconsult) of Egypt. At the time of this interview he was professor of Islamic jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.
—Shems Friedlander
SHEMS FRIEDLANDER (SF): What is the heart? Where is it located? Is it the pump that physicians call a heart which remains with man between birth and death? Is it physical or metaphysical?
Shaykh ‘Ali Jum‘a (SAJ): There are words, expressions in the Arabic language that speak about this level: the heart (
al-qalb
), the sensitive heart (
al-fu’ad
), the essence (
al-lubb
), and the intellect (
al-‘aql
). The word
al-qalb
also refers to the physical entity, the pump that pumps
