Why Cry Over the Tragedy of Kerbala

March 8, 2007

Crying Over Imam Hussain (a.s.)


Why do we commemorate the tragedy of Kerbala? Why do we do majalis, matam, and cry over Imam Hussain’s masaib?
I.
A. Sometimes children have the question that there are many other people in this world who have been killed without any fault of their own due to either wars, or natural disasters, then why is it that we are sad only for Imam Hussain?
B. I will be citing sources such as the verses of the Holy Quran and sayings of Imam Hussain (a.s.).

II. We will differentiate between the tragedy of Kerbala and other sad happenings in the world; we will discuss the importance of understanding the reasons of Imam’s goals, and in the end we will see what the benefit of such commemoration is.
Let us discuss the first point.
I. Ever since the human race has commenced on this earth, there have been killings, mishaps, and such occurrences.
A. How many people get killed due to wars, how many people die due to natural disasters, how many lose their lives due to accidents? These innocent lives that are lost do deserve our sympathies and the perpetuators of these killings must be condemned . But the question arises again - why is the tragedy of Kerbala any different.
Let us now perceive how the innocent people die.
II. We see that the innocent people who end up getting killed would have saved their lives if had they known they would be killed soon. For example, if someone knows that a bomb will fall on the roof of his house, he will do his best to escape from there before it happens. Similarly, if someone found out that if he went to a certain place, he would be killed, then he would not go there.
A. If there was a chance to save their life, they would definitely try to save themself and try to escape from the situation. These lives do deserve our sympathies but it is not the same as the tragedy of Kerbala.
B. Then there were other events such as the martyrdoms of messengers and other imams who were poisoned, these are also sad events and deserve commemoration but among all these events , Kerbala stands out.
C. We know that Imam Husain is called the warith(heir) of the prophets because by his sacrifice he saved their hard work from going to waste as well.
D. Imam Hussain could have saved his life in several ways.
1. He could have accepted the rule of Yazeed. It would have been a disaster for Islam and Muslims. At that time, Marwan met him and offered him his advice saying, ‘..you should do Yazeed’s bay’at', it is good for this world as well as the hereafter.’ Imam read 'Inna lillahe wa inna elayhe rajeoon, meaning if the people like Yazeed become the ruler of Islamic World then would should bid farewell to Islam.
2. He could have migrated to another country. In fact, someone advised him to take his family and go away to another country. But would he escape?
3. There was no one else who would speak up and condemn the oppressor other than Imam Hussain (a.s.). The people of Madinah knew that Imam had called this government illegal but nobody said anything. The people needed a jolt to wake them up from their slumber.
4. Imam knew what was to become of him, but the tragedies that would befall his family were not more important than saving Islam.
· During his journey to Kerbala, at one point he said that people are the slaves of this world and their faith is only on their tongues. They support the religion as long as their lives are comfortable but when they are tested, very few remain faithful to the religion.
· At another location called ‘Tha’alib’ he saw a dream about a horseback rider saying that this caravan is moving forward and death is following it. When he told about it, Hazrat Ali Akbar asked Imam Hussain (a.s.), ‘Are we not on the right path?’ He said, ‘Of course we are ,oh my son.’ Then Ali Akbar replied, ‘Then we don’t care about death.’ Imam said jazakallah khair.
Such were his companions and family members who were not scared of death but wanted to follow the path of truth alone. It is our responsibility to seek truth and support it, be on the right path, not condemn people who say what is haqq,and not be afraid of speaking up.
E. Another aspect to consider is the fact that a disrespectful action toward different people has different value.
1. For example, if two friends argue, and one pushes the other, it is not as bad as if one person argues with his mother and then pushes her. How disrespectful would that be? Although both actions are the same but it is also important to whom it was done.
2. The higher the status, the worse even a small disrespect would look. As another example, a person kills someone. It is horrible but may not make news. But when a president of a country is assassinated, it makes headlines all over the world. The crime was the same but the intensity of impact was different.
3. Allah says in Surah-e-Hujuraat, ‘Do not raise your voices over the voice of the Prophet, and do not speak loud to him as you speak loud to one another….
4. Imagine how great would any disrespect be toward Imam Hussain (a.s.) who was the grandson of the Holy Prophet; he belonged to the most noble and pious family. When such a tragedy as the events of Kerbala, which even for a regular person is big enough, happened to him, his family and companions, how deep the wound would be and how strong the grief should be.
· In Ziarat-e-Ashoora we read…. ‘O Imam Hissain, your tragedy was great even for us and all the people of Islam. This calamity was huge even for angels and dwellers of heavens.’
We discussed the importance of events of Kerbala; why are they different from any other event in the world and why Imam Husain had to do the sacrifice. Now we will come to the last part of our topic.

III. It is true that there have been great and very important events in history but if we do not repeat them, we will soon forget them. Once another imam said that how the event of Ghadir was so important, thousands of people had witnessed that due to the passage of time it was erased from the memory of some. Due to the lack of emphasis, it changed the history of Islam. If we do not celebrate the tragedy of Kerbala every year, it would soon be forgotten and would only be found in the pages of history.
A. Some people have started saying these days that , it is true tht these events were important and that we should rememeber them, but there is no need to cry, do matam or majlis. Instead every year we can have a conference where speakers can throw light on the history of Kerbala.
· The answer to this argument is this that such conferences or programs are for the intellect of the people where emotions do not play any role. Whereas commemorating the tragedy of Kerbala is for the heart; it invokes emotions. The whole environment: putting on black clothes, abandoning entertainments and happy programs; bring us closer to understanding the feel of it.
B. Even after the passage of 1367 years, it is still fresh and alive. It teaches us to give up our indifference towards right and wrong; it shakes us to help the oppressed, to condemn the oppressor even today any where in this world.
C. The least it does is to help us forget our own sufferings when we see how Imam went thru all that.
D. It motivates our people to be brave in the face of calamities and to make sacrifices for the sake of Allah by keeping the hereafter in mind, not just this worldly life.
E. Crying softens our hearts and keeps us from becoming stone-hearted.
F. If these majlises are like an informal university that relay the teachings of the masumeen to us.
Conclusion
I. We look at the role models like Abbas and Ali Akbar, in fact we can find role models for any age or gender.
II. These events that took place not just in Kerbala but also in Kufa and Sham, are no ordinary incidents. We do not find any match in history for them. The noble objective is far more important than lives or imprisonment of women and children. We must keep this tradition alive for our own sakes.