ʿAshura Articles: by Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
Published by: the ʿAshura bulletin issued by Dar al-Huda for Culture and Media – Holy Karbala
Article (1): The Aim in Giving Precedence between the Rites and the Values.
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The Aim in Giving Precedence between the Rites and the Values
Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
Ever since the contemporary Islamic awakening began more than thirty years ago, and up to today, the problem of how to approach the season of ʿAshura—giving precedence to the ritual aspect or giving precedence to the value-based and cultural aspect—has been raised from time to time, and the stirrings increase as the season of ʿAshura approaches each year.
The raising of this problem regarding the form and content of the ʿAshura commemoration was part of the search for the factors that raise up the umma, and of re-examining religious and cultural practices and acts so that they might be reformulated in a way that suits and supports the rising movement and the spirit that emerged from the Islamic awakening and its growth.
Among the best treatments of this problem is balance in action between the ritual aspect and the value-based aspect: there is no abolishing of either aspect, and one aspect cannot be given precedence at the cost of weakening the other aspect, because each aspect has its effect and its benefit—because of what the narrations from the Ahl al-Bayt (a) have expressed in calling for weeping, grief-stricken lamentation, making manifest the wrong suffered and focusing on publicity; and also because of what they have expressed in calling for the scholarly revival of the principles of the revolution of Imam al-Husayn (a), because the Imam (a) is a role model for all generations.
And likewise because reality has proven the soundness and maturity of this orientation, and the weakness of the orientation that sought to abolish the rites and mock them; and it has proven the weakness of the opinion of those who sought to abolish the spirit of giving and the light of knowledge in the revolution of Imam al-Husayn (a), so that it may be a beacon in every age.
The conclusion we want to reach and emphasize is that however much we try to champion one of these visions, the result will lie in the contemporary reality lived by the holders of the vision. Does the reality of those who wanted to give precedence to the value-based aspect express the reality of the values of the revolution of Imam al-Husayn (a)—in rejecting injustice and oppressors, and in standing in the ranks of the oppressed? Or is it mere lip service? When things become serious, the devout become few, and they choose approaches far from the principles and values of Imam al-Husayn (a), for the sake of which they fought the rites.
On the opposite side, will those who give precedence to the rites keep the revolution of Imam al-Husayn (a) remote from contemporary reality and its challenges? Will they regard this season as one for relaxation and venting personal worries? Or will they be as the processions of chest-beating and taṭbīr in Nabatieh in Lebanon were, which confronted the Israeli occupation during the processions with all valor?
So the verdict on the soundness of this course or that is taken from the positions that express the defiant Husayni spirit that rejects injustice and oppressors, because matters are judged by their actual outcomes, not by slogans.
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