His Eminence Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Al Ibrahim
The day of ʿAshura has imposed itself upon the entire Islamic Umma: those loyal to the Ahl al-Bayt (a) keep it alive with grief, exhortation and weeping, while as for others, they have found no escape from programming this day in a way that justifies their concepts and their doctrinal paths.
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They strive hard to drag this season, with the momentum it carries—at times by changing the kind of activity in it so as to turn its grief into joy, thereby justifying their coldness toward what befell the progeny of the Messenger (s), and at times by attempting, timidly, to imitate the Shiʿi movement, by showing some of the sympathy that certain segments of their own have come to impose upon them, those who find in our ʿAshura what they do not find in their ʿAshura of Umayyad character.
However, what ʿAshura brings about is beyond what we imagine or what we plan for, since al-Husayn (a) and his cause are a covenant that Allah has guaranteed and confirmed; for he is the blood-revenge of Allah (thār Allāh), and this means that Allah, Glorified is He, is the One who undertakes to make manifest the wrong done to him and also to requite it; and the worldwide media momentum that ʿAshura has gained is nothing but one of the manifestations of this divine covenant.
This is manifested in several points, the most important and greatest of which is this loyal Shiʿi entity, concerning which the hadith has come ( Allah will create for him Shiʿa ....etc.), who keep his cause alive, raise his name and call for his blood-revenge with all kinds of calls, especially in this great divine season, when the Shiʿi world is transformed during this season and energies burst forth in all fields: writing – acting – drawing – oratory – chanting ... etc.; likewise, all kinds of conveyors of knowledge and their means are put to use, such as satellite channels, the internet, radio and others, and this happens in a way that you can hardly glimpse in any religious event in the world.
Likewise, all segments of society prepare themselves to draw inspiration from the lessons of Karbala and to receive exhortation, culture and awareness. It is enough for us to note that the individual's rate of listening to the Husayni orator in a single day is no less than 3 Husayni majalis, that is, approximately three hours; so if you multiply that by 10 days, you find that he has listened to 30 Husayni majalis, and if you multiply this number by the total number of Shiʿa in the world, the number consequently becomes greater. ʿAshura, then, is an intensive workshop for shaping awareness, ordering the emotional pattern of society and bringing its cultural identity to light; and on the other hand, it also works as a dynamo, so that its results branch out into the future of the individual, society and the Umma.
These events and activities are not limited to young people only; rather, they encompass all age groups, women and men, who are fused together in the workshop of ʿAshura; even nursing infants—you find a role for them in it, and this is what gives it its uniqueness and distinction.
And as a natural result of this fusion in the crucible of al-Husayn (a), hearts merge and unite upon a single concern and a single set of feelings; they are moved to weeping, fervor and mourning, so that all of that is transformed into a distinctive Husayni cultural and emotional act.
