the time for soul-cleansing is upon me again. one more opportunity to get my bearings straight, refresh my mind, think of a higher purpose and a greater cause and to get things into perspective after definitely one of the most tumultous times in my life. but im sure none of the above is going to happen...ive lost too much of my faith i guess. and a rejuvenation of faith is unlikely unless something truly dramatic and out-of-the-ordinary happens. anyway, i do hope my bosses dont stand in the way of my plans. i will not stay a moment longer than the night of the 7th. i even feel guilty about not leaving earlier.
the question of how the Shias can weep and lament over an incident that happened 1400 yrs ago often confounds people. well i cannot say for the community on the whole (im hardly a religious person beyond these 10 days) but what i think is that, generally speaking, if ur a sensitive person the events as well as the context and the aftermath of the tragedy may very well move you to tears. on top of that, if the love of the people with whom this atrocity occured at Karbala has been drilled into you since the day you were born it is only natural to feel sad and appalled at the treatment metted out to them. personally, i may question the purpose of God and religion but i still have immense respect for the Prophet's family, primarily because it was programmed into me and secondly because history has done nothing to make me think otherwise. they truly stand out there as the 'greats' of mankind. and lastly, as your life progresses and you collect hurts and misfortunes of your own, moharram takes a whole new significance, for me at least. you start relating your own sorrows with what befell the Imam and his family at Karbala and then your head is all set to explode. for some, it is like submitting to a higher cause, a greater sacrifice, which dwarfs their own exitence and its problems; for others, its like using a historical tragedy to vent their own rage-frustration-helplessness-anguish. for many, its a little bit of both. ill give an example. when my chacha was murdered a majlis was held a week after, as tradition dictates, for his eesaal-e-sawab. in this majlis, the zakir chose to narrate the events of the martydom of Ali Akbar, 18-yr old son of Imam Hussein. now everyone had heard this story hundreds of times before but this time the context was totally different. my Dada went into a long swoon since he himself being an old man had just a week ago buried the body of his young son. i was not present at this majlis but from all accounts it must have been heart-wrenching for all of my family.
Hussein Mehboob te Mohib icch visaal-e-awal dee guftugu hay
Hussein aj da Hussein kainee azal toon pehle dee justuju hay
kamaal rutba hay Anbia da, Hussein da hay azeem rutba
hay saarian dee arzoo Allah, Hussein Allah dee arzoo hay
this rubae'e is sufficient to prove that moharram has spun a whole culture around itself which is just as exquisite as any other literary tradition on the planet, if not more. if ur not a Shia by birth, you simply got to see to believe. the seraiki 'Mahroo' is one more great example of the culture of moharram.
