The tragedyof ‘Ashourah continues [Archives:2004/717/Opinion]

The tragic death of Al Bin Abu Talib and his son Al-Hussein Bin Ali, in the latter part of the Seventh Century AD are significant historical moments, not only for Shiite Moslems but for all Moslems. For many Moslems (Shiite and Sunni), these two tragic personalities represented the true manifestations of Islam in its social and political venue and their death, precisely in the tragic ways it was engineered, actually served to remind the Moslem faithful that belief in Islam entails a well engrained belief that sacrifice and faith go hand in hand in truly advocating for the real social justice and political freedom that Islam was meant to bring to this world. It must be borne in mind that these two revered Moslem fighters for the cause of political freedom and social justice were assassinated before the rise of the Shiite or Sunni sects in Islam and where in fact the triggers for the rise of sectarian differences amongst Moslems. This is not to entail that Ali or his descendants sought for the creation of any sects within Islam or even suggested that Islam should be broken up into different sects. For Ali and Hussein there was only one Islam and that it was the enemies of Islam that sought to break up the religion into various adaptations mainly to serve political forebodings that in fact sought to dilute Islam from its true political and social ramifications of political freedom and social equity that were the essence of the eternal message delivered by the Prophet Mohammed (Peace of Allah be Upon Him).
The Shiite sect arose as a result of the evolution that the political scene in the Islamic state took on after the death of the fourth Orthodox Caliph (Ali) by a deranged follower of a then breakaway cult that sought to eliminate all those involved in the political confusion when the 'Umayyads sought to monopolize political control of the Islamic State to fulfill mundane aspirations. The propagation of the true fundamental principles of Islam on strengthening the political will of the masses and promoting the elimination of all forms of social oppression, was not exactly a platform of the 'Ummayyads. The followers of this moronic cult (the “Khawarij”, or literally translated the Renegades) professed that both Ali and his followers as well as the followers of Ma'awiyah and his descendants, who were then the leaders of the 'Umayyads, were “heretics” because they have broken away from the fundamental principles of Islam, as their narrow minds perceived them and thus both deserved death. These people never really had an alternative to offer to the Moslem world in terms of what principles should be followed by the Moslem state in promoting the will of the constituency, but rather simply sought to bring havoc and disruption to any form of institutionalized Islam. It seems that the ultimate end of these renegades was to promote the personal aggrandizement of their leaders. Ironically, we have a similar rise of renegades amidst the Moslem of the world, who have been triggered by barbaric Bedouin efforts coming out of Nejd, in what is now Saudi Arabia, to impose a similar philosophy of crude rendition of Islam that in most cases represent a corruption of true Islamic dogma and social and political inclinations. The Taliban of Afghanistan are a modern example of these renegades. Thus we see these renegades, whether they know it or not, have actually brought the development of Moslem institutional democratic statehood centuries, because of their insistence that their rendition of Islam should be imposed by blood. Their animosity to the Shiites is very strong, because their understanding of Shiism considers the Shiites as the nemesis of their so called orthodox beliefs as to the fundamentals of Islam, as they envisage them, which forbid any mass participation in the political process. Shiism, on the contrary, believes that if the state becomes repressive and autocratic, it is the right of the Moslem constituency to organize and rise against the repressive state to replace it with a government that truly promotes the will of the people and forbids any transgressions for mundane aspirations. On the other hand, the Renegades place no value on human life and translate the innocent and genuine challenge to oppression and autocracy, in all its forms (i.e., “Jihad”), into a bloody carnage that serves no purpose except to satisfy the leadership of this Renegade cult's thirst for blood and material gains through embezzlement, extortion and sheer looting. Many enlightened Moslems (Sunni and Shiite) in fact believe that the modern renegade movements in Islam have their root in clandestine connections with eternal elements that seek to promote anarchy and divisionism within the Moslem World for the expansion of dubious interests, which see Islam, in its true manifestations, as a threat to these interests and their evil intents. One of these dubious interests is the Zionist establishment and the Evangelical establishment within the Christian World, which have an unabashed hatred for Islam and seek to make sure that no form of Islamic genuine belief is instilled in any genuine political effort amongst the Moslem community. Thus, we are seeing an obvious rise of sectarian divisionism instigated by the modern Renegades of Islam. Shiite Islam has proven again that it is capable of carrying the true banner of sensible Islamic political and social reform, in the manner that Ali and his many descendants that followed envisaged, and indeed gave their lives for: Political freedom and social justice for all or else Islam is far from being applied in its proper context as ordained by the Quran and the traditions and deeds of the Prophet Mohammed (PAUH). Apparently, the recent massacres against the Shiites in Karbala, Najaf, Pakistan and elsewhere will reinforce the Shiite resolve to stick to this mass popular rendition of Islam, in memory of all their predecessors' sacrifices towards this end.
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