Ghadir, Ashura and Islamic Leadership

Research Scholar at JNU. New. Delhi hassansardarj@gmail.com
Today, the world of Islam is at a sensitive historical stage. The witnessed events which are maligning the picture of Islam, have come into existence because of lack of recognition of Divine’s leadership as well as misunderstandings of true Islamic values. Recently we have celebrated the event of Eid-e-Ghadir and now we are appearing in mourning ceremonies held for Imam Hussain A.S. These two events have deep relations based on Godly principles between them. Ghadir is an incident to decide the rule and regulation of governance in Islam. This rule is Imamate and Velayet (Rule of the religious leader) in the Islamic society, which was declared by Prophet of Islam (PBUH) on an order from God [Quran5:67,5:3]. By this order, Hadhrat Ali A.S. was declared as vicegerent of Prophet (PBUH) and was introduced on the epitome of Imamate as he was a great, illuminated, divine and impeccable personality. He is the sun of Islamic leadership and governance. Ali’s unprecedented characteristics are related to his governance, among which one can mention justice, fairness, equality, upliftment of downtrodden, avoiding mundane attractions, foresight, welfare and justice of all the masses (Muslims,People of the Books,&Others)under his governance , taking rapid actions while fulfilling Islamic duties, elucidation {of various issues of people} guiding the society towards piety and audacity in acting upon what is right and acting upon with justice. He not only guided the Islamic Nation but also the people of other beliefs living under his Rule(Caliphate). This could be viewed from his famous quote “A person is either your brother in faith or you are equal in humanity.” His personality can be mirrored through his various quotes, for example, one could trace back his justice by the work of George Jordac in his famous Book “The Voice of Human Justice” There are many scholarly, political and mystical personalities who have been inspired by the guidelines and teachings of Imam Ali A.S. and have resolved not only their issues but the issues of nations as well. So the central idea of Ghadir is to recognise and understand a true mentor according to God’s will. The second event which is much important to understand the responsibilities and accountabilities of an Islamic leader to revive true Islamic values and fight with anti-divine elements is Karbala. As Imam Hussain A.S declared during his journey to Karbala that “I did not revolt for the cause of evil tyranny or corruption, but to reform my grandfather’s (PBUH) nation. I want to enjoin the good and denounce the evil and take the course of my father and grandfather.” As per this quote of Imam Hussain A.S., it is obvious that his revolution was against of evils and anti-Islamic as well as anti-human efforts. But unfortunately, in the present, we have forgotten these revolutionary visions and the teaching associated with them meanwhile our enemies are conscious towards them so they are trying their level best to infiltrate these religious ceremonies in order to transform them into superstitious activities. One of the issues that they are counting on to help them to achieve this goal is the issue of Akhbariyat. So now it is our double responsibility to promote the true meaning of Karbala as well as protect it from irrelevant narrations because the teachings of the event of Karbala which are taught to people in these mourning ceremonies of the month of Muharram directly opposes the illegitimate interests of the imperialists. This is why they have been operating at their full capacity to create deviations on these blessed ceremonies. We must keep in mind that the commemoration of Karbala and the mourning ceremonies for Imam Hussain A.S. have enormous positive implications for the entire World. One such implication is that these ceremonies create a majestic image of the religion in the eyes of the people of the World. Similarly, we have to remind ourselves that mourning ceremony to commemorate is not something which belongs only to the past: what has enraged the enemies is that the memory and the teachings of Karbala are renewed every year. The motto of “far from us is humiliation” which is a motto for fighting against the enemies is still lived”. After pointing out some obvious features of these two historic events we hope that preachers and orators can properly inform the people regarding the plots of the enemies and gather them all under the banner of Imam Hussain A.S. We pray for all of the preachers, eulogists and orators of these mourning ceremonies and also for those who participate in them. We also hope that we can all carry out our responsibilities in this era and involve ourselves to promote the message of Imam Hussain A.S. We humbly request to our respected preacher please consider current issues belonging to Islam,Society and World and lead the people to the teachings and guidance of Ahl e Bayt A.S. Also as we are living in pluralistic society and the audience attending these are not only from Muslim background there are various attendants of different ethnicity, religion, community, and caste So we request to bring in light the efforts of Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) for the upliftment of downtrodden, also their efforts regarding Social Justice and welfare of Society.