Dozens March in Boise for Martyrdom of Imam

Religion • December 2013 • Views: 10,761

I paged this as

1. I didn’t know Idaho had this large of a Muslim community and
2. I don’t have a clue as to who this guy was and what he did, and finally,
3. I am hoping CL can educate me as well as the Lizard Nation as a whole about who he was.

More: Dozens March in Boise for Martyrdom of Imam

Shia Muslims around the world, including here in Idaho, are marking the end of a 40-day mourning period for a martyr killed centuries ago.

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2 comments

antpogo Tue, Dec 24, 2013 6:13:18am

Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib was the grandson of Muhammad and the son of the fourth khalif (who had married Muhammad’s daughter Fatima). The reign of his father Ali was plagued by rebellions and revolts (including one led by Muhammad’s wife A’isha), and Ali ended up being assassinated. Husayn’s elder brother Hasan succeeded their father as khalif, but he was forced to hand over rulership to Mu’awiya, the governor of Syria, who was the major opponent of Ali.

However, that did not end the unrest, since a faction still considered Ali and his family to be the rightful khalifs (they called themselves the Followers of Ali, Shi’atu Ali. When Mu’awiya’s son Yazid succeeded him as khalif, the Shi’atu Ali revolted, and Husayn was traveling with a large party to the Iraqi city of Kufa when they were stopped at Karbala by one of Yazid’s armies. At the ensuing Battle of Karbala, Husayn and all of his party were killed. This ended any chance that the Shi’atu Ali would be able to restore the family of Ali as khalifs, but they never lost their devotion to that family, and that “faction” became the Shia Muslims of today.

The martyrdom of Husayn at the Battle of Karbala is commemorated to this day. The actual anniversary of his death, Ashura, starts a 40 day period of mourning. The actual thing being commemorated by the Muslims in your article is the end of that 40-day period, Chehelom.

I hope that helps answer your question!

CuriousLurker Tue, Dec 24, 2013 9:21:04am

3. I am hoping CL can educate me as well as the Lizard Nation as a whole about who he was.

What antpogo said.

As mentioned in the source article & Wiki links provided by antpogo, the observance of events related to the martyrdom of Hussein is primarily a Shia thing.

Because of the events at Karbala, as well as those leading up to and following them, martyrdom and the remediation of injustices is a very strong theme in Shia Islam and can quickly stir up passionate emotions.

Being a graphic designer, I am by nature a visual person, so I’ll try to give you a feel for things using imagery.

Example: One of the most well known & loved living Persian miniaturists is Mahmoud Farshchian. Many of his painting have religious or spiritual (Sufi) themes, while others may be related to culture (such as hunting or polo), literature (from stories like the Shahnameh or scenes inspired by poetry (again, usually of the Sufi variety) or nature. I used to have some large glossy prints of his work—it’s quite beautiful & intricate.

Anyway, as you can see the images are full of feeling and, in many cases, utopian ideas/visions of how things should be (or how they were). Going back to Karbala here are three images related to it—1, 2, 3—all of which depict fallen martyrs/warriors and their grieving widows (note how even the horses look sad). FYI, the color green usually signifies the green turban of a sayyid, a descendant of Prophet Muhammad, so you’ll often see that (or the green Islamic flag) in depictions of the incidents related to Ashura/Karbala or Imam Ali (see the green around his head in this miniature, which depicts him comforting his children after his wife and their mother, the Prophet’s daughter Fatima, died).

Closely related to this, as I mentioned earlier, is the concept of injustice shown here in the form of a despondent angel grieving over shattered scales of justice. Note that there’s a sword on the ground next to the angel—I’m not 100% certain, but it gives me the impression that maybe the angel is going to pick it up and go deal with whoever committed the injustices.

Hopefully, that’ll give you an idea about the sort of visceral reaction that Ashura can evoke. Sorry I can’t explain it better, but I’m not Shia myself, so I can only explain what friends have conveyed to me and what I learned during several years that I was fascinated with and immersed in Persian art & culture.

Sheesh, sorry for being so long-winded.

If you’re interested here are some other links:

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words. Featured Artist: Mahmoud Farshchian - Fan page

Ali Asqar: For the World’s Children Warning: this blog entry is about children & war and shows part of a fairly graphic painting depicting Ali Asghar who, at 6-months old, was the youngest victim of the Karbala massacre—don’t click if you can’t handle seeing that. The blog belongs to Massoumeh Ebtekar

Farshchian’s website’s online gallery

Farshchian’s deviantART gallery

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